Aluhu-what-now? on Charms

Professor Aaron McKindy

May 17, 2007 9:21 PM

Charms Lesson II: First Years by Professor Aaron McKindy

Aaron carefully surveyed his first year class as they entered the room. After the events leading up to and during midterm, Manfred Bulla would be expecting his staff to be on a very high alert for similar problems. After all, where two had been unearthed, there would almost certainly be more to follow. He leaned against his desk, hands deep in the pockets of his Muggle jeans, gray-green eyes following the first years as they made their ways to the now-familiar beanbags. The charms professor only rarely assigned written in-class assignments; theoretical work was best saved for times when practical was impossible. Therefore, he reasoned, what was the point of desks? It was far better to let the students choose their own learning style when it was possible.

With a mild surprise, Aaron noted some new students among those trickling in. These were the transfer students he had been informed of. He had just been under the assumption that they would be...older. But such was life. IN some ways, younger students would be easier because there was less chance of divergence in the teaching patterns and subjects.

As usual, Aaron wore jeans, a self-charmed t-shirt, and a top hat made of large, translucent, pink bubbles. Over the midterm break, he had cut his black hair very short. He had also taken down his Muggle posters--and threatened to hex most of the wizarding ones. His office door was shut and firmly locked to keep his former colleague's cat inside. As opposed to, say, outdoors attacking things. Or destroying his classroom out of pure spite. Or something of that variety, as was the animal's wont.

"All right," Aaron said loudly as it came time for class to begin. "Return to your seats, yes, that's right. Today we will be learning the spell 'Alohomora'. As you should have realised while you were doing your essays over midterm, it is based on the same basic concepts as the levitation charm we learned earlier this year. Speaking of which, do I have all of your essays on my desk?" he paused a moment as a few students brought their essays up. "To perform the simple unlocking charm, all you must do is move your wand like so and say 'Alohomora'. If the lock is not guarded by another spell, that is. However, those types of charms are generally taught in higher level Defense classes, so you have awhile to go yet.

"Now, you will find a series of small, colour-coded boxes around the room. I would like you to get into small groups of two or three and pick a colour of box. Use the charm I just demonstrated to open these boxes. Inside, you should find a few puzzle pieces. If you will look up," Aaron waited as the first years did so. "You will notice the puzzle frames on the ceiling. I would like you to utilise your other knowledge of charms to get the pieces up there. The puzzle frames already have a sticking charm on them.

"Also, before you begin, I'd like to remind you that we have a theory test next class. Remember to ask for help if you need it...and the first group to finish their puzzle gets a prize!"

The professor nodded to the class to signal the start of their work time and stepped back to sit on the corner of his desk. This class should be less chaotic than the last. Although, granted, with some of his students, he couldn't be sure. Still, Aaron was looking forward to a relatively peaceful class.

Subthreads:

Wow, we get to open locks. This gives me ideas... by Hikaru Kasuragi, Teppenpaw with Talitha Cumni, Hikaru, Professor McKindy

Anyone have a nice witty subject line? by Irene Liddowe with Brett Hodges, Irene

A new spell by Ebony with Brett Hodges, Hyana

Aluhu-what-now? by Lucas Smythe with Hannah Laurent, Lucas, Oliver Abbott

Better late than never by Gwyneth with Cissy Tarwater, Professor McKindy

Class Ends by Professor McKindy

0 Professor Aaron McKindy Charms Lesson II: First Years 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 1 5

Hikaru Kasuragi, Teppenpaw

May 18, 2007 9:57 PM

Wow, we get to open locks. This gives me ideas... by Hikaru Kasuragi, Teppenpaw

Hikaru sighed as he walked into the Charms classroom. It had been a while since he had walked into this classroom. And on good terms with the Professor as well. He pulled out his notebook and a pencil when Professor McKindy started speaking. Hikaru, no blasting people with hexes. Right? Right. Hikaru thought as he smiled at himself. He would use his knowledge of Charms alright, and give a good impression for the second part of term. He ran his hands through his now shorter hair and sighed.

It had been a shame to cut most of it off, but it was great that he didn't have to deal with keeping it out of his face. He pulled out his wand and twirled it around inbetween his fingers as he jotted down the lecture McKindy gave. The Un-Locking Charm was a useful little spell. he had read about it before school had started again and found a multiple number of uses for it.

He glanced over at McKindy and smiled. He was good at what he did, and Hikaru was bound and determined to make him trust him again. I don't care if I have to brown-nose myself into the ground. I'll get on the right foot and stay there untill I leave Sonora. That's a promise.

Hikaru turned to the person sitting next to him and smiled. "Do you wanna be my partner?"

0 Hikaru Kasuragi, Teppenpaw Wow, we get to open locks. This gives me ideas... 0 Hikaru Kasuragi, Teppenpaw 0 5

Irene Liddowe

May 18, 2007 10:35 PM

Anyone have a nice witty subject line? by Irene Liddowe

Irene walked at a slower pace towards her Charms class, fully aware that she was very early today. She walked in to find that she was one of the first to arrive. Eventually, the class filed in and the room was full. Irene was actually looking forward to class this time. She had done pretty well (if she does say so herself) last time! If there was any time for a repeat, well, now might not be the time, but it would be nice!

Irene turned her attention to Professor McKindy as he began to speak and look forward with her blue-green eyes.

As you should have realised while you were doing your essays over midterm, it is based on the same basic concepts as the levitation charm we learned earlier this year. Speaking of which, do I have all of your essays on my desk?"

Irene let out a small, "Oh..." of realization and rummaged through her bag to retrieve the essay. Surprisingly, even to her, it hadn't taken all too long. She was happy to be getting the hang of Charms early, but she can't ahead of herself...

The class was instructed to be put into groups of two or three and to work on a box. Okay, simple enough... at least the instructions were. They were to solve the puzzle inside and get it to stick to the ceiling.

We have only learned two charms! Irene though, thinking about how obvious the answer was. It's either the levitation charm or the unlocking charm. Any guesses anyone? She thought sarcastically.

Irene looked around for anyone who may not have a partner, or a group that may want a third person. She spotted someone near her and, tucking a stand of brown hair behind her ear, tapped the person on the shoulder.

"In need of a partner?" She said with a smile.

0 Irene Liddowe Anyone have a nice witty subject line? 106 Irene Liddowe 0 5

Ebony

May 19, 2007 2:44 PM

A new spell by Ebony

Ebony had to rush to Charms, she had been too busy re-reading her essay to hand in that a kind fourth year in the Aladren Common Room had nudged her with the time.

Entering the Charms classroom out of breath she dropped onto the nearest beanbag and tried to get her breath back. Ebony's eyes landed on the charms professor and decided that seeing a professor in muggle jeans was unusual. What was even more unusual was that the purebloods had no problems with it.

Professor McKindy gave a short lecture and explained the days activity. Ebony smiled and pulled out her wand, the wood matched her perfectly it was Ebony, with a dragons scale inside. Looking around Ebony could see the multicoloured boxes Professor McKindy was on about and couldn't wait to start with this new spell.

Ebony stood up and looked around. The rest of the class was getting into groups so she wandered over to a light green box and waited hoping somebody would pair up with her.

0 Ebony A new spell 0 Ebony 0 5

Brett Hodges

May 19, 2007 4:25 PM

A nice witty subject line. by Brett Hodges

Brett bit his lip and glared at his new magic-compatible watch. Five minutes. He knew he should have started this stupid paper more than fifteen minutes ago, but somehow there was always something else going on: like, last minute DADA homework, or last minute Astronomy homework, or last minute Social Studies... well, no, not Sosh anymore. But there way last minute COMC and now, of course, potions homework would be last minute too because he had to do his last minute Charms homework. He never had so much homework in his life.

... and that makes it important, Brett finished off his essay, probably messier and three sentences earlier than he might have if he hadn't run out of time. He smushed the notebook back into his green Adidas sack pack (hoping, belatedly, McKindy would accept his essay on muggle looseleaf with spiral fuzzies) and ran to class. He got there, breathing harder than he liked, just as Professor McKindy was about to begin.

There She was again, arriving the same time he did. One of these days, he swore, he was going to say hey to Her. Whoever She was.

There was an open beanbag chair sort of near the middle of the room and he hopped over someone's bag and hurriedly settled in for a lesson, pulling open his bag, outing the notebook and a pen, and ripping out and handing in the barely concluded essay.

I'm out of shape, he concluded as Professor McKindy told them about opening locks, That was like, what, a field and a half? I shouldn't even feel that. If he didn't start practicing on his own at Sonora, no way was he going to make the soccer team when his mom let him go back to muggle school in 9th grade. The second class ended, he decided, he was going to run around Labyrinth Gardens five times. Tomorrow, maybe, he'd do six. And then seven. He had to get his practice on.

When McKindy turned them loose, Brett's notes consisted of three less than perfect soccer balls, a stick figure doing a victory dance, and a girl in a grass skirt saying, "Aloha, Mora!" to another girl in a grass skirt with a palm tree and a hammock in the background.

Brett was still working on the hammock and trying to decide if the post on the foot end of the hammock should be another palm tree or not when someone tapped his shoulder. He looked around, and was surprised to see a girl looking at him -- Me, Myself & Irene. He'd seen her around, she was usually hanging around with other firsties, if he remembered right, and her looking at him right now made him notice she had nice eyes. She was asking his muggle self if he needed a partner. Awesome.

"Not anymore," he grinned. She touched her brown hair and he decided she was pretty. She wasn't Her, but she was pretty. Did she dig his blonde surfer cut? He thought it made him look cool in an I don't care about being cool sort of way. "I'll get ye olde box."

He fetched the box and self-consciously wondered if his little sis was right about him having strutty walk that said, whoa, I think I'm sooo cool. He so did not. Anyway, maybe Irene liked that sort of thing. She did ask him to be her partner, right? Whoa, Brett, just don't think about it, right? She's not... Her. And there She was, waiting by the boxes for someone to be Her partner. Well, Brett had Irene now. He took a box and went back.

"Here it is," he said to Irene when he returned, "Ye Olde Locked Box."

0 Brett Hodges A nice witty subject line. 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Talitha Cumni

May 19, 2007 8:45 PM

Gulp by Talitha Cumni

Talitha entered Charms class and glanced around for Hyana and Oliver. They were There, but all the beanbags near them were occupied so she plopped down on a lime green one across the room.

When Professor McKindy asked for their homework, she dutifully got it out of her book bag and bought it to his desk, flushing a little bit as she remembered how she had impulsively hugged him after Charms club. The professor was a nice teacher, but he must have thought she was a bit nuts that night. Oh well, she sighed, she’d just have to do well and prove she wasn’t a complete flake.

The Alohamora charm seemed pretty basic from what she remembered of her assigned reading/ Professor McKindy’s demonstration made it seem easy enough. She liked putting together puzzles and levitating was a snap, but aiming the pieces she levitated and getting them in the right places… that could be a problem.

She raised her eyes to the assorted frames stuck high above her head. Good grief, she didn’t remember the ceiling ever being so high! Still, if she worked with Hyana or Oliver, it shouldn’t be impossible to figure out. She was about to get up and go over to work with her friends when someone tapped her on her shoulder. Startled out of her musings, Talitha looked at the boy who asked her to partner with him. Oh no! Is that the Hikaru boy who tried to blow himself up last class?

Talitha stared wide eyed at the friendly faced boy. She really did not want to work with him. Who knows what he would pull today? But still, he didn’t look like someone who would deliberately try to hurt anyone. Talitha didn’t want to insult Hikaru by refusing to work with him. Realizing that she was being rude staring at him like she was, Talitha blinked, swallowed hard, and found her smile.

“Of course, I’ll be your partner.”

\n

0 Talitha Cumni Gulp 102 Talitha Cumni 0 5

Lucas Smythe

May 20, 2007 7:25 AM

Aluhu-what-now? by Lucas Smythe

Lucas practically fell into a beanbag as he entered the classroom after tripping over his own foot - he was just glad that there wasn't anybody sitting there already. He also hoped that nobody had seen.

Pushing his fringe from his eye, Lucas looked up at Professor McKindy and listened to the lesson instructions, though he was still distracted by that pink bubble hat. Honestly, the man was quite obviously insane. Ignoring this fact, Lucas listened as McKindy explained the 'alohomora' charm, which apparently unlocked doors. Lucas wondered why he had never heard of the charm, but as soon as the unlocking doors bit was mentioned it all became obvious: His parents wouldn't have taught him that - no chance!

McKindy continued explaining the day's class, which actually sounded quite fun to Lucas. Unlocking stuff to get puzzle pieces then levitating them up to the ceiling - it sounded great! Then he ruined it.

"Also, before you begin, I'd like to remind you that we have a theory test next class.

Lucas groaned a little at this - practical things he was perfectly fine with, he didn't really have to think about performing charms, but the theory stuff went straight over his head. Still, professors were there to help, right? So maybe he could just ask about a few things - if, that is, he was able to rise above his pride.

'Now to find a partner...' Lucas thought to himself, looking around the room. 'Probably easier to see if I stand up. he noted, pushing himself out of the beanbag - though almost falling back into it - and getting unsteadily to his feet. Again, he hoped nobody noticed, he really did seem to have a certain lack of balance today.

He turned to the nearest person and smiled in an unintentionally slightly dopey fashion, once again removing the hair from his face. "Wanna team up?"

0 Lucas Smythe Aluhu-what-now? 96 Lucas Smythe 0 5

Brett Hodges

May 20, 2007 11:56 AM

A Sidenote... (Ebony still needs a partner) by Brett Hodges

It's Her, Brett thought, stopping suddenly at the classroom's threshhold, forgetting for a second about being almost late, his not entirely satisfactory essay, and his plan to leave Sonora in a couple years. He hadn't noticed Her in a few months, not since classes began and he got used to seeing her, but suddenly, out of nowhere, there she was again.

Someday he was going to get up the nerve to say "hey" to her. For now, he barely avoided getting caught staring (her hair was dark and soft-looking), and hurried by to find a seat.

0 Brett Hodges A Sidenote... (Ebony still needs a partner) 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Hikaru

May 20, 2007 2:27 PM

What? I'm not <i>that</i> bad... by Hikaru

Hikaru blinked a few times as she stared at him. What, do I have something in my teeth? He bever got to check as she responded politely to his question with a very quick smile. "Of course, I’ll be your partner." He smiled at her and stood up. "Great! I think that this excersise will be alot of fun." Hikaru got out of the beanbag chair and stretched his arms out over his head.

He walked over to two boxes and picked them up. One was a sky blue color and the other was a bright flaming red. He handed the girl the sky blue box and set the flaming red one infront of him. He pulled out his wand and tapped the box with his wand. "Alohomora!" The keyhole on the box clicked and Hikaru opened it with little trouble.

He turned to the girl sitting next to him and smiled. "The name is Hikaru Kasuragi." He held out his hand for her to shake it.

0 Hikaru What? I'm not <i>that</i> bad... 0 Hikaru 0 5

Talitha

May 20, 2007 4:02 PM

Well, Rumor Has It by Talitha

“I know… I mean I’ve heard… I mean nice to meet you, Hikaru. I’m Talitha Cumni.” Talitha blushed, wondering why in the world she was feeling so awkward all of a sudden. Well, that brilliant line needed explanation. She certainly didn’t want to hurt his feelings by reminding him that his name was shouted all over the class room when he got in trouble last class. Then she remembered something Hyana (or did Josiah mention it?) told her. “I’m friends with Hyana. She told me your name in Charms club.” Well, maybe that’s not a total lie, she might have mentioned it,

Hikaru ran up to the front of the room and grabbed two boxes of a different color. The pretty blue one, he sat in front of her. The red, he kept for himself. He did do the charm well, the red box opened almost right away. Talitha looked down at her box dubiously. She frowned a little and looked at the other students around the room. This didn’t seem quite right and she so did want to do well today, especially in this class. Somehow the idea of partners having a box each and of different colors didn’t seem to agree with the instructions Professor McKindy gave.

That irritating tickle in the back of her neck began. Oh no! Not now! Before she could shut down the magic flowing out of her, the red box slammed shut and relocked. To distract Hikaru from what just happened, Talitha pointed to the different frames on the ceiling. It was easier than trying to explain that out of her desire not to get in the assignment wrong, her stupid accidental magic kicked in.

“Uh, Hikaru? I think partners are supposed to either work with one box,” Talitha said softly, trying to turn on as much preadolescent charm as possible. To win him over, she smiled as sweetly as she could, knowing it showed off her dimples in spite of the blush deepening over her light brown cheeks. “Or at least use two boxes of the same color. I could be wrong. Why don’t you ask the professor so we know if we’re doing this right?”
\n

0 Talitha Well, Rumor Has It 0 Talitha 0 5

Irene

May 20, 2007 7:31 PM

Aha! There we go! by Irene

OOC: The Red Wings just lost in over time! *bangs head on desk*

Irene reccognized the boy in front of her from the Pecari common room. She had never talked to him--well, before now, that is, but she still reccognized his blonde hair. He was good looking, she decided, now that she was up close. Irene was pretty sure his name was Brett, but she didn't want to call him that and figure out she was wrong the hard way.

Mental Note: Don't say anything stupid.

"I'll get ye olde box." Irene gave a short laugh at the medieval language and waited until he returned.

"Here it is," he said to Irene when he returned, "Ye Olde Locked Box."

"Hopefully not for long!" Irene said, still smiling and taking out her wand.

Irene found herself smiling a lot more ever since she recieved that letter from the council. Sure, she had cheered pretty loudly in the middle of the common room and many people probably thought she was mental now, but, hey, that was best letter she had ever recieved! Ever. Who cares if she jumped around and acted like a lunitic? Okay, maybe she did a little... but just a little.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Irene Liddowe," she said holding out her hand to him. "You have a name?"

0 Irene Aha! There we go! 0 Irene 0 5

Hikaru

May 20, 2007 8:23 PM

Well, Rumors can bite me! [Tag:Prof} by Hikaru

"It's nice to meet you Talitha..." Hikaru said with a smile. She seemed like she was rather quiet. 'Well, it's time to try and meet a new friend.' He looked at her curiously as she sorta stammered how she knew his name. 'I'll have to ask Hyana avout her.' Hikaru thought to himself as he watched his box slam shut and lock.

'What the hell!' Hikaru yelled in his head. 'I didn't re-lock it, and why the heck did it slam open?' Hikaru glared at the box for a moment before resigning to sitting back down in his bean bag. 'I don't even know a Charm that could lock something, so who in here besides McKindy could do that.' He sighed and listened to what Talitha said about having two boxes of the same color.

"I suppose you're right, I'll ask McKindy." He raised his hand and looked over at McKindy. Hikaru murmured 'Coresco.' The small orb of golden light soothed him as well as entertained him. He dispersed it after a moment and stood back up after the orb disappeared.

0 Hikaru Well, Rumors can bite me! [Tag:Prof} 0 Hikaru 0 5

Brett Hodges

May 21, 2007 1:59 PM

Glad you like it. by Brett Hodges

"Maybe," Brett smirked at the pretty girl and then looked up. "I mean, last time I checked. I think--," he held up a warning hand and dramatized it, "--don't quote me on this, you know I could be wrong here--but I'm pretty sure it was Brett." He flipped over his notebook and tapped where he'd written Brett Hodges, 1st Year Pecari in his neatest scrawl. He grinned, "Yep, either that or I got the wrong notebook."

Way to overdo it,, he thought, turning to fish out his wand. With any luck, Irene wouldn't try to talk about wands. His wand's core was a griffin hearstring or maybe some kind of lion hair or a sphynx something, and the wood might have been cherry, if memory served, which it probably didn't. It could as easily have been a redwood, an ash, or a sequoia. Somehow, he didn't think it mattered all that much, just so long as he could get the thing out of his robe pocket, which was proving more difficult than usual just now. Ah! There.

"It's, ah, alohamora, right? You want to do the honors?"

0 Brett Hodges Glad you like it. 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Hannah Laurent

May 21, 2007 7:33 PM

Alohomora, silly! by Hannah Laurent

The best thing about having a small frame is the ability to curl up like a cat in a bean bag chair, which is exactly what Hannah did. In this position and this chair that was entirely too comfortable, she would have fallen asleep, if it weren't for the fact that the lesson was interesting. She jotted down a few notes on what the spell that they were to be doing, Alohomora, but they would need another spell. What other spell would they need?

Before she could think about it further, they were to partner up. She shrugged slightly. Maybe her partner would know the other spell they needed. She was about to get up from the chair when one of the nearby students asked to be partners.

"Okay," she said, smiling and wondering why he had a weird expression on his face. A bit of blonde hair had strayed loose, she tugged it behind her ear, before introducing herself, "I'm Hannah."

0 Hannah Laurent Alohomora, silly! 98 Hannah Laurent 0 5

Irene

May 22, 2007 6:29 AM

Glad you thought of it. by Irene

"I mean, last time I checked. I think--," he held up a warning hand and dramatized it, "--don't quote me on this, you know I could be wrong here--but I'm pretty sure it was Brett." He flipped over his notebook and tapped where he'd written Brett Hodges, 1st Year Pecari in his neatest scrawl. He grinned, "Yep, either that or I got the wrong notebook."

Irene laughed and said, "Let's hope not!" Irene watched as Brett struggled a little bit with the wand in his pocket.

"It's, ah, alohamora, right? You want to do the honors?"

"I can certainly try!" She said with a grin. A-lo-ha-mor-a... Irene repeated the spell inside her head, concentrating on hte movements. Though it never worked the first time for her, it was a good goal to aim for, right?

"Here goes nothing..." She said. Irene pointed her wand at the locked box. "Alohamora!" She said, waving her wand as instructed. A gold spark flew from her wand, but the box remained locked. Irene sent it a glare. It was mocking her with its still locked boxy-ness.

"Let me try once more," Irene said to Brett, hoping that she wasn't sounding too bossy, "and then I swear it's your turn."

Irene pointed her wand at the box once more and said, "Aloharmora!" There was a dim glow from her wand tip and the box may have shook a little, but no prevail.

"Stubborn..." Irene muttered. "Here, your turn with the locked-ness box. Maybe it'll like you more," she said with a grin.

Irene set her wand down, thinking of something she could bring up to talk about, you know, other than the spell. Irene wasn't all too involved with the wizarding world until she moved in with Uncle Mike. And even then she didn't get really into the magi...il her taught her to play-- Quidditch! Of course!

"So were you at the Quidditch game?" Irene asked, hoping Brett wasn't one of those 'I-want-everything-silent-while-my-work-is-in-progress!' kind of people. Somehow she always got stuck with those kind of partners....

0 Irene Glad you thought of it. 0 Irene 0 5

Brett Hodges

May 22, 2007 1:44 PM

I astound even myself by Brett Hodges

"Stubborn..." Irene muttered. "Here, your turn with the locked-ness box. Maybe it'll like you more," she said with a grin.

Irene was cool, all up on the humor and scoring an admiring snick with her locked-ness box play. Brett totally wished he'd thought of that -- except he didn't, because then Irene wouldn't be cusping on awesome (from his limited experience of her, anyway).

She was all the more awesome because she didn't get Nessy open. That took the pressure off. He had been doodling instead of watching when Professor McKindy demonstrated the wand movement so he probably wasn't going to get it. He was just going copy Irene's movement as exactly as he could.

"Okay, Nessy. Let's-a-go," Brett said, turning the box toward him now.

"So were you at the Quidditch game?" Irene asked, before Brett could try the spell.

"Yeah," he said, and swished his wand, "Alohamora! --" it was a no-go, and he relaxed into the conversation, not really caring, "It was actually my first time seeing Quidditch. I tagged along with this kid, Echo, and he caught me up on it -- Alohamora! -- Okay, your turn. Those bludgers are crazy, man. Crazy. You play?"

0 Brett Hodges I astound even myself 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Professor McKindy

May 22, 2007 4:01 PM

Nice to see you two again by Professor McKindy

The class seemed to be going decently. Aaron kept half an eye on Hikaru, though, not sure if the boy was going to try and pull something else this time. The charms professor liked the boy well enough -- what had originally seemed like trying to win favour with the teacher had turned out to be something like honest remorse -- but he still was unsure how to predict what the first year would do.

Lucky that he did, too. Not very long into the lesson, Hikaru stuck his hand up. Aaron jumped off the corner of his desk and made his way through the crowd of first years to the boy and his partner. Hikaru was working with the first year who had been crying after Charms Club, Aaron observed. The one who had decided to randomly hug him. He couldn't figure out what it was with Teppenpaws and erratic behaviour. First there was Hikaru--then Josiah--then the girl--Declan as well.... It was quite the mystery.

Sometimes, Aaron thought he would never get used to the House systems. At other times, it made his life relatively easy. He hadn't had to go to Bulla yet, after all. Heads of Houses, a few times, but not Bulla.

"Hello Hikaru," Aaron smiled down at the boy. Like himself, it appeared as though Hikaru had cut his hair over the break. "Did you two have a nice break? What can I do for you today?" The professor felt inordinately pleased to have seen that Hikaru was using the charm he had taught him as well.

This teaching business was really growing on Aaron.

OOC: Hikaru, you haven't exactly broken any rules, but just in case...remember that Sonora's got a PG rating for language and content, 'kay? Nice to see you back around here. ^.^

0 Professor McKindy Nice to see you two again 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Lucas

May 23, 2007 12:00 PM

I knew that... by Lucas

The girl he had asked to pair up with him was still curled up in his chair, but she said okay nonetheless.

"I'm Hannah." She told him with a smile as she pushed some hair behind her ear. Lucas returned the smile, and in a slightly more normal way this time.

"Hey, I'm Lucas." He told her, wondering whether or not he should offer his hand to pull her up from her seat. He decided against it, however, since he had only just met the girl, and she might think he was a bit weird.

Instead, he left her to get up in her own time, and decided to start a conversation. "So, where are you from?" It seemed a daft question to most people, but Lucas was unlike most people in that he actually tended to be interested in other people and their backgrounds - not to the extent of being nosey, though. He hoped.

Lucas glanced around the room at the other teams as they were pairing up and wondered if it would just be him and Hannah or if they'd be joined by somebody else as well - after all, McKindy had said groups of two or three, right?

He pushed his fringe back from his eye and turned back Hannah, ready to start whenever she was - he hoped she was a good aim at least if they had to levitate the puzzle pieces into the right place, after all, Lucas couldn't say he had been entirely well balanced that morning but maybe he'd get better as the day went on.

0 Lucas I knew that... 0 Lucas 0 5

Irene

May 23, 2007 2:50 PM

I am astounded by Irene

"Okay, Nessy. Let's-a-go," Brett said, turning the box toward him now.

Irene laughed as she was forcibly reminded of a video game character she use to play years ago. Brett looked nothing like Mario, but that's okay.

"Yeah," he said, and swished his wand, "Alohamora! -- It was actually my first time seeing Quidditch. I tagged along with this kid, Echo, and he caught me up on it -- Alohamora! -- Okay, your turn. Those bludgers are crazy, man. Crazy. You play?"

Yes! Common denomenator, or whatever you call it...

"I'm a reserve for Pecari. I thought I was a chaser, but apparently I'm a better seeker!" She said with a smile as she pulled the box twoards her.

"Alohamora!" When nothing happened, Irene continued. "Those bludgers are insane! My cousin Renaye is a beater. I don't know how she does it. She uses them for stress relief," she said. Irene's smile got even bigger as she thought of Renaye. Man, oh man, did she miss that girl. She couldn't wait until next year when she finally arrived at Sonora.

"Alohamora!" Irene waved her wand and was delighted to hear a click. The box opened to reveal the puzzle pieces.

"Yes! Stupid box, you thought you could out-smart me!" Irene said in triumph. Irene took out the pieces and handed some to Brett. "Good job, partner."

This was fun, the project with Brett. He was funny and easy to work with. Maybe she was acting weird, but he didn't seem to mind so much.

"Anything else? Any deep dark secrets you'd like to share?" Irene said playfully, trying to fit some pieces together. Irene suddenly had a fun idea. She put on a stern face and leaned forward.

"As for me, I'm a secret agent for the C.I.A.," she said as she snapped two pieces together. "I'm suppose to be following McKindy to find out if that pink-bubble hat was imported illegaly. But this is entirely confidential. Not a word, okay?"

0 Irene I am astounded 0 Irene 0 5

Hyana

May 25, 2007 8:25 PM

Can I be your partner? by Hyana

Hyana knew that the teachers, after Stephen's incident, would be looking around for more problems. Problems like hers. She wore layers and stuff. She didn't want anything to show that would point out, 'Hey, my mom hits me, and her boyfriend does it too! My life sucks!'

But now she was back at Sonora, her real home, and just had to deal with it. Life wasn't all bad. Caedence hadn't murdered her. That was a start. She walked into class, avoided McKindy's gaze, and sat in the nearest seat she could find.

Hyana didn't like avoiding McKindy. She really liked the guy. He was crazy, but she liked that. He wasn't the type of person who would hurt anyone. She liked him. He was so nice.

They'd be learning alohomora? That was easy. Her mother had locked her diary up over break and Hyana had brought it back to Sonora, unlocking it right away. It was easy. Of course, the next part seemed difficult. She hadn't used the other charm since CoMC, where she first met Caede. She shuddered. That was scary. Had she become braver since then?

Then they were told to break into groups, and who did Hyana see? Her friend Ebony! She couldn't believe it! Hyana thought that Ebony had transferred. She just couldn't believe her luck. She slowly walked up to her friend. Ebony didn't have a partner yet. Would she even remember Hyana?

"H-hey Ebony..." She greeted shyly, looking at the girl with brown eyes. "Long time no see. Wanna be partners?"

0 Hyana Can I be your partner? 0 Hyana 0 5

Hikaru

May 25, 2007 10:35 PM

It's nice to see you too. Especially the hat... by Hikaru

Hikaru smiled at the tall man with the awesome hat. He had never gotten a chance to talk to McKindy about why he wore the ridiculous thing. But, he might be able to this term. McKindy smiled at them and Hikaru looked up at him as he got closer.

"Hello Professor! It's good to see you. I at least had a nice Break." Hikaru replied with a flourishing bow. He stood back up with a mischevious grin. "I had a question about the boxes? Talitha and I were debating on whether we had two different ones or two ones that were the same." Hikaru phrased the question carefully, and respctfully for his cool teacher.

'I really like McKindy, and I'll be really sad if he ever leaves. I wish that Professor Deck had stayed.' Hikaru brooded as he watied for McKindy to respond. Then a thought hit him like a ton of bricks. 'What if Professor Deck left because of me!' The thought utterly horrifed Hikaru and left him with a wide eyed stare into empty space.

0 Hikaru It's nice to see you too. Especially the hat... 0 Hikaru 0 5

Brett Hodges

May 25, 2007 10:38 PM

You should be. by Brett Hodges

"As for me, I'm a secret agent for the C.I.A.," she said as she snapped two pieces together. "I'm suppose to be following McKindy to find out if that pink-bubble hat was imported illegaly. But this is entirely confidential. Not a word, okay?"

"Not a word," Brett repreated in his best secret agent voice, "You're secret's safe with me."

Now it was his turn. He stalled by pushing the puzzle pieces around enough to get a good look at them. Then, after a conspiratory pause, "You can't tell, but right now I am saving the world with my brain. From dust mites." He nodded sagely at this.

So Irene was a reserve on the Quidditch team. Maybe it was time he got serious about that broom riding thing. It looked cool, that was for sure, but he hadn't been willing to buy into it before. Sure, Quidditch was exciting and there was a lot going on... but he had repeatedly pa-shawed the endurance level needed to fly around on a broom. On the skill factor, though, he was still undecided. It looked easy, but he didn't have much broom experience. Being on a broom migh make all the difference -- like Polo with the horses.

"I'm like Raid for dust mites. Without me...," he tsked, "it'd all be over."

Maybe if he had actually concentrated on the spell it would have done something for him. Irene managed it. Didn't matter, anyway. He came from a long line of squibs so his parents would more than understand if he didn't "have enough magic" to make it at Sonora. Puzzles, though, he could do. He popped a couple pieces together.

"So, how'd the CIA recruit you?" he smirked at the girl. Man, she just kept being cooler and cooler. And she had to be a muggle if she immediately jumped on the CIA for something random to say. Muggle was mad good.\r\n\r\n

0 Brett Hodges You should be. 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Talitha

May 26, 2007 12:32 AM

Oh, yes, the hat by Talitha

Talitha hugged her knees and watched the Charms professor walk over to them out of the corner of her eye. She still felt incredibly shy about her outburst just before last break and it bugged her. If only she knew a spell to stop the blush that was that was rapidly making her cheeks feel hot.

Professor McKindy’s smile was genuine when he addressed the both of them. He’d obviously forgiven Hikaru’s actions, so Talitha decided if he could the boy a second chance so could she. When he asked if they had a nice break, he sounded like he really wanted to know. Talitha smiled and nodded that she indeed did. Hikaru felt comfortable enough to josh with Professor McKindy before explaining that he and Talitha were confused about the instructions about the boxes. He’s a nice man, Talitha thought. He would make a good daddy.

Encouraged, Talitha sat up taller and, as Hikaru discussed their problem, looked up into the professor’s smiling eyes. Suddenly Professor McKindy’s appearance close up like that struck her a super funny. She thought she was used to the pink bubble hat thing by now, but that was from the view across a room. With him standing so close, and being rather tall, Talitha had to look up and up and up from her vantage point in the beanbag on the floor. That made the top hat look even taller and some how even more comical.

She tried to suppress the giggles that were bubbling up inside of her really. But they refused to be stopped. Feeling as if she was hit with a super potent Cheering charm, she was left helpless. Doubled over with that uncontrolled kind of silent laughter that was all but impossible gain control over that left the stomach aching, she rolled on her side, right hand clamped over her mouth and her left arm supporting her ribs.

“I’m s-s-so sorry,” she choked out, gasping for breath and vainly fighting to gain some composure. “B-b-but. The Ha-ha-hat. It looks so, so funny from down he-he-here.!”

\n

0 Talitha Oh, yes, the hat 0 Talitha 0 5

Irene

May 26, 2007 4:01 PM

That's good. I am. by Irene

"Not a word," Brett repreated in his best secret agent voice, "You're secret's safe with me."

Irene gave him a very serious look, that was proving to be a more difficult task to keep up. Irene snapped a few pieces of the puzzle together.

"Good. If you prove helpful, I may just have to make you an agent," she said, smiling a little, but in her own "secret-agent" way.

"Be careful with this information, Agent B," Irene said, making a note to make a better code name. "It may be..." she paused for dramatic effect, "dangerous to your health. Many people are after this information," she said with a wink.

Irene paused as Brett snapped some puzzle pieces together. Irene may do well at the whole get-the-box-unlocked deal, but Brett was definitely doing a better job at the puzzle pieces.

"You can't tell, but right now I am saving the world with my brain. From dust mites."

Irene was finding it very hard to resist from laughing, and feared she was blowing her 'cover.' She didn't trust herself to speak without laughing. But, she couldn't just be silent! How boring was that?

"I'm like Raid for dust mites. Without me...," he tsked, "it'd all be over."

"Well," she said holding out her hand, "I guess a 'thanks' is in order, for you, you know, saving the world. I hear those mites can be beasts."

"So, how'd the CIA recruit you?"

Irene pushed some of her hair out of face as she searched for some of the pieces. "It's a funny story actually," she said, pushing a piece in place. She paused, rapidly pulling a story from the air.

"I was at the ski hills...skiing. I noticed all of these 'men-in-black' around me! They took me to their headquarters and told me I was the one they were looking for! I was the daughter of super-agent, Triple L. And here I am..."

Irene was impressed with herself for making up a random name on the spot! Too bad poor Brett didn't get a cool name like that one... His 'dust mite' story was very imaginative and she gave him props for that. She was happy that he was understanding her refrences to the C.I.A. He must be pretty happy with himself; funny, imaginative, can a keep a straight face better than she can, and not all that bad looking...

"We'll have to get you a better code name," she said out loud. "Agent B is no where near suitable for an agent like yourself..."

0 Irene That's good. I am. 0 Irene 0 5

Ebony

May 27, 2007 4:09 AM

Hyana!!!!!!! by Ebony

"H-hey Ebony..."

Ebony wheeled around from where she had been concentrating on the box in front of her when she heard a very familiar voice from behind her.

"Hyana!" Ebony nearly shouted in her excitement. "I haven't seen you in ages!" Ebony jumped forward and gave Hyana an impulsive hug. Ebony immediately pulled away blushing. "Sorry. " Ebony realised she was looknig at her shoes and looked back up at Hyana again. "Come and be my partner." Ebony pointed to the box.

"We have to open and then float the puzzle pieces inside up to the ceiling. I can do the floating bit, but I need lots of help with the unlocking spell." Ebony admitted flicking her long black hair over her shoulder.

'I really need to remember to tie this mess up in a morning.' Ebony reminded herself quickly pulling a ribbon out of her sleeve and tying it in a bow around her hair to keep it out of the way. Ebony turned back to Hyana realising something.

"You can perform an unlocking spell can't you!" Ebony asked horrified at the thought of asking the Professor over to help. "I've never even attempted one before. I've read all of the theory of course but i've never had a go outside of class like most people have."

0 Ebony Hyana!!!!!!! 0 Ebony 0 5

Gwyneth

May 27, 2007 12:41 PM

Better late than never by Gwyneth

Gwyneth had to rush down the halls to get to class. She hadn't meant to be late, but here she was bringing up the rear of the group entering Professor McKindy's classroom. She noticed that a few of the decorations seemed missing, but she couldn't say precisely what was different. The bean bag chairs were still here, as was the pink bubble tophat on the Professor's head. But something was missing.

After Charms Club before Midterm, Gwyneth felt a little more confident about her abilities in this class. She had tied with Talitha in the club's competition. So maybe, just maybe, this would be a good class. At least this time she wasn't dodging flying frogs and other whizzing objects!

She put her essay on the Professor's desk and settled in to a bright pink chair and listened to his lecture. 'So, this class will combine a practice of the wingardium leviosa charm with the new unlocking charm.' She was glad she had practiced the levitation spell over break and felt more confident about her control over the object once it was airborne. When McKindy reminded them of the test, she quickly grabbed a pencil from her bag and jotted it in her planner so she would remember to study.

She practiced the wand movement, mouthing the words silently, as the professor had demonstrated. Looking around the room for the colored boxes mentioned in the lecture, she spotted a blue one that no one seemed to have claimed yet. Gwyneth started over to them about the same time another student did and they both arrived before the box at almost the same time. Laughing, Gwyneth said, "Well, you beat me to it. Would you like to work together, that is if you don't already have a partner?"

0 Gwyneth Better late than never 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Hannah

May 28, 2007 12:38 AM

I'll pretend to believe you :P by Hannah

"Lousiana," she answered, as she uncurled herself from the chair. She briefly wondered if she could get one in her room. It was awfully comfortable. "What about you?"

Once out of the chair, she smoothed out her clothing with her hands to get out some of the wrinkles. She ran her fingers like a comb through her long hair since it was probably sticking up from static. Fixed up, she glanced around the room, taking note of which boxes were already taken and which were not.

Turning back to Lucas, she asked, eager to start, "Which box do you think we should take? The purple one is still free."

She pointed over to it. Oh, no! It looked like there were already people going over to it. But it was her favorite color. Taking charge, she grabbed his hand with a smile, trying to pull him along. She hoped he didn't think she was to forward or bossy. She just really wanted that one. She thought they would have good luck with it.

0 Hannah I'll pretend to believe you :P 0 Hannah 0 5

Professor McKindy

May 28, 2007 3:34 PM

Nice to see my fashion sense being appreciated by Professor McKindy

"Good to hear," Aaron responded to the reassurances that the pair of first years had had an excellent holiday. He quickly hid a smile as Hikaru made a flourishing bow in his direction. For all that the boy had a considerable problem following simple rules at times, Aaron truly did like him. "Yes, the boxes are supposed to have the same colour. Same colour, same puzzle. I do make sense sometimes," he added with a grin.

Looking at Hikaru closely, the professor was about to ask him what was wrong--for no apparent reason, the first year looked horrified and was staring into space. That didn't tend to be a good sign in anyone, and Aaron was particularly worried when it happened with those students such as Hikaru that seemed unpredictable. It wasn't that Aaron expected Hikaru to jump up and start hexing people (not anymore, at least), but he also knew the rather perverse sense of humour of the cosmos. Unpredictability was often the most predictable thing to figure out once you knew what was driving it.

Speaking of which, the young girl, the one who had hugged him out of nowhere right after midterm, burst out laughing.

Teppenpaws. Bloody insane Tepps, the lot of them. Aaron would not be the Teppenpaw Head of House should he be paid to do so. Between Declan, Hikaru, Josiah, and Talitha, he was of the very strong opinion that latent insanity was a prerequisite for being sorted into that particular House.

"Er, that's all right, Talitha," Aaron managed as he interpreted something like an apology through the fit of giggles. He looked at Hikaru again, and was concerned to see the boy still staring off into space. "If you would excuse me a moment?" Aaron stepped to the side, creating a more private space for the two of them to speak.

"Hikaru, is something the matter?"

0 Professor McKindy Nice to see my fashion sense being appreciated 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Cissy Tarwater

May 28, 2007 5:20 PM

What I'd like to say by Cissy Tarwater

Paul wasn't in this class. Cissy didn't know whether to be angry or happy at that. Well, not happy, nowadays Sierra Tarwater was never happy. Not with her mother and father wanting to run her out of the house, one less mouth to feed. Stupid marriage arrangements with friends of her grandfather. Her rich as hell, late grandfather and his even richer friends who want to do her now poor family a little "favor" in return for their daughter.

Cissy shook it out of her head. Paul didn't know yet, but he knew something. She had been scaring her roommates, which wasn't good. Cissy bit her lip, and that Caedence girl seemed to like accusing people of things without proof. Not that shedidn't try and make Red's life hell, but she had done it without leaving evidence of her being there. Yes, Cissy desperately needed to bring in her cockaroaches for Miss Caedence.

Sighing, Cissy dropped onto a beanbag (how childish this Professor was) and waited with her essay. She barely had time to do it, and it was fairly bad. Cissy wasn't good at writing things, especially when she was angry at people. She was never able to hold in her cynacism. Which was why she was planning on not speaking now, Cissy didn't want more attention drawn to her. And that certainly wouldn't hold up if she spoke of her hatreds.

When the teacher mentioned the essay, Cissy dropped it off and sat back down, pulling her wand out. Fingering it, she thought of the unlocking charm. Right, she knew this one fairly well. Cissy got up slowly, and walked over to a box. She must have been walking faster than she thought, because once she touched the box, another girl spoke.

"Well, you beat me to it. Would you like to work together, that is if you don't already have a partner?"

Cissy had the same cold blue eyes as her brother, and they looked colder now that she was so angry. Cissy looked up at the girl without an expression. Don't talk, don't insult, not now, later, inspect first, Cissy reminded herself. Find allies before enemies. Right. "Sure..." she stated, trying to hold all malice from her voice.

0 Cissy Tarwater What I'd like to say 0 Cissy Tarwater 0 5

Hikaru

May 28, 2007 8:23 PM

Having good fashion sense will always reward you... by Hikaru

"Yes, the boxes are supposed to have the same colour. Same colour, smae puzzle. I do make sense sometimes," Hikaru grinned back at the mischevious Charms professor. 'Oh yeah! McKindy is my new favorite Professor!' Hikaru thought as Talitha began to act very strangely.

When she giggled Hikaru kinda twitched. Her odd movements and habit was starting to irritate the strange boy. 'Okay, this girl is even more psychotic then I am. I find that kinda hard to believe.' Hikaru thought nervously as Talitha appoligized for her little, um. Outburst. That was the key word there.

Hikaru burst out of his large spacey moment as Professor McKindy spoke to him in concern. "Uh...yeah, I guess there is." Hikaru spoked and sighed as he looked up at McKindy. "Its just that. I miss Professor Deck. I'm almost dwelling on the fact that he's gone and it;s starting to mess with me." Hikaru clenched his right fist and shoved his wand back into the holster on his belt. "I feel like I'm responsible for Professor Deck leaving." Hikarus fist clenched tighter with every word he spoke. "I feel that my...actions were the reason that he left." Hikaru unclenced his fist and looked out the window closest to him.

It was sunny today, and the birds were singing off in the distance. As much as Hikaru loved school, he wanted to be outside more than anything else. 'Everything out there is free. Free as the birds who fly in the sky.'

0 Hikaru Having good fashion sense will always reward you... 0 Hikaru 0 5

Gwyneth

May 29, 2007 2:41 PM

"Witch" would be what? by Gwyneth

Gwyneth looked into the coldest, deadest blue eyes she had ever seen and immediately wished she had kept her mouth closed. This girl did not look like she wanted a partner. Her eyes, her body language, her studied neutral tone of voice all but screamed "Go Away!" Taking a half step back and a furtive glance to see if perhaps the girl had a partner she would rather work with, despite her words, Gwyneth paused. Her previous good mood had been notably chilled by her new "partner's" positively blank demeanor. 'Geez, why is it I meet all the weird ones? First that crazy Lutece girl in Flying lessons and now this stone face,' Gwyneth thought to herself, trying to keep her expression as neutral as the other girl's voice had been.

Reaffixing a version of her earlier cheery smile on her face, Gwyneth replied, "Great! I'm Gwyneth, by the way." She paused for a few seconds, wondering how (if??) the other girl would reply. Gwyneth's first impression was that this would most likely be a purely academic partnership. 'This one looks like she picks her own friends rather carefully,' Gwyneth thought before she continued aloud. "I would guess that there might be additional boxes to unlock inside this larger one. Would you like to have the first go at unlocking this bigger box? I've never tried this charm, so if you have, I would appreciate seeing it done again before I try. But I have used the levitation one a few times, so you won't have to help me with the rest of the assignment." Gwyneth hoped her friendly smile and tone of voice might help the girl loosen up a little.

0 Gwyneth "Witch" would be what? 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Cissy

May 29, 2007 6:06 PM

What you just said... >< bad puns by Cissy

Cissy watched carefully as this girl took a step back, obviously intimidated for a second by the way Cissy looked. No, she wasn't a scary looking girl, it was just her eyes. Her eyes when she was this damned angry. She couldn't help but glare at everything, Cissy had a feeling this girl wouldn't want to work with her.

Too bad. She was stuck. Cissy had to play actress and this was her lab rat to play it on. To see if she could handle being her parents' "angel" in pretend while she secretly plotted against their wishes. Against their wishes, and against her housemates who still had no proof other than their own anger of what she was capable of.

Cissy saw that this girl, this Gwyneth girl (not that Cissy would remember the name if the girl ended up annoying like many others), was also a good actress. Cissy had seen the girl hadn't wanted her as a partner, probably thought she was strange. But just like Cissy, well Cissy before all of this stupidity, this girl was able to put on a happy looking face and pretend she liked Cissy. For the time being.

"Cissy," she offered evenly. She wasn't introducing her full name in the sugary innocence like she had to Red. No, she wouldn't pull off that acting with another actress. "Sure." Cissy was only pulling off short sentences about now. She didn't even mention that she had tried this charm before. She just did it. Simple.

"Alohomora," she muttered, substituting her anger for enthusiasm. The box opened roughly and rocked so much that it nearly fell to the floor. There was, indeed, another inside it. "Your turn," she told Gwyneth.

0 Cissy What you just said... >< bad puns 0 Cissy 0 5

Oliver Abbott

May 29, 2007 6:54 PM

You don't want to believe him by Oliver Abbott

Oliver had a similar amount of enthusiasm for charms as for any other class: limited. He did like learning, and he did enjoy mastering the spells, he just hadn’t yet found a subject that interested him more than any other. Although that duelling in Defence had been awesome…

Dragging his feet, Oliver dumped his essay, which had been a reasonable effort but certainly not his best work, on the desk. It was odd, he considered, how much midterm had changed his perspective. When he arrived at Sonora, Oliver was absolutely determined to prove to his family that he would make a wonderful wizard. That still held true, but now he was more relaxed about it, knowing that it mattered more to him than it did to his family, and that’s what had made the difference. Sure his performance might have dropped a little, but he was more relaxed about his work now, and he was beginning to enjoy it a little more. That had to be good.

Oliver took a seat on a dark green bean bag. It had a little worn patch where the fabric was thin. While he listened to the professor, Oliver absently played with it, trying to push his finger right through and make a hole. He wasn’t being purposefully destructive, just distracted. He succeeded, though, and he jumped as the fabric tore. He felt embarrassed then for vandalising school property. Hoping the professor hadn’t noticed, Oliver turned his full attention back to the class and tried not to look too guilty.

When the professor gave the go-ahead, Oliver lethargically hauled himself back to his feet. He decided that first he would find a box, and then worry about finding a partner. There was a purple box not far away, and Oliver headed over to it. He looked up to see a girl coming over, too. Actually, it was a girl holding hands with a boy, dragging him behind her. Oliver found that highly amusing, and he grinned bemusedly at the girl. “You want this?” he asked, holding the purple box up between them. He looked past her to the boy and tried not to laugh. If a girl dragged him about like that Oliver would be so embarrassed.

0 Oliver Abbott You don't want to believe him 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5

Gwyneth

May 29, 2007 9:00 PM

Sorry, this class just brings out the pun in me by Gwyneth

Gwyneth watched as the girl, who had introduced herself as Cissy, unlocked the first box. She used the time while Cissy was concentrating on opening the lock to try to assess this latest partner. Cissy didn't seem to have a different partner she wanted to work with, so that ruled out Gwyneth's first supposition about the reserved air that clung to Cissy.

As Cissy said the spell, she seemed to be all work. 'Not too interested in socializing. That's okay, too. Gwyneth actually was suspicious of some of the students here who wanted to immediately be your BFF! Being a bit shy and reserved herself, instant friendship wasn't something Gwyneth was comfortable with.

She did notice that when Cissy opened the first box, there was just the slightest trace of an angry undertone in her voice. And the way the box opened abruptly and rocked violently was unlike the demonstration that Professor McKindy had shown them. So that opened up new avenues of speculation for Gwyneth. Maybe Cissy was angry at something or had had a REALLY bad day and was trying to cover it up. Or maybe she wasn't any more experienced with the unlocking charm than Gwyneth herself was. Or maybe she was just a smug, arrogant, mean girl like Lutece who reminded her of half the girls in her school back home. 'UGHHH, please not that again,' she thought very quietly to herself.

Now it was her turn to try to the spell on the box inside the first one. Taking just a brief second for a calming breath and a quick mental review, she flicked her wand at the new box and said, "Alohomora." The box jiggled briefly, seemed to pause and think about whether to comply or not for a moment, and then opened. Inside were three puzzle pieces, and another box.

Gwyneth turned to Cissy and asked rather matter of factly, "So, what do you think? Levitate the puzzle pieces as we find them, or open all the boxes first and get the pieces before we try to solve this puzzle. Which do you want to do?"

0 Gwyneth Sorry, this class just brings out the pun in me 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Hyana

May 29, 2007 10:07 PM

Ebony!!!!!!!!! by Hyana

"Hyana! I haven't seen you in ages!" Ebony practically squealed. Hyana blushed and opened her mouth to speak when she found Ebony's arms around her. Her body tightened and her breath caught in her throat for a moment. But only a moment. Ebony released her, and Hyana let out the breath she was holding.

"It's quite alright." Hyana said with a smile at Ebony's apology. It was Hyana's own fault anyway. She probably made Ebony feel bad by not hugging her back. "I'd love to be your partner Eb." Hyana replied. She listened intently to Ebony's explanation. She found herself twirling her black hair around her index finger, and quickly stopped. Hikaru hated it when she did that, she didn't want Ebony to hate her!

"Y-yeah." Hyana stuttered at Ebony's sudden burst of speech. "I've done an unlocking charm before. But not as a fun thing. My diary got locked up and I couldn't find the key." Well, the last part wasn't a lie. "I'm not to good at the levitating charm though..." She trailed off. Even with all that practice with Caedence, she was still pathetic. Hyana took the box from Ebony, and pointed her wand at it.

"Alohomora." She recited. The lock twitched for a second. This lock was more difficult. She smiled weakly at Ebony and tried the spell a second time. It opened. There were a few puzzle pieces in the box. She turned to Ebony, something bugging her.

"Eb, I know Professor McKindy is a brilliant man, but does the sticking charm unstick if you put it in the wrong place? Or would we permanatly mess up the lesson?" She asked, looking at the spot on the ceiling.

0 Hyana Ebony!!!!!!!!! 0 Hyana 0 5

Cissy

May 30, 2007 5:07 PM

I have punaphobia by Cissy

Cissy's fingers jammed the wand back into her pocket as she resisted the urge not to hurt anyone here. Not good impressions, not good at all. And Cissy had to make good impressions on people so not to be suspicious. Though she already was being suspected. By the girls in her dorm, and those who saw how angry she was.

Or maybe... a taste of how angry she was. For right now Cissy was angry enough to... do unspeakable torturous things to the next person who made her mad. Of course she wouldn't, but that was how she felt. So far Gwyneth seemed decent. She noticed Cissy was in a killing mood (though Cissy doubted she actually thought it was a "killing" mood) and backed off. For that, she was glad. She just wished she could have a partner like that everytime. So she didn't have to play so nice, and listen to so much chatter.

Cissy watched as the girl used the spell, though it wasn't as forceful as she did since at first the box didn't even seem to want to open. But it did, and Cissy muttered the Wingardium charm to get the puzzle pieces out. She started the second before Gwyneth spoke, so just turned and shrugged. We're doing what I want, she thought. I deserve what I want.

"I've levitated them already," Cissy muttered instead, quite lamely. "They don't match." The pieces were all different, none of them matched. "Open the other." This was rather forcefully said, not that Cissy noticed. Her voice had been rather forceful and hard lately.

0 Cissy I have punaphobia 0 Cissy 0 5

Gwyneth

May 30, 2007 9:27 PM

Then I shall respectfully avoid them, just for you by Gwyneth

Gwyneth was a little surprised at how forcefully Cissy "told" her to open the next one. 'Hmmm, that tone doesn't help me rule out any of my theories about her mood, really. She did the Wingardium charm pretty well, but she wants me to open the next box. Does that mean she isn't comfortable with that charm yet?' Gwyneth wondered. 'Doesn't seem likely since her casting opened the box faster than mine did. Maybe she just thinks I need more practice?' Gwyneth wanted to think positively about her partner's reaction. But she was a bit put off by the tone Cissy had used. Granted, the words seemed neutral, but something about her tone. . .

Gwyneth was a naturally compassionate girl and wanted to help. But Cissy was definitely giving off a "Back Off" vibe. Gwyneth hoped she would relax a bit and perhaps there would be an opening for some casual conversation. Nothing too personal, but Gwyneth was concerned. But for the moment, their relationship was strictly business, . . . er, academic.

"You're right. It probably doesn't matter what order we do the steps in. Open and levitate as we go or find all the pieces then levitate the group. There's apparently some sort of competition to finish first, but I'm not sure that either strategy is superior." Gwyneth turned to the second box and said the unlocking charm again, but this time with a bit more command in her voice.

The box jiggled less and opened more quickly this time. Again, there were three puzzle pieces and a third box to open inside. Following Cissy example, she levitated these pieces out of the box and up to the frame. One of the pieces was a corner piece that matched with a previously lifted piece. Gwyneth connected those and tucked them into the appropriate corner of the frame. But that still left four unmatched pieces floating in the air above them.

"Well, this one is yours to open and lift," she said to Cissy.

0 Gwyneth Then I shall respectfully avoid them, just for you 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Cissy

June 01, 2007 10:03 PM

Good, now bow down by Cissy

Cissy looked up at the puzzle. She wasn't a big puzzle fan, she preferred simple meaningless tasks rather than things like puzzles. Therefore she had more time to do things that mattered. The spells she practiced, for one. Her struggles in the notebook she kept secret, struggles to make an amazing curse of her own to practice on her betrothed. Puzzles... they were nothing but a time killer. Waste of breath.

Cissy didn't know why they should have to put one together for a class. If it wasn't for a class, she sure wouldn't do it. Cissy needed her grades to be good to go on in life. She knew her curse, and the power she would have, wouldn't be respected if she wasn't intelligent in spells beyond her favorites.
Cissy flipped her black hair over her shoulder once more and turned her eyes on her partner. Ugh, she hated that word. "Partner"... it sounded too... buddy buddy.

'Ooh, you're my partner! That makes us equals and BFF-like-duh' was how Cissy thought of the word. She had to cringe at the Muggle slang that poisoned her head. She, like her brother, hated Muggle slang. They only knew of it from infrequent trips to the Muggle world if they needed to cross it to meet with relatives or friends. And since the Tarwaters didn't have much of either who were close, Cissy had only briefly seen the Muggle world. And she hated it.
Just as much as the word "partner". She preferred "ally". It was less attaching.

"competition in classes is only a way for teachers to make things 'more fun' for the hyperactive ones," Cissy sighed out coldly. "Good thing you don't care for that route either, because then you would have a useless partner. The slower we go, the more quality our work will have, and the less likely we are to mess up either spell or the puzzle." Placing out some of her feelings actually made Cissy feel better. She probably would feel amazing if all of them came out, but then that wouldn't be too good for her or anyone she was angry with.

Cissy pointed her wand at the box again, allowing some of the anger to release in the spell. Alohomora and the box opened roughly. Wingardium and the two pieces floated. Cissy angered that she didn't know where one went. Their puzzle seemed to be floral, making it confusing since of the little they had gotten through, the pieces looked similar. It took the girl a few angry seconds, but she was able to place it as well as the last corner piece. Then she turned to Gwyneth.

"While I'm not for competition, do you not think it easier if you open the next box while I levitate, and we can do that for the last few," she sighed bluntly. "It's a better strategy, and it won't take us the whole class period." The last bit was rather angrily, since Cissy surely didn't want to spend the rest of the class doing this when there was sure to be only a few boxes left.

Now how foolish would that be?

0 Cissy Good, now bow down 0 Cissy 0 5

Gwyneth

June 01, 2007 10:27 PM

Sorry, I said respect, not subservience by Gwyneth

Gwyneth was puzzled over her partner's attitude. Not angered, but merely puzzled over Cissy's aloofness. She watched while Cissy roughly opened the third box and lifted the puzzle pieces. While it didn't take Cissy a long time to fit the two new pieces into place, she clearly wasn't enjoying this part of the exercise.

"While I'm not for competition, do you not think it easier if you open the next box while I levitate, and we can do that for the last few . . . It's a better strategy, and it won't take us the whole class period."

Cissy's attitude reminded her of her little sister, needing to have her way all the time. Gwyneth was actually amazed that she had been able to remain as calm as she was despite Cissy's bossiness. But still, she considered Cissy's strategy. Gwyneth didn't want this to take all class either, since neither of the charms had been difficult for her and this activity was becoming repititious.

"I like your strategy. This is getting boring. Both of us can obviously do the charms Professor McKindy requires," she replied coolly. "But we need to reverse the roles you suggested. You can open the boxes more quickly than I, even if your technique is a little heavy handed. We both seem equally good at levitation. But you don't seem to like to do the puzzle, which I do enjoy. So why don't you open, and I'll lift and fit the pieces together?" Really, it didn't matter to Gwyneth either way. But she was a little tired of Miss Cissy Tarwell insisting on having her way about everything!

0 Gwyneth Sorry, I said respect, not subservience 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Brett Hodges

June 02, 2007 7:08 PM

And you are fabulous. by Brett Hodges

Brett stuck another piece of puzzle together. It was a fairly easy puzzle, as puzzles went -- not like those wacked out 3D gizmos his mom liked. When it came to helping with puzzles, Brett definitely preferred his little sister's 800 piece flat puzzles to those monsters. But, whoa, was Irene better company. She was pretty and cool, like, his age.

"Maybe the B stands for something," Brett suggested. He could think of some awesome B words. "Like... Bowser... or something." Okay, so maybe not. He and Echo called their friend from home One-T because his name was Bret and they got confused with the trio being Bret, Brett, and Echo. He could easily be "Double-T" (that one hadn't stuck back then for some reason) but it was too much like Irene's "Triple L" so he wasn't going to suggest it. He'd have to think about it.

"What's your code name?" he asked Irene in the meantime. Maybe it was Agent Iris. That would be an awesome name because she was all private eye and stuff with her secret spying mission on McKindy. Plus, Irises were supposed to be flowers and flowers were pretty... like her. He wondered if he should suggest it, but he wanted to see what she would come up with first.

0 Brett Hodges And you are fabulous. 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Irene

June 03, 2007 10:32 AM

blushes by Irene

Irene look down at the puzzle in front of her. Almost done. Maybe they had a chance of winning that prize! Irene felt her competitive nature kicking in as she searched for more pieces.

"Maybe the B stands for something," "Like... Bowser... or something."

Irene looked up at him and gave a short laugh. "So you want to be Agent Bowser? I'm thinking... I don't know what I'm thinking, but we'll come up with something!"

Irene felt like doing something mysterious for his name. Something... fun but daring. Maybe a play off 007? 00B? Maybe. It looked a lot like "Oob" when written down...

"What's your code name?"

Oh, man. What was her code name? She'd only had one nick-name in her life and that was only okay for Uncle Mike: Nini. Not only because it was slightly embarrasing, but because it was kind of special. Just between them.

"Um..." Irene began, the wheels in her mind spinning. She clicked some pieces together, looking around for those remaining pieces. "My name is Agent..." Darn, her imagination was coming up with nothing.

"I'm not allowed to tell. You'll have to help me come up with one," Irene said, smiling.

Irene realized they had been talkig about their secret agent-ness for a while here. What else could they talk about? Not that this wasn't fun!

"So," Irene began, "When you're not being instated as a secret agent, what else are you about?" Irene pushed a piece she had been looking for into place. It seemed they were almost done. All they had to do after that was levitate it up!

0 Irene *blushes* 0 Irene 0 5

Talitha

June 03, 2007 4:47 PM

In fashion as in life...Form follows function by Talitha

Talitha was concerned for her partner. She noticed he’d gone from happily talking to Professor McKindy to really upset. She’d hoped she hadn’t done anything to hurt his feelings or make him mad. She was a little reserved when they’d begun and then the giggle fit, he must think her pretty blonde for an Indian right about now.

Looking around the room, most of the other kids had already gotten their boxes open and were well underway to getting their puzzles put together and levitated. She sighed and looked at her blue box. It could take a while for Hikaru to sort things out with the professor. She didn’t really care about winning any prizes, but she did want to get a good grade. Maybe if she started on her box, the Hikaru could help her finish when he was done. If he didn’t want to do that, then they could just do his box quickly and hope for the best.

Pointing her wand at he blue box in front of her, she said the charm quietly so as not the to disturb the pair. As concerned as McKindy looked, Hikaru’s problem was more important than the assignment at the moment and she didn’t want to interrupt them. She felt her magic focus itself through her wand. Something in the lock moved. It did almost feel like lifting an object. More determined, she put a bit stronger tone of authority in her spell without raising her voice. This time the lock gave all the way and the box sprang open.

Looking into her box, Talitha’s face fell. She dumped the pieces onto the ground. There were quite a lot of pieces and the curved edges hinted at a round shaped finished product. Glancing up, she spied the round blue frame. From what she could tell the pieces were covered in nothing but jelly beans. No scene, no animals. Just a multitude of jelly beans. Talitha sighed. If she never had a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans again, it would be too soon.
\n

0 Talitha In fashion as in life...Form follows function 0 Talitha 0 5

Brett Hodges

June 05, 2007 5:56 PM

Agent Iris? by Brett Hodges

So Agent Bowser didn't fly. Yeah, Brett didn't really like it either. Bowser was the bad guy and, anyway, he was big and clunky and that was definately not Brett. The kid from Sundance WY liked to think of himself as more like Sonic the Hedgehog: fast, cool, confident. But Agent Sonic was too obvious a reference. Agent Sega? Too girly, or maybe just too geeky. Agent Genesis? Too biblical.

At least Irene didn't have an awesome name yet either. This was going to be fun.

"I'm not allowed to tell. You'll have to help me come up with one," Irene said, smiling.

Perfect entrance. "How about...," he paused, pretending to think about it because he already knew what he wanted to say, but in case she didn't like it he wanted it to sound all off the cuff ridiculous like his Bowser suggestion, "Agent Iris?"

He tried to gauge her reaction as he went back to the puzzle. Some of the other groups were a lot slower at this part, but they'd gotten their box open quicker so it seemed like they were right on schedule with the others.

"So," Irene began, "When you're not being instated as a secret agent, what else are you about?"

Irene put another piece in the puzzle, which meant there were only three left. Brett grinned at her, and raced to get two in before she did, so she had to put in the last piece. He and his little sister would leave a puzzle unfinished for hours before someone couldn't take it anymore and put the last piece in, and Brett was proud to say that he'd never finished a puzzle in his life. At first, it was because his little sister got so much pleasure out of putting the last piece in. And then it became a running joke, a competition between them. He wasn't about to start finishing puzzles now.

His two pieces in, he leaned back and said, "I play soccer. Well, I do at home. I do lots of stuff a home: like, I'm into movies, music, video games and all that. It's all muggle stuff, though," he said. He still didn't get what people did with themselves here besides get really really good at exploding snap and chasing chocolate frogs. Belatedly, he hoped Irene wasn't going to go all muggle-hating on him but it was a doomed friendship anyway if she was. "What do you do? I mean, like, besides Quidditch."

0 Brett Hodges Agent Iris? 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Irene

June 05, 2007 7:06 PM

looks up Yes? by Irene

Man, this Brett-name was getting harder to think of. B... What started with B? Agent... Let's see: Blonde hair... Blondie? Irene smiled to herself. She would probably bring it up for a laugh. B: Well, There's the classic "Bee". Yellow... Stinger... Sting? Agent Sting? Irene wasn't sure how he would feel about a refrence to a bee, though. Maybe a wasp. Those were more masculine, right?

"Agent Iris?"

Irene grinned. That. Was. So. Cool! She assumed it was the whole "I" thing that lead him to it. Uncle Mike even had irises growing around the pond! Man, how perfect could that be?

"Brett!" She exclaimed, "I love it!" She let out a small sigh. Great. Now the pressure was on. She would have to think of and equally brilliant name now!

"Okay, I'm going to think out loud in case you get anything," Irene informed him. "B... Blondie? I think it suits you very well! It shows you're in touch with your feminine side!" She teased. "No, I'm kidding. Bee as in the flying kind... Bee's have stingers... Sting? I don't know..." Irene said, observing their puzzle.

"I play soccer. Well, I do at home. I do lots of stuff a home: like, I'm into movies, music, video games and all that. It's all muggle stuff, though,"

So he played soccer! How could she use that? B... Soccer... What posistion did he play? She could use that maybe! B and Soccer. Brazil? Maybe...

"Me too! Not about the soccer, but about muggle stuff! I didn't even know about my magi...il I was almost six. I think it's a lot of fun," Irene said smiling. "Muggle stuff is something I know more about," she continued. "I'm still catching onto the whole magic concept," she added.

"What do you do? I mean, like, besides Quidditch."

"You mean there's something other than Quidditch?" She said in disbelief. "Joking. I usually hang out with my cousins Renaye and her brother Josh. Josh is usually pretty quiet and Renaye is really loud. It's hard to believe they're twins! I think I'm going to go to a Noveling Fury! meeting thing soon. I heard about it from Elly. She's in Pecari, you might have seen her around. It sounds fun so I think I'll give it a try," Irene said.

Brett had placed two of the last three peices in leaving the last one for her. Cool. The last peice... Irene picked it up and dramatically placed it in its spot.

"Done!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "So I've come up with Agent Brazil. It's still not... I don't know. I think it's missing the wow-factor."

Irene picked up her wand. "Ready to try to levitate this thing?"

OOC: Fuzzy-Time! Before Noveling Fury! meeting.

0 Irene *looks up* Yes? 0 Irene 0 5

Irene

June 05, 2007 7:08 PM

OOC: weird... by Irene

Ever time I type the words "Magic" and "until" together it shows up as magi...il. Weird. Just letting you know what it's suppose to be =]

0 Irene OOC: weird... 0 Irene 0 5

Cissy

June 09, 2007 10:18 AM

... dang... are you sure? by Cissy

OOC: Sorry this took so long >< Just a question, did you mean say Tarwell and not Tarwater? If not... it's Tarwater >.>

BIC: Cissy nodded, yes both of them seemed to get the charms easily enough, and she wondered again why she hadn't gotten into Aladren with her brother. Another strike of unfairness in her life. But at least Gwyneth agreed with her, and Cissy didn't have to yell about anything.

She'd certainly kill her chances if she yelled at anyone. Anyone except Paul. Speaking of Paul, she seemed to be going through a sort of violence withdrawl. Cissy needed to visit her brother after class.

Gwyneth also noticed Cissy's dislike in puzzles. Good, that made her job easier. She could just open the boxes and be done with this class forever. Well, until next charms class really. But for today she could be done and happy. "Fine," she stated, nodding. "Sounds fine." Cissy continued to open the next box, with three more puzzle pieces.

"Here," she said, pointing to the pieces before continuing to open the next box. "What does it look like the puzzle is?" Cissy then asked. Her hands were fidgeting, she needed to stop that.

0 Cissy ... dang... are you sure? 0 Cissy 0 5

Gwyneth

June 09, 2007 1:46 PM

Very sure! by Gwyneth

OOC: Technically, I shouldn't have said either, since you never told me your last name. But let's assume I should have known it and just made a "mistake" because I was ticked at your attitude. I'll get it right the next time!

BIC: Mildly surprised that Cissy agreed with her suggestions rather than argue about it, Gwyneth continued to lift and put the pieces together as Cissy opened the boxes. As she lifted the newly liberated pieces, she was mildly surprised at Cissy's attempt at small talk, "What does it look like the puzzle is?"

"Looks like some sort of floral still life to me. The flowers are starting to come together and I think that piece," Gwyneth said gesturing at the only completely solid color piece in the air above them, "is part of a vase or pot. But that's just my guess. I think we might be getting close. We have all of the corners with some borders attached. This doesn't look like it is one of those 1000 piece puzzles, at least!" She said with a smile.

Taking hope from this milder response from Cissy, Gwyneth continued the "conversation" and asked, "So what house are you in? I'm in Teppenpaw. I haven't really met many people from the other houses."

0 Gwyneth Very sure! 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Ebony

June 09, 2007 2:19 PM

Ummmm.... by Ebony

Ebony looked thoughtful after Hyana had asked her question. Ebony frowned as she looked at the pieces of the jigsaw and realised the thought of sticking the pieces in the wrong place had never occured to her.

"How about we assemble the pieces down here and then send them up?" Ebony asked Hyana hoping it sounded logical enough. "Professor McKindy probably knows what to do if it goes wrong or else they wouldn't have planeed the lesson." Ebony fingered her wand and then placed it beside the box so she could undo the ribbon from her wrist and tie back her hair.

Once her black hair was out of her face she picked up her wand and looked back at Hyana. Hyana had started to wrap her hair around her index finger again. Ebony smiled, Hyana looked a lot younger when she did it and very cute.

Ebony took the puzzle pieces out of the box and realised there were not that many to begin with.

"The puzzle is really easy." Ebony told Hyana as she quickly placed the pieces in a small square with only one puzzle piece for the centre. All the other pieces had two straight parts. "Right shall I go first at this levitating spell or shall we try together? Then if we mess up at least we'll mess up together."

0 Ebony Ummmm.... 0 Ebony 0 5

Professor McKindy

June 10, 2007 9:41 AM

'Tis news to me! by Professor McKindy

Declan? Again? Would the man ever stop popping up so—Aaron’s subconscious clamped down on that thought almost as soon as it manifested itself. He also had to physically prevent himself from looking guiltily towards Delanna Ruisi’s poster. Instead, he turned one eye to Talitha, making sure she was working things out with the assignment properly. She seemed to be, anyway, although she was regarding the puzzle with what seemed to be resignation.

“No, Hikaru,” the professor said, making a very valiant attempt to sound reassuring. “Professor Declan left because of a family emergency. He was needed at home; the decision had nothing to do with you. It was very sudden. So sudden,” Aaron smiled at Hikaru, inviting him to share in the joke, “that he left his cat with me. I’ll have to return it to him when I have the time.”

When, Aaron thought with a start, had he decided that? Why was—another thought the professor’s subconscious promptly squashed, almost without the man’s notice. Still, he had to fight not to blush. It would be improper, unprofessional, and at least a bit misleading and confusing for any of his students to notice him that out of line.

“I’m sure he’ll be back to visit at some point,” the man continued, placing a hand on his student’s shoulder as he unclenched his fist and stared out the window. It was a very nice day out; a pity that he hadn’t been able to get the Pitch for today’s lesson. “But you should not blame yourself for Professor Declan’s departure."

0 Professor McKindy 'Tis news to me! 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Cissy

June 10, 2007 4:09 PM

Aw... well then can you give me your puppy? by Cissy

Cissy snorted at the description of the puzzle. That was right, she'd seen the floral when she did a little of the puzzle. Yuck, what was with people and flowers? Cissy believed they were just a pretty waste. Why plant flowers when food was much more important? Of course, that could be her poverish half thinking. Cissy had lived with barely enough money to get by, and her parents never planted flowers. They needed the food much more.

She opened the next box and allowed Gwyneth to take those puzzle pieces. Noting the yellow stripes that may be a wallpaper. An ugly one of course. "Good, I don't want to spend my class time playing with a puzzle," she sighed. Cissy had better things to do. Finding her brother was one. He would probably be on the Quidditch Pitch...

"So what house are you in? I'm in Teppenpaw. I haven't really met many people from the other houses."

Cissy winced to herself slightly, not liking that she took a chance with speaking to calm herself and now she was stuck in it. And this one was a Tepp, at least she wasn't a whiney one. Cissy had a general dislike of super nice/whiney people. "Pecari. Other houses aren't that great. I don't like much of anyone in my house." People weren't that great. Especially when they were teenagers. Wait until a few teenagers found the cockaroaches in their beds.

0 Cissy Aw... well then can you give me your puppy? 0 Cissy 0 5

Gwyneth

June 11, 2007 2:22 PM

Sorry, no puppy for you! by Gwyneth

Cissy's snort at the description of the puzzle did not go unnoticed by Gwyneth. But she wasn't sure if the snort indicated Cissy's disagreement with Gwyneth's guess as to the puzzle's subject or was just a further commentary on Cissy's dislike of puzzles in general. While she mulled this over, Gwyneth continued to lift and piece the puzzle together before sticking them in the frame on the ceiling. She had to exert some additional effort to keep the pieces which were not placed in the "sticky" frame aloft in the air and not falling back down on their heads. It would seem that the levitation spell gradually wore off if you did not maintain your concentration on it and some of the previous pieces were starting to slowly drift down like the first snowflakes of the season until Gwyneth "caught" them and lifted them higher.

Gwyneth's attempt at civil conversation seemed to meet an unresponsive wall in Cissy. Her innocuous question about which house Cissy belong to brought a rather surprising, and again abrupt, response, "Pecari. Other houses aren't that great. I don't like much of anyone in my house." Gwyneth's normally reserved nature was intrigued by this girl who seemed to like nothing and no one. She cocked her head to one side and her face mirrored both her surprise and her interest as she looked at her partner.

"I didn't mean to imply that one house was 'better' than another. I don't think that they are set up that way," Gwyneth slowly responded. "But, why don't you like most of the people in your house?" Gwyneth felt a bit at a loss. Cissy was certainly not the friendliest girl she had met at Sonora, what with her abrupt attitude and that "leave me alone" vibe she was broadcasting. But Gwyneth wondered if part of Cissy's attitude came from the fact that, maybe, she had no friends here. "Do you think you were sorted into the wrong house? Could that even be possible? I mean, I sometimes wonder why I was sorted into Teppenpaw. After all, I'm not as outgoing and friendly as most of my House are."

Gwyneth wondered briefly what it would be like to be in another House while she continued to lift and piece together the pieces Cissy was freeing from the boxes. Ultimately, she decided it probably wouldn't matter in the long run. After all, wasn't the point of Sonora the education one would get. Did it matter what House you were in? But she continued to wonder about Cissy's cryptic remark and how Cissy fit into Pecari.

"Hey, look, Cissy. We are almost done. I think this next box should have the last few pieces. See, the puzzle is a picture of a vase of large flowers. Yuck, the wall paper in the background. Who would have painted that? It takes away from the flowers! We only have a few holes to fill."

0 Gwyneth Sorry, no puppy for you! 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Hikaru

June 11, 2007 8:02 PM

Well, If she's right, you are impecablely...something? (nm) by Hikaru

0 Hikaru Well, If she's right, you are impecablely...something? (nm) 0 Hikaru 0 5

Hikaru

June 11, 2007 8:27 PM

Well, If she's right, you are impecablely...something? by Hikaru

Hikaru nodded as Professor McKindy consoled him. Hikaru heard the crack about the cat and laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess he wouldn't have left that cat uness he was coming back." Hikaru spoked with a broad smile. As he looked out the window he sighed and turned to Professor McKindy and beamed at him.

"I feel alot better now Professor. Thanks." Hikaru gave him one of his trademark foxy smile. He pulled his wand out of his holster and bowed to his Professor. "Thanks for the help and the," Hikaru had to think of the word to use. "consultation about my problem."

Hikaru watched as McKindy left and ran up to get another sky-blue box. He looked at Talitha's repective box and smiled at her. "There, now that we have what we need; hopefully we can complete this easily." He tapped the box while muttering the incantation and watched as it sprang open. "Alright Talitha, I'm ready whenever you are."

0 Hikaru Well, If she's right, you are impecablely...something? 0 Hikaru 0 5

Cissy

June 12, 2007 10:11 PM

mutters threats by Cissy

"I didn't mean to imply that one house was 'better' than another. I don't think that they are set up that way,"

Cissy almost started to scream at Gwyneth when she said that. How dare she! That certainly wasn't what Cissy meant! That would make her sound like... like... ugh, Red when Paul yelled at her (that was the first time she'd been proud of her brother, until she heard him use her to insult). No, no way was she like Red. No. "I didn't mean that," Cissy said tightly, slowly as she bit down her scream. She believed them all equally horrid, actually. But if she said that, then she was lost. Cissy would be seen as a horrid child and not just in a bad mood.

"Do you think you were sorted into the wrong house? Could that even be possible? I mean, I sometimes wonder why I was sorted into Teppenpaw. After all, I'm not as outgoing and friendly as most of my House are."

"No," she stated quickly. Really, Cissy didn't believe they had the house for her in this school. "The people in my house are the outgoing one's by the way, Teppenpaws are just nice not hyper. That's what I don't like, the hyper, outgoing, super peppy people. They're a surplus in my house." She also hated super friendly, people. She guessed she was outgoing, she certainly wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. But not like the ones in her house, they were so friendly. Or at least tried to be.

Hypocrites. If you aren't really nice, don't believe yourself to be. Cissy hated that. You can pretend to be if you know you're decieving, but when you really start to think you are then just stop.
Cissy nodded when Gwyneth mentioned the last box. "Good," she muttered. "Then we're done. And we can leave or something." She couldn't wait to get out of this place. She said the spell and flipped open the last box. And there was the puzzle piece. Cissy smiled.

"No, we are done," Cissy said, a little happiness coating her voice. She looked up and scowled. "What an ugly thing. Glad I didn't do it." She didn't have much choice on what her home looked like, it certainly didn't have flowers, and still Cissy thought her house looked much better than the part you saw in the puzzle.

0 Cissy *mutters threats* 0 Cissy 0 5

Talitha

June 13, 2007 12:13 AM

Impecablely Implacable! by Talitha

Talitha had the edge pieces separated from the inner ones and had almost completed the circular puzzle by the time Hikaru was through speaking with Professor McKindy. She was glad to see whatever they’d discussed seemed to make Hikaru feel much better. Hikaru got the other box and was ready to get started. Good, perhaps they could start over again and work as a real team this time..

Talitha studied the pieces and then looked up at the ceiling. If it were a logical picture with a scene on it like flowers or a horse or a dog, it would be fine, but just an endless pile of jelly beans? At least the pieces were fairly large and there wasn’t that many of them.

“What do you think? Should we put the separate pieces together and levitate the whole thing or should we lift the pieces up there one by one?” Talitha asked. Glancing around the room, she saw the different groups of other students using both techniques with varying degrees of success. She wondered which method would work easier.
\n

0 Talitha Impecablely Implacable! 0 Talitha 0 5

Hikaru

June 13, 2007 2:13 PM

Impecably, Impecably, Impecably, Impecably, Oh I give up! by Hikaru

Hikaru followed what Talithat was saying. 'So, one method might be slower than the other; but the other method is faster but there's a better chance that we'll mess up. This is a vexing problem.' Hikaru sighed as he thought more about their dilema. 'I wish I could just hex the darn thing and make it go away!' Hikaru picked through the pieces of his box and noted that they were different sizes and shapes. He found one in particular piece that looked as though it was from the exact center of the puzzle.

'I wish that I had a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans.' Hikaru thought as he looked for spots on the ceiling that matched with his pieces. He shook his head violently and glared at the stupid puzzle pieces. 'Concentrate Hikaru, CONCENTRATE!' Hikaru thought as he finally got his pieces sorted out.

"Okay Talitha, how about we put up the pieces that we already have put together and levitate them up there; then we can levitate the others up individually." Hikaru had three separate pieces and two 'cluster' pieces.

0 Hikaru Impecably, Impecably, Impecably, Impecably, Oh I give up! 0 Hikaru 0 5

Talitha

June 13, 2007 8:39 PM

Just try saying that five times fast by Talitha

Talitha waited patiently as Hikaru went over the problem in his head. He stopped being so flip about just throwing things around like he had earlier. It seemed he wanted to do as well at the assignment as she did.

Okay Talitha, how about we put up the pieces that we already have put together and levitate them up there; then we can levitate the others up individually. Hikaru suggested.

Talitha shrugged. That seemed as good a suggestion as any. Since she had the border in one piece and he had a couple of good sized groupings, that might at least catch them up a bit.

“You know what? I think that might work.” She smiled, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

Carefully she pictured in her mind what she wanted the border to do. Using the proper wand motion, she muttered Wingardium Leviosa as she concentrated with all her might. Just lifting the connected pieces was easy. They slowly floated straight up in the air.

Getting the frame to turn over in midair was another issue all together. Using her wand like a conductors baton and bullying the stubborn link of pieces into obeying, she slowly turned the border upside down without it falling apart. Changing the wand motion back to its original lifting motion, she guided it up and up and into the blue circular frame where the sticking charm held them in place.

Talitha exhaled slowly. She didn’t realize that she had been holding her breath. This wasn’t nearly as much fun as Charms club. This was hard work! This time she gave Hikaru a genuine smile of relief. He had the next biggest grouping.

“Your turn.” Talitha said. She pointed at part of the grouping that held a lot of partial black beans like the lower right area of the circle. I think those pieces just might fit there.”
\n

0 Talitha Just try saying that five times fast 0 Talitha 0 5

Gwyneth

June 14, 2007 9:15 PM

Finally finished, and no one maimed! (TAG: Prof. McKindy) by Gwyneth

Gwyneth had thought that she could work with just about anyone, but working with Cissy had been a challenge she wasn't sure she could meet. Cissy's barely contained anger or bad mood, her bossiness, and the stony conversation was almost more than Gwyneth could handle.

She had obviously completly misunderstood Cissy's previous terse comment about all the Houses. Gwyneth was actually ready to dive for cover when Cissy's all but spit out, "I didn't mean that."

"Sorry, I guess I misunderstood what you meant. Your answer was kinda cryptic, you know. I didn't mean to make you mad or anything. I just didn't get what you meant." Gwyneth tried to say to repair whatever damage she had done.

"The people in my house are the outgoing ones by the way, Teppenpaws are just nice not hyper. That's what I don't like, the hyper, outgoing, super peppy people. They're a surplus in my house."

'WOW! That certainly doesn't seem like you! The partner I've had today has been anything but outgoing and peppy!' Gwyneth almost blurted out. 'Maybe people can get sorted into the wrong house,' she thought. Conversation, such as it was, had been stilted and forced. She had worked with Cissy for an entire class period and still knew practically nothing about her. 'So much for outgoing and friendly.'

Suddenly realizing what she had almost said aloud, she quickly tried to recover with, "There, I've lifted the last pieces into place." As she looked around the room, Gwyneth realized that they might actually be the first ones to have completed the task. She wondered if they were supposed to catch Professor McKindy's attention or just wait for him to notice on his own. The last time she 'caught' his attention she had been afraid that she and her partner were going to be in trouble because of the comments that had been made. Well, she would give him a few more minutes. Cissy had said she wasn't interested in whatever the "prize" might be, so there wasn't a hurry.

While she debated the next course of action, she craned her head back to look at the puzzle. She agreed with Cissy, it was an ugly picture. "Yeah, it looks like one of those tacky paintings you see sometimes in older hotels or the other buildings. My Grams usually has flowers in her house, from her garden and all. They look tons better than this picture!"

0 Gwyneth Finally finished, and no one maimed! (TAG: Prof. McKindy) 0 Gwyneth 0 5

Professor McKindy

June 14, 2007 10:30 PM

OOC by Professor McKindy

Hikaru, you need to watch that powerplaying. Had you not mentioned that the professor left, I would've clarified that Deck isn't coming back.

But, er, as you did...I'll manage, I suppose.

But still, you ought to watch your writing for other characters.

0 Professor McKindy OOC 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Professor McKindy

June 15, 2007 12:14 PM

A veritable miracle in this class by Professor McKindy

After leaving Hikaru in rather a hurry to prevent a small explosion in one corner of the room due to a repeatedly mispronounced spell, Aaron looked around the room. To his delight, he noticed that a pair of first year girls, had completed their puzzle as well as levitated it properly. Or so he assumed, as he could not see any loose pieces near either girl. Aaron strode over to the first years in question.

“Hello girls,” he said, smiling. “Did you have a nice midterm?” A quick glance up at the ceiling reaffirmed his earlier assumption that they had finished their puzzle. Aaron also noted with mild disgust that it was one of the tacky ones he had found secondhand up in Tumbleweed. There were a few he really liked from that collection—the puzzle that Hikaru and Talitha were working on, for instance—while others should, by all rights, be exiled to the dusty corner of someone’s attic as a punishment for an utter and complete lack of taste. Perhaps he would leave some of the more entertaining ones on the ceiling.

As far as prizes went, he had planned on offering something of a mixed bag of wizarding sweets (again, from the nearby wizarding town). After all, that sort of thing was generally applauded by people of all ages. There were very few people who could not have a tremendous amount of fun with a small sack of Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, or a few Fizzing Whizbees.

0 Professor McKindy A veritable miracle in this class 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Hikaru

June 15, 2007 3:54 PM

RE: OOC by Hikaru

Uh-oh, sorry Prof!

I didn't know if you would say anything or not.....

Whoopsie!

0 Hikaru RE: OOC 0 Hikaru 0 5

Lucas

June 22, 2007 6:48 AM

Hey! Believe me! by Lucas

[OOC : sorry, sorry, sorry for lateness! I have no excuse.] BIC-

"I'm from Illinois," Lucas somewhat spluttered out messily as Hannah grabbed his hand and began dragging him toward the purple box she had pointed out only seconds before. His cheeks darkened a little with a blush; he'd never really held a girl's hand before, apart from his sister's perhaps, but this was different - he didn't really even know Hannah.

As they arrived at the box, a boy was standing there holding it already. "You want this?" he asked Hannah, before looking past her and looking at Lucas with what could only be amusement. Lucas scowled back to the boy and detached himself from Hannah so quickly that one would have thought her hand was burning him.

Realising that she might take his actions offensively, he offered her a quick apologetic smile then set his negative stare back toward the boy. "And you are?" Lucas asked him while pushing his fringe away from his eye, before taking a somewhat indignant stance with arms crossed over his chest.

"No one laughs at me." Lucas thought to himself, still scowling. It wasn't as though that boy had anything to be amused about, unless he was finding the 'hand-holding' funny, but that really wasn't by choice on Lucas's part. He sighed as his fringe fell back into his eye, meaning he actually had to move again to do something about it. Honestly, how was he supposed to look angry at someone when his hair kept getting in the way?

Turning his attention back to Hannah, Lucas thought it was about time they got on with the lesson. "This okay?" he asked her, motioning toward the box that was still in the other boy's hand.

Lucas was ready, this charms stuff was all quite simple really, even if he hadn't heard of the spell before, he was almost certain it wouldn't prove to be too challenging.

0 Lucas Hey! Believe me! 0 Lucas 0 5

Oliver

June 22, 2007 4:45 PM

shrugs your call. by Oliver

The boy who’d come across with the girl didn’t seem particularly amused. In fact, he was sort of glowering at Oliver, which was a bit scary, actually. “And you are?” he inquired, rather rudely, in Olive’s opinion.

“I’m Oliver Abbott, first year Crotalus,” Oliver said boldly, by now very accustomed to introducing himself in this manner. He’d have to get rid of it before he got back home though, otherwise people would just think he was a bit peculiar. He peered defiantly at the boy, whose hair apparently had the same annoying habit of falling into his eyes as Oliver’s own did. Pushing his blond hair back out of his face, Oliver straightened his glasses and looked to the girl instead. For a start she’d been eager to get over to the box, and secondly she’d not been rude to him yet, which placed her a darn sight higher than that boy she’d brought with her.

“Hi, you want to work together?” he asked her, smiling quite pleasantly. “I don’t have a partner yet.” Oliver was sure he could get along with these two, particularly if the boy didn’t say anything. There was always the chance that he was perfectly nice, of course, and had just been a bit upset about being hauled along by a girl. Oliver suspected that could make you feel a bit grumpy, so he decided not to jump to conclusions about his classmates just yet.

0 Oliver *shrugs* your call. 0 Oliver 0 5

Hannah

June 22, 2007 8:39 PM

gingerly looks at both by Hannah

Hannah rolled her eyes at Lucas' behavior. Boys! It wasn't like they were four and the opposite sex had cooties. They were eleven, some even twelve. Besides, it wasn't like she grabbed his hand in a couple type way. She would have done the same thing if he had been a girl.

Then, he displayed the typical male ego over embarrassment by being rude to the other boy. Luckily, the other didn't seem overly phased by it, which to her said a lot about his personality. Looking at him in interest with bright blue eyes, she offered a friendly smile. There was no need for the boy to think that they were both rude and he was giving them the opportunity to work with him, which was very important given he was holding the purple box. She was about to reply when Lucas interjected his own question asking her this was okay.

She nodded her blonde head to Lucas. Then, turned to Oliver, "We can work together. I'm Hannah Laurent." And a moment later, she thought to add since he had, "First year, Teppenpaw."

She bit her lower lip slightly, as another thought occurred to her. Lucas hadn't introduced himself. Should she? Deciding she should since he wasn't being Captain Manners towards Oliver, she said, "And this is Lucas."

0 Hannah *gingerly looks at both* 0 Hannah 0 5

Lucas

June 24, 2007 7:17 AM

Mmm, ginger... by Lucas

Lucas straightened his already straight clothes in a fit of random uncomfort. He wasn't the best at making friends so far, so being rude probably wasn't the best idea. He listened with a dazed look on his face as Oliver and Hannah introduced themselves to each other. He only 'woke up' a little when he heard his own name as Hannah introduced him to the other boy.

"Oh yeah." He stammered in Oliver's general direction, before clearing his throat and trying again. "Yeah, Lucas Smythe, Aladren." He offered a rather bizarre awkward smile that probably looked as though he was choking on something. Honestly, he really wasn't so great with people, every time he met someone he managed to do something a bit weird.

Pushing his fringe from his eye again, he fidgeted and glanced around the room for no apparent reason. 'Pull yourself together, freak!' he internally reprimanded himself, 'They're going to think you've taken something at this rate.' Giving up on himself, Lucas simply opted for staring at the floor instead.

"Shall we get started then?" He suggested through a mumble, looking up at the other two again, his fringe once again brushing his eye. He really should get it cut.

0 Lucas Mmm, ginger... 0 Lucas 0 5

Oliver

June 24, 2007 12:02 PM

Mmm, gingerbread... by Oliver

The two others introduced themselves as Hannah and Lucas. Hannah seemed like a nice girl, pleasant enough and probably fun to work with. That Lucas kid though – he was a bit weird, Oliver decided. He had started by glaring, and then looked like his head was off on another planet somewhere. Oliver shrugged mentally; he didn’t mind if his partners were a bit odd.

“Shall we get started then?” weird Lucas asked.

Still holding the box, Oliver took a couple of steps to the nearest beanbag and sat down. “Come on then,” he said, gesturing the others down to join him. When they were all seated, Oliver popped the box on the floor in the middle of where they were sitting. The first spell was to open the box. Oliver was pretty good at charms, so he thought he’d let the others have a go. He glanced to his partners – did he trust Lucas with a wand? No.

“Ladies first,” he said, smiling at Hannah. She was kind of pretty, Oliver observed. He didn’t often think that about girls, but there were the odd one or two that just sort of stuck out. Hannah was one of them, and so Oliver found himself readjusting his glasses more than was strictly necessary. He was getting the feeling that their group was going to have to really focus to get through this lesson.

0 Oliver Mmm, gingerbread... 0 Oliver 0 5

Hannah

June 26, 2007 2:22 AM

Mmm, gingerbread men... by Hannah

Eyes shifted nervously from boy to boy. They hadn't even started and already they didn't seem to click. Unsure what to do, she was glad that each agreed to get started. Before following Oliver, Hannah gave a reassuring smile in Lucas' direction, hoping he wouldn't be offended and think she was actually pitying him, as some boys would do, because they just didn't know how to read girls. On the other hand, it wasn't as though girls, especially her, was always the best at interpreting boy behavior, aside from the obvious.

Choosing a bean bag chair on Oliver's right, because it was her second favorite color, green, Hannah plopped herself into it, nearly burying her petite frame. The pretty purple box was on the floor now and Oliver was suggesting that she-what? Suddenly feeling a bit timid, Hannah pulled out her wand of willow and set it in her lap. She was decent at Charms, but performing in front of two boys that she didn't know in an intense group on a significant task changed all the rules. Preparing herself for the job on hand, she brushed back the long hair over her shoulders. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She could do this.

Picking her wand back up, she pointed at the box and said, “Alohomora.”

A bit of shaking occurred, slightly on her end and a bit on the box's, but it wasn't enough to open it. She wasn't surprised though. It was nearly a given that she would mess it up somehow on the first try due to nerves. The only thing really to do was what her father always quoted, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's exactly what she intended to do. Her palms felt a bit sweaty now and she quickly wiped them off on the knees of her jeans, which were showing under her robes. This also gave her time to run a quick analysis of exactly what went wrong bringing her to the conclusion that she wasn't forceful enough.

Steeling her shoulders, she pointed at the box again, “Alohomora!”

This time the box opened. It wasn't anything major, but she had done it and in front of a small group. A small squee of achievement broke through. Pleased, she grinned widely at the other two, her entire face glowing with happiness.

“All right, boss,” she said to Oliver, half joking, half not, because he in a way had become the unofficial leader of the group, “how do we want to tackle the next part?”

Some strategy would most likely be needed. Otherwise, they might just end up knocking into each other's pieces. At the same time, they probably didn't want to be the last group to finish, as that might be embarrassing.

0 Hannah Mmm, gingerbread men... 0 Hannah 0 5

Professor McKindy

June 27, 2007 9:46 PM

Class Ends by Professor McKindy

As the class wound down, Aaron walked about giving a few more pointers. Finally, though, it was time to leave. He halted the class, some of the groups sighing disappointedly, their puzzles only half done. The professor smiled encouragingly in their general direction. The class had tried very hard today, and there had been less goofing off than normal. A very good sign, both of them. Granted, Aaron couldn't say whether that was due to the offered reward or the fact that his students were growing up, but it was nice all the same. He was particularly proud of Hikaru for not losing control again this class. And, of course, of his winners in the small competition.

"All right. Those of you whose puzzles are done, congratulations! If you would please close and stack the containers against the far wall, it would be greatly appreciated. If you aren't done, you may leave your materials as they are. I'd like to congratulate Sierra and Gwyneth for completing their puzzle first! If the two young ladies would see me after class, I have your prizes. On that note, you are free to go. Study!" he called after the class as they made a collective move towards the exit.

When Cissy and Gwyneth came up for their prizes, he handed them each a bag of assorted magical candies and sent them on their way with proper congratulations. Then he went to cleaning up his classroom.

Yes, he rather thought that puzzles would make an excellent ceiling decoration. He would keep them up there.

OOC: Thanks for a great effort, guys! Remember that nothing posted after this will count towards house points. See you all as second years!

0 Professor McKindy Class Ends 0 Professor McKindy 0 5

Lucas

July 03, 2007 11:16 AM

Mmm, gingerbread men with ICING! by Lucas

Lucas refused to sit down when the others did, but he suddenly felt stupidly tall (or was it just stupid?) at being the only one still standing of the three of them. He lowered himself slowly onto the floor opposite Hannah, for some reason he didn't really feel like he ought get comfy, he wasn't entirely sure that the other two liked him very much.

Lucas often had this problem with people, he did try to be nice - sort of, but occasionally it was to no avail and people still didn't like him. It looked like this could be one of those times, despite the smile that Hannah had sent in his direction. Maybe it was the fringe? Perhaps it frightened people in the way it appeared to have a mind of its own - or maybe, he was actually just naff with human relationships.

"Alohomora," Hannah tried to open the box at Oliver's invitation of 'ladies first'. Lucas always thought that was a dumb phrase, I mean, why send a lady off to her death or pure embarrassment when a man could do it so much more efficiently? Still, it wasn't like Hannah was going to die in this particular scenario, and pure embarrassment, although possible, was not likely.

Hannah tried to open the box again after not succeeding, and this time around the box practically leapt open as if to say "Yes ma'am!" She squeaked in a bizarre way, Lucas thought, but she was obviously happy that the spell had worked the second time around - otherwise she actually could have been embarrassed. Who knew? Lucas didn't, and he often wished he had an "off" button for his inner monologue.

"Nice one." He croaked. He had meant to say it normally, but life and its sick humour was (as per usual) against him, so he ended up sounding like he was actually going to be sick. He put his head down and let his long blonde-tipped fringe cover his face in shame.

"All right, boss, how do we want to tackle the next part?" she asked Oliver with a grin. Honestly, she was treating him like a captain. Lucas half scowled and half pouted - why couldn't he have the attention instead? He was cuter than Oliver, anyway - in his own personal opinion - and cute people deserve attention.

"I think," he butted in before Oliver could speak, "that we should take it in turns to move the puzzle pieces. It will make it go pretty quick so we aren't the last group to finish, and that way we'll all get a chance to-" he stopped himself from saying 'show off' and proceeding to trip over the rest of the sentence due to not having thought the last part out, "err... ya know. Have a... a umm... yeah, a go... have a go, all of us." he blushed, wondering why his brain did this to him so often. Really, by age eleven, he should know how to speak without sounding like an absolute loser.

0 Lucas Mmm, gingerbread men with ICING! 0 Lucas 0 5