A sixth year to the rescue! on Charms

Professor Olivers

March 21, 2014 12:56 AM

Beginners Charms by Professor Olivers

Only once in the four years of her teaching career at Sonora had Florence ever been late. Her students should have known well by now that when the clock struck the hour, silence was required and she would begin to teach. She had become a little more lenient the year before, but never, ever had she been late to a class. So for those who knew of their professor’s almost manic obsession with punctuality, the fact that it was two minutes after with no sight of even a hat that might give some indication of her presence was to be disconcerting. The beginner students were, of course, varied in their concerns; some could be looking anxiously around, wondering what on earth was going on; others could be unaware of the time, mindlessly doodling or passing time before class; still others, perhaps the younger ones, could be chatting with no mind of the clock. It was the first day of classes and such was expected of first-year students.

The ticking of the clock continued and a tense air hung about the room, the air of anticipation of what was to come with the next minute. It was almost unbearable. Yet, as the minutes ticked by, it seemed unlikely that anyone was coming, much less the ever-punctual Florence herself. Even for theatricality’s sake she would never have left her class alone for this long. But would any outlandish behavior be worth risking the chance of getting caught if a professor did end up arriving? That was up to the students to decide.

Subthreads:

Freedom? by Ji-Won "Jamie" Park, Pecari with Ariel Thornton, Crotalus, Ariel Thornton

Perhaps we should alert someone? by Katherine Procter with Brandon Carey, Pecari, Brandon Carey, Jay Carey, Kitty Procter

It's not paranoia if they really are out to get me. by Clark Dill with Atlas Primred, Pecari

A sixth year to the rescue! by James Carey

Please give me something to do. by Liliana Bannister, Pecari

Everyone Look Here! Important! by Aria Yale with Lionel Layne, Oliver Ferguson II, Aladren

0 Professor Olivers Beginners Charms 0 Professor Olivers 1 5

Ji-Won "Jamie" Park, Pecari

March 22, 2014 10:30 AM

Freedom? by Ji-Won "Jamie" Park, Pecari

Class. The mandatory hours of sitting down, being a good boy and doing as he was told. What a drag. At least they finally got to do proper magic. He'd helped his parents out whenever he couldn't get away with avoiding it, so he'd brewed a couple of Potions in his time (or at least prepped the ingredients – he could probably slice ginseng in his sleep, as it was the main ingredient in everything as far as his mother was concerned). Jamie was excited for Charms, especially, as most of the cool magic was here – all the flashes, whizzes and bangs.

He sauntered into class, taking a seat towards the back of the room. He was glad Ji-Eun was in intermediates so wouldn't be constantly looking over his shoulder. Figuratively speaking, as she was bound to be up in the front row for class. He drummed idly on the desk, waiting for something to happen. Even though he wasn't keen to start work, waiting around was pretty dull. He preferred to be doing something. Therefore, it didn't take long before gave up assuming anything was going to happen. About six minutes after the class was due to start was enough for him to give up any pretence that he was waiting patiently. Apart from the fact that it seemed too good to be true...

“Do you think it's really possible that we've got some time to ourselves?” he asked the person next to him keenly.

13 Ji-Won "Jamie" Park, Pecari Freedom? 284 Ji-Won "Jamie" Park, Pecari 0 5

Ariel Thornton, Crotalus

March 23, 2014 8:27 PM

Is it? by Ariel Thornton, Crotalus

Ariel woke up the morning of her first class back at "freaksville" and groaned. After her summer back at home she had hardly been looking forward to returning to the place where they housed all the freaks. Little by little over the last year she been made to accept the fact that she was just as freaky as her messed up family. She hated that fact more and more as the new term loomed over her head. Her mother and stepfather were excited about her sister Bri making Quidditch captain this year and her mother mentioned something about her freak of a cousin being a "prefect" or whatever. Ariel shrugged and rolled her eyes in irritation. She hated it when her mother gushed about stupid stuff like that.

Ariel also found it amusing that her freak of a cousin was engaged to some French guy. Good riddance she thought to herself. Let him deal with her freaky self. He could have her as far as she was concerned. She chuckled softly to herself as she dressed for her class. As much as she disliked having to go she didn't want to be late. She hated tardiness and just because she was stuck in her current prison with her fellow inmates did not mean she had to be tardy. She stuffed her Charms book and and other class items into her bookbag before heading out the door of her dorm room. She glanced towards her roommate's bed and grinned. Out of all of her fellow inmates in "Freaksville" she actually liked Morgana which said quite a bit considering the fact that the second year Crotalus despised most everyone else on the face of the planet.

She left the Crotalus common room and walked slowly towards the Charms room. She arrived a few minutes before the bell to signal the start of class and was intrigued to see that their jailor was not at her regular post behind her desk. Curious she thought to herself as she took her seat. She sat back against the seat at her desk and crossed her legs at the ankles. She had already dropped her bag onto the floor beside her desk as she sat down. She pulled her notebook and pen out of her book bag and put them on her desk. She lightly tapped her pen on her notebook while resting her chin on her palm and her elbow on the desktop. After a few minutes she glanced around the room at her fellow inmates who like her had come into the room and frowned when their jailor still hadn't shown up. "What the devil?" she mumbled to herself as almost ten minutes passed and still no jailor.

She was just about to throw her stuff back in her bag and take a hike when she heard a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her mother reminding her that good girls didn't run out on their responsibilities. Huffing irritably under her breath Ariel dropped her notebook back onto her desk. She began to wonder if their jailor was ever going to show up and found her wonderings interrupted by the boy next to her. Do you really think it's possible that we have some free time to ourselves? he had asked. Ariel found herself staring blankly at the first year beside her before replying to his question. "That's a good question," she remarked. "It isn't like the jailors not to be at their appointed positions." Funny how that comment made her wonder something else. If jailor Olivers was missing, how many other jailors were also missing?

Ariel's mother had always told her she was too smart for her own good. It seemed her mother might finally have been right about one thing. Not being able to stop herself she asked him a question of her own. "You didn't happen to notice anything strange on your way to class, did you?"

OOC: Please remember that any opinions expressed herein are those of the character and not shared by the author. Ariel strongly believes that she is being held prisoner in a prison for freaks (anyone who casts magic of any kind) and not an school. Any reference she makes to the other students being inmates like herself or the professors being jailors is strictly her opinion regarding her current situation.

0 Ariel Thornton, Crotalus Is it? 0 Ariel Thornton, Crotalus 0 5

Katherine Procter

March 23, 2014 10:34 PM

Perhaps we should alert someone? by Katherine Procter

Kitty awoke earlier than she had intended in her nervous excitement over her first day of lessons: Beginners' Charms. Stretching in a manner rather similar to her calico cat, Rhiannon, she climbed out of bed to freshen up for breakfast. Treading lightly as to not disturb her roommates, she took refuge in the bathroom braiding her hair into pigtails and taking care to pin them meticulously into a bundle at the nape of her neck, as was her usual way. When she felt presentable, she collected her satchel with her supplies and text book and left the dormitory to made her way to the Cascade Hall for breakfast (seeing as she had plenty of time to spare!).

She stopped short after glancing out a window. The clouds were purple. Owls were flyings about, and everything seemed hazy. Was that normal here? Feeling her composure slip slightly, she hitched her satchel higher on her shoulder and hurried along, avoiding eye contact with any students in the hall. The Cascade Hall seemed odd, as well. The prairie elves, creatures that Kitty only recognized from a photo in a book, were searching under tables and any (and every) nook and cranny; and the Head Girl was giving some explanations from the front of the hall, but Kitty barely comprehended her words. There were prairie elves searching the corridors, she recalled, and that did not seem right. Didn't the books say they tended to remain unnoticed? Deciding that she would rather just get out of there, she quickly drank some orange juice, ate some wheat toast with blackberry preserves, and left to get a head start to Charms.

Hopefully, things would be more normal there.

Kitty took a seat in the second row at the end nearest the door. It wasn't in the front, so she was not as likely to be called on, but it was close enough for her to take it all in. She placed her notebook and textbook on her desk, and waited for the professor to arrive. And she waited, and waited, and continued to wait, her nerves growing tighter and tighter as she did.

What is going on? she thought. Did I misread my schedule? Kitty looked around her at the other first and second years in her class. Well, it was obvious that she was not mistaken as to the time for class (she thought herself silly for thinking so for even a moment). Grabbing the lock of hair that usually came loose behind her left ear (her dark brown hair was angled in front, resulting in loose bits around her face, it was just the section behind her left ear that bared the assault of her nervous habit), she began to twirl it around her index finger while worrying her lower lip.

"Should we call for someone?" she whispered to no one in particular, keeping one eye on the door in case their teacher came in. "Something could be wrong."

What was going on?

0 Katherine Procter Perhaps we should alert someone? 0 Katherine Procter 0 5

Brandon Carey, Pecari

March 24, 2014 12:24 AM

I'd rather not by Brandon Carey, Pecari

Lessons were always hard for Brandon – there was always the need to pay attention to the instructor, which was even worse here than it was at home since there were so many other people around to distract him, and often the teachers wanted him to write; that had been getting a little better after more than half a year of work with the evil reading tutors, but he still found it easier to draw the teachers a diagram than to write them the wordy explanations they actually wanted – but as far as they went, Brandon thought Charms wasn’t half-bad. He was not bad in anything except Potions, which required more attention to detail than he had to give, but Charms felt brighter, somehow, than his other classes. Defense was as good for flashing lights and fun things, but there was always the sense that you were supposed to be serious there, that it was all important, and in Transfiguration there was always the emphasis on how it was all dangerous. The attitude of Charms, Professor Olivers with her hats and all, was preferable to those, though Brandon thought he actually liked Deputy Headmistress Professor Skies a little better, personally. She was nice and gave cookies, and while Brandon knew he was, now that he was twelve, supposed to be too old to like someone just because of that, he liked her for it anyway.

Today, though, he was almost eager to get to any class, because he wanted someone to explain what was up with the purple sky. He had been asking his brothers and sister all morning, and had even tried Alex in desperation right after breakfast, but they had all just brushed him off and hurried about their business except Henry, who’d muttered something about not wandering off before running off after Anthony. That was not nearly enough to ease his curiosity, and he was sure the teachers would have a better explanation.

The only problem was, Professor Olivers wasn’t in class.

Brandon frowned at her empty desk for a minute, wondering if she was going to jump out from behind it – now that he thought about it, he thought he remembered someone at breakfast talking about a joke, the teachers playing a joke, or something like that. He didn’t know; he knew some adults had kind of a bad sense of humor, so maybe teachers could, too, though it didn’t really make sense to him that they would bother pulling a joke on first and second years. Jokes were fun when they were on someone far above you, someone who could make your life misera – well, he guessed that would make them fair targets, since students could definitely make a teacher’s life miserable, but still, they were small enough, and the teachers strong enough compared to them, for him not to see what the point of the joke was.

Besides, Professor Olivers might have a sense of humor, but time was not something she had it about. The woman was crazy when it came to punctuality. Maybe not as bad as Professor Meade had been, he’d actually locked Brandon out once, but bad. As if the first few minutes were ever anything but business, anyway, and how much effort did it take to change the mark beside his name from ‘absent’ to ‘present?’ None, Brandon was sure. Teachers were just needlessly uptight about some things….

He realized he had gotten distracted from his own chain of thought when a sound caught his ear, a voice beside him. He looked, blinking, at the girl he didn’t know and so assumed was a first year, or else really, really boring.

“Yeah, but if we leave class, we’ll get in trouble,” he said, prim as a Crotalus himself for one moment before elaborating, with a grin, that “Jay’ll take my ears for polish rags if I leave class without permission.” Not really, of course, but Jay would be silently disapproving, again, and Brandon hated that almost as much as he thought he would having his ears cut off to polish shoes with. “Somebody’ll come soon – they don’t trust us not to blow the place up,” he added confidently, as he knew the staff had good reason to think that. He made a small bow in his seat, which sent a lock of brown hair falling into his square face; he pushed it back as he straightened up again. "I'm Brandon Carey - South Carolina Careys," he said, though he failed, as usual, to give the family name the grave intonantion and phrasing he knew the family would really prefer. "And Pecari. Are you new? And has anyone told you why the sky's purple?"

0 Brandon Carey, Pecari I'd rather not 0 Brandon Carey, Pecari 0 5

Katherine Procter

March 24, 2014 9:09 AM

Hopefully, someone will come soon. by Katherine Procter

When the dark haired boy beside her replied to her quiet musings, Kitty brought her gold eyes around to him. His voice was formal and serious when he mentioned the likelihood of getting into trouble (she did not like the sound of that), but then, a smile spread across his lips when he added, "Jay’ll take my ears for polish rags if I leave class without permission."

Kitty ducked her head, using the shorter sections of hair framing her face to shield her smile from view. She didn't reply, as she was not sure how one should reply to that, especially as she did not know who "Jay" was or if he was likely to literally do what the boy implied, but her neighbor continued with, "Somebody’ll come soon – they don’t trust us not to blow the place up."

Blow the place up? thought Kitty, beginning to grow alarmed. She was grateful her hair obscured any view of her widening eyes. Is that what Charms class is like?

She looked at him through the veil of her hair as he introduced himself as Brandon Carey of the South Carolina Careys (Were all magical people so formal with their introductions? she wondered. He had even bowed!) "And Pecari," he added, "Are you new? And has anyone told you why the sky's purple?"

Kitty tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear to reveal her face, but she kept her eyes downcast, her usual shyness shining through. "Yes, I'm a first year in Crotalus. My name is Kitty Proctor," she answered, her voice low, but clear. "Unfortunately, I don't know why the sky is purple. Magic is so very new to me, and I have never seen anything like it before. The clouds, that is. I'm sorry that I do not know more."

Biting her lower lip once more, Kitty stole a glance at the door again, in hopes that a professor (or some figure of authority) would arrive and regain a sense of normalcy to the world once more.

0 Katherine Procter Hopefully, someone will come soon. 0 Katherine Procter 0 5

Clark Dill

March 24, 2014 12:50 PM

It's not paranoia if they really are out to get me. by Clark Dill

Clark had known for most of his life that he was part-alien. His human mother had found Dad's alien conspiracy website, tracked down where he was living in a storage unit, and left Clark there to keep him safe from the government as well as the aliens who where trying to track her and her son down. Clark had no idea if Mom had escaped as cleanly as he did. After all, Dad made a greater effort at separating his digital presence from his real life existence after he moved into an actual apartment with a toddler age adopted son. So, if Mom had ever made any further attempt at contact, she apparently couldn't find them again.

Clark liked to believe she had survived and was living happily somewhere under the radar, secure in the knowledge that her son was also safe.

When he woke up for his very first day of Sonora Classes, Clark thought nothing of the prairie elves being everywhere. He was a little concerned that he caught one of them looking in his trunk, but he knew he had nothing incriminating in there, so he wasn't too worried about it. Especially since another one was looking in Oliver's trunk, so it wasn't just him they were investigating. Maybe checking for unapproved pets or something, though Clark would have thought such searches would have been done the night before when transporting the luggage from the wagons to the dorms.

No matter.

It wasn't until he looked out a window that Clark became alarmed. The clouds outside were purple. While this was not completely impossible from a scientific point of view, it was highly unlikely, especially for this time of day and the homogeneity of them. Clark feared it might be the exhaust cloud from an alien ship that had located Clark at Sonora.

Dad knew it was a calculated risk sending him here. The Aliens had tried invading before. But it had been a long time since their last overt attack and Dad had believed it more important for Clark to learn to control his magic - which he might have been born with or which he might have absorbed the ability from Dad subconsciously with his Alien Powers - and so he had been sent here.

Apparently they still had spies and had somehow recognized one of their own during the Sorting last night.

Clearly the Cascade Hall was under surveillance then. Clark returned to his room, asked an elf looking under Professor Fawcett's desk (presumably for invaders, as the school's defenses must have alerted the elf armies to be on high alert) for breakfast to be sent up to him in his room. This did arrive in time for him to eat it before heading out to Charms.

He tried to pretend like everything was normal and there weren't his people hovering overhead, trying to kidnap him back and putting the whole school at risk. He was just a normal eleven year old kid like everyone else. Nothing to see here. But he still jumped and shrieked a little bit and hid behind some armor when an elf popped out from behind a wall tapestry unexpectedly. When he realized it was just an elf, Clark pretended that didn't happen, too, and kept walking to his charms class, staring straight ahead and trying super hard not to blush at his overreaction.

He sank into a seat in the back once he reach the classroom. This was unusual behavior for him. He normally liked to sit up front. But today there were aliens about so it was best to stay out of sight as much as possible, in case there was any genetic resemblance. Clark looked human enough. Tall for his age and thin and with a kind of Blond Russian look to his features, but outwardly human in all respects. But if the aliens that could invade any moment now were also tall and blond and, well, probably not Russian, but humanoid anyway, there could be comparisons.

No teacher came when the class was due to begin. No teacher came after that either.

They were probably all out there defending the school from the alien mothership and the purple poison of their exhaust fumes.

A few seats away an Asian kid started talking the red-haired girl next to him, and other groups were starting to converse as well. Under any other circumstances, Clark would have been happy to jump in and start chatting until a professor showed up, apologized for the confusion, and started their lesson. Today, though, Clark knew there would be no such professor, and it was his fault, so he slouched down guiltily in his seat.

Dad said he'd be safe here, but he hadn't said that safety would be bought at the expense of everyone else in the school.

1 Clark Dill It's not paranoia if they really are out to get me. 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Brandon Carey

March 24, 2014 5:36 PM

We'll just wait and see, I guess by Brandon Carey

Kitty Procter of Crotalus didn’t know what was going on, either, but Brandon only shrugged when he found that out. “I haven’t, either – that’s why I’m asking everybody. I don’t think anybody else knows, either, but they won’t admit it.”

He hadn’t realized that until he said it, and he sort of wished he had done neither once he did. The thought that they all just thought he was annoying and not important enough to tell things, or that it was all so unimportant that he was stupid even for asking, had, it turned out, been nicer than that one. But it made sense. As far as he had ever heard, his siblings had never seen clouds like the ones outside now or classrooms without professors, either, so how would they be any surer than he was what was going on? They might have a glimmer of an idea, because they knew more about magic, but not that much.

He grinned again, a little manically, trying to stay cheerful. He was probably wrong. He usually as. Everyone knew that, good at magic and understanding concepts he couldn’t write well about or not, Brandon was not the brains of the operation which was his immediate family – he didn’t think enough about things that sounded fun at the time before he did them to have a chance at that. That was Jay’s job, and Brandon was sure that even if something was somehow very wrong at Sonora today, his brother would look after him, so there was really nothing for him, personally, to worry about. The older students, the ones with badges, would also take care of things if the teachers were too busy to, just like the other branch heads took care of things in parts of the family Brandon’s great-great-grandfather, Anthony Carey IV, didn’t have time to, even though he was always above all of them. The prefects would take care of everybody, and Jay and Alex, the ones in charge of the Careys at Sonora this year, would take care of him

“So, Crotalus,” he said, leaping wireless stations without a pause. “I have a brother in Crotalus. Henry. He’s in fifth year. And your Head of House is awesome. Professor Olivers is good, too, but I really like the DHPS.” He abbreviated the long name out loud, the way some people did the name of the Defense class.

0 Brandon Carey We'll just wait and see, I guess 275 Brandon Carey 0 5

Atlas Primred, Pecari

March 25, 2014 12:07 AM

It might be paranoia in this case. by Atlas Primred, Pecari

Atlas awoke with a startle, ever since he was a little kid; he had been a light sleeper. His eyes where stilled filled with sleep, so he couldn’t make out what was going on at first. He quickly realized a figure was looking through his trunk where he kept his personal belongings. Hesitating for only a moment, he pulled his wand out from under his pillow and pointed it at the intruder ready to cast a Fire-Making Spell . It was more of a force of habit than maliciousness. He had to be that way if he wanted to keep his things safe back at the orphanage. He was one of the younger and the smallest boy, so he was often times a target, especially being the only boy of Japanese decent (or that’s at least what he thought he was). Although he hadn’t been there in over 6 years, he still fell back into habit easily.

“What are you doing?!” he said in an uncharacteristically authoritative voice. The intruder ignored him, and continued to rummage their way Atlas’ paints and drawings. Atlas rubbed his eyes, and got on his knees so he could get a better view of the culprit at the end of his bed. Atlas’ eyes widened slightly when the face of a house elf glanced up at him for a quick second, then swiftly shut the trunk. Atlas’ lowered his wand, confused, but no longer hostile. “What are you looking for, and why are you going through my things?” he asked, his voice more settled and a bit croaky from just waking up.

The elf, which was now looking under his bed, again ignored Atlas. Now he was getting irritated. He deserved to know why he was looking though his things. “Hey!” He said jumping off his bed to squat next to the elf. “I don’t have anything you want,” he said, moving his wand in front of him. “ Lumos ” Atlas incanted, his wand tip lighting up to a soft orange color. Despite being Muggleborn*, Atlas never had a problem casting spells and was rather good at it in contrast to muggle school where he barely paid attention and only did enough work to get by. Yet he still had problems with controlling how much power he put into his spells. This time the spell only had a slight tinge of red; unlike the first couple times he tired casting it last year.

“See, there is nothing under here,” Atlas said showing the Elf that albeit some dust, he didn’t have anything. The Elf’s face fell and worry showed in his large eyes, he began to hit himself against the wood paneling. “Whats wrong?! Stop doing that you’ll hurt yourself,” he pleaded, trying to get the elf to stop. The Elf paused and looked up at Atlas and murmured in a frantic manner, “but I can’t find the Masters!” Before Atlas could even reply, the Elf was gone, leaving him dazed and confused.

Atlas spent the rest of the morning in thought; he noticed several other elves in the dormitory and even more in the common room. However, once he left the Pecari Commons, he saw the ominous purple clouds. Any other day he would have assumed it was just Sonora being Sonora, but the elf from before made him think otherwise. To boot, it wasn’t just the elves in Pecari, more elves were scouring the garden as well, even going so far as to look in flowerpots and in the fountains. He decided to skip breakfast; he was already running late from his run in with the elf earlier, and headed to Charms class.
The first thing he noticed was the noise. Charms class was never this noisy, not at least with Professor Olivers to start class any minute. He took a seat in the back, in case it was a trap to catch people had arrived at the last minute. He stat in the chair nervously pulling at the crimson string on his wand that matched his hair, when he noticed someone next to him slouched in his seat. He decided to take it as an opportunity to see if he knew anything that might explain what was going on, or if he knew whom the “masters” were that the house elf was talking about.

“Hey, did you hear the house elves say anything about “masters” this morning?” he asked still scanning the room for Professor Olivers. “I had a run in with a house elf this morning that said something about it. He seemed pretty freaked out. And something doesn’t seem right about the sky either, but it could just be Sonora being Sonora,” he added.

OOC:

*Although Atlas is referred to as muggleborn, being adopted he doesn’t know what he is. I say muggleborn because he feels he identifies with being muggleborn more.

0 Atlas Primred, Pecari It might be paranoia in this case. 276 Atlas Primred, Pecari 0 5

James Carey

March 25, 2014 6:52 PM

A sixth year to the rescue! by James Carey

OOC: Continued from Potions. BIC:

As he walked down the hall, Jay tried to think what he was going to say when he got to the Charms classroom. He dared to hope that Professor Olivers had returned, or would return before he arrived – Advanced students were, after all, supposed to take more responsibility for their own studies than other students did; it was just possible they had been abandoned to make that point – and that he would have to apologize profusely for interrupting her class and do what he could to pin it all on the Head Boy before reporting back to Thad and Alicia that it was all just a false alarm. He didn’t think he’d even care if the professor threw him in detention, even though he had only left Potions on Thad's orders. Not much, anyway.

When he walked into the Charms classroom, though, he found nothing but eleven and twelve-year-olds, most of them talking to each other. At least they weren’t doing anything alarming at the moment, but now he was in a bind: he had to figure out something to do with them. All of them.

“Hello, everyone,” he said loudly, though with a smile, to call attention to himself. A sixth year, and just short of tall for it beneath his short, curly light brown hair, he was obviously older than them, a fact he hoped would hold some weight with the beginners. Nothing for it but to jump in. “I’m James.”

“Hi, Jay!” a familiar voice sang out, and Jay was able to follow it to find where Brandon was sitting. Well, at least he hadn’t run off. He nodded slightly, but chose to not otherwise acknowledge his brother right now.

“As I’m, uh, guessing you’ve noticed, Professor Olivers isn’t here right now,” he said. “She’ll…probably be back soon. But for now, you can talk, as long as you keep it quiet – and I’ll tell you if you’re getting too loud – or read in your seats.” He looked at Professor Olivers' desk and tried to decide if he had the nerve to go through a teacher's things. "For now. We'll see if we can come up with something interesting to do in a few minutes, if we need to."

Jay had, he was pretty sure, gotten every entry-level incantation and wand movement on his CATS right, even the minor ones of almost no practical use to an older student. This was because he’d spent his fifth year going over beginner Charms, along with beginner Everything Else, with Brandon, making sure his brother absorbed the information he might have missed in the less focused atmosphere of a classroom. Figuring out the order to teach things in, though, had not been up to him, and neither had he tried to manage multiple first and second years at once. Trying to teach an actual class was not something he had ever considered before, not once. If they got restless, though, he thought he might have to try it, if he could bring himself to take his eyes off the room long enough to read anything, anyway. He had a badge on his robes, which he hoped they would take for a prefect's instead of an Assistant Captain's, but that didn't necessarily mean they were going to listen to him.

OOC: As Jay notes, he's just an older student, so do feel free to react to Jay however would be in character for your characters, whether that’s listening to him, completely ignoring him, or throwing paper airplanes at his head. Don't, though, write how he reacts to anything thrown at his head. Carry on!

0 James Carey A sixth year to the rescue! 222 James Carey 0 5

Katherine Procter

March 28, 2014 4:18 PM

I don't know if this is what we had in mind. by Katherine Procter

Brandon Carey changed subjects faster than Kitty could keep up. Her mind was spinning with his rapid fire topics. She was still mentally coming to terms with the curiosities of the morning and how no one had an inkling concerning what was going on, when he changed gears again and starting talking about her House. Apparently, he had a brother in Crotalus. She wondered if she would cross paths with him at some point and if he was in any way like his outgoing younger brother.

He moved on to singing the praises of the "DHPS." Kitty pondered that. DHPS? The only thing she could think of for that one was "Deputy Headmistress Professor Skies," so she ran with it.

She was about to open her mouth to confirm or deny this suspicion when the door opened. Thinking it may finally be their missing professor, Kitty turned her full attention to the visitor. As it turned out, it was a student, probably a fifth or sixth year (Kitty couldn't be sure) with curly hair.

"Hello, everyone. I'm James," greeted the mystery boy.

Beside her, Brandon said, "Hi, Jay!" Ah, so this was the Jay-of-the-polish-rags, she thought. James/Jay just nodded at Brandon.

“As I’m, uh, guessing you’ve noticed, Professor Olivers isn’t here right now. She’ll…probably be back soon. But for now, you can talk, as long as you keep it quiet – and I’ll tell you if you’re getting too loud – or read in your seats. For now. We'll see if we can come up with something interesting to do in a few minutes, if we need to," continued James from the front of the room.

Kitty, knowing she looked as puzzled as she felt, glanced around the room at the seated first and second years. They were all chatting more or less quietly, so she was confused as to his instructions (considering they were pretty much doing what he had asked them to do, already). Shrugging, she turned back to Brandon.

"So, it looks as though he won't have any excuse to use your ears for polish rags," she quipped dryly. She began to twirl her hair again. "But, now what do we do?"

0 Katherine Procter I don't know if this is what we had in mind. 0 Katherine Procter 0 5

Jamie Park

March 29, 2014 3:26 AM

Looking good... by Jamie Park

Jamie smirked at the other girl's remark, referring to the teachers at jailors. He liked her sense of humour.

“They're really that bad, huh?” he asked. Ji-Eun had tried to impress upon him that the professors were strict and would broker no nonsense but he wasn't sure how much of that had been an attempt to scare him into behaving. After all, if he got in trouble, so would she, for not setting a good enough example.

He frowned as an older boy entered, announcing himself as James. Jamie was disgruntled both by the fact of someone else having his name (even if he went by a cooler version of it) and that this older kid might be about to start bossing them around. He glanced around the class, trying to work out whether the predominant air was one of rebellion or whether the little lost sheep were glad to have someone to herd them. But them James said they could just carry on talking or whatever, so Jamie shrugged, turning back to the girl next to him.

“Wow, I hope all our classes are the easy,” he joked, with a grin, “My sister was making out that it was complete slog here. I'm Jamie, by the way,” he added.

13 Jamie Park Looking good... 284 Jamie Park 0 5

Liliana Bannister, Pecari

March 30, 2014 9:32 PM

Please give me something to do. by Liliana Bannister, Pecari

After signing up for Quidditch that morning, Liliana had realized that she had forgotten her class schedule on her bed. Since she was still in the same level classes as the previous year, she knew that her schedule hadn't changed at all but for some reason she felt as though she wanted it by her side anyway. It just felt right for some reason. Going back to her room for her schedule, however, meant that Liliana had less time for breakfast so, by the time she had arrived in the Charms classroom, fifteen minutes early (because a lady never rushes), she had only eaten a cup of yogurt and had a cup of tea. Absorbed in eating as quickly as possible (while still trying to avoid indigestion), Liliana had barely noticed the going-ons at breakfast.

However, after she had found a desk in the front so that she could pay more attention to what Professor Olivers was saying and at least try her hardest to focus, she began to realize that perhaps something was wrong. Professor Olivers was normally a very punctual person. She hadn't ever been late- as far as Liliana could remember, and as time drew closer and closer to the beginning of class Liliana began to wonder if something was seriously wrong. Other students were talking lightly among themselves, and Liliana wasn't entirely sure what she should do. She hadn't particularly been social with many people as of yet, just Atlas and the students on the Quidditch team really although she had talked to Adam's little sister in class the previous year and she vaguely remembered a happy first year from Crotalus on her first day of flying lessons. A girl, Liliana remembered with a blush, she had been rather rude to. But that had been during her hateful days as she liked to call it.

Liliana looked around the room, playing with her long, light brown hair that she had decided to leave down that morning. Perhaps Professor Olivers was hiding somewhere? Or perhaps there was a clue hidden on a desk or on the board at the front of the room? A clue with incantations for the days' lesson that would reveal where Olivers was hiding. Liliana smiled, pleased with herself for having come up with such an explanation but when no such clue revealed itself and no one really seemed to be getting up to check, she sighed. She was probably wrong though that was how things always happened in those novels she had no patience to read. Finally, she got up out of her seat to stretch and began to walk around the room. She didn't want to sit still any longer, it was driving her nuts. She'd never had one of her fits at school before, but that was mainly because there was always a hands-on activity for her to learn at least within twenty minutes of the start of class. Hands-on learning, how she loved that term. it meant that she was doing better here at Sonora than she had been back home with her tutors who had all ended up quitting since she had such a short attention span.

"I wonder," she said to herself. "Perhaps there really is something written on the walls or up on the board that we have to be looking at with just the right angle or else we won't notice it at all. How foolish we'd seem if that was the case." And how foolish it will be if it isn't, she scolded herself but nonetheless continued her walk around the room. She continued to look around until someone interrupted her thoughts. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked politely.

10 Liliana Bannister, Pecari Please give me something to do. 274 Liliana Bannister, Pecari 0 5

Brandon Carey

April 02, 2014 6:52 PM

Better than nothing, though by Brandon Carey

Brandon laughed when Kitty said Jay wouldn’t get to cut his ears off after all. “Nothing, I guess,” he said. “Or – I don’t know. Do you know any charms yet?”

There was always something to do, if you knew some charms. Brandon had paid special attention in this class last year, so much that it was the one Jay had to tutor him in least for him to keep up with the others, because there was a lot of time at school when no one seemed to be doing much at all and he had, without Diana here and with his brothers studying in their own common rooms a lot, to entertain himself. He took out his wand.

“Watch this,” he said, and said the spell which made his wand produce a stream of bubbles, which began to float away and over the room at once. He started trying to catch one before the wand even stopped, causing it to angle downward, sending some bubbles toward his feet as well. Diana had enjoyed it when he managed to demonstrate this one for her over the summer, and Brandon was pretty sure it could keep anyone occupied for a long time. “Charms is awesome,” he said distantly, trying to step on one and catch another at the same time. “You can’t do stuff at home, unless they’re not watching you right then, but when you’re here you never have to be bored.”

Not being able to do spells over the summer, after learning so many he’d enjoyed or which just made things easier last year, had been hard. Brandon thought it was stupid, at least for families like his. Some tried to live in towns or cities, where they might be seen, but his family protected the family land even from other wizards they didn't want around, or at least not at a particular time. He was sure Muggles, who knew nothing about anything at all, could never find them or bother them however they tried.

0 Brandon Carey Better than nothing, though 275 Brandon Carey 0 5

Katherine Procter

April 06, 2014 7:39 PM

This is always true. [TAG: James Carey] by Katherine Procter

Brandon then waved his wand, producing bubbles from the end. Kitty watched with wide eyes as the bubbles floated around them, and at one point even being fired towards their feet (Kitty suspected that it wasn't intentional, but she was too distracted by the bubbles in front of her to notice if it was, in fact, a mistake). Her gold eyes crossed as a bubble popped against the tip of her nose, enticing a giggle to rise in her throat.

"Charms is awesome. You can’t do stuff at home, unless they’re not watching you right then, but when you’re here you never have to be bored," Brandon was saying. Kitty thought of the wand in her bag, a long piece of willow with a unicorn hair core (she recalled, with a light smile, her wonderment at the knowledge that unicorns existed) and a clear quartz inset in one end. She wondered when she would be able to perform as Brandon was here. So far, the only thing she had done with her wand was the emitting of gold sparks when she chose it, or rather when it had chosen her.

"I have yet to perform any spells," she replied, quiet in her distraction of trying to catch a bubble on her fingertip without having it pop (and her disappointment at not being able to obtain such a goal). "I know the theories, of course, I've read all my textbooks and pamphlets leading up to my coming here, but I have not been exposed to real magic before the flying covered wagon arrived. I was looking forward to actually learning in a practical setting."

Kitty had spoken without thinking. It was true, though. She did know the theories. She had read each of her textbooks from cover to cover, and each of the silly pamphlets given to her by the magical representative sent to guide her. Pamphlets with silly titles like, So, You're Magical Among Muggles, but You Aren't Really Alone! and Magic is as Natural as Breathing. Even with the resources, she still felt lost. The books confused her, and she had looked forward to being able to ask questions. The fact that the teacher did not show up, added to the strange clouds and the bizarre behavior of the prairie elves, really upset her.

She blinked back sudden tears, successfully hiding the surge of emotion, and moved to make the boldest move she had yet to make since arriving at school (and, quite possibly, the boldest move she had ever made), she looked straight ahead, all bubbles quite forgotten, and raised her hand.

Knowing she was going to possibly be the center of attention, she could not fight the blush that rose on her neck and heated her cheeks as she addressed the sixth year at the front of the classroom. "James, what has happened with the professors? You said that Professor Olivers was detained, but I did not see any professors at breakfast. Is there something wrong?"

Kitty swallowed hard after such an uncharacteristic speech. She knew she still blushed from a mix of embarrassment at challenging an older student (in a manner of speaking) and her fear that something was wrong with the adults at he school. She already regretted her outburst, because she was afraid of the answer.

[OOC: I wasn't sure if I should split the reply between two different threads or tag James in this one and keep them together, so I opted for the latter. I hope that is all right!]

0 Katherine Procter This is always true. [TAG: James Carey] 0 Katherine Procter 0 5

Jay Carey

April 06, 2014 11:42 PM

I suspect it is by Jay Carey

The sight of the bubbles confirmed what Jay had feared from the first. Everyone, he imagined, was glad to be able to use their wands again after the summer, but first and second years could be especially impatient, since they hadn’t had years to get used to dull assignments and everyday uses, the things which made being able to do magic for yourself a normal part of life instead of something indescribably awesome.

Sometimes, Jay sort of missed that feeling. Sixth year was when they really began to learn what they could do with their powers, now that they were old enough to be trusted with such information, but from what Jay had read in his books over the summer, that was going to be closer to terrifying more often than it was purely exhilarating. The introduction to his latest Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook had been enough to induce a degree of paranoia, the secret fear that the perfectly normal-looking person sitting beside him, taking notes just as he did, could become a Dark Lord someday. A thought he wished he hadn’t had; if someone was going to snap, present circumstances seemed like a good time to do it. Not a good thing for a Carey, of all people, to say, but….

Brandon, he noticed, was staring at the girl beside him, who put her hand up. Jay was nearly to them when his brother began talking again, sounding very excited: “Never? You mean you’re Muggleborn, then?”

Jay thought several words Professor Olivers would have given him detention for using aloud, if he had done so or she been present to give detentions. He never ceased to curse the luck which had given him at least two siblings who were simply too innocent and scatter-brained to pay attention to blood politics, or anything actually useful, and Brandon was worse than Theresa. At least some of her…interests…might pay off somehow, someday, if she could keep them in line long enough.

“Brandon,” he said warningly, stepping up to them. “Be polite.” There were some things which were just not to be discussed, not in public. Especially not the way Brandon would. “Yes, Miss…?” he asked the girl, smiling politely himself, trying to emulate Professor Skies’ manner, as best he could. He thought of her as one of the best of the professors, firm but fair and approachable as well, even though she was the one who’d caused him no end of trouble by meddling in Carey business and getting Brandon diagnosed with the reading thing. It was not her fault, after all, that Jay and the rest of the family had not handled that well enough before it could come to her attention. They had been too focused on Henry, Theresa, Arnold, then Mother had had Peter, and….

Well, no use thinking on it now.

The question was just about the worst one the first year could ask, and he thought he might even include queries about Brandon’s sanity and academic ability in that thought. He bit his lip before speaking, trying to word it as carefully as he could in a very short time. He really should, he thought, have figured out an answer for this before now.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” he said. “Or exactly why the professors haven’t arrived in classes yet.” Exactly? He didn’t have the first clue. “However, the Head Boy and Girl are meeting with some of the prefects right now, and everything is going to be all right.” He said that very firmly. “We’ll know more very soon, and everything will be taken care of.”

The first and second years would be taken care of, anyway. The prefects would see the logic of that, or some of them, anyway. If necessary, he thought he and Alex might be able to set up a colony inside the school to manage them with some help from Anthony and maybe Aria if anarchy started to set in before the teachers got back, though it would involve locking everyone else out of one of the common rooms. That, though, was a ludicrous thought, one he chalked up to stress. The teachers would be back, with a logical explanation for all this, within the hour, making setting up his own commune of beginning students a very unlikely prospect.

0 Jay Carey I suspect it is 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Ariel Thornton

April 07, 2014 9:19 PM

I'll take your word for it by Ariel Thornton

Ariel caught the smirk on the younger boy's face and smirked herself. He seemed to enjoy her comment about the professor being their jailor. She found herself gazing at him blankly for a moment when he asked if the professors were really all that bad. She had never considered the fact that someone would infer that from her comments about them and wondered if they really were as bad as she made them sound. Sure, she saw her predicament as one of unending punishment since she discovered she was meant to join the ranks of her freaky family, but she hadn't considered the fact that her fellow inmates might not feel the same way as she did. Perhaps they were happy being freaks...unlike herself. She really had no way to know how the rest of her fellow inmates felt about it and decided not to dwell on it too much.

"I suppose they're not all that bad," she conceeded uneasily. "They're no worse than our parents are I suppose," she replied. "Unless you have like super strict parents or something," she added. "They don't take kindly to tardiness, but other than that they're bearable I suppose," she told him, wrinkling her nose slightly. As far as complimentary comments went that was the kindest thing she could say about their jailors. She shrugged at his other question. "I guess," she commented. "They haven't seemed to be all that difficult so far." She left out the fact that she barely participated in said "classes" due to her participation being a form of acceptance of her predicament and she was not about to give her jailors that satisfaction.

She glanced at him curiously for a second when he turned from her to the sixth year in the room, but she paid the older inmate no attention. She shrugged when he told them to carry on with their conversations and found she was glad when her neighbor turned back to her. She wasn't like giddy glad or anything silly like that. She detested being stuck where she was and doing what she was forced into doing, but she was glad-ish for the momentary distraction. Her lips twitched into a fraction of a grin at the question of easy classes and her reply to his comment. She regarded him briefly when he introduced himself and wondered if she was expected to shake his hand or something. Usually she ignored people when they spoke to her thanks to what her mother referred to as her unapproachable attitude.

For some reason this first year didn't seem put off by her "unapproachable attitude" and Ariel found herself giving him her name. "Nice to meet you Jaime," she commented politely. "I'm Ariel." Still not quite certain of the exact etiquette in this situation, Ariel did what she saw her father do in similar situations...she held out her hand and waited for him to shake it. Once that bit of pleasantry was dealt with Ariel found herself in a strange spot. She wasn't sure where they proceeded from there. "Soo...um...what do we do now?" she asked him absently. She was truly a bit curious on that one since she hadn't really ever been a people person as it were. She would just have to wait and see.

0 Ariel Thornton I'll take your word for it 0 Ariel Thornton 0 5

Aria Yale

April 08, 2014 9:30 PM

Everyone Look Here! Important! by Aria Yale

((Continued from Potions))

After leaving the Prefect/Head meeting in the Potions class, she made her way confidently through the halls of the school and towards the Charms wing where the Beginner class was being held. She didn’t hear any sort of screaming or explosions, so she took that as a good sign and figured James had a handle on everything. This gave her hope that any future lessons that she might be in charge of might go smoothly if they weren’t causing chaos on the first day of class and a Missing in Action staff.

Upon entering the room, Aria glanced around for James and found him standing in the midst of the desks. She pointed towards the front and continued on her way there. For those who had never seen her or didn’t know her, Aria looked like a delightful mixture of rebel and flower child. Her carefree clothing, love of nature, and normally curly blonde hair with small braids running through it had very much screamed hippie. But the dark eye make-up that surrounded her blue eyes and currently straight bright red hair – that could even look natural on her for anyone who didn’t know she was naturally blonde – gave her the illusion that she could cause trouble. The only thing that might have put people off of that thought was the genuine smile that was perpetually put on her face.

“Good morning, everyone!” She greeted once she was at the front of the classroom. “I am Aria Yale, Teppenpaw Prefect. I am sure that you all have questions and concerns and I will do my best to answer what I can, but at this time, it won’t be much and I apologize for that.” Aria had no idea if she could answer anything they might ask, but she would do her best. “First, I’d like to say that the Head students will make an announcement by lunchtime. At this time, not much is known, so we’re hoping the next couple of hours will to have some answers to give to you all at lunch.” Even saying it, she knew it sounded disappointing. “I do not want to dig too deeply into the matter as the Head Boy and Girl would like to address you directly. But if anyone does has a question, please do ask.” She waited for a moment to see if someone did before continuing on.

“I was told that we can let you all go for a free period if that’s what you would like. However, I know this is your first day of class and some of you may be itching to try your wands out? If James doesn’t mind being a help, perhaps we can give you a small, simple, but fun lesson? Of course, only if you all would like that.” Hopefully, Alicia and Thaddeus wouldn’t be upset with her for suggesting a lesson. She just didn’t want the students to be too disappointed in their first day. “If you do decide to take the free period, you are requested to head back to your common rooms quietly and remain there until further instructions are provided.” She couldn’t have them running around without supervision. “A vote? Would you prefer to spend time in your common rooms or learn magic?”

6 Aria Yale Everyone Look Here! Important! 228 Aria Yale 0 5

Jamie Park

April 08, 2014 10:58 PM

I am well worth listening to by Jamie Park

'No worse than parents' didn't exactly inspire Jamie with confidence, given the obsessive degree of control his wanted over his life, and their demands over his grades, accomplishments and choices of friends. In fact, the teachers would probably be a welcome relief, as they weren't exactly going to care about the last point and whether he was upholding 'good Korean values.'

“Mine are pretty bad but I know them well enough to get around the worst of it,” he explained, with a cocky grin. She seemed to regard the classes as pretty easy even when they did take place. Trust Ji-Eun to have over-stressed over every little thing. She was far too serious.

“Cool,” he smiled when she introduced herself, shaking her hand. He thought that was a little odd but it didn't particularly bother him.

“Do what the wise older student told us I guess,” he said, with mock seriousness, “And carry on talking,” he added breaking his stern expression with a grin. “So, worked out any good tips for getting around the staff here? Any of them a soft touch if you come with a sob story? Though that's much easier for girls,” he said, a little despondently. Girls could just cry and most people would let them get away with anything.

OOC – given how long the conversation went on in Potions, I figure we have a post or two before Aria shows, though if you want to include her coming in, I'm fine either way.

13 Jamie Park I am well worth listening to 284 Jamie Park 0 5

Lionel Layne

April 09, 2014 3:31 PM

Looking and Suggesting. by Lionel Layne

Leaving the Pecari common room for the first time had involved noticing that the clouds weren’t a normal color even when ‘normal’ was defined as ‘normal for a hurricane moving in’, but since they hadn’t been accompanied by any of the things which usually meant extremely bad weather was about to happen, Lionel had just assumed it was something to do with the magic of the school and had gone to breakfast without giving it much thought. Finding his cousin addressing the crowd at breakfast, with a particular variation on her smile Lionel knew from observation at family events meant she was stressed, had alarmed him more, especially since a moment’s observation of the room had led him to conclude that Alicia was quite possibly the oldest person in said room. She was saying everything was fine, but why would she need to assert it so if it really was? And why in the name of Merlin would the staff have left Alicia in charge of anything?

…Besides her being Head Girl, anyway. He had forgotten about that, for a moment. Because she’d never been a prefect, Lionel was used to thinking of Alicia as one of the kids still, not someone anyone would ever trust with any responsibility. Her classmates, though, had had a different opinion of her, so evidently she really was as much different here from how she was at home as Isaac had said she was.

Still curious, but doubting she and the other girl prefects she began talking to would welcome intrusions by a first year, he had eaten his breakfast and gone to his first class, where his first teacher had showed no signs of appearing. After a few minutes, Lionel had almost considered asking Isaac about this, too, but had noticed his cousin looking jittery and anxious, making Lionel think he either didn’t know or at best would not want to say, and had been fidgeting in his desk, playing with his textbook cover, not sure what to do, when an older student had showed up and told them to…carry on doing nothing, at least for a minute.

Obviously, something was wrong. Lionel bit his lip, wondering if he should take an older student showing up before things got really out of hand as a sign that such things happened often enough for people who had badges to have an idea how to handle them. On one hand, someone knowing what to do would be good, and students doing it meant that maybe the situation wasn’t particularly serious, but on the other, well, he had never heard any of his cousins mention anything like this, and he had listened a good bit – how not to, when he’d wanted to come to school as much as most people? Wands, friends his own age, more freedom from the oversight of parents….School was supposed to be grand that way.

A girl came in, red-haired and smiling, a prefect – one of the ones he’d seen Alicia talking to at breakfast. This one, though, admitted outright that she didn’t know what was going on.

“Let’s do something,” he called out. He didn’t know how popular that would make him with his classmates, but he couldn’t see that sitting around in the Pecari common room not knowing what was going on would be any better than sitting in here doing nothing and not knowing what was going on. Doing something was better than talking about why they weren’t doing anything, and besides, he did want to get to use his wand, finally.

16 Lionel Layne Looking and Suggesting. 283 Lionel Layne 0 5

Clark Dill, Aladren

April 14, 2014 6:53 PM

You say that because you're not part alien by Clark Dill, Aladren

Clark's self-imposed exile in the back of the room was interrupted by another student addressing him. He was only a first year on his first day of school, and an Aladren to boot, so nobody would naturally assume he was as cheerfully outgoing as he normally was and therefore wouldn't necessarily notice if he was acting out-of-character, but Clark would know, and, later, once the faculty finished dealing with the alien invasion, people might notice he had a character change then, so it was really best not to ignore the other boy and answer as normally as he was capable of doing. He truthfully didn't think any or second year students might suspect him of being indirectly responsible for today's weirdness, but it was best not to leave clues like that out there for people to find.

To make matters trickier, the boy was asking about the elves' motivations. Now, Clark was, at best, a half-blood, so his experience with elves - be they house, prairie, or Tolkien - was limited. Even he knew, however, that the chances of the 'Masters' being anyone other than their staff overseers was slim. He still had a brief moment of doubt when he wondered if maybe they meant the alien invaders and it was the elves who reported on Clark's presence. That fleeting bout of paranoia was quickly vanquished, however, when he realized that they would not be concerned about the aliens being 'missing' if that were the case. The aliens, after all, were 'coming' not 'missing'. It was the staff that was missing.

As evidenced by an older Aladren student coming in just then to tell them to carry on doing what they were doing because the teacher wasn't there to teach them.

So Clark drew together his reserves of normalcy - granted, he had mostly trained to act normal for governmental types who wanted to find and dissect him for his alien powers (not that he really had any, unless you counted magic, which was totally not fair; his people must have come from a yellow sun system, too), rather than fellow students in the midst of an alien mothership's invasion, but the same tricks ought to work - and smiled at the other boy. It wasn't quite as glowing as it might ordinarily have been, but it was a good representation of a friendly smile. It was hardly the other kid's fault he caught Clark on Alien Invasion Day, and Clark did want to make friends at his new school, assuming it still existed tomorrow.

"The elves are worried about the missing staff, I think," Clark answered, waving up toward the older student who had introduced himself as James Carey. "They were looking for something pretty hard this morning." He wasn't quite sure why they thought anybody would be inside a first year's trunk, but people did weird things when panicking.

As for the sky, the less said about that, the better, in Clark's opinion, so he said nothing more about that, pretending like he hadn't seen it.

"I'm Clark Dill," he introduced himself instead, feeling this was a safer topic. He added, proudly, thumbing his House badge, "Aladren, like my Dad."

OOC:
*As Clark is also adopted, his identification as a half-blood is likewise how he views himself rather than actual blood type, which he doesn't know, and thinks is part-alien anyway.

Also, I assume this is happening before Aria arrives.

1 Clark Dill, Aladren You say that because you're not part alien 277 Clark Dill, Aladren 0 5

Clark Dill

April 14, 2014 7:19 PM

What kind of choice is that? by Clark Dill

OOC: My other thread is still going with what went on between James' and Aria's arrivals. This post takes place after Aria and Lionel speak, and will be summarized in the other thread when we get here. BIC:

Clark's discussion with Atlas was interrupted after a few minutes by a second older student arriving with further information - or at least further instructions and the admission of having no idea what was going on, which Clark was secretly glad about - and two choices. They hardly seemed worth considering. One choice was, after all, infinitely preferable to the other.

Another boy he didn't know yet seemed to have the same thought. Clark raised his hand but did not wait to be called upon to agree with the only response a respectable Aladren could have, "I agree we should learn some magic, too." It wasn't exactly what the other guy had said, but it was how Clark chose to interpret 'do something'.

If the students were ever called upon to fight the aliens as well as the staff (an eventuality that was terrifying, but not impossible), the best 'something' they could do right now was learn how to handle themselves and their wands.

1 Clark Dill What kind of choice is that? 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Liliana Bannister

April 17, 2014 5:26 AM

At least it's a choice. by Liliana Bannister

Liliana's ponderings at the walls of the classroom were interrupted by an older student coming in, presumably, to take more charge than had by the one who was already in there. Her question didn't matter much to Liliana. She felt a little bit silly, wandering around the room now, clearly if two older students were in the room trying to be in charge then something was seriously wrong. When the girl called upon a vote, Liliana just shrugged. What did it matter to her if they had a lesson or not? The professor wasn't there and she didn't think there could be anyone else in the world who could make her want to learn something anyway. Class was not her favorite activity and she would have much rather gone to the Pitch and fly on her broomstick or perhaps venture to the MARS room for a dance. However, that did not seem to be an option as it was either learn magic or go to the common rooms. At least the Pecari ones were out by the Gardens so she at least would get some fresh air. The prefect had never said she couldn't loiter at the door of her common room.

The first student asked to do something, which Liliana wholeheartedly agreed with. She desperately needed to do something. She was getting quite restless just walking around the classroom. However, the next student to speak up suggested learning some magic. This did qualify as doing something but Liliana didn't know how she felt about this something. Learning magic was fun and all that but she had always had a hard time paying attention and liked it best when things were done they way they were supposed to, ie: lessons taught by teachers and not by older students. However, she decided to bide her time and see what everyone else thought. That was one thing she had learned from being on the Pecari team last year- sometimes, it was not always about you. Sometimes, you had to think about the group and what they wanted to do.

Liliana looked around the room, trying to decide if she wanted to wait for everyone else to respond before giving her opinion or not. In the end, she came to the conclusion that it didn't matter either way as her opinion hadn't mattered before when it came to choosing which school she was to attend. However it was not only a split second after she made up her mind to stay out of the vote that her mouth and hand betrayed her and she stated her opinion. "I'd rather go back to the common room." Who was she trying to impress, anyway?

OOC: Just respond to my below post if you'd like to respond directly to me.

10 Liliana Bannister At least it's a choice. 274 Liliana Bannister 0 5

Atlas Primred, Pecari

April 19, 2014 6:02 AM

I really have no idea what I am by Atlas Primred, Pecari

Before the boy could reply an older student named James came into the room. His roommate seemed to be really familiar with him. Atlas thought for a moment then remembered from the year book that they had the same last name. He figured that they were probably related somehow. Although Brandon seemed so much more goofy that James.

Atlas eyes widened slightly at his announcement about Professor Olivers not being there yet. Just what was going on? Everything seemed really suspicious. The upperclassman was pretty relaxed, which made Atlas even more suspicious. After all you should never trust a person that carefree in a situation like this. Atlas rubbed his chin slightly as he tried to put all the puzzle pieces together. He looked over to Lilliana who seemed displeased, well she always looked like that so nothing to worry about there. He would have to talk to her about this later, maybe she had noticed something he haddent. However he was snapped out of his train of thought when his partner finally spoke up.

"The elves are worried about the missing staff, I think," Clark answered, waving up toward the older student.

"So all the staff is missing huh?" He said more to himself than to the other student. Atlas wasn't really sure how elves worked, but it would make sense if the masters were the teachers. However that conclusion didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

"They were looking for something pretty hard this morning," the first year continued.

"Yea, I noticed. I just about blasted an elf this morning by accident," he said giving a weak apologetic smile. He didn't honestly mean to be hostile, hopefully the boy wouldn't think he was an insane Pecari student.

"I'm Clark Dill," the boy introduced himself, "Aladren, like my Dad."

"Oh," Atlas said forgetting that the hadn't even introduced himself yet. " I'm Atlas Primred. Pecari. I'm muggleborn though." He felt a little silly introducing himself so formally, or as formally as he could. "So where are you from? I'm from Santa Cruz in California." He noticed that most of the students he met last year always said where they were from, he figured he may as well do the same. At least it gave them something to talk about other than the mysterious events going on at the school.

OOC: Liliana's author gave me permission to talk about her here.

0 Atlas Primred, Pecari I really have no idea what I am 276 Atlas Primred, Pecari 0 5

Kitty Procter

April 29, 2014 11:09 PM

Hopefully, things will turn around soon. by Kitty Procter

Brandon's reply in regards to her blood status went unheard as Kitty stared at the older student ahead of her, concentrating on keeping her breathing steady and showing no signs at the nerves gnawing away at her insides. James sent him a quick "be quiet" before giving her his full attentions.

"Yes, Miss…?" he prompted.

"Procter. Kitty Procter, Crotalus House," she replied with only the faintest stammer, hoping that was the right way of answering. She then inquired about the professors' mysterious absences.

His answer was honest and candid, he admitted to not really knowing more than any of them (Kitty assumed the Head Students and Prefects had their theories, which were likely more realistic than anything she could think up), and he was reassuring that the older students will see that they were taken care of appropriately. She was satisfied with the response, and it calmed her nerves slightly.

Only slightly, but with strange purple clouds filling the sky, it would be a bit silly for Kitty to expect them to go away completely.

A red-headed girl came in then, and introduced herself as "Aria Yale, Teppenpaw Prefect" before making suggestions concerning a course of actions. Kitty felt that the idea of going to back to the Common Rooms was the best option, as she would really prefer her first lesson using magic was under he supervision of a professor. However, she was not comfortable with the notion of voicing her opinion twice to two complete strangers.

So she sat back, valiantly ignored the blush burning her cheeks, and hoped it would be the option that received the winning vote.

0 Kitty Procter Hopefully, things will turn around soon. 0 Kitty Procter 0 5

Jay Carey

May 08, 2014 12:54 AM

Offering more details on an option by Jay Carey

She was not Professor Olivers, but Jay smiled when Aria joined him anyway, then kept on as she addressed the class, slowly making his way to join her at the front of the room. He got there as she offered them options.

“Good call presenting it as a treat, bad idea giving them options,” he told her quietly. He had dealt with Brandon and Diana long enough to know: never give options unless you were truly indifferent to what they said. Never ask littles what they wanted to do, because inevitably, it would be exactly what you didn’t want them to do. The best way was to make them think the desired outcome was all their own idea, but short of that, speaking in a firm tone which assumed compliance and then threatening them with Grandmother if compliance didn’t follow was the way to do it.

He guessed Grandmother wouldn’t work as a threat here, but he wished she would. They could scatter in any direction, if they left, and he and Aria could only cover their own two Houses; he knew where Pecari and Crotalus were, or nearly, anyway, of course, because his sister and brothers were there, but he wasn’t supposed to, and he would get in trouble if he went in there, and then they’d still have to figure out what to do with the Aladrens. Better, he thought, just to keep them in one room as long as possible or until Professor Olivers came back, which surely she must do any time now. So he spoke up.

“Those who stay,” he offered, “first years, you’ll get to use your wands for the very first time.” Legally, anyway. He would eat his best pointy hat, the one usually reserved for formal family occasions where everyone acted as if they hadn’t left seventeenth century Scotland, if none of them had ever played around with their new wands before school. “We’ll start simple, just lighting your wands – “ he turned and hastily scrawled the word lumos on the board, his shoulders tense for the time he couldn’t see them – “you just point your wand for that, but if you get that down, we’ll move on to fun things with light, you know – bubbles,” he finished, remembering Brandon.

“Second years…since you’re much further ahead, and need to show the new guys what we can do here, you’ll start with something fun. You’ll make things dance.” He bit his lip as a difficulty with the first entertaining spell which popped into his head occurred to him. “Maybe on objects that don’t usually dance, just whatever you’ve got – some quills, or a twist of parchment, or a book, if there’s nothing in the cabinet,” he amended. He knew a simple spell which could produce paper dolls, a means of entertaining his littlest sister Cecilia, but he would really rather not admit that he was almost a grown man and knew how to make paper dolls in front of a room full of people, one of them a girl his own age. “The spell for that is agitovenia, and has a really complicated wand movement. I’ll draw that on the board.”

If he could remember it right himself. A hook to the left, a hook to the right – or was it the other way around? He erased quickly, making it right and then left – and then a tap to the doll, or whatever they could rummage up under the circumstances, then a figure eight while speaking the incantation, which was not the easiest one. While possibly working on paper. When they were second years, and one of them was Brandon, just returned from a magicless summer break. Dear Merlin, he was an idiot. If he ever did this again, it would only be after extensive lesson planning.

He only knew where one student in the class was, and so had no idea how long that would hold them, but he hoped it would take a while. If no one came, and they didn't all scatter to the winds, he would have to teach the theory, too, and needed to review it before he tried that.

Jay grinned at the class, trying to focus on having fun with magic. There was no way this was not going to go wrong.

OOC: Agitovenia was swiped from one of Professor Olivers’ lessons, a few terms old, which you can find here.

0 Jay Carey Offering more details on an option 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Oliver Ferguson II, Aladren

May 19, 2014 3:55 PM

Really? by Oliver Ferguson II, Aladren

The Charms professor had not shown up yet and Oliver was getting perturbed. How dare a member of the staff shirk her responsibilities in such a way! He was going to have his father talk to the Headmaster about this and perhaps the Board itself. The woman was quite obviously every bit as irresponsible as Evan was. Plus, she was not respecting her betters, the children of the powerful families who paid her salary.

He kept finding himself getting more and more irritated. How could the Aladren be superior to his cousins when he wasn't learning anything? He was going to be bested by Nora-and admittedly he had a lot to work for there, just to equal her, which he loathed with every fiber of his being, his cousin would surely be smug about him failing-but Portia as well. Portia, who was not as smart as her sister, and certainly not as smart as him. Or as fashionable. Oliver knew what was in . His father had taught him well.

When an older boy whom the Aladren had seen around the common room came in, he raised his eyebrows. This boy, James, didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. At all. Probably not someone respectable, he didn't seem to have much for polish. Respectable purebloods took lessons on how to behave. They had class.

Furthermore, why was he here and how would he know the professor wasn't? Unless she sent him. The first year would have chosen a better representative, though. Someone more articulate and less socially awkward. Someone more like himself. Of course, Oliver had to also wonder why James seemed not to know if the professor was going to actually going to show up . Perhaps she hadn't sent him, in which case did he have nothing better to do than just roam around the hallways and happen to see that Professor Olivers hadn't arrived? Or did she have a problem like his uncle's and James saw her passed out somewhere so he decided to be a hero and save the day by watching the 'unruly but innocent' beginners? Well, if that was the case maybe his awkwardness could be forgiven. It would be incredibly shocking to see a professor that way and if that was the case, Oliver certainly hoped the new Headmaster would clean things up around here.

Well, at least James wasn't going to continue bothering them though the Aladren still wondered what he was doing here in the first place. That's when yet another older student walked in. Was James viewed as that incompetent or did she just not know he was here already? Certainly, otherwise, there would be no reason for them to both be here.

She began to talk and Oliver's eyes flashed angrily. Unlike James, Aria had used her last name and the first year knew right away she wasn't anyone important, though he could tell that by how she did her make-up. Not only that, she was completely condescending, and if there was anything made him mad, it was that! Nora was like that and Oliver couldn't stand it.

He grabbed his stuff and got up, heading towards the door and then out it. The Aladren decided not to head to his commons either, but to the library. He wasn't necessarily one to defy authority, but even with her badge, Aria had none over him, any more than his cousins did.

OOC-Yeah, don't take anything he says or does personally. He's an obnoxious horrible little creature.

11 Oliver Ferguson II, Aladren Really? 278 Oliver Ferguson II, Aladren 0 5