Of siblings, fate, and dancing forks on Charms

Professor Wright

February 17, 2018 11:46 AM

Stop what that’s doing, Beginners (1st and 2nd years) by Professor Wright

Magic, it seemed, was in the air this year, and not in a cliched or customary way. Instead, all the students were trying - completely inadvertently, but nevertheless - to kill them. One was part-veela – though if she had been projecting in his class, he had not noticed, which would be a relief, and it seemed the precautionary measures Daniel and Selina had come up with were working so far, for all except possibly alleviating Cleo’s apparent misery – and Jozua Sparks was living up to his name. Of course, accidental magic was just a fact of life, particularly in a school, but this year it did seem to catch the attention more, at least with the Intermediate class.

The Beginners, however, did their bit for the purpose of keeping the teachers on their toes. For one thing, four students, now, who were not overly skilled in English was a small number on paper, but quite a larger one in practice. Dorian Montoir was improving, but Tatiana Vorontsov – she signed her own name a bewildering number of ways, all of which made her surname end in an ‘a’, but ‘Tatiana Vorontsov’ was the name on the rosters – had the unfortunate combination of a mother tongue at a substantial remove from English, a certain lack of patience, and a certain type of stubbornness that Gray thought more common in his House than in hers, and the new ones, Masha Adin and Heinrich Hexenmeister, actually were Aladrens. Gray had already made a mental note to watch out for Heinrich in particular – Aladren males could be like Gray himself, of course, and therefore mostly harmless, but they had a certain reputation for competitiveness, and one who couldn’t even enunciate the incantations properly was a situation to keep an eye on. Not a prejudicial eye, of course, but…an eye. Good thing he had four of those, too, really.

Another good thing was that the standard way to handle magic gone wrong was a simple spell the first and second years studied. It was one they would need often in their lives, for a wide variety of purposes, but until they had wizard kids of their own, they were never likely to use it so often as when they were in the class where they were learning it.

“Hello everyone,” he said, with the slight wave which was his standard greeting to students. “Today’s a day when our second years are going to revise and strengthen an old skill while the first years learn it. That skill is how to make a spell stop working.”

One advantage, he supposed, which the international students did have with him was that he had learned over the past two years to speak slowly, enunciating a bit much here and there, when lecturing – otherwise, he might stumble over his words or get lost in tangents. He still suspected he used more words than were necessary, because – well – words had been his business before this job, he had even had assignments where he’d been paid by the word, and he was just that way, but he tried to pare it down for this class a bit besides the effort it took to ensure he was speaking clearly to all the classes.

“Second years, you already know the spell finite incantatem,” he continued, gesturing toward where those words were written on the portion of the board which was to his left. “In Latin, that literally means ‘end spell.’ Who can tell me a kind of spell it won’t work on?”

Gray took answers, the nodded when he got the right one. “Good job, five points to your House. Dark magic and very complex charms don’t always response to this spell. That’s something you’ll study more in Intermediate and Advanced classes. Almost any spell you learn in Beginners, though, should respond to this.

“To keep things interesting, second years are going to practice today with just half the incantation,” he continued. “You’re each going to get an inanimate object out of this box – “ he pointed to the box on his left – “and have two jobs. First, you will make this object dance across your desk using the Dancing Feet Spell, which we also studied last year in our Charms of Motion unit.” The objects were all deliberately foot-less objects such as those they’d had in their exams, as this required more focus to make it move in something resembling a dance instead of simply spinning madly off the desk. He expected a few mad spins off desks today despite their previous familiarity. “Then you will stop the dancing by casting finite incantatem, but only using finite as your incantation.”

Finite was, of course, a double-edged sword: on one hand, it was faster, only saying one, shorter word. On the other hand, however, not specifying incantatem required more concentration, focus, or sheer magical power, so this would be something of a challenge for the second years – and give him an opportunity to get some idea of how they stood relative to each other, if the first years didn’t have a truly disastrous time with their own, simpler, tasks, which he turned to next.

“First years, your task will be a little easier. You will each get an object out of this box.” He pointed to the box on his right. “These objects already have spells on them.” Mostly color-change charms, though there were flashing charms and size charms and a few other non-motion charms in the mix as well. “Your job is to use finite incantatem until you think you have the original object. Then you raise your hand so I can tell you if you do.

“If no-one has any questions, you may line up to collect your objects and begin once you’re back to your desks,” he concluded.

OOC: Welcome to Beginner Charms! Glad to have you all. All the site rules apply to your posts here, and you earn extra points for length, creativity, and realism – a character who describes his or her object and spell-casting process really clearly and creatively but writes about the character failing to perform the spell correctly may get a higher point score than one who writes about performing the spell perfectly on the first try, for example. Remember that your characters are first and second years and that most students are not magical prodigies. If you have questions for me out of character, please tag me on the OOC board or catch me in Chatzy (usually these days as Tatiana Vorontsova), and if you have something to ask Professor Wright or which Professor Wright should logically notice (such as explosions, fights, etc.), please tag me in the subject line of your post and I’ll respond as soon as possible. Have fun!

Subthreads:

I think I can handle that by Michael DiCaprio, Pecari with Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

Of siblings, fate, and dancing forks by Dorian Montoir, Teppenpaw with Ruby Brockert,Teppenpaw

I...technically followed directions? by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw with Parker Fitzgerald, Professor Wright

16 Professor Wright Stop what that’s doing, Beginners (1st and 2nd years) 113 Professor Wright 1 5

Michael DiCaprio, Pecari

February 17, 2018 9:00 PM

I think I can handle that by Michael DiCaprio, Pecari

Already in just a few weeks Mikey had found his spot in all of his classes. He liked being in the middle, but off-center so his teacher wouldn't be looking directly at him. Some classes he was on the left, in others on the right. In Charms, he sat on the side closer to the doorway just out of convenience. Since it was his first class everyday, Mikey was usually early and liked having seating options. The only awkward part was making conversation with a teacher he was still getting used to.

Mikey sat down at his usual place at his usual time and greeted his professor with a casual, "Good morning." His scary teacher in second grade had demanded their whole class to greet him and each other every morning the same way. He'd also been really strict about "please" and "thank you," something Mikey had always found so annoying. At least teachers here weren't that bad. He was realizing quickly how strange a place Sonora was. He was from a magical community at home, but being away from the busy city, the mountains, and his family was kind of tough to get used to. Already he wasn't a fan of Arizona's weather, but at least it seemed like it got cooler here on campus compared to what it was supposed to be in the rest of the state.

There were some rumors going on about some of the Intermediate classes that Mikey found really interesting. Apparently one kid was making a huge commotion during class and setting things on fire. Nobody seemed to know if it was actually on purpose though, but Mikey wished he could've seen something like that in his own class. Beginner classes were so basic, but for some reason they were still challenging.

Mikey fiddled with his wand during Professor Wright's talk. He almost dropped it and his wand sparked a little as if embodying his slight panic. Luckily nothing noticeable happened, and he resumed his distracted listening. When Mr. Wright was done, Mikey went to the box on the right to choose his object. It would've been much cooler to animate something and then make it stop instead of trying to figure out what the original state was of whatever he was grabbing. It turned out to be a medium-sized toy broom, one of those that he used to play with back home but was now too big to ride. He took it back to his desk and set it down to study it.

Clearly the color was off. No broom was such a vibrant purple with white stars all over it. Unless it was a girl broom? Mikey picked it up again and looked at it carefully from different angles. Flowers were probably not supposed to be coming out of the stiff fibers on the end. Mikey pointed his wand at the flowers and said, "Finite Incantatem," as best as he could. The flowers shriveled up, but they were still there. A second try made them go away completely and the fibers expanded and turned brown, though the rest of the broom stayed small and purple. That meant he had a real broom on his hands, not a toy one.

Frowning, he turned to his neighbor. "How can you tell if the spell is gone or if finite is just not working?" he asked after trying the spell again with no result. "I've never seen a broom like this so I don't think that the color is supposed to be there, or the weird size difference."

19 Michael DiCaprio, Pecari I think I can handle that 1406 Michael DiCaprio, Pecari 0 5

Dorian Montoir, Teppenpaw

February 18, 2018 1:01 AM

Of siblings, fate, and dancing forks by Dorian Montoir, Teppenpaw

Dorian took his seat in Charms, Émilie’s letter still clutched in his had, eyes skimming once more over the loops of her writing, the French style cursive that was almost indistinguishable from his own (his was just a touch neater - a fact that could no longer be excused merely by his being older, but was suggestive of their respective natures). The letter was long, and he wanted to read it again to absorb all the detail, and enjoy the feeling of Émilie’s company. She wrote like she spoke, thoughts spilling out at a mile a minute, the letter switching between French and English, even the occasional Chinese character, though these were few and far between. There was news of what she’d been eating, amusing descriptions of her Professors, brief mentions of the people she’d got to know so far… And she had posed him a question. At L’Institut, sorting was done at random, though siblings were always put in the same house (another reason he was glad not to have gone there - sharing a school with Matthieu would have been bad enough, but confined to the same close quarters!). Émilie seemed to feel a limited loyalty to being a Requin, determined as it had been not even by her own random assignment but Matthieu’s. The question she had put to him was Si je vais a Sonora with you, dans quelle house penses-tu que je serais? He was pretty sure the answer was Pecari. Émilie was a loving person but not always a very patient one. He wondered whether part of his fondness for Tatya stemmed from how she reminded him a little of his sister. That had got him thinking too about Matthieu. Matthieu was obsessed with family honour and reputation. He would without a doubt have gone into Crotalus. His brother and Jehan’s would have been roommates. He had noted the symmetry before in their ages - it was hard not to notice, both because it gave him and Jehan yet more in common but also because he couldn’t help but feel the sting in it. So similar, and yet so different. He wondered what a world would have been like in which Victor and Matthieu had ended up roommates - he didn’t exactly like to think of Matthieu at Sonora, which was why, in spite of their shared age, this particular line of thought had never occurred to him before. Would Matthieu have made Victor into a harder, meaner person? Was it possible that Victor would have turned Matthieu into a softer, nicer one - criticised Matthieu’s treatment of him? It seemed unlikely that Victor would trouble himself on Dorian’s account - risk upsetting the person he had to live with. But Victor didn’t seem like a cruel person - would he have just distanced himself once he realised Matthieu was? It was possible they would have just not got on at all, but he didn’t think so. They liked a lot of the same things. It was only in how they treated their little brothers that they differed so much. But if they hadn’t liked each other - or even if they had - would he and Jehan have arrived at school with preconceived notions about each other? Would it have changed things? But the one question he kept coming back to, more than any other, was Why? Why did he have to have Matthieu for a brother, when Jehan got Victor? Not that he wanted a trade, because he wouldn’t wish Matthieu on his worst enemy, much less his best friend. He had always assumed that it just wasn’t possible for people as different as he and Matthieu were to get along, but it wasn’t like that with Jehan and his brother. Victor was sporty, he didn’t understand what Jehan liked… But he didn’t beat him up over it. He didn’t even ever seem to have a cross word for Jehan. Victor and Jehan were close, in spite of all their differences, and Victor looked after his younger brother. So why did he have to have a brother like Matthieu when it wasn’t just inevitable? Dorian liked to believe that the universe had a plan. He found that comforting, especially when it pertained to love, and the firm belief he had that he would meet his soulmate one day. But how could he keep believing that everything happened for a reason when horrible things happened too? The only reason he could see for him being stuck with Matthieu was random cruelty - either fates that were mean spirited or no fates at all.

Si je vais a Sonora with you… If only. He had always known that the plan was to send only one of them there, and it had suited him for all manner of reasons, but he realised that he’d been picturing Émilie sitting with him and his friends in Cascade Hall, entertaining the possibility that that decision might change… They had always been so close. And now he had to let go of that possibility. She would be with Matthieu every day instead of with him. And, whilst he could not see his older brother becoming close to Émilie the way he was, or replacing him as her favourite, there would be ways in which they were closer. There were certain things he and Émilie shared, and would always share - the little jokes about their parents, the nicknames, the conversational habits, in jokes and artefacts of a shared childhood. But they were both building new lives. Ones that could only be explained to the other, not shared in the experience of. The things that happened at Sonora… He reported them to Émilie, but they were a more real and vivid part of his relationships at school than his relationship with her. And over time, the amount of that information would only grow. The balance would shift. Their shared languages and experiences would no longer form the majority of their life experience - he felt already, that they did not form the centre of his own life, his centre was here, and the only thing on the side of home was the amount of memories formed there. He didn’t want to grow apart from her. He turned the second sheaf of parchment over, so his eyes could trace the words ‘Gros bisoux, hugs’ and the Chinese character for ‘love,’ along with his sister’s signature and all the Xs which underlined her name, before he tucked the letter away as class began.

He gave Professor Wright his full attention. Dorian was a polite boy who had been raised to listen carefully to his teachers, and he also liked both Professor Wright (who had a gentle manner and tended to speak clearly) and the subject he taught. It was also doubly important that he gave the teachers his full focus given that he was being schooled in one of his weaker languages (he disliked the term ‘second language’ because he had three, and no idea how he would numerically order them if challenged to do so, given that he had learnt all three since birth. ‘Mother-tongue’ was similarly confusing. Non-native language worked best for English, and ‘weaker languages’ covered both English and Mandarin - and, he supposed, definitely described his Russian, though that was on such a different level as to not need to contend for the same descriptions. He did not regard himself a speaker of Russian, whereas he regarded himself as a speaker of both English and Mandarin, however bad a one he was). Even though the lesson was on a familiar subject, he wanted to pay careful attention, in case he had missed anything in his first year. And, even if there was no new information about the spell, it was good for his listening skills. He felt the repetition within the Sonora curriculum was helpful, and was possibly what made it an appealing school for non-native English speakers.

He raised his hand tentatively when Professor Wright asked about areas where finite incantatem would not work. Dorian had not been one to speak up much in class during his first year, self-conscious of his imperfect English. He still knew he had a lot to learn, and was still often frustrated by his limitations, but he knew he could make himself understood, and the constant reassurance of having friends who cared much more about what he said than how he said it had made him braver. He also wanted his peers and teachers to regard him as an intelligent and hard working student, especially Jehan. His best friend was the last person he ever expected to be judgemental, but he was in the ‘clever house,’ and Dorian felt a need to be worthy of Jehan. He worried sometimes that Je would get bored of slowing down to his pace, but if he, Dorian, did things like answer in class, it would hopefully remind Jehan that he wasn’t stupid - something Dorian knew he wasn’t but sometimes felt when he couldn’t collect his thoughts elegantly enough in English.

“Many hexes and jinxes,” he answered, taking care to enunciate the ‘h’ that he so frequently dropped so that the word was intelligible. “For example, you get hit with stinging jinx, you must go to the medic, it will not undo.”

The class sounded interesting, certainly enough to keep him occupied, as he had two spells to work on. Or, in some senses, one and a half… Though by only using half of the finite incantatem spell that actually made it harder. He wondered how would should calculate for that? On the other hand, the dancing feet spell was only revision, so perhaps that was really the one that only counted for half - it was merely something he had to do, not something he had to learn. He played with these thoughts to amuse himself as he lined up, selecting a fork when he got to the box.

He returned to his table. Task one, une fourchette qui danse. It sounded like a children’s story. Pictures flitted through his mind of forks in formal wear, paired up and twirling around together - though no, forks should dance with knives, that was more logical. Last year, the term ‘dancing’ had been rather loosely applied when they had studied this spell (although perhaps this interpretation was partly due to Dorian’s limited view of what ‘dancing’ meant as much as any actual deficiencies in the spellcasting of his classmates), but Dorian was determined to make his fork do a proper waltz - as much as something without feet, and bereft of a companion piece of cutlery, could be said to properly do any form of ballroom dance. He focussed on the movements of the dance, casting the charm. The fork rose onto its end, and bumped its way around desk, in a decently elegant fashion. Whilst it lacked two separate feet with which to execute back, side, close, the things that it had in its favour - in terms of regarding its movements as a waltz - were that it was moving backwards (the forks had been female, the knives male in his head - he had no idea why, but they were), was progressing around his table in circles, as if it was a miniature dance floor and - he checked by humming softly and tapping the table - it was moving in three-four timing. He felt almost sorry to spoil its fun, but he was not going to get full credit for class just for this, however well his fork waltzed.

“Finite,” he cast, concentrating as firmly as possible. Stop. Arrêtez. Tíngzhǐ. He tried to think it as firmly as possible, but Dorian did not exactly have a very commanding nature. Pleas to stop, to arrêtez… He made them often but they were very rarely listened to. The spell did enough to slow his fork down, to make it start to stumble drunkenly, losing its timing and grace, until it fell with a clatter onto his neighbour’s section of the desk.

“Pardon me,” he apologised, retrieving it. “I suppose it stop… Just not quick enough,” he evaluated his effort.

13 Dorian Montoir, Teppenpaw Of siblings, fate, and dancing forks 1401 Dorian Montoir, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

February 20, 2018 12:44 PM

As can I by Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

Jasmine quite liked being a second year. She felt competent. This early in the year, most of the lessons were review as the first years got up to speed, and the second years just had to work at slightly harder versions of the same thing. It boosted her confidence and made her realize just how much she really had learned in just one year. How amazing must the seventh years feel by now? She was eager to find out, but she could wait. She was happy being twelve for now.

Today’s Charm’s lesson was a bit more of the same, though he was at least having them reach back to a rather more complex charm (in as much as anything the first years learned could be called complex; but definitely not so complex that finite wouldn’t work on it) from last year. She didn’t immediately remember the incantation for the Dancing Feet charm, but her textbook reminded her of how to do it readily enough.

She drew her wand and looked at the pink and purple artificial flower she had pulled out of the box of ‘inanimate objects’ the professor had provided. Before she quite got to the point of lifting her wand in preparation and readying herself to cast, her neighbor, one of the first years, spoke to her.

She turned and frowned thoughtfully at the broom he had in front of him. “My sister has one not too different from that,” she admitted, “but it is a bit bigger. There may be a shrinking charm on it yet, and who knows what color it might have actually started out as. Or it could be a doll’s broom, and you’re done. Honestly, I have no idea how to tell. I guess keep trying the finite spell a few more times and see if anything happens as you get more practiced?”

She turned back to her own project, raised her wand, and made the flower dance. Pleased with her relatively easy success, she took a moment to just enjoy the dancing floral show, using her wand every few moments to keep it from dancing off the desk. “I almost don’t want to make it stop,” she admitted to her neighbor with the doll’s broom.

An idea bloomed and she smiled at him, “I suppose you could try your Finite Incantatem on my flower, then you’d at least know if it was working, and I’d get to make it dance again.”

1 Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus As can I 1397 Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

February 22, 2018 9:22 PM

I...technically followed directions? by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

Nathaniel had had more than one tutor over the course of his education, of course, but that had done little to prepare him for the variety he found in the teachers at Sonora. It was a slightly dazing number of personalities to get used to adjusting himself to – and all in one day. It was almost enough to make him glad not to have roommates, for all that other people would have been a distraction from the unfamiliarity that clung to the room even now that Nathaniel had all his things unpacked and arranged as close to the way they would be in his own room at home as he could.

He had refrained from doing this for several days because of Sylvia’s belief that she could somehow get him transferred to Crotalus, though he had not been at all surprised when it had become quite apparent the situation was going to be permanent. Now, he just tried to stick with his cousin as much as possible during meals and to avoid Simon. Sylvia had been genuinely surprised that Simon hadn’t just fixed it, and so Nathaniel doubted she would like it if she saw Nathaniel being too chummy with him even if he had the opportunity – which he didn’t really. He supposed it was the difference in Beginner and Intermediate schedules, but it had occurred to him that he didn’t really see that much of his cousin at all even at distances.

This was a bit of a letdown. They all lived in the same building now, even had the same teachers, so Nathaniel had expected to spend more time together as a family and to have more to say to each other when they did this. For instance, did Professor Wright greet all the classes with that awkward little half-wave and did he always speak that slowly? He had never really thought about it before his father – did what he’d done – but since then, it had occurred to Nathaniel that it must be awfully lonely, being Simon. Nathaniel found it lonely enough just having to be a good example to Jeremy sometimes, wanting to throw fits himself and not doing so, so he imagined Simon’s responsibility to be a good heir was even harder to carry.

Of course, it wasn’t that Nathaniel had anything like a lack of things to do besides worry about his cousins. He also had classes to contend with. His tutors had warned him before he left that he would rarely know such a mix of boredom and failure again, and he hoped they were right, because magic was hard. One had to practice over and over and over again, incrementally, and then even once one got it down, had to practice some more in a slightly harder way, as Professor Wright told the second years to do today.

For Nathaniel’s class, at least, the lesson was…well, probably not very interesting, but useful. Being able to end a spell was definitely useful, even if, to his disappointment, apparently it wouldn’t always work. That made sense – if a spell a first year could learn could end any magic, nothing would be safe – but it was still a bit of a disappointment.

He picked a block which was flashing colors out of the box, reasoning it would be fairly easy to tell when this was no longer enchanted so he didn’t look foolish calling Professor Wright over too soon. He put it in front of him and tried the spell for the first time.

Nothing happened.

Mix of boredom and frustration. This was not unusual, but it was always just a little disappointing nevertheless. He tried again, feeling his wand swish a little - ever so slightly swishy, the wandmaker had called it. Nathaniel couldn’t say he liked that quality of the instrument; it made him worry about not making the movements Just So and ending up with a buffalo in the room when he did not want one (if there even was a set of circumstances under which he would want one, he had no idea, but he suspected not). He stopped midway through as a result, tried again, and –

Tssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Nathaniel dropped his wand and covered his ears as the cube inexplicably began to whistle like a teakettle. Realizing this wasn’t helping, he reached for his wand again to stop it, figuring he must have removed one charm without realizing it and that this had made it start whistling, but before he could scoop the wand back up off his desk, the cube started dancing, whirling in circles on one corner, then lurching to another, then back again, spinning until it went over the edge of his desk and crashed onto the floor, still shrieking as though it were full of boiling water.

Red-faced, Nathaniel picked it up and put it firmly back on his desk. When it began attempting to dance again, he grabbed it and, ignoring its attempts to get away, snapped, in the sharpest tone he’d used all year, “Finite incantatem!”

The whistling and dancing stopped abruptly, but the flashing colors remained. Nathaniel smiled wanly at his neighbor. “I wonder if that counts for partial credit?” he asked, hoping to make it funny, rather than just humiliating, that he seemed to have somehow messed up the enchanted object and had then only succeeded in undoing whatever it was he’d done to it.

16 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw I...technically followed directions? 1412 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw 0 5

Mikey

February 24, 2018 4:37 AM

I think you're better than me here by Mikey

It was intimidating sitting next to a pretty girl that he hadn't grown up with. She was really good at Charms too. "You're really good," he told her, impressed. "It's super fun to watch." Though Mikey had grown up surrounded by magic at home, it was really different and really fun learning how to do it himself. Plus making things dance made class super entertaining. "I can't wait till I learn how to do those spells."

Her suggestion was valid and he nodded. "Good idea." Mikey felt nervous, but hid it under an aura of self-confidence by sitting up straight. "Finite Incantatem," he said as well as he could. Her artificial flower stopped dancing and fell over, once again inanimate. "I think I'm getting the hang of it," he said, smiling. He was really glad he hadn't looked silly or incompetent next to her.

Turning back to his hybrid broom, he decided to try it again and focus on the handle. "Finite Incantatem," he said. The broom handle did expand, but the color stayed the same. It looked like a functional broom now, besides the color. "I guess that's how it is," he said doubtfully. "I guess I've never seen a girl's broom before."

Mikey raised his hand so Professor Wright could tell him if it was done or not. Once Professor Wright left, he decided to keep testing out his wand. He changed the color of the broom handle to his favorite, blue, before turning back to his seat partner.

"Are you going to make it dance again?" he asked. Even though he couldn't do it himself, he liked watching her do it.

19 Mikey I think you're better than me here 1406 Mikey 0 5

Ruby Brockert,Teppenpaw

February 27, 2018 12:25 PM

And balls and teacups. by Ruby Brockert,Teppenpaw

Ruby was really excited about this year. Well, she was excited for the ball. As a twelve year old, she was too young to attend the fancy ones that her parents did so this was going to be great! She was going to get to get all dressed up in a fancy gown. Ruby hadn't really had much occasion to do so yet and she was super excited about it. Plus she'd get to wear all her fanciest jewlery, the ones Emerald thought there was no point in bringing to school.

It was just too bad she couldn't go to the salon to get her hair and nails done for the occasion. If only she could arrange a trip for girls who wanted to go. Her grandfather was Headmaster, but Ruby felt bad taking advantage of it. Like doing so, even if others went along and it helped them, made her a spoiled brat and a bad person.

She guessed she could get a party together to get ready but wouldn't be quite the same, wouldn't be quite as special. Still, older girls like Angelique could help them. The sixth year knew all sorts of beauty charms and a lot about hair and makeup. Plus, it would help build community among them.

Ruby also wished she could have a date but Emerald had pointed out that twelve year old boys weren't typically interested in girls yet and older boys would be more likely to ask girls closer to their own age.However, the Teppenpaw was sure that if the ball had occurred when Owen and Jemima were her age, he'd have asked his now fiance.

Which made her worry some. Owen and Jemima were obviously meant to be together. If Ruby was meant to be with someone at school, wouldn't they already realize it? She wanted that so much. Wanted the special magic of finding her true love.

Hopefully though the appropriate guys her own age would at least ask her to dance. Which there weren't many of, unfortunately. Vlad was definitely related to her and she thought Connor Priory was too.

But did guys her age even want to dance? Ruby wasn't sure why they'd bother to have a ball with the younger students included if none of the boys wanted to dance. But at least she'd get to dress up and look pretty.

Professor Wright began the lesson and the Teppenpaw made herself pay attention. She knew it was important to be respectful of others and give them her attention when they were speaking but she couldn't help but be more interested in beautiful gowns and sparkly jewlery.

And the lesson only made her think of the ball more. The second years were supposed to make an object dance and then stop it. Okay, she could do that.

Her object happened to be a pink plastic teacup, the kind that little girls used in tea parties. Of course, her and her sisters hadn't used plastic ones, but that was the object Ruby had. She took her wand and did the dancing feet charm on it. It began to rock back and forth on her desk in a rhythmic fashion. She was about to make it stop when Dorian's fork fell on to her desk "It's no problem." Ruby replied as her teacup gradually made it's way closer to the edge of her desk.

11 Ruby Brockert,Teppenpaw And balls and teacups. 1405 Ruby Brockert,Teppenpaw 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald

February 27, 2018 12:46 PM

Sorry what? There's a buzzing in my ear. by Parker Fitzgerald

Parker had started to receive letters back from old friends and his sister, and it was weird. He'd always known they had lives without him there, but when he'd been home last, it seemed like nothing had changed. But there was his sister talking about how she was taking an advanced maths class in the middle school, and one of his friends wrote Parker about her girlfriend. She had a girlfriend, how did that happen?

His friends from home all seemed to assume he had been sent away to a military school like his older brother, and each stated that they thought that was unfair, as John Jr. was definitely the dangerous one. Seeing some of the things that sometimes happened at Sonora though and reading about the animals that Cleo had mentioned in her letter, Parker wasn't entirely sure.

So as Parker wondered into Charms he was lost in thinking about what his friends were doing. He'd seen that some of the garden had been taken care of, so he was sure that Cleo was out and about, even if he hadn't seen her. He wondered about his sister and how she was able to actually learn.

When Professor Right started speaking Parker was mid thought trying to work out how his sister was able to study. As the Professors voice filtered in he realized that he was missing the class, and that was definitely not how his sister did so well.

Parker reached into the box for second years and came up with, a vase. The first year next to him pulled out a flashing cube, which looked like a fun thing, even before it was charmed. Parker looked at it, and back at his vase. It was slightly boring by comparison. He turned around to see if the box was still there to change out the object, but it had moved on. So Parker took out his wand.

Parker remembered this from last year, and remembered how much he hated doing it. Last year he had a spoon, which was fun, cause he made it spin a bit like a top, and then bend like in the movie The Matrix his dad liked to watch, then finally it had danced a bit like it was in Beauty and the Beast. It was fun to watch, but it had danced as if it had a peg leg of a pirate.

Waving his wand Parker got the vase to move a bit, spinning really. Concentrating Parker tried to get it to move more like a dance in some way, but instead it kept spinnning like a top across the table. Parker had to move quickly to grab the vase before it went crashing to the floor.

As he sat back into his seat holding a still moving vase, the box next to him started to whistle really loudly. Parker tried to cover the ear closest to the box with one hand and hold onto his vase with the other.

The box was going crazy now, and Parker wanted to help the first year who seemed to be about as dazed as he was with the sheer noise, but holding onto his vase made it difficult to raise his wand. Suddenly the boy was able to say Finite incantatem and everything stopped except the flashing lights.

Parker shook his head a bit to get the ringing out of his ears the vase still moving around in his lap. Parker laughed at the boy next to him, "I think you get 1 1/2 credits. You did more than asked. Though next time, maybe make it a little bit softer."

Parker put the vase down on the table, and without missing a beat it started spinning again. This time a bit faster. Parker flicked his wand and shouted, "Finite". He hadn't meant to shout, but his ears were still ringing.

As the vase came to a stand still Parker turned to the boy sitting next to him reaching out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Parker and apparently I can't make things dance. You are?"

41 Parker Fitzgerald Sorry what? There's a buzzing in my ear. 1402 Parker Fitzgerald 0 5

Nathaniel

February 27, 2018 3:44 PM

Sorry, sorry, sorry about that. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel half-smiled when his neighbor said he thought Nathaniel ought to get extra credit for his...display. “I’ll try,” he said when advised to make it ‘softer’ next time. He decided not to admit that he had not meant to make it do anything at all, just to make it stop doing something. He knew that accidental magic was probably not something completely unexpected in first years who were still as new as he was, but he was still embarrassed by the noisy outburst. Drawing attention to himself was almost the exact opposite of what he wanted to do, and he doubted his neighbor was the only person currently very aware of where Nathaniel was.

He flinched slightly as his neighbor got back a little of his own by shouting at his vase to stop spinning, but recovered by the time it stopped moving. “Nicely done,” he complimented the older boy, hoping this would help make up for making a stir.

Shaking hands sitting down at desks was a bit awkward, but Nathaniel made the best of it so as not to be rude. “Nathaniel,” he said when asked who he was. “Nathaniel Mordue, of the Oregon Mordues. You’re a second year, I see?” he said, looking at the vase and remembering that he had heard Parker use the shorter form of the incantation.

16 Nathaniel Sorry, sorry, sorry about that. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Dorian

February 28, 2018 7:59 AM

But what <i>is</i> a teacup? by Dorian

His desk partner seemed not to mind the intrusion of his cutlery into their personal space, which was good. He hadn’t met many people at Sonora yet who seemed like they would, but he was pleased to find a friendly face on the receiving end of his mild bit of clumsiness nonetheless. Ruby wasn’t someone he knew well, but well enough to have sent a few letters over break, and to know that she was generally kind and gentle, which he appreciated.

“Ok, merci,” he smiled as he retrieved the fork. He tried not to use too much French around other people but there were a few words that he thought everyone knew, and he had a hard time not doing it. Not exactly because the English word was any harder to call to mind, but just… it was somehow comforting. Tatya and Jehan had both encouraged him to keep speaking his home languages, Tatya so they could trade and both hear something familiar every day, and Jehan so that he could express his thoughts without getting frustrated. This had the effect of meaning he’d never effectively got into the habit of not speaking the odd word here and there in French, or even Chinese, and to try to do so felt heavy and effortful, and like an act of self-censorship. He was that weird trilingual boy and that was kind of cool. Lapsing into little bits of his other languages here and there reminded him of most of the things in the world that were pleasant and comforting.

“Ah-ah,” he chided her teacup, which was bouncing nearer and nearer to the edge of the desk. He poked it gently back towards the middle so that it wouldn’t have time to escape before Ruby did the spell, especially as he felt responsible for interrupting her on that.

It felt funny thinking of the little plastic thing in front of Ruby as a ‘teacup.’ It was so very different to his mental image of one which - unless one gave a more specifically Western context to the remark - tended to default to straight sided, handleless Chinese cups, as a general shape, and to rove through and select any of the many fine examples that his mother owned if he was in search of a specific. In fact, he only mentally classed it as a teacup because it was a child’s toy, and children played teaparty. He considered whether, if it had been real, he would have mentally designated it a coffee cup. Handled cups of that variety usually were used for serving coffee in his house, and they could be small and ornately patterned. But there was something inherently teacuppish about the item in front of Ruby. Was it merely the association of girls playing teaparty, or were there subtle difference between tea and coffee cups? Teacups - Western teacups - did tend to slope in more at the base, whereas coffee cups were often straight sided. But was that inherent? All teacups, he felt, had a greater sense of delicacy about them than coffee cups. But how did one rationalise something that abstract? Where was the dividing line? Was it only that he felt the coffee cups he had seen in his life were more robust because he had known them to be vessels for coffee, which was inherently less delicate than tea - was it his own association with the actual cups of his experience, or was it a real feature of the cups themselves? He vaguely remembered one of his tutors back home talking about this sort of thing… Forms, and perfect forms or some such… He would have to go to the library…

Ruby hadn’t really responded to his attempt to initiate conversation, and his very detailed thoughts about teacups were both challenging to put into a single language (he wasn’t sure what language he had even just thought all that in - did thoughts have to be in a language? He didn’t think they did. Sometimes they were, and they had to be in order to be communicated, but sometimes they were just there in abstract form and- he definitely needed the library) and possibly a bit overly specific for someone he didn’t know well. Ruby, for all that she seemed very nice, might not appreciate a monologue on the nature of teacups. Dorian was painfully aware that a lot of the things he thought were a bit odd or overly detailed, and he had been incredibly lucky in finding one person that understood them (he had a strong feeling Tatya would give him a blank stare, and then proclaim something along the lines of ‘If it has tea, it is teacup. Why worry about this? Just drink tea,’ which was admittedly sound advice - he was not going to let good tea go cold whilst he fretted about the vessel from which he was consuming it, but he still felt he would like to know). He thus searched for something more normal and conversational to try again with Ruby.

“It is good it is just for imaginary tea,” he offered, when she’d brought her teacup under control. “Otherwise I think it spills. Though actually, in China, some teasets do dancing to entertain - my Mama has one. But this is before the tea is poured. Otherwise, it is very messy, and wasting good tea.”

13 Dorian But what <i>is</i> a teacup? 1401 Dorian 0 5

Parker

February 28, 2018 11:43 AM

No need. I am not quite myself either.(Tag Professor Wright) by Parker

It worked! Parker had made it stop on the first try. Though not necessarily a minor miracle, it made him feel more accomplished with this magic stuff then he had since the last time he had been on a broom.

"Thank you," Parker said a bit pleased with himself.

As Nathaniel introduced himself Parker stretched his brain trying to remember other students that might be Mordues and came up empty. He usually tried to remember peoples first names, and still didn't understand why people put such a high price on their last names and familial location.

"Nice to meet you Nathaniel. I am a second year, though not a very good one I'm afraid," he said pointing to his vase.

"Sorry, but I am terrible at the family names, but it is nice to meet you. I enjoyed the dance you made the box do," Parker said pointing his wand at the box casually.

Suddenly Parker felt weird. It felt almost like there was a fog inside him coming out down his wand. Before he could move his wand or do anything at all the box he was pointing at started vibrating.

"Oh god...I don't know what I.." was all Parker could say before the box sprouted wings and started to fly off the table. Then shaking in the front a shape began to push out from the changing colors. Parker sat transfixed as a fish head sprouted from the box, with multicolored gills and scales changing like the box. As it changed from a green color to a blue color the whole thing seemed to explode from the inside raining down multicolored bits onto the table.

"A Bird-Fish..." was all Parker could say.

41 Parker No need. I am not quite myself either.(Tag Professor Wright) 1402 Parker 0 5

Professor Wright

February 28, 2018 7:56 PM

I really hope you both get back to normal now. by Professor Wright

Gray looked up when he heard something begin whistling like a teakettle - very distinctly like a teakettle - because he knew that he had not put any spells on anything to make that happen. Loud noises were not one of his favorite things, particularly in class; for one thing it was just annoying and for another, more practical, reason, it might make it difficult to notice if there was a problem somewhere else in the room. Before he had to get up and go address the situation, however, the first year who seemed responsible - Mordue, he thought; there were two of them in the class now - managed to get the situation back under control, or at least quiet it down, so he chalked it up to Beginner’s errors and went back to reading over some tickets-out-the-door from the Intermediate class.

A moment later, however, another noise from the same part of the room drew his attention again, and this one seemed like a significantly larger error than whatever Nathaniel had done. It involved confetti. Gray rose from his desk and walked quickly toward the source of trouble, where he found Parker Fitzgerald with…something...on the desk in front of him, something Gray very definitely had not put in the box. He also was sitting next to Mr. Mordue. Oh, this was just fabulous….

”A Bird-Fish”, said Parker.

“I...suppose that is one way to describe it,” replied Gray, more than a little dryly. He tried not to use too much sarcasm with or even around students, he really did, but sometimes it just slipped out, and sometimes it was just the only possible response. “Finite incantatem,” he said, using the full incantation himself because of just how radical the transformation of the object was. It occurred to him that this was a teachable moment for the class, but first, he had to deal with the two boys.

“Gentlemen, I know it’s fun to play around with Charms sometimes, but if you could both do your assignments first, I’d appreciate it,” he said. “I hadn’t noticed either of you showing your objects to me to see if you’d removed all the enchantments, and I can see that you haven’t finished yet, Mr. Mordue.” Of course, Parker’s was now useless due to an adult having cancelled all its enchantments, so he’d have to get another one for the second year to use. He Summoned the box wordlessly and put it on the desk in front of Parker, assuming that the order to take a new object from the limited supply remaining would speak for itself. Once Parker had something, Gray carried the box and the vase back to the front of the room.

He wanted to take Parker’s wand and run priori incantatem on it, because now that he thought of it, it was...not normal. A second year managing, apparently off the top of his head, a Transfiguration of that scale? Accidental magic could have dramatic results, but Parker should have had that well under control by now, plus nothing had happened in class that should have produced undue stress for the boy. So what had happened there? He thought he might tell Selina about this incident in more than passing, unlike the thing with Jozua and Lily - she was the Transfiguration teacher and could tell him if it was as odd as he thought it was. Hopefully she wouldn’t regard it as a waste of her time, because to him it looked like something that might want an eye on it - whether it was that Parker was a superwizard or that the mischief which had infected the Intermediate class was possibly spreading down to the Beginners as well.

16 Professor Wright I really hope you both get back to normal now. 113 Professor Wright 0 5

Professor Wright

February 28, 2018 9:39 PM

Edit: Misreading on my part. by Professor Wright

OOC: Sorry, Parker, I misread your original post and thought it was your vase which transformed. The last two paragraphs should have read:

“Gentlemen, I know it’s fun to play around with Charms sometimes, but if you could both do your assignments first, I’d appreciate it,” he said. “I hadn’t noticed either of you showing your objects to me to see if you’d removed all the enchantments.” Of course, Nathaniel's object - the arrangement of objects around the two boys made it seem Parker had transformed Nathaniel's object rather than his own - was now useless due to an adult having cancelled all its enchantments, so he’d have to get another one for the first year to use. He Summoned the box wordlessly and put it on the desk in front of Nathaniel, assuming that the order to take a new object from the limited supply remaining would speak for itself. Once Parker had something, Gray carried the box and the box back to the front of the room.

He wanted to take Parker’s wand and run priori incantatem on it, because now that he thought of it, it was...not normal. A second year managing, apparently off the top of his head, a Transfiguration of that scale? Accidental magic could have dramatic results, but Parker should have had that well under control by now, plus nothing had happened in class that should have produced undue stress for the boy. So what had happened there? He thought he might tell Selina about this incident in more than passing, unlike the thing with Jozua and Lily - she was the Transfiguration teacher and could tell him if it was as odd as he thought it was. Hopefully she wouldn’t regard it as a waste of her time, because to him it looked like something that might want an eye on it - whether it was that Parker was a superwizard or that the mischief which had infected the Intermediate class was possibly spreading down to the Beginners as well.

16 Professor Wright Edit: Misreading on my part. 113 Professor Wright 0 5

Jasmine

March 14, 2018 4:59 PM

I have an extra year of practice by Jasmine

Jasmine smiled and tried not to preen too much at the compliments Mikey was giving her. “Thank you,” she responded in her best attempt at Demure. “You’ll catch on before you know it,” she added encouragingly, because she remembered being in his place just one year ago and thinking she’d never be able to do something so lovely as make a flower dance so soon.

He then proceeded to make the flower stop dancing with perfectly fine aptitude, which she felt rather proved her point. “Good,” she smiled as he declared he was getting the hang of it and went back to trying to end the spells on his toy broomstick.

While that got bigger, she cast the dancing charm on her flower again, making it dance once more. “Anya’s looks a lot like that,” she confirmed when he declared having never seen a girl’s broom before. “She’d prefer something plainer,” she remarked with a slight note of censure, “but it flies fine so she doesn’t complain about it where Mom can hear.”

Jasmine caught her flower as it tried to dance off the desk and turned it around to dance across the surface in the other direction. When Professor Wright was done checking over the broom, Jasmine confidently cast, “Finite!” at her flower, which danced a few more pirouettes before drooping down and lying still.

It was a far cry from the abrupt cutting of strings effect she’d been hoping for, but it looked almost intentional, so she looked up at the professor with an expectant look that conveyed “That was what you wanted, right?”

Still, once he was gone, she got the flower dancing again and tried to end the spell faster and more effectively than her first attempt had gone. To less than ideal results. She sighed, “I think I’m enjoying the show too much to just let it end suddenly. I think it looks better for it to come to a more natural closing pose.”

1 Jasmine I have an extra year of practice 1397 Jasmine 0 5

Parker

March 15, 2018 2:29 PM

Normal is relative, but yes, everything back to "normal" by Parker

As Professor Right walked up Parker could feel his stomach tighten. He knew when he was in trouble. The fight or flight mechanism in the back of his brain was kicking in, and he took a deep breath and held it counting to three. He had just made something explode into confetti, he didn't want to get into more trouble, or get Nathaniel into any trouble.

Parker raised his hands to point at the vase that was sitting, not moving, in front of him when Professor Right mentioned not calling him to see if he'd removed the enchantments. Parker wasn't sure if he had or had not removed them, but he'd at least tried to complete the assignment.

"Vase should be done. I don't know what happened with the box. Sorry Professor. All my fault. Still a newbie with the wand I guess." Parker wasn't sure why he had said it was all his fault. The last part had been, but not the whistling. He was experiencing a bit of an energy rush right now and was talking without fully thinking through what he was saying. He could feel his leg start to jitter a bit under the table, and realized he had not really done anything too physical in a while.

Maybe all of this is just pent up energy. Parker made a vow to go to MARS and use the athletics room later to help release the tension.

“So is the vase done?”

41 Parker Normal is relative, but yes, everything back to "normal" 1402 Parker 0 5

Ruby

March 27, 2018 3:27 PM

Something you drink tea out of? by Ruby

“You’re welcome.” She replied. Ruby had learned French as a child as part of her lessons but her parents hadn’t cared a great deal how fluent she was. Actually Mother seemed to not care how well they learned any of their lessons. She was admittedly on the detached side but with six children Ruby could kind of see why her mother didn’t have time to care if they could speak a language she herself barely knew.

It kind of made her rethink her desire to have a large family. She wanted to be very involved in her children’s lives. Ruby wanted to be able to nurture them and their interests and be aware of any issues she had. She wanted to be close to them. Maybe if she spaced them out better than her own parents. Aunt Shannon and Uncle Ben had four kids and were most likely planning another eventually as they needed a baby U to complete the set-Uncle Ben was an Aladren of the quirky variety-and none of them seemed especially neglected. Ruby and her siblings had gotten more nurturing from their nannies and tutors than their mother. Still, she believed firmly that Mother did love them very much. Mothers always loved their children.

“And thank you.” Ruby responded to her housemate poking her teacup away from the edge. “Finite” Her tea cup slowed to a stop.

She nodded in agreement. "It would also be hard to drink out of something that kept moving around."

The second year looked over at Dorian and remembered back to her earlier train of thought. She felt the other Teppenpaw would probably be able to answer her question"Dorian, do boys our age like dancing? I mean, I don't really have any male relatives I can ask or use as an example for what twelve year old boys are like. My brother and male cousins are too young." By which Ruby meant cousins the way people normally did as opposed to, say, Vlad. "I mean, my cousin Olaf is just figuring out walking."

11 Ruby Something you drink tea out of? 1405 Ruby 0 5

Dorian

March 29, 2018 8:29 AM

What if you drink it out of something strange? by Dorian

“Yes, true,” he nodded, when she said that it would be hard to drink from something that kept moving. He gave her a half smile as the amusing image danced through his head.

As Ruby talked more, he leant in a little closer, watching her with perhaps what seemed an overly serious expression, but which was just due to him trying to concentrate hard on what she said. He understood most things, unless someone talked very fast or used a lot of long words, but when it was against the background noise of the class or the hall, it took a lot more concentration. He spent a great many conversations with people leaning in closer, and looking far more serious than he ordinarily might have. He was aware of this, and that it made his behaviour not quite normal, but he also knew that people like Ruby, who were familiar with him, probably weren’t judging him on it. Probably. Hopefully.

“Hm,” he made a show of the fact he was pondering her question, because he had found that if he didn’t show people he was thinking they tended to assume he hadn’t understood, and then started jabbering away re-explaining themselves, which only gave him more to process, interrupted his thoughts, and made him feel patronised and irritated. He wasn’t sure what to answer to her question. He knew how he felt about dancing, but he also knew that he was not necessarily typical. He was pretty sure that at twelve, Matthieu had had a very different opinion on dancing to him… And Matthieu liked more of what boys liked. He liked sports and things. Although proper pureblood boys were supposed to dance, so that kind of dancing was definitely acceptable but whether it was socially acceptable in the eyes of other guys to say that you enjoyed it he didn’t know. And then there was dancing around the living room with Émilie, which probably wasn’t either of those things… He wondered what Victor thought about proper dancing, or had done age twelve, but he really had very little insight there.

“I suppose all know how,” he answered hesitantly, “All Pureblood boys anyway. Whether they like… maybe depend on the boy?” he tried, surveying Ruby to check whether this was an acceptable answer. He did not want to elaborate on the fact that he thought his brother definitely did not, but that he himself quite liked it, because he disliked drawing attention to the ways in which he was odd – or, in Matthieu’s eyes, deficient. “Do all twelve year old girls?” he asked her a little sceptically.

“Olaf… is related, er close-related to Vlad. This is also a Russian name, no?” he asked. Although he supposed Ruby wasn’t that close to Vlad if she’d chosen Dorian to be her spokesboy for typical twelve year olds.

13 Dorian What if you drink it out of something strange? 1401 Dorian 0 5

Mikey

April 05, 2018 9:00 PM

That is true by Mikey

"I hope so," Mikey replied. It seemed impossible right now with so many new spells and incantations to memorize. Even though it was super fun doing it, he had a hard time getting them all to stick in his brain, besides the common spells he already knew from his parents. Practicing in class definitely helped, though.

When he made the flower stop dancing, Mikey felt glad that he was at least getting this spell. It was a little abrupt, but just what he'd been looking for.

"Is Anya your younger sister?" he asked, just to clarify. "I have a younger brother at home too who likes to fly. Mom doesn't really let him do it around the house though. We made a mini obstacle course in our backyard when we were younger to fly through. Flying's one of my favorite things to do."

It was satisfying seeing his spell work correctly and getting his work approved. After Professor Wright checked both of their projects and left, Mikey looked back at Jasmine.

"Yeah, it probably has to do with your mindset. Like, if you don't want it to end suddenly it probably won't. But at least with this flower, I like watching it end slower. It's like a real dance show. It would definitely be more unnatural if it just suddenly fell over as a regular flower again. But I'm sure you'll be able to do it quick if you want to just with practice."

19 Mikey That is true 1406 Mikey 0 5