A stranger in a strange land... on Quidditch Pitch

Headmistress Powell

October 09, 2009 12:46 PM

Tents and camping posts here (nm) by Headmistress Powell

Subthreads:

Harmless fun... by Elly Eriksson

A stranger in a strange land... by Holly Grieves with

0 Headmistress Powell Tents and camping posts here (nm) 0 Headmistress Powell 1 5

Elly Eriksson

October 09, 2009 1:08 PM

Harmless fun... by Elly Eriksson

About half an hour into the evening, after her initial excitement had died down, Elly headed for the campsite. Anyone who thought she’d be doing something as innocent as finding a tent would be sorely mistaken. Having encouraged Saul, Irene and Caedence to do the same, Elly worked her way around the campsite, leaving the odd prank here and there. They were all fairly harmless: a trip wire or two, a patch of grass charmed into especially slippery mud, and a couple of siren charms on tent entrances were the sort of small scale trick she and her friends were pulling. Elly crept her way round by the light of her lumos, ducking behind tents whenever someone came near so she wouldn’t be caught.

In her mind, this wasn’t being mean. True enough, Elly would have to laugh a lot if one of the fourth year Crotalus girls slipped and fell into the mud, however the rest of it was just playful. Nobody would get hurt, and the pranks might just make for interesting conversation at breakfast the following morning... or maybe even in four years’ time when the Midsummer bonfire would be repeated at Sonora. Not that Elly would be around to hear the tales. She might have to let a first year or two in on her pranks next year, to keep her legacy going. Elly chuckled at the idea as she charmed some feathers to fall from the sky whenever someone passed between two particular tents.

0 Elly Eriksson Harmless fun... 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Holly Grieves

October 10, 2009 10:10 PM

A stranger in a strange land... by Holly Grieves

This was incredible, Holly reflected, wandering through the array of scattered tents in complete awe. The girl was hardly used to RMI, and here she was in the middle of a completely different school, with even less idea of what was happening. She was excited, enjoying the air and the setting, but the first year had little idea what she was doing here. Social gatherings had never really been her thing...and it wasn't like she was that great at meeting new people. After all, the girl only really had one friend at school; and that was practically a fluke!

Sonora students were walking past Holly, chatting animatedly with one another, and the diminutive girl wished she could work up the nerve to start talking to someone....Anyone! But then there would be that typical awkward scene, where whomever she imposed herself upon would feel obliged to be hospitable and friendly, despite the fact that they had other things to be doing.

Holly sighed. She really would have to get over this whole social thing...

Running a hand absentmindedly through her ruffled auburn hair, the visiting student found someone who was moving a little less briskly than everyone else. "Ah....sorry," Holly addressed the Sonora student self-consciously. "I'm from Rocky Mountain, and I was wondering, well....what I should be doing I guess."

Holly laughed warmly. "Sorry to have to waylay you like this. I'm Holly Grieves."

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Holly Greer

October 13, 2009 11:57 PM

You and me both, and I go to this school. by Holly Greer

Holly was lost. As the bonfire event itself had begun to wind down, she'd gone back to the Pecari Commons before they got permanently closed down for the night to get her own pillow, which was far superior to the camping ones provided in the tents - which, incidently, were not as horrifying and primative as she had initially feared when she heard the word 'tents' but they certainly weren't nice. But in so doing, she'd forgotten where she left her friends, and most of the tents were all the same green color, which meant she had to call one of the Ladies' names at nearly every tent she passed.

And then, on top of that, she'd tripped three times in the dark, twice over some kind of tent strap or something and once when she stepped into a slippery bit of mud. And then, twice, she'd gotten startled bad enough to shreik when loud klaxons went off nearby. In short, she was not having a good night, even though it had started out promising enough with both fireworks and the same band that had played during the fabulous ball during her first year. Her robes and hands and pillow were all dirty from the mud and grass she'd fallen in. Her temper was frazzled from the frights, and she couldn't find her friends. Not a good night at all, and she had the empty anti-anxiety potion vials to prove it.

Holly had slowed down considerably after the third fall, moving carefully so she didn't take a fourth spill, and she was pretty sure she'd just asked the same tent if Chelsea was in there for the fourth or fifth time. The tents all looked the same and she felt nearly as befuddled she would have if she'd run into a charm to create the effect.

Talking to younger unfamiliar students was really the last thing the fourth year Pecari wanted to do right now, but one came up to her to ask what they were supposed to be doing. Holly might have just blown her off, but then the RMI Holly introduced herself, and the Sonoran Holly changed what she'd been about to say.

It was the first time that Holly had ever met anyone else with her own name.

She even managed to tamp down her irritation and frustration enough to offer the other Holly a smile. "I'm Holly Thistle," she returned the introduction politely. While it wasn't technically true, Thistle was a far superior name to Greer, and having two Hollys was strange enough; there was no need to make it two Holly Gs. She finished with the proper wizarding protocol her pureblood friends had taught her, "of the Hollywood Thistles," which was a family branch of one. She'd offered to let Daniel in when he got accepted to Sonora, but her half-brother had declined the honor, so she remained the only member.

She decided against mentioning that she was a Sonoran. Her robe made that clear enough, even in the dark. The earlier annoyance began to slip back into her voice, though, as she answered the original question. "We're supposed to be going to our tents, keeping our voices down, and pretending to sleep, but I lost my friends and my tent." She looked around at the ones pitched around them. "It was a green one," she added irritably. The cause of her frustration was obvious given that about three quarters of the tents seemed to be that color.

And because they were fellow Holly Grees, Holly Greer made an offer to be helpful that she probably wouldn't have otherwise made, "If you want, I can help you find a tent that still has an empty cot."

1 Holly Greer You and me both, and I go to this school. 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Holly Grieves

October 14, 2009 9:25 PM

Maybe it goes along with the name... by Holly Grieves

Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles? Oooookay.... Yes, the Aquila was definitely out of her league, and she recognized it as soon as the other Holly ended her name with 'of the ...' This girl obviously came from somewhere special, somewhere with position, power, class, and most importantly, old magic. And no matter what she might mean to the people who knew her, the fact of the matter was that Holly Grieves was a nobody. The Rocky Mountain student was muggle-born, not part of the magical world at all, but even in the non-magical scheme of things Holly was no one to speak of. Unless you got points for being poor, and as far as the girl was aware, poverty never was and never would be a bonus in society.

Still, good blood or otherwise, Holly had been raised with all the graciousness her father had known how to teach. This Sonoran Holly was obviously going out of her way to be kind, despite the apparent frustration which punctuated her words: it hadn't passed the Aquila unnoticed. The visiting student smiled sympathetically at her fellow Holly's tale of woe. "I'm sorry honey," she responded at once, voice genuinely sympathetic. "Sounds like you've been having a pretty rough night too. I'll help you keep a lookout for your friends- there's a lot of tents, but there can only be so many green ones, right?"

The hint of a southern accent crept into Holly's words as she continued to talk. It was funny how it came and went, depending on her mood and the topic of conversation. Of course, it wasn't as if Holly had grown up with the accent; her father was from New Orleans, which brought a whole new dialect into the picture. That and living on the coast meant there were people from all over in their family restaurant, so Holly had grown up with quite a mix of accents around, and had developed something which wasn't quite any of them, but more a mix of them all... The southern drawl was fairly prominent though. If you lived in the deep south it didn't matter how varied the people were around you- some things were just bound to rub off.

"Would you?" the girl asked in reply to the other Holly's offer. The RMI student broke into a sunny grin, green eyes lighting up. "That'd be great! I'm terrible at this kind of thing." she admitted.

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Holly Greer

October 15, 2009 12:33 PM

I can't disprove the theory. by Holly Greer

Unconvinced that finding her friends would be easy given her lack of success so far, Holly felt grateful for the other Holly's offer to assist. She didn't like being out in the dark by herself at the best of times, and this hardly qualified. Between their shared name and the relief at having someone else to help her look for her tent, the Sonoran Holly barely even noticed the poor cut and less than exceptional fabric quality of the RMI Holly's robes (well, she didn't comment on it, or turn her nose up because of it, which was almost the same thing).

Nodding in confirmation of her own offer of assistance, Holly gave the younger Holly a small smile, "I suspect it'll be easier to find you a place to stay than to locate my tent, but I appreciate the help." Her own accent lacked the interesting character of the other girl's. She'd been born and raised in Hollywood where the most exotic accent she had encountered in the shelter of her parents' mansions had been in Disney's Aladdin.

"What kind of people do you want to stay with?" Holly asked, thinking that Cecily's sister would probably let the girl into her tent if Holly vouched for her, but that didn't mean the RMI Holly would want to stay with Amelia. And, of course, there was the issue of finding Amelia, which probably wouldn't prove any easier than finding Cecily.

"I'm friends with the more privileged students, but I'm in Pecari, so I kind of know some of the, um," Holly tried to think of a word to describe the rowdy plebes that made up most of her House without insulting the other Holly in case that was the kind of person she was, "less privileged students, too." Muggleborn herself, her definition of privilege had more to do with wealth and breeding than the amount of magic in her family tree, and since the other ladies of quality at Sonora had accepted her into their fold, she rarely had occasion to doubt the viewpoint.

1 Holly Greer I can't disprove the theory. 123 Holly Greer 0 5