Headmistress Powell and Headmaster Guido

October 02, 2009 4:18 PM
It was a pleasantly warm morning; students at Sonora were unimpressed with having to wear their uniform robes on a Saturday, but this was a special occasion. The visiting staff and students from Rocky Mountain International had only just arrived by portkey to the edge of the Quidditch pitch, where the inhabitants of Sonora Academy had gathered to meet them. Headmistress Sadi Powell was the first to make contact; she walked up to the large group and shook hands with their Headmaster, Alessandro Guido. Then she took a couple of steps back again, and put her wand to her throat. Her voice, magically magnified, could fill the Quidditch pitch as she made her announcement. “Welcome to Sonora Academy. We hope you will enjoy your stay in the desert. Today there will be a series of activities for all students, which our prefects have been kind enough to arrange. There will be a buffet at lunchtime served in the gardens, and during the evening we will come together for a magnificent bonfire.” Sadi paused in her speech to allow for any response to this news to die down before she continued. “Tonight all staff and students will camp out here on the Quidditch pitch.” Tents would be erected later in the day; each tent would hold four students, and would be strictly single sex. The students would be free to choose their own camping comrades, although the Headmistress was hopeful there would be some inter-school sharing.

Before the students from RMI had embarked, Alessandro Guido had given them a brief speech about their expected behaviour as visitors at Sonora. As he stood with Sadi Powell, he sincerely hoped certain students would take his words to heart. The man was excited that his students would have this opportunity; it felt, at times, as though the student body became somewhat set in its ways. Sandro was a firm believer in encouraging diversity, and sincerely hoped all the students would take advantage of this opportunity to step out of their ‘boxes’ and meet other young witches and wizards. As the students hesitantly began to mill about, Alessandro smiled and took a few steps forward in order to speak with Sadi. After months of planning, it was exciting for the event to finally be occurring!

Returning her voice back to normal, Sadi started to encouraged visiting staff towards a small table of light refreshments the prairie elves had laid out on the pitch. For her, giving the speech had been easy: it was the rest of the weekend that held mild concern. Although Sadi was sure all students would do their best to represent their school, it would be foolish to imagine everyone would get along swimmingly. Hopefully any scruples that did occur would be minor, and easily resolved.
Subthreads:
0 Headmistress Powell and Headmaster Guido Sonora Academy Welcomes Rocky Mountain International! 0 Headmistress Powell and Headmaster Guido 1 5

Adam Brockert

October 02, 2009 6:02 PM
Like most school events, Adam didn't care too much about the people from RMI attending. To him, they were just more people who wouldn't like him. He knew Talitha (whom Adam still couldn't believe was his girlfriend) had some friends there that he assumed she'd want to visit with and whom he sincerely hoped wouldn't mind having him around.

But he had absolutely no intention in participating in any of the events. Adam would be way too embarassed if he messed up and even if he didn't mess up, he'd still probably be criticized anyway. He really still believed that no matter what he did it was wrong and it was best just not to participate. Besides, two of three events were things Adam would never do anyway.

He listened to Headmistress Powell's speech, even though much it did not apply to him. Adam would eat at the buffet and sit around the bonfire, hopefully with Talitha, as not only did anyone else not really like him much but Adam genuinely wanted to spend time with her, especially with graduation right around the corner. Adam would do all he could to keep in touch with his girlfriend and hopefully they could do something over the summer. Maybe she could come to their so-called Family Reunion that Adam knew was a graduation party for him in disguise. The one he was getting solely because he was the heir whether he wanted a party or not. Neither his sister nor his cousins had gotten such a big one, (though Adam did remember Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Liam giving Oliver a big one, at his uncle's order insistance. Neither Marshall or Lucy had gotten such a thing from their parents and certainly not from Great-Grandfather).

That's when Headmistress Powell gave the reminder that made Adam's blood run cold. They would be sleeping out on the Quidditch Pitch in tents. He didn't care about the camping aspect of it (though part of him wanted to laugh at the thought of Chelsea and her friends sleeping in a tent) No, it was the fact that he'd be sharing a tent with three other guys.

Adam did not have any male friends at Sonora and did not particularly care to share a tent with anyone who didn't like him. Which was every student at Sonora who was not Talitha, Briony, Pepper or Afton.

And obviously all these people were girls. Furthermore, Adam had an issue with worrying people would do things to him in his sleep. The only people Adam trusted completely in this respect were Talitha, Kaylie, Marshall and Geoff Spindler and really, he had never thought his former roommate liked him and the only reason Adam trusted him was because he'd had ample opportunity to do something to Adam and never done anything. Oh, and he trusted Kaylie's boyfriend Ian, because Kaylie would be upset if Ian did anything to Adam and he didn't think Ian would like upsetting Kaylie.

None of those people were at Sonora anyway, aside from Talitha. Nor were they students at RMI.

Of course, there was absolutely no way Adam was sharing with his male yearmates. That had not gone well last time. Devian had made fun of him and there was no way on earth he wanted to be in that close of proximity to Saul. It would not be good for his sanity.

It would be embarassing to have to share with the younger students and if he had to share with his third cousin, Quentin, it would likely drive him almost as crazy as having to share with Saul.

Adam was likely going to have to share with someone from RMI and that made him totally anxious. He was not good with meeting new people at all. Still, it was preferable to Saul. Or Devian.

Were any of Talitha's RMI friends male? Maybe they'd share with him.

He couldn't even think of a guy he'd had a non-hostile encounter with. OH! Adam suddenly remembered.

The beginning of the year, he'd talked to Talen Dupree. It had not been...awful. Maybe Talen could share a tent with him and then they could find two RMI guys.
11 Adam Brockert *Insert Expletive* 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Holly Greer

October 03, 2009 12:14 PM
Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles had, in general, approved of most of the midsummer activities Sonora hosted every year. The ball in her first year still stood out as her favorite, but the concert had been fabulous in its own way (most notably because she had (a) gotten to dress up as a princess, and (b) kiss Raoul in the play). The fair hadn't been awful, though the amount of horse riding at the Care of Magical Creatures booth had been sorely disappointing.

The bonfire was an entirely different monster.

She'd been indifferent toward it at first, but when she learned that not only was she going to need to sleep outside but in a tent with three other girls, that was when it became intolerable. There was only one possible way to make it redeemable, and that was to make sure she had her own friends in her tent. Tent! How awful was that?

Still there was little choice in the matter. Finding her friends didn't take long and they were conveniently numbered at four. "Chelsea, Cecily, Anabel? We're sharing a tent together, right?" She shuddered a little, unable to keep that under wraps. "I don't see why everyone has to sleep outside. I much prefer my nice soft bed." In the room she didn't have to share with anyone, but she diplomatically didn't mention that since the other Ladies were not so lucky as she was.
1 Holly Greer Ladies of the Fourth Year Tent? 123 Holly Greer 0 5


Cecily Smythe

October 04, 2009 11:36 AM
There were a few mentionable good points about the bonfire celebrations. However, Cecily didn't bother mentioning them, let alone going into detail, as they were so dwarfed in number by the bad points of this event. The severity of the situation was addressed only minutes after the guest school had arrived, as Holly collected their usual group together and mentioned the dreaded tents. Now, Cecily had heard rumours that Muggle tens were worse by far than magical ones, so Holly would probably feel a little better once inside one, but that didn't lessen the blow for any of the other girls. Like Holly said - their own beds were preferable by far. Even if Cecily and Anabel usually had to share a room with Renaye.

"Of course we'll share," Cecily said instantly. The only way to make this situation bearable would be to share quarters with her best friends in all the world. Amelia had taken a moment to joke that she and Cecily should share a tent with their two cousins, but Cecily had been preety certain she'd been joking: both of them hated Cynthia, and Amelia hadn't been talking to Cecily much recently, anyway. Besides, how desperate would that look? No, Cecily had friends to share with, thank you very much. She would be sharing with the Ladies and making the best out if, much like the visit to the Flying Horse Ranch (which hadn't actually been so great as Cecily had imagined).

"We'll just stay up really late and we can sleep all day tomorrow," she suggested (assuming they would be allowed back into the commons in the morning). If the bonfire didn't last that long, Cecily was confident the girls could think of enough to talk about to keep them up most of the night. "Besides," she mentioned with a sly smile, "I have secret rations." Cecily nodded to her shoulder bag, which was small for ease, but much larger inside than one would believe just by looking at it. As usual, her mother had supplied an assortment of delicious snacks for Cecily to share with her friends.
0 Cecily Smythe 'Court' has a better ring to it 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5


Hyana Kamiya

October 04, 2009 3:41 PM
Hyana Kamiya, now a fifth year student at Rocky Mountain International, couldn’t get rid of the butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t really nervous. She was more excited than anything else. She used to be a student at Sonora Academy. She had transferred to Rocky Mountain International around the midterm of her second year. And now she was going back!

The raven haired girl listened to Professor Headmistress Sadi Powell with a small smile. Okay, maybe she was a little nervous. She dusted off her jeans, she hadn’t had the best landing with the portkey, trying not to look into the crowd of Sonora students. She hadn’t explained why she had left in the first place. Hyana wasn’t even sure herself. And there were some of her old friends that she was scared to face. Caedence, for obvious reasons. Alexis, for just as obvious reasons.

Josiah, for not so obvious, or maybe they were obvious, reasons.

She stopped picking at a thread on her black and blue checkered shirt when Headmistress Powell had finished speaking. Now what were they supposed to do? She ran her fingers through her hair, brown eyes scanning the group of Sonora and RMI students, not sure what to do next. Should she look for someone? Should she find a group to share a tent with? At a loss of what to do, Hyana stood there until someone approached her.
0 Hyana Kamiya Homecoming? Would this be the appropriate term? 0 Hyana Kamiya 0 5


Tanya Fayes [RMI Second-year]

October 04, 2009 9:49 PM
Tanya Fayes blinked in the bright morning sunlight as she was suddenly jerked from safe underground RMI to the unknown Quidditch Pitch at Sonora. The second-year tried to smooth her brown hair- her normally smooth ponytail had gotten all messed up by the portkey, and wisps of hair were floating down around her face. She consoled herself with the fact that her school uniform at least looked nice, probably because she hadn’t worn it all year. But visiting another – possibly rival- school called for not wearing hand-me-downs.

It was maybe a good thing that Headmaster Guido had made the visit mandatory, or else Tanya would have had to decide whether or not to go. Well, she could have not gone, but that would have required hiding in the passages or something like that, and Tanya hadn’t felt like taking the time to figure out how to do it.

Still, she did not feel entirely calm as she watched the ranks of green-clad Sonorites on the other side of the Pitch. Tanya had heard that Sonora was more… pureblood, so to speak, and she didn’t think that they would like her. There were Andreias in every school, of course, but RMI was, in general, pretty non-caring about that sort of thing. Which was good for Tanya. And she had no intention of letting anyone at Sonora know why it was good for Tanya, but the problem still existed.

And the Aquila was sure that there would be more Andreias at Sonora than at RMI. It was one of the main reasons she hadn’t wanted to go (along with the fact that it was something new and probably hazardous).

There was the chance that no one would care in the slightest and she would meet lots of new friends. Right. And she would love these new friends so much- and they would love her- that they would all have a fun sleepover in their tent.

And as the Head of Sonora explained how they would all be best friends and camp out in tents, Tanya’s heart sank. Outside? At night- it would be just like last time. Alone- outside. She couldn’t- just couldn’t- do it. Tanya did not want to go camping. Tanya Fayes Did Not Like Camping. It wasn’t even the specific action of camping; it was more the spend-a-night-outdoors sort of thing. Even though it was almost five months later, and Sonora was in the desert and therefore there would be no snow, and there would be other people, it was still practically the same thing. Even though it was almost summer, Tanya Fayes felt cold.

Tanya was now a girl on a mission. She had to find a way to get out of this place! Some reason- anything! If her owl had been there, she could have owled her brother and Nikolai could have Apparated over here and then Side-Alonged her out. But Ari was stuck back at RMI, so she was stuck at Sonora. For now.

The second-year was so busy trying to come up with a plan that she didn’t notice the person in green flying at her until it was too late. For some reason, a Sonora student slammed into her side and knocked Tanya to the ground!
0 Tanya Fayes [RMI Second-year] It seemed like a good idea at the time 0 Tanya Fayes [RMI Second-year] 0 5


Jose Hernandez

October 05, 2009 2:19 PM
Jose was beyond excited about not only the Bonfire and the associated bonfire activities - there was an obstacle course! - but by the chance to meet new people. In honor of the occasion, he had treated himself to loads of sugar that morning. Standing still for Headmistress Powell's speech had been impossible - he'd perched up on his toes, vainly trying to see over the heads of the taller students, moved around and stepped upon older kids' toes trying to find an opening, and generally displayed every evidence of being an overexcited first year hopped up on pixie sticks.

By the time the speech had finished, Jose had squeezed his way through the Sonoran crowd to claim a place right at the front. He drank in the sight of the unfamiliar students and a bright grin broke across his face while he bounced on the balls of his feet, muscles tensed to sprint into the group wearing a uniform different than his own.

He pulled at his own sleeves, un-self-conscious of their worn and battered state. They'd been Saul's before they'd been his - right down to the same Pecari House badge - and neither of them had been particularly kind to the robes. Instead, he was noticing their color and how accustomed he'd become to the green. They'd looked funny when he'd started last September, but now it was the RMI robes that looked strange to him.

Jose liked strange. That was why he was a Pecari, the House of Adventure.

Finally, Headmistress Powell stopped talking. Jose had no idea what she'd said, but figured it wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. If he had any questions about what was going on, Saul wouldn't be hard for him to find.

Jose took off across the space separating the two groups of students, fixed upon his intent to get the two groups of uniforms mixed up as quickly as possible.

He was a little too successful. One of his old hand-me-down canvas shoes with zero traction left on the soles slipped on the trampled grass of the Pitch and he careened directly into one of the guest students. They both pitched to the ground. His dark Mexican features didn't allow him to flush too brightly, but his face still felt warm as he climbed quickly back to his feet and hurried to help the girl back up as well.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, mortified, his accent as American as his appearance and name were Hispanic. "Got excited and slipped and I'm really sorry! Are you all right?" He held out a hand, more as an offer to pull her back to her feet than for a handshake, but accompanied it with an introduction. "I'm Jose. Jose Hernandez." There were two Joses in the school, and if she reported him to a teacher, he didn't want Santoro to get in trouble for his clumsiness. "I'm really sorry," he said again, sincerely, hoping that repetition would make her unharmed and inclined against holding his tumble against not only him, but his whole school.
1 Jose Hernandez Whoa! Sorry there! 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Saul Pierce, Pecari Prefect of Sonora

October 05, 2009 3:15 PM
Saul stood toward the front of the Sonoran crowd as Headmistress Powell welcomed the RMI students and staff, and explained the day's agenda. The green uniform he wore was weighed down by the Prefect and Quidditch Captain badges pinned to its front. The Pecari seventh-year fit neither stereotype, being neither Quidditch-obsessed nor a student in good academic standing, but he was prepared to be as prefectly as the school and the Headmistress required him to be. Well, short of stopping the prank Elly was planning for the day . . . that he planned to help out with.

But he'd be happy to help sort out tent arrangements, resolve disagreements, or provide directions to anyone who needed the assist.

As Headmistress Powell finished speaking, he figured the first tent arrangement to sort out should be his own. He had a little while before he had to join Pepper, Elly, and Briony at the Obstacle Course. Unfortunately, he had few male friends. Echo's absence hurt worse than it had since the Fury! kick-off. There was still Matt, but Saul wasn't taking it for granted that his roommate wasn't going to hook up with his twin brother and maybe some other sixth year friends.

A glance around showed Adam probably had a similar plan to his own, but he didn't approach. Adam had made it quite clear what he thought of Saul the year before. The remainder of the seventh year boys in Sonora weren't quite as opposed to his existence, but he wouldn't call any of them close friends. And his cousin Jose was way too young to share a tent with.

That pretty much left Saul with the RMI students. Besides, the Headmistress seemed to think mixing with them was important for the school image, so who was he to argue? He liked new people, and as a Prefect, he should be an example to the younger students.

He headed over into the RMI crowd. Spotting a guy who was probably fifth year or older, Saul navigated over in his direction. "Hey, do you have tentmates yet? I'm Saul." He opted against offering his last name and family branch. It would scare away most that recognized it, and falsely imply he was a pureblood to those that didn't. The California Pierces were many things. Pure wasn't one of them.
1 Saul Pierce, Pecari Prefect of Sonora Seeking Tentmates among the RMI guys 82 Saul Pierce, Pecari Prefect of Sonora 0 5

Daniel Nash II, Sonora 2nd Year

October 05, 2009 4:27 PM
Daniel was not completely opposed to the Bonfire and all it entailed, but he objected to the timing of it. He fortunately didn't have CATS or anything this year, but he still had finals. Moreso than the Aladren badge on his uniform robe, the full bookbag he had propped against his leg must surely point him out as an obvious member of Sonora's smart House to the visiting students.

He hoped that was all they noticed. Sonoran students were used to having a Hollywood TV star in their midst. In fact, most seemed to have no idea what a TV was, which Daniel was perfectly happy about. Every new year that came in after him risked bringing a fan of Street Beat, but a dozen or so eleven year olds were far less likely recognize him than a whole visiting school with students old enough to be interested in a prime-time cable series.

But who would be looking for Nate Bealer in a Wizarding school in Arizona? Daniel hoped that even if someone recognized him, they wouldn't recognize him. They'd just think he had one of those faces or think, 'dude, that kid looks just like Nate Bealer on Street Beat.' Of course, as soon as they found out his name was Daniel Nash, they'd figure out why. Being in a show that starred Dan Nash sort of made the credit line 'Danny Nash as Nate Bealer' stick out. Maybe going by Daniel instead of Danny would help, but he kind of doubted it.

His best bet was to look as boring and nerdy as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn't too good at boring or even nerdy. He went with pureblooded instead. He'd probably attract the wrong sort of attention, but as soon as they heard his name (which was at zero risk of being recognized among the pureblooded community), any girls looking for a potential husband would lose interest in him. So he put on his most immaculate school robes, styled his hair with exacting precision, and held himself with perfect posture and just a trace of aloof superiority.

In short, he looked like he always did at Sonora. It was about as far removed an image from Nate's rough and tumble look as he could design. It meshed well with his perfectionist tendencies and he had it on good authority that it looked good on him. He suspected the picture he presented was largely responsible for him earning Class Gentleman in the yearbook last year despite his every effort to distance himself from Holly and the Ladies.

Of course, he was going to need to approach somebody. He was going to need three people to share a tent with. There was the possibility of his normal roommates, of course. They already knew about his foibles and wouldn't think him any stranger than they already did when they saw how OCD he was about dirt.

On the other hand, a tent was significantly different than a dorm room. If he did something even weirder than was his norm, maybe it would be better if it wasn't in the company of people he had to live with for another five years. Camping was a foreign concept. He nearest previous experience was sitting in a tent in DADA while they learned the lumos family of spells. He had no clear idea of what could possibly go wrong, which made it hard to put in appropriate preventative measures.

Perhaps his best bet was to just grab a tent and see who randomly joined him. With that course of action in mind, he took a piece of parchment out of his bag and wrote "Boys Tent. Current Occupancy: 1"

Finding an unoccupied tent, he used a sticking charm to fasten the parchment against the tent's unfastened front flap and entered.

It was larger inside than he'd been expecting. In fact, it was quite different inside than he'd been expecting. There were four cots set up and it wasn't as far off from his first experience stepping into the Aladren dorm as he would have thought it would be. There even seemed to be an attached bathroom. So these were not muggle tents, then. That was something at least.

He picked one of the cots and dropped his bookbag and overnight bag onto it. Sitting down beside the bags, he pulled out his potions text and began reviewing the year's material while he waited for someone else to join him. He'd probably check out the prefect's activities later, but he had time yet before they started and the potions final was coming up soon.
1 Daniel Nash II, Sonora 2nd Year New people. Great. 130 Daniel Nash II, Sonora 2nd Year 0 5


Chelsea Brockert

October 05, 2009 5:12 PM
Despite having to wear her school uniforms, Chelsea had taken more care with than usual with her appearance(not that she felt she needed to put in too much effort) the day that the students visiting from RMI came. It was always important to look your best when meeting new people and there had to be at least some people from RMI worth impressing. Maybe even eligible pureblood boys. Chelsea knew full well her parents weren't going to help her out there by arranging one for her. Why did her father have to be so bloody liberal about such things?

Of course, Chelsea would settle for nothing less than the best sort of boy from a respectable pureblood family and would pick that fine on her own. It was just that the pickings at Sonora were so slim.

She resisted making a face when Headmistress Powell mentioned the tents. For the love of Merlin, why ! Chelsea had never camped in her life and never had any intent of doing so. Camping was for girls like Renaye and Laurie, not girls from families like hers. Though Nina would probably love camping. Her sister really was shaping up to be...disreputable.

At least Chelsea would not have to worry about who she'd be sharing with (and she took some pleasure in the fact that Adam had to be freaking out about this part of it.)

Chelsea nodded in agreement to what Cecily said about sharing and what Holly said about not seeing why everyone had to sleep out on the pitch. "I don't see why we all have to either." Like Holly, she was reluctant to give up her bed and the room she had to herself for the night. "And on the Quidditch Pitch of all places."

She looked at Cecily. "Sounds like a plan." Chelsea turned to include Anabel in her next statement as well. "At least you two will get a Renaye-free night." That was a positive for the two Crotali girls, but it didn't help out Chelsea much. Still, a night gossiping with her friends sounded great. Sometimes, she was a bit jealous that Cecily and Anabel got to share with each other. It even made her glad Holly was in Pecari. Chelsea would have hated it if all her friend were in the same house and she was in a different one.

On the other hand, Cecily and Anabel didn't just have each other to share with, but also Renaye, Laurie and Alexis. (And Addie, but Addie seemed to be okay. Chelsea couldn't even say too much about her non-pureblood background, because Holly wasn't a pureblood either) That was enough to make her glad to have her own room in Aladren.

Chelsea gave smile about the 'secret rations' that Cecily had mentioned. She normally didn't gorge herself on junk food, as she didn't want to get fat (though she was in no danger of it and could probably eat whatever without worry, Chelsea didn't want to risk it) but this was a desperate occasion and she deserved anything to make the situation more bearable.
11 Chelsea Brockert Naturally 108 Chelsea Brockert 0 5


Eavan Valentine

October 07, 2009 2:00 PM
Eavan was not happy standing in her school robes in the sun. But she would've endured just about anything knowing now that she was almost done. Thankfully, this year didn't have her trying to studying for major exams simultaneously with her prefect duties, so the small stash of calming draughts she had gotten the year before were still packed safely in her trunk. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she watched the students and staff from RMI appear as if from thin air.

She groaned at the mention of camping in tents on the pitch. Not that there was anything wrong with camping; in fact, she thought it sounded fun, but Eavan had the funniest feeling that they would be asking the prefects to help set them up and frankly, she was exhausted. And she'd have to find people to spend the night with. Her thoughts instinctively went to Danae as first choice, but then there were two other slots to be filled. There was always Elly, but Eavan decided against it, knowing the redhead's penchant for pranks. Perhaps she'd see if anyone from RMI wanted to bunk. Putting on as large a smile as she could muster, she approached the first RMI girl that looked to be in the upper years.

"Hi. My name's Eavan and I'm a Teppenpaw prefect." She really hoped this person would be nice about random strangers introducing themselves.
0 Eavan Valentine The moment arrives! 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5


Ivy Tallow

October 07, 2009 4:23 PM
No matter how many tike she kept telling herself that everything would be fine, Ivy couldn't seem to settle the butterflies in her stomach. Her calm, quiet year was being interrupted by a diversion she couldn't avoid, in the form of a trip to another school. In principle, Ivy agreed with the visit. It would do some students a world of good to discover they were not the most important people in the world, despite having deluded themselves of being VIPs within the school. Besides, Ivy knew Sonora wasn't all bad; she had relatives there. Still the thought of being somewhere unfamiliar, surrounded by unfamiliar and unpredictable people was a daunting concept. Not so daunting as it had once been, as Ivy had recently learned that she, too, could be unpredictable in certain circumstances. Today, for example, she'd come with the intent of being sociable and having a good time, whereas her usual ethos would see her talk to as few people as possible and shy away from the crowds.

However the occasion turned out, Ivy couldn't deny she would welcome the break from the intensive study regime she'd enforced on herself since the start of the year. It was only one weekend: her grades would not suffer for it. Sonora Academy also had the benfit of being outdoors: the fresh air would undoubtedly do Ivy some good. So when the Headmistress had finished welcoming the school and a student from the unfamiliar school approached Ivy, she did her best not to shy away. "Hello," she said, her voice audible but quieter than it perhaps should have been. "I'm Ivy Tallow." The other girl - Eavan - had introduced herself as a prefect. Ivy didn't have that status herself, and she wasn't sure her House would mean much. Instead, she said, "I'm in sixth year at Rocky Mountain." Ivy managed to keep her hands from fidgeting, and she couldn't hide behind her dark hair because it was just long enough to tie back now, and so she'd kept it all neatly away from her face. She looked, as always, the model student: her uniform robes were neatly pressed and her sensible shoes were polished to a sensible shine.
0 Ivy Tallow It had to come sometime 0 Ivy Tallow 0 5


Elly Eriksson

October 07, 2009 4:31 PM
Elly couldn't actually contain her excitement at the events that were about to unfold. Okay, first there was a completely new schoool coming. Full of completely new students. That just had to be fun! Next, there were the daytime activities, one of which Elly had helped to co-ordinate. She knew theirs would be the best, fo course, but she was also looking forward to skipping out on that for a short while and taking part in the other activities, too - broom racing was right up her alley, and she was interested to see what the academic competition would be. If it was potions, she was a shoe-in (provided Geoff Layne or Morgaine didn't feel compelled to take part).

Even after all this, there was going to be a fabulous bonfire, with The Nowhere Men providing the music (being friends with the band's realtives had let her in on this, though she'd assumed as much anyway, as Simon's group did tend to play at Sonora events), and camping afterwards. Elly would have no choice but to be excited beyond belief even if she hadn't planned the most spectacular pranks in history... but of course she had planned the most spectacular pranks in histpry. This weekend was going to be AWESOME!

Jittering almost as badly as Jose a few rows over, Elly waited for Headmistress Powell to finish talking before she surged forward with the rest of the more eager students from either school. There was one face in particular Elly was looking for...

"Hyana!" With a squeal like a siren, Elly launched herself at her former friend and squished the younger girl in a tight hug, probably obscuring her vision with a mane of red curly hair. "Ohmygod you're at Sonora again and check you out! You grew up and everything!" Elly finally let Hyana breathe and grinned like a Chesire cat, pleased as punch with the reunion.
0 Elly Eriksson HYANAAAAAAAAAAAA! 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5


Darian

October 08, 2009 11:02 AM
Dairan looked around the quidditch pitch of Sonora Academy. What an odd place this was! Their pitch didn’t even have a playground, and it was open to real air. The weather wasn’t charmed or anything. And it was hot. It seemed like it should feel like a normal mild day, but to the boy used to the weather in Colorado, this was pretty warm indeed. He tugged at the collar of his robes, wishing that he hadn’t chosen a thin sweater to wear under his robes. The sweater was perfect for a “mild” day at RMI, but a bit too much cloth for a “mild” day at Sonora. On the plus side, his coffee colored skin kept him from worrying about sunburn out in this Arizona sun. Darian rubbed his hand through his tiny fuzz of hair looking around the group of kids.

The Sonora, in their green robes, seemed to stick together. The gray robed RMI people did likewise. Darian riffled through his pockets, sorting through his stash of dungbombs, fake insects, stringmint floss, and other mischief making items. He chuckled. Okay, he promised to be on his best behavior, right? Well by Aquilla standards, that was only pulling one trick. Just which one to use and on whom?

The headmistress of Sonora (which was another odd thing) began her speech and welcomed everyone. Darian cracked a grin when she finished. So the headmistress here was a lot less longwinded than Guido! That wasn’t really fair to Guido, but the man could go on in a speech!

The Sonora and RMI kids started mingling and Darian figured it would be a good idea to join up with one of the Sonora kids. After all, he already knew all the RMI people. What was this bonfire for rather than to meet new kids?

Just as he was about to approach the other side, a green robed person walked his way. The kid, who looked to be just a bit older than Darian, introduced himself as Saul. Darian flashed him one of his best winning grins. “Hey Saul! Name’s Darian, and no I don’t have a roommate yet.”

Darian looked the other boy over. He thought the kid looked pretty cool, so Darian didn’t seem to mind partnering up with him. “So, this school doesn’t have much by the way of older males, huh?” Darian joked. “Same at RMI. The girls practically run the school.”

“Sonora, its pretty nice here. A bit warm, but nice. Oh I’m an Aquilla Prefect by the way. We’re the… well more outgoing of the kids. We’re the best,” Darian chuckled a bit.

He looked around the pitch, taking in the sites, “So where’s the theater in this place anyway? Do we get to see inside your school or just this area?” He asked, still getting used to the “realness” of the whole outdoors of this place.
0 Darian Well I'm a guy, and a sixth year. Does that count? 0 Darian 0 5


Caedence

October 08, 2009 11:34 AM
Caedence scowled around at everyone on the pitch. She dressed head to foot in dark clothing today under her robes. A black t-shirt with golden cat eyes across the front, dark jeans, back tennis shoes, and her braid was woven with a black ribbon laced throughout. She did not like the idea of these intruders in her school. They were going to trash her pitch, and she did not have a bat around to club them with. An RMI kid, who was probably a firstie judging by how short she was, unfortunately met Caedence’s gaze. The poor kid was probably still shaking.

Caedence listened patiently to the welcoming speech. Headmistress Powell kept things mercifully short. Caedence half considered what activity to do after the general milling around happened. Perhaps broom races? Or obstacle courses, since Elly was helping run that. Yeah, Caedence liked the thought of that. She drew her beater gloves from her pocket and donned them. The worn leather felt familiar on her hands and that calmed her nerves.

Because, though Caedence would never admit it aloud, or probably even to herself, she was pretty nervous. After all, these people were new, and Caedence was not good at dealing with new. All these people could possibly be enemies. Though it was a few years ago, Caedence still hadn’t completely gotten used to her new family life. Of course her parents had long ago insisted she become part of the family, Caedence still kept her distance from her step-brother and step-dad. Caedence mentally shuddered. He insisted that Caedence call him Dad, or anything other than his first name. Said something about respect this and respect that. Caedence replied that he would never be her father. She got grounded for a week.

Speaking of the man, Caedence’s dad was trying for parole. He insisted on a visit with her once during the holidays, and Charles came with her. Long story short, her father swore he’d try and get custody back of her after he got out of jail. Caedence couldn’t wait to be of age in the muggle world as well as here. Then she could get rid of both fathers. Some nights Caedence still had nightmares about her father taking her back. She hoped none of the other girls in her dorm noticed. Especially Elly. She still hadn’t told Elly about the jail visit, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to.

She was starting to become pretty attached to her step mom and sister, though. The two of them often times hung out at the mall or just around the house whenever her step sister was on break from Beauxbatons. Caedence enjoyed their shopping trips, even if her mom was always harping on her to buy more cheerful outfits and trying, not successfully, to get Caedence to buy a few skirts.

Hearing her best friend going nuts a few feet over, Caedence looked to see what had excited the redhead this time. Her scowl broke into a small smirk. It was the kid! “Hey!” Caedence greeted making her way over to the Asian girl. “Elly, I think you may have broken a few of her ribs. Hey Hyana! What’s up kid? How is my little apprentice?” Caedence gave the girl a friendly ruffle of her hair. Hyana probably thought Caedence had gone mad. If Caedence from a few years back saw her future self she probably would have hurled. But things change with time, right?
0 Caedence *waves tiny welcome home flag* 94 Caedence 0 5

Saul Pierce

October 08, 2009 1:45 PM
Being a nomadic California native whose family migrated south in the winter, often to a town within spitting distance of the Mexican border, not to mention a student who'd gone to a school located within Arizona's desert for the past seven years, Saul considered the day's weather to be somewhere between 'nice' and 'a little chilly'. Only the extra layer of school robes made it comfortable without a light jacket. Darian's opinion that it was 'a bit warm here' made him raise his eyebrow doubtfully, but he let it pass in favor addressing the rest of the other prefect's statement.

"Us guys are pretty well outnumbered," Saul agreed, "but the seventh year class is the exception. We're actually split about even, believe it or not. But," he shrugged, "we're one of the smaller classes at the school, and most of the other guys are Aladrens - that's the smart House - so . . ." he trailed off and waved a hand around, "not really the type to hang out with Pecaris."

Tapping his own prefect badge, he explained with a grin, "We're the ones all the school brochures call 'adventurous' and the teachers call 'trouble-makers'. Also the best," he added with a conspiratorial smile. "The geniuses are just jealous."

With a nod toward the school, he continued, "And while I think the library's open, that's not particularly interesting. Sadly, no theater here. Just the Pitch - which is going to have a stage later, so we're getting closer - the Gardens, and the Cascade Hall. The Hall's where they're going to have the academic competition later, so that's definitely open, and you can get food there if you're hungry.

"The Gardens have the obstacle course. I'm helping to run that so I gotta get over there reasonably soon, or I'd offer to give you the full tour of the place. Classrooms and common rooms are obviously closed down for the weekend. Hospital wing's probably open, if you get hurt, but it's pretty much like any other doctor's office in the wizarding world. Not really sure what else we've got of interest anyway. The Gardens, Pitch, and Cascade Hall are the big three."
1 Saul Pierce That's perfect. 82 Saul Pierce 0 5


Keith Blackburn [RMI 2nd year]

October 08, 2009 3:13 PM
Keith Blackburn, second year, failed to see how anyone could possibly expect him to be courteous and social to strangers when he could not, on a daily basis, be either with the people he lived with.

As they had threatened promised, Keith’s family had come to see the show at RMI, despite the black-haired boy’s vehement objections. He had insisted that there was no reason for them to see the talent show, that he was going to be running lights and sound from the booth and they thus would not see him during the show. Rosetta, his oldest sister at ten years of age, had maintained that the entire family was coming out to support Mordred, Keith’s Shetland Sheepdog, in the opening number that Lia Harper had organized. Grudgingly, Keith could not complain about that. Mordred was staying at RMI for the duration of this field trip to Sonora; the Floridian was at loathe to give his ragamuffin puppy a bonus chance to run off or do something else foolish.

After Sonora’s Headmistress’s rosy speech, the Quidditch Pitch became very loud, very quickly. For Keith—way to go, broadband sound-color synesthesia—this translated into a lot of confusing colors. Figuring that the best way to get out of this loud rainbow mess was to duck into one of the tents, Keith looked around for one. The first tent he saw was one that bore a sign reading “Boys Tent. Current Occupancy: 1”. The Draco decided that whoever was already occupying this tent had to be at least as antisocial as him, and with this cheerful thought he took out a pen, increased the occupancy on the sign by one, and stepped inside.

Mostly thanks to Rosetta’s insistence on it, Keith had been camping before; the two oldest Blackburn children often went with their father, Ivan, while their mother looked after Marisol and Ika. Usually it was Keith and Ivan’s job to set up the tent, while Rosetta explored the area. Once in a while, the tent fell apart in the middle of the night, but since Ivan and Rosetta were as easy to wake up as a sack of bricks, Keith was always the only one who noticed this before the sun rose. He had some confidence, though, that whoever had set up the tents at Sonora were more competent at camping that Keith and his father were. Upon entering the tent, Keith noticed a feature that he had never experienced in one of the Blackburn Amazing Collapsing Tents; this temporary structure, if he was not mistaken, was smaller on the outside than it was on the inside.

Ah, right. Magical tents. Of course.

The tent’s sole occupant was sitting on one of the cots reading what Keith quickly identified as a Potions textbook. Well, the second-year had certainly chosen the correct tent; this other kid seemed about as sociable as Keith, and he was reading up on Keith’s favorite subject. He would rather share with any Sonoran than with, for instance, Simon. Not that the pair were rivals, but Keith felt that rooming with the Lyra would be a dreadful idea. The black-haired atheist could only stand so much of his religious friend.

“Room for one more?” Keith asked rhetorically, standing near one of the vacant cots. He thought that the Sonoran looked familiar, but, being of non-magical descent, it was highly improbable that Keith knew any of the students at the other school. At any rate, the synesthete would certainly know if he had ever seen the other boy when the Sonoran talked. “I’m Keith Blackburn—a Draco second-year at RMI. Pleasure to meet you?”
0 Keith Blackburn [RMI 2nd year] My sentiment exactly. 0 Keith Blackburn [RMI 2nd year] 0 5

Daniel Nash II

October 08, 2009 5:06 PM
Daniel looked up from the book as the tent he'd chosen was introduced to the arrival of another student. The new person looked about his age and not immediately disagreeable, so he nodded in greeting and confirmation that there was room for another in the tent. There were, after all, still three empty cots left and to claim otherwise would be outright rude. Daniel liked to think he was at least polite to most strangers. His Mom would be put out otherwise.

He noted the name, Keith Blackburn, and hoped it would stay with him for the duration of the weekend. For all his ability to memorize trivia and school related facts, names tended to remain elusive to him. Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith.


"I'm Daniel," he returned, wishing Keith had kept his introduction to his first name and did not therefore require Daniel to match surname with surname. There'd been an uncertain flicker of recognition when the other kid had entered that Daniel was pessimistically inclined to attribute to someone who'd seen him before but hadn't made the connection yet.

Keeping the trepidation from his voice, as befitted an actor of his station, he finished with only a brief moment of hesitation, "Nash." Hurrying to match the rest of the details Keith had offered in the hopes it would overshadow his name, Daniel added, "Second year Aladren here at Sonora." It seemed appropriate somehow that Keith's 'pleasure to meet you' had been a question. Daniel didn't feel bad echoing it in the same tone. "Pleasure to meet you, too?"
1 Daniel Nash II Two peas in a pod, er, tent? 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5


Hyana

October 09, 2009 3:13 PM
Hyana jumped, hearing her name. She looked for the source of the shouting but couldn’t see past the red hair that was blocking her view. Hyana laughed, returning Elly Eriksson’s hug (not that she had a choice in the matter).

“H-hi Elly!” Hyana managed to get out with the little breath she had between being choked by Elly’s hug and laughing. A voice came from behind Elly, and Hyana managed to make out who it was.

“Caedence?” Hyana blinked a couple of times. Well, things definitely changed over time. The fact that Hyana didn’t feel completely threatened by Caede was definitely proof of it. Hyana blushed, smoothing her hair with a smile.

“I’m doing great! W-what about you guys?” the girl couldn’t stop smiling. She hadn’t really expected anyone to be so excited to see her. And she certainly hadn’t imagined Caedence to be so…nice? Yeah, that was the word. Caedence and nice didn’t seem to go together in her head, but Hyana could get used to it.

“Um…do you guys think you have room in your tent for one more?” She asked, assuming that Elly and Caedence would be sharing a tent. It’d be really cool if they had room for her!
0 Hyana *blinkblink* This is surprising! 0 Hyana 0 5


Lia Harper, RMI 4th year

October 10, 2009 1:54 PM
When it was explained that they were all meant to share tents with other students, Ophelia Harper briefly entertained the notion of sharing with Ally, Ivy, and Katrina. Then she remembered that 1) she did want to wake up in the morning, and 2) she wasn’t allowed to do anything that made her laugh for more than ten seconds, as per her brother Norbert’s orders. So the fifteen-year-old mentally moved to Plan B, which was finding the hottest, most liberal chicks at Sonora and sharing with them. From what she had heard about the Arizonan school, Lia was going to have a tough time of this. But she was all about pushing the envelope.

Even though she was in her school robes, the gray—which she thought was an unfair color for the robes, since the Aquila House color was already gray—nicely accentuated the fourth year’s silver eyes, and she wore nice shoes with small heels that increased her height two inches, to five-foot-five. Lia didn’t normally wear much makeup (it took too long and she looked awesome without it, anyway), but for the Sonora visit she made a miniscule effort with smoky eyeshadow that she was pleased about. She was thin still, albeit looking healthier than she had before the show, and her black hair was French braided, courtesy of Alissa. Lia’s hair was long enough, she hoped, for two braids; come summertime, she’d need to pull her hair back in double braids for Spelling Bee. She would be playing Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, which was her dream role in the show. Lia and Schwartzy were so alike—both girls had gay dads, for instance. And she was totally going to play up the friendship between Schwartzy and Mitch, which was implied in the script but only she and Brett could perfect it. Funny, how the pair would be friends this show when they had wanted to kill each other two shows previous. But such was the life of actors.

Lia made her way through the crowd, hoping she wouldn’t see Katrina Embers and averting her eyes when she passed Allegra Ruisi. The girls still had not spoken since—what, October? November? Something like that… anyway, rumor had it that Ally was engaged to some pureblood. Lia wouldn’t deny being a little miffed at this—she had, after all, thought that Ally was different from the other pureblood girls, that she actually respected herself—but it wasn’t the black-haired Lyra’s business any more, was it? It was never my business.

So intent was she on not making eye contact with Ally that Lia nearly walked into one of the Sonorans. For a few seconds, she and the other student did an awkward shuffling step as they tried to maneuver around each other. Then Lia stood still and laughed. “Oh, hey,” she said, smiling slightly. “I’m Lia—I’m a Lyra at RMI.” The silver-eyed girl had meant to say her year, but that didn’t seem important now. Age could be discussed later.
0 Lia Harper, RMI 4th year Single attractive RMI female seeking attractive Sonoran! 0 Lia Harper, RMI 4th year 0 5


Pippa Brockert

October 10, 2009 5:24 PM
Pippa was sort of excited about the bonfire thing and RMI visiting. She liked this much better than last year's event, when she'd somehow managed to end up being onstage during the concert. She wouldn't have minded working on the costumes or props but Pippa had horrible stage fright and didn't like to be the center of attention and, as it was, she never wanted to do that again.

The bonfire on the other hand, sounded more fun. Pippa had no intention of participating in any of the events as two of them were fairly physical and she wasn't into that. However, Pippa was looking forward to meeting and hopefully making friends with people from RMI.

She pretty much had to share a tent from someone from the other school anyway. Pippa didn't really fit in well with the other girls in her year and of course, her sister wasn't going to share with her. The only person she was really friends with at Sonora was Nathaniel and he was a boy and Pippa wouldn't have been too comfortable sharing a tent with him even if she was allowed.

The Teppenpaw girl stepped out tentatively, scanning the RMI crowd for potential tentmates, when someone approached her.
11 Pippa Brockert Looking for someone to share a tent with. 132 Pippa Brockert 0 5


Eavan

October 10, 2009 11:25 PM
Eavan's smile relaxed into something more genuine. She knew there were a fair few girls at Sonora that would've snuffed her after realizing that she wasn't some sort of pureblood princess, but she didn't know if this girl -Ivy- would be like them. It was a relief to see that she wasn't. In face, Ivy seemed rather uncomfortable. As a prefect and as a Teppenpaw, it was her duty to make her feel welcome. And all that jazz.

"I'm a sixth year too," Eavan said brightly. "Do you have a tent yet? Cause if you don't, you can bunk with me and my friend." She looked around for a sign of Danae, but didn't see her in the crowd. She turned back to Ivy and pushed her mousy brown hair from her eyes. "I'd introduce you, but I have no idea where she is. Do you have any friends? Cause we can have four to a tent. You don't like pulling pranks, do you?" Eavan knew she was speaking a little fast. She might be friendly, but she still got nervous with new people.
0 Eavan Everything does. 0 Eavan 0 5


Annabelle Winslow (Sonora, 6th year)

October 11, 2009 5:32 PM
Annabelle was less paranoid than usual about RMI coming to visit. She had heard they were very liberal, even more so than Sonora, which was really not that conservative in terms of blood status. Yes, there were more purebloods and a few were of the type she tried to avoid. But, for the most part, even the ones from prominent families were not all about blood purity.

But RMI was supposed to have even fewer of the sort from what she understood. And Annabelle thought that was a good thing, both in general and for herself. There was more potential for her to actually not be rejected by these people due to being disowned the way she was by the proper purebloods that cared about such things.

She didn't know why she was so paranoid still. It was over and done with and Annabelle no longer had to worry about how she behaved around people but some things were ingrained in her. She had never formed what her former parents considered proper behavior (after all, if she had, she wouldn't have been disowned in the first place) but the worry about consequences to what Annabelle did was still with her. Even though there was nothing more that could really happen.

It was best just to be with people who didn't care either.

Annabelle listened carefully to the speech the Headmistress made. She had little interest in any of the activities. Annabelle wasn't the competitive sort. She had played Quidditch back at Salem, but that was because Annabelle enjoyed flying. It was such a freeing feeling. She had never been as into the competition aspect. Plus, there were so many good flyers at Sonora that Annabelle really felt she didn't have a chance in the broom race (though odds were, one could apply enough peer pressure for her to participate).

As Headmistress Powell mentioned the tents and finished up, Annabelle set out to find someone to share with. She was so focused on it that she didn't notice when someone nearly walked into her.

“Oh, hey,I’m Lia—I’m a Lyra at RMI.”

Annabelle smiled back. "I'm Annabelle. Crotalus, Sonora" She paused. "Nice to meet you."
11 Annabelle Winslow (Sonora, 6th year) I don't know about attractive but I am a Sonoran. 89 Annabelle Winslow (Sonora, 6th year) 0 5


Elly

October 12, 2009 7:36 AM
The real surprise for Elly was not seeing Hyana - she had been expecting her old friend to visit with the rest of Rocky Mountain - but that Caedence was being so... pleasant. Elly felt bad for thinking it, and in her excitement she gave Caede a quick hug, too. Her friend and roommate had loosened up a lot over the years, even though she'd been through a lot, with her families and whatnot. It was nice that she could drop her defenses every once in a while and just have fun.

"We're great!" Elly enthusiastically replied to Hyana's query. "We're more than great. We're groovy," she laughed. "And maybe I'm excited." She shut her mouth firmly then, to force herself to stop talking. This day was too amazing. It had barely begun, and it was going on for ages - the camping was going to be fantastic, too - Elly could tell.

"Do you guys think you have room in your tent for one more?" Hyana asked. Elly cast a quick sideways look at Caedence - the redhead hadn't really decided about sleeping arrangements. In all truthfulness, she hadn't put much thought to it at all: she had a lot of friends at Sonora already and was hoping to make some more among the RMI students. There would be lots to do during the day, and the bonfire had to be fun (even without the secret pranks). Though now she was being forced to think about it, Elly found herself very happy to share with Caedence and Hyana; maybe they could ask Irene, too? She was in the same year as Hyana.

"Sure," Elly replied, with another look at Caede to make sure the other girl didn't mind. "The three of us could share with Irene, yeah?" Unless of course Irene had other plans. In all truthfulness, Elly anticipated they would be exhausted by the time it came to choosing a tent, and it really wouldn't matter who else was in it. But if it made Hyana feel better, then she was all for sharing.

"We've got so much stuff planned," Elly told Hyana. "I've got to run off in a sec and do an activity - obstacle course, you should give it a go - but I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"
0 Elly It's super duper! 0 Elly 0 5


Ivy

October 12, 2009 3:13 PM
Eavan was smiling, and Ivy found herself smiling back in return. It was then she realized she had worried that everyone at Sonora would be like her cousins. Not that the girls were all that bad... most of the time... it was just that Ivy preferred calmer, less confrontational people. It seemed as though she'd been lucky enough to find one such person, even if the other sixth year girl did talk a lot.

"I don't have a tent yet," Ivy replied as Eavan seemed to be searching for the afore-mentioned friend.

"Do you have any friends? Cause we can have four to a tent. You don't like pulling pranks, do you?" Eavan started talking again.

Ivy answered the easiest part of the question first. "No, I don't pull pranks," she said. She hoped her cheeks didn't turn pink at the white lie. She never pulled pranks on purpose, and it wasn't as though she enjoyed it. She might have been encouraged into the odd bout of rule-breaking by her friends, and might have certain illegal substances in her bag right at that moment, but these were not normal circumstances. Normally, Ivy was quiet, well-behaved, and liked nothing better than to blend in. Eavan couldn't possibly know any different, right?

As for having any friends... Ivy thought she did. Probably. Aleksy might be her best friend, but he was a boy, so they couldn't share a tent. Same problem with her boyfriend since the start of sixth year, Hank. Lia... Lia might be her friend, but Ivy wasn't crazy enough to sleep in confined quarters with her. Besides, Eavan didn't seem to like the idea of someone who pulled pranks. "I'm good friends with my roommate, Katrina," Ivy said after a pause. "She's really nice." Ivy looked around for Kat, but didn't have any luck, either; there were a lot of people around. Ivy thought Kat might actually accept her offer of sharing with two sixth year girls from Sonora - it seemed like Kat and Allegra weren't talking to each other, still. "When I find her I'll ask," Ivy said, turning back to Eavan with a gentle smile.

"So..." Ivy paused awkwardly, wondering why she'd started a sentence without knowing how she was going to finish it. Luckily, she remembered that Eavan was a prefect, and the prefects at Sonora were organising activties. "What activity have you been planning?" Ivy smoothed her dark brown hair back in a nervous gesture. She was starting to relax - her voice was fully audible now - but old habits were hard to break.
0 Ivy Sometimes when you least expect it 0 Ivy 0 5


Tripp Lemont, RMI 5th year

October 12, 2009 6:36 PM
Truth be told, Tripp’s parents were more excited about the Sonora visit than the fifth-year was. It was not, he felt, that they disapproved of RMI, which practically reeked of a multiculturalism unknown to traditional purebloods like the Lemonts. However, the Canadian purebloods did want their name to have a greater pull in the United States, and there was no better representative than their fifteen-year-old son at his American boarding school. Since RMI did not enroll a wealth of important pureblood names—there were the Silverleafs, yes, the Marcellis, the Cardozos, the youngest Embers girl, Cameron Rothechild and Allegra Ruisi, but that was the extent of purebloods to which an RMI junior politician student could pander to—and Sonora Academy was home to more scions of old families, Tripp’s parents expected the crafter to make nice with the other students. Tripp did not particularly care for improving family connections; his aspirations were to open his own craft shop and get married (hopefully to Dawn?) and have some kids, not to continue the Lemont line but because he liked kids, and not name a single one of them “Gabriel” because three generations of that name was enough.

This was not to say that he was averse to pureblood ideals or to visiting Sonora. It would be interesting to see how another magical school operated. Since he himself had only attended RMI for slightly over two years, having been transferred in when his tutor moved from Vancouver to Haiti, Tripp did not have any experience with schools besides RMI.

Apparently, all magic schools have Quidditch Pitches, Tripp observed, as the Rocky Mountaineers portkeyed onto Sonora’s Pitch. This thrilled him less than it did some of his fellow students; while the Cetus played Keeper when he was needed, he wasn’t as avid about the sport as some of his fellow students were. Ice-skating was more of Tripp’s sport. I wonder if Dawn knows how to skate, the Canadian mused, his thoughts turning to his girlfriend. Maybe we could skate together sometime—or I could teach her.

It was only after Sonora’s Headmistress’s very warm opening speech that Tripp remembered how very few male friends he had at RMI. Most of his friends—notably Dawn, Toni, and Lia—were female, and the ones who were not—notably Simon—were much younger than the fifth-year. He was somewhat indisposed to sharing a tent with his roommate, who seemed more troublesome than friendly, so the brown-haired teen decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to follow his parents’ advice; though Tripp didn’t care at all about the lineage of his tentmates, he could still be diplomatic towards them.

Tentatively approaching one of the green-clad Sonorans, Tripp said diffidently, “Hey, do you have tentmates yet?” Opting not to use his full pureblood name—because honestly, Gabriel Lemont III of the Vancouver Lemonts was just a pretentious mouthful—the hazel-eyed boy added, “I’m Tripp Lemont—a fifth year at RMI.”
0 Tripp Lemont, RMI 5th year *Insert Censorship* 0 Tripp Lemont, RMI 5th year 0 5


Darian

October 12, 2009 6:53 PM
Darian looked at Saul incredulously. No theater? What kind of school didn’t have a theater? Then again, RMI had a theater but no drama club until he transferred. In fact, the theater was only discovered after he had started the drama club. But still, he had become so used to spending free blocks in the theater that the thought of no theater seemed to be impossible.

“Well, if you’re running the obstacle course, perhaps I could come join. After all, what’s the point of this if not to meet new friends?” Darian looked around the pitch. The green and gray mingled quite a bit, however there were a few pockets of single colors. Darian knew he should mingle with the Sonora kids, but he understood the desire to stay with friends. After all, its where people were comfortable.

“Too bad though about you having to leave. But prefects have to do their jobs.” Darian felt a little dumb for not noticing the other boy’s badge. His own was pinned on and freshly polished. Then again, looking at Saul’s showed Darian another point of difference between the two schools.

Darian rubbed his hand through his hair. “So, do you wanna be my tent mate? I cant guarantee that I wont put a little shaving cream on your pillow.” Darian laughed then held his hands up in a surrender position, “Joking, joking!” He added. “It’s the Aquilla way, we’re all jokesters and pranksters. Though we have got thin blood over the years. Not as many Aquilla as the others. I guess our schools have that in common. Small upper class huh?”

Darian looked around. Abby had to be here somewhere. He had to find her sometime, had to tell her he was sorry for being mean to her. Had to tell her that he didn’t really mean that she was his property. He hoped Saul kept away from Scott. Saul seemed really cool, Darian didn’t want him getting polluted by riffraff.

“So I guess we’ll catch each other later then Saul?” Darian asked, assuming it would be better for the other boy to get to his setting up. He didn’t want to get in the older boy’s way for now. Plus there was the bonfire to hang out at, too. Darian was going to have fun. Abby or no Abby.
0 Darian Perfect match, huh? 0 Darian 0 5


Lia

October 12, 2009 10:52 PM
The girl who was now standing in front of her was not at all bad-looking, and she was older, too. Lia wished she was more surprised by this. The Lyra would bet anything that Annabelle was a sixth year. Something about sixth-year girls really drew Lia…she didn’t understand it. She hadn’t heard about the houses at Sonora yet, but she hoped that Crotalus was the house of cool liberal people. Lyra was essentially that, ignoring Andreia Cardozo and Cameron Rothechild—artists and performers were generally less inclined to be conservative in any way.

“The pleasure is mine,” she said with a grin, silver eyes dancing appealingly. The black-haired girl hadn’t known Annabelle long enough—even Lia didn’t think ten seconds was long enough—to gauge how awesome she was, but the Sonoran seemed alright so far. She was talking to the RMI student, which was a start. Lia’s intent for this visit was to have about as much fun as possible, so “finding cool tentmates” was on the list of activities to do.

Lia was also thinking about the challenges. The obstacle course sounded interesting, but Lia knew that her heart belonged to the flying relay. She could identify potions, yes, but who wanted to do an academic competition when anything physical was an option? Lia had dropped the chemistry-esque class for a reason, and she was going to be Quidditch Captain next term—what with Scott graduating a year early. The redhead and the black-haired girl hadn’t hooked up since midterm, which Lia was okay with. Every day, she wore the necklace and ring Jimmy Phippen had given her for Christmas; the ring deliberately put on the third finger of her right hand. She didn’t want the connotations of the fourth finger or the left hand. It was unfair that she kept thinking about him, because there was no way they could go out or anything like that…not with Jimmy being Muggle and Lia being who she was. The problem wasn’t that Jimmy was a Muggle, of course—she could care less about blood status—but Jimmy wasn’t at RMI, and with Lia’s track record of fidelity… no, she couldn’t do that to him. Chris’s brother would be better off without the witch in his life.

“Do you want to tent together?” Lia asked. She was nothing if not forward. “I have bad luck with girls at my school,” she admitted casually, solely for the purpose of seeing Annabelle’s reaction. It was true that she had kept the meaning of the statement ambiguous, but the message she hoped to convey was how unlucky in love RMI was leaving her. The fourth-year even dared to hope that there were some Sonorans who might help with this problem; bad odds meant nothing to Lia. If Annabelle’s response was polite, if not favorable, then Lia was eager to share with her. If not… well, there were other girls in the desert.
0 Lia Don’t underestimate yourself 0 Lia 0 5

Saul

October 13, 2009 2:21 PM
"Yeah," Saul agreed, nodding and grinning, "You should totally come try out the obstacle course. Between me and the girls, we should be good staffing it for most of the day, but you can hang out there with us if you want. Then I can give you an intro to Elly, Pepper, and Briony, who are all awesome people." He shrugged, his cheer diminishing slightly, though it didn't drop very far, "but they're all girls, so I can't share a tent with them."

"You though," he added, pointing both forefingers at Darian, his grin returning to its full capacity, "will be in my tent. Your shaving cream does not scare me." Which was probably an invitation to get some on his pillow, but Saul was already planning to help Elly with putting out trip wires and proximity alarms, so he could hardly complain if a prank got turned around on him. He breifly considered asking if Darian wanted to help out with that, but decided it was Elly's game and she was the one who was going to have to live with the consequences next year if they got caught.

"I will definitely catch you later," Saul promised, checking the digital watch that had never worked right on school grounds. It claimed to be about seven o'clock tomorrow morning. He tapped its plastic face a few times as he started to walk backwards toward the Pitch exit. The digital display blinked a few time, the date corrected itself, and the time settled on eleven o'clock AM, which might be within about twenty minutes of accurate, which was as close as he ever needed it to be.

He shot off a salute toward Darian and excused himself, "I really probably ought to get over to the Gardens now. Remember. Obstacle Course. Try it. Oh! And if you can find two more for the tent, I get along with most people." At least, Saul had never met anyone he didn't like. The reverse was not true, as Adam had made very clear during Saul's doomed Head Boy campaign last year.

"I'm okay with anyone you pick, but make sure they know it's me in the tent with you, if you pick another Sonoran." Even those that liked him well enough might give pause before sharing a tent with him. Beyond the obvious personality differences between Saul and the other seventh year guys, and even most of the sixth years excluding Matt, who all tended to take the world far more seriously than Saul could possibly contemplate, it was hardly a closely guarded secret among the upperclassmen that Saul's familiarity with the concept of personal property was limited at best.
1 Saul I'd say so 82 Saul 0 5


Tanya Fayes

October 15, 2009 9:31 PM
Tanya shrieked, arms pinwheeling, as she was knocked to the ground. She didn't hit all that hard, and she didn't land on her arm again- thank Merlin!- but it was still a somewhat scary experience. Maybe the world's Quidditch Pitches had it out for her, or something like that. But the one at Sonora had never met her before. Maybe it did this to all people. Maybe smushing your face against it was just its way of saying hello. The Sonorite who had knocked her over certainly was doing that.

"Got excited and slipped and I'm really sorry! Are you all right? I'm Jose. Jose Hernandez. I'm really sorry," the hyperactive firstie in front of Tanya said, somehow managing to combine super-excitedness and sincere apologizing-ness. Tanya's first impulse was to scream at and hex this kid- didn't he know what he'd done? She'd almost broken her arm again! True, she had been hit from the side this time, and hadn't taken any Stunners, but it was still almost sorta kinda the same! But then she realized that Jose seemed somewhat familiar. Not looks-wise, or anything like that... but his personality...

Oh no.

He was another ILYA. That was it. The excitedness, the politeness- it was all there. Tanya groaned and covered her face with her hand, trying to pass it off as a reaction to falling. Not another one! One Ilya was annoying enough- how could there be more than one in the world?

It was impossible. There had been an off-chance she could have met someone cool, someone who could get her out of here. But no. Tanya had run in to - well, okay, Jose had run into her- someone exactly like the cousin she was trying to avoid. Life was so unfair. Tanya sighed again, then after a moment, she composed herself, and accepted Jose's hand.

"It's okay, I'm not really hurt," the Aquila said resignedly, trying to show that she actually knew how to be polite. "I was just- startled, that's all," she said as she brushed grass off her now mud-stained uniform. And she had hoped to make a good impression.

"So..." Tanya really should introduce Ilya to this kid, or at least steer Ilya his way. Her cousin and her attacker would probably get along swimmingly, and having someone nearly as- more excited than he would probably distract Ilya. Then Tanya could make her escape!

Yeah. Right.

The girl searched for a topic of conversation. Noticing the badge on his robes- a sort of bristly gray pig thing- she asked, "So, what are the houses here like? You're a..." she tried to remember what Headmaster Guido had told them about the other school. Fumbling for words, she finished with "A peck-something?"

OOC: Sorry for the delay, RL was all like "Hey pay attention to me now!"
0 Tanya Fayes Don't worry, I'm still breathing 0 Tanya Fayes 0 5


Simon Gallup [RMI, 2nd-year]

October 16, 2009 11:22 AM
After arriving at Sonora via portkey (and experiencing its accompanying nasty, nausea-inducing feeling), Simon steadied himself and looked around at all the Sonorans who had gathered to greet their guests from RMI. He watched as Headmaster Guido and a woman who appeared to be the Head of Sonora shook hands, then listened to the woman's speech.

Mmmm... Simon smiled at the thought of the lunch buffet, his blue eyes lighting up. He was no longer the fat kid that he'd been as a first-year, but he was still a little on the chubby side. He now exercised on a regular basis and was an active member of the Lyra Quidditch team at Sonora, but he couldn't help splurging at times. And since this buffet thing was probably going to be really delicious -- or at least it looked that way in his mind -- he would probably throw away his healthy eating habits in favor of some awesome food options. He'd sworn off chocolate for a while due to its unhealthiness as well as the hyperness caused by its resultant sugar rush, but if he saw anything resembling the scrumptious masterpiece come lunchtime, he was going to devour it.

Simon paid close attention to Headmaster Guido's behavioral expectations after the Headmistress had finished. He was getting pretty excited now, wondering what games or competitions the Sonorans had in store for their fellow wizards and witches. He was also excited to meet some new people because he hung out with a lot of the same students all the time at RMI. Plus, branching out was just plain fun for him; he was a rather positive boy.

"Hi!" he said to the nearest boy he didn't recognize. "I'm Simon Gallup, second-year. No relation to that muggle polling guy, though." He smiled, extending his hand.

"So you wanna share a tent?" he asked. He was sort of going out on a limb here since he really didn't know anything about this kid, but he decided that it was best to be as friendly as possible to one of his many hosts during this event. "It's cool if you don't -- I just want to figure out who to group up with now so that I'm not asking around all day, y'know?" He smoothed down his longish light brown hair absentmindedly.
0 Simon Gallup [RMI, 2nd-year] Looking on the sunny side of life! And for a tentmate! 0 Simon Gallup [RMI, 2nd-year] 0 5


Jose

October 16, 2009 3:15 PM
Jose breathed out a sigh of relief when she confirmed that she was all right. When she'd rested her head in her hands, he'd worried that maybe she'd bumped her head in the spill and was maybe a little concussed, but he took her at her word when she said she was just startled.

He helped her back up to her feet and then looked down at his House badge when she drew attention to it. "Yeah, a Pecari," he told her, giving the House its full pronunciation instead of just the first syllable she'd come up with. "We're the adventurous and adaptable ones," he added, giving the two traits most often reference in relation to the Pecaris.

"But some of use are more adventurous and adaptable than others. Sometimes I think we're the House that gets people that don't fit anywhere, cuz we've got everything from a Savannah Carey to the California Pierces." Both families were reasonably prominent, the former known for dark magic and questionable ethics and the later for far left liberal views and, um, questionable ethics, but more on the scale of gypsies, tramps, and thieves than than anything really dire. Of course, if the girl he'd run over wasn't familiar with most American Wizarding families, the comparison wouldn't mean much to her. He'd explain it if she asked.

"Then there's the Aladrens, who are the smart ones," he assumed every school had a smart House, so he didn't go into them very much. "And the Crotali are the, um, well, they're supposed to be rule driven, but that sound so boring and makes it sound like they're the good kids, which some of them are, and some of them aren't. They're nearly as diverse as Pecari, except they're more likely to break out into civil war. Crotalus has most, but not all, of the 'proper' purebloods, but there's more than just purebloods in the house, too, which is where the war comes in.

"And the last one is Teppenpaw, which has the really friendly kids in it. Teppenpaws are pretty awesome - almost as awesome as the Pecaris. Never met a Tepp I didn't like." On the other hand, he'd rarely ever met another person he didn't like, so that wasn't saying a lot, really.

He grinned at her. "What about RMI? What are your Houses over there?"
0 Jose Whew. I was worried for a minute there. 0 Jose 0 5


Kenny Watts [RMI, 1st-year]

October 16, 2009 4:16 PM
After getting to Sonora using that funky key thing, Kenny immediately began to scope out the crowd of students that had been waiting for the arrival of the RMI-ers. He wanted to see how cool the people were in general and, more importantly, how hot the chicks were in general. It was kind of hard to single out a hot girl in the mass of students, but there were definitely a few who stood out; Kenny made a point to raise and lower his eyebrows at those fine specimen.

Some woman who looked like she was in charge started talking, but Kenny simply ignored her. He knew why they were here -- everyone at RMI had been talking about it for a while now -- and so the Head Old Lady was just being redundant in his oh-so-humble opinion. He opted instead to continue to analyze the crowd of Sonorans while considering whether or not he should pull off a frickin' awesome prank on one of his tentmates that night. He'd been planning it for a while now, but he just wasn't sure when would be a good time to try it. Well, this seemed like the perfect opportunity, didn't it? He was pretty smooth with pranks, so there was no way he'd get caught -- he could just frame someone else in his tent with ease. Plus, even if he did get caught, what was the Head Old Lady going to do, give him detention? Hel-lo -- he didn't even go to Sonora, so the only person that could punish him was the Head Old Dude from RMI, and he didn't have the balls to expel any of his students. So there would really be nothing to worry about in the end.

Then, once the Old Lady was finally done droning on like a slowly-dying golden retriever, when Kenny finally thought he was in the clear and could go and talk to and flirt with the Sonorans to his heart's delight, the stupid Headmaster decided to lecture everyone about good behavior. Whatever, old man, he thought, grimacing at the Headmaster in annoyance. You don't scare me. I do what I want!

Once Blah-Blah-Blah-ing Old Fart #2 was done, Kenny was free at last. He wasted no time in separating himself from the yawnalicious RMI students, shouting extravagantly for everyone to hear:

"Yo, yo, yo, Sonora! Kenny Watts is in the hiz-house!! Please, please, no autographs -- it gets kinda old, y'know?

"Okay, so who wants to be in my tent group? I know there's some cool dudes out there, right? Am I right??" He smirked, soaking up all the attention -- man, did he love attention!
0 Kenny Watts [RMI, 1st-year] I'm just too cool for words, yo 0 Kenny Watts [RMI, 1st-year] 0 5


Jethro Smythe

October 17, 2009 12:06 PM
Jethro had somehow managed to take on board the fact that another school would be visiting for the weekend. He wasn't sure quite how he'd absorbed this information: perhaps it was just floating in the air and some of it had come through a facial orifice and ended up in his brain? However it had happened, Jethro understood the reasoning for the whole school standing out on the Quidditch pitch on a Saturday in their uniform robes. Probably just as well he knew why they were there, otherwise he might have started forming conspiracy theories, each one more outrageous than the last. As it was, Jethro was merely formulating concepts of Rocky Mountain International students. Would they all be forgein? The school did have 'international' in the titile; what if they couldn't speak English? Jethro liked foreign people as a rule - they smelled nice - but he wouldn't be able to talk to them if they didn't speak English.

Soon enough, it turned out that the visiting students looked a lot like the Sonora students, but were wearing different colored robes, and they could at least understand English, because that's the language Headmistress Powell used to talk to them. Jethro didn't hear anything she said because he was too busy looking really hard at the Rocky Mountain International students - he wanted to see if any of them looked just like him. Jethro figured that the world was so big and held so many different people that they couldn't possibly all look different. There had to be some doubles, somewhere. There were some doubles at Sonora, and they were twins, so they had been living with their double their whole lives. Jethro was excited to see if he had a double, too. He was looking for a boy with floppy, slightly curly mousy-brown hair that just sort of sat on the top of a head, rather than being coaxed into any sort of style. His double would also have brown eyes, a small nose, and skin that was white according to some government-type people, but Jethro thought it was closer to brown, really. Like the color of a cup of tea with milk in it.

Before he knew it, the students had separated, and Jethro couldn't be certain but he was fairly sure his double wasn't in the crowd. He wasn't too disappointed; the odds had been small, after all. So he, too traipsed in among the new students. It wasn't long before another boy talked to him. It had been almost a whole year since Jethro had talked to any complete strangers. He hoped he hadn't forgotten how.

"Hello, Simon," Jethro replied cheerfully. He'd heard the name, and that the boy was in second year. He didn't understand the rest of the sentence so he had ignored it; Jethro could only remember a couple of bits of information at a time, anyway. "My name is Jethro Smythe and I am in first year at Sonora Academy." Jethro took the extended hand and shook it with only a touch too much enthusiasm. His introduction probably sounded a little practised, which it wasn't as such - Jethro had not rehearsed for this moment in particular, but he was following appropriate rules for introductions among school peers. It was the same pattern as usual, except he left his House off, because Simon had, too.

The normal conversational pattern was that Simon would now speak again. He did, and Jethro was pleased, because he was notoriously bad at starting conversations. Simon asked if he wanted to share a tent. Jethro thought he'd heard something about tents. Unsually he had his own dormitory in the Crotalus commons, so he didn't mind sleeping in a tent with someone else for the night. "Yes, okay," he replied. He hadn't given any though to character, potential friendships, or anything else one might normally consider: as was usual for Jethro, he simply answered the question, without its implications.

Simon had finished talking again, and Jethro was aware that it was now his turn. He hadn't heard much of what was said before though. It felt like maybe he should talk about something new. But what? Should he ask Simon about his hobbies? That was fairly normal for new acquaintances, Jethro thought. So he said, "I like to wander around the gardens at Sonora. Sometimes I get lost but I always manage to find myself again. Do you like to be outdoors?"
0 Jethro Smythe Life has sides? 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5


Megan Macrae

October 17, 2009 2:01 PM
Megan Macrae couldn’t help but to look around with huge blue eyes as they arrived on the edge of the Quidditch Pitch at Sonora. Well, as soon as she’d gotten over the nasty feeling she associated with Portkeying anyplace. The first year had felt much more ill the first time she’d done it, coming into RMI a year ago, but it still wasn’t that much fun. In her own personal opinion, if something felt like your navel was being pulled this way and that, it was something not worth doing. But, the white-blonde girl supposed, that was only her own personal opinion. Maybe some people liked Portkeying? The first year wasn’t sure why anybody would, but maybe they were super useful in some situation or something.

Anyway, the two Heads did some sort of greeting thing up front of the gathered students, and then set everybody loose. Megan looked around, confused. Maybe she could find Satoshi, or Celia, or someone else to hang out with? She didn’t want to wander around a strange school by herself, and although the girl would never actually admit it, she felt shy sometimes. Maybe it was just because there were all sorts of new people at once? The Draco had felt the same way at the beginning of the year at RMI, although the reasons there had been twofold. On the one hand, she had never experienced a wizarding school before, and on the other hand there had been lots of kids who looked...different. Oak Creek, Colorado had a population that was overwhelmingly white and partially Hispanic, with almost no other ethnicities represented. To come into RMI and see all the different nationalities and ethnicities that were just in her House had been somewhat overwhelming.

In the hopes of running into someone she knew, Megan carefully ventured into the crowd as the two schools began mixing. She couldn’t see Satoshi, or Celia, or, in fact, anybody aside from a few upperclassmen and a lot of kids she didn’t know—presumably from Sonora. Woah. She’d never imagined Sonora to have quite so many students! Nervous, Megan tugged on one of her white-blonde braids as she searched the crowd for someone she knew.

Nothing doing. She was going to have to make new friends after all.

Squaring her shoulders and willing her hear to slow down, Megan approached a girl who looked about her age with a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Megan! What’s your name?”
0 Megan Macrae Tenting sounds fun 0 Megan Macrae 0 5

Adam

October 17, 2009 4:25 PM
Adam tried, not quite successfully, to keep from laughing when the guy from RMI asked if he had tentmates. After all, this guy wasn't from Sonora, he didn't know Adam and how much the older boy didn't fit in with the others there and how ridiculous the idea of Adam already having tentmates was.

The result of Adam trying to keep from explosive bouts of laughter was that when Tripp introduced himself, the Crotalus was actually smiling, in what could possibly be taken as a friendly way. "No, I don't" Adam replied. He assumed Tripp was asking if he could share a tent with Adam. Despite his inferior social skills, he was not Quentin and when someone asked if one had tentmates (or partners or whatever) they were asking if they could share (or work) with you. "Do you want to share?" Adam asked, just to be sure. Granted, it would be all the more humiliating now if Tripp said no, but who would do that? Ask a total stranger if they had tentmates only to say something nasty to them.

Okay, maybe Chelsea would.

"Oh, I'm Adam Brockert by the way." Adam introduced himself to Tripp. He wondered if Lemont was one of those names he was supposed to know. It sounded familiarish. Great-Grandfather wanted Adam to know the important pureblood names like theirs (and more importantly, make connections with them). It was just that Adam did not care about those things and did not always know them like people thought he was supposed to. That was more Chelsea's thing. His younger sister would know for sure about Tripp's background but even if Adam cared in the first place, he certainly didn't care enough to actually talk to Chelsea.

On the other hand, Tripp, whether he cared or not, might have heard of the Brockerts. RMI was in Colorado and though none of his family ever had gone to the school-the reasons had started with Sonora having "better pureblood connections" and ended up being tradition-the Brockerts were one of the prominant pureblood families in the state. So it was entirely possible that someone from RMI had heard of his family.

"I'm a seventh year." Adam added. Tripp had given Adam his year so Adam did likewise. He left off his school, because it was fairly obvious that he was from Sonora, based on the robe color and the Sonora badges and the fact that Tripp had never seen him before.
11 Adam I did. :) 78 Adam 0 5


Annabelle

October 17, 2009 5:41 PM
Annabelle smiled brightly back. "Of course, I'd like to tent with you." She could see no reason whatsoever not to and it wasn't like Annabelle had a ton of friends she could share with. That was the problem with being a relative newcomer to Sonora, everyone was in their little groups already. Helena was all right but she and Annabelle were still not really what she would call close.

And of course, there were the proper pureblood girls, which Crotalus had more than its fair share of, which Annabelle hated. It seemed like cruel fate that she who had been disowned for not being one was now stuck with them as housemates. Crotalus actually seemed to have a split within the house between people like her and people who were snobs (proper pureblood or otherwise.) It was just that Sonora had no real house exclusively for people like Steven Beckett or Lila St. Martin, the way Salem had had Aether. Therefore they were put into what Annabelle privately referred to as the "leftover house" where people went when they didn't fit in. Some people thought this was Pecari, but Annabelle saw a far wider range of personalities in Crotalus than in the other house.

Interestingly enough, she'd been in the "leftover house" at Salem too. Though, Sal Salis had been more commonly referred to as the "crazy house".

But it was appropriate for her, not fitting in. That had been Annabelle's problem pre-disownment. She hadn't fit neatly into the pureblood mold her parents had wanted. She loved flying and didn't have a problem with non-purebloods (if anything, now Annabelle had a problem with the proper ones). She supported women playing Quidditch and gay rights (she'd learned about that through DISCUSS, Salem's feminist pro-gay rights, pro-Quidditch, anti-WAIL group). Annabelle was in no way the proper pureblood girl.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Annabelle said in response to Lia mentioning poor luck with the other girls at her school. "Bunch of the proper sort there huh?" That was what she assumed was the issue, as Lia didn't seem to be one (which to Annabelle was all the better). In that case though, what the Crotalus had heard about RMI was radically wrong.
11 Annabelle I'd like not to 89 Annabelle 0 5


Jaeven Dimitri

October 17, 2009 10:26 PM
RMI was here, RMI was here, RMI was HERE! Jae Dimitri had been grinning from ear to ear ever since he woke up that morning, put on his usual cargos-and-t-shirt, slipped the school robes on over top, and realised what day it was. It was OTHER SCHOOL VISITING DAY! It was also probably the fifth most exciting day of his life, ranking below his first day at the Humane Society, his first day at Sonora, the day he and Brett had found Jenny’s kittens, the day Professor K. had given them puffskeins, and his first protest in Denver. For one brief moment, the blonde-dreadlocked boy stopped and re-counted. Right. That actually made six. Okay then, today was the sixth most exciting day of his life, and man was it exciting!

The green-eyed Pecari bolted his cornflakes and got himself onto the Quidditch Pitch as fast as he possibly could. It may have involved sliding down railings. But it was fast, and that was what he wanted. Plus, Jae liked sliding down railings. It was like sledding, but without the cold and the mittens and the hot chocolate. All of those things were good, but he didn’t want any of them right now. Right now, he was super-mega-mad-crazy-excited to meet the kids at Sonora. Plus, there were some kids from his year who had transferred to RMI absolute ages ago, and maybe they would remember him and then they could hang and all would be cool, ice cool, like cold cool.

Although he was fifteen, and supposedly more under control than he’d been when he was twelve, or even fourteen, Jae could barely hold still as Headmistress Powell welcomed RMI to Sonora, breaking into a yell and a sort-of-cartwheel when they were finally released to mix and mingle with the other kids.

Jae hadn’t been aware he could do a cartwheel, even one that was only a sort-of-cartwheel.

It wasn’t long before he met up with someone who looked interesting. The kid was smaller than Jae, who’d hit 5’8” not too long before, and looked like a firstie. But the firstie was also making elaborate hand gestures that made Jae laugh. Disregarding the fact that the younger boy was clearly looking for a tentmate, Jae went up to him.

“Hello small dude,” the Pecari greeted the RMI kid. “I’m Jae, what’s your name? Welcome to Sonora! It’s great here, we’ve got all sorts of animals and things and the prefects planned amazing activities, but I’m not really sure I want to do any of them, but they still look really cool! Plus it’s mad exciting to have you guys finally here, have you been looking forward to this too? Man, there are loads of you. Anyway, are you a firstie? Because you kind of look like one but that really doesn’t matter, mostly just it’s great to meet you!” Jae finished, giving the smaller boy a huge hug of greeting.
0 Jaeven Dimitri And here's a HUG for the coolest little firstie here! 104 Jaeven Dimitri 0 5


Tanya

October 18, 2009 5:49 PM
Tanya listened as Jose explained the Houses in Sonora. Pecari was adventurous, Aladaren was smart, Croatalus was "rule-driven" and Teppenpaw was "friendly." It seemed Jose was part Teppenpaw too, she thought. Again, like Ilya. Jose made references to families that she didn't quite recognize, but she could guess. For every Andreia Cardozo, the most uptight prissy pureblood ever, there was a Lia Harper, RMI's school... person-who-hooks-up-with-everyone. And Tanya guessed that RMI was even weirder, because Sonora didn't have all the muggle-borns in as well.

"I guess... our houses are kinda similar to yours," she said, in response to the boy's question. "I mean, Draco is the smart house, and Cetus... Cetus is supposed to be, like, calm and hardworking and stuff. Dracos are the ones who like learning for itself." No that Tanya didn't like learning- it was okay, most of the time, but sometimes it got kinda old. But from what Tanya could tell of Keith, her black-haired friend actually liked their classes (other than Charms). She'd be willing to bet anything that he was dashing over to the Potions competition right now.

"Lyra and Aquila are sorta close, but Lyras are generally more artistic, like theater or dancing or something like that. Most of them are a bunch of drama queens. Or anyone really weird. And then there's my house, Aquila," she said, smiling wryly.

"We're the problem house," that's for sure "or at least all of the pranksters are here. I guess some of us are weird, too, but in a different way. I don't really know why I'm an Aquila..." Well, she had left a box of tampered potion on the bed of that apple chick, but that was deserved. Tanya wasn't really a troublemaker, or, at least, none of it was really her fault. Tanya still didn't know why she was an Aquila.

I mean, I might have picked me as a Cetus, just because they're... quieter. Not that you're really that quiet. But Aquila people know what they're doing.

"Personally? I've always thought that being the prankster house is a really weak basis for a house. Plus, you're marked from day one. I guess in that case- anyway. There are a lot of troublmakers in Aquila. So it seems the houses are along mostly similar lines," she said, covering up her little slip there.
0 Tanya It's all good 0 Tanya 0 5


Keith

October 19, 2009 9:02 PM
The thing about synesthesia was that it worked minutely differently for every person afflicted by it. For Keith, people’s voices showed up for him as colors; however, he did not see his own voice color when he spoke. If he was ever recorded speaking, it might be possible for him to tell what color his voice manifested as, since the second-year knew that he could see voices from film and television actors and actresses. More importantly, he now realized, he could accurately see their voices, as Daniel’s introduction validated Keith’s half-recognition.

Keith’s mother and two youngest sisters watched—what was the show called? Why was Keith forgetting things like this about his world? He had not been away from home for that long…Street Beat, that was it. Yes. Marisol and Ika loved the show, but Keith could not claim to like it, mainly because it was on at the same time as Mystery Diagnosis and Diagnosis X, and the Blackburns only had one television, and the girls outvoted Keith every time—though to be fair, Rosetta sometimes voted with Keith if the Discovery Health shows were especially disgusting. If he had been a good brother, the black-haired diabetic would have asked the Sonoran for an autograph or something, since Marisol had an obvious crush on Daniel’s character. However, the Floridian was nowhere near that sympathetic towards his sister, and he had much too much dignity to ask his yearmate for an autograph. Keith probably just would not mention it to his family. He decided not to mention the recognition to Daniel, either. It wasn’t important.

“You could put it that way,” the pale boy said wryly, amused by the way Daniel repeated the question as his response. Keith had not heard about the traits typical of the Houses at Sonora, but if Daniel was any indication, it seemed that Aladren was like Draco. Besides the atypical oddities that every House had—Cindra Embers for his House, Tanya for Aquila, October Arachnia for Cetus, and Hank Macrae for Lyra, to name a few—Dracos were for the most part practical, logical, and steadfast.

The black-haired boy indicated the other student’s Potions book, figuring that they might as well talking about something that he was interested in. “Do you like the subject, or are you just studying up on it?” he queried, sitting down on the cot nearest him.
0 Keith Birds of a feather 0 Keith 0 5

Daniel Nash II

October 21, 2009 5:11 PM
For a moment, Daniel was sure that Keith had recognized his name. He could have sworn to it in the court of Paul Greer (and since his half-sister's biological father was the District Attorney of Los Angeles, the basement courtroom where Holly's transgressions were judged was as official as a real court of law as far as Daniel could tell). But then Keith just asked about potions instead of anything involving Nate or Matt Bealer.

Daniel blinked once before getting control of his surprise and gave a smile that was only required a little acting. "It's one of my favorite classes," he confirmed. His smile became more genuine and even a little devious. "Plus, the government only tracks underage magic use by wands, so I can practice it over the summer." He grimaced and rolled his eyes before he added, "When I have time." Which he immediately regretted because it would invite the question of what he was doing with all that school-free time that most kids released from their normal drudgery had.

To distract attention away from that opening, he created another. "I actually did a couple simple potions using a stolen textbook from my half-sister's school supplies even before I started going to Sonora. She's two years older than me, so Holly had all these neat magic books and things that I wouldn't have normally seen otherwise, and I just had to try it out. It was like a chemistry set, but with fairy wings, frog eyes, and fire newt tails, and what curious nine year old boy could possibly turn that down?" He shrugged a little self-consciously, because fairy wings, frog eyes, and fire newt tails were pretty common place items in a magic school, and explained, "I'm muggleborn, obviously. Fairy wings, frog eyes, and fire newt tails were fascinating things back then. And I just used way too much alliteration in that sentence."
1 Daniel Nash II Flock together? 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Simon

November 01, 2009 10:48 PM
Simon smiled at Jethro’s introduction. “Cool name!” The boy sounded a little robotic as he spoke, but he was probably just trying to be polite. It certainly didn’t compare to Keith’s manner of speech, anyway…

However, the formality was offset by a particularly peppy handshake, which took Simon by surprise. Not a creeped-out sort of surprise, though; the second-year’s smile just widened happily at Jethro’s enthusiasm.

“Awesome!” he said when the first-year agreed to share a tent with him. “We can find some more people to be in our group later,” he added.

“I like to wander around the gardens at Sonora. Sometimes I get lost but I always manage to find myself again. Do you like to be outdoors?”

“Oh,” replied Simon, furrowing his brow slightly. Simon sounded surprised as he said it – he just wasn’t used to the way Jethro made conversation. The vibe he was getting from the first-year was comparable to that which he’d derive from one of those talking stuffed animals that said really random things when you squished it. Simon then realized that this was a rather harsh comparison and mentally chastised himself for labeling Jethro like that before he'd even gotten to know him.

“Well,” he said, “I’m really interested in Herbology class, so I love being in the greenhouse when I have class…Does that count as outdoors?” He smirked. “But I mean, I also just like being around nature in general, and I walk my dog all the time when I’m at home, so yeah, being outdoors is a pretty big part of my life. It’s fun!

“Do you have Herbology here, too?” He wondered if this was a standard class for magical schools or if other courses had more prevalence in different parts of the country and, ultimately, the world as a whole.
1 Simon Yes -- Good vs. Evil 14 Simon 0 5


Kenny

November 01, 2009 11:22 PM
“Hello small dude.”

“‘Sup?” said Kenny. “I’m Kenny Watts, and I’m cool as ice.” He purposely left out his year because revealing that he was just a first-year would be so lame. Seniority meant everything in society, after all, and his extra-tall stature would help him achieve the illusion that he was older than he really was.

Then, before Kenny could say anything more, Jae was off like a horse just out of the gate. It would take some effort to understand what the guy was going on and on about, so he just ignored him until he finally shut the heck up. If the kid didn’t, Kenny would be perfectly willing to give him a good punch in the face. He was pretty darn tough, if he did say so himself!

Then, he was suddenly swept into an incredibly unnecessary hug. “WHOA!” he shouted as loudly as possible. “Get off, get off, get off!!!” This was ridiculous! This Jae idiot was being so frickin’ gay! What guy hugged a guy like this? A guy who was a stranger, to boot?? It was so nasty, so wrong!...And most importantly, it might damage his precious orange faux hawk!!

Why couldn’t a friggin’ GIRL come up to me first!? he thought. If this was a girl, it would be the best friggin’ moment of my life!!

Instead, he had to be put through this torture. This pure, gay torture.
0 Kenny Whoa there -- personal bubble, man! 0 Kenny 0 5