Mars on Elective Hall

Declan Chatterjee

September 27, 2006 3:41 PM

First lesson: 1st and 2nd years! by Declan Chatterjee

Declan could only imagine, he reflected as the first students began to trickle into class, just what the first and second years thought of the classroom itself. Every centimeter of the walls that wasn’t hidden by windows, doors, or bookshelves was plastered with posters of stars, comets, nebulae, planets, and diagrams, both Muggle and magical. The ceiling had been enchanted to show the night sky all day—at the moment, it displayed the typical January constellations. On each desk lay a cut-out of one of the eight extraterrestrial planets.

Soon the chairs were mostly filled and the room was full of the typical pre-class chatter, and the young professor moved away from his desk and towards the door. One last late student stumbled in, mumbling excuses before Declan could close the door and begin the lesson. He tutted good-naturedly.

“Let’s try to be on time, shall we?” he asked the class as a whole. He clapped his hands together, then. “Well then, as we’re all here, let’s get started. I’m Declan Chatterjee, your new Astronomy professor—you can call me Professor Deck, if you like. As I understand it, Professor Dione left off with the solar system, correct?” he looked to the second years for affirmation. “Well, we’ll cover a bit of that in the beginning, just to put the first years up on the same footing as you astronomical veterans. You may all notice a vaguely circular image on your desk, and some of you may have correctly conjectured that that is, in fact a planet.”

He smiled at them. “Now, those of you who keep up with Muggle news—and I’d suggest you do, at least Muggle astronomical advances, as we will be discussing them in this class—may have heard that their classification system no longer has room for Pluto as a planet. In this class, we will be treating Pluto as a planet, simply because the magical planetary classification system differs wildly from that used by Muggles. So ‘My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas’ will still serve you well in my class.

“For this lesson I would like you to group up according planet—therefore, Mars with Mars, Uranus with Uranus, and the like—and compose a list of everything you know about said planet. These can be scientific facts, Muggle or magical, or mythological stories associated with your planet, or magical properties it might have—anything and everything is fair game. The group that knows the most about their planet will get a reward at the end of class. Does everyone understand? …Good. Now, get started!” he made a little shooing gesture with his hands and grinned at the scraping of chairs and babble of voices that ensued. This teaching thing really was quite fun.

OOC: Hop to! I’d like to have someone do each of the planets—let’s not have ten people on Venus and neglect poor Neptune. And keep in mind that Earth was not one of the options. Other than that, you know the drill: a good length (at least two decent-sized paragraphs), and keep it realistic!
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Subthreads:

Mars by Saul Pierce with Professor Deck, Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya), Echo Elms, Elly Eriksson, Anonymous, the girl EE

I like Pluto by Grail Markner with Leo (and just a little Gil), Nikki Ramirez, Leo (and a little Professor Deck)

Venus over here! by Elly Eriksson with Caedence redoak, Elly

Neptune by Echo Elms with Saul

Jupiter by Eavan Valentine with Gil Idoya, Eavan, Leo

Mercury Group by Helena Layne with Devian Dupree, Devian

Saturn by Ginger Silverstein with Amber Carey, Adam Brockert

0 Declan Chatterjee First lesson: 1st and 2nd years! 11 Declan Chatterjee 1 5

Saul Pierce

September 27, 2006 4:43 PM

Mars by Saul Pierce

When Saul entered the first lesson of Astronomy, he also led in as many of the Pecari first years as he'd been able to find in the Commonroom before they had to leave to make it on time. He'd left a little earlier than he would have if he'd been going by himself because he walked slower when going backwards like a proper tour guide does. As it was halfway through the year, he no longer pointed out any of the landmarks they passed, but he did talk about Dione, various rumours he'd heard and made up about why she had left and wasn't replaced until halfway through the year, and even a small bit about the subject material.

Consequently, none of his tour group would be surprised when, a few minutes later, the new teacher would tell them that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore according to the muggles. At least, they would, if they'd been able to figure out that "Oh! And did you guys hear that Mickey's dog got lost? You know, I always wondered why a mouse had a pet dog anyway. Shouldn't he have been using Mickey as a chew toy or something? Speaking of chew toys..." actually meant that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore. He'd meant to clarify the statement, but he'd distracted himself before he got around to it.

By the time he'd gotten them to the classroom, he'd completely forgotten he'd been engimatic about anything, so he just swept his arms wide, announced "Here we are, Astronomy!" and instructed them all to find seats. He took a moment to look up at the ceiling and wondered if that was new, because he didn't remember it from last year and he was pretty sure he should have. It looked cool.

Then he looked down at the desks and saw they all had planets on them. Noticing the two nearest places had a Saturn and a Jupiter (two of the more recognizable planets) he figured each seat had a different one. He moved around them, looking for one with Earth, but came up empty. Lacking an Earth seat, he instead picked one with a red planet that wasn't Jupiter. Mars.

Because even if Mars didn't have any candy bars on it, at least it had candy bars named after it.

When the teacher started the lesson, Saul grinned at the guy's name. Chatterjee. He wanted to be called Deck for some reason, but Chatterjee was just so much better. Now that was a name that stood out. Pierce was so boring. He wondered if he could change his name to Chatterjee. Was stealing someone's name plaigerism? Copywrite infringement? Saul would have to ask Aunt Regina when he went home for the summer.

Except he was one of the few Pierces left in the family. So he probably wouldn't make it a legal change, just use it as a stage name or something.

The word Pizzas made him snap back to attention, but he had no idea at all why the man had mentioned them. Something about serving them in the class and then he was talking about the day's lesson. Then it all crystalized when he said 'The group that knows the most about their planet will get a reward at the end of class.'

Pizza! The winning group would get served pizza! Saul perked up and sincerely hoped it would be pepperoni. He was so going to win. There was lots of stuff he knew about Mars. Like, candy bars! And that's where men were from. And some dead people used to think he was a God of War or something. And Duck Dodgers from the 24½th Century did battle there or something. And Marvin the Martian was from there. And some guy from the Justice League.

And lots of other things. He wrote all that down on a piece of parchment using a ball point pen, adding at the end more pointless facts that were mostly intended just to fill out in volume what they lacked in substance. Chatterjee said the most facts, after all. So the following statements qualified as facts: it was a planet, it was 4th from the sun, it was round, it was rocky, it was red, it might have once had water, it was spelt M-A-R-S, it was next to the asteroid belt, it was after Earth, it was before Jupiter, it's position in the sky counted as an astrological event, there was no pizza on it, there were no people on it, there was a rover on it.

He paused after that one, and decided he should probably add: there are no dogs on it, not even ones named Rover or Pluto.

By then he was out of space on his paper so he figured that was a good start and maybe having more partners could help him brainstorm more ideas. So he stood up and started looking for the other Martians. "People of Mars! Where are you?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 Saul Pierce Mars 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Grail Markner

September 27, 2006 8:04 PM

I like Pluto by Grail Markner

Walking into class, for once happily, Gray started humming a tune. She was happy because she remembered who the teacher was. She remembered the snowball fight and the cool Professor who helped then. She was sure to pay attenion in this class. Besides, Gray remembered back at her old school how much she liked science. And astronomy was a science, she knew that. So it was like she actually knew something here. After all, there was no way Astrnomy could involve too much magic.

Sitting down, Gray pulled out a notebook. But when she got into what Professor Deck was saying, she didn't really take notes. Oh, she read about that. The Pluto planet thing. She was wasn't fond of that, it was all because of that other "planet" found that was just like Pluto or something. It was good she could call Pluto a planet here.

And based on what they were doing, she would be using it. Pluto. Standing up, she looked around at people. Which one looked like a Pluto? Hm... should she shout out? No, she was in no way going to yell out if anyone got Pluto. But she heard someone else say it! Where did that come from? She moved a bit to where she heard it and tapped someone on the back, looking around still.

"Uh... hey," she muttered quickly. "Uh... did you say Pluto?" She noticed she was still tapping and quickly pulled away. She could feel her sisters laughing at her. She wanted to tell them to shut up, but in no way would she let them ruin her okay mood. Nope.\n\n

0 Grail Markner I like Pluto 1487 Grail Markner 0 5

Elly Eriksson

September 28, 2006 6:16 AM

Venus over here! by Elly Eriksson

Elly was having a good day so far. She’d slept well, eaten well, gossiped at bit, and discovered she could make her elbows touch each other behind her back. She was also quite looking forward to the astronomy lesson. Although Elly didn’t know much about planets or anything useful, she did like to sit outside at night and look at the stars. It might be cool to learn more about them.

Saul the Guide led the way, as usual, but Elly was beginning to think he might be a bit abnormal. She’d always known he was a bit strange, and seeing him interact with Simon further enhanced the impression, but on the way to the lesson he’d gone on about things that had no relevance and didn’t really make sense. At all. Still, if a bit weird, he did seem nice enough and Elly had got to know enough of the Pecari second years to know that they were definitely not all nice people.

The classroom was fairly noisy when Elly entered, and she guessed maybe the teacher hadn’t arrived yet, but as she took her seat, she noticed him by the door. She wouldn’t necessarily call any of the other professors at Sonora strict, but they certainly would expect their class to be quiet. Elly drew her pink feather quill and some parchment from her bag and laid them on her desk. It was only then she noticed the cutout of a planet lying there, and that there was a different one on each desk. For a split second Elly considered she should have chosen her seat with more care, but a moment later she decided she didn’t care either way, and leant back in her chair as the lesson began.

As soon as Professor Deck started talking, Elly found she liked him. She hadn’t noticed it before but she’d had to listen properly while most other people at Sonora were talking. Professor Deck’s familiar accent allowed her to just sit back and only half pay attention, which was always a bonus. His mnemonic was different from the one Elly had been taught though: My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets. The pizza one was much cooler though, and she resigned to use this one in future.

Grouping up according to planets? What was it with teachers and group work these days? Not that she minded – it was always good to be able to chat in lessons, but Elly was always worried she would end up working in an incredibly uncomfortable threesome with that Tallow boy and that blonde Mexican. Elly looked at her planet. Venus. Well, she didn’t know much about Venus, except that some writer once said that women came from Venus, which was obviously complete rubbish. Elly stood up, making her easily the tallest in the room, and held her mini-Venus above her head. She grinned at her own ingenuity and waited for her group members to flock to her.
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0 Elly Eriksson Venus over here! 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Leo (and just a little Gil)

September 28, 2006 9:18 AM

I'm sure you do. by Leo (and just a little Gil)

For once, the Idoya twins were both looking forward to the same class. Usually Gil was dismayed at any class that didn't involve being outside--and those were few and far between--while Leo enjoyed just about anything. Astronomy, however, was something they could both enjoy.

Some of Leo's fondest memories were of his older cousin, Joaquin, sneaking the then-very-young twins out of the house at night to show them the stars and tell them the stories of all the constellations. Last summer, Leo had done the same thing with his little sister, Mercedes, and their cousin Isabela. Now when he went home over the summer, he could teach them even more.

He listened attentively to the professor's speech, and found himself almost smiling. This Professor 'Deck'--Leo would, of course, refer to him properly by his surname--was a character, all right; if Leo had heard the rumors correctly, he'd also participated in one of the over-break snowball fights. A glance to his right showed him that his twin was grinning widely, gazing up at the professor in obvious admiration. Leo rolled his eyes a little and shook his head discreetly, fingering the paper disk on his desk. Pluto?

When the professor had finished explaining the assignment and told them to get into their groups, Leo stood, pulling his bag up onto his shoulder again. "Hey Gil," he said, holding out the planet, "this is Pluto, right?" Gil had always been more into the solar system; Leo was usually distracted by the stars.

Gil barely had time to nod an affirmative before someone was tapping his shoulder--rather insistently at that. Leo winced as the intruder's forefinger beat what he was sure would come to be a tiny circular bruise into his shoulder. He turned, mismatched eyes glaring, before he stopped and blinked in surprise. "Uh... hey. Uh... did you say Pluto?"

Grail Markner? Grail was his assailant? He almost laughed out loud with relief. It certainly could have been worse; he could've been partnered up with that Tallow boy again, and he did nothing for Leo's personality. He allowed himself a small smile and nodded. "Yes, I have Pluto too--I think." He looked back at Gil, who hurriedly completed the nod.

"Hey, Gray," Gil said before picking up his books. "Well--I'm off to find my group," he added with a grin, waving a paper version of Jupiter. "I'll see you later."

Leo waved him off half-heartedly before turning back to Markner. He looked at her for a minute, but couldn't think of anything to say, so he turned his attention to the seating arrangements instead. Scooting around her, he dropped his bag next to the empty desk on her other side and slid into the seat, then looked up at her expectantly.

"So... um," he said eloquently, taking out a piece of parchment and his eagle feather quill. "Hi."

Dear Merlin, he was an idiot. Just pretend it's Mercedes, he thought. Another little voice interrupted, then. Ha. Mercedes didn't see you wipe out spectacularly, and then have to half-carry you up to the hospital wing. No... she didn't. But do it anyway. With a small sigh, he gave in, and smiled a little more at Markner. "Do you see anyone else with Pluto, or should we get started?" he asked, quill poised above the parchment.\n\n

0 Leo (and just a little Gil) I'm sure you do. 0 Leo (and just a little Gil) 0 5

Gray

September 28, 2006 5:24 PM

How would you know by Gray

Oh. Wow. Leo. Leo Idoya was the one who said Pluto. Oh, okay. Nope, she wasn't looking around strangely and blushing because he was her partner. Nope. No way. That was just her way of reacting to everything. That was what happened to her when she spoke. Right? Right.

He was her friend. She had no reason to blush. Was this redness in the cheeks because she remembered her worrying spaztically over his fall? That could be embarassing. Or was it because she didn't know him that well yet? Another reason. She waved a hello to Gil and turned back to her wandering.

"Maybe it's because..." Libby started to say. Grail shot her sister's thoughts down right away. Nope. Eleven, she was eleven. Nope, Libby's half finished statment was stupid. Mhm.

My, was she glad when she could sit down. Her legs were weird all of the sudden. Was anyone else with Pluto? It didn't seem so. Most people were already getting into groups of the more well known planets it seemed. She didn't see too many people still thinking now.

"I say we start now. If anyone else wants Pluto they can come over here then," she muttered opening her notebook. She rumaged through one of the pockets on her jeans and pulled out a balpoint pen. Most magical people used quills, but Gray was used to putting her writing objects in her pocket. Quills got ruined and she couldn't stop the habit, so pens for now.

"Once again, you're probably the only odd one. It happens all the time. Go ahead, tell your new friends what a loser you are! You're always odd, and not just with the pen..." Grail once again tried to shove Chali's comment out of her head. She wasn't acting crazy now. Not in front of people.

She forced herself to flip to a blank page in her notebook and scribble the word Pluto on it. She then forced herself to make eye contact with Leo. "So, where should we start?"\n\n

0 Gray How would you know 1487 Gray 0 5

Echo Elms

September 28, 2006 5:54 PM

Neptune by Echo Elms

Echo caught Saul's tour group to Astronomy and, catching a glimpse of a wild white starburst moving up the hallway through the portraits, he carefully kept himself tucked in the middle of the group as far from Elly as he could. He didn't know if the Einstein haired man or the pixie had intruded on any of her hallway journeys, and he didn't want her -- or anyone -- to know the stupid painting people followed him around when they got bored of doing whatever it was portraits did. They'd think he was just paranoid. It wasn't like he wasn't paranoid normally; that was how he noticed them to begin with.

But they rarely followed him into class, and he glanced around to see if this was going to be one of those few times.

"Whoa," his mouth gaped and he stopped walking. There were posters -- muggle posters -- everywhere, and an enchanted ceiling. Someone bumped into him, and he stood straight and tried to muffle a gasp. He hurried away from the door.

His circle of him, right around his left shoulder blade, felt all weird and tingly from the contact. He fought down an urge to jump around and try to get the weirdness out of him. He grabbed the nearest seat and tried to rub it out -- indiscreetly -- on the back of a chair. He stopped when he caught someone watching him, and said, "Bug bite," with a weak grin.

He forced his shoulders into his usual straight-but not too straight stance, but could only get halfway there. It looked a little awkward -- well, nothing new there.

There was a circle on his desk. He tried to focus on that.

It's winter, stupid, he thought to himself, as the professor began his lesson. There's no bugs in winter. He glanced at the kid he'd told the lie to and wondered if he'd been caught in it. Maybe not. It wasn't that cold here. Maybe there were bugs. He tried to remember if there were bugs when he was swinging with Elly.

The professor said something about Pluto not being a muggle planet anymore. No surprises there, that's just what Saul was reminding them about before class.

Wasn't it?

No, now that he thought about it. Saul had been talking about something else. Either way, Echo decided, My Very Excellent Memory Just Served Up Nine Planets was still a better sentence than whatever it was Deck (did he really say Deck?) said about pizza. Pizza was good, but it didn't tell you what the sentence was for. Just like this circle of paper on his desk.

The paper turned out to be a planet. He had Neptune. Suddenly everyone started moving and calling out their planets to each other. Lots of kids moving made him nervous all over again.

He chose someone nearby who was getting a slower start on leaving their desk, "Uh, what are we doing with this?" he asked, holding up Neptune.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Neptune 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Eavan Valentine

September 28, 2006 7:52 PM

Jupiter by Eavan Valentine

Eavan was a little worried. From what Earl had told her, the Astronomy professor was really mean. She didn't want to have to spend an entire year under the gaze of a person whom Earl had described as "Vampira: Queen of all that is Evil". But when she reached the astronomy calssroom, she was greatly surprised that in lieu of Vampira was a young man who looked ecstatic to be there teaching.

Eavan chose a chair towards the center of the classroom and glanced around. It wasn't the nicest classroom she'd ever seen, but it was interesting. The ceiling alone was worth coming to class for. Before she had a chance to switch her brown eyes from the ceiling to her classmates, the professor began his lecture. She'd heard about Pluto - her father had mentioned it in a letter. Then she finally glanced down at her desk and noticed the planet. She knew the look of it from third grade. Orange? Check. Really big? Check. Great Red spot? Check.

"Jupiter..." she whispered. Then looked around. "Um..." she called out. "Who else has Jupiter?"\n\n

0 Eavan Valentine Jupiter 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5

Gil Idoya

September 28, 2006 8:52 PM

Well-met, Sneakthief! by Gil Idoya

Gil snuck a look over his shoulder at Leo and his partner; Gray waved at him, but seemed otherwise entirely distracted... and blushing... and staring.... He bit back a snigger. Oh, just wait until he got a chance to tease Leo about his 'admirer.' It'd certainly get the older twin back for abandoning Gil to the tender mercies of their cousins. Not that Jacinto and Isadora had been on to anything when they'd mocked Gil and his "girlfriend"--

Who just so happened, it seemed, to have chosen the same planet. Leo would probably call it kismet or some such nonsense, probably in a snide tone; Gil was too happy to put a name to it. "Sneakthief!" he called to get her attention as he crossed through the desks towards her. "Hey, Eavan. Lucky coincidence, huh?" he asked, holding up his own paper Jupiter and grinning like a fool.\n\n

0 Gil Idoya Well-met, Sneakthief! 0 Gil Idoya 0 5

Eavan

September 28, 2006 9:23 PM

Sneakthief strikes again! by Eavan

In answer to her call, Eavan got Gil shouting at her from across the room. She grinned broadly as he made his way towards her.

"Very lucky coincidence! I was hoping I would get to work with someone I like," She held up her paper planet as well just to make sure they both had Jupiter. They did.

"Okay," Eavan started up. "We should just start and if anybosy else has Jupiter too, they'll just join us." Eavan looked around to see if she could find anyone else with thier planet. She couldn't so she turned her attention back to Jupiter and Gil. "What do you know about Jupiter?"\n\n

0 Eavan Sneakthief strikes again! 0 Eavan 0 5

Caedence redoak

September 29, 2006 8:28 PM

cant avoid me forver! heh heh! by Caedence redoak

Caedence scowled. For the past few days, nothing was going right. She couldn't even get to hex the nose off that stupid Carey's face! Then she got caught and was in trouble. Finally Elly was completely avoiding her. Taking her wand out of the handmade black pouch Elly had given to her, she twirled it in her hands waiting for class to start.

What a stupid idium. Talking about pizzas! And why was he even BOTHERING to mention that pluto was a planet? If it was, then say nothing and mention it when someone asked. Scowling at her desk, she saw a vaugely familiar planet. She didn't know, nor care, what it was. She just scanned the room for others of its kind. She paled when she saw Elly holding it up. Grumbling for a bit to herself she worked up her nerve. Then, with the happiest face she could muster, which was just plain nuetral in appearence, she approached her. "hello elly" she said pleasent as can be to her. "what planet is this? I have it too." she added showing it to her roomate\n\n

0 Caedence redoak cant avoid me forver! heh heh! 94 Caedence redoak 0 5

Elly

September 30, 2006 4:37 AM

Apparently not, but is that a bad thing? by Elly

As Elly stood with her planet held high, she watched the other students begin to form their small groups. It was a short while before anyone approached her, and Elly was only mildly horrified to see that that person was Caedence.

“Hello Elly,” Caedence said, in a voice so obviously forced into pleasantry it made Elly wince. The two girls hadn’t really spoken since the incident in the gardens, and although Elly disliked the awkward air it had created between them, she just didn’t know what to say. “What planet is this? I have it too,” said Caedence.

Elly peered at the cut-out she was being shown, and couldn’t deny it was identical to the one she had been holding above her head, but was now held limply at her side. “It’s Venus,” Elly said, suddenly doubting what she was so sure of just moments ago. “Uh…” she scanned the walls for a poster of their solar system and found one without too much difficulty – the walls were plastered in them. “See there,” she said, pointing to it so Caedence would see, too, “that poster. This one’s Venus, right?” Having just clarified both to herself and her partner she was correct, Elly turned back to Caedence and started absent-mindedly fiddling with the mini-Venus still in her hand. “Look, about the other day,” Elly began, “I wasn’t trying… I mean, I didn’t want to get in your way. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Sorry if I didn’t… well, I’m not sure it came across that way.” She knew she wasn’t making much sense, but the hollow feeling that had settled in her stomach seemed to be sucking her brainpower away. Elly hated feeling like she’d disappointed her friends, and she hoped Caedence wouldn’t start shouting again. Elly bit her lip, secretly wishing she’d never said anything, and inwardly praying for someone else to join the group to make it less awkward.
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0 Elly Apparently not, but is that a bad thing? 0 Elly 0 5

Leo

September 30, 2006 12:11 PM

Call it a lucky guess. by Leo

Oh, no.

To say Leo had expected Gray to greet him with open arms would be a complete and uttery fallacy, not to mention ridiculous--he knew very well that he wasn't well-liked, not even by shy, good-natured Markner, who had helped him when he'd hit his head in the Cascade Hall. But what he'd been expecting--obvious regret for sitting at a desk with Pluto, possibly some rolling of eyes or heavy sighs--definitely was not what he got.

What is it, he wondered for not the first time since coming to Sonora, that makes girls so weird? Gray's eyes were darting around the room, and she was blushing brilliantly, and when she spoke it was in this oddly forced, choked sort of voice--and she could barely manage to meet Leo's eyes! Since he was a small boy, he'd been trained to be able to read people--it would be a necessary skill once he became the patriarch. But really, there was just no reading this girl. He couldn't puzzle out her reactions and put them into a neat category for anything he tried. So, in true "Gil" fashion, he simply gave up and stowed his confused thoughts away.

He did eye her pen, though, as she took it out and began to write. Very few purebloods used such writing utensils--Leo himself saw them only rarely, sequestered as he was on the Idoya family ranch when not at school--so that meant Gray was either a Muggleborn or a halfblood, right? Not that it matters, he quickly reassured himself. He wasn't becoming his grandfather. Really, he wasn't.

"Well... I don't know too much about the planets," he admitted. "But I do know that Pluto is the smallest and the coldest," he wrote these down on his own list as he spoke, "and that it has a weird orbit. Um... it's moon is really big in comparison, isn't it? And that's called Charon, like the ferryman. Oh, and Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld." Generic knowledge, all of it. Stuff that even little wizarding children knew. "Gil's the one who really ilkes the planets," he said, his version of an apology for his ignorance.\n\n

0 Leo Call it a lucky guess. 0 Leo 0 5

Gray

September 30, 2006 3:15 PM

Really hate the enter button by Gray

Gray noticed him looking at the pen. She knew it was a little odd. Her carrying her ballpoint pen and not a quill, but it was just the pen was so much easier to her. It was at least stronger than a quill, and Gray tended to press down on a paper with the point when she was thinking. This caused the first quill she used to break she was thinking so hard. Also her second quill got ruined when she put it in her pockets. So it was back to pen for her. She had recieved some odd looks for it, but she supposed it wasn't that strange since no one questioned it.

"Why are you thinking about your pen?" she heard Libby ask, truely questioning, in the back of her head. And libby had a point. Why was she thinking about her pen? She should be thinking of Pluto and Leo. The two she was working with. Not the pen.

"That's okay," she smiled when he mentioned Gil being the planet person of the family. It sounded more of an apology, so she had said the okay. Actually, she didn't even know the mythology of any planet until last year. Her teacher was big on mythology, and not so much on actually teaching. That had made her a bit angry, but she got over it. She did know a few more things important though from last year. She pulled the paper over to her.

"Pluto was also discovered completely by accident," she remembered, writing it down, "they predicted it to be a planet that was messing with Neptune's orbit. Or something." That was how they found planets, she remembered. Looking at known ones for changes. Alterations. "I think it also has two other tiny moons, but I don't know their names," she muttered and looked up at him.

"How does she know all this?" Alice snorted.

"No life beyond it," Libby muttered. All three laughed. Gods she hated her sisters so much. Even if in the back of her head they weren't real.

"Uh, is there anything else?" she asked, letting her eyes dart around at the other groups for a few more seconds before she looked back to her pen and pushed her blonde hair back. She did know more, about how every couple hundered years or so, Pluto and Neptune switched places. About it being part of the Kuiper belt and a few other things, but Libby's comment made her a little nervous to say anymore. She didn't like being a know-it-all, it made her seem weird. And that's how Libby made her feel then.

And now that she thought about it, she felt even lower. An imaginary voice that acted like Libby mad her depressed? She really was crazy. And stupid.\n\n

0 Gray Really hate the enter button 1487 Gray 0 5

Helena Layne

September 30, 2006 6:59 PM

Mercury Group by Helena Layne

Smoothing her skirt down over her knees, Helena held back a sigh of resignation as her brother took the seat next to hers. He had been becoming gradually less of a pain in the behind as time passed, but Christmas had triggered a relapse. At least he wasn't giving her advice about what to expect, since he knew no more about the new professor than she did. Ignoring him as pointedly as she could without insulting - his term, she thought it was more like hurting his feelings, such as they were - Lena began examining the cutout on the surface of her desk.

The small circle meant less than nothing to her, even when a quick glance to the side showed it smaller and rounder than her brother's. The other desks had them, too, and every so often she caught sight of one that resembled another. Groups again, then. They were all right sometimes, but she'd never been more than lukewarm towards being in one. That there was no chance of Geoff being in this particular group made her feel a little more charitable towards the idea of working with some of the others in the class. The beginning of class cut off any further speculation or attempts at conversation.

She felt herself beginning to smile as Declan Chatterjee introduced himself, and ducked her head to hide it. What was it with these Sonora teachers and letting students use their given names? Kijewski had invited them to call her Kiva, though Helena had never heard anyone take her up on that one, and now Chatterjee was offering to let them call him by a nickname. Some might go for Deck just because he'd preceded it with the honorific, but Helena thought she was going to stick to surnames, and make sure Geoffrey did, too. Their parents would be somewhat less-than-happy if they took it into their heads that any of their children were disrespecting their elders.

The lecture was quick and to the point, outlining the obvious - that Chatterjee was the professor - giving them advice for how to do well in the class - keep up with Muggle things, though Helena couldn't figure out how he meant for them to do that - and instructions for breaking up into groups. Geoffrey looked at her and got a shake of her head in reply. "Mine's smaller than yours," she said, not wanting that she had no idea what the shape in front of her was supposed to be.

"I'll have to remember not to sit next to you next time," he said, then looked at his own cutout. "I guessing the pattern isn't the nine in order," he said, swapping his gaze momentarily to her desk. "Mercury isn't next to this." He looked at her, then, checking to see if she'd gotten the point. Helena smiled at him with more than a hint of relief. Geoffrey spent so much time being a jerk that it was easy to forget how nice he could be, when the mood took him.

"I wouldn't know," she said, shrugging and rolling the edges of Mercury around on her desk. "Your Aladrens are the puzzle people, not my lot." Messenger of the Gods. Carried that thing doctors use as a symbol - the staff with the snakes. The stuff in a thermometer. A metal that'll kill you if it gets in your system. It wasn't much of a list, but more might come to mind as she thought about it, or the others in the group might know more than she did. "You'd better go find your people."

"Yeah," Geoff said, not looking enthusiastic about the prospect. She'd come to understand that her brother, his yearmates, and those of her yearmates who had met him didn't get along too well. "Later, Lena." She stood as he left, holding up the round circle representing her planet.

"Any other Mercury people around?" she called out, her throat trying to close as she raised her voice. She hated stagework, or anything else that put a spotlight on her. She should have kept her mouth shut and waited on someone else to pipe up with Mercury. Merlin help them all if the other Mercuries expected her to be the leader. \n\n

16 Helena Layne Mercury Group 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Devian Dupree

September 30, 2006 10:44 PM

Re: Mercury Group by Devian Dupree

Devian entered the classroom late and took one of the last seats available, near his roommate, Geoff. He always hated to be near the front, then you had to act like you were paying attention, and occassionally, he did when the subject was interesting, such as this might be.

He didn't really want to study planets. He wanted to study the constellations, but by the sound of it, they would at least get to work in groups. Which meant, they could talk. Well, as long as the other person was of interest.

He looked at his desk to see exactly what planet he had. Ah, Mercury, what a pity. He personally preferred Mars, the home of the God of War. Wonder who else had it.

As though to answer his question, a girl nearby called out for other people with Mercury. Perhaps, this wouldn't be so bad afterall.

Devian turned towards the girl that was not very far away, smirking slightly in his charming manner, "I do believe that I have Mercury as well. My name is Devian Dupree and you would be?"

\n\n

0 Devian Dupree Re: Mercury Group 70 Devian Dupree 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

October 01, 2006 9:17 AM

Saturn by Ginger Silverstein

Ginger had been looking forward to this class for a long time. She was always interested in planets and stars and moons. She had a telescope on the family balcony at home to look at the stars when she wasn't in the mood to play video games or surf the internet. So she didn't look at the stars very much, but she liked to. She stared at the ceiling in awe, as she knew that the ceiling was going to be enchanted like that, it would be a hearacy if it wasn't.

She smiled, sat at her desk and noticed that there was a planet on her desk. She listened to the teacher, and hoped that he wasn't going to turn out to be a butthead. He seemed okay for the most part, so she observed her planet. It was Saturn. Saturn was the second biggest planet in this solar syestem, and one of the most eyecatching. She thought that the shades of orange and yellow were pretty, and the rings were probably the prettiest part of the planet. The rings is what made that planet so unique in Ginger's opinion.

She also remembered about a greek story about Saturn eating his kids or something like that. It was very morbid and interesting, also very creepy. She looked around and decided to say loud enough for people to hear "Does anyone have Saturn?"

Ginger didn't like to speak out very loud, but there was a lot of hussle and bussle going on, so she had to speak really loud in order to be heard at all. \n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein Saturn 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Caedence

October 01, 2006 6:15 PM

only if she's in a bad mood...oops! by Caedence

“Look, about the other day,” Elly began, “I wasn’t trying… I mean, I didn’t want to get in your way. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Sorry if I didn’t… well, I’m not sure it came across that way.” This set Caedence's already hot temper on fire. "It did not come across that way! I had a duel of a personal matter Elly! You...I mean....Ugh!" She lost her words at that point noticing how squirmish Elly was. Suddenly she couldn't summon up her signature storm.

"You really are..." apparently she couldn't find an adjective, so she started a new route " Just listen, alright? I didn't want you hurt Elly! Morgaine is psycotic! She'd kill you as soon as me if you'd have gotten in the way! I know that I would have come off with more than a bruise," at this part she winced; her back throbbed as if her bruise wanted to remind her of its presence.

"If Proffeser K didn't intervene. But I dont care! I dont care! " She repeated in a hiss, "I wanted to get her back! I didn't need, nor want, you to get in the way and get hurt! It wouldn't have been my fault, for it was you who wanted to follow me! But none the less, you would have been hurt. I did not harm your gift to me, nor have I placed my clip in my braid for you, so don't worry. There is no lasting damage that I can see. I forgive you, but do try to be careful? You might not get off on just a poorly cast expelliamus next time." She gave Elly a weak grin.

Inside, Caedence was split between fury and forgiveness. She didn't want to make an enemy, so she chose the latter, but that didn't erase the boiling anger that had been filling her stomach. She fiddled with her ruby clip; her challenge symbol. Until her and Morgaine could meet in battle, or untill she proved herself not to deserve it, Caedence was inclined not to take it off. Finally, with a slight shake of her head she came to a desicion. Elly might find its presence intimidating. She didn't even come to grips that maybe, just maybe, it was Caedence herself. She took it off. It wasn't a fight that was worth it, and besides, the one to loose face that night wasn't Caedence, so Morgaine had surrendered. She slipped the clip in her pocket. Finding another in there, she realized that Meredith hadn't recieved hers. Caedence shrugged to herself. Oh well, guess she loses out.\n\n

0 Caedence only if she's in a bad mood...oops! 94 Caedence 0 5

Helena Layne

October 01, 2006 9:19 PM

Intros and Lists by Helena Layne

Devian Dupree shared one thing in common with the vast majority of Sonorans: she'd never met him personally. More unusually, though, she had heard of him, and not because he had earned himself a reputation like that of the Carey sisters or the Crotalus third years or the blonde-braided Pecari in Helena's class. Her brother had mentioned him in passing a few times in his letters, and he had spent more time in Geoff's company than she had over the past two years. Of all the people in the two grade levels she could have had to work with, Fate had decided to put her with her brother's roommate.

Helena smiled as nicely as she could. "Helena Layne," she said simply, not adding that she'd heard of him or that she had relatives. "Crotalus first year. I hope you know more about this planet than I do, because I've only managed to come up with a handful of trivia things about it." Humor had never been her forte; Anne claimed she barely knew the meaning of the word. She'd meant it to come out lightly, but there was no telling if it had done so. Hiding her relief at having successfully attracted someone else over, Helena sat back down and pulled out a piece of parchment and her quill.

She wrote down what she'd been able to come up with as neatly as possible and with some flowering-up to the wording, then put the white feather down before she could start fiddling with it. "I've not taken this class before," she defended herself, the hint of British in her accent getting stronger but still being overriden by the more slurring drawl of Charleston. Even with Geoffrey, always closer to their London-born mother than her or Lavinia, it was rare for the order to be reversed unintentionally.

A frown flittered across her face momentarily. She hated this kind of competition, where it was all luck and no skill. She'd said as much before to Geoffrey, and had gotten some blathering about what he called Ordered Chaos: random patterns in the universe that meant certain groups were just bound to turn out better than others, as a way of making sure things stayed untidy and so the way the universe liked them. Having some experience with Geoffrey and his theories, Helena figured that it was really something entirely different if it did exist and that Geoff had originally come up with his version to get out of cleaning his room. Shaking her head a little, she picked her quill back up. "Do you know if it has any moons?" \n\n

16 Helena Layne Intros and Lists 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Devian

October 02, 2006 2:15 PM

And more on Mercury by Devian

Layne. That was the same last name as his roommate, which meant that she was most likely related to him. He chose not to mention it though, instead he made mention of her being a Crotali.

"My cousin, Nicoletta, is in Crotalus. I'm in Aladren, though," he commented casually, as he pulled out his own parchment and quill from his bag.

Rather than writing anything down, Devian looked over her shoulder to see what she had written. He was about to comment when she asked him a question.

'Do you know if it has any moons?'

Like an encyclopedia, he could rattle off information, "No, Mercury has no moons, but rather acts moonlike with visible and invisible phases. Also, like the Moon, it is heavily cratered and very old. And in India, Mercury was known as Budha after the son of Chandra, or the Moon."

He smiled at her after he finished. It was defiently a good thing, he was cute, otherwise, he would be labeled a complete nerd.\n\n

0 Devian And more on Mercury 0 Devian 0 5

Elly

October 03, 2006 4:46 AM

Would this be an appropriate moment to run and hide? by Elly

Elly could sense that Caedence wasn’t really as angry as she was trying to make out. Undeniably, there was some anger there, but it was having difficulty making itself known. Elly had to hold back a smile at Caedence’s suggestion that Morgaine may have killed her. Elly knew Morgaine certainly wasn’t capable of killing anyone, especially in the state she had been at the duel – she had really looked as if she ought to have been in bed. Still, even through Caedence’s unique way of phrasing things, Elly got the message: I want to be your friend.

Elly had begun to smile again as Caedence sighed and took the clip from the bottom of her braid. There were so many things that Elly didn’t yet know about Caedence, and she had no idea what the significance of the hair clip was, but it seemed to clarify something in Caedence’s mind at least. When the girls’ eyes met, Elly again felt the need to give Caedence a hug to show her things were fine between them, but again she wasn’t sure how Caedence would take the physical contact. Instead, she stuck with a disarming smile.

“I understand why you had to duel,” Elly said, not adding though it’s not what I would have done, “and I understand why you didn’t want me there. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She refrained from following that with and you certainly came off worse than me. “We’re friends, we stick up for each other, right?” Elly smiled again at Caedence and, considering the conversation closed, she retook her seat, indicating for Caedence to take the seat next to her. For once it was a relief to Elly that they had some work to do – hopefully it would keep her mind distracted enough that by the end of the lesson things between her and her roommate would feel normal again.

“So what do you know about Venus?”
\n\n

0 Elly Would this be an appropriate moment to run and hide? 0 Elly 0 5

Nikki Ramirez

October 03, 2006 4:17 PM

Imagine a snowball fight on Pluto, brrrrrrrrr! by Nikki Ramirez

When Nikki entered Professor Deck's class she was excited. Finally, a class with the teacher she suspected would quickly turn out to be her favorite. He had already proved himseelf a cool teacher, quite literally in fact, when he participated in the snowball fight with hrself and Gray. She smiled at him when she entered, half expecting him to say something along the lines of "Hey General." She had been meaning to ask about Pluto not being a planet anymore, as she had read in her last letter from Mami and Papi, that it was a subject of interest around tthe ranch because Benito's school was telling him that it wasn't one any longer, (Nikki's eldest brother was a Squib and threfore weentt to a Muggle school.)But the Professsor beat her to it.

When Professor Deck had finished telling them about the assignment, Nikki looked around, she saw Gil with that VAlentine girl, maybe that was the girl Leo had been teasing his brother about. Speak of the devil, Nikki thought as the older Idoya twin caught her eye, and he was talking with Gray. Now that was convenient. She walked over to her friends. As she neared she had to restrain a laugh, they actually were speakinig of the devil, well sort of.

"Pluto the Roman god was the younger brother of Jupiter and Neptune." Nikki said quietly, hoping that the groups with those planets couldn't hear her. "Many people think he was the worst of the three since he was the god of the underworld, but he was actually the best. Some peeople put statues of Pluto out with their decorations for The Day of the Dead. It's a hispanic holiday to honor our ancestors and all." she explained to Gray, not sure if the other girl would know what she was talking about.

"The other two would sleep with women and trick people. Pluto did kidnap one girl, and brought her to the underworld, I can't remember her name, but that was the worst thing that he did. Pluto's Greek counterpart was Hades." she shrugged, "Benito had to read Metamorphosis, by Ovid, so I read it too, it was quite interesting."

"As for the actual planet, it was found in the 1930s I believe, and was named by a young girl, who submited a suggestion that it be named that because of thhe namesss of the other planets. The Muggle cartoon Mickey Mouse, has a dog named Pluto, who was named so because he was created shortly after the discovery of the new planet."

"The Astronomical Division of the International Confederation of Wizards is working with the American, Mexican, British, Chinese, German and Russian space programs and the Department of Experimental Charms, to see if the ice on Pluto can be used for potable water, potablee means safe to drink." Nikki didn't know if that explanation was necessary, but she often found she needed to define words she frequently used due to her extensive vocabulary, and tendency to use it. "They also want to build a penguin reservation there in the future. Of course, they may have to wait for Muggle science to catch up. I believe they're currently doing research at the Nasa Langley Research Center in Virginia."

She smiled at her friends, blushing slightly. She was definately an Aladren.\n\n

0 Nikki Ramirez Imagine a snowball fight on Pluto, brrrrrrrrr! 0 Nikki Ramirez 0 5

Helena

October 03, 2006 4:32 PM

Scrounging for Facts by Helena

Helena gave an appropriately distant, polite smile at the information about Devian's cousin. "We haven't met, but I think I've heard of her." Everyone in Crotalus had heard of the third years, one way or another. The first years had "met" the ringleader and her chief tagalong, after a fashion, on the first night, and they all seemed to travel in packs. Helena thought she might know more than most; Anne had used stories gotten from some cousin of hers about the third years to convince Geoff that all Crotali were nutters they had to "protect" Helena from.

"I have a brother in Aladren," she added finally, deciding to pass over any mention of Anne. She wasn't exactly family yet, and she wasn't exactly the person to bring up while dealing with other purebloods. "Geoffrey. I apologize for anything he might have done to offend you." Most people took that one for a joke. Most of those people didn't know Geoffrey very well.

Blinking at the book-like recital, Helena began to write again, taking down what Devian had said as accurately as possible. "I take it you like this class," she said absently, going back to count facts. There still weren't very many. Reluctantly, she added that it was the first planet from the sun. It would have put her in the running for a 'well, duh' award back home, but it was a legitimate fact about the stupid planet. She hated this kind of competition. \n\n

16 Helena Scrounging for Facts 88 Helena 0 5

Gray

October 03, 2006 7:26 PM

Not in the mood for that kind of cold by Gray

Gray sighed, looking over her shoulder for signs of escape. She could sneak out of here and risk making a fool of herself. Or a know-it-all. Like her sisters said. Were saying at this moment. Well, not them, but her insane mind making up her sisters. Truthfully, she really liked Leo, and didn't wasn't really scared he'd think she was crazy, she was just scared that... okay she was scared he'd think she was crazy. She was already thinking she was crazy herself. She didn't need any more than that. Hm... maybe her hands should stop shaking now? There, that was better.

Now her eyes moved around the room slower, more casually, when they landed on the face of Nikki Ramirez. Her roomate and friend, as well as Leo's. Now, she knew both of them, why was she shaking? Because Nikki wasn't afraid to act like a know-it-all, unlike Grail? Because nothing seemingly intelligent was leaving her mouth about now? That everything of intelligence was actually leaving Nikki's instead? That she didn't feel she was smart enough to belong in Aladren? Yeah, that about covered it.

Apparantly, her sisters were also listening, except they didn't feel the shaking fear and little jealousy Grail did. They were actually laughing. Grail was glad it wasn't at her for once. "Now she's almost as bad as you Grailie, at least you shut up once in a while!" Chali smirked. Grail physically clamped a hand over her mouth. Oh joy, as if she couldn't look more like an idiot.

"How does an eleven year old even know that much?" Alice asked, genuinly confused. Grail resisted the urge to shrug, and in her mind, moved over to Alice's side. She seemed less likely to say anything cruel to her or Nikki.

"Her name was Proserpine. She was his wife," she muttered quietly, not even sure she spoke it loud enough, there was so much noise in her head. "In Greek she was Persephone, but in Roman it was Proserpine." Should she speak up? Should she say more? She sure knew more. "Uh, also, he was son of... Saturn... I think." That one came out as a squeak. And the details on the desk looked pretty interesting at the moment. "And the... the metal named after pluto, Plutonium, is radioactive. They say it's very deadly by itself and deserves the name of the God of Death." Now she should stop. She'd said too much, and now Chali was cracking up. Joy.

She bit the inside of her lip. Spit something out! Prove you belong in Aladren with Nikki. "And, while it is the smallest planet, it is only the seventh smallest named body next to..." she had to pause her lightning quick speaking here. She always forgot this part. She went slowly, pronouncing each syllable in the names. "Our moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, and... Triton?" Dang, it came out more as a question. She looked up and at both Leo and Nikki. "Uh, and I don't know anything magical about it." Why would she?

"Because you're stupid?" Libby grinned?

No, she shouldn't be expected to know anything about the wizarding world. She was Muggle-born, not any others. And she really needed her sisters to stop ruining her new social life.

"It's not just us, sweetie, you help too by letting it bother you," Chali had laughed again. She needed to stop that.

But crap. She was right.\n\n

0 Gray Not in the mood for that kind of cold 1487 Gray 0 5

Caedence

October 03, 2006 9:33 PM

Nope...but maybe she's scaring everyone else? by Caedence

Caedence sighed. Of course Elly didn't aprove of her duel! It was evident on her face. But it wasn't even her buisness! She allowed a glare to pass over her face before letting it fade again. “We’re friends, we stick up for each other, right?” Elly's words hit her like a bomb. Friends? No, she couldn't mean that. Caedence ignored the comment. Knowing elly's desire to be touchy feely, she gave her a brief pat on the shoulder. Not too much too fast after all. She allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as well.

"Venus..venus..." she was having trouble thinking of some facts, "well, it is a planet. well duh...well I think it has really slow wind on the outside layer, but really really fast on teh inside layer. Like maybe 350 miles per hour. Dont ask, father has some pretty useless facts uner his belt. But I also know it is the greek goddess of females or something like that. I dont know if i'm right. but oh well."\n\n

0 Caedence Nope...but maybe she's scaring everyone else? 94 Caedence 0 5

Leo

October 04, 2006 1:21 PM

You're shivering as it is. by Leo

Leo was about to add a few more facts after Gray finished, but was distracted when he noticed out of the corner of her eye that her hands were shaking quite noticeably. He frowned a little and glanced back up at her questioningly, but the question was stopped on his lips as Nikki Ramirez joined them, and proved herself once again to be a perfect fit for Aladren. His worries were only compounded when he noticed Gray clap her hand to her mouth. He turned partway towards her, seriously concerned now. Was she going to be sick?

Once again, though, before he could make up his mind to inquire after her health, she was speaking about the mythical Pluto. Leo scanned his mediocre knowledge of the planets and realized that he didn't really have anything to add that the two roommates hadn't already said. Instead, he bent his head and obediently copied the list out onto the parchment. He'd had six facts; both of Grail's speeches had come out to about seven, if he split some of the mythological stories correctly; and Nikki's added up to nine. "That's twenty-two facts so far," he said, sounding as close to pleased as he was ever likely to. "I don't really know anything else about it... well, nothing relevant, anyway." Knowing that Pluto had lured Prosperine with pomegranate seeds probably would not count, he surmised.

Instead he glanced over at Gray. "Merc--Markner," he correct himself hurriedly, and mentally cursed himself. He'd been thinking of her as his sister so successfully that he'd very nearly called her Mercedes instead. He dropped his voice then and leaned a little closer to her, his mismatched eyes, one gray-green and the other clear blue, focused on her hands. "Are you all right?"\n\n

0 Leo You're shivering as it is. 0 Leo 0 5

Gil

October 04, 2006 1:27 PM

wow... sorry it took so long by Gil

Gil grinned involuntarily. Had Eavan just--yes! She had definitely just said that she'd been hoping to work with "someone she liked." That insinuated... no, nope, not that he cared. Really he didn't. Not one whit. He could almost feel Jacinto smirking at him as it was, and blushed a little. "Me too."

"Jupiter? Ah... well, it's the largest of the planets, and it's a gas giant along with Saturn and Neptune. It has the Big Red Spot, which is a huge storm larger than Earth, and has been going for hundreds of years--I don't really remember the exact time. Um... it's also got a couple of rings, actually, but they're really hard to see. Muggles found those. Sometimes the gas giants are called the Jovian planets... and..." he frowned comically, eyes squinted a little, as he tried to recall something else from the lessons their cousin Joaquin used to give the twins. "Oh! It has 63 moons. The four largest are known as the Galilean moons, and there's something... gosh... there's something weird about their orbit, but I can't really remember..."

He looked up at Eavan, then. "I'll remember in a minute, probably. What do you know?"\n\n

0 Gil wow... sorry it took so long 0 Gil 0 5

Professor Deck

October 04, 2006 1:38 PM

Making the rounds... by Professor Deck

So far, his class was a bona fide success. Declan leaned back against his desk, arms folded across his chest, and observed them with a fond smile for a while; he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed working with kids. A portrait placed discreetly in one corner--that of a red-headed man--caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Declan glanced at it; Michael's portrait grinned at him, one eyebrow raised as if to say, Told you so. He'd always been trying to convince Deck to quit BAMA and take on a teaching position. Deck smiled back at the portrait, winked, and pushed himself away from the desk to make the rounds.

The groups were all hard at work, though of course there were the expected unrelated conversations peppered through. None of them were too distracting, and most of the students were doing their work as well, so he didn't bother reprimanding them--though he was tempted to when he passed a pair of rather uncomfortable looking girls he dimly recognized as Pecaris, who were having a rather tense conversation. They soon settled down, though, so he moved on.

He passed the girls he'd seen during the snowball fight--Grail Markner and Nikki Ramirez. He smiled at them as he passed, but they were both hard at work with another boy, who, if Declan wasn't completely mistaken, had a twin brother on the other side of the room. He passed by the other groups, occasionally stopping to offer a comment or suggestion, before coming across one boy--a second year, he thought--who seemed to be lacking a group.

"How's it coming, mate?" Declan asked, stopping by the boy's desk and crossing his arms as he peered down at the composed list. It was quite prodigious... and quite amusing. He coughed to cover a laugh. "Ambitious, are you? I'm not one for stifling creativity, Mr..." he waited for the boy to provide his name, then continued. "But I'm afraid 'there is no pizza on Mars' isn't quite what I was looking for. Let's try to stick to the facts, shall we?"

Bonus points for ingenuity, though, he added mentally, stifling a very unprofessional grin. Michael would've liked this kid.\n\n

0 Professor Deck Making the rounds... 0 Professor Deck 0 5

Eavan

October 04, 2006 2:37 PM

That's okay... by Eavan

Eavan stared at Gil, her mouth slightly agape. She had learned a bit about the palnets in elementary school, but she didn't even think they had learned that much about any of the planets, let alone her remembering any of it.

"Wow, Gil. I can't believe you know all that. All I remembered was that it was the biggest, that it was made of gas and a bit about the great Red Spot." She paused for a second and then added "Oh! And Galileo discovered the four largest moons and that's why they're named after him." Eavan felt a little embarrassed that Gil knew so much more than she did,but she didn't let it bother her. Gil was just realy smart. Smart friends were always good to have.

"Have you figured out what was weird about their orbits yet? We could probably look it up." Eavan made to take out her astronomy book, but stopped and glanced up at Gil.

"You don't think the professor will mind, do you?"\n\n

0 Eavan That's okay... 0 Eavan 0 5

Pierce, Saul Pierce

October 04, 2006 5:29 PM

Mars is red because of all the tomato sauce by Pierce, Saul Pierce

The class appeared sadly lacking in Martians. He'd seen groups for the big red planet Jupiter, for Mercury and Venus, for Saturn, and even found Echo sitting alone and unloved with Neptune, but there were, as far as Saul could find, no other people of Mars. He'd found a few empty desks with Mars pictures on them and figured his group was pretty much non-existant except for him.

He had just made it back to his seat to tackle the assignment alone when he was interrupted by the teacher. At the question of how it was coming, Saul turned his list so that it was right side up for the man to read it. "Got one page done, but can't find anybody else doing Mars, so I was about to start a new page by myself."

He fell silent as Chatterjee read through what Saul had written (which was kind of impressive given the quality of Saul's handwriting). He grinned in pride as he was deemed 'ambitious' and 'creative', then was prompted for his name.

Anticipating the pizza in his near future, Saul grinned and answered, "Pierce," then because Simon was a freak and had made it impossible for Saul to leave an introduction like that, he added, "Saul Pierce," with the proper intonations to suggest he had answered Bond, James Bond.

Chatterjee's next words, though, stunned him. "But I'm afraid 'there is no pizza on Mars' isn't quite what I was looking for. Let's try to stick to the facts, shall we?"

Surely, he misheard or misunderstood. "Wait, wait, that's not a fact?" Because facts were true and not facts were not true, so if that wasn't a fact . . . "Is there pizza on Mars, then?"

He was totally moving to Mars when he grew up.\n\n

1 Pierce, Saul Pierce Mars is red because of all the tomato sauce 82 Pierce, Saul Pierce 0 5

Saul

October 04, 2006 5:45 PM

Passing through looking for Martians by Saul

No one had immediately answered his call to arms, so Saul had to sally forth and gather the troops of Mars himself. Nearest to him were a couple of people talking about Jupiter, and while that was a red planet, it wasn't the right one. Way too gassy.

In the other direction, he spotted Echo, the kid who inexplicably kept choosing Saul as his Potions partner even after Saul had made them make the wrong potion on their first day. The kid was just looking around at everybody else as they sought their groups but was making no effort to get up himself. Their eyes met and Echo held up a picture of Neptune.

Dangit. Another non-Martian. Saul was about to get up and start roaming the classroom when Echo asked what was going on. "We're looking for other people who have the same planet. Then we need to make lists of everything you know about that planet. The planet with the most facts at the end of the class gets a pizza." He held up his own picture of the Red Planet. "I'm Mars, though, so you have to keep looking for your group."\n\n

1 Saul Passing through looking for Martians 82 Saul 0 5

Gray

October 04, 2006 7:28 PM

Out of fear rather than cold by Gray

She was glad she'd spoken up now, despite her sisters making fun of her in the back of her head. She had helped with their facts and now they were practically done. But what to do with the notes now? Hm... Professor Deck hadn't said what to actually do with the notes. Hands still shaking a bit she picked up the notes, what Leo had put down. Everything that Nikki and Gray had said. Thinking about it, Grail realized she hadn't said that much actually. Picking up her pen, she wrote their names at the top of the paper. Overlooking the handwriting of hers, it seemed scrawly, her hands were still shaking. But right now it was more of an after effect of her sisters' teasings.

It took her a second to catch what Leo was asking her though. Mainly because he had said her surname, she wasn't used to that. In fact, she'd always rather be called Grail than Markner. Markner was what Libby was called, since she played so many sports at the moment. And Gray sure wasn't Libby, and never hoped she would be. A mutter in the back of her head told her insane-Libby thought she was a huge screw-up to the family. Oh joy, more self-confidence washed down the drain.

She nodded to Leo, still looking at the marks on the table, not really wanting to meet his eye. She figured no one would have seen that little movement, so lightly she spoke up. "Uh... yeah. Fine." No way was she telling anyone how crazy she was. Not even Nikki or Leo. She tugged lightly on her dirty blonde hair, glad neither of her friends knew this meant she was as nervous as hell. "J-just a little... cold," she nodded. Cold was a good excuse for shivering. "A little cold." Then she looked up at him. Gray had a good feeling if she didn't say something about the surname thing he would keep saying it.

"Could you... not call me that?" once it came out of her mouth, she realized how cold it sounded. Her eyes widened slightly. "I mean... I..." she looked at Nikki then down again. "It just... people call my..." sister Libby...",sister that." Good. She was finished.\n\n

0 Gray Out of fear rather than cold 1487 Gray 0 5

Leo

October 04, 2006 8:19 PM

Dios mio, I'm turning into Gil. by Leo

Really, this was getting ridiculous. Leo didn't care about people outside his family; it was what had made his grandfather such an effective patriarch, and it was what would make Leo his equal in that respect, once the time came. His passing concern for Nikki could easily be written off; she was the daughter of a friend of the family, and in a strange country. It was his duty as an Idoya to make sure she was okay--though, he had to admit to himself, he hadn't done the best job with that. But this concern for Markner really was becoming absurd.

Gil was the one with the bleeding heart, not Leo. He was the one so attached to everyone he met. Leo couldn't even properly say he loved anyone aside from his siblings and his mother; his father and grandfather prompted respect and sometimes a little fear (occasionally even anger), but hardly love. None of his cousins did, either, except perhaps Joaquin, who was twenty-two and had long been Leo's idol.

That didn't explain why, when Markner said she was cold, Leo stood up after only a moment's thought, unbuttoned his school robe, and draped it over the smaller girl's shoulders. For a moment he even had to resist the urge to tug gently on her hair, an affectionate habit he had with his little sister. But no. Mercedes had typical Spanish coloring, and when she wasn't indulging in one of her bouts of melancholy, was a spitfire and hard to handle. Markner was blond and all together too meek and jumpy. But he still felt compelled to take care of her.

He scowled to himself as he sat down at this show of weakness. How many times had Abuelo told him? There is a difference between being a gentleman and being gentle. It is one of those quirks of the English language that the words are even associated. No, call yourself a caballero, niño. A caballero is strong and honorable and loyal, and he must be hard to protect the family. Don't be a gentleman. Be a caballero.

His grandfather's words did nothing to cheer him up, and neither did Markner's--no, Grail's--plea. Both made him feel much worse, in very different ways. He replied with only a nod, and took the parchment from her hands without asking. "Unless either of you can think of anything else, I'll give this to the professor," he said curtly. After a pause, he moved away from the girls, his expression dark, and towards where the professor stood, conversing with a second-year Pecari.

OOC: Caballero originally meant knight, but now has a meaning roughly equivalent to gentleman. Obviously, Abuelo would favor the militaristic implications of the word. *makes a face*\n\n

0 Leo Dios mio, I'm turning into Gil. 0 Leo 0 5

Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)

October 04, 2006 8:30 PM

...I honestly don't know what to say to that. by Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)

Well. That was unexpected. Declan gazed--stared, really--at the boy for another few seconds before realizing how incredibly rude and unprofessional that was, and clearing his throat. But really--how was he supposed to reply to that? This boy... Pierce... well, that explained something at least. He must be related to the mad groundskeeper who thought he was the next Errol Flynn.

He was saved from having to answer when a scowling boy appeared at his elbow and thrust a couple of parchments out at him. "We're done, sir," the boy said in a lightly-accented voice, obviously upset about something. Declan took the papers and scanned the top of the page--Pluto. That was the group with the two Aladren girls, wasn't it?

"Thank you, Mr...."

"Leonardo Idoya III," the boy said, his bizarrely mismatched eyes truculent and challenging. Declan barely refrained from raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Thank you, Mr. Idoya. I'm sure you've heard by now that it's school policy for all students to wear regulation robes in class at all times?" he said. It wasn't that he minded--and besides, the boy was wearing smart trousers, a pair of dress shoes, and a white button-up shirt along with a tie in what Declan recognized as Crotalus colors.

"Mar--Grail was cold," the boy said after a moment, and then turned on his heel and strode back to his group.

Declan looked after him for a moment, stifling the urge to shake his head in disbelief. He'd have to keep an eye on this 'Leonardo Idoya III.' He was a little puzzle altogether. But for now, he turned back to 'Pierce, Saul Pierce.'

"No, there's no pizza on Mars, Mr. Bond," Declan said with a small, amused smile. "I should have been more explicit. I would like scientific or mythical facts, please, as well as any known magical properties you might have heard of. I'm afraid they'll be the only answers accepted as legitimate." He gave the boy an apologetic smile and started to move back towards his desk to deposit the papers the Idoya boy had given him.\n\n

0 Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya) ...I honestly don't know what to say to that. 0 Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya) 0 5

Echo Elms

October 04, 2006 8:44 PM

A pizza? by Echo Elms

"A pizza, are you sure?" Echo asked, looking again at rendition of Neptune. He only questioned that part outloud because it was last, but he had some serious doubts about all of it. He had learned the first day of Potions that it usually wasn't a good idea to trust Saul's opinion on what a professor had said. Still, it beat doing nothing.

It looked like most people had already found their groups and it didn't look like any other Neptuners were circulating. He'd probably have to do what Saul was doing.

"Come back if you don't find your martians," he said before Saul could run off, "we can do both planets so our list'll be extra long."
\n\n

21 Echo Elms A pizza? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul

October 04, 2006 8:59 PM

Absolutely by Saul

Echo doubted him. Saul supposed Echo had every right to doubt him after that ill-fated potions lesson, but this time he was sure of it. He'd been paying attention (mostly) and he'd definitely heard Chatterjee talking about serving pizza and rewards for a job well done. "Yeah, absolutely sure," Saul confirmed. "The winner gets a pizza."

They both paused a moment, looking around, presumably each for group members. Saul was about to wish Echo luck and head out to seek his fellow martians when Echo beat him to it.

Saul nodded, "Thanks, good luck finding Neptunians. And I'll be back here if I can't find anyone. See ya." He tapped his desk, then headed out once more into the breach. His mission, one he had chosen to accept, was to find another Martian.\n\n

1 Saul Absolutely 82 Saul 0 5

Echo Elms

October 04, 2006 9:18 PM

Neptune List by Echo Elms

Echo gazed uncertainly around the room, still looking for elusive Neptuners, and suddenly Professor Deck honed in on Saul and was looking over his sheet. Was it already answer checking time? He hadn't even taken out a sheet of paper.

"I would like scientific or mythical facts, please, as well as any known magical properties you might have heard of. I'm afraid they'll be the only answers accepted as legitimate," Echo overheard Professor Deck telling Saul. Ah! Now he knew what was going on.

Echo pulled out his own sheet of paper and paper and started his list.

"Neptune," he wrote in big block letters at the top. Underneath he made two columns (one for planet stuff and one for myth stuff) and continued in some smaller breed of writing vaguely related to cursive.

Planet Stuff.
~~not a~~ gas planet
~~smaller~~ bigger
has no life
has no water
furthest planet from the sun (except Pluto which might be a planet but might be an asteroid field).
in our solar system.
orbits the sun.
next to Pluto.
next to Uranus.

Myth Stuff
god of ocean
trident (not gum)
looks like a sea monster
chariot pulled by seahorses
Neptune has another name in Greek but I don't remember what it is (P-something?).
Jove is his king (Jove's Greek name is Zeus).
Juno is his queen (Juno is Hera).
Neptune is probably related to Juno or Jove.

If Echo was going to win a pizza -- Saul was sure it was a pizza -- he definitely needed more than that. Where was a group when you needed one?\n\n

21 Echo Elms Neptune List 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul

October 04, 2006 9:21 PM

And the ice caps at the poles are mozzarella by Saul

Saul was seriously disappointed. There were no people on Mars, he knew that, so, logically, there shouldn't have been pizza, but the professor had said it wasn't a fact . . . So much for living on Mars. Oh, well, the atmosphere wasn't breathable anyway.

He took out another sheet of parchment and looked over at Echo. He still appeared to have no group. Saul fought his greed and decided that, yes, they could both work on both planets. He knew a whole lot more about Mars anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be purposely cheating Echo out of answers so that the Mars list would be longer.

"Hey, Echo," he called for his neighbor's attention while the professor returned to the front of the classroom with a non-Pecari first year's list. "Still want to work together on both planets?"

He took a moment to cross out the pizza line on his first list, then pushed it over toward the younger kid. "Here's what I've got on Mars so far, see if it helps you out at all." He wasn't sure if the dogs line counted as a scientific fact or not, so he kept it in there just in case. He should probably cross out the one about how to spell Mars, too, but Chatterjee hadn't specifically stated that one wasn't acceptable like he had about the pizzas.

Giving Echo a chance to look at that and finish whatever thoughts he had been so diligently writing when Saul interrupted him, he titled his currently blank parchment "Mars Page 2" and started listed out a few more ideas that had occurred to him while he walked around looking for other Martians.

Some people think martians are little green men.
There is an atmosphere but people can't breathe it.
It's smaller than Earth.
It's bigger than Pluto and Mercury.
It's lots smaller than Jupiter and Saturn because it doesn't have gas.

He stopped there, and peeked over at Echo's list. "Hey, is Neptune a gas giant like Saturn and Jupiter? You can say it has gas so it's bloated."\n\n

1 Saul And the ice caps at the poles are mozzarella 82 Saul 0 5

Echo Elms

October 04, 2006 9:38 PM

The groupless team up by Echo Elms

"Yeah, cool," Echo said and pulled his chair over by Saul. Taking a glance down Saul's list, he didn't see much of anything he could add to it. "Maybe you could say Mars is the only planet people have been to? I mean, like, not people people, but the rover is kinda like people, right?"

Inspired by Saul's list, he added, Air is not breathable, to his own and slid it over.

"I don't know if Neptune is a gas giant. I thought it was small, because it's far away like Pluto, but then why'd they call them giants? The picture sort of looks like gas, though, right?"\n\n

21 Echo Elms The groupless team up 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Echo Elms

October 04, 2006 9:42 PM

continued on the Mars thread (nm) by Echo Elms

21 Echo Elms continued on the Mars thread (nm) 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul

October 04, 2006 10:08 PM

Neptune and Mars by Saul

Saul looked over the Neptune list Echo showed him and read through it without finding anything he was sure was wrong. To his words though, Saul shook his head, "No, I'm pretty sure all of the planets except Pluto that come after Mars are big gas giants. I mean, Jupiter and Saturn are way bigger, but Neptune and Uranus will eat a couple Earths for breakfast. That's one of the reasons why Pluto was so weird for a long time, cuz all the other rocky ones were close to the sun and that one's just out there."

A thought niggled at his mind and he looked over Echo's list and he pointed out the line that said Neptune was the furthest except for Pluto. "Neptune is the one that crosses orbits with Pluto, you can put that down, too."

"Oh, and lots of moons. The big ones all have a lot of moons. Does Mars have any moons? I can't remember." He felt like he should know that, but he was blanking. If Echo didn't know, he'd just say that it did have a few and hope he guessed right.

He frowned at his partially filled page, knowing there had to be more he could add to it. Magical properties. Well, if he was a girl he'd know a whole bunch of Astrology stuff about all the planets, but fortune telling wasn't really something the guy California Pierces did much of. If he could just remember something of what the girls were getting taught, though. Maria had asked him to help her study for one of Regina's tests, and Saul had known the stuff nearly as well as she had by the time they were done. He hadn't retained it very long, but it must still be in his head somewhere.

Astrology aspects: energy, strength, courage, new life
Mars rules physical force
Mars is subliminal, not intelligent
Mars is masculine

Saul sat back. That was all his memory was going to cough up for him. Neptune was harder, though, since that wasn't something most fortune tellers dealt with for daily horoscopes. "Neptune moves through the zodiac signs very slowly. It's a generational marker and doesn't influence daily events according to astological theory."
\n\n

1 Saul Neptune and Mars 82 Saul 0 5

Nikki

October 05, 2006 3:36 PM

Good Thing I Can't Read Minds, Or I'd Be Killing Both Of Y by Nikki

Nikki couldn't help but get a little jealous at the kind way Leo was treating Gray. What about all that stuff beefore the fight. Hadn't there been...no sh wouldn't think that. She was too young to think that. She was only eleven.

Leo got up and started walking towards Professor Deck, apparently going to turn their assignment in. "Leo," Nikki called, "Come back here, we can think of some more stuff by the end of class. Now come on, we don't havee much on the magical properties, let's try and think of some more." She closed her eyes, trying to think, "Now what was it Julio said about the rocks?" she asked herself. \n\n

0 Nikki Good Thing I Can't Read Minds, Or I'd Be Killing Both Of Y 0 Nikki 0 5

Elly

October 05, 2006 4:18 PM

I think they're used to her by now by Elly

Caedence seemed unsure for just a moment, but then sat down and even managed a small smile. Elly picked up her quill again, and began to take notes on what Caedence was saying – something about wind.

Venus has wind Elly wrote. She looked at it and found the comment highly amusing. She stifled a smirk, unwilling to demonstrate her immaturity, and for once thanked her lucky stars that Meredith wasn’t there, otherwise the two of them would be in unstoppable giggles by now. She thought she’d better specify, so added - fast on inside, slow on outside She didn’t know if it was right or not. Actually, she didn’t know anything about Venus, really. Caedence also said something about Venus being the Greek goddess of females, or something. Elly guessed that would explain the whole ‘Women are from Venus’ thing, so she wrote that down, too.

“Well, I’ll be honest,” Elly said, placing her quill down, “I know as much about Venus as I do about any of the planets. That’s a hole heap of nothing.” She didn’t think that was enough effort though, so she sighed and thought about it a bit harder. “You can see Venus at night, can’t you? It’s really bright, like a star, but sort of twinkly.” Elly added that to her parchment, and then showed the really short list to Caedence. “Not much, is it? Where’s an Aladren when you need one?”
\n\n

0 Elly I think they're used to her by now 0 Elly 0 5

Echo Elms

October 05, 2006 5:20 PM

Wow, you're smart. by Echo Elms

Echo added Saul's suggestions to his list.

Crosses Pluto's orbit.
Moves through sky crazy slow.
More than one moon.

He slid the paper so Saul could see, "Put what I put for the moon. Maybe it's vague enough." He tried to remember about pictures he'd seen from the Rover, but all he could remember was all the red sand or clay or whatever it was. "And maybe add something about reddish orange sand."

The Mars list was looking really good. He particularly liked the one about the Mars candy bar. How come he couldn't think of anything like that for Neptune?

Echo looked at the ceiling thinking about Saul's magical properties. Energy was a magical element. Neptune. Neptune. Neptune.

"Well," he said, "it's blue. And so is water. And Neptune is the god of the sea. Probably its element is water. Neptune is a male god so it's probably male, too. Unless it's not. Water is soft and fluid, which would be feminine. Maybe it's, like, both?"

He took the paper back and scribbled:

element is water.
masculine feminine balance.

That felt right. His dad would approve. "I keep thinking there's some character somewhere or something called Neptune and I just can't think of it."\n\n

21 Echo Elms Wow, you're smart. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Gray

October 05, 2006 6:11 PM

Not me, it's Chali you have to kill... please by Gray

Gray couldn't say she wasn't surprised when she noticed Leo stand up to take his robe off. And even more surprised when he put it over her. Her shaking died down a bit, but she didn't believe that when she said she was cold, that he would actually help her. Making her feel a little more... safe? From who? Her sisters? Either way, safe sounded like a good word for it. And while she was still shaking, it wasn't as noticable as before. She actually hoped it wasn't noticable at all, she didn't want Leo (or Nikki for that matter) to worry again.

She did feel a different sort of... air? off of Leo now though. He seemed a little frustrated, especially while slipping the peper out of her hands to carry up. She didn't know what to say to get him to come back, they may need something more, so she was very glad when she heard Nikki do it for her. Even if it did cause teasings from her sisters at her inability to speak.

She decided now wasthe time to keep quiet, however, seeing as she knew nothing about any magical properties. She figured Leo and Nikki could handle that, and if they needed her (which they probably wouldn't) they could talk to her.

"Look who isn't a know-it-all smarty anymore!" Chali hissed at her. Gray tried to ignore her sister and pulled Leo's robe tighter around her.\n\n

0 Gray Not me, it's Chali you have to kill... please 1487 Gray 0 5

Leo (and a little Professor Deck)

October 05, 2006 6:27 PM

Happy to oblige. by Leo (and a little Professor Deck)

Leo had only just turned away from the nonplussed professor and the crazy Pecari when Nikki's voice sailed over the general murmur of other voices, calling him back to the group. Apparently she'd remembered something else. Leo turned back to the professor only to find him halfway across the room again; he dodged between a few desks and chairs and beat Chatterjee to his desk.

"Beg pardon, sir, but could I have the papers back? I think Nikki remembered something else," he said quickly, eyeing the papers in the professor's hand.

Professor Chatterjee--honestly, 'Deck?' How absurd!--looked marginally surprised to see Leo back at his elbow, but obligingly passed the paper over. When Leo had the papers, though, he looked up to see a small smile on the professor's face; Leo barely stifled a scowl. Really, this man was far too much like a grown-up Gil for anyone's good. "You keep an eye on those girls, Mr. Idoya," he said with what Leo supposed ought to be a jocular wink, though with Leo's sense of humor, it just came across as more annoying than anything else.

"I do, Professor," Leo answered with great dignity and maybe just a little attitude, before heading back to the group. He handed Gray her paper back before plopping tiredly down into his own seat. "All right... magical properties?" How had he managed to forget all about those? Useless as a Muggle, honestly.... "Well, it's obviously closely tied to death and rebirth. It's a good planet to pay attention to when you're doing complex transfigurations." Joaquin had told him that. "And I know it's got a very masculine presence. Good for the Dark Arts, too."\n\n

0 Leo (and a little Professor Deck) Happy to oblige. 0 Leo (and a little Professor Deck) 0 5

Nikki

October 05, 2006 8:15 PM

takes sip of drink, spits it out, and looks suprised YOU! by Nikki

((OOC: Leo is Deck! Deck is Leo! Dios Mio! ugh that was not intended to rhyme. I feel like I've been played. Wow! Not expecting that were you Gray? I'm so shocked I'm laughing! E.S. why didn't you tell me?))

While Leo was gone, Nikki turned to Gray, "I know how you feel about your sister. My eldest brother, Benito, is a Squib. I think I told you that. Anyway, he teases Julio and me because we're different. And he got our whole grade school to tease Julio as well, I didn't start school until Benito was in sixth grade. But you know what? I think he's jealous because he and Mami can't do magic, and everyone else at the ranch can."

She turned to see Leo talking to Professor Deck. He was being, well, Leo. She was astounded. This was the cool teacher. He had been in the snowball fight with her and Gray. He had made Nikki feel very proud when he had complimented her brother. He was letting them work in groups on a fairly easy assignment. And Leo was giving him, "the glare."

But as Nikki thought about it, Deck, she had taken to calling him just Deck in her head, like she had done with some of her teachers in primary school, was a lot like Gil. Maybe it was one of those things that fell under the every expanding, "Ramirez's Theory of Leonardoism."

Leo returned with the paper and started spewing off magical properties of Pluto. Apparently,he had forgotten about that.* "Death and rebirth?" Nikki asked, "I remember Julio saying something about it being linked to premature death, but I thought he was just trying to scare Benito. Of course he was at Youmens by then, so it might be true. Do you know Leo?" she didn't pause long enough to respond, because she remembered something else. "And divinition. All heavenly bodies are used in divinition."

*OOC: Honestly you created this assignment, how could you forget to do part of it?\n\n

0 Nikki *takes sip of drink, spits it out, and looks suprised* YOU! 0 Nikki 0 5

caedence

October 05, 2006 11:30 PM

can you EVER be used to me? by caedence

"Where's an Alarden when you need one?" Caedence shook her head. Not in our group, she wanted to say, but instead said, "We need anyone else. We're smart enough! If my years at muggle school have tought me anything, its that you have to think outside the box. What do we know about planets? Now, I only know that they are specified by size somehow... do you know? Or what they are? Ask me about stars and I could tell you, not planets really."

She paused for a bit to allow Elly time to think, then she went on. "And besides, if all else fails, tell them Venus stands for 'very'!" She allowed another smile. What was it about this girl that made Caedence so...normal? She was making jokes, smiling, and fighting as if with a friend. Not being able to take being mad, she made up. Where had her grudges gone? Where had her anger gone? Where was Caedence? She sighed. Did she have a friend? No, of course not! Just an ally, and who was a greater enemy than your allies? So then Elly would never be more than an ally, Caedence decided. Then why did she like being such good "allies"? She shook her head, best think about the task at hand.\n\n

0 caedence can you EVER be used to me? 94 caedence 0 5

Gray

October 06, 2006 9:18 PM

It;'s not that surprising ^^;; by Gray

OOC: Actually, there's a hint on the OOC boards somewhere, so I sort of knew already.

BIC: Gray nodded slightly as Nikki explained about her brother and squibs. To be honest? She forgot what a squib was. She didn't think Nikki knew exactly how she felt about her sister, she had a good bet that Nikki's brother didn't make her feel insane, talking in her head, but at least it was picked up on the fact that she hated Libby. And Chali and Alice too. She missed Author too. Still, she smiled and nodded when Nikki talked to her.

She turned to where Nikki was facing, of course near where Leo was, and it seemed he was getting the paper back. She stifled a laugh on seeing Leo glare at Professor Deck and turned back to the table when she noticed Leo coming back. When she had the paper in her hands, Gray set it down to write. She knew she wouldn't get much talking in, she still didn't know much about any sort of magical properties, so she just wrote down what they said.

"Because you know nothing," Libby smirked. Grail chose to bluntly ignore her annoying sister.

Dark arts, masculine, divination. Death and rebirth. A lot of other things. Well, not really a lot. But enough to get her head spinning in confusion. At their thinking pauses, Gray looked over her handwriting, seeing if the shaking had died down. Sort of, but there was still a little wobble in her handwriting. Not that Deck or Nikki or Leo would notice. They would probably see this as her normal handwriting or something. She set the pen back down and looked up.

She used her finger to lightly tap on the desk, a little bored with sitting. Her sisters at the moment were gossiping about whatever her eyes took in, and she couldn't hear them that well, so she had nothing to think about. She gave a little lift of her eyes to move them between Leo and Nikki. "In divination?" she said it like a question. "Like what kind? Prophecies of death and things like that?" She was sure anything about magic she guessed sounded stupid anyway. But at least it was an educated guess. Still, this didn't stop her cheeks from lighting up a bit.\n\n

0 Gray It;'s not that surprising ^^;; 1487 Gray 0 5

Nikki

October 07, 2006 12:56 AM

No More Putting Down Muggles by Nikki

((OOC:How did I miss that?! I even picked up the hint about Deck's um *preferneces* before the whole, Tarquin Reynolds thing in the OOC board, which was when he first really came out and said it.))

"Exactly," Nikki said when Gray asked about her divinition comment. "Supposedly, seers use heavenly bodies, you know, planets, stars, meteors, comits, and all that stuff to predict the future. I'm not exactly sure what Pluto would predict, but death is the most likely thing, or maybe something about men. But really, I didn't think Muggles really knew much about divinition. No offense or anytthing, I mean my mom's a Muggle." \n\n

0 Nikki No More Putting Down Muggles 0 Nikki 0 5

Gray

October 08, 2006 9:40 AM

Jumps for joy by Gray

Gray smiled, glad she was right on her statement for Divination. She picked her ballpoint up again and scribbled it down. So, ha, she did know something about magic. It was all common sense. Pluto the death god, Divination used to predict, put it togather you get Pluto used in Divination to most likely predict death.......Or things about men. Which is what she had put down. And then gave a mental "ha" to her sisters, that she had guessed something right. And about magic too. They quieted down a bit, going to cold silence, and Gray stopped shaking a little more.

"But really, I didn't think Muggles really knew much about divinition..."

This made her even happier, for some reason. Maybe that she knew something that wasn't expected of her? Even if it was common sense that she guessed, what would she say to that? "Uh, well, I've always known Divination was predicting things..." how could she not? Her mother was a Camelot/King Aurther/Knights of the Round Table junkie. She'd read about Aurther's "prophesy" a million times. Then she'd gotten here and read a bit about magic. Divination was the same thing. "And that it predicts death is just common sense... being Pluto the God of Death," she finished. Glad she knew something more.\n\n

0 Gray *Jumps for joy* 1487 Gray 0 5

Elly

October 08, 2006 5:27 PM

I think I'm getting there ;D by Elly

Elly was impressed by Caedence’s determination. Neither of them knew anything about what they were supposed to be doing, yet here Caedence was, insisting they didn’t need any help and resolving to work harder. Elly had rarely seen such a strong will in anyone before she met Caedence, and that’s why she respected her. She asked again what Elly knew about the planets, and Elly shrugged, playing idly with her quill. Apparently this determination stuff wasn’t contagious.

There was a pause, and then Caedence said, “If all else fails, tell them Venus stands for ‘very’!” Elly smiled, a bit caught off guard by the unexpected display of good humour, then she laughed. A proper laugh, that she thought may have caused others to look round at her. “Caedence, you’re brilliant,” Elly said, beaming at her.

Elly shifted her weight in her seat and dropped her quill back onto the table. “Alright,” she said, heavily. “Let’s try harder. I’m guessing you know as much about the magical properties as I do? That’s nothing, by the way. I think Venus might be a lot like Earth, though. I think I remember something like if we were any closer to the sun, we’d be just like Venus. I guess that means there’s the same sort of atmosphere or something.” Elly gave up again and slumped in her seat, suddenly lethargic. “Oh Caedence, I don’t know!” she sighed. “Write anything, I don’t care. I’m sorry.”
\n\n

0 Elly I think I'm getting there ;D 0 Elly 0 5

That girl who fights alot (or caedence...lol)

October 08, 2006 5:50 PM

Man....tough work this class is! by That girl who fights alot (or caedence...lol)

Caedence was stunned. Elly was... giving up? That can't be! This must be Elly under the imperious curse. Or Elly with her brain swapped with a slug's! This wasn't Elly. And, for some reason, this also ticked Caedence off.

"Elly, what is the matter with you? Show some guts! Show your mind! Are you a witch or not?" her voice was now decreasing in volume into a deadly hiss, "You may want to give up, but I wont let you! Now, either turn back into my friend, or continue being the zombie freak you've turned into! Got it?"

Only after did Caedence realize that maybe Elly just couldn't think of anything. It made her feel guilty in the pit of her stomach. But one more thing gnawed at her. Did she just call Elly a friend? No, that wasn't it. She wasn't a friend! To clarify matters she added in a normal tone, "Now come on! My roomate had way more smiles than you do now. Come on Elly, if you get this, just one more fact, I'll teach you martial arts!" She smirked at Elly, but she was serious. The girl needed a hobby and martial arts was the best one out there. At least Caedence though so. (ooc: I think it is one of the best! I love martial arts! ^_^)\n\n

0 That girl who fights alot (or caedence...lol) Man....tough work this class is! 94 That girl who fights alot (or caedence...lol) 0 5

Saul Pierce

October 09, 2006 10:54 AM

I am smart. A smart alec. by Saul Pierce

Saul followed Echo's suggestion and wrote out 'More than one moon' and 'The ground is covered with reddish dirt' at the bottom of his list. He frowned at the list while Echo regarded the ceiling, trying to think of something else, but he was pretty much dry now.

Echo started talking about, but Saul had no idea what he was on about but the kid seemed not to need his input as he started writing more stuff on his sheet.

Saul was on the verge of another Martian epiphany when his train of thought was cut off by Echo saying, "I keep thinking there's some character somewhere or something called Neptune and I just can't think of it."

Saul racked his brain, suddenly feeling like he must be right but he came up blank. He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't think of one. If Simon were here, he might know, if it was a famous play or a movie, but I don't remember. Maybe Shakespeare mentioned it?" Neptune seemed like the sort of thing Shakespeare might have put into at least one of his plays or poems.

He probably mentioned Mars, too, come to think of it. He wasn't really sure about that, though, but maybe if he put it vaguely enough it would count. 'Mentioned in a number of literary classics' he wrote down on the next line. "Maybe use something like that," he suggested to Echo showing him what he'd just written.

He sat back in his seat and frowned unhappily at his list, which wasn't quite done yet with its second page. "I'm running out of ideas here." He made that sound like a critical failing of creativity, which it was.\n\n

1 Saul Pierce I am smart. A smart alec. 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Echo Elms

October 09, 2006 11:47 AM

Hey Alec, can I call you Alec? by Echo Elms

Nothing else was coming. Echo jotted Saul's, "mentioned in many classics" on his sheet and held his head in his hands for a moment of hard thinking. His brain was starting to hurt.

"I'm done," he declared, and pushed his sheet to the center of the table. The moment he did he grabbed it back, "Posiden! Saul! It was Posiden!" He scribbled that in it's proper spot and added the other thing he remembered about Posiden, "Brother of Zeus."

Now he really was done. He wasn't going to be able to seriously compete with the groups that had three people in them anyway. Saul seemed to have come to a dead end too.

He definitely needed to stop kicking his chair legs. Outside would be nice. If he were at home he'd have convinced his mom by now he needed to be out with his trees. Of course, this past break at home his mom practically had to throw him out the door to get him to leave. "Hey Saul, what do you do in the summer?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

21 Echo Elms Hey Alec, can I call you Alec? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Elly

October 11, 2006 5:20 AM

Tough work, and I've had enough! by Elly

Elly stared incredulously at Caedence. She was obviously in a very odd mood today. Elly hadn’t been snapped at by any one person in her life the amount than Caedence had managed to snap at her in just one week. Elly had plenty of patience, but there was a limit. She’d had enough.

She leant over, took her Astronomy book out of her bag and dropped it on the table in front of Caedence. “There are all the facts you need. Good luck.”

Elly picked up her quill and her bag, and stood up. She stalked away from to table to find another group, leaving Caedence to finish the work on her own.
\n\n

0 Elly Tough work, and I've had enough! 0 Elly 0 5

Elly Eriksson

October 11, 2006 5:38 AM

Can I join your group? by Elly Eriksson

Fed up of Caedence’s open hostility and dangerous mood swings, Elly collected her bag, stood up, and left Caedence to work on her own. She was more than a little annoyed. She thought they’d finally managed to settle their differences, and then Caedence had started bullying her for information she didn’t even know, and all for a stupid astronomy lesson. It was ridiculous. In fact, fighting with Caedence was ridiculous, because Elly never had the inclination to finish an argument, so they spent a lot of time avoiding each other, which, seeing as they shared a dormitory, was just silly.

Elly visually scoured the classroom for a smaller group that might be grateful for an extra person, and one that didn’t involve having to work with people who were likely to bite her head off (or any other part of her anatomy, for that matter). She saw Echo and Saul sitting together, and inwardly smiled in relief. Saul was undoubtedly unusual, but he certainly wasn’t going to start getting annoyed if she didn’t know anything, and as one of her best friends, Echo wouldn’t either. Elly headed over to them, dragging a spare chair up to their desk. She slumped into the chair and dumped her bag on the ground next to it.

“Hey,” she said, with none of her usual enthusiasm. “What are you guys up to?”
\n\n

0 Elly Eriksson Can I join your group? 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Echo Elms

October 11, 2006 1:30 PM

Sure, why not? by Echo Elms

"Hey, Elly," Echo said, happily giving up on failing to make small talk with Saul. "I'm Neptune, and Saul's Mars. We didn't get real groups so we're sort of working together. We're done." He slid his sheet over to Elly to let her look if she wanted. Done, done, and done. He never wanted to think about Neptune or Mars again.

Elly seemed to be here to stay. She had a chair and bag and everything. Echo glanced back at her former group, saw Caedence and decided he didn't really want to know. He reached for something to say that wouldn't make her think about it. A happy Elly was ... Elly.

"I'm thinking of going to the library after class. I'm looking for a different transfigurations book," well that sounded boring. He tried to make it more interesting, "Like transfig for dummies or something. Anyway, I've only been there once and they've got to have some crazy stuff in there. Want to come?"

Well, it probably just wasn't meant to sound interesting.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Sure, why not? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Caedence

October 11, 2006 3:46 PM

.......elly scares me....... by Caedence

Caedence stared after Elly's back. What in the world had gotten into her roomate? Where had all the smiles gone? Where were the maniacal giggles? What in the world is wrong with her?

It's you, idiot a tiny voice in her head told her. Shrugging her shoulders she ignored it. Yeah, sure, it was really her fault. Whatever. Let her do as she wanted. Glaring fiercely for a few more moments, she turned the scowl to her book. Whatever. This class was stupid anyways. It isn't like she cared. She took the Astronomy book and slipped it in her bag. She would give it back to Elly next time she saw her. With a sigh, she leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and gave up on the class. To amuse herself she ran through all the techniques of high kicking as opposed to low kicking.\n\n

0 Caedence .......elly scares me....... 94 Caedence 0 5

Amber Carey

October 11, 2006 6:14 PM

Running like crazy from my cousin. by Amber Carey

Amber ducked her head almost as soon as she entered the Astronomy classroom, seeking as much anonymity as she could muster. She couldn't tell for sure if the small, dark-haired girl across the room was Morgaine, but it was just smarter to not take the chance. The second years were in this class, and if Morgaine noticed her, Morgaine might take it into her head to do something stupid, like stand on a desk and announce that they weren't related or start calling her names until she lost her temper and called the rich brat something right back. The next year, in which Morgaine would move into the higher classes, couldn't come soon enough.

Thirty seconds after slipping into a desk, she gave the dark-haired girl another look. It was Morgaine, but she didn't seem to have noticed her cousin's entrance. Amber couldn't entirely hold back a sigh of relief. She didn't think Morgaine would 'lower' herself to confronting her without a pressing reason, much less attack her, but the rumors meant there had been a chance. Morgaine had made it painfully clear very early on that she wouldn't put up with Amber drawing attention to herself. Teachers would refer to her as Miss Carey if she did, and people might get confused, which just wouldn't do. That was probably the only thing they'd ever agree on.

The professor, Chatterjee, seemed nice enough. The mention of Muggle news emboldened her to the point of smiling at him, though she doubted he'd noticed it. Amber decided she liked him already. The length and tone of the lecture didn't hurt, either. With a little effort, she managed to puzzle out which planet her cutout was supposed to represent. Saturn...which she knew nothing about, other than thinking it was the name of one of the Titans. Her Uncle Jimbo liked telling the Greek myths, sometimes. It might have been the planet with all the rings, too...

Morgaine stood up, carefully smoothing down her dark green-and-gray skirt. Oh, God, they couldn't be stuck working together. They just couldn't. They'd wind up killing each other before the first fifteen minutes were through with. Amber noticed with queasy fascination that both the green of the skirt and the green of the ribbon holding back her cousin's long hair were perfectly matched to the school robe. A voice calling out the word 'Saturn' into the din broke through, and Amber made a beeline for it, not bothering to figure out what the rest of the statement had been.

"Hi," she said, giving the other girl a lopsided smile. "I'm Amber Carey, first year, I'm a Teppenpaw." She noticed dimly that she was babbling. "I've got Saturn, too. Um...I think that's one of the Titans, Zeus might've killed him, and I don't know if I'm right about Saturn being the one with the rings." Yeah, she was babbling. There was no reason to be that relieved. She'd been spared certain humiliation, but still..."Sorry," she said, an apologetic note slipping into the smile. "Overenthusiastic first year or whatever..." She was pretty sure that the girl she was talking to wasn't in her year... \n\n

0 Amber Carey Running like crazy from my cousin. 84 Amber Carey 0 5

Adam Brockert

October 11, 2006 11:19 PM

Group work AGAIN??? shakes with fear by Adam Brockert

Adam crept into the back of the Astronomy room, hoping nobody would see him. He'd had enough being the center of attention in class for awhile. In fact, he'd be happy if he never was again. He was a hundred percent sure that people were going to make fun of him for the pumpkin incident. The way he'd been all freaked out. It wasn't as if they liked Adam anyway. Now he just wanted to sit in the back of the room and learn about planets. (Well, actually he'd have preferred to be somewhere far far away where none of his classmates could hurt him.)

He felt a queasiness in the pit of his stomach and the blood drained out of his face as they were told they'd be working in groups. Why did teachers always have to make them do that? Were they trying to drive Adam crazy? And it wasn't like they could choose their own groups either. They were random like in Defense. Adam wasn't sure it would work out too good. What were the odds he'd get to work with anyone who was nice to him again? He'd probably end up with one of those loud intimidating Pecari first years or Morgaine Carey or Geoff Layne, both of whom seemed mean .

Shaking, Adam looked down at the planet on his desk which was the one with lots of rings. Saturn. He looked nervously around the class to see who else had this particular one. Fortunately, since he was sitting in the back he didn't have to worry about them seeing him. Adam's eyes settled on a pair with the same planet as him. A first year that he didn't know....and Ginger. He sighed with relief and walked over to them, holding the paper cut-out in front of him. "Y-you guys have S-Saturn?" Adam asked. He wasn't a stutterer but when he had to talk to people sometimes his voice shook a bit. He wouldn't have even approached them if one of them wasn't Ginger.\n\n

11 Adam Brockert Group work AGAIN??? *shakes with fear* 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Devian

October 11, 2006 11:52 PM

And more facts by Devian

Geoffrey...so that was how she was related. He wasn't really suprised that they were siblings. It had been that or cousins. He had cousins and a sister at the school.

When she apologized for him, Devian looked at her blankly. He didn't really know Geoffrey. He was generally in the library or some other quiet spot, or he was with his friends, so he was hardly ever in the dorm. She didn't really seem to notice for which he was glad of. He didn't want to seem like an idiot for he was very far from one.

What had she asked? Oh, yeah, if he liked the class.

Shrugging slightly, he replied, "This class is fairly interesting. I want to learn about constellations though. To look at the expanse of stars. You can just get lost in it."

Realizing he was babbling slightly, a trait very uncharacteristic of him, he changed the subject, "Anyways, let's get more facts down. Good, you already wrote that it's the smallest planet. Let's see what else we can come up with. Mythology. Mercury was a Roman god, who was known for trade and commerce. He was also supposed to be the son of Jupiter and Maia Maiestas. He is also thought to be the primary ruler of all things magical."\n\n

0 Devian And more facts 0 Devian 0 5

Anonymous

October 12, 2006 7:45 AM

Re: Sure, why not? by Anonymous

Elly quickly realised that Echo and Saul didn’t even have the same planet, so it wasn’t as if she was joining the wrong group, which made her feel better. She had a quick look over the list that Echo passed her. At first she was impressed with how long it was, but as she read over some of the ‘facts’, she couldn’t help but smile. She began to wonder whether some of Saul the Guide’s more distinctive traits were starting to rub off on Echo.

Echo asked if Elly would like to go with him to the library after the lesson. Elly brightened a little more. “Sure,” she replied. “I haven’t been to the library much, yet. It’ll be good to look around. Besides,” she lowered her voice and leaned closer to Echo, “I want to look up sticking charms.” She smiled her most mischievous smile and winked at him before leaning back to her original position, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

She was amazed at how much Caedence could pull her down, and Echo could pull her back up again. Twice since midterm Elly had fallen out with Caedence and been cheered up by Echo. He was definitely a good person to have around – it almost made Elly feel glad she’d spilt her juice on him at the opening feast.
\n\n

0 Anonymous Re: Sure, why not? 0 Anonymous 0 5

Elly

October 12, 2006 7:47 AM

Oops... try again. by Elly

0 Elly Oops... try again. 0 Elly 0 5

Saul

October 12, 2006 7:41 PM

EE + EE by Saul

Saul was a little surprised when he and Echo were joined by the other EE. Was she just now looking for her group? But no, it turned out that she was here more to socialize than to work on the assignment, which was totally fine with him because that meant that her group had come up dry as well. He carefully kept his own Mars sheet to himself because she didn't seem interested in helping them come up with more stuff and he wasn't giving away his ideas when there was a pizza for the winner.

As the two EEs continued to talk though, Saul became aware that something very weird was happening right next to him. They were arranging a Library Date. He hadn't realized those existed outside of fiction. Really, who went to the library together? Saul wasn't sure he'd ever gone in there himself, alone or with a group. And for a date, especially, weren't there better places to go? Didn't Elly even have a swing outside? That was so much cooler than a room full of books.

He wasn't going to tell them what to do though. It was their business if they wanted to go into that place of boredom. He was curious though, "What do you need sticking charms for?" That sounded interesting even if the method of dicovering them was no fun.\n\n

1 Saul EE + EE 82 Saul 0 5

Helena

October 12, 2006 8:00 PM

Contributing a handful of my own. by Helena

Helena looked at Devian properly for the second time when he answered the implied question, the last of the ink on her quill drying as she did. "The stars look a little different back in South Carolina," she said, "but it's a pretty picture here just the same." The half-preoccupied look in her green eyes vanished as she smiled at him. He was surprisingly intelligent, to look so nice. The best-looking ones were often the stupidest ones, moreso with girls than with boys but depressingly true of both genders.

She dipped the quill back in her inkwell as he changed the subject, grimacing a little over not being able to clean it first but knowing that she wouldn't be able to retain everything he said if she took the time. Everyone had been surprised when she wasn't Sorted into Aladren with Geoff, but it had become clearer and clearer to her over the year that it was all for the best. She wasn't stupid, not by a long shot, but she wasn't a walking encyclopedia like so many of them seemed to be, either. Finishing off the list of Devian's facts, she raked her memory for anything she might have read or heard Geoff or Anne nattering on about pertaining to the subject.

"I think - and correct me if I'm wrong on this - that it's the fastest-moving planet," she said. "Shortest year, since it's closest to the sun, and the temperature's really unstable, with the widest variation of any planet. The Greeks called it by two names, depending on whether it was seen in the morning or in the evening - Apollo and Hermes, I think, Hermes and Mercury were pretty much the same god - but they knew it was the same thing." She wrote the mythological bits down first, more confident about them. History and literature and the like had always been more her strong points than science and math and the lot. \n\n

16 Helena Contributing a handful of my own. 88 Helena 0 5

the girl EE

October 15, 2006 12:17 PM

What's wrong with the library? by the girl EE

“What do you need sticking charms for?”

The question wasn’t from Echo, but from Saul. Elly tilted her head a little as she looked at him. She decided it was safe to tell Saul. He had, after all, helped in her swing-building mission earlier in the year.

“A little project I’m working on,” she said, smiling. “Call it a form of light entertainment.”

Elly chose not to say anything more – it might ruin the surprise she had planned. If people knew about it, it wouldn’t be half so much fun. Though it wasn’t too difficult to put two and two together – what other light entertainment would involve the use of sticking charms? Still, she wasn’t going to say anything else, anyway. All she had to do was master how to do the charm itself, which couldn’t be too difficult, even with her shoddy wand work; it was supposed to be an easy spell. She had decided the common room was the best place to pull off the prank, and she was planning on asking Echo and Meredith to help her, but only if they wanted to. She didn’t want to get her friends into trouble.

Elly looked at Saul, and, suddenly remembering he was a second year, considered the possibility that he might know something about the requisite spell. “Do you know anything about sticking charms?” Elly asked him.
\n\n

0 the girl EE What's wrong with the library? 0 the girl EE 0 5

Devian

October 15, 2006 10:48 PM

We're rolling now by Devian

As Helena began to rattle off facts of her own ab out the planet, Devian looked at her in a very pleased manner.

"Yes, that's exactly right," he replied enthusiastically.

He studied her face while she wrote down the answers. Not only was she incredibly beautiful, but she was intelligent as well. He couldn't have asked for a more suitable Astronomy partner. He found that most of the girls that he knew were vacuous at best. Helena, though, was different. She was someone worth getting to know.

"So, uh..." he ran a hand through his hair nervously.

This was completely unlike him. He was usually the one in complete control of the situation, afterall he was a Dupree, but now...well, now was completely another matter. He actually wanted her to like him.\n\n

0 Devian We're rolling now 0 Devian 0 5

Saul

October 16, 2006 1:19 PM

It has books in it. by Saul

Saul was intrigued. If she'd just wanted to put up some new posters on her wall, she'd have said so. Instead, she was being all mysterious, which suggested to Saul at least that she wasn't intending to use them for completely legal purposes.

His first thought was that she wanted to put all of Michael's models into an interesting scene on the ceiling before he remembered that she wasn't a second year boy and therefore probably hadn't seen Michael's collection. He wondered how painfully he would die if he tried it himself and if it was worth the certain death that had been promised against anyone who touched the things.

He'd think on it later, while he was trying to sleep, when he could map out in his mind what they'd all look like up there.

In the meantime, he had a question to answer. "I live around muggles so we're not allowed to use magic for stuff like that," he told her. "Naturally, all of us with any magical talent learn how to do a whole slew of charms where using a simple thumbtack would be far less effort."

He grinned, giving both EEs a chance to appreciate that bit of irony, then asked for more specifics, "Looking for any particular type of sticking spell? I've got ones that simulate tacks, glue, and evaporated soda. I also learned the one that's like a wad of chewed gum, but I'm not very good at it yet. There's a stronger one for bigger things that would require nails or screws, but it's more advanced and nobody would teach it to me."\n\n

1 Saul It has books in it. 82 Saul 0 5

Echo Elms

October 16, 2006 4:47 PM

Books are cool. by Echo Elms

Excellent. It was a date. Well, not a date-date, but a pre-planned time to hang out. And he'd worried Elly might think it was boring. Saul would. In hindsight, he felt sort of bad inviting Elly in front of Saul -- but he'd assumed Saul wouldn't be interested. Or, if he was, he'd get them kicked out by being too loud. But now he'd probably have to ask him too, or it'd be mean.

Sticking charms. He blinked and tried to catch up. He'd sort of nodded and tuned out the first time Elly said the word because he had no clue what she was talking about. Saul seemed to know, but then, he was Saul so he always seemed to know even when he didn't.

The only secret thing he could think of for sticking charms was posting dumb notes on people's back. Things like "kick me," "tackle me," and "Echo Base" (first hand experience -- at least those Star Wars Freaks were creative). He wasn't going be involved in something like that, but he was fairly sure Elly wouldn't either.

"Or," he put in when Saul had finished his spiel, "I have masking tape, Scotch tape, and camoflage duct tape." That the tape might be more a more reliable option than anything Saul could teach her was just and opinion, so he kept it to himself.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Books are cool. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Elly

October 17, 2006 7:09 AM

Well I wouldn't go that far. by Elly

Elly listened to Saul and Echo offering their many varied solutions to her need for a sticking charm, and quickly realised that she was going to have to explain herself further; they seemed to be under the impression she wanted to put up posters or something else equally menial. Not wanting to sound ungrateful for their suggestions, Elly laughed lightly. “Thanks, but I’m needing something a bit stronger.”

She quickly glanced round them to see if anyone was listening, and leaned forward again to explain. “I want to stick everything in the common room. Everything – cushions, books, people’s bags… anything and everything. Not for long, just long enough for me to be greatly amused.” She grinned. “Imagine coming down before breakfast and not being able to move anything!” Mirth was already dancing in Elly’s eyes as she considered the prank. She didn’t want to upset anyone, but she had imagined the scenario, and every time had found it extremely amusing. She knew it was a bit immature, but the possibility that some poor student might have to explain to O’Leary they couldn’t hand in their DADA essay because it was stuck to the common room table was just too funny.

She became semi-serious for a moment. “You’ve got to promise not to tell anyone, though. It just won’t work if people know about it, it’s got to be a surprise. Promise you won’t tell?”
\n\n

0 Elly Well I wouldn't go that far. 0 Elly 0 5

Echo Elms

October 17, 2006 12:29 PM

My lips are sealed. by Echo Elms

"I won't tell," Echo promised. At first he thought they were going to reverse gravity in the room and make everything stick to the wall or ceiling or something like that -- which would have been awesome, but Elly's idea was a lot less complicated. Come to think of it, complicated probably would have been bad if they were going to do more than just think about it.

They. Was he going to be sticking stuff too, then? If Elly did it all herself, then she might really get in trouble. Sticking (ha!) together would spread blame around. And if it was the common room, it wasn't like anyone was going to get hurt or be targetted. Probably the older students would know how to unstick stuff anyway.

Fully convinced now that it wasn't a mean idea, Echo added, "I'll help if you want."\n\n

21 Echo Elms My lips are sealed. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul

October 17, 2006 1:25 PM

Sealed? Doesn't that hurt? by Saul

Saul nodded slowly and thoughtfully. They'd probably get in huge trouble if they were found out, but that was hardly a deterrent. Neither did he feel any sympathy for anyone who left their stuff out in the common room. As far as he was concerned, at that point, it was public property. He'd gotten more quills that way than he'd ever bought. He also lost just about as many in the same fashion, but he wasn't too concerned about that.

There was a Transfiguration textbook in the commonroom, too, that he was only about 40% sure was his. At least, it was the one he brought to class and nobody else seemed to be claiming it. That might have been enough to convince him it was his, except he didn't remember actually buying this year's transfiguration book. He made a note to self to bring it up to his room and officially claim it before Elly stuck it to the coffee table it normally resided on.

"Hmm," he said aloud, "The glue one might work for some of the smaller stuff like pens and things. But just a generic freeze stuff in place spell?" He shook his head. "Don't know anything like that off hand." Then his expression brightened as he thought of his default solution for when he didn't know something, "Simon might. I could ask him while you two have your library . . . thing." Not wanting to tip them off that he knew they were going out, in case Echo was courting her on the sly, Saul smoothly didn't say the word 'date'.\n\n

1 Saul Sealed? Doesn't that hurt? 82 Saul 0 5

Elly

October 17, 2006 7:05 PM

You musn't take things so literally. by Elly

Elly was thrilled. Both Echo and Saul had promised not to tell anyone about the sticking idea, and Echo even offered to help. Elly beamed at him; she had hoped Echo and Meredith would join in.

In addition, her explanation had encouraged Saul to think a bit more about practical spells, and once again considered asking the groundskeeper for advice. Elly thought it must be convenient to have an older relative at the school, and evidence so far had shown that Saul thought so, too.

Elly wasn’t sure quite what Saul meant by their ‘library thing’, though. It had been said in such a way that Elly thought maybe Saul had planned on saying something different but had changed his mind and said ‘library thing’ instead. They were just going to the library to take a look around and research sticking charms for a prank. What was so unusual about that?

“Thanks, guys,” Elly said, “it’ll be great to have your help. I’m going to ask Meredith, too, but I think that’s enough of us.” Elly didn’t want the teachers to find out who’d pulled the prank, so the fewer people who knew about it the better. It suddenly occurred to Elly that Simon was technically a teacher, and it might not be wise to ask him. She looked at Saul. “Is Simon safe to ask? You won’t get us into trouble, will you?” Saul was a nice guy, all right, but Elly wasn’t convinced he always thought about what he was saying before he opened his mouth. She wondered for a moment whether she should have said anything in front of him – he seemed a lot more likely than Echo to draw attention to their plans. Yet he might be enlisting the help they required... Elly shrugged mentally. It didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, after all.
\n\n

0 Elly You musn't take things so literally. 0 Elly 0 5

Saul

October 17, 2006 9:33 PM

But it's funny by Saul

Saul blinked. He opened his mouth, but for once in his life, nothing came out of it. He blinked again. Sure, he'd known. Simon had started working at Sonora when Neil went to Salem. Saul had been nine. But somehow, he had never quite internalized that Simon was considered a grown-up here.

"Dang," he said in stunned amazement. "Simon's a staff member," he stated as if he'd just figured that out, which was more the truth of the case than not. "Guess I'm not asking him." His voice and shoulders both sagged in dejection at loosing this latest excuse to go bother Simon.

It wasn't so much that he thought Simon might turn him in as the fact that Simon was prone to tell stories. There was no guarantee that'd he'd hear about the culprits Professor Connell was looking for before launching into the next episode of 'What My Kid Cousin Asked Me About This Week' to that very same teacher. At which point he'd have a new story: 'What I Made My Kid Cousin Do At His Detention.'\n\n

1 Saul But it's funny 82 Saul 0 5

Helena

October 19, 2006 6:30 PM

Right on along. by Helena

Helena gave a tiny, satisfied nod as Devian decided she had remembered what little she'd read correctly and didn't bristle at the approving look he gave her. She liked it when she was right, but gloating took second place to writing down what she'd been right about, extending the column of her neat handwriting a little farther. Geoffrey had a clearer hand than most boys whose writing she'd seen - he had to, with his thing for potions, and his vanity had taken care of anything that didn't - but he couldn't follow straight lines to save his life. Not as straight as hers, anyway.

The list wasn't long, or at least she didn't think it so, but it was at least respectable. Helena felt herself starting to blush as she noticed that Devian was still looking at her. Yes, that's right, she thought, not pausing in her writing. I have a brain. I can use it. My family isn't the sort that can afford stupid members. The thought brought a small laugh, restoring her good humor. She'd sounded every inch the status-conscious Crotalus, and just a little more would make her sound worse than Geoffrey! Traces of amusement lingered in her expression as she looked back at her partner.

She completely misinterpreted his new lack of anything to say. "You're running low on facts, too?" she asked, gesturing with her quill to the list. "Well, you put more on it than I did. I can usually remember things well enough, but hardly ever when I actually need them." Half the fights she'd gotten into with her brother in their earlier years had stemmed, however indirectly, from that. When she would strain her memory to come up with some fact and Geoff made her look stupid by remembering it first, she'd be ready to jump on any excuse to flare up at him he gave her the rest of the day. \n\n

16 Helena Right on along. 88 Helena 0 5

Echo Elms

October 20, 2006 11:28 AM

Hey Elly, I started a library thread. (nm) by Echo Elms

21 Echo Elms Hey Elly, I started a library thread. (nm) 93 Echo Elms 0 5