Selina Skies
January 23, 2020 5:41 AM
Tumbleweed Trip by Selina Skies
The trip into Tumbleweed had been announced once the Quidditch team’s commitment to taking part in the fair had been confirmed. This had been some weeks prior to the event itself, allowing time for permission slips to be owled home. A brief outline of the safety measures that would be taken were included, as well as directions for parents to correspond via owl or Floo if they had any questions. Tumbleweed, as its name suggested, blew about with the wind, never fully staying in one place, thus it was quite impossible for the students to wander beyond the bounds of the town itself. The only ways in and out were via designated travel points. Additionally, the staff would be monitoring the different areas of the town, and students would be required to check in with the staff member in that area before moving onto another part.Over breakfast on the day of the trip, Selina gave a weather report for the town (a pleasant dry day in the high sixties - she defaulted to Farenheit, not aware this wouldn’t be common to everyone) and reminded them to be assembled and ready after lunch. The team was not performing until the afternoon, and going after lunch had been deemed a good way of managing things so that students wouldn’t need to spend money on food, as that wouldn’t necessarily be within everyone’s budget.
They were travelling down in two groups. The school had borrowed a… sort of car. It was car-like on the outside, but its capacity was above average and it drove itself. They were also opening up a Floo connection with a tourist office in the town. Given that the Floo could be disorienting for first time users, they had thought it prudent to offer any Muggleborns who weren’t sure about it a more familiar option - but recognised that wizarding children who were not familiar with cars might easily be alarmed or motion sick. They would all regroup upon arrival, so that people could pair up as they liked. Students were required to spend their time at least in pairs, and the staff would be noting who was with whom. They could swap partners or groups but they would have to inform a staff member.
The very literal ghost town of Tumbleweed had seen something of a shake up for the event. The main area of the town was the most untouched. It comprised a small shopping street which mostly sold tourist tat and which had the ‘saloon’ - a little rowdier at night and in possession of an evening liquor license but mostly a snacks and soda place by day. There were regular displays re-enacting old west life by the many resident ghosts in various venues along the street. Some of it was free to view street theatre, but there were a couple of historical buildings with more elaborate performances and a small museum which charged fees.
At one end of the town, there was a disused sports pitch. On an ordinary day, this was something of a curiosity. Whilst the locals had upheld the Statute of Secrecy, the melting pot culture was evident, with several odd fusion sports having arisen as people looked for new ways to amuse themselves and took influence from the Muggles around them. The ghosts would be providing demonstrations of these throughout the day, though their stadium was barely recognisable - the small town patch of dirt with its shoddy bleachers had been expanded (if not the playing areas itself then certainly the seating around it, and the number of vendors spillng out around it). There were also a couple more smaller pitches to the side, one with a batting range and various other games, and one where visiting teams would be putting on flying demonstrations. It was this smaller arena where the Sonora students would be showing off their skills, and whilst the main arena carried a ticketing charge and the games carried fees, the smaller field was free to enter.
Additionally, the old town hall was running a pop up market to expand the town’s offering in terms of shopping. Around the arena, Quidditch merchandise ruled, but in the hall was a wider range of trinkets - magical sweet stalls, illusions and novelty items. In anticipation of the Sonora students and their upcoming ball, a few clothes vendors had even decided to set up shop.
The students on the Quidditch team had about an hour between arrival and their show, and would have more time after it was complete. The others were encouraged to support their classmates by watching, but would be free to do as they chose.
OOC - welcome to Tumbleweed. We are hosting this on the gardens as we are still working on an ‘out of school’ space. The trip takes place over several hours so your character is certainly free to explore more than one location in that time. There are limits to how badly wrong the staff would let anything go, so if you’re thinking of causing trouble or getting into any, please run it by us. Members of the Quidditch team are free to make up their own details about what the display involves, again keeping it realistic to what the coach would have asked for someone of your character’s skill level.
Subthreads:Main Street
Ice cream! by Mara Morales with Leonor De Matteo, Jessica Hayles
"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." [Tag Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones with Heinrich Hexenmeister
Meeting the outlaws (tag Vlad and Tatiana) by Jean-Loup Arceneaux with Tatiana Vorontsova, Vladimir Brockert, Dorian Montoir
Uncle Killian or Mr. Row? by Killian Row
A fun day out (Jasmine) by Peyton O'Malley with Jasmine Delachene
Sports Grounds
Show me your skillz! by Anya Delachene with Freddie Zauberhexen
Meeting the family, part II (tag Professor Brooding) by Jean-Loup Arceneaux with Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
I got nothing to do today but smile by Beau Tate
Town Hall
I'm a fan of your company. [Tag Zara.] by Felipe De Matteo with Zara Jackson
Pre-game with me? [Tag Ness.] by Evelyn Stones
Arrival by Heinrich Hexenmeister
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Selina Skies
Tumbleweed Trip
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Mara Morales
January 25, 2020 10:12 PM
Ice cream! by Mara Morales
"You look crazier than my roommate usually does like that," said Mara, looking at her sister with a grin. Jessica's face was more than half-obscured by her huge dark sunglasses, but the bottom fragment grinned back at her."So do you," said Jessica, as Mara had on an only slightly smaller pair of shades, and they both giggled, unable to deny the oddity of wearing their witchy robes with their sunglasses. Sunglasses just did not go at all with wizard robes, but walking around outside without them wasn't exactly fun times either.
It was getting late in the afternoon. Before the flying show, Mara and Jessica had each minded her own affairs (Mara could see from the bags on her sister's arm that Jessica had had some luck with the shopping, despite her obviously extremely low hopes before they had gotten here), but now that it was over and Mara had somehow failed to die, they had decided to see if the saloon in town could provide them with ice cream.
"I can't believe we're actually going in something called a saloon," said Jessica under her breath as they mounted the stairs, switching back to English.
"Don't worry, your Baptist grandpa isn't gonna jump out from behind the door and catch you," said Mara. "As long as you don't start dancing on tables, anyway," she amended, recalling that Jessica's grandpa on Mrs. H's side was really absolutely no fun at all, and Jessica nearly choked, covering her mouth with her hand as she tried to control a peal of laughter.
Mara was happy to see her sister laughing, as Jessica hadn't done a lot of that lately. She had been busy - trying to court her German-speaking friends, doing some kind of reading course, writing a lot, even speculating about whether she could start submitting to poetry contests again even though she no longer had a school to affiliate with - so Mara had only seen so much of her, but she knew Jessica well enough to know when her sister was faking it. Now, though, she seemed like she was genuinely having a good time, which was always a relief - especially since they were breaking the rules right now, walking together into a place, planning to sit together and eat ice cream, if they could get it.
There was, of course, no reason why Jessica should be anxious. There was no reason why they shouldn't have arrived somewhere at the same time, struck up a conversation, and decided to have ice cream. It was perfectly innocuous, especially for someone like Jessica, who was the sort to campaign for one of those prefect positions. Sucking up to first years seemed like the kind of thing someone in that position would do. There was no reason for anyone to think anything about it at all....
Ice cream was obtainable; Jessica got vanilla with sprinkles, Mara got a Neapolitan mix, and they got what they thought were wizard sodas - certainly they kept bubbling long after a normal soda should, the top staying foamy. They found a table at which - by mutual, unspoken agreement - they thought seemed not terribly noticeable compared to others, and sat down.
"You did great out there," said Jessica, slipping her sunglasses into her purse.
"I didn't die," said Mara.
"Observably," said Jessica. She had put her bags beside her and turned to rummage in them. "I got you a thing while I was shopping," she said. "Well - a few things - Ugh, I'll give it to you later."
"That probably works better," agreed Mara. "What's the shopping like?" She thought she might go poke around a little after they ate, just to see what wizard shopping was like.
It turned out that Jessica had been more interested in the street ghost theater, and wanted to go to a museum after they ate. Mara was not sure if she wanted to go to that or not. On one hand, she was curious about the history of wizards, what a wizard museum looked like. On the other hand, museums were only mildly interesting to her most of the time and the wild West was hardly a bit of history she found that interesting, and she didn't know how comfortable it would be to spend that much time with her sister out in public, at least...like this. She and Jessica sometimes got to do this when it was her and Jezi and her mom, which made Mara just the nanny's kid and the little princess' playmate to an outsider's view, but on their own like this....
She decided to just listen to Jessica for now. Her sister had enjoyed watching the ghost theater, and had also managed to find someone selling both books and stationery. Most of it had not been to Jessica's taste, but she had found a couple of pretty journals and had bought some new inks and pens, which pleased her. Jessica had struggled with learning to write with quills - she had learned to write with fountain pens just before she went to Sonora, but dip pens were a whole new game - but that had been one of the few things she thought her sister had somewhat secretly enjoyed - the sheer romance of the thing, writing her poems with the same kind of pen Chaucer had used when he'd composed the Canterbury Tales, or whatever. She had also gotten a couple of books, and was promising to pass them along soon, and Mara was mostly nodding and just letting the chatter wash over her pleasantly, enjoying the sheer normality of it all, while it lasted.
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Mara Morales
Ice cream!
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Leonor De Matteo
January 25, 2020 11:24 PM
I have arrived! by Leonor De Matteo
Leonor had spent a good part of the trip to Tumbleweed so far trying not to be annoying. Maybe trying to be a little annoying. On the whole, she didn't find flying shows particularly interesting. Still, Mara was in it, so she wanted to go and be supportive. She'd tried to poke around Felipe a bit but he was mostly preoccupied and sort of a downer these days, plus he was hanging out with Zara and she was too nice to be very interesting. Leonor wanted someone who was a real person to hang out with, or else someone who would think she was fabulous (which she was). Zara didn't look ready to adore her - although she didn't seem to do that to Felipe either, which was good for her brother's bloated ego - and so Leonor had quickly gotten bored. How much could those two possibly have to talk about? Of course, Felipe had looked perfectly content just to be in Zara's company which was gross.Once the show had finished, Leonor had insisted she not spent a second longer with her brother. She'd spent time with this classmate and that but not with anyone for very long. Then she was with two people which meant they could be with each other and she could go spend time with the much more interesting people she'd just seen go into the saloon. Ice cream was a must and her parents had sent money of course. Ordering a scoop of mango sorbet, Leonor turned to approach two of the most interesting people she'd ever met.
"Hello," she said importantly, smiling at Jessica and Mara and hoping to Merlin this wasn't weird. It wasn't weird for her, so why should it be weird for them? She had approached Jessica about Felipe and not yet heard back, so she assumed all was good on that front. She also hadn't seen them talking again, but that was just as well. Felipe never seemed to like interesting people and Jessica was very interesting. Which meant Mara was interesting, even if she hadn't been a cool person on her own. "Can I join you?" she asked in Spanish, aware that she should probably be polite and that she might actually be interrupting something. It did not cross her mind for a moment that they might not want her to interrupt, only that they might be talking about something she didn't want to be present for and that wouldn't be any good at all.
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Leonor De Matteo
I have arrived!
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Mara Morales
January 26, 2020 8:34 PM
Welcome! by Mara Morales
Mara knew Jessica knew that Mara wasn’t really listening to her, but also knew that Jessica didn’t mind. She only listened with one ear when Jessica talked about poetry and ink pens, and Jessica only listened with one ear when Mara talked about soccer; it was their way.When Jessica stopped talking, then, and the smile dropped from her face, Mara knew that it wasn’t because Mara was not really that interested in pretty notebooks or sepia ink. She felt her own shoulders tense up, not knowing what was evidently in Jessica’s line of sight, before suddenly there was Spanish happening.
Mara had a mouthful of ice cream at that moment, and so just nodded in greeting at first before allowing her eyes to slide sideways to Jessica again. She couldn’t tell what was going through Jessica’s head, but she knew that something was. There was something slightly strange about her expression, despite the comparatively objectively neutral way her features were set right now, and it just became solid sure when Jessica spoke.
“Of course,” she said, politely – graciously, even, a proper little princess welcoming a lady-in-waiting to court. “Please, do,” she continued, gesturing to the seat next to Mara’s.
“Okay, Y.M.,” said Mara, hoping to break the question, and Jessica started as thoughs he had almost forgotten that her sister was there. She recovered quickly, though, and laughed.
“Did I sound that bad? I didn’t mean to,” she said. “Come on and get a seat,” she amended, slipping into her Southern accent and grammar.
“Inside joke,” explained Mara. "This place is pretty neat, huh? Good ice cream, too. How’s it going?”
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Mara Morales
Welcome!
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Leonor De Matteo
January 26, 2020 8:46 PM
Thank you very much. by Leonor De Matteo
CW: Fairly racist-ish thoughts.Inside jokes. Leonor had heard of those, but never actually had one. She supposed there were things that she could say to Felipe that he would understand that no one else would, but they were hardly jokes. She wondered what that was like, but she didn't wonder too long because it wasn't any fun to think about and she wanted to have a good time.
"Why am?" she asked, not sure whether it was the nature of the joke not to be understood, or whether she was just not understanding the actual words. "Thank you," she added to Jessica. They were both speaking English, which was irritating, but Leonor figured that if she was going to try and make some friends, she should probably meet them in their own stupid language. Plus it was a good way to emphasize that she was competent and Leonor never passed up an opportunity to do that.
Leonor looked around the saloon when Mara said it was neat. She was aware that that didn't colloquially mean 'tidy,' but she wasn't sure the saloon would fit either description. She tried to see it from their perspective for a moment, but wasn't sure what was 'neat' about a dusty old bar type place. Except the ice cream; on that, they were wholeheartedly in agreement. Turning back to face the sisters, she nodded. "Very good ice cream," she said. She held hers aloft for inspection. "Mango," she declared appreciatively.
She looked from Mara who was being very friendly, to Jessica, who looked like she did not want to be even a little friendly but was determined to do so nonetheless. Or maybe Leonor was projecting. She couldn't help noticing that Jessica's ice cream was vanilla with sprinkles - so basically it was Jessica, frozen and scooped up for a snack - and Mara's was the infinitely more interesting Neapolitan - mixed up and only liked by about half the people, as the rest didn't understand how good it really was. Neapolitan would be Leonor's favorite after this, just for that reason. She wondered whether her own ice cream was as telling.
"Mango ice cream means it's going good," she decided, accepting whatever it meant. "How's it going for you two? Shopping, I see?"
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Leonor De Matteo
Thank you very much.
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Jessica Hayles
January 27, 2020 9:32 PM
You're...wait, we already covered that. by Jessica Hayles
“Y.M.,” clarified Mara, switching to Spanish letter pronouncements. “Your Majesty – It's just a joke. She can’t help it that her face does that thing sometimes,” she explained, shaking her head mock-sadly.“Thank you for your merciful understanding,” said Jessica, also switching languages. “I am sorry if my face got stuck like that, though,” she added to Leonor. “I think I lost my train of thought for a minute.”
That was not, strictly speaking, a lie. Jessica had completely forgotten what she had been talking about when she had realized Leonor was actually approaching her and Mara. It was just the why and wherefore that she couldn’t exactly discuss.
She had gathered from their conversation in the library that Leonor did not hate her now, or at least was willing to fake it if she did – Jessica preferred the first option, of course, but would settle for the second, as it was better than the third alternative, the one Leonor’s brother had taken. Leonor’s casual demeanor now, though...did she not know what had happened in the common room, that she and Felipe had essentially told each other to go to hell? Or did she not care?
Hopefully, she didn’t know. Hopefully, both because it would make things easier and because it meant that Felipe still had that scrap of honor she had credited him with – that he still didn’t run around whining about his problems to people who weren’t involved in them. That was a relief – more of one than she really cared to admit. It was disorienting, going from having developed a fairly high degree of trust in a person to barely trusting anything she’d assumed about that same person....
Jessica found the idea of mango-flavored ice cream a tad unappealing – she didn’t really care for any fruit-flavored ice creams, though she had had one with blueberry syrup once which had been good – but declined to say so.
“Jezi did,” said Mara. “She found someone who sold her some new pens.”
“And ink and journals,” added Jessica, focusing on the positive. “It took a lot of looking to find things that weren’t...not pretty to me, but I did,” she added happily, relaxing down to something close to her normal demeanor at the memories of sifting through paper goods. Paper goods made everything better. They were like warm coats and gloves for the soul.
“We were talking about maybe checking out the museum after we eat,” added Mara. “She’s for it, I’m...thinking. What do you think?”
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Jessica Hayles
You're...wait, we already covered that.
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Leonor De Matteo
January 29, 2020 10:28 PM
So we did. by Leonor De Matteo
Su Majestad. Leonor thought the Spanish phrase with as little frustration as she could manage. Really, it was just a word. Majestad. It was one she had rather thought should apply to her someday, although her parents would probably throttle her if they knew she had ever considered herself anything like royalty. Still, the concept was similar enough that it had always stung a little and hearing it tossed around like a joke in English - a language that was stupid and where Y.M. were the letters and where Mara hadn't switched them to S.M. which was nice because Leonor was perfectly good at English but why was that all anyone ever spoke unless they were trying to meet her in the middle somewhere - made her walls go up.Not that she would ever show it. No, no, a true master of diplomacy and engagement knew that one must always appear vulnerable in order to be so much more than anyone expected of them. Or mistress of diplomacy, as the case may be; it was a more dangerous title anyway and one Leonor thought suited her perfectly.
Leonor thought quickly, wondering whether she should take the bait and play along with Mara's teasing of Jessica - and thus risk alienating them both, but especially Jessica herself - or else try to resolve it more neutrally. There was a grace and a charm with the latter that didn't close her off to the former at some later point, while the former did close off the latter. Besides, these girls were from the southern United States, where they liked to think they were polite.
She chided herself silently for thinking such thoughts, as she really did like Jessica and Mara. In fact, she liked them much more than she wanted to. It would have been so much easier if they were terrible, but they were not. Mara felt like the closest thing Leonor was likely to have to a close friend, and Jessica was actually fairly pleasant most of the time, whatever Felipe seemed to think. Felipe was sick and dumb and that was just as well.
"Ice cream will do that to you," she added by way of dismissing Jessica's apology. She took an emphatic lick off her own. "Besides, at least you'd look lovely on currency." English would have to do. English reminded Leonor that she was not important here and that was just as well, too.
She smiled appreciatively at the thought of finding stationary products to Jessica's liking - both because she also enjoyed stationary products and because she was sure Jessica's taste was fairly good - and then again at the idea of going to a museum. "That sounds great. I didn't plan on shopping except to maybe look at clothes, but I think Mama would be disappointed if I spent my money on that. Museums are good and educational though, so that would be alright."
OOC - I'm trusting Google Translate on this one again.
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Leonor De Matteo
So we did.
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Jessica Hayles
January 31, 2020 10:39 AM
Let's move on and have fun, then. by Jessica Hayles
Jessica grinned at the idea that she would look lovely on currency, sweeping the ends of her hair over to her front and turning her head almost completely to the side, putting herself in partial profile. “What do you think, Em?” she asked. “Good enough for the bills in the Cosmetic Kingdom?”“Your head does kinda look like a piece of lipstick,” said Mara, in her usual matter-of-fact tone. Mara was often dreadfully matter-of-fact, and Jessica loved that about her sister. Not much shook Mara at all.
She also resented that about her sister, and envied the trait terribly. To be steady and unshaken – that would be a dream. To really be as tough as she wished to seem. She had learned to fake it, but it was always a hard, shiny, brittle shell overlaying a much less steady reality. As far as she could tell – and she thought she was within her rights to assume she would know if she was wrong at this point; they were sisters, and Mara had seen her shell crack too many times for there to be many illusions left to preserve between the two of them – Mara wasn’t faking it. She was just…like that.
Instead of dwelling on it, Jessica opened her purse and withdrew her gilt compact and opened it to study herself in the mirror. “You’re not wrong,” she said agreeably, and they both laughed.
She felt her face crease in sympathy at the idea that Leonor’s mama would disapprove of spending money on fun stuff instead of just on educational experiences. She glanced at Mara, who also looked a little baffled. “Your mama will be mad if you have some fun the one time in three years you might have a chance to go shopping out here? Screw that,” said Jessica. “I want to do the museum, but then we’ll go shopping again. I have money if you need more.” She said this casually, unbothered by the thought of giving away money. Her parents had always made sure she’d had more pocket money than she needed, mostly out of guilt for one thing or another, and they apparently had felt very guilty indeed when she’d written home to let them know she was actually going to have a reason to carry some this year. Mara had her own too, but Jessica was fairly sure, after surveying prices herself, that she could help both of her little companions have a good time if that had been necessary.
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Jessica Hayles
Let's move on and have fun, then.
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Leonor De Matteo
January 31, 2020 6:32 PM
Yes, let's. by Leonor De Matteo
Despite herself, or perhaps despite her brother, Leonor laughed. Jealous as she was of Jessica and Mara's relationship, she also knew enough to know it wasn't perfect. Maybe, just maybe, no one's life was perfect. But they were funny and kind and that might just make them worth it. Felipe really was a blockhead. Truth be told, Jessica and Mara were the toughest girls Leonor knew. They weren't the sort of rough and tumble tomboy girls that were tough on the outside, but the sort of graceful, powerful, forces of nature that Leonor wanted to be. Maybe she could stick around them. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.Jessica switched to Spanish to respond and Leonor felt once again as infinity this wouldn't be so bad. English was stupid and she hated it, but at least that wasn't the only thing they used, and switching back and forth meant there was less time to get a headache before Spanish came back. Besides that, Jessica was being strong and decisive and contrary. Leonor paused for a moment, eyebrows raised in mild surprise, before her mouth spread into a grin and she nodded.
"I like you," she decided, pushing herself to her feet to indicate that it was indeed time to go. "Money won't be an issue for me, but I'll take your eye for a good color on me if you don't mind. What's the worst that can happen? I don't see Mama showing up on a hippogriff to chide me anytime soon and it's not like I'm not at school anyway. Education abounds and I have nothing to do with mine. Museum, and then shopping."
Leonor thought that she had indeed found people who were enough like her to be interesting and enough unlike her to be fascinating. Perhaps going to school in an English speaking institution wasn't so bad after all.
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Leonor De Matteo
Yes, let's.
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