Meeting the family, part II (tag Professor Brooding) on Tumbleweed

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

13 Selina Skies Tumbleweed Trip 26 1 5

System

January 23, 2020 5:41 AM

Main Street by System

0 System Main Street 0 System 0 5

System

January 23, 2020 5:41 AM

Sports Grounds by System

0 System Sports Grounds 0 System 0 5

System

January 23, 2020 5:41 AM

Town Hall by System

0 System Town Hall 0 System 0 5

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.

16 Mara Morales Ice cream! 1472 0 5

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.

22 Leonor De Matteo I have arrived! 1471 0 5

Evelyn Stones

January 26, 2020 12:36 PM

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." [Tag Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn wondered idly whether Ms. Heidi was allowed to sign her permission form or whether they had actually gotten her father to do it. She suspected he would just because he felt bad, which almost made her feel bad. Almost. Every time she started to feel some degree of sympathy for him, she thought of Heinrich's outburst, and Ness' hardwork, and Kir's round eyes, and stopped feeling any sympathy for him. The universe could feel bad for him. Other people could feel bad for him. That was not her responsibility. Either way, she was glad to have her permission slip signed and glad to be in Tumbleweed.

The Quidditch roster had come out, revealing that Evelyn was about to have the best year of her Sonora career. She, Ness, and Heinrich had made the team as Chasers, which meant they got to practice together, train together, talk together . . . she had high hopes that Ness and Heinrich would be friends and then her life would be perfect. Whatever else she had in the world, she had the very best friends a girl could ask for. Plus Hilda was on the team, and she was pretty excited that she might get to become better friends with her, too. And Tatiana. Really, everyone on the team was great. She didn't know the Mordues well and hoped Nathaniel wasn't like how his brother seemed to be, but he was a Teppenpaw so she doubted it. In any case, it was going to be a great year.

Which brought them to the flying show. It had been incredible to get to see everyone's work, and also to get to be involved herself. The entire thing was a blur and she had almost wished she had brought a notebook to write down some of the maneuvers she wanted to try to incorporate herself. She was pretty sure Ness had done, or else would remember with that big beautiful brain, so she wasn't too worried.

After the show, she was grateful to have had a change of clothes - even if it was mostly just comfy clothes and her robes - and proper showering accommodations. Clean, dry, and no longer smelling like a Quaffle, Evelyn made her way outside to meet Heinrich. They had agreed that it would be nice to walk around and see the town together and Evelyn had made a point of spending her time in Tumbleweed pre-game with Ness so as to make sure she got to enjoy everything she wanted all in the same day. She felt a little bad not to spend more time with Ness, but it was also nice to just be one-on-one with the people she cared most about.

So she made her way outside to meet Heinrich. Evelyn had been thinking about places to go and Heinrich had suggested the saloon for a drink, so that seemed like their best bet. It sort of made Evelyn nervous in a weird way, because it was all very public. Usually, she and Heinrich spent time together in class, or else studying. When they were hanging out only for social reasons, it was usually in the privacy of the Gardens someplace. The Bonfire had been the most social setting they'd been in together if she didn't count the fair - which she didn't really because she hadn't really known him then - and even then they'd found a private hillock from which to watch the fire. Good thing they had, really.

Not wanting to look like a shrub, Evelyn had opted out of Sonora themed makeup today, satisfied that her robes were enough school pride. Instead, she'd gone for something simpler. She hadn't had time to do much between showering and meeting Heinrich, as she was sure he would take less time than she would, so she only took the time to make sure her hair wasn't a tangled mess as it hung past her shoulders, and do the littlest amount of mascara and a lipstain she'd gotten over the summer. It was sort of raspberry colored, and she thought it was nice that Jessica had commented on her makeup before so she felt more confident in those sorts of colors. More than anything, she felt like herself. She was a version of herself she didn't mind being seen in public, and not the messy bun, naked face, I-forgot-about-that-essay version, but still just Evelyn.

Heinrich was already there when she made her way outside and she greeted him with a beaming grin. "I'm ready," she said, hopping the last few steps towards him with the excitement of going to see the town some more, and with her friend. "Shall we?"

22 Evelyn Stones "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." [Tag Heinrich] 1422 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 26, 2020 1:49 PM

I'm a fan of your company. [Tag Zara.] by Felipe De Matteo

The fresh air felt nice. Felipe hadn't realized how much time he'd been spending indoors over the past week or so, and it felt a lot better than he expected just to get outside. He was no longer sore, he was no longer nauseous, and he was no longer so angry. He was also no longer taking any potions. Happy as he was for the Healer having provided something to calm him down in the first place, it wasn't something he wanted to do all the time. It also didn't seem like something the Healer wanted him to do all the time. There had been a lot of talk about hormones and puberty and stressors and things that he didn't want to talk about with anybody, let alone the Healer lady.

It was just as well that he was feeling better, as neither option for getting to Tumbleweed sounded like anything his stomach would be happy about. He opted for Floo travel as it was more familiar and got the whole thing over with faster, and then took a big deep breath of fresh air that wasn't just that of Sonora's little bubble. This was a very different sort of place than he knew what to do with, in part because it seemed like the entire city existed for people to visit. There were other cities that were touristy and popular with visitors too, but there was always that extra layer where he can see the real lives of real people living just behind the stage curtains. He was sure that was the case here as well, but everything seemed so geared towards visitors - particularly the group of student visitors who would be taking over for the day - that it was hard to tell what was real and what was not. The ghosts floating around, engaging in all the various bits of frontier life that Felipe had read about, made the whole scene feel just a little bit more magical than other places did sometimes.

His excitement grew tremendously as he surveyed the town around him. He was going to spend the whole afternoon away from Sonora, with Zara (unless she had other plans at some point during the day), and without any of the "stressors" he'd had on his mind. Surely Jessica was going to be in Tumbleweed today, and Leonor was there to remind him of his family as well, but this day was a new one to explore and to adventure, and he got to do so with his adventure buddy. He turned to look for her, making eye contact with Leonor who stuck her tongue out at him and ran towards him as he tried very hard to ignore her.

"Looking for someone?" she asked in Spanish, her tone saying she knew the answer already.

"Not you," Felipe replied, still not looking.

She scowled. "Well that's rude. Maybe I wanted to spend the day with my big brother." Felipe raised an eyebrow, finally looking at her again for a moment. "Okay, maybe I don't want to. But I could hang out for a bit. Where are we going first?"

"You don't have any friends?" he asked, giving up on the search while he spoke with his sister.

Leonor looked him in the face for a very long time and seemed to see a lot. He hated when she did that. Their mother did that, too, and it always left Felipe feeling like he'd been left out to dry after a firm scrubbing. "We're not so different then." With that, she turned and left, her dark hair bobbing through the wandering students and eventually disappearing from Felipe's sight altogether.

He sighed, feeling bad in more ways than one, but pushed it aside. Today, he was going to have a good day. He was not going to be anything for anybody, except his adventure buddy because today was an adventure - not a tutoring trip, not a school day, not a diplomacy meeting - an adventure. Finally spotting Zara, he waved at her and allowed himself to relax, smiling sheepishly as he approached.

"Hiya," he said with a half-cocked, playful smirk. "Where do you want to go first? I was thinking we could look at all the shops and things if you want."

22 Felipe De Matteo I'm a fan of your company. [Tag Zara.] 1434 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

January 26, 2020 8:20 PM

Meeting the outlaws (tag Vlad and Tatiana) by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

Seniors at L’Institut Québécois were permitted off campus on the weekends. And, so long as said seniors made it home by evening, then the details of where they had spent the day really weren’t that important… A Quidditch fair in Tumbleweed would have been a plausible amusement but for the sense of scale and distance - Jean-Loup doubted that the event here was going to be big enough to warrant his interest. So, he had opted to be non-specific about his plans for the day, and then grabbed his passport and a handful of floo powder after lunch.

Now he leant against the wall of the saloon, thumbing the pages of the book he was holding but not actually able to concentrate. The short volume of psychological case studies was interesting, and not too heavily written, but it wasn’t enough to hold his attention. Instead, he watched the people swarming by. On the one hand, he felt the pleasant rush of anonymity - the chances of anyone who knew him (besides the one he was waiting for) being here were slim to none. He was just another face amongst the crowd, and of little interest. Not ‘no interest.’ He had noticed one or two witches turning to take a second look at him - a reminder of just how easy it all would have been if he’d just… been like everybody else. Still, wishing that now meant wishing Dorian out of his life. It would have been easier on them both if they weren’t like this, but… well, they were. And now they had each other. He had never believed the idea that it was possible to just make this go away but for the first time, he didn’t think he’d have taken it even if it was an option. It was a lot harder to hate yourself when someone wanted you, just as you were.

Still - still, in spite of the supposed anonymity, still, in spite of the fact that he didn’t want to be anyone different - he felt a little self-conscious. It wasn’t like he and Dorian were going to be walking down the street here holding hands. They were going to have to keep things low key when in sight of other people. But still, here he was, about to meet up with his boyfriend in a crowded, public place. One full of Dorian’s peers and teachers. Perhaps the other visitors would see nothing odd in a pair of teenagers hanging out together, but Dorian’s classmates would pick him out as an outsider. He was sure Dorian was going to face questions about who he was… But they got to see each other. Dorian was willing to deal with those things, and they got to see each other…

And he got to meet The Friends. Or rather, The Friends got to meet him. He straightened the already straight cuffs of his robes. He would have been more comfortable in something Quidditch-appropriate. It was the ostensible reason of his visit, and heck, he might even find time to go hit a few balls in the batting cages or whatever - he wasn’t sure he was going to get to monopolise all of Dorian’s time, though he intended to as far as possible. But Quidditch gear did not look very smart. It wasn’t what you wore to Meet The Parents. And, given that it was going to be approximately eternity before they did that for real, he thought he ought to make the most of the substitute he was being offered. Not that he’d never met Monsieur and Madame Montoir. He had, of course. Just only in the capacity of their daughter’s best friend’s brother. Or… someone else in society. They knew him the way everyone thought they knew everyone else. He hadn’t been round to dinner as the person intending to do corrupt/romance/both one of their children. That was a pretty different ballgame.

He glanced at his watch. Dorian wasn’t late. He was just feeling impatient… But, finally, along the street came a familiar face. Wrapped in a rather unfamiliar green robe, and followed by two others. Perusing the literature about Tumbleweed, the saloon had been mentioned and had seemed a logical enough meeting place, so he knew to look for him there. Jean-Loup watched as Dorian caught sight of him and his face lit up with the most perfect smile. Jean-Loup fought for a second, trying to stop his from doing the same. He had been trying to tell himself they would just act casual. But was there really anything wrong with two people being happy to see each other? It was a bright, sunny day. People were out for a good time. He was allowed to be in a good mood. Dorian pulled ahead a little, so that he got to Jean-Loup ahead of his friends, giving them a second or two to say hello. Not that that could exactly be unrestrained. There was still a whole street full of people. But they could be happy.

“Hey mec,” Jean-Loup grinned. Hey mate. And he threw a casual arm around Dorian, a side hug - the way a couple of friends might greet each other. Though he added more softly, ”The school boy look is very cute.” Before Dorian had time to protest that comment, the friends had caught up, and Dorian switched to introductions instead. The soft smile that had played across Jean-Loup's lips whilst saying hello to his boyfriend was replaced with the neat, regulation one that he wore in the photograph pinned up beside Dorian's bed.

“Pleased to meet you,” Jean-Loup offered, his accent noticeably heavier than Dorian’s and the phrase carrying all the cadence of having been rote learnt but still unfamiliar. He offered them a small, polite bow. “Dorian says much about you,” he added.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux Meeting the outlaws (tag Vlad and Tatiana) 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

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?”

16 Mara Morales Welcome! 1472 0 5

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?"

22 Leonor De Matteo Thank you very much. 1471 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

January 26, 2020 10:02 PM

Welcome to the wild west show. by Tatiana Vorontsova

Clothes were not, on the whole, a subject which usually particularly interested Tatiana, so on the whole, she usually did not especially mind her school uniform. At least it was mostly a solid color and thus a decent background for most of her jewels, if too dark for her taste and thus given to dulling down some of her favorites. She really did miss light colors, sometimes, when she looked at her aquamarines or blue topazes and they didn’t look as bright as they should – but on the whole, she didn’t usually especially mind her school uniform.

Today, however, was not a usual day. Today involved The Boyfriend. Making an impression. Today, trapped in schoolgirl green, she could have cheerfully wrung the necks of every member of the staff, as she both didn’t know which one of them had decided they had to wear uniforms and also held a grudge against the others for not overruling the offender. This Jean-Loup almost certainly lacked the knowledge to pick up all the information she could have conveyed to others of her own social class at home through clothing alone, but if he was an important enough Quebec-person to know Dorian, he could probably have made some educated guesses.

There were, of course, other ways to get the point across, and she had spent far too much time dithering over whether it would be imposing to wear her best diamonds and sapphires – well, the best of the ones she was allowed to keep with her – or if it would simply be gauche since they were mostly evening pieces. She had tried on almost everything in her jewelry box, all of which had arguments for and against them. The fact that she had agreed to do some fancy flying before she had known about the boyfriend had sent her into a panic for a bit before she had remembered Katya, but that had then added another problem – she could only really bring along pieces she could more or less justify to her sister if she had to, without endangering Dorya’s secrets....

Self-consciousness was not one of Tatiana’s more pronounced flaws, but even she found it difficult to ignore how very over-dressed – or at least, over-adorned – she was for the milieu of the Tumbleweed saloon. However, she refused to acknowledge it as she swept through the doors. Two graduated strands of pearls, nested one in the next, hung below her collar – more appropriate for a semi-formal evening occasion, but oh well – with a largish heart-shaped locket set with a large sapphire ringed in diamonds. She had worn her diamond earrings, and hair had been brushed within an inch of its life and she had re-done her chignon five times to make sure it was perfect. It was the best she could do under the circumstances.

She followed Dorian, and quickly figured out who Jean-Loup was. For one thing, she had seen a photograph. For another thing, she couldn’t imagine many random strangers would just hug Dorian for no reason. She took a second to double-check her posture and approached.

A pair of large, light blue-green eyes, fringed in dark lashes, looked up somberly but not particularly shyly to study him when he was introduced formally. She removed her gloves, revealing thin, flat rings – the most prominent a round opal ringed in sapphires – and extended a hand to him.

“Et toi, Monsieur Arceneaux,” said Tatiana, in her best French. This was colored by a heavy Russian accent; strangely, she thought it clung to other languages even more than it did to her English. She hoped he could understand her in at least one of them. “I am pleased - “ she was more pleased to be able to steal the word from him right now, but nevertheless - “that you come so far. And thank you for cakes. Je m’appelle Tatiana Andreyevna Vorontsova.” Unsure of herself again – strange as it felt – she looked to Dorian for guidance before realizing this was probably rude. “We get drink?” she suggested, trying to turn it into looking back and forth between them. “They have tea here?”

16 Tatiana Vorontsova Welcome to the wild west show. 1396 0 5

Zara Jackson

January 26, 2020 10:47 PM

How about town trail worksheets? by Zara Jackson

Zara was pretty excited for the trip into Tumbleweed. Sonora was great and everything but a change of scenery was always welcome. School trip days had always been the best thing in elementary school. Those were usually museum based, and came with an assigned partner and a worksheet treasure trail on a clipboard with a little pencil tied to the top. Clipboards were funny in that, in and of themselves, they were not super thrilling objects, but their powers of association spraked excitement. Clipboards meant you were going on a trip, or at least doing class outside - counting bugs on the school field or how many steps from one end of the playground to the other or something. Clipboards were a noble symbol of adventure.

They didn’t have any such thing today, of course. This was actually just a social trip. In theory. As Zara stepped out of the Floo place, she took a look around the tourist office. There were various information leaflets, and she gave a quick appraisal of one marked ‘town trail’ - it mostly seemed to be a self-guided walking tour of historical spots. That was potentially useful and she pocketed it, just in case. But then her eyes lighted on what she had really been looking for. A cheap, line-drawing printed sheet with the words ‘Hey there, partner!’

Get to know Tumbleweed! it proclaimed in only slightly smaller and no less cheerful letters, whilst a friendly cowboy picture waved at her. Your wagon’s just rolled into town, and as any wise frontiersperson’ll tell you, you gotta get to know the lay of the land! Unravel the clues below to get your feet on the ground.

There followed a series of puzzle types and questions - from anagrams to fact finding and so on. Perfect. Now she just needed a partner. Luckily, she had a pretty good idea of who might want to spend the day with her, and was pretty sure Felipe would never find her lame, even if he found her odd. She bounced up to him, hoping that a day of fun would be had, and would be good for whatever had been going on with him lately. He had said he’d got sick due to eating some dodgy snacks he’d left lying around too long/stress. She was attributing it more to the former, or to the combination, because the idea that you could be literally sick from stress sounded extreme and also less controllable. She hoped that he was being more careful with his food choices and it was only that combination that led to barf, because she really didn’t want that to happen again any time soon. And that a day out in the sunshine would do the ‘stress’ part some good too.

“Hey,” she smiled. “Got us a worksheet,” she grinned, holding it up. “Uh sure, Town Hall is question number five,” she nodded to the question which read ‘What unique design tops the town hall door? Draw it here!’

13 Zara Jackson How about town trail worksheets? 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 26, 2020 11:12 PM

Is that . . . what is that? by Felipe De Matteo

A worksheet. That was a word that Felipe knew for its role in classes and textbooks, not for fun. Looking down at the paper in Zara's hand didn't help too much, although it did feature a cowboy which felt apropos. It also did not look like homework, and Zara wasn't necessarily the type to seek out extra assignments. He couldn't even think of what that would be an assignment for. She also looked excited about it, and the worksheet wanted them to draw something on it. Felipe searched his mind, sure he must have some other idea of what this meant. Unfortunately, nothing came to him and he raised his eyebrows in a look of confusion.

"Worksheet," he repeated, turning the word over in his mouth and hoping for some inspiration. He shook his head. "What is it? What do we do? I'm happy to," he added to make sure she knew it wasn't that he thought it was weird or . . . well he thought it was a little weird but that was just because he could only assume it was homework and he knew that was a bad assumption. "I've never seen something like this except in class," he said, frowning at the paper as he tried to read some of the other questions and reading the first one he saw allowed. "'Number three: How many sheriff's stars can you find in the saloon?'" He grimaced, looking up at Zara with shock. It was very rare that he had no understanding of what was happening, but he only knew what a sheriff was of this and even that wasn't a concept he had a firm grasp on. Worksheet, saloon, sheriff's star . . . none of these were things he could picture. Was a saloon like a salon? "You're going to have to lead us," he cautioned.

22 Felipe De Matteo Is that . . . what is that? 1434 0 5

Zara Jackson

January 26, 2020 11:31 PM

Fun. Try it. by Zara Jackson

Obviously, she and Felipe had had pretty different upbringings. Like… obviously. It didn’t take their different reactions to a cheerful cowboy worksheet to figure that out, though she had to admit that this might be pretty emblematic of the whole thing. Her reaction was giggly, nostalgia fuelled glee, and Felipe’s was to look at the worksheet like it might bite him and utter the question about sheriff’s stars as if it physically pained him.

If it hadn’t been for the whole ‘What is it? What do we do with it?’ thing, she would have concluded he hated the idea. As it was, she was forced to guess he found the worksheet strange/unfamiliar. And, on the one hand she got that. As noted, ‘we have different life experiences’ was practically evident from hearing either of them open their mouths. But she thought the cheerful waving cowboy and the fact the questions were things like ‘count some starts’ and ‘draw a picture’ were pretty big clues that this was not really a daunting prospect. Sure, ‘normal’ was a culturally relative standard and blah blah blah dad-anthropolgy lectures and not showing Westernised biased and all that. All that on the one hand. Happy waving cowboy guy on the other. And back on the dad-anthropologist non-Western-bias hand, she shouldn’t think ill of Felipe’s family for not exposing him to stuff like this but on the other it was very hard not to let the thought ‘Did your upbringing just not involve fun as a concept?’ creep in. Especially as she was starting to feel like that might be painfully accurate. She knew Felipe had been on more than trips for his education - he had travelled for it. But instead of doing the fun museum worksheets of the world, had it been like ‘Hey, today we’re going on a little educational jaunt to Portugal where you’re going to sit in on a trade negotiation?’ In a super non-judgemental, respecting how other people did stuff way, what was the point of that? Elementary school aged kids did not need to sit in on business meetings.

“It’s a thing for kids,” she explained, “Like, to encourage them to look around and learn. And if we complete it, we get to claim a caramel ghost!” she added happily, pointing to the text at the bottom of the worksheet. “I reckon we’ve got this,” she added encouragingly. “So, to the town hall?”

13 Zara Jackson Fun. Try it. 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 26, 2020 11:50 PM

Hey, I've had fun before. Like at least twice. by Felipe De Matteo

Somewhere in the back of his mind, it registered with Felipe that he might not ever have actually been a kid. To be fair, at thirteen, he still sort of was a kid. Regardless, it wasn't as if he'd gone to Disneyland or something growing up. There were other things to do and if he took a spot in line at Disneyland, then he was taking it away from someone else. Someone else would have to wait longer because of him. The best thing he could do was help someone else get where he could be just by virtue of being who he was. Usually, that made some sense to him. As he watched Zara's eyes stifle some thought she'd had, he wondered whether that made sense to anyone else.

For a moment, he tried to picture his little family of four, just as they were, walking around Tumbleweed with a worksheet. He thought Leonor might be into it for the caramel ghost, although she'd never admit as much. His parents would probably stop to look for litter or something. He couldn't picture any of them just having fun. The closest he thought he'd ever gotten to that at home was when he and Leonor were really small and could run around outside together, without a care in the world. Felipe couldn't have been older than six the last time that had happened, though. Now, it was his mother's warm smile as she hung up fresh laundry to dry, enjoying the little non-magical pleasures of a simple life. His father standing up to see the land he'd covered, proud to see it was further than he'd thought and he still had energy to keep going. Whether it was picking, planting, weeding, plowing, or surveying, the man was always going somewhere and he'd know when he'd made it because he would see how far he'd come.

Felipe hadn't come very far in his own opinion, and that made it a little harder to feel like he was allowed to just do a worksheet. But it made Zara happy, and that was a good thing to do. If it made him happy to make her happy, then that was just a happy side effect. Besides, he could count it as a special topics English lesson, should his parents ever ask about the trip they'd signed off on.

Leonor, undoubtedly, never thought like this. There was absolutely no way she worried so much about every little thing. Maybe there really was something wrong with him in the head, but that wasn't something to think about when he couldn't do anything to fix it. He almost wished he'd told Leonor to stick around so at least there'd be someone fun for Zara to talk to. But despite all odds, Zara did seem to like talking to him. He was adventurous if nothing else, and that was good for something.

He nodded, smiling. "Let's do it," he agreed.

He was trying to decide whether he should offer Zara his arm again, as they had done when walking through the Gardens before. It had been nice and easy, but it had also been private and he wasn't sure whether Zara would want to be seen with him like that. Plus it seemed a bit stiff. It was the sort of thing that Felipe's father would say made a 'good man' but that usually just meant it would make most of the girls Felipe had met really angry. Leonor would probably get to have some fun with that balance seeing as she was the receiver of attention, not the giver of it in most cases.

Last time, though, Zara had merely crooked her arm and that was invitation enough. He did the same, smiling a little at his friend as he offered her his arm, should she want it. "Are we supposed to wear cowboy hats?"

22 Felipe De Matteo Hey, I've had fun before. Like at least twice. 1434 0 5

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?”

16 Jessica Hayles You're...wait, we already covered that. 1442 0 5

Zara Jackson

January 29, 2020 8:23 PM

Are we in danger of exceeding your yearly quota? by Zara Jackson

Felipe seemed to be relaxing and getting into the spirit of things, which Zara found encouraging, and greeted with a smile.

“I suspect it is encouraged round here. However, my willingness to glorify white American colonialism probably stops just short of wearing the costume,” she stated when he asked about cowboy hats. The period of American history they were here to learn about had some definite downsides. Zara was happy to do a worksheet and get a caramel ghost but that was probably about as far as uncomplicated celebration of American frontiersing was gonna go. The town had its whole mixed sports thing going on, and so there were occasional nods to the ‘melting pot’ idea, at least between some types of cultures, but she was still skeptical overall.

“Bonus question for the worksheet, which will result in me buying you candy, see if you can discover who this land actually belonged to before white people showed up,” Zara suggested. “I reckon the museum is the most likely bet for that, and I think my dad would be pretty mad at me if I didn’t check out a museum and report back, but I don’t think anything inside there is on this worksheet. Still, plenty of time,” she grinned, linking arms with Felipe and setting off for the town hall.

13 Zara Jackson Are we in danger of exceeding your yearly quota? 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 29, 2020 10:03 PM

It's been far exceeded. But I think I like it. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe failed to suppress a smile but he didn't mind. He appreciated Zara's strength and knowledge and sunny disposition despite it all. He allowed himself a moment of bitter humor at the mental image of all the Muggles who might have lived in this part of Arizona over the years, seeing Felipe and Zara - of all people - strolling causally through the town together, wearing cowboy hats. Wholeheartedly supporting the decision not to do so, he nodded.

He raised an eyebrow, however, when Zara asked about the people who had been on the land before white people took over. Then, he grinned, happy as Zara accepted his arm. "I know that already," he said. There were many times in Felipe's life when he was smug, although he tended toward pompous more than smug. However, in this moment, he was not at all smug. Instead, he was proud to have some knowledge he could share with his friend, and a little excited that he had won a wager without meaning to. "Leonor and I studied Sonora, the Sonoran desert, Tumbleweed, and most of Arizona as a special focus to our studies of the United States when it was decided that we would attend school here. Also, the boundary between modern day Mexico and the United States was sort of arbitrary and a lot of indigenous tribes have ties to our people," he added, referring as he often did to the people of Cuidad de Matteo as 'his' people. "They were the O'odham, Yavapai, Akimel O'odham, and Hohokam peoples, primarily."

His mouth twitched with humor and a feeling that he couldn't quite identify somewhere behind his breastbone. It was warm and bubbly and he thought it might be what people meant when they said they felt 'giddy'. Arm in arm with his adventure buddy, out in a new place, Felipe felt more giddy than he was used to and he found that he couldn't quite keep some form of smile off his face. "I'll let you off the hook for the candy if you think we'll each get a caramel ghost for this." He wrinkled his nose. Caramel was a sort of candy he associated with chewing or sucking. It was definitely not the sort of candy he wanted to share. "If not, then it's all yours."

OOC - Information about indigenous peoples in the Sonoran desert area drawn from https://native-land.ca/

22 Felipe De Matteo It's been far exceeded. But I think I like it. 1434 0 5

Evelyn Stones

January 29, 2020 10:16 PM

Pre-game with me? [Tag Ness.] by Evelyn Stones

So far, this school year was a good one. Evelyn was doing much better in her classes, and she distinctly had more than one friend now. It was good to be able to spend time with Ness without worrying that she was putting too much on the Aladren, or else relying too heavily on the McLeods' generosity. She had always had a nagging fear that perhaps Ness hung out with her to help her get on her feet, but wasn't actually interested in her. Of course, she also knew Ness to be a kind, honest (very very honest), and realistic person, and one capable of helping Evelyn without being her friend if the desire was not there. In any case, Evelyn felt like she stood on more equal footing with the person who had quite literally saved her life just by having more than one friend to be with.

Of course, she had also told Ness things. All The Things. And she was still a bit nervous about that. There were other things she wanted to tell Ness at some point and she didn't mean for this to be a test, but it almost turned out to be. But Ness and Heinrich were in the same House and they both cared about Evelyn and Evelyn cared about both of them, so she didn't think she had any reason to worry on that front. Her life was more perfect than it had ever been, and that made Evelyn particularly excited to spend time with Ness.

As she made her way to Tumbleweed by Floo, she thought about the day ahead. She'd made plans to meet up with Heinrich after the showcase, which was good because that meant she could dedicate her entire pre-game time to Ness and not think about a thing else, and dedicate her whole post-game time to Heinrich and not think about a thing else. It also meant she and Ness could talk about the upcoming showcase and get excited together. That was one thing she had always loved about sports, even though she'd never been much into sports themselves. Superbowl Sunday was a fun tradition and somehow the pre-game was always more exciting than the game. Of course, this was not a game, but the idea stood.

When she stepped out of the Floo network and into a dusty old western town, Evelyn raised her eyebrows and looked around. This was not the sort of place she would have imagined Ness liking and she hoped desperately that she was wrong; she wanted this to be a perfect day and it was so nice to be able to actually go someplace together. Neither the cowboys waving from storefronts and signage, nor the dusty pioneer (read: vaguely genocidal) vibe to the town exactly screamed "Ness." They didn't really scream "Evelyn" either, but the warm sun and dry air made her feel like she would be perfectly happy to be a lizard, given the choice, and so she would mind the whole thing less than her friend probably would.

With that in mind, Evelyn turned to find Ness and ran up eagerly when she did. "I was thinking that I probably didn't want to eat before I fly," she explained, pointing towards Town Hall. "But I really would love to explore with you. I'm so excited to spend a couple hours with you away from Sonora!" she added, grinning up at her best friend in the world.

22 Evelyn Stones Pre-game with me? [Tag Ness.] 1422 0 5

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.

22 Leonor De Matteo So we did. 1471 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

January 30, 2020 5:32 AM

Hope there's no pistols at dawn by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

“You have very pretty jewelleries,” Jean-Loup smiled, following Tatiana’s introduction. Just because he wasn’t particularly interested in currying favour with girls, at least not for the usual reasons, didn’t mean he did not know how, though he’d had to look up that specific vocabulary item in advance of his trip.

“You are welcome,” Jean-Loup smiled, when Tatiana thanked him for the cakes. “Ah oui, vous apprenez le français,” he added with an appreciative nod at both her and Vlad, taking care to try and speak slowly and clearly, “Il est un bon prof, non?” he added with a smile in Dorian’s direction.

He merely nodded at the comment of coming a long way, not sure he could express in a succinct enough English sentence that he was happy to in order to see Dorian, and not fully convinced that that level of sentiment was anyone’s business except his boyfriend’s. Not that he was against the idea of being romantic, or enthusiastic about Dorian, it was just still a little strange to think of Them as a subject that could be openly discussed. This was normally the thing he kept secret whenever he was trying to get people to like him.

“I don’t know if most American places serve tea, and I’m not sure I would trust it anyway after what we saw in Charms,” Dorian replied, when Tatya asked about getting a drink, “But yes, let’s have a drink.”

Jean-Loup let this wash over him, slightly stunned by how fast Dorian spoke when he was speaking English - not, he supposed, that it should come as a surprise that Dorian was incredibly competent at it, but he had expected to mostly follow what he was saying. He suspected there might also be some context he was missing because he was sure he’d heard the word ‘Charms’ in there.

They ordered drinks (for which he offered to pay) and made their way over to a booth against the back wall with pairs of padded benches either side of a rectangular wooden table. He and Dorian slid in on one side, and Jean-Loup was surprised to find Dorian’s fingers twining with his under the table. Again, it felt like more than he should be allowed, even if it was being kept out of sight. He kept his regular, social smile on, not giving in to the temptation to glance at Dorian and just dissolve into proper, unguarded happiness even though he wanted to because his guy was here, his guy was here, his guy was here . Still, he squeezed the hand that was clasped in his, waiting for the interrogation to begin.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux Hope there's no pistols at dawn 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

January 30, 2020 4:53 PM

I hope this also. by Tatiana Vorontsova

“Merci beaucoup,” said Tatiana when her jewelry was complimented. “J’aime mes bijoux. Tu as...” she scrambled for something. “Visage joli.”

Which was about the least substantial thing she could possibly say about him, but it was an observable fact. If he hadn’t been Dorian’s boyfriend, she would not have minded dancing with him herself, especially since he was someone who had the good sense to dislike Matthieu Montoir and the authority to do something about it.

“Tres bon,” agreed Tatiana when he credited Dorian for her and Vlad’s ability to understand some French. Tatiana’s tutors had tried to teach her some French, but Dorian had probably done a better job – or at least, been a better motivation for learning. “Je suis la professeur aussi – Dorya et Vladya con...connasent langue russe maintenant,” she added proudly, extending that pride into a smile at her two friends.

Tatiana chuckled, too, further betraying that she was not so solemn as she initially looked, when Dorian reminded her of the Charms incident. “This true,” she said. “Amerikantsi ne znayut chaya.” Professor Wright’s version of tea-making had been particularly painful, but the tea she had had in the dining hall also fell somewhat under her usual standard. She preferred having tea with Dorian out of his stash instead, when she could.

Instead, though, since they were in a public dining house (a very strange new experience for her; somehow, she doubted this was anything like the Restoran Gavana in St. Petersburg where her parents had met), they got other drinks and found a corner. Tatiana took a sip of her strange fizzy drink and contemplated her angle of attack.

“So,” she said. “We meet you. What you do?” She snapped her fingers to herself in a bit of frustration. “I know you go school Quebecois,” she said. “But I say...what you do...that you like? What class you take? How you know Dorya?”

16 Tatiana Vorontsova I hope this also. 1396 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

January 30, 2020 8:43 PM

How about stories instead? by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

“Thank you,” Jean-Loup smiled - he managed to smile and not laugh - as Tatiana told him he had a pretty face. Compliments in other languages were hard - everything in other languages was hard - and he appreciated the intent to be friendly. Also, he was aware she wasn’t wrong…

“Yes. I have heard him speak this,” he nodded, when she mentioned that she had been teaching them Russian. “You all learn very good.”

They settled in, and Tatiana wasted no time in directly attempting to establish what manner of person he was. He found the snapping fingers a little imperious, though it seemed more like she was trying to jog her own memory.

“I have most classes still. Dorian tells you I want to be the healer, yes?” he confirmed, “So, I must do many class. And also we have English class because they want that we are… bien équilibrée?”

“Have… good balance?” Dorian suggested. “Not literal. Be like… someone with many types of skill.” He was sure there was a more succinct way of putting that, and glanced to Vlad to offer any single word that was available for that purpose because he certainly couldn’t call it to mind.

Jean-Loup nodded, feeling like there was clearly still some way to go in his case, though not quite sure how to venture that joke in English. He wondered whether it really was believable that he’d spent a number of years studying English. He’d never been the most proficient in that class, though he hadn’t been bottom either, and had recently redoubled his efforts. Dorian seemed to believe in this world where there was a whole life for them, and it was pretty clear that was very much outside their little bubble in Québec.

“I meet Dorian the first time at Matthieu’s birthday party,” he began. He was normally quite good at telling a story, or at least in engaging other people, but he felt like he was slow and clumsy in English, and wasn’t sure he would do this justice. “We are both outside. Away from the others. Nous semblons avoir l'habitude de nous faufiler lors des fêtes,” he added to Dorian. “You can say in English?” he asked, wanting to make it clear he wasn’t trying to exclude the others from the conversation.

“We are getting a habit of… doing this, going away from the group at parties,” Dorian smiled. “And I remember you very casually discovering whether I have a girlfriend,” he added. “You were… researching me, even then?” he queried.

“Maaaybe,” Jean-Loup answered, trying to hide his smile behind his coffee cup. Except he couldn’t quite resist the summoning charm that seemed to want to pull him into the person beside him. He was aware there were four people at the table, and he was supposed to be on best behaviour but it was impossible not to feel like there was only one other person in the whole room and to give in to looking at him and letting the fake smile slip in favour of one that reached right into his eyes. Especially when the look he knew he was giving into was mirrored right back at him, and he had no idea how he’d gotten so lucky. He forced his attention back to the friends, though his face was still softened with its genuine smile, and the air of happy intimacy still hung between him and Dorian.

“Do I answer all?” he checked with Tatiana, aware she had asked several questions and that his replies were rather on the brief side.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux How about stories instead? 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

January 31, 2020 9:28 AM

Once we establish some ground rules. by Tatiana Vorontsova

“Very good,” said Tatiana solemnly when Dorian explained that his boyfriend was supposed to be a person with many skills. “I also take many class,” she added, wanting to establish that she was smart, too. “I do not become Healer,” she admitted, “but I take many class.”

She didn’t know why she was making a point of establishing that she was smart. She and Jean-Loup were not, after all, exactly in competition for anything. His English was no better than hers, really. Dorian had given no indication that he wished to forsake her company entirely for Jean-Loup’s. Dorian knew her capabilities perfectly well. It just seemed impossible to stop herself somehow.

“Yes, you answer,” she said. “It is good to go to party, and not talk with Matthieu. Matthieu is no good.” She said this almost imperiously, as though pronouncing sentence. “When I meet him, I want to kick. You do better thing with him,” she admitted. She racked her brain for things to say. “So. You wish to be our friend, or just that I not kick you?” she asked, deciding this was the simplest way to figure out where they stood and where they were going to stand and therefore how to figure out what she ought to say or not say next.

16 Tatiana Vorontsova Once we establish some ground rules. 1396 0 5

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.

16 Jessica Hayles Let's move on and have fun, then. 1442 0 5

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.

22 Leonor De Matteo Yes, let's. 1471 0 5

Vladimir Brockert

January 31, 2020 6:41 PM

Yes, rules are good. by Vladimir Brockert

Vlad tossed and turned all of the night before the Tumbleweed outing. Nervous wasn’t quite the right word, but he was hesitant for the day ahead. He kept staring at the picture of Jean-Loup more and more and more - a little more each day until it no longer felt polite. Vladimir could not decide what it was that he felt when he looked at the picture - when he thought about Dorian and this boy - but it made his stomach do unhappy flips. So meeting him in person was not exactly high on his list.

But he was doing it anyway, because it was important to Dorian and because he had no reasonable excuse not to hang out with his two best friends while they were out. He could’ve gone to hang out with Peyton or Ivy, but he saw them all the time outside of school too, so it wouldn’t have made sense for him to turn down the opportunity for that. He was trapped, like the Teppenpaw he was, in the ever-binding contract of social rules. Darn it all.

Then it happened. There he was, standing there: the boy from the photograph. Vlad’s stomach dropped at the sight of him. Maybe he had almost hoped they would be stood up, but here he was, in the flesh and real. And from the very first moment, Vlad felt something new in his chest, something hot. He hated him.

Tatiana gave a formal non-English introduction, but he just tossed in a casual, “Vlad.” to introduce himself. The youngest wizard followed the group to get their drinks (which he did not let Jean-Loup buy for him, thank you very much) and listened, not contributing much. His French was pretty rough, but he could get pieces here and there. Tatiana said something that seemed complementary to Jean-Loup, and all Vlad could think was Traitor. The options she now laid out - to be friends or not be kicked - were probably in jest, but Vlad wanted neither. He kinda wanted to kick.

12 Vladimir Brockert Yes, rules are good. 1400 0 5

Killian Row

January 31, 2020 7:31 PM

Uncle Killian or Mr. Row? by Killian Row

Killian was nervous, not least because he was doing this thing he hadn't really want to do in public. It was the only reasonable time he could get away during the school year - although he undoubtedly would've been able to ask for a weekend off - and more than that, they had wanted to see the area. They hadn't wanted to see him for some number of years, so this was as surprising as anything else. But Sonora had an international reputation and his employment there must have meant something to them.

He wasn't sure whether he more hoped that no one would interrupt their conversation or that someone would.

Clean shaven - or as close to it as he ever got - and wearing his very best casual clothes, Killian made his way to the saloon as soon as he arrived in Tumbleweed. They had agreed this would be the best time to meet as it would give them the chance to go to the show afterwards, as well as go shopping and see the town if they so pleased once the students had arrived. It was open to their exploration all morning anyway, so Killian didn't mind. In fact, he privately thought that the impending flying showcase might be a good way to limit the time he had to spend with them.

He chose a table in the corner where he could see the door but anyone coming in would have to turn about to see him, or them once the table was full. The first few times the door swung open, Killian had time to wrestle with the instantaneous tightening of his chest. After that, he decided he should probably spend more time trying to alleviate that than anything else, and by the time a tall man with a thick tangle of black hair and a face as moderately shaved as Killian's own entered the saloon with a young girl by his side, stomach only did a single backflip instead of several.

The man looked around for a moment - Killian noticed with some anger that his eyes darted first to the bar - and it was the girl who saw Killian first. She must've recognized him for his similarities to the man she was with because she certainly had seen him in recent enough memory to recognize him for herself. Dressed in a soft blue dress with a large bow in her black hair. Her wide, round eyes were set above thick lips and she looked so little like either Killian or her own male companion that the guidance counselor was sure her mother must have been a beauty. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be likely to find that out.

The girl tugged on her father's sleeve and whispered something in his ear when he bent down, looking at Killian out of the corner of her eye. When the man followed her gaze and saw him, Killian met him with a pressed expression and small wave. The two seats in front of him were open, but the girl surprised him by sitting on the bench seat beside him instead. She smiled shyly up at him, despite the assertive choice she had made in seating arrangements.

"You look just like my father," she said in a British accent. Killian raised an eyebrow at the man across the table from him.

"Aye," the man said, his own accent a much thicker version of Killian's own highland lilt. "That's my brother. He's your uncle, Bonny."

"Bonny," Killian whispered to himself, committing the name to memory. "It's good to meet you, ma'am," he said, reaching out to shake her hand. She surprised him again by wrapping her arms around him as best she could and putting her head on his shoulder.

"It's so good to meet you, too, Uncle Killian." She leaned back, her arms still around him, and a worried expression crossed her face. "Will I have to call you Mr. Row when I'm at school in the Fall?" she asked.

"I . . . don't know actually. I think Kil-- uh . . . Uncle Killian is fine. Mr. Row is fine. Whatever you want to call me is fine. You don't have to call me. Anything I mean. You don't have to call me anything." He turned to see his brother smiling a half-cocked grin at him. "It's good to see you, too, Lorcan. You're looking . . . sober."

22 Killian Row Uncle Killian or Mr. Row? 1450 Killian Row 0 5

Dorian Montoir

February 01, 2020 4:37 AM

How about 'No kicking?' by Dorian Montoir

Dorian felt the steady, comforting presence of Jean-Loup’s hand in his under the table, and he wasn’t sure the last time he’d felt this happy. Possibly never? He had been super nervous that morning, and a little of it still lingered. Partly, it had just felt strange to think he’d be seeing his boyfriend that day, and after so long apart it just felt like it might feel awkward. Especially as they had an audience. Both the fact that there were going to be people around and they were going to lack privacy but also the very specific audience of his friends. Who were going to meet his boyfriend. He couldn’t see any reasons why they wouldn’t get on - they all got on with him, so hopefully that was enough to make them all like each other - but it mattered so very much that they did.

But then… then it had all started happening for real, and it had been so much less awful than the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach had warned him it would be. As it so often was. That feeling, he was starting to really believe, lied. It didn’t feel awkward to fall in by his boyfriend’s side again. It felt right. They slotted back together as easily as if they’d never been apart. And, so far, everyone was getting along.

He didn’t really notice that Vlad was quiet. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, Vlad was quiet sometimes. He had precisely two modes - chattering out every thought in his head in an excited turmoil, and sitting very quietly. The latter mode tended to be reserved more for when they were practising languages, or getting really into some conversation about theory or poetry. Vlad didn’t participate as much in those in types of conversations. So, it wasn’t in and of itself an unusual behaviour that he was just sitting back. If he had been thinking about it, Dorian might have thought it odd that he wasn’t joining in now they were having a light-weight discussion in English, but that came neatly round to reason number two why he had not given this much thought. Jean-Loup was here. And, as a result, he wasn’t particularly noticing or paying attention to Vlad. His eyes kept swivelling left of their own volition, just wanting to drink in the sight of the boy next to him. He kept saying he’d keep his attention on the group, but it was like, as soon as his eyes were off him, his brain was convinced he’d forgotten some important detail, or stopped believing he could really be there and be as thoroughly gorgeous as he was, and he just had to check. And smile. And he could see Jean-Loup fighting not to do the same with him and whenever their eyes did meet they both just dissolved into being the two happiest people in the whole world.

And then Tatya mentioned kicking.

“Hey,” Dorian protested, laying his free hand gently on Jean-Loup’s arm, “No kicking. Why would there be kicking?” he asked, deeply confused. Tatya had been mentioning Matthieu, and the desire to kick him, all of which was perfectly logical, if - in his mind - objectionable. But Jean-Loup was clearly nothing like that, and there was no reason for anyone here to want to kick him.

13 Dorian Montoir How about 'No kicking?' 1401 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

February 01, 2020 3:53 PM

I kind of assumed that one. by Tatiana Vorontsova

Dorian, Tatiana noted with disapproval, had clearly been Elsewhere in his mind. If he had been paying attention, he would not have misunderstood the question she had directed toward Jean-Loup. It was, she thought now, almost surely for the best that Jean-Loup went to school far away, because if Dorian was always like this, Tatiana would be in danger of becoming very cross with him indeed.

“No, no, no,” she said. “I do not kick Jean-Loup. I think he does not want me to kick him,” she added dryly, as this was usually a safe thing to assume about people from every culture and school and country. Perhaps there were people who liked being kicked, but they were, as far as she could tell, few and far between. “What I ask is – does he wish to be our friend – “ she included Vladya, who seemed unusually quiet to her somehow, in her sweeping hand gesture – “or only that I not kick him?”

She grimaced apologetically at her friend. “You know I am no good at be proper,” she said. “I do proper like Amerikantsi do tea. Bad, bad, bad! So I just ask.” She looked at Jean-Loup again. “You know how to make good tea?” she asked, though even through her accent and grammar, she imagined it was easy enough to hear that she took the answer to this question as a given. Surely Dorian could not be this cloud-headed over someone who was incapable of making a nice cup of tea. That was just a baseline standard for participation in a civilized society, as far as Dorian was concerned, and Tatiana couldn’t say she entirely disagreed – rich and poor alike could do it. It was as essential as knowing how to tie shoelaces or how to do up buttons.

16 Tatiana Vorontsova I kind of assumed that one. 1396 0 5

Anya Delachene

February 01, 2020 8:32 PM

Show me your skillz! by Anya Delachene

Anya was super stoked about this trip. She was going to be flying tricks in front of an audience! It wasn't a game, so her status as a reserve player didn't matter, and she had as big a role as everyone else in the demonstration. She was going to do some aerial tricks which involved a bunch of flying upside down and steep dives and it was going to be super fun and look super cool and people would clap instead of shouting at her to be careful. It was going to be the best day ever.

But that wasn't until later. First they had to get there. Anya stood torn between the 'car' - if that's what it really was - and the floo. She had flooed before, enough to know how to do it, but not enough to be entirely comfortable with it. Most of their most common destinations weren't really on the floo network. However, she had even less practice with cars. There wasn't much use for one on a Flying Horse Ranch, and it would take Hours to get anywhere using one. She'd ridden in them, of course, when going around LA with one or more of her muggle grandparents, but they didn't look like that one, and mostly she just did Side Along Apparition whenever she left the ranch. Dad usually brought her to Gymnastics, because Mom 'couldn't watch' and Uncle Daniel was usually the one paired with her if all three of the Delachene kids were going somewhere. They rarely left the house all three at once without Uncle Daniel, for that logistical reason.

She decided to take the floo. She had to wait longer before leaving, but it had a neat spinning rush kind of sensation. Once they were allowed to go through, she stepped out at the other side, regrouped with the car riders, found a partner who wanted to go with her to the sports arena area right away, and headed over that direction with her buddy.

She glanced toward the ghosts' demonstrations on the large pitch, but was drawn toward the smaller pitch with the batting cages and other games. One looked like a rope bridge climbing game that gave out stuffed animals if you reached the top. "Oh!" she said, pointing toward it, so her partner knew what had caught her attention, "Wanna try that? Dad gave me some money for the trip, so I can pay for both of us to play."

1 Anya Delachene Show me your skillz! 1453 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

February 01, 2020 8:40 PM

We would have liked to by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

Jean-Loup rather agreed with Dorian. Whilst it was specifically the absence of kicking that had been mentioned, that rather implied that not being kicked was a privilege that was currently being extended to him, and which could be withdrawn. Not being beaten up was a pretty low bar to set as far as interactions went, and he had to wonder whether Dorian’s friends were substantially less okay with this whole situation than either they or Dorian had revealed up until now. Or rather, perhaps the degree to which they were willing to forgive Dorian for dating another boy was far higher, as their friend, than the degree to which they were willing to forgive the same trait in the boy doing the dating. Admittedly, being grudgingly tolerated was more than he had expected from most people, and the not being kicked had been one end of a continuum which also allegedly included friendship, but Jean-Loup was not going to count any dragons before they’d hatched.

Especially as Tatiana was talking very rapidly about not being proper and things being bad, bad, bad… And he thought she’d referred to herself there, and to something that sounded like Americans, but she had simultaneously sped up and got substantially less grammatical, and he had already been feeling a little lost, to the extent that he definitely did not trust his own judgement as to what was going on right now.

“Thé?” he asked, slipping into his own language automatically as he tried to clarify the direct question that had been put to him, and feeling slightly muddled. “Elle demande si je peux faire du thé, non?” he checked with Dorian, because he felt like it was important that he answered the friends’ questions correctly, and in order to do that, it was rather essential that he knew what they were.

“Dorian is more good than me,” he replied, reverting to answering the literal question because the subtextual one was lost between trying to process languages and not worry about the fact that she might want to kick him.

“And I think probably it is your choice about whether I am a friend or just… tolérer?” he suggested, addressing the last word to Dorian.

“Tolerated,” Dorian supplied, giving Tatya a slightly confused look. She had been all enthusiasm about him being happy, and about getting to meet Jean-Loup. And it had seemed to start out so well. He wasn’t sure why she was suddenly being quite so grumpy and demanding with him, or why she was saying that being merely tolerated was the best he might be able to hope for.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux We would have liked to 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Vladimir Brockert

February 02, 2020 1:40 PM

Hey now, let's not be so rash. by Vladimir Brockert

Weirdly, everything shifted. It seemed less jovial (and Tatiana seemed less traitorous) as something changed. Rather abruptly, too, it seemed. Tatiana’s probably-a-joke was not received as such, and Dorian got kind of defensive. That was probably Jean-Loup’s fault, he figured. Sapping Dorian of a sense of humor. Or maybe Dorian just hadn’t been paying attention. He was too busy getting lost in Jean-Loup’s stupid eyes, or whatever couples did. Admittedly, Vlad didn’t really know. He had no experience, and Dorian was the first in their little group to bring someone around like this.

So Tatiana backpedaled, because she was good. The language barrier was probably a difficulty here, but he thought the three of them had all gotten pretty good at understanding each other. Between their hodgepodge language mess, they could communicate. Jean-Loup was not a part of that, and he complicated things and made Tatya feel bad.

One thing Jean-Loup and Vladimir did agree on was this: it was their choice whether or not they were going to be his friend. Personally, Vlad didn’t really want to be. He wanted Jean-Loup to go away, and they could all pretend this had never happened. Then Dorian would be Dorian again. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” he offered flatly, breaking his own silence for the first time since his introduction. But then he felt bad - he didn’t want to hurt Dorian’s feelings or make this worse for him - so he forced a smile. “Don’t worry,” he added, looking at Jean-Loup but meaning to address Dorian. “I have a feeling it’ll all be just fine.”

12 Vladimir Brockert Hey now, let's not be so rash. 1400 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

February 03, 2020 10:24 AM

Definitely do not want rashes. by Tatiana Vorontsova

Something had gone wrong. She had still not managed to communicate what she meant, which was always frustrating – and which seemed to have hurt her dearest friend a little. She wanted to cover her face with her hands to shut out the confusion and give herself a moment to regroup and try to recover, but that would make her look like a crazy person.

When she was eleven and had first met her friends, she thought, she would not have noticed if she looked like a crazy person, or at least she wouldn’t have been concerned about it. Things had been so much easier back then, she thought grumpily – grumpy with the world, that was. Why had things had to become so complicated? She wanted to go back, start over – but that wasn’t possible.

She shot Vlad a look of pure gratitude when she thought he had started parsing for her. “Spasibo, Vladya,” she said, and smiled at Jean-Loup, flushing slightly. “Yes! As Vladya says – all will be good. I do not speak clearly. I am sorry. I mean – I ask you many question. I do not know if this make you…non-happy.” She was speaking slowly to make herself more comprehensible, which made it slightly harder to pick her words properly and put them in the right orders, but she hoped she was getting the point across. “If you do not wish to be our friend, only Dorya-friend, then I need not know things – then I say, okay, if you are nice to Dorya, then is okay. But I say it all wrong.”

16 Tatiana Vorontsova Definitely do not want rashes. 1396 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

February 03, 2020 7:35 PM

I promise I do not bring rashes by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

Dorian was somewhat unnerved by Vlad’s flat ‘we’ll have to wait and see.’ It wasn’t like Vlad to be anything but enthusiastic, and Dorian was concerned as to how and why all these people he cared about so much were somehow managing to rub each other up the wrong way. He couldn’t have that. He didn’t think he’d be able to stand it if people he loved didn’t like each other, and didn’t get on. Luckily, Vlad seemed to shake that off with a smile, the tone had just been some kind of… accident, or paranoia on Dorian’s part. Vlad was being his warm, friendly self again, and Dorian shot him a beaming smile of gratitude. Jean-Loup also gave him a small smile. He’d been unsure what to make of the other boy’s silence. On the one hand, quiet people were, allegedly, a thing. He had never met many of them, but silence did not have to mean hostility. He had had a creeping feeling that another boy was going to be less comfortable with this whole situation, and it had been easy to let that fear increase as Vlad sat there in silence. Again, the fact that he’d been willing to come to the table had been more than Jean-Loup had expected and he had been willing to take a lack of overt hostility as a win there. Still, it was nice to be met with something more than that.

The other friend also seemed to be friendlier than he’d interpreted. It seemed she wanted to know how much they should try getting to know each other. Slowly, the pieces came together. Or, parts of them did. He was trying to recall details in a language that wasn’t his own, and which he wasn’t sure he’d grasped correctly. It was like piecing together a picture from broken fragments with some missing - you could guess at the whole, but where the cracks ran through it or you’d lost a little sliver, you were only guessing. She might have been talking about herself not being proper, as he had thought. She was asking directly whether they would bother getting to know each other, and that was not how it was usually done? That made sense, but it was one interpretation of the half-remembered, half-understood remarks.

“Sorry. I also understand badly,” he apologised, sure some of the fault must be on him. “Questions are not bad. You can ask me things,” he shrugged. She had seemed to consider that this might somehow bother him, but it did not, and he was happy to be the subject of the discussion. He hesitated, considering the tentative offer of friendship that had been placed on the table, reviewing the conversation and wondering where the balance lay between being inspected and being treated as someone to be known in his own right. He supposed, if they were making friends here, he was entitled to ask things back. Was, perhaps, expected to. And she had also talked about her own school subjects, which he had not followed up on... “Or… I should ask you now?” he ventured tentatively, finding he was still unsure what ground exactly he was on here, and wanting to apologise and clarify and not confident that his English could manage it. He rattled off a few sentences to Dorian, which the latter translated.

“He says he did not mean to ignore getting to know you in return. He says that focusing on English too much makes him forget manners. And also just… he expected that you wanted to evaluate him. That you would both be the one in control here.”

“Ah. This is why you ask about tea?” Jean-Loup added, realisation catching up with him, and still edging more towards the idea that this was an inspection than anything else. “I am learning tea,” he assured her. “So, I can make well for him. I will look after him properly. You both prefer tea?” he asked, feeling it was a little bit of a lame question in return, but trying to reciprocate. “Or, he teaches you this with languages?”

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux I promise I do not bring rashes 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

February 04, 2020 8:08 PM

Meeting the family, part II (tag Professor Brooding) by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

Dorian was a good friend. And he had friend responsibilities. Namely, watching Tatiana in her flying display. Given that this would be with an entire group of Sonorans, Jean-Loup was understandably not particularly willing to join him for this, although he did promise to watch the display from elsewhere in the stands. It was still with a painful stab of regret that they parted, especially as it wasn’t possible to accompany it with any appropriate gesture of farewell.

Still, one happy coincidence awaited Dorian as he made his way into the Sonora group in the stands, in the form of the person who’d drawn that slot at supervision. He gave Professor Brooding a cheerful smile, and settled in to alternate between watching the display and watching the familiar blond head he could easily see across the small stadium.

When it was over, he managed to catch Professor Brooding.

“You want to come meet him?” he asked quietly, eyes shining with excitement. She needed to sort the remaining students, make sure they all got where they wanted to go, or at least re-paired up, but they agreed that Dorian and his boyfriend would wait somewhere around the edge of the small stadium for her to come and find them. Dorian departed, wondering whether this was a tacit permission for him not to pair up with a school friend, or whether she was just distracted, or assuming he was still technically ‘with’ one of the peers that were still milling around.

He found Jean-Loup midway round the stadium, each of them having left from their nearest exit and walked in opposite directions until they met back up.

“Salut,” Dorian grinned, still feeling slightly surreal at being able to actually see his boyfriend. Especially as a glance around revealed that no one else was really walking round this area of the stadium right now… He noticed Jean-Loup notice this too. Dorian hesitated for a moment, wondering how to ask if that meant they could be more affectionate because he was sure it was going to sound awkward however he said it. But he got an answer without having to put forth the question, in the form of Jean-Loup’s arms under his, the taller boy standing straight to pull Dorian’s toes off the floor and bring him up to kissing height.

“I missed you,” he murmured, setting Dorian down but keeping his arms around him.

“I missed you too,”, Dorian replied, deciding not to tease that they’d seen each other less than an hour ago. They hadn’t seen each other like this yet, after all. He leant up for another kiss.

“So… you want me to magic us up some privacy or..?” Jean-Loup asked, wanting very much to get lost in the act of kissing Dorian, but not convinced that was the best idea without a little help from salvio hexia.

“Ah. No. Not yet,” Dorian corrected himself, “I asked Professor Brooding to come meet you.” This had been on the cards for the day, so should not have come as a surprise, though Jean-Loup still half-relinquished his grip on Dorian, glancing around them.

“She’ll be a little while…” Dorian explained, his tone somewhat playful, sliding himself back into Jean-Loup’s arms. Jean-Loup considered this. The rapidly diminishing rational part of his brain suggested he should keep his hands and his lips to himself, until they’d safely met The Teacher. Even if she knew and approved of their relationship, he didn’t imagine that witnessing someone giving vigorous tongue to her favourite student was something she needed or wanted to see. Or that he particularly wanted to be witnessed doing. But on the other hand, his boyfriend was here, warm and real, his hips under Jean-Loup’s hands, and every second that he waited to kiss him again felt wasted. He wasn’t sure he could hold out for minutes, possibly plural. His brain supplied some fuzzy, half assurance that he’d keep an eye out, even as he closed them in order to sink back into the world that was only made up of him, and Dorian, and the sensations they created between them.

The kisses were briefer and tenser than normal. Twig snaps, distant voices, just a vague sense of unease… These brought his attention back to the world repeatedly. They did have to break off, as hurrying footsteps really did come closer and closer, someone choosing to pass by that way to get to the nearest entrance. Jean-Loup and Dorian walked too, the opposite way, in order to look like they were going somewhere, and not just hanging out in the back of a stadium, which might have looked suspect. As soon as they had fully crossed paths and were out of sight, Jean-Loup leant back against the new stretch of stadium wall, slouching a little to make it easier for their mouths to meet when he pulled Dorian back against him, although he did break off to check their continued privacy more often than the mere need for oxygen demanded. And, as he did so, there was a figure in the edge of his field of vision. Dorian noticed too, and they sprang guiltily apart, though Jean-Loup was sure the person was near enough to have seen what they were up to, even if they weren’t all that close yet. He mumbled an expletive.

“Is that your professor?” he asked, more or less hoping the answer was ‘yes’ in spite of the mild embarrassment that would lead to. He subconsciously shifted to shield Dorian, debating whether just walking very fast in the opposite direction was the best course of action if the answer was ‘no’.

“Yes,” Dorian confirmed. As she got closer, he smiled at her. “Hello Professor. This is my boyfriend,” he added, although he suspected that was rather obvious from the fact she had been told to come and meet said person, as well as what she had just witnessed. “Jean-Loup, Professor Brooding,” he introduced them. Yet again, Dorian had to be thankful for the fact that, although he certainly suspected he looked slightly embarrassed right now, he didn’t blush. A glance at Jean-Loup revealed that certainly wasn’t true for him. His cheeks were rather red as he offered a polite bow and a rather awkward “Please to meet you.”

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux Meeting the family, part II (tag Professor Brooding) 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

February 05, 2020 11:51 AM

Bet you can't beat me! by Freddie Zauberhexen

Freddie was, on the whole, pretaliatory excited about everything ever. That was not unusual. What was unusual was how many things he actually had to be excited about! While he wasn't on the Quidditch team, Anya sort of was and she was going to be flying in the demonstration, which was exciting. He was also going to go to the Ball with Ellie, which meant they had a Reason for hanging out more now and that was always exciting. It was nice to talk to her in general but it was always easier to get to know people even more when there was a unifying factor. Then there was the Tumbleweed trip, where he was maybe going to get a purple bowtie or something if he could afford it, and where he would get to hang out with great people and do a whole day full of exciting things. Well, a whole afternoon full.

He met up with Anya after they flooed in to Tumbleweed and she wanted to go straight to the sports area, which sounded perfectly reasonable to him. He knew he wanted to go shopping but that was something he could do anytime of day. The sports area was going to get crazy later in the day and he'd probably not have to wait as long to check stuff out if he went before the demonstration. Plus, Anya wanted to go, and Anya was great.

To be fair, Freddie had spent some time that morning with Johana Leonie, mostly trying not to feel bad for her and also trying to figure out why he was supposed to feel bad for her. She was still date-less, and he knew that bothered her. He didn't get why it bothered her so much, but he knew that it did, and that made him sad. Still, she was going to Tumbleweed with Hilda, so it would be a good day for her anyway, and he was pretty sure Hilda wasn't going with anybody either - probably didn't care whether she went at all - and so she would be a good influence on his sister while she was stuck in a fairytale she'd made up for herself.

But now was not that morning, and now Anya was pointing at a really cool thing that he didn't have any words for in English but that he was totally down for. "Ich habe also money," he said, grinning. He did some quick mental math to figure out how much he should save for his bowtie and how much he could spend on this, or how much he could spend on ice cream for him and Anya later if he let her pay for this now. "I wette that you cannot go to the top before me!"

22 Freddie Zauberhexen Bet you can't beat me! 1452 0 5

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

February 05, 2020 12:27 PM

You and me both. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Some people were not so lucky as to have duty in Tumbleweed that allowed them to see the flying exhibition but Mary was and she was exceedingly happy about it. Watching her beautiful, lovely students perform, the glee on their faces, the cheers and whoops from the crowd urging them on . . . the whole thing was just too wonderful to miss. Of course, not everyone minded missing the show, but Mary would have been very sad about it. Her happiness was increased by Dorian approaching her as well. She was momentarily surprised to see him without The Boyfriend but probably shouldn't have been; Dorian was nothing if not thoughtful, followed by private about such things. If Boyfriend preferred some amount of discretion, Dorian would not hesitate to acquiesce. At the same time, there was a good chance Dorian was happy for some discretion as well. Mary understood that to a greater degree than she was pleased by, and didn't ask about Boyfriend's absence when Dorian approached.

She agreed to his suggestion that they meet afterwards, committing the location to mind as she slipped off with an apologetic glance to remind a couple of beginner students that they should definitely not try to see how many of them could fit on a broomstick at once. When her duties - and the students - were no longer in need of her attendance, Mary made her way to the designated meeting place. She couldn't help smoothing the front of her dress - Sonora green because school spirit was important - and adjusting her matching hat, or fiddling with her hair that hung, now cropped short, from underneath it. She'd worn makeup today, more than she usually did for class because there was nothing quite so awful as a faceful of makeup dissolving off your face into your cauldron, and moved her lips around to ensure proper lipstick coverage. It was all futile; Mary looked as lively and bright and safe as ever and a wrinkle-free bodice would not impact that enough to matter. Probably.

The corridor where they were to meet was streaming with light, the sort that comes in sideways from openings in the stadium even when the sun is not yet setting, and Mary was looking around admiring it when she noticed a set of figures - one more familiar than the other - doing . . . Oh. She believed the appropriate Old People Term was tonsil Quidditch, but that was a bit crass and neither of them was exactly playing keeper.

She looked down politely, smiling to herself despite a blush that crept across her cheeks. She felt very much as though she wasn't supposed to be here, wasn't supposed to be seeing this, and also wasn't supposed to be allowing it. There was probably a school rule about making out with people, but she wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't as if the staff could stop anyone from making out with people if they really wanted to anyway, and Boyfriend wasn't even a student at Sonora. Or did that make it worse?

Mary kept her eyes politely averted until she was close enough to be noticed - only a few steps closer - and the two boys jumped away from each other. It wasn't as if Mary herself had never been caught making out with someone, although she was pretty sure she and Tabitha had mostly managed to be good about that, and she didn't really mind too much. Truth be told, there was a time and place to be caught making out. Weird as it sounded, to be caught by someone who wasn't going to make it awful sort of made the whole thing more exciting because now it was That Thing That Happened and everyone could laugh about it later. In Mary's case, it had been her and a certain veela, and several members of a local centaur herd, but she thought it probably wasn't that much different to be with a bunch of human beings either.

Sure, seeing her student - particularly Dorian - kissing someone was a bit awkward but that was fine; there wasn't anything wrong with kissing between two parties able to consent and Boyfriend was an adult, and Dorian nearly was. He was certainly capable of consenting to tonsil Quidditch if he wished to play, although she wouldn't recommend "beater" just because that felt like a good place for the metaphor to fall apart. She spent a moment wondering what role quaffles, bludgers, and snitches played before deciding firmly that it was indeed a good place for the metaphor to fall apart.

As Mary drew closer, she saw the boys shared a short exchange that Mary couldn't hear - although she suspected she wouldn't have understood it regardless - and Boyfriend looked somewhat relieved by whatever Dorian told him, though only mildly. He looked very much like he had in the picture Dorian showed her, and also very different. That was to be expected. In that moment, Jean-Loup, the poor fellow, looked like he would probably like to disapparate on the spot. Finally, she drew nearer still and stopped, smiling softly at them both, happy that her blush had resolved into a happy glow instead.

"Enchantée," Mary replied in passable French, smiling as Dorian introduced them. She had spent enough time practicing phrases from various languages that she actually sounded pretty accurate, which was exciting. Jean-Loup bowed and she wasn't exactly sure what etiquette demanded of her in that situation because she was an adult but also so was he, but also she was an authority figure, but what did that matter? So she dipped her head and slightly bent as if she knew what a curtsy was supposed to look like. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well. Dorian's told me how wonderful you are, so I think that must mean it's true," she beamed at them both, speaking with her usual measured, easy pace and clear enunciation. It was habit at this point after having worked with so many speakers of different languages over the years. "Did you like the flying show?"

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne You and me both. 1424 0 5

Beau Tate

February 05, 2020 1:18 PM

I got nothing to do today but smile by Beau Tate

CW-Mentions of underage drinking

Beau's summer had been exactly as he predicted. Mother and Arianna were, indeed, plotting his sister's wedding with the grim seriousness of a general plotting a military attack. So, he had done exactly what he'd considered doing, escaped and squatted on one of the Brockert owned houses on St. Berylla's. It had turned out to be a rather good idea as he'd had an excessive amount of freedom all summer, complete with trips to the nude beach.The Pecari was technically too young, but given who his family was, nobody wanted to raise a huge stink.

Same with having his first taste of booze. Beau had actually gotten good and tipsy. Nobody had cared both because he had not done anything to humiliate himself and his family and because they had been too drunk themselves to pay attention. He'd also finally seen what the fuss was about with Great-Grandpa Frank who had introduced him to some other fun things. He'd never realized what an enjoyable person the old man was before.

So it had been a really great summer, and Beau had been more sorry than usual to return to school. That said, he wasn't exactly looking forward to going home for midterm. Besides the fuss about Arianna's upcoming wedding, his father was starting to get on him about CATS and career plans. Beau was expected to get decent respectable grades and not be an embarassment, nothing less than As. As it was, he was only confident about getting above an A in Transfig and maybe DADA. Beau was strong enough with a wand but theory bored him to death. He simply did not care how magic worked. Some people could do it and some people couldn't. Knowing how it worked sort of reduced it to something less important and impressive.

And he was also just never going to be a studious hardworking person. That was about as likely as Arianna becoming a decent human being or Anya Delachene becoming the girly princessy type that Holly wanted her to be. Not going to happen, period.

The whole career thing galled the fifth year even more. Why should he have to work? His family had enough money, he would never ever be poor. Nothing even remotely appealed to Beau to do for the rest of his life as a job. Girls were so lucky that all they had to do was sit around and do nothing all day but possibly socialize. People always thought pureblood ladies were so restricted but they had an abundance of free time while men had to toil away at boring jobs.

Maybe Beau could own a business while hiring others to do all the grueling day to day hard boring stuff while he sat back and raked in the cash while sleeping all day and partying all night. He'd learned something this summer, vice was big and if he could just cash in on that, he'd have it made.

Anyway, today they were off to Tumbleweed. A full day of no responsibilities, just fun. He headed off to the Sports Grounds to find some games to play. Spotting someone up ahead, Beau asked "Wanna hang out?"

11 Beau Tate I got nothing to do today but smile 1416 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

February 05, 2020 8:07 PM

That is how meetings tend to go by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

The teacher approached. ‘Glamorous’ was the first word that sprung to Jean-Loup’s mind. Okay, ‘glamorous’ and ‘short.’ She was definitely more finely turned out than he expected for someone who spent all day with their hands in beetle eyes and so on. Though, he supposed it was her day off. Perhaps she liked being well-dressed on those to compensate. Speaking of compensating… Even if you counted the hat, she was still several inches smaller than he was. This was a general trend with everyone Dorian knew - the room-mate was a similar height to Dorian himself, who was adorably pocket-sized, and Tatiana and the teacher were both smaller. He wondered if Dorian had gravitated towards smaller people to make himself feel bigger, or whether it had just happened by accident. Either way, hanging out with them all was starting to feel a little bit like being the only Beater on a team entirely composed of Seekers. He hoped he wasn’t looming.

“Thank you,” Jean-Loup smiled, as the professor said she had heard good things about him. And also that if Dorian said it must be true. “Yes?” he added,, “He is very honest.”

“J'ai bien compris?” he checked with Dorian, who gave him an encouraging smile and a nod.

“Sorry. I just… confirm that I understand correctly,” he added to Professor Brooding, not wanting her to think they were exchanging secrets of any kind. “My English is… slow and bad,” he added, though this was offered without much embarrassment. It was just a fact. He just hoped she’d be forgiving for anything he messed up.

“It is very nice,” he nodded, when she asked his opinion of the flying display. Dorian had mentioned that the team was not particularly experienced, and he had gone more out of loyalty than expecting to be impressed. He thought it was a good job they hadn’t sought competition with his school, because he was pretty sure that even the B team at L’Institut would have flattened the Sonorans in an instant. But what was the point in saying such a thing? It was crass, and what pride was there to be derived in the fact that one could easily thrash a smaller, weaker rival? That was much more Matthieu’s style, and the kind of thing he derived a sense of importance from. “Sonora… helps new people with flying? People who didn’t fly already. That is nice. And Tatiana flies very well,” he added loyally, even though he could easily have given her half a dozen pointers. The Seekers were actually halfway decent, more than that in fact, but he wasn’t sure he could point out that they were without sounding like he was condemning the rest of them, and it was Tatiana that he was clearly supposed to pick out for praise and attention.

“You also enjoyed?” he asked politely, remembering his faux-pas with the friends, and trying to imagine this was a conversation not an interview, in spite of the differences in their status.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux That is how meetings tend to go 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Peyton O'Malley

February 07, 2020 3:10 PM

A fun day out (Jasmine) by Peyton O'Malley

Peyton was in a rather good mood. Yesterday, Connor had asked her to the ball! She was going to have a date, someone to dance the prefect dance with. Honestly, that whole opening dance was a terrible tradition to have. Sonora historically had been a female dominated school, with a few exceptions where a class or two would have more boys and there was nobody for someone to dance with. Take Ivy for example. Who would she be able to dance with? Everyone of a suitable age was either related or likely spoken for. Ivy would be humiliated . And yes, sometimes, girls danced with girls, but not everyone was comfortable doing so and they shouldn't be forced. It was fine if they wanted to, but not everyone did. And while opting out was an option, that was embarassing too. Peyton was just glad she didn't have to worry for herself, but she still did for her cousin. Unless someone asked her, there was no way to avoid humiliation.

So while she personally had a date, she thought the custom should be done away with period. Or at the very least, people should be able to bring in dates from outside of school. Not that Peyton was sure that would have helped Ivy but say, someone had a betrothed outside of school or something, why shouldn't they be able to have them there?

The fifth year had heard all sorts of tales of unfortunate ball situations over the years. For example, Ryan's cousin Valerie had nobody to hang out with at the ball because Ryan, her sister Melanie and her best friend all had dates. So did her other friends. A similar thing had happened to Amity. Both had had betrothals outside of school. Amity had been somewhat lucky in the end because she'd made friends with Annabelle Pierce and by extension, her twin sister which gave them all a connection to Ann and Ann Apparel. As for Ivy, Peyton was personally happy to spend some time with the seventh year at the ball and hopefully Vlad would too. She knew Connor would not mind. He was kind and caring like that.

Actually, the more she thought about it, the happier she was to be going to the ball with the older Crotalus, and not just for the practical humilation preventing reasons. Connor had been a really good friend to her over the years. He'd been there for her last year, when she was stressing about her teammates, for example and then later, when they'd only gotten fifth in the third Challenge-a place where Peyton had hoped to do well considering it involved cooking and baking, her strengths-Connor had told her that he liked her team's best and that they deserved to win. That had meant a lot to her and it was especially nice that he'd comforted her when his team had not done well at all.

Anyway, now Peyton was really looking forward to going to Tumbleweed and having a fun day hanging out with Jasmine and Ivy, two of her best friends in the world. She had to look for a dress after all and her roommate was a good person to have weigh in on that. Peyton turned to the other Crotalus. "Remember the last time we were here? The fair?" The incident with the gingerbread people was now something that she could look back on and laugh even though it had been quite irritating at the time. Besides, they'd ended up doing well in the competition anyway.

11 Peyton O'Malley A fun day out (Jasmine) 1403 0 5

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

February 07, 2020 9:25 PM

Literally, yes. But metaphorically? Also yes. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary waved a hand, dismissing Jean-Loup's comments about his English. "The language itself is slow sometimes, and I should apologize for not knowing any other," she said, smiling softly. She was not one to say that English was bad and truly hated when others did, as it was not a hard jump from passing a value judgment on English to passing a value judgment on French, or German, or Mermish. As much as she loathed merpeople, she wouldn't call their language "bad." It just was. Saying English was slow, however, was like saying German was rhythmic, or French was round. It just was.

She nodded along, agreeing that Sonora let new fliers participate, and that Tatiana had done well. "I did," she confirmed, smiling. "You played Quidditch too, right? So you're either liking the small town charm, or you're surprised at the small town . . . smallness." Mary's eyes twinkled with understanding. Sonora was small - not that most wizarding schools were much bigger - and Tumbleweed was hardly a town at all. Almost literally, all things considered.

"You've met Tatiana, then?" Mary said, not sure what the best direction to turn the conversation was. She wanted to stay on topics that Jean-Loup would be comfortable with in English, that Dorian wouldn't mind, and that they could all enjoy. She also wanted to make absolutely sure that, whatever else he thought, Jean-Loup left with the firm, unshakable understanding that Mary was for Dorian. As long as Dorian was for Jean-Loup, and vice versa, so would she be. "Dorian hasn't been able to stop smiling since he knew you'd be visiting," she said, smiling at her student. "I'm sure he's been torn between showing you off and keeping you to himself."

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne Literally, yes. But metaphorically? Also yes. 1424 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 11, 2020 8:58 AM

Arrival by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich wondered sometimes how many of the staff knew that the ‘Karl Hexenmeister’ listed as his and Hilda’s sole caregiver was their uncle and not their father. On the rare occasions when the topic surfaced idly in his mind, he hoped most of them made the obvious assumption that the shared surname meant he was their parent. There had definitely been family resemblance working in their favor when Karl had come for the Concert, even if he looked a bit more, well, unkempt than Heinrich ever let himself be.

Most of the time, though, he didn’t really think about it very much. He’d been here at Sonora for almost five years now. Whether they knew he lived with his uncle or not wasn’t something that affected his day to day classroom interactions.

On days like one when the Tumbleweed permission slips were handed out, however, he worried that he should cross out the ‘parent’ half where it requested a ‘parent/guardian signature’ so he wasn’t complicit in furthering the wrong impression. It wasn’t lying if he had no hand in shaping that wrong impression, but was it dishonesty if he didn’t make corrections when they were placed blatantly in front of him? He didn’t though. He sent it, without modifications, along with Hilda’s to Uncle Karl who would sign it, correct it as he saw fit, and send it back to the administration.

Heinrich was almost completely sure Uncle Karl was not pedantic enough to modify the generic terminology on a basic permissions form to the more accurate word, especially since ‘guardian’ was already provided as part of the label. He’d just sign it and pass it on. And so Karl Hexenmeister’s name would again appear over the word ‘parent’ on a form relating to Heinrich and it was misleading but not wrong, and Heinrich really needed to stop worrying about this sort of thing, because it must surely say somewhere in Sonora’s administrative files that Heinrich was a ward not a son, and it was not his responsibility to emphasize that. Though he kind of wanted to, not only to feed the good wolves by his honesty, but because Karl wasn’t his father, and he felt weird and unsettled thinking people might believe otherwise.

But he risked the bad wolves because he wanted to keep who his father actually was a secret more than he wanted to be honest or assert that Karl was not his real father.

By the day of the actual trip however, this worry had faded (though not disappeared entirely) in favor of other worries. There was the problem of the floo. Neither he nor Hilda had what he would call good American accents, and the floo could be particular about pronunciation. The morning of the trip, after a nightmare where they ended up in entirely the wrong place and had to flee from manticores, he asked Professor Wright directly if his accent was going to cause problems or if he should take the muggle car option. His fears were validated. With the professor recommending the car as the safer option, Heinrich was successfully able to bully Hilda into getting into avoiding the floo as well. It took longer - it seemed particularly long with his sister scowling at him the whole way for making her endure this - but they eventually reached their destination. Safely. So it was worth it.

A glance around showed a town completely unfamiliar to him, and not only because he had never been here before. The architecture itself was strange to his eyes, and the people - both the living and the dead - were dressed in fashions he had never seen before. If he wasn’t one of a crowd of people wearing green Sonora robes, he’d think maybe they did get lost after all.

They re-congregated with the floo takers. Instructed to go off in pairs or groups, Heinrich watched as Evelyn and Ness took off together, as did Hilda with Johana Leonie and some other third year girls, and even Freddie headed out with Anya. Heinrich looked around to see who was left, wishing he could just wander on his own until the flying demonstration. He was fifteen and a prefect, he didn’t need to pair off in some kind of patronizing buddy system. He’d agreed to meet up with Evelyn after the flying demonstration on the assumption that he’d get the first hour to do his own thing. On his own. However, he was also a prefect and just barely on the Aladren side of the fence to a Crotalus sorting, so not following the rule never so much as occurred to him.

Reluctantly, he approached another student who didn’t seem to have anyone to explore Tumbleweed with. “Do you need a walking partner, too?”

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Arrival 1414 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 11, 2020 10:01 AM

This place is unexpected by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich was, by both nature and as a result of his family situation, a serious, closed-off sort of person. He rarely smiled, he set to most of his tasks at Sonora with focused determination but little pleasure or passion, and he almost never so much as offered his opinion about anything, for good or for ill. Evelyn and Hilda could both push past this cool neutrality, but it took effort even for them.

The flying demonstration came close.

Only Hilda was likely to tell him he had looked like he‘d been having fun, because she could recognize the barely visible signs of it after a lifetime of exposure, but his cheeks were still faintly flushed (curse his pale skin that showed every slight change to his blood flow) and he smiled at Evelyn a fraction more readily and fully than he normally did when he saw her exit the girl’s changing rooms and head toward where he was waiting.

“Hi,” he said, the informal English greeting still feeling strange on his tongue, but it was slowly growing on him. Now that he had his grammar more or less figured out (there were some verb tenses that still got away from him, and extra long sentences could still confuse him, and English always had its many exceptions to everything, but overall he was feeling pretty good about grammar now), he’d been focusing on more casual expressions this semester.

“I already told Professor,” he waved in the vague direction of the staff person overseeing the sports area, both to show Evelyn who he meant and to alert the staff that he had found his new partner and they were ready to head out as discussed, “that we change partners and go to Saloon.“

That bit of administrative oversight accomplished, he started walking toward the main street, where he’d seen Saloon when they first arrived. Like many things in this town, he found Saloon strange. The doors were double hinged and only covered a small portion of the doorway. Even though they had been told that this was a snacks and soda store, and the place to go to buy ice cream - which is what he was definitely craving after athletically flying under the day’s hot sun - it looked more like a disreputable bar inside, and not really very kid friendly at all. What was that ghost woman wearing? He forced his eyes away from her and headed for the bar.

“I did not know America took the phrase ‘ice cream bar’ so literally,” he admitted to his friend. In Germany, this sort of place would sell alcohol.

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister This place is unexpected 1414 0 5

Evelyn Stones

February 11, 2020 11:57 AM

And the company too. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn smiled because Heinrich smiled. He seemed windswept, both outside and inside, and that made her happy. She was feeling that way herself but the warmth that came with flying adrenaline wasn't as contagious as a happy friend.

She glanced toward the professor he indicated and smiled a little. She did wonder what professors thought of their students as they got older. Certainly some of them were dating, and some of them were probably dating someone with the same or similar gender. There was no real way to tell if people were friends or not unless they were either making out or hexing each other, to consider both ends of the spectrum, and that just wasn't likely to be the primary concern of professors wrangling a bunch of students around their field trip. Still, now that she had made connections with Professors Wright, Skies, Xavier, and Carter, she didn't mind the thought of them thinking about her. Really, she was almost confident in thinking they probably even liked her. Or at least, none of them seemed to dislike her. That was comforting after having spent so much time worrying about such things. She was even sure that Ness and Heinrich liked her now.

"You did really good today," she smiled as Heinrich led the way to the saloon.

She followed him through the students, staff, and denizens of Tumbleweed and did her best to just keep her eye on his green robes as they made their way. It wasn't an overly populous town by any means, but since most people in the world were taller than she was and since the exhibition was finished and more people were between places than at them, there were more than there had been before.

"Lucky you're tall," Evelyn chirped as they finally arrived.

The insides were apparently as shocking to her as they were to Heinrich and she looked around with wide eyes. "Me neither," she admitted. "But Oregon isn't known for its old western towns either."

There were countless flavors of ice cream available, which made sense considering the whole thing where they were magic. There were a wide variety of treats in general, and Evelyn eyed a fizzy orange drink one of the workers was pouring from a tap nearby before deciding that she really did just want ice cream. Although, after the exhibition, she probably could have eaten several omlettes, a burger, a pan of brownies, and a bowl of ice cream.

Evelyn ordered marionberry ice cream - surprised that they even had her home state berry available - and paid for herself. She wanted to offer to pay for Heinrich as well, but simply couldn't afford it. "What did you get?" she asked peering at his selection.

22 Evelyn Stones And the company too. 1422 0 5

Jasmine Delachene

March 05, 2020 6:20 PM

A great time for all by Jasmine Delachene

Jasmine was so excited about this year. There was a trip to Tumbleweed today - she had very little interest in the Quidditch demonstration, but her sister was in it, so she would probably have to go long enough to make sure Anya did not die, but that should only take a small part of the day and the rest would be for shopping and spending time with her friends. Even better, Peyton had gotten a ball date with Connor yesterday! This was fabulous! First of all, she was glad Peyton would be able to stop worrying about what she was going to do for the prefect dance now, because she knew that had been a serious anxiety for her roommate, and she didn't want Peyton to be so worried. Secondly, she was glad because Connor seemed like a really good guy from what Peyton had to say about him, and that was wonderful. Thirdly, she knew Connor and Gary did D&D together, so their dates knew each other and were presumably friends on some level, so they could spend time together at the ball without it being awkward!

More importantly, Gary had implied to her that he was unfamiliar with dancing, and Jasmine hoped they'd be able to double date some lessons with the paintings in the MARS room so Connor could show Gary how it's done. Hopefully, Connor knew how to dance. He was a pureblood though, so it should be a pretty safe bet.

But that wasn't for today. Today was for a girl's day out on the town!

Jasmine laughed as Peyton mentioned the fair. "I saw far more of this place than I probably should have, chasing after that rascally cookie. I'm glad we don't have a confectionery on the loose to wrangle today. It was fun, but I like shopping better. Did you and Connor have any thoughts on what color scheme you might want to use? Gary said blue was fine, since that will match the gems on my jewelry. Plus he's an Aladren, so he likes blue." This was a paraphrase of Gary's actual stammering confusion on the topic of dress wear, but she was sure it was close enough.

"Oh, and I was wondering, do you think you two would like to help Gary learn to dance? We could do a double date in MARS sometime. I've had lessons, but I think it would help him to have another guy show him how it's done."

1 Jasmine Delachene A great time for all 1397 0 5