Well isn't this exciting! on Cascade Hall

Mortimer Brockert

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Opening Feast by Mortimer Brockert

OOC: Disclaimer-Opinions expressed in this post are that of Mortimer only and do not express those of the author, the Brockert family, the author's other characters, the site or anyone else. BIC:

Summer had passed as it always had with a mix of annoying forced socialization and putting up with Eustace’s crap. Nobody would ever call Mortimer progressive-at least not without an extreme amount of sarcasm in their tone-but his son’s views and continued disappointment over having a daughter, when he should have been just happy that she was healthy and had managed to be born in the first place, were totally disgusting. Instead, Eustace was insisting on trying again, and even Mortimer had enough compassion and decency to understand it was cruel to put Helena through that again.

Once the older students were assembled at their tables and the first years filed in, Mortimer cast Sonorous on himself and rose." Welcome to Sonora for the new first years and welcome back for all older students. First years, you should have received a blank badge at the end of Orientation. You will dunk the badge in the Sorting Potion and it will turn the color representing your house which are blue for Aladren, yellow for Teppenpaw, red for Crotalus, and brown for Pecari. Afterwards, you may join your house table."

After the first years had been settled, Mortimer continued. “Would Ellie Alperton and Dathan Fischer please come up and get your Head Student badges." He continued. "In addition, I'd like to call up Bonabelle Row, Valentine Duell, Lavender Brockert and Stanley O’Malley receive their prefect badges. Congratulations." As usual, he was not one hundred percent on board with these selections. Not that Mortimer was actually specifically against any of them this time, except maybe Mr. O’Malley given how he mostly came across as loud and irresponsible, but as he was a Pecari, that was to be expected. He still thought Jasper and Sapphire should have won and were the best possibly options, however, given that the latter thought almost everyone hated her and Miss Duell was one of those excessively social people that was totally overrated and that he genuinely couldn’t fathom why people thought were so great, Mortimer wasn’t the least bit surprised. Besides, people had shown again and again that they had terrible judgement when it came to picking the best option so now it was rather to be expected.

Once the prefects and Head Students were back in their seats, Mortimer announced. "This year's Midsummer event will be the fair. Details will be forthcoming.” Hopefully they’d pick something less sanctimonious this time, although arguably raising money for charity was a good PR move for the school. Which as far as he could tell was the main reason that people contributed to charity in the first place, Madeleine’s involvement with that allergy group aside. “Now we will sing the school song." Well, they would anyway. Mortimer did not sing. Lyric sheets were passed around and the song began.

Every day we strive
Learning to survive
Life’s hardships and to solve its mystery.
Learning to defend
Our honour and our friends,
Flying high to meet our destiny
We will stand and face those who want to harm us.
We won’t let the world transfigure, jinx or charm us
I won’t fight alone, as long as you are with me.
Sonora be my home, my tutor and my spirit
Vasita quoque floeat; Even the desert blooms.

That done, he dug into his steak and bourbon.

Subthreads:

Aladren

Welcoming Feast Thread for Damian Milne by Phil Carson with Damian Milne

Something for me by Ellie Alperton with Morgan Garrett

My time here has come to a middle by Rosalynn Tellerman with Bertie Jackson

You don't fool me, prefects. I've figured you out. by Eben Sosna with Constance Melcher

A little late to the party. by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

Back in action. by Lorena Abernathy

Teppenpaw

A feast of friends! by Leviosa Scurlock with Cole Pierce

This will be a great year! by Valentine Duell with Tommy Jamison

The Last Hexenmeister by Hansel Hexenmeister with Liesl Brockert

Looks like I'm in the Yellow house! by Lenny Pierce

Runner up by Philippe Delachene

Crotalus

Back at school again. Good. by Iris Cobb with Claire Osbrook

Disappointed, to say the least. by Wally O'Malley with Valentine Duell

Attempting to further an acquaintance (Lavender) by Graham Osbrook with Lavender Brockert

I'm the strong one, I'm not nervous by Yaniel Ayala Velez with Alexander Whitlock III

Well isn't this exciting! by Freya Curtis

Pecari

Summer summaries by Xavier Lundstrom with Mab

Roast Potatoes and New Beginnings by Xander Faro with Fortune Ardovini

Disappointing, to say the least. by Stanley O'Malley with Oz Spellman

Gloom, despair, and agony on me. by Tissena Randall with Alexei Vorontsov

Yay/boo by Theo Spurn with Anya Delachene

What's good about brown? by Eris Ryan with Billy Cobb

Staff

11 Mortimer Brockert Opening Feast 6 1 5

System

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Aladren by System

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System

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Teppenpaw by System

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System

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Crotalus by System

0 System Crotalus 0 System 0 5

System

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Pecari by System

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System

January 24, 2022 10:27 AM

Staff by System

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Leviosa Scurlock

January 24, 2022 2:27 PM

A feast of friends! by Leviosa Scurlock

Leviosa followed the rest of the first years into the hall, trying not to feel nervous. Surely there wasn't any real thing to be nervous about? They were just dipping their badges, it wasn't like they had to fight a monster or perform magic in front of the whole school. Of course, the decision that happened tonight would affect the next seven years of their lives. It would determine who was their school family, and how others perceived them. Leviosa didn't think there was any such thing as a bad house, but she wasn't totally sure her sister agreed. Verdillia didn't much seem to like Pecaris. Leviosa knew there was a slight chance she might be one. She liked playing at adventures, spreading her soft toys across the carpet in epic quests. She wasn't sure how inclined she was to have them for real. In terms of getting Verdillia's aporoval, the easiest thing would have been to end up in Crotalus, like her, but Leviosa didn't think that was very likely. Verdillia cared ever so much more about being proper and following rules and making the right friends. Leviosa just wanted to be happy and make all the friends. Preferably even some who didn't share her view of the world, or at least knew different things than she did.

She stepped forward, dipping her badge into the potion. It came out a bright yellow. Leviosa's face split into a big smile. Teppenpaw was friendly, and she thought it would suit her desire to make friends, and she thought Verdillia would be fine with that too. Still smiling, she went to find a seat at her new house table.

There was a song, which she stumbled through, mumble singing. She could sight read music for piano but trying to sing and to process it all in real time was different. It was a nice song though. Hopefully she would bloom here.

Once the song was over, the table filled with a dizzying array of choices. But, more importantly than the food, she now had new people all around her, who she didn't know at all! She helped herself to a small amount of pesto pasta with feta cheese and cherry tomatoes, choosing quickly so she could get started on getting to know people.

"Hi," she smiled at her neighbour. "I'm Leviosa. Like the spell," she admitted. She had been met with enough surprise at this over the years that she knew it was a little odd. "But I don't mind Levi, for short," she added. At least, she didn't think she did. She hadn't had a lot of close friends to try that out with, but had tried it in her head a few times, and thought it might be nice. She found she had changed the vowel too, making it more like 'Lee-vee.' "Or Levi..." she corrected, slightly hesitantly, putting the vowels back how they should have been.

13 Leviosa Scurlock A feast of friends! 1545 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

January 24, 2022 3:24 PM

Summer summaries by Xavier Lundstrom

OOC: CW anxiety/mental health issues, medication use BIC:

Over the summer, they had clutched at normality like straws. It was still hard to grasp. In between visits, things had almost settled back into that familiar, familial rhythm. But then one of the wizards from the Center would show up and knock them off kilter again. They were like a slow poison, which injected itself into their family life on a periodic basis. The Lundstroms were strong enough to shake it off, but the ill-effects still lingered.

He'd noticed it most in odd, subconscious ways at first. Things seemed off but he couldn't put his finger on why. Then he realised, no one was shushing Robyn even when mom was still sleeping. That had always been a rule. Mom was a light sleeper. It was a rule change that didn't make sense. Mom's voice was different too, when she talked to the Center people. That was to be expected, but it lingered in her system after they left. He wasn't sure why and how these subconscious signifiers had pushed his feet to his parents' bedroom, but he had somehow ended up looking for an answer even though he hadn't fully articulated the question. He had found it, crinkled in popped, empty blister packets in the bathroom bin. He wanted to tell her that he understood. That last year, he'd taken Draught of Peace to get through his exams. He wasn't sure it had helped, seeing as his problem wasn't really anxiety, at least not originally, but the school seemed fairly willing to give it out, so he'd figured it couldn't hurt. But they weren't talking about it. Whenever anything came perilously close to that, his parents brushed it off in vague language or euphemisms.

He'd eventually asked Joel. They'd been out skating, although Xavier didn't think it felt the same as before.

"Stuff's up with mom, isn't it?" Xavier asked. It received a shrug. "Why won't anyone tell me properly?"

"Maybe they don't want you to think it's your fault."

Did that mean it was? At least in Joel's opinion?

"She's on medication." Xavier tried for stabbing directly at the truth. "Because of me."

"Yup," Joel confirmed with a sigh. And maybe in Joel's mind, Xavier and the situation and the Center weren't as clearly defined as separate issues. Or maybe he did mean it as exactly and specifically as that. He dropped onto the ramp without waiting to discuss it further.

At least he'd had Oz. He'd managed to wrangle his friend's mom's cellphone number out of him, and after a couple of unanswered calls, managed to get through. He'd noted down Monica Spellman's work schedule, and been able to reliably call Oz once a week. He hadn't really gone into specifics with him, it just helped to have him there. It had also come in handy having something non-family related to pad out the conversation when Professor Skies had been really insistant on hearing about his summer.

He'd already caught up with his bestie before the feast, so now he was looking for someone different. Weirdly, he thought it might have been Mab (he'd double checked her name in the yearbook). She was definitely a major weirdo and sort of scary, but it was also really hard to keep feeling that, or at least only that, about someone who'd ditched the stupid ball to take you rollerblading. He wasn't sure if that made them friends, or whether Mab really did 'friends' but... well, he'd arrived early enough that he could take a seat with an empty one beside it, and he wouldn't be sorry if she filled it.

The notices from the headmaster were brief as ever, which was fortunate because Xavier didn't really care. He mouthed the school song with a frown on his face, still not feeling like most of it applied to him, then happily tucked in once the feast appeared.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Summer summaries 1529 0 5

Cole Pierce

January 24, 2022 4:44 PM

But not in the cannibal way by Cole Pierce

Cole did not lead the way into the Cascade Hall, but he was towards the front of the group, having been eager to see each room on the tour, but also eager move on to the next. While each room had been interesting, what he really wanted to do was get Sorted and meet his new Housemates, and each step of the tour brought them closer to that. He clutched his green folder in one hand and the blank badge in the other, dearly hoping he didn't accidently drop and lose it.

He wasn't quite anxious about his placement, but both of his parents had been Teppenpaws, and he thought they'd be delighted if he was one, too.

As they filed into the Hall, Cole's mouth dropped open and he stared around the place. It was like the museum of science, but magic instead of science: big and amazing and full of people. The Headmaster stood and gave them some instructions, and Cole lined up and waited his turn. When it was him standing in front of the potion, he hesitated for just a moment before dunking in the white badge.

When he pulled it out . . . it was yellow! "Whoo!" he cheered, "Teppenpaw!" He headed over to his new table and beamed at all of the people sitting there, and waving especially hard at Alexander, who was now his Housemate as well as his cousin. He took a seat, and turned his attention back to the potion dunking line. "C'mon, roommates," he urged as each remaining first year student dunked their badges. He did not want to spend the next seven years in a room by himself. As an only child, he had to do that every day at home.

A couple more girls pulled out yellow badges and sat down near to him, but if any boys had, he missed it. He tried to quash his disappointment. It was fine. It was still better than home. There were at least other kids in the Teppenpaw dorms, including kids his own age. There was supposed to be a common area where they could all hang out and congregate. He could arrange to meet up with the girls in his year there whenever they liked. Mom and Dad had been best friends and they hadn't shared a room, so it was cool. There would be tons of socializing opportunities even without a roommate.

He didn't pay much attention to the badges getting handed out once the sorting was over. The Head Students were too old to Mab and Alexander, and the new prefects were too young (both his cousins had earned those badges the year before), and Cole didn't know anybody else in the upper years.

Once the badge bearers were back in their seats, the Headmaster gave a speech so short Cole almost missed it, and then he caught at one of the lyric sheets that appeared right in front of him. He tried to sing along but he kept losing his place because Dad must have misremembered the melody because this was not the same tune as Dad had tried to teach him. Mom had said he wasn't singing it right, but hadn't been able to say what was wrong about it or how to do it right, and Dad had seemed pretty confident about it, so Cole had believed it was at least close.

It wasn't close.

He thought Dad's version might be the illegitimate love child of the actual Sonora School Song, and the Addams Family Theme Song.

As the sheets vanished into the air again, and the food blossomed on the table before them, Cole realized he was now starving. With his stomach upset from the wagon ride, he hadn't eaten anything at the Orientation, and now that his Sorting anxiety had passed, and the amazing smells delighting his olfactory senses, his stomach decided it needed food right now. Which was good, because there was a lot of it here that looked great.

Before he could do more than grab a roll, though, one of the other new Teppenpaws smiled at him and introduced herself. "Hi, Leviosa, Levi," he returned, smiling back, and trying out two of the three options she'd offered, picking the shorter form that sound more like its source material. "I'm Cole," he added as his own introduction, "like what you don't get in your stocking because no parents are actually that mean, I hope. But it's spelt differently." He briefly debated spelling out how his name was written, but decided that was weird and unnecessary, and if she ever needed to write his name, he could tell her how to spell it then. "I'm guessing your parents are magical then, if you're named after a spell? Mine are, too. But I think mine decided on Nat King Cole as my namesake. He's a muggle musician."

1 Cole Pierce But not in the cannibal way 1546 0 5

Iris Cobb

January 24, 2022 6:35 PM

Back at school again. Good. by Iris Cobb

Iris still wasn't what to make of her 'end of the summer' adventure. Thankfully she and Billy had gotten off to school without any extra difficulty. There had been so much catching up and other things going on during the summer that she hadn't really gotten a chance to think about things properly, so when she climbed off the wagon it suddenly struck her that she was now an intermediate student. The thought was a fleeting one and one she quickly dismissed as ridiculous to have. Of course she was an intermediate student now, she'd already been here for two years. Which meant that one of her three Billy-free years was over. Two more years, then she'd get another one.

When she arrived for the opening feast in the hall, she naturally found a seat at the Crotalus table and waited patiently for things to begin. She watched the first years get sorted and clapped politely for them all, perhaps a little louder for the new Crotali. The head students were announced and the prefects. She was sure Lavender was a good choice.... but wasn't so sure about Stanley. She hadn't had a lot of interaction with him, but word travels quick around a community this size. Oh well, she assumed the professors knew what they were doing.

News of the fair sounded... well, in short supply. What sort of fair? Was it like the county fair with animal competitions and strange food? That'd be kinda fun. The music sheets came around again and Iris did her best to sing along. Singing was not one of her talents though. The food then appeared and she was grateful for it, it had been a long wagon ride from Kentucky. She moved some food onto her plate and began to dig in. Now she just had to figure out what to do about what they had found in the forest... before Billy did something dumb. Well, more dumb. She could take elective classes now, maybe she'd better learn some history.

2 Iris Cobb Back at school again. Good. 1526 0 5

Mab

January 24, 2022 6:50 PM

Is this my punishment for leaving the ball? by Mab

Mab's summer had been what she had come to expect from a summer. Reilly had doubled in size while she was away. The growth chart hanging in the bathroom had to be wrong, it must have been more than an inch since January. Or maybe it was just that he was talking more understandably and in longer sentences that just made him seem like he took up more of a kid's size space instead of toddler's. He was four now, and easier to tolerate now that he spoke English and didn't try to eat her hair anymore.

The other person who magically grew bigger over the spring was Cole, and it had been something of a shock to realize the little kid she met when she was eleven was now that age himself. She still preferred Alexander's company, but the kid was tolerable (a sure indicator that he probably wouldn't be sorted into her House), and she let him ask her questions about the school and even sit with her and Alexander on the cross country wagon ride.

She'd then left him to his orientation and retreated to her room until it was time for the feast. Wagon rides were the worst. So many people. So little space to escape. She needed the alone time before being subjected to a Feast as well, which meant not just people but Pecaris.

She entered the Hall early enough that she should be ahead of the people who couldn't tell time, but not so early that she risked pre-food socialization. She looked around the Pecari table, analyzing who was already seated and comparing the risk of empty seats to who was still to come, and decided to claim the seat next to Xavier (whose name she had looked up after the ball).

"Hi," she said shortly, and then mentally congratulated herself as the first years arrived right in time to prevent extended conversation. She grunted in faint disappointment (but no surprise) when Cole's badge turned yellow and he trotted off to the Teppenpaw table. She took note of the new Pecaris as well, figuring she'd probably need to be the one pointing them to their classes tomorrow as Anya was as likely to get lost herself as successfully direct anyone anywhere.

She was relieved when Anya did not make Head Student, but she had no strong opinions in any direction about the two who did get it, which probably meant they were fine. The prefects were another story.

"Oh no," she said out loud when Stanley O'Malley's name came out for the Pecari choice. "Oh no," she said again, slumping back and slouching down in her chair, covering her face with one hand. She couldn't watch this. She was the only competent prefect Pecari had. The prefect badge she was wearing felt heavier and more burdensome than it ever had. Anya was bad enough. Now she had to work with Stanley, too?

The Headmaster announced the fair, which had been one of the less objectionable of the Midsummer events, if only because she had earned a fair amount of money for a cause that was very important to her, though right now Mab was cursing that very success because she blamed that for why the school staff decided to stick her as the prefect in between Anya Delachene and Stanley O'Malley.

Mab ignored the singing, and woodenly filled her plate. "I think they hate me," she decided, muttering mostly to herself, but just loud enough that Xavier could try to commiserate if he wanted to. She'd refused to dance, and then she left the ball only shortly after it had begun, and this was how the staff had decided to punish her. With Stanley O'Malley.

1 Mab Is this my punishment for leaving the ball? 1473 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 24, 2022 7:27 PM

This will be a great year! by Valentine Duell

Valentine Duell breezed into the Cascade Hall with a bright, cheery smile on her face, excitement gleaming in her eyes, and a bounce in her step. This was going to be a busy, crazy year, but it was also going to be a fantastic one! She was sure of it. She waved and greeted people as she made her way towards the Teppenpaw table. She spotted Bonabelle and blew her a kiss while making sure to remind the Aladren about their traditional breakfast catch-up date though a complicated tangle of hand motions that couldn't mean anything else. A few steps later she spotted Wally and blew him a kiss as well when he looked her way. They'd need to talk again some more soon, she gave him a wink and finally found her way to the Teppenpaw table.

She looked over the first years as they filed in... had she really been that young? Was she really five years older than that? She watched them carefully as usual as they dunked their badges and cheered for them all. As the new Teppenpaws made their way over to the table, she welcomed them all with smiles and congratulations. Once that was over and the Headmaster announced Ellie and Dathan. They would be great at the job! In the moment between names she suddenly realized that prefects were being announced next. She hadn't really given it any thought at all. Bonabelle might get it, or Phillippe, or Lavender, or Wally or anyone! Which of her friends might get it?

Bonabelle got it! She missed the next name trying to spot her girlfriend's reaction, but heard Lavender's name as well! Then... Stanley's. Okay... that could be interesting. She turned back to her own table to see if it had been Philippe or Jasper, but they weren't moving... and people were looking at her. Wait... what? She stood a little slowly, and followed the others to the front, still not quite sure but smiling as nobody corrected her. How...?

Soon she was back at her seat again, still a bit dumbfounded. The rest of the talk and singing passed in a bit of a haze and it wasn't until the food appeared and the aroma of it snapped her out of her daze as her stomach pointed out that it had been a while since last eating. "Well, that was unexpected." She stated simply to her neighbor, as she began to put some turkey onto her plate. Oh goodness, prefect hadn't ever even crossed her mind, was she going to have to give up another club now? She shook her head gently, it didn't really matter yet. For now she was back at school with her friends. "How are you doing?" She continued to her neighbor, "Got any exciting plans?"

2 Valentine Duell This will be a great year! 1490 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

January 25, 2022 12:04 AM

Friends not food by Leviosa Scurlock

Leviosa Levi. She smiled a little akwardly as the boy repeated some of her name variations back to her. It sounded odd, but also kind of friendly, and she chose to focus on the latter of those.

The boy was called not-spelt-but-sounds-like-Coal. Cole, she would have guessed, though she hadn't heard it as a name before. She just knew enough about spelling patterns to recognise a (not literally) magic-e when she heard one.

"Nice to meet you, Cole," she said, her accent naturally stretching his name out into two syllables. She didn't notice it - she knew she had heard right, and was repeating the exact same thing. It just sounded different coming out of her mouth. The sounds in her syllables bounced up and down more than the Sonora wagons.

She nodded in response to the fact that her parents were magical. Clearly her mother's strategy was working. Even though the practise of using spells for names hadn't been popular since the early 1900s (and even then, 'popular' was a stretch), it was one her mother had been keen to revive precisely for this purpose; no one could mistake her and her sister for anything other than people with magical heritage. Cole said he was too, but then said something which, in her experience, didn't really go with that.

"Your parents are interested in non-magical culture?" she asked. Mother had always inisted there wasn't anything of great interest to be taken from there, but Levi had always been curious. "Do you listen to a lot of their music?"

13 Leviosa Scurlock Friends not food 1545 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

January 25, 2022 12:25 AM

Me being your problem is more likely for that by Xavier Lundstrom

It worked. Mab came in and took the seat next to him, with a 'hi.' He just had time to nod in acknowledgement before the first years came in, cutting off any further conversation for now.

Mab's reaction to the prefects was...out loud. Which was saying a lot for most people, especially prefecty types who were presumably supposed to be professional and nice to everyone (why was Mab prefect, exactly...?) but was especially saying a lot for Mab who most people would have said rarely said anything (again, why was she prefect?). She continued to mutter hostilities, which he actually thought was reasonably on brand (seriously, who else was in that year group...?).

"Not a fan of Stanley?" he asked, figuring that was the only explanation, but wanting to double check. He knew what people said about assuming. Stanley had always struck him as broadly inoffensive and pretty nice (was that what Mab had against him? And what did it say about Xavier that she seemed to find him less offensive?). Okay, he got kind of loud sometimes, especially with the weird kid who stroked couches as often as he was jumping off them (ohhhh, that was why it was Mab) but... but he wasn't awful? Xavier honestly wasn't sure where that thought had been going. It was possible that their house was just weird and broken, especially when it came to picking responsible people.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Me being your problem is more likely for that 1529 0 5

Cole Pierce

January 25, 2022 7:10 AM

No eating the Housemates, got it. by Cole Pierce

Leviosa had an accent that was neither TV American nor Boston. Most of the Boston Pierces, excluding Mab and her mom, spoke TV American, presumably because most of them had started as New Hampshirites. Cole and Ben had been raised in Boston, though, and while their accents were not nearly as heavy as Mab's, there were hints of Boston in some of their words, just from enduring the Boston Public School scene for all of their elementary years.

He shrugged a little when Leviosa guessed his parents were 'interested' in non-magical culture. That was one way to put it. "My mom's family is mixed. My grandpa on that side is a muggleborn, and he really likes a lot of muggle things like music and dancing and stuff, especially from the 1920s, and so does my mom, so I listen to a lot of that, and I can do an awesome fox trot. Mom's really big into old films and photography, too. And Grandpa brings us skiing every winter. And my dad's family is super progressive - the Boston Pierces, if you've ever heard of them," they weren't a big family, but they were kind of infamous, as he understood it, with Gramelia and Bel being so . . . them. "So I got enrolled in a muggle school until it was time to come here. My dad even teaches there, too. So we're pretty involved with muggle culture, yeah. I did the whole cub scout thing and played soccer with the city league, too. It was really fun and I met lots of cool people."

"I haven't met many kid wizards or witches though. I'm an only child and my family's mostly older." He pointed down the table at Alexander. "That's Alexander. Him and his twin are the next closest cousins to me, and they're in sixth year. Mab's over in Pecari. You can't miss her. She's the one that looks like an unpleasant storm cloud." He didn't try to point her out or even turn around to look at the Pecari table. She didn't like being stared at or pointed out, so he did neither. He was also under strict orders not to reveal that she was nicer than she looked, so he didn't add that, but it felt kind of rude and untruthful to just leave her at 'unpleasant storm cloud', so he added, "But I like her! They've got a little brother, too, but Reilly's only four. So I'm super excited to finally get to come here! What about you? Any siblings or cousins?"

1 Cole Pierce No eating the Housemates, got it. 1546 0 5

Xander Faro

January 25, 2022 1:39 PM

Roast Potatoes and New Beginnings by Xander Faro

Xander's eyes were wide as he entered Cascade Hall with the other first year students. The endless waterfalls and the elegant chandeliers were a lot to take in, not to mention all the rows of students seated at their house tables.

He'd enjoyed the snacks and conversation in the Labyrinth Gardens, and the tour had both been useful and great fun - he couldn't wait to explore without adult supervision - but this was, really, the moment it all started. This was when he would be given his house placement, and be a proper Sonora student.

If he had to guess, Xander would place himself in either Pecari or Teppenpaw. He knew that he wasn't clever, quick-witted or academic enough for Aladren, and the whole respectability vibe that the description of Crotalus had just didn't really seem his thing, either. Beyond that, it was anyone's guess!

Luckily, the answer was just minutes away, and finally his curiosity was satisfied as his little badge turned brown and he was officially a Pecari.

He was quite happy with that.

Xander would have been happy with anywhere, really, so long as his housemates were fun and friendly. He wasn't fussy, just wanted some friends he could have a laugh with.

Sitting down with his new housemates, Xander clapped dutifully for the new head students and prefects. The idea of the fair sounded exciting, he was looking forward to finding out more about that! He attempted to join in with the school song, being more successful when it came to enthusiasm than he was for melody.

Finally, all the official business came to an end, and Xander was free to focus his attention on both the wide array of food in front of him, and the new people surrounding him.

With no hesitation, he plunged right in, helping himself to a dish of roast potatoes that were very temptingly placed in front of him.

He served himself, and then turned to the person next to him.

"D'you want any potatoes, before I put them back?" he asked, with a friendly grin.

9 Xander Faro Roast Potatoes and New Beginnings 1550 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

January 25, 2022 2:56 PM

That sounds like a good start by Leviosa Scurlock

Cole talking was everything that Levi had hoped magical school would be like. It was like a whole series of doors opening in front of her. She was also very glad she had landed in Teppenpaw, where she hoped that people would be less likely to judge her for the things she didn't know. She wanted to know all about them, but mostly because they let her know more about other people than for the sake of the knowledge itself.

Cole's speech was also full of surprises. She reflexively sat up a little straighter and worried about whether her hair was frizzing out of it plaits when he announced that he was a Pierce, nodding to confirm that she indeed heard of them. She had thought that the proper way of sharing that information was to do so up front - I am so-and-so Pierce of the Location-Name Pierces. That was what she had been taught about American manners. But she also thought that was reserved for Purebloods, which he quickly revealed himself not to be. He was very much more tangled in with the non-magical world than she would have expected a Pierce to be. Fascinating.

"We have non-magical grandparents, on my mum's side," she admitted. She had never been told to keep this a secret, though she knew that not mentioning it unless impossible to avoid was considered a good tactic. But Cole had shared, and she wanted to share back. Clearly he wasn't going to think badly of her for it. Verdillia probably wouldn't have admitted it, even in these circumstances, and she usually was a lot better at fitting mother's ideals of what they should be. "But mum doesn't think the worlds mix together very well. Maybe it's different here," she hedged, worrying that she was saying Cole was wrong somehow. "But we don't really do non-magical things. Films are... the flat non-magical theatre, right?" she asked. Those were the politer things she'd heard about them. She had also heard they would hurt your eyes and rot your brain. "And are foxtrots non-magical? I know how to foxtrot. We did ballroom lessons. And what's a Cub Scout?" she asked. "Sorry," she added, realising she was heaping questions on him. "It just all sounds rather interesting."

She followed his point to Alexander (who looked terrifyingly grown up but maybe kind and kind of cute) and looked around the Pecari table for someone who looked like a storm cloud. A likeable storm cloud. There was a girl who was frowning but chatting to a much younger boy. Maybe that made sense?

"I have a sister in Crotalus. Verdillia, like the green sparks, almost," she explained, seeing as her sister's name was not quite so obvious as her own. "She's on the end there, with the dark curly hair." She nodded in Verdillia's vague direction, having been told many a time that it was rude to point. Her sister's physical description made her fairly distinctive. And if Cole didn't work it out now, he would soon. "I guess you'll meet her soon. She's only a year older, so we'll be in the same classes," Levi said, sounding at best neutral, and at worst less than thrilled about this.

13 Leviosa Scurlock That sounds like a good start 1545 0 5

Wally O'Malley

January 25, 2022 4:17 PM

Disappointed, to say the least. by Wally O'Malley

There was no memory left of the rush Wally had felt flow through them when Valentine blew a kiss his way with a wink, no reddish hue left in his cheeks. He was pale now, clammy. All the blood had emptied from his extremities and face and, it felt, into the very pit of his stomach, which was heavy now. Perhaps some of it sat in his lungs as well, because he felt like he was drowning.

Wally would not have minded not getting Prefect in another circumstance. After all, him not getting it meant that Lavender got it, and that was great! But his entire friendgroup was getting badges pinned to their robes right now, even Stanley. Stanley! Stanley who audibly yelled at the sound of his own name. Stanley who was loud and obnoxious and who was always late and rarely did his homework. Wallace was happy for Lavender and for Valentine and even for Bonabelle. And yes, too, somewhere, they would later be a part of him that was happy for his brother. But right now, he just felt cold. He had wanted that badge. He wanted to show it to his parents and see them smile at him. He wanted to feel like maybe he made a difference at this school, even if it was in a stupid way like hallway patrols or helping a professor. And the thing that hurt the most was that, as far as he knew, none of them even cared. They were probably all happier for each other than themselves. It had been no one’s goal but his.

He could have been wrong, of course, but he felt so isolated in an instance. Despite the filled table and volume that hung in the air around it, Wally felt alone. Theo wasn’t Prefect, and Tommy wasn’t old enough yet (although he’d surely get it), but that wasn’t the point right now. Of his yeargroup friends, Wally was officially left behind.

He didn’t want to be at the Feast. He was suddenly not hungry and not listening, and he wanted to go home and tell his parents that he was sorry. A dish was passed his way from his left, and he passed it along to his right without scooping any onto his plate. This sucked.

12 Wally O'Malley Disappointed, to say the least. 1492 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

January 25, 2022 4:26 PM

Disappointing, to say the least. by Stanley O'Malley

“WHAT?!”

The sound had come from Stanley’s own mouth, ruptured boisterously - as he did everything boisterously - from his throat without his brain giving it any kind of permission to do so. But it did anyway, attracting him all sorts of attention. Of course, he probably already had most of it. Stanley wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but he also wasn’t an idiot. He knew what his reputation was here, what people thought of him. And somehow, Prefect material wasn’t part of that description. So he knew without looking around that there had to be a reaction through the crowd.

He stood up, legs just a little shaky, and began walking up to get his badge. He joined Bonabelle (damn, Bonabelle!), Valentine, and Lavender on his way up, and then a thought struck him. He stopped short of the Headmaster and looked over at the Crotalus table.

This time, Stanley saw. He looked at his brother and he saw it all. The hurt. The shock. The disappointment. The fear of being left behind. Deep down in Stanley’s stomach, he felt like he’d been punched. And this time, it hurt worse than when he had actually been punched. Once again, he had gotten something Wally wanted, and this time, Stanley had no power to give it back.

So what could he do? For now, he just quietly accepted his badge. He wasn’t sure if Headmaster Brockert had actually stabbed him with the pointy bit - or if it actually had a pointy part - but he felt like he’d been stabbed. Stanley tried not to spend too long looking at Wally, mostly because Wally didn’t seem like he wanted to be looked at, and returned to his table. His robes felt heavy. His heart felt heavy. He sat down. He was quiet. This sucked.

12 Stanley O'Malley Disappointing, to say the least. 1491 0 5

Tommy Jamison

January 25, 2022 5:31 PM

I like your optimism. by Tommy Jamison

As usual, Tommy had said his goodbyes to his parents about a week before the Opening Feast so he could stay in the US and adjust his sleep schedule back for school. The first couple days waking up at three in the morning was always frustrating, but this year he was staying at Sophie’s house, which meant he could just go in and jump on top of Stanley if he decided he couldn’t get back to sleep and wanted something to do. Stanley had bountiful energy and was always ready to screw around. They would wrestle “quietly” in Stanley’s room until Sophie inevitably heard them and made them go outside. With sneakily lit wands sat on patio furniture, they would shoot hoops in the slowly blooming morning.

All in all, Tommy was feeling good. He was glad to be back at school, although the extra time definitely gave him enough leeway to already miss his parents by the time he saw his friends again. It was nice to have the orientation time frame to settle back in. He went ahead and unpacked his bags back into his dressers, saving the prairie elves of the unnecessary act, conscious of their valuable contributions. Tommy said hi to Ian and was willing to chat a bit, but ultimately he wanted to make sure he had a little time to go catch up with Rosalynn and Theo.

When it was time for the Feast to get rolling, Tommy took a seat at the Teppenpaw table and found himself next to Val. He hardly minded, because she was very nice, but he did remember the way Wally had looked in years past seeing him talking to her, and things had only gotten objectively more weird with the O’Malley boys and the girls of their yeargroup.

And speaking of, it was time to announce Prefects, and for maybe the first time, Tommy knew all of the winners. He was happy for them, albeit confused by one in particular selection and a bit bummed on behalf of someone who didn’t get selected. Tommy didn’t seem to be alone in that confusion, if he was at all successful in reading the room.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Val stated when they were released to their own devices.

Tommy chuckled, assuming she was talking about the same one he was thinking about. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know Aelia or Janis very well, but, Stanley? Didn’t see that one coming.” He grinned at her. “Congrats, by the way!”

“I’m doing okay,” he said a moment later, answering her question. “No big plans this year, I suppose. What’s the fair usually like?” he asked. The way the school rotated events, there would’ve been one when she was a first year, just before Tommy had arrived at Sonora.

12 Tommy Jamison I like your optimism. 1518 0 5

Phil Carson

January 25, 2022 5:39 PM

Welcoming Feast Thread for Damian Milne by Phil Carson

Phil didn't quite have a groove at Sonora yet, but he had a year's worth of accumulating XP, and now he'd leveled up to Second Year. Second Year, from what he had been able to put together from what the other half of the beginner class was doing, was basically First Year, Part Two. It was the same classes, same teachers, same schedule. Some classes gave a little harder difficulty assignments, but it was basically just reinforcing the same concepts. The two main differences were (1) flying lessons were no longer required, and (2) you had some idea of what you were doing now.

Both were differences Phil approved of.

Flying lessons had been okay, as long as he just had to fly a few feet over the ground at a sedate walking pace, he supposed, but he wasn't on the Quidditch team, had no desire to ever join the Quidditch team, and he didn't like going very high or very fast without having much more obvious safety restraints to keep him attached to the flying object. He trusted roller coasters not to kill him. He even trusted airplanes and flying wagons not to kill him. He did not trust brooms under his own power to be so considerate. So that was that for flying lessons. Good-bye and good riddance.

But it was the familiarity of have done all this before that he was really looking forward to. He was a second year now. He knew the ropes. He was in clubs, he knew his classmates, he'd come to an understanding with his wand and cauldron and they mostly did what he wanted them to do now. He was hoping for a year of smooth sailing before the difficulty level bumped up to Intermediate.

Which was a good way to jinx himself and he realized that a moment too late to stop the thought.

Oh, well, a year of too much smooth sailing would just be boring anyway. He wandered into the Cascade Hall and took a seat at the Aladren table, waving at some people knew from classes and gaming club, and waited for the feast to start. Soon enough the first years came in, and Phil felt wise and old for being one of the kids who was already seated and Sorted, and he felt quite experienced as one of them happened to take the seat next to him and he got to say, "Welcome to Sonora! And Aladren!"

He was not wise or old enough to know anything about any of the people getting named Head Student, but he knew Valentine (he wasn't sure anyone didn't know Valentine other than the new first years), so he cheered for his GM when she got named prefect. Honestly, though, he was kind of surprised she was only now a fifth year. He'd kind of assumed she was an upperclassman last year, being a club president and all.

The event this year was going to be a Fair. That sounded cool. He liked fairs, and it sounded more fun than last year's ball. Further details were suspiciously missing though, and he wondered what wizards did at fairs. He hoped there were magical carnival games.

He sang mediocrely through the school song, and as he started piling food onto his plate, he addressed his neighbor with the question most prominently on his mind. "What do you suppose a wizarding fair will be like?" Then realizing they were still in their First Year, he added more generally, "Do you have much experience with wizards at all? Oh, and I'm Phil, by the way. I'm in second year, so we'll be sharing Beginner classes and stuff. Good to have you join our House."

OOC: Welcome to Sonora, Damian!

1 Phil Carson Welcoming Feast Thread for Damian Milne 1536 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 25, 2022 6:36 PM

Yeah... hang onto that thought. by Valentine Duell

"No..." Val responded to Tommy's assertion about Stanley in a far away voice as her eyes scanned the other tables. That comment had made her realize she was a terrible, horrible person. Stanley had gotten prefect. "Thanks." Again she responded to Tommy without really seeming to pay any attention to him. At some level she knew she was being terrible to him, but.... There! Wally looked so miserable at the Crotalus table, he looked like he just wanted to vanish... She couldn't imagine what he was going through right now. Well... maybe she could a little bit.

She had been miserable as well at an opening feast not long ago, and it had been caused by Stanley as well. Wally had broke the rules to come and talk to her. She hadn't heard if he'd gotten in a lot of trouble for that... had that been why he hadn't gotten prefect? She wanted Lavender to get it though, if Wally had, she'd have been really sad for one of her best friends. Wally was something different now though.. well, maybe? She couldn't stay here though... she couldn't do less than he had. She couldn't let him all alone there... he looked so.. so.. alone.

Tommy was saying something about the fair, but she hadn't really heard what. "I'm sorry," She said to him, her eyes never leaving Wally. "I'll be right back, I've just got to..." Val finally pulled her eyes to Tommy and gave him an apologetic smile. She shurgged looked back at Wally and then stood and began striding over towards the Crotalus table.

OOC: Sorry Tommy... she probably won't be gone long.

2 Valentine Duell Yeah... hang onto that thought. 1490 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 25, 2022 6:53 PM

My turn to rebel by Valentine Duell

OOC: Continued from Teppenpaw BIC:

Mama had been right. This was the thought that ran through Val's head as she walked as purposefully as she could towards the Crotalus table. She was scared out of her mind. She wanted for Mama to be proud of her, and not be disappointed in anything. Here she had just gotten prefect, something wondeful, both Mama and Papa had been prefects. She was continuing on the family tradition... but now she was possibly throwing it all away as well. It was against the rules to be at another house's table during opening feast... would they take away her prefect badge for this? Would Mama be disappointed? Over the summer she said she probably would be sometime and Val had balked at that thought. Yet here she was. Openly defying the schools well set rules... as a prefect. Someone to set a good example.

Her eyes stayed fixed on Wally though, and she found she couldn't stop or do anything else. If they took it away... well, that'd be okay. Philippe or Jasper would be wonderful prefects, possibly better than she'd be... what with her terrible rule-breaking. It would be fine. Wally needed something, and she was the only thing she had to offer.

She sat down next to Wally, wrapped an arm around his shoulder and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I can't stay long..." he knew that well enough, "but I couldn't not come over. Will you be okay?"

2 Valentine Duell My turn to rebel 1490 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

January 25, 2022 7:10 PM

The Last Hexenmeister by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel walked into the Cascade Hall with a weird sense of aloneness. There were many people in the Hall, a number of them were even his friends. He felt he had achieved that status with at least some of his class and Housemates now. But none of them were Hilda, and Hilda was gone. He knew she'd graduate before him. She was his older sister, of course she'd finish at Sonora before he did. Heinrich had graduated the year before he came, so this was the obvious, natural progression of how time worked.

But Hilda had always been a looming, mildly overbearing part of Sonora for him, while Heinrich had only ever been The Hexenmeister Hansel Replaced, and it was just weird that she wasn't here anymore with her gaggle of girlfriends and her broken English and her too loud laugh that he could always pick out as hers on the rare occasions she made it.

The Pecari table looked lopsided, diminished without her at it. He plopped down into a seat at the Teppenpaw table that faced away from where his sister wasn't.

"Hi," he greeted the person already sitting there, trying to look cheerful and excited for a fresh new year as a fresh new addition to the Intermediate class. "I hope you had a good break?" he queried, killing time until the feast officially began.

Soon enough, though, the first years arrived, looking strangely small. Hansel wasn't exactly a big kid, having neither Heinrich's freakish height nor Hilda's massive bulk, but they looked small and young. "I didn't look that little two years ago, did I?" he asked, sure it couldn't just be growth on his own part. They had to be admitting ten year olds now or something.

The Heads and Prefects made little impact upon him, but the fair caught his attention. He'd heard about the previous two that his siblings had been a part of, and he was excited that this time he'd be the one who got to tell them what twist the school was giving the event this year. He sang the song with decent ability, and then the food appeared.

His stomach growled abruptly and he realized he was famished. "Oh, pass the potatoes?" he requested, pointing out his favorite side that was just out of reach.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister The Last Hexenmeister 1524 0 5

Graham Osbrook

January 25, 2022 7:17 PM

Attempting to further an acquaintance (Lavender) by Graham Osbrook

Sometimes, Graham almost wished that students at Sonora weren't Sorted into Houses according to personality traits, or at least that the system was one that ensured variety in common rooms instead of uniformity. Crotalus was...well, most of the time, not very interesting. They were a mix of mice and apathetics, and they mostly went about their business quietly, without a lot of stirring of the waters. For someone who had looked forward to people-watching when he'd come to school, Crotalus could sometimes be a bit of a disappointment.

...then, at other times, Stanley O'Malley yelled out loud at inappropriate times and Graham remembered to appreciate the good points of Crotalus. He might not get much entertainment, but he did get plenty of sleep, and Graham liked sleep. He relied on it. He had already resolved not to allow CATS to deprive him of it, despite adults' attempts to imply that CATS would inevitably do so. It still made him a little anxious to think of it, no denying that, but he'd long since resigned himself to a certain lack of perfection when it came to his report cards and saw no reason to break his brain trying to go back on that resignation now.

He was surprised, a little, that Lavender got prefect; he'd been betting on Wally getting it. Instead, though, it was Lavender, which left him to wonder if it was appropriate, considering they had gone on an arranged date, for him to make a point of speaking to her. After a moment's deliberation, during which the school song was wrapped up, he decided it was, and moved a few seats down as the food appeared.

"Congratulations," he told Lavender with a smile. "So, what's it like, sudden power?"

16 Graham Osbrook Attempting to further an acquaintance (Lavender) 1498 0 5

Claire Osbrook

January 25, 2022 8:50 PM

I have to agree. by Claire Osbrook

Claire was glad to be back at school. It had been nice, being with her family again, and spending time in the family shop and her grandmother's workroom again, but school came with a pretty sizeable number of compensating advantages. There was more excitement here, and she was allowed to use magic here...and it had much better weather.

Weather was probably an insufficient reason, by most codes, to be glad about leaving home, but when Claire had stepped off the wagon at the beginning of the summer, the heat and humidity of an East Texas June had hit her like a featherbed which had been soaked in boiling water. She had started looking forward to the day when she'd no longer need to carry a water bottle with her at all times again almost as soon as she had started looking forward to being allowed to carry and use her wand again, and she'd been frustrated about being cut off from magic for two months before she'd even left the last time. Truly, she thought, she had gotten soft out here with all this climate regulation around the school.

Since she couldn't really do anything with the weather, though, she had directed most of her attention to the second-best thing about being back. Since she hadn't needed to go to Orientation this year, she'd hurried down to MARS and started practicing most of the spells she could remember as quickly as she could. There was, objectively speaking, probably nothing on Earth more satisfying than the first swallow of cold water one laid hands on after something like spending too long outside without any in Louisiana at a distant Muggle cousin's birthday party, but Claire thought the moment she'd convinced a charm to work properly again might score a respectable second place. It was so unfair, the way the need to keep the Muggleborns from blowing the Statute of Secrecy sky-high ruined it for everyone, so that she'd had to lose so much time and ground in the first place....

That thought aside, though, she was in a cheery mood when she went down to the Feast. That mood, however, was not why she suddenly smiled just after the school song wrapped up and the food appeared. Her expression was entirely in response to the potential for yet more opportunities to poke fun at her brother.

She turned her head as people started filling their plates, trying to look for any hints she could glean from body language (from the involved parties, or anyone around them) about what Graham was saying and how he was saying it. By luck or design, though, he had placed himself in a position where it was hard to spy on him discreetly. If she kept trying, she realized, she was going to look like a staring weirdo when she didn't really feel like doing so. To hopefully avoid that, she smiled again, this time at Iris Cobb.

"Hi there, neighbor," she said pleasantly. She didn't know Iris especially well, but the girls' corridor was not exactly a bustling metropolis, and so she imagined that pretty much everyone was at least on smile-and-nod terms with their next-door neighbors. "Have a good summer?"

16 Claire Osbrook I have to agree. 1540 0 5

Oz Spellman

January 26, 2022 2:50 AM

I get it by Oz Spellman

Summer had been pretty cool. They’d had the new apartment, miles from all the people who made him miserable, he and Henry were on good terms, and Xav had even called him a couple of times. Like, on his mom’s cell. It was super weird mixing his school friend with normal life tech, and he had been a bit worried that the phones would explode with both of them on, but they hadn’t.

He’d spent the time before the feast catching up with Xav, whose life continued to be a complicated dumpster fire that wasn’t really his fault. It sounded like the Super Stick-Up-Butt Wizard Types had been a moderate level of douchiness over the summer, and now Xav was waiting to see what Terms and Conditions they laid down for the new year. At least he’d got to see his family though.

Oz took a seat next to Stanley. He’d clocked his and Henry’s almost parallels when they’d started, but they’d never hung out a lot. He guessed ‘hey, we’re both matchy twin sets in the same houses’ wasn’t significant enough to build a relationship on. He wasn’t even sure Wally and Stanley got the whole Twin Thing as much as he and Henry did seeing as they weren’t identical.

Oz was tuning out the badges, because they were irrelevant and not edible, when his neighbour suddenly yelled and stood up. Oh, Stanley had got one. Good for him. Oz definitely knew (of) him more than he did That Random Girl, though if he was being reflective, he might have realised that it was because Stanley caused a ruckus more often. Oz wasn’t reflective super often though, so he just figured Stanley was well known and vaguely equated that with good, and honestly stopped caring or analysing it long before Stanley had even taken a seat again.

The food appeared, and that was way more interesting, especially because there was mac and cheese within easy reach. He took a big dollop, then turned to Stanley, ready to congratulate him, and offer him the cheesy goodness, but found he didn’t look like he was totally there.

“Yo….?” he began cautiously. Stanley had seemed fine until the prefect announcement. He had seemed surprised by that. But surely being prefect wouldn’t be that bad? Especially given that he was friends with the others. Or dating them. Or could date them, seeing as they were all girl—oh. “Funny, isn’t it?” he commented. “People think they need to treat you exactly the same to be fair, except for all the times they don’t to… I don’t know, count you as individuals or whatever. And they usually manage to one hundred percent screw up which way round to get it.”

13 Oz Spellman I get it 1514 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

January 26, 2022 3:15 PM

Both sound great! by Fortune Ardovini

"Sure!" Fortune replied to the other first-year with some enthusiasm. So far things here at school were off to a fantastic start. Orientation had been fine, and the tour had been super interesting. There was a lot of school here to explore. The hall itself was amazing, but he did his best not to gawk too much. It wasn't like he'd never seen magical waterfalls before. Alright, he may not have actually seen magical waterfalls before, but their existence didn't surprise him. They just looked awesome. There were a good number of kids around, though unsurprisingly none from home. Looks like he'd have to start over. No problem.

The sorting hadn't been all that surprising either, not that he'd figured on going to Pecari, but that it hadn't really mattered which house he got. He was having fun regardless. Then a thought struck him. "Hey, we're going to be roommates!" He pointed out to the other boy as he took the offered potatoes. "I'm Fortune, what's your name?" A good helping of the potatoes found their way onto the his plate. He set the serving dish back and scanned the table for some form of meat. "Do you like Quidditch?" Ooo.. was that roast beef?

2 Fortune Ardovini Both sound great! 1549 0 5

Iris Cobb

January 26, 2022 6:28 PM

It is nice here by Iris Cobb

Iris smiled back at Claire, "Hello neighbor!" Even though they hadn't spent an excessive amount of time together, Iris liked Claire. "A good summer?" Hmm... Iris had to stop and think about that for a few moments, "Well..." she drawled out a bit to try and give her time to think, and take another bite of her food. How much did Claire really, actually want to know and how much was this one of those polite questions just to move along the conversation? That wouldn't really work as such if she just responded with 'it was fine', and honestly Iris didn't quite know where to go from there. She could and would naturally mirror the question back, but if Claire responded in the same way... they'd be back at the beginning again.

"It was a little complicated honestly," Iris began trying to gauge Claire's interest level in the actual topic. "Most of it was fine, and I loved being home again. We were stuck here over last year's winter break." She shook her head, "That was really boring. It was just me, Billy and Xavier. I get enough Billy when he's not the only one around, and Xavier wasn't being all that social. So seeing Ma, Pa, and everyone else again was nice." She sighed, "It was a bit complicated 'cause me 'n Billy are the only magical ones at home and us running off to school for most of the year is a real strange thing." She shrugged and figured that was enough for the moment, if Claire was actually interested in anything, she could ask questions.

"How about you?" She then did mirror the question back, "How was your summer? Anything exciting or fun happen?" Iris wasn't sure exactly what Claire's home life looked like, and wondered if it was anything like her own.

2 Iris Cobb It is nice here 1526 0 5

Claire Osbrook

January 26, 2022 7:55 PM

It's got magic and opportunities for people-watching. by Claire Osbrook

Claire had expected to swap pleasantries, but her expression sharpened with interest when Iris declared that her summer had been kind of complicated. 'Complicated' was a word that meant a story was usually going to be a good listen at least, even if it also meant that it wouldn't be much fun to live through. Complicated stories were why her mother made lots of money - rich people made things complicated, and then some of their kids completely failed to deal with that.

The story was, as it happened, short on details, but did present an interesting issue. Claire knew that Muggles tended to live in large groups, where everybody was in everybody's business. How were people supposed to keep the Statute of Secrecy fully, in letter and in spirit, if Muggles didn't think going to school was normal?

"That does sound like it could get tricky," she said. "Do people bother you about it, or anything? One of my grandfathers is a Muggle, but he lives with my grandmother on that side, so I don't really know that much about them, like, as a group."

She shook her head when asked if anything exciting had happened in her summer. "It was okay," she said. "I helped my grandma make ink and paper, and it was fun sometimes hanging out in the store with Dad, seeing what customers were like. Sometimes me and my brother bet about which ones would ask for the weirdest stuff, or we'd make up stories about them. We're...really quiet, most of the time. Or you could just say boring," she acknowledged with a chuckle. "But I missed being able to do magic, so I'm really glad about that part of being back."

16 Claire Osbrook It's got magic and opportunities for people-watching. 1540 0 5

Ellie Alperton

January 27, 2022 5:04 AM

Something for me by Ellie Alperton

OOC: Mentions of Anya approved by her author BIC:

Ellie had nervously frittered away the time before the Opening Feast. She had mostly spent it with Anya, who was... an influence on nervous energy. She was more distracting than calming, but it sort of helped in that you could get swept into the bounciness and that made time go faster.

It was a dangerous thing to set your hopes on something, because the world was sepctacularly good at handing out disappointment. Heck, it couldn't even arrange for everyone to be handed the basic model of human body that they needed. But this wasn't just random luck from the universe, this was also about merit, and Ellie felt she had done so much to deserve it. She had founded an organisation. She had constantly taken action to make the school a fairer and more equitable place. She, unlike anyone else before her arrival or in her yeargroup, had campaigned, both on behalf of others and for herself to try to secure the position.

And, on the metaphysical universe levels of whatever forces gave out favours, it was just too unfair if her school experience had peaked in second year. She had lost friends, to graduation or romance, been denied a date herself for the ball... If good things were turn-based, then surely it was hers again?

She twisted her fingers nervously in her lap as she waited for the sorting to be done, trying not to feel frustrated with the first years becauase that was not being a good student leader. Finally though they were done and- yes!

She took a moment to look around and confirm that yes, everyone else was looking at her like they had heard it too, and then scrambled out of her seat, trying to look as dignified as it was possible to look whilst grinning ear to ear.

She took the tiny green badge, cradling it in her palm. The actions she had taken to earn it had been high risk, given that they weren't notorious crowd pleasers. But they had been unapologetically herself. She had been inspired by seeing Dorian crowned as an openly gay head boy, and now Sonora had also welcomed an openly trans head girl. And it felt like it was because of, not in spite of that. It felt like the world was a place that could be open enough and accepting enough, with a majority of people who accepted and supported who she was.

As they made their way down, she offered Dathan a friendly high-five. She wasn't totally sure how to feel about working with him, but was deciding to focus on the 'kinda friends' part at that moment, as it went better with her current feelings of happiness, and those were the ones she wanted to think about.

She returned to Aladren, smiling at everyone, hoping that even those who had just missed out on prefect or who didn't know her personally would still be pleased at her bringing home the honour for Aladren.

13 Ellie Alperton Something for me 1456 0 5

Rosalynn Tellerman

January 27, 2022 8:05 AM

My time here has come to a middle by Rosalynn Tellerman

Rosalynn walked into the Cascade Hall with a smile on her face. She'd spent most of the time between her arrival and now either putting her things away or spending time with her boyfriend, and now she was eager to catch up again with her Housemates. She took a seat at the Aladren table, one that she picked specifically so that she could see the new first years getting sorted, and greeted those sitting nearby.

When the first years did make their appearance, she waved toward Lenny. She wasn't particularly close to her cousin, but he was her cousin, and she wanted him to feel welcome. "I call Pecari on the boy with the ponytail and hairclips," she told her neighbor as Lenny approached the sorting potion with his blank badge. When he pulled it out, though, it was yellow. Rosalynn sat back with a faint sound of self-recrimination for calling it wrong. Then she smiled and clapped proudly for the kid as he went to join his new House. "My cousin Lenny," she explained, to clarify why this one kid got her attention, out of all the kids being sorted this year or any year in the past.

Next, she watched the Head Students and Prefects with more interest than she had in the past, as well. As a fourth year, she realized that would be her class up there next year, and the year above hers were classmates and people she interacted with on a nearly daily basis so they were no longer the distant Big Kids who had previously seemed more like background extras than real people. She'd had no opinion on whether Bertie, Bonabelle, or Quincy was the most likely to earn the title, but they weren't the strangers the previous prefects had been.

Even as she cheered for Bonabelle, she was thinking that, next year, it would be between herself and her two roommates for who got called up front. Isla and Lorena were both good choices, she thought, and she wouldn't mind losing it to either of them as they were both good and responsible people, but honestly, she thought she was the most likely option herself. And to ensure that, she thought she might found a club this year. She was already running the Art Club, but she thought she was ready to step up to run one that more closely aligned with her personal interests. Especially with a fair coming up.

Rosalynn sang her way through the school song, her voice carrying the tune well and projecting strongly. She wasn't as good at singing as she was at dancing, but she was no slouch at it. Dad, and Uncle Neil, and Grandpa Harvey were all musicians and she'd inherited some natural talent in the art.

As the lyric sheets vanished and the food appeared, she smiled again at her neighbor as she began to spoon some corn onto her plate. "If I started a performance arts club, would you be interested? Drama skits, dancing, music, juggling, anything that can be performed. I was thinking with the fair going on, it would be a good opportunity to start one. We could do little pop-up shows like the ghosts do in Tumbleweed."

1 Rosalynn Tellerman My time here has come to a middle 1520 0 5

Tissena Randall

January 27, 2022 2:58 PM

Gloom, despair, and agony on me. by Tissena Randall

OOC: CW Murder/death of a child. BIC:

Tissena was an empty shell of her normal self at the year's opening feast. She'd been told she didn't have to go, and indeed Winston was absent. But Tissena wanted to go, wanted to see Quincy Wright sitting as his table across the hall. She'd taken a seat where she could glare at him. Her plate was empty but her mind was racing, especially as she watched the first year students get sorted, two particular figures missing. One would always be missing, one got to live a life.

At some point, while glaring at the boy with the curly red hair, Tissena must have picked up her fork in one hand and her knife in the other. She dropped them both when the school song ended, her knuckles aching from grasping them as tightly as she had been. Her neck was likewise tense and sore as she turned to look at her housemate who had decided this was a good moment to talk to her. She suddenly regretted coming after all.

"What did you say?" she asked shortly. Her hair, once pulled into a ponytail at the first hint of a new idea, was cut short, a hack job she'd done herself when she had gotten to Sonora and looked in the mirror. She brushed part of it out of her face now, her newly uneven bob tickling her cheek.

22 Tissena Randall Gloom, despair, and agony on me. 1534 0 5

Xander Faro

January 28, 2022 7:15 AM

As does a new friend! by Xander Faro

As luck would have it, Xander had found himself sitting next to his new roommate!

"Hey, that's awesome! I'm Xander," he replied, as he handed over the roast potatoes. He couldn't wait to have a roommate, it would be so much more fun than having his own room.

"I'll be a great roommate, I promise -" he cut himself off, as an unpleasant thought occurred to him. "I might snore, tho," he hasten to explain his worries to his new roommate. "I mean, I don't know that I do, but equally that means I don't know if I don't. So you might have to, I don't know, kick me, or I'll learn a silencing charm if needed."

With a solution already provided for that potential issue, Xander's world went back to it's usual cheerful state. He added some sausages to his plate, carefree once more.

"Yeah, I love flying and I like Quidditch too, tho I've done more general flying than actually practising Quidditch," Xander enthusiastically took up the thread of the Quidditch conversation.

With just a younger sister - who was a fair few years younger - as his main playmate, Quidditch opponents had been in short supply for Xander growing up. His older cousins had humoured him every now and then, but this sort of thing was why he was so excited for Sonora. Endless friends to do things with!

"Do you reckon we'll be in with a chance of getting on the team? Or maybe there'll be too many of the older kids for us to get a look in yet," Xander pondered, hoping they'd be in with a shot of getting involved in some way.

9 Xander Faro As does a new friend! 1550 0 5

Bertie Jackson

January 28, 2022 6:29 PM

Technically you need to get to Midterm by Bertie Jackson

Unfortunately, the seats by interesting people were already taken, so Bertie found himself sliding into place by one of the indistinct basic white girls that made up the fourth year Aladren cohort. It was Rosalynn. He knew their names because he possessed basic observational skills. He just didn’t really care. In spite of only being a year younger than he was, he had never really rated the fourth years. Maybe it was because he was always looking up, or maybe it was because he was probably far more mature and sophisticated for his age than they were. The presence of Oz Spellman and Billy Cobb in the wider group certainly didn’t help its average score. But the difference between him and Mara seemed far less than the difference between him and these people.

The fourth year next to him placed a bet on one of the first years. Bertie didn’t counter it, seeing as he had no knowledge to base any further analysis off, and if she was confident enough to be calling it, she’d obviously chosen the most likely outcome. Though it proved wrong.

“Well, he’ll probably be better off there,” he said, when her prediction failed. Teppenpaws were, as a basic house description, non-judgemental, which was going to benefit a boy who wore hair clips.

He tuned out Rosalynn at that point, concentrating on the announcements from Headmaster Brockert, although it turned out that even if he hadn’t paid attention, he wouldn’t have missed any cues intended for him. Mara was not the prefect in her year, so it wasn’t like he was failing to keep up with her. Zara had been, but that was for Teppenpaw, where perhaps it was easier, and where her competition wasn’t related to a staff member. Well, one of her roommates probably had been distantly related to the Headmaster because everyone in those sorts of families was, and even if they weren’t, he would undoubtedly have voted for the only Pureblood option. Bertie didn’t think Bonabelle was actually any nicer to most people than he was. He probably even had more friends than her, and how had he done that if he wasn’t nice, hm? Not that it was a popularity contest, but that had to be something the staff were considering, along with involvement (check) and academic prowess (obviously they were all tied, they were Aladrens).

The feast started, and Bertie helped himself to some spinach and artichoke dip. Rosalynn started burbling on about starting a drama club. The year before prefects were picked for her year. Alright. Maybe she had a little forethought. She was an Aladren, after all. But then she asked if he would be interested. Bertie’s head snapped round, a slight frown on his face. Even without personally having interacted with him a lot, she had to know he stammered. He was pretty sure everyone knew he stammered. He’d actually more or less stopped making an effort to hide that. Somewhere along the way, between joining the gaming club, and having Mara as a friend, it really had stopped mattering as much, just like everyone had told him it would. It still cropped up though. It still frustrated him sometimes. He was still on the quiet side, or calculated his remarks carefully. Was Rosalynn mocking him? In which case, he would darn well prove her wrong. Or did she actually seriously think he could do it? In which case… ‘wanting to prove her right’ sounded far more inspirational movie poster and like he cared what she thought than he wanted to. He didn’t actually want to be in a stupid drama club. But he didn’t want to prove that he couldn’t be.

“Maybe,” he said, his tone defiant, as if responding to a challenge that had been thrown down.

13 Bertie Jackson Technically you need to get to Midterm 1497 0 5

Eben Sosna

January 28, 2022 8:38 PM

You don't fool me, prefects. I've figured you out. by Eben Sosna

Plan: 1) figure out what makes my eyes mutant eyes/my brain a mutant brain (?)

2) Develop special glasses so Euan can also see ghosts.

3) Find some people who aren't family to test them on just in case, control groups and stuff.

4) Perfect design.

5) Become extremely rich and famous, but mostly rich.

It was a tall order, but Eben thought it should be doable. Maybe, as he'd admitted to his brother over the summer, he couldn't personally just materialize stuff from seemingly thin air (yet), but he could already do some other really weird, science-breaking stuff, and he would learn to do more as he went along. He just had to learn to a certain point and then combine that knowledge with the basic skills needed for a good science fair project. Broadly speaking, anyway.

Admittedly, his failure to even quite figure out what he ought to be looking for during his pre-Feast library lurk had been a little discouraging, but eh. He had only been initiated into the mysteries of the globe-spanning conspiracy he'd always known had to exist for a year and very little change. His efforts to spy on the Mason's lodge back home had never yielded much in the way of useful intel, but he was pretty sure that almost every theory about them and the Illuminati and their shadowy sibling organizations included stuff about climbing the ranks. Therefore, it seemed most likely that a real conspiracy worked the same way. In fact, now that he thought about it....

He rested an elbow on the table and his chin on his hand as the new prefects were called up. Now that he thought about it, the prefects and Head Students did sometimes all seem to come out of the same room at the same time - definitely a meeting. He also knew, from one of the portraits which would still talk to him despite being interrogated about UFOs and whether the U.S. government was hiding aliens or just evidence of wizardry, that the prefects and Head Students had their own common room, where they could mix in privacy no matter what House they came from, even though the Houses seemed to be akin to cells or mini-cults in some ways and were sworn to secrecy and had their lairs behind elaborate mechanisms. Clearly, the badge-wearers were a society-within-a-society-outside-of-a-society, and since the adults put them together and authorized them, he could only assume that being a prefect, or especially a Head Student, meant having access to a network-within-the-network - a short cut, in other words, to power within a society based on secrecy, paranoia, lies, manipulation, and other such pleasant traits....

Intermediate Plan: 1) Become Prefect. 2) Become Head Boy.

Backup Plan: Figure out how to spy on prefects and HSes and their clubhouse.

As he thought through all this, of course, he just looked like he needed a refresher on table manners, and maybe some coffee, as the faraway look in his eyes behind his glasses could be mistaken for the glazed-over aspect of someone about to fall asleep where he sat. He maintained this posture, not really noticing what was going on around him, during the singing of the school song, not even blinking when a piece of paper materialized in front of him; even more noticeably, he remained frozen even when the food appeared, at least for a minute or two. Then, though, the smell of food bulldozed its way through to his brain, and all his grand visions receded, becoming translucent and then fading out for the moment, as he realized that it was suppertime and that he was sitting in front of a whole lot of good things to eat.

16 Eben Sosna You don't fool me, prefects. I've figured you out. 1538 0 5

Alexei Vorontsov

January 28, 2022 8:53 PM

...that sounds awful. by Alexei Vorontsov

By the end of the week, Alexei knew he would start to miss the food from home. For a couple of weeks after that, he would - usually at the most inconvenient of times - be hit by memories of meals with his parents and siblings, or, more rarely, aunts and uncles and cousins and neighbors, and these memories would make him feel sad for a few hours after he had them. Once that set in...well, by October, of course, it would be much better, but he didn't think it would ever completely stop happening until he went home again. Then, of course, he'd come back and start the whole routine over again.

By the end of the week, it was sure to begin. For now, though, Alexei smiled happily as the table in front of him filled up with food, and he dug into that food with all the enthusiasm a thirteen-year-old boy could muster. The lack of exotic school food at home over the summer hadn't made him feel sad, he wasn't that attached to it, but he certainly sometimes missed all the novelty and variety that the table here could offer.

His neighbor, however, did not seem to appreciate all the special-occasion bounty spread out before them. His neighbor also looked so different, with all her hair chopped off, from before the break that it took Alexei a few seconds to realize that she wasn't a new first year. She had, however, been one last year - they had been in the same classes. She had an odd name, he recalled, like a lot of that class seemed to - even, he'd gathered, to ears which regarded English names as the most normal names and probably thought that his was a bit strange.

"Ah - you are okay?" he asked, and immediately cursed the moment it always took him to sort his grammar out when he switched languages. He'd gotten those words backward; 'are' should have gone first when he asked that question in English. It was actually a feature of English which he admired; it was much harder to be confused about whether someone speaking English was asking a question than it was to do the same thing with someone speaking Russian. English was an elaborate language, full of words, words, a dozen words for every one thing, with a dozen helpers for each other of those words; it could be almost painfully precise sometimes, as though there was a mathematics to sentences. Though at other times, in casual conversation, people were so sloppy with it that they hardly managed to get meaning into the sentence, which was annoying, as much as realizing he'd forgotten something....

His neighbor, however, didn't seem to have heard him. Or to welcome his concern, or anything else. "I am sorry," he said. "I thought you were maybe not well. I apologize."

16 Alexei Vorontsov ...that sounds awful. 1531 0 5

Morgan Garrett

January 28, 2022 9:08 PM

You go, girl! by Morgan Garrett

It would, Morgan thought wistfully, have been so cool if she could have blamed stuff like tripping over her seat on her way into it and almost faceplanting into the table all on something like the growth spurt she'd had over the summer. Wasn't that a classic thing, after all? Gain a few inches, lose all your coordination?

Unfortunately, though, she was pretty sure that nobody would believe the excuse from her, even if it turned out that it happened to be true. Just one of those things, she guessed, about being the House ditz, along with being pretty sure that Bertie Jackson got a little closer to loudly demanding that her entire year be re-Sorted every time he made eye contact with her. Mouthing the word 'ow,' she made a second, more successful, attempt at getting into her seat and flexed her hands and wondered why tables had to be so gosh-darn hard.

Since she was only a little bit better at being on time than she was at being graceful (did that count as ironic when Grace was only her middle name?), though, she did at least get distracted from both the mishap and wondering if anyone else had noticed the mishap pretty quickly by the Sorting and then the opening speech from the headmaster. Morgan clapped enthusiastically for Ellie and Bonabelle, trying all the while to think of something witty to at least think about having greatness for neighbors on both sides. Maybe if it had just been Josie she was most likely to make it to, she could have used what she thought was the best effort she came up with, but she was pretty sure she did not do witty well enough to risk it with Mara. She and Josie were generally somewhere on the same wavelength, or at least the same setting, but it was like Mara was AM radio and they were FM sometimes. Morgan liked her roommate well enough, but had yet to figure out what made her tick at all.

Social interaction. So complicated. Sometimes, anyway. At other times, it was really quite simple to figure out what the correct thing to do was. She grinned at Ellie as the Feast began.

"Congratulations!" she exclaimed. "You totally deserve it."

And Ellie did. That was why Morgan was...98% sure she'd voted for the older girl. She had definitely sort of freaked out and checked at least one name at random, no point in denying that, at least to herself, but she was...optimistic, at least, that she hadn't actually made both of her votes that way. It made way more sense to have just picked the second person at random, didn't it? She just wished she wasn't doing that thing, now, where sometimes she remembered doing something, but wasn't sure if she was really remembering it or if she was making the memory up....

"I'm guessing you have a ton of plans for this year, right?" she asked, remembering for sure that Ellie had had campaign posters. People who planned ahead that far probably went further than that, she reasoned. Why bother going that far and not going all the way, just in case?

16 Morgan Garrett You go, girl! 1470 0 5

Theo Spurn

January 29, 2022 6:03 PM

Yay/boo by Theo Spurn

Theo took most of a seat, perching with one of his legs tucked under him. He was a sixth year now, and would be in classes with Anya again but without Wally, Stanley and Tommy. That sounded like a net loss, but it wasn't nice to maths your friends, so it was just a mixture of feelings. Theo was not a fan of mixed feelings. He liked it when things were what they were. He saw Stanley-Wally-Tommy at home sometimes though, so he tried to think about Christmas, and the being-happy-to-be-with-Anya-side.

He wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to the proceedings, but he heard Stanley’s name called, and he heard Stanley yell ‘What?’

“You’re prefect,” he yelled back, clapping for him. Anya was not head girl though. “Boo,” he added, in relation to that. He had voted for Anya, because he wanted his friends to have nice things. He also noticed that Wally wasn’t up there, which was definitely a mistake. He frowned. People made very odd decisions the vast majority of the time.

The feast appeared, and he scooped a small amount of peas onto his plate. He began eating, spearing them one at a time with his fork.

13 Theo Spurn Yay/boo 1476 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

January 30, 2022 12:02 PM

You are absolutely right! by Fortune Ardovini

"Xander." Fortune repeated, "Sorry, I'm pretty bad with names. You may have to remind me a few more times." He considered that for just a moment, "Hopefully not to many though if we're going to be living together though." He grinned and waved a bit dismissively as he hauled the plate of beef over to his own and shoveled some onto his plate. "Bah, I might snore to, I dunno, never had a roommate before." He commented. "It's hard to check on that, I'm always asleep at the time." Xander seemed like a pretty cool guy so far, so that seemed good. "Maybe we're both horrible loud snorers and everyone else in the house will need to put silencing charms on our whole room!" He chuckled at that thought.

"I dunno about getting on the team," Fortune followed up with the Quidditch conversation, "But I'm sure as heck going to try out!" Yes! His roommate wasn't going to be one of those boring people that didn't like Quidditch! "I got to play a little around home, but we didn't have enough people for proper teams." A thought struck him, "Maybe we just need to convince enough other students to try out that they've got to make a second team!" It was naturally a genius plan and couldn't fail. "What position do you think you'll try out for? I'll probably try out as Chaser, that's where most of the action is!"

2 Fortune Ardovini You are absolutely right! 1549 0 5

Xander Faro

January 30, 2022 12:25 PM

I'm not known for generally being right, but I'll take it! by Xander Faro

"Maybe I should write my name on my forehead, you'd have no issues there," Xander replied, mostly not serious. He supposed, when it came to it, it would be a bit odd to have your name written on your forehead, but it wouldn't exactly be useless in situations like starting a new school!

This whole snoring thing was a bit of a dilemma, really. How on earth was anyone meant to know if they snored if they'd never shared a room? As Fortune pointed out, you were normally asleep when you snored. Unless you snored so loudly you woke yourself up, but Xander was pretty confident he'd never done that.

"We'd have to be pretty loud snorers to wake up the whole house," Xander reasoned. "Unless it ends up being some ultra-dormitory situation where everyone in the house shares a room, but the building looks big enough you'd think they'd have a room per year."

"Even if we don't get on the team, we might end up as reserves from trying out, and then we just have to hope everyone else gets ill then we're on the team!" Xander paused, realising there was something wrong with his exciting new idea. "Well, not hope they all get ill, I wouldn't want to wish that on them, but maybe they oversleep or have some injury that isn't too bad at all but means they can't play Quidditch…" Yeah, there was no good way to spin that one, so he abandoned that thought and ploughed on to the next.

"Anyway, they might let us join in practices and things. Or you're right, if we can get a second team then we've got more of a chance to play!"

"I'd go for chaser too, or seeker but I don't know if I'm speedy enough for that. I think keeper and beater are fun too, I'd take anything really, but maybe I need to grow a bit more to be good at those."

Xander hadn't played one set Quidditch position enough to have a firm favourite, but being small for his age had definitely been a disadvantage for the beater and keeper roles. He'd be up for any role really, more than willing to support Fortune's brilliant idea of getting a second team going.

"We need to keep an eye out for other people we can convince to try out for Quidditch," he suggested, his brain having taken up this second team idea and now being in the process of running off with it.

"We can scout out for people in our year when we have flying lessons! And when talking to them in other classes too, I guess. Which class do you reckon will be the best?"

9 Xander Faro I'm not known for generally being right, but I'll take it! 1550 0 5

Iris Cobb

January 30, 2022 12:35 PM

Also different people to interact with by Iris Cobb

Iris sighed, "They did more last summer, which from the way I understand it, was one of the reasons that we stayed at school over break." It had been stupid and Claire was right. "I'm not entirely sure about what happened over the second half of the year last year, but nobody brought it up to much this summer. There were some very..." she hesitated a moment to find the right word, "..subtle questions about things, and still plenty of occasional odd looks and such." She shrugged, "I still think it was mostly Billy's fault, and now we'll probably get into more trouble here in a bit." That little episode with the Auror had only taken place yesterday, and she was still waiting for someone to come find her about it.

"My family is normally fine, or at least they were before we started coming here." Iris tried to explain when the other girl said she didn't know much about Muggles. "We all live in a normal community, everyone has a job and things work well. When Billy and then I leave for most of the year... well, someone else has to pick up that slack. One of my aunts is the teacher and I guess people wonder why that isn't good enough for education. It's the same schoolin' everyone else has gone through after all." She poked at the food on her plate, "It's not like I can't go here, but we also can't tell them why neither." She gave Claire a hopeless smile, "Complicated."

Claire's summer sounded fairly normal to Iris, working with family at the task assigned to her. Making paper and ink sounded a little different though, she didn't think anyone did those things at home. They didn't use to much paper and ink. However, actually having a store was different as well. "Sounds like fun," Iris started, "Who was the one that got the weirdest stuff?" She did nod in agreement at being back and being able to use magic again.

2 Iris Cobb Also different people to interact with 1526 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

January 30, 2022 5:25 PM

I'm the strong one, I'm not nervous by Yaniel Ayala Velez

So far, things were going…. Fine? Applying the absolute lowest bar possible of things to avoid at orientation/school tour (1 - Making a mortal enemy, 2 - Falling flat on your face) Yarielis was doing fine. The whole experience still felt vaguely overwhelming, but the first year was managing to keep a smile on, and not let anyone know about the nerves that were wreaking havoc under the surface.

Those tasks, which had seemed insurmountably huge, were now seeming like a small, safe space, as the group of first years was ushered into the Cascade Hall to dip their badges in front of the entire school. And then socialise with the entire school. And to really start being part of the whole school, but also a house, who they could earn points for, but equally lose points for. How mad did people get if that happened? How easy was it to mess up?

Yarielis had tucked the baseball cap into a pocket when they began the tour of the school, so stood just as anonymous as any of the other first years—perhaps a little broader shouldered, perhaps with eye-catching hair (though it was scraped back in a severe ponytail—out of sight, out of mind, as much as possible). A lot of people had relatives here, so maybe most of the older students were watching them instead. Still, as each person stepped up, it felt like every single eye had to be watching them. Yarielis tried to get through it as quickly as possible without that being obvious or without risking fumbling and dropping the badge. It came out red. Crotalus. That made sense. From the house descriptions, Yarielis had had a feeling that was the most likely, though had hoped Teppenpaw might make sense too. But everyone probably thought of themselves as nice, so perhaps that didn’t mean much. The bit about personal growth too… Of course, Yarielis was interested in that—again, who wasn’t?—but it wasn’t something that came easy. Hiding under layers and layers of protective shell to keep everyone happy, that came naturally. Perhaps that could have been termed ‘diplomatic’ but it wasn’t surprising to find it termed ‘cautious’ instead.

The young Puerto Rican walked over, taking a seat at the Crotalus table, wondering what it meant to be surrounded by people who were allegedly a lot like you. Especially when you weren’t sure you would ever choose yourself for company…

The food appeared. Yarielis watched for a minute, checking there wasn’t an obvious pecking order, but it really did just seem to be everyone diving in. There was a plate of pork chops nearby, and the students on either side were already busily serving themselves other things, so Yarielies quickly grabbed one, making sure there wouldn’t be an awkward ‘reaching for the same dish’ moment.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez I'm the strong one, I'm not nervous 1554 0 5

Giselle Duell

January 30, 2022 6:43 PM

At a loss by Giselle Duell

Despite specifically not investigating, Giselle was still not terribly surprised by at least one of the new prefect appointments. Although she thought she might need to go investigate whether there may be an trouble when the group had been announced. She had heard enough from her niece to wonder if some might be brewing depending on how the prefect patrol partners worked out. She certainly hadn't made prefect. No one had wanted a... nope, stop that. She was past this by now, that was done and over. She was here and things were okay. Mostly.

She still did not know what was going on with Xavier, Selina and the Looming Darkness. There wasn't really anything more she could do. Was there? She had done things, she had alerted people, she had given (possibly terrible) advice. What more could she do? What more did the Fates want from her? Once Selina did some of whatever she was going to do with the information, maybe there would be more to look into. There might be more specific things to examine or to question. All she could really do right now was to wait and be ready? Right?

In the meantime she had apparently missed the song, and the food had appeared. That was fine, the memory of her first opening feast and hearing the song still hadn't faded. The food in front of her smelled wonderful as usual. A quick swish of her wand revealed the table's layout to her mind's eye as the conversations began out in the hall and at the staff table. Giselle hadn't payed to much attention when she had sat down as to who was around her. Now she just listened as she collected food. She knew well that she was not what anyone would call a 'people' person, still she knew that conversing with the other staff was a good thing. It certainly wasn't something she was going to start however.

2 Giselle Duell At a loss 1517 0 5

Damian Milne

February 01, 2022 12:20 AM

First impressions by Damian Milne

OOC: Sorry for the late reply, got busy then had some technical issues that was mostly me being an idiot. BIC:

The whole day had been rather overwhelming. First the trip in those flying wagons, which had both peeked his sense of curiousity and wonder about actually flying with little to no feeling of propulsion. Just... flying.
Obviously he had read about all the stuff magic cold do in the books he had been required to get but seeing it in action on that scale for the first time was truly... magical. Though he did have to wonder how nobody spotted the scores of flying wagon going through the air, for being kept secret so long and effectively, the world of magic seemed to take a rather devil may care approach to keeping hidden.
Seeing the castle for the first time had been a bit of a shock as well. Just seeing this gigantic building with what appeared to be architecture from the south of Europe springing up from the American desert was just bizarre.
Landing, disembarking and then orientation were just a blur, then he found himself in the, what was it, the Cascade hall. Being called forward to dunk the badge into the potion or whatever it was and seeing it turn blue for Aladren. All the names of things around here would take some getting used to.
He started making his way over to the table wondering how this whole sorting deal worked, maybe they looked over everyone's transcripts, figured out where they should be and then used a chemical reaction to create the different colours? Though some people seemed rather surprised by there houses so maybe it was just ... magic. Logic was goin to have to take a little bit of a back seat to certain things here hew was beginning to realise.

Then he heard the person next to him ask something about the wizarding fair. Honestly he had no idea to respond so stayed quiet for a moment. It was quickly followed up with an understanding look and a question about what he knew about the magical world.

"Thanks, glad to be here. Well, honestly not a lot. Both my parents are muggles so the whole magic thing was a bit of a shock. I've been trying to read up on as much as possible to catch up but since arriving I'm kind of getting the impression that it's mostly gonna be a figure it all out as you go kind of thing."

62 Damian Milne First impressions 1553 0 5

Phil Carson

February 01, 2022 6:31 AM

They seem pretty accurate to me by Phil Carson

OOC: No worries, just glad you made it! BIC:

Phil nodded in sympathetic empathy for the younger boy's shock at the magical world . . . existing. "Same," he agreed. "All three muggle parents, here. One's a step-mom," he added by way of explanation about his non-standard number of parents. "I'm one year into it, and I'm still surprised by some things, but it's not as overwhelming as it was last year, so it does get better," he said by way of reassurance. "Figure it out as you go works pretty good."

He pointed down the table at his roommate. "That's Eben, my roommate; he's muggleborn, too, so we've got a pretty decent presence here in Aladren. Don't know if you've got another one in your year, but it was pretty cool, having someone else also figuring things out right alongside me. And I made friends with an older Pecari muggleborn, too, who'd been through all this a year ahead of me, and that was helpful, too, so don't feel like you're imposing if you have questions. I'd be glad to pay it forward."

Phil stopped talking long enough to take a bite of his dinner and chew it properly. After he swallowed, he asked, "Is there anything you're especially looking forward to?"

1 Phil Carson They seem pretty accurate to me 1536 0 5

Eris Ryan

February 02, 2022 1:31 AM

What's good about brown? by Eris Ryan

Eris followed the other first years into the largest dining hall she had ever seen in her entire life. It wasn’t like the cafeteria at her old school… it was opulent. A sea of students sat in front of her and she stopped staring open-mouthed. She knew logically that there would be other students, but the fact that there were so many and they were all witches and wizards… she could barely process it all. How had all of this stayed hidden from everyone for so long? Had they always been right under her nose?

Realizing that the group was moving ahead without her, Eris scampered to the middle of the pack and ducked her head. Why had she dyed her hair purple again? It made it incredibly difficult to blend in.

An even grumpier looking professor-guy was saying something, but before she could figure out what it was the students in front of her were approaching a giant vat of… something. The word came to her: a potion. She peered over the students’ shoulders in front of her trying to figure out what she was supposed to do and saw them dipping their badges into the solution.
Before she knew it, it was her turn. Pinching the badge between her thumb and forefinger, Eris slowly submerged the badge. She was very careful to make sure the potion didn’t touch her fingers. She saw the other students’ badges changing colors and she didn’t want to take any chances that her skin would go blue or red… After a moment, she began to remove her badge from the brew being careful not to splatter herself or any of the others.

Cupping the badge in her hands, it slowly changed into…. brown. Brown. Brown…. BROWN? What a lame color! What did brown mean? She looked around the hall and luckily saw that the older students were helpfully color coded in house pride…? She couldn’t wait for magical spirit week… in which she would wear brown….

She sat down at the table and tried to think of positive things related to brown.

Suddenly, a parchment appeared in front of her nose and everyone started to sing. Mortified, Eris did what she usually did during any mandatory embarrassing group singing situations… she mouthed the word “watermelon” over and over hoping nobody would notice she wasn’t singing.

When the food appeared, seeing a cake, Eris muttered… “Well… chocolate is brown. And I like chocolate. And…uhh… there has to be something else good about brown…”

60 Eris Ryan What's good about brown? 1552 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

February 02, 2022 4:41 PM

What are you generally known for then? by Fortune Ardovini

"Hmm…" Fortune considered what he assumed was a joking response from his new roommate. "That could work out, unfortunately I don't have ink or a quill on me at the moment." He didn't, Dad usually kept such things on his person at all times, but Fortune had never gotten into the habit. He wondered briefly if he should.

Fortune dug into his food while Xander ruminated on the sleeping situation. "I guess we'll see about the room, but I think I read somewhere that there is a boy's room and a girl's room for each year group. Still, they can't be all that far apart." He gave the other boy a mischievous grin. "I bet we could do it if we wanted to."

He nodded in response to the Quidditch speculation, but paused a moment when Xander started wishing misfortune upon the rest of the team. It seemed the boy realized what he was saying and Fortune gave him a friendly smirk, "I know the feeling. I guess we'll have to see what the team needs," then added, "or teams need." If they could get enough people... "Flying lessons is a good thought. We can see who's good at flying, and seems to like it."

"I dunno..." Fortune thought about the classes ahead of them. "Charms obviously will probably be awesome, I've heard transfigurations is hard." He thought for another moment, "What are the other ones? Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions... hmm..." he was sure he was missing some. They had gotten a folder with some of that info in it. "Which one are you looking forward to?"

2 Fortune Ardovini What are you generally known for then? 1549 0 5

Grayson Wright

February 03, 2022 2:31 PM

I know that feeling well. by Grayson Wright

Another Orientation, another group of first years successfully introduced to the school, shown the major public areas of the building, and then delivered to Mortimer and Selina for Sorting. As unobtrusively as possible (his bland features, none-too-showy clothing, and diffident manner doing battle with his height and lifelong clumsiness in that department), Grayson Wright slipped away from the spotlight and into his seat at the staff table.

The first day of a new year. Months and months of new days, with a soothing mixture of routine and novelty, were spread out before them. Gray knew enough to know that his feelings were likely foolish, that there were too many variables in play, but he could never help but feel a certain glimmer of optimism on the first day of school. It felt like a clean break had been made with the past, even though he knew too well that there was no such thing as one of those; the future was easy, on a day like this, to picture as something like a manuscript notebook, with a sharp quill and fresh pot of ink standing ready and all the candles burning steadily and without smoking. A field - at first glance, at least - of endless opportunity.

He smiled at his neighbor by force of social habit as the Feast began, even though she couldn't see him except when obviously performing a spell. "Good evening, Professor Duell. Congratulations on Valentine's getting prefect, I'm sure she'll do a wonderful job."

16 Grayson Wright I know that feeling well. 113 0 5

Claire Osbrook

February 03, 2022 2:58 PM

And to observe! by Claire Osbrook

"Oh, no," said Claire, frowning, upon hearing that Iris expected some trouble from her summer to spill over into the new school year. What events among Muggles could affect someone here? "I hope not, that doesn't sound like very much fun."

Claire didn't say anything as Iris described her community, but it didn't sound all that normal to her, at least not if she was understanding everything correctly. The sticking point was the one where Iris and her brother did something that other people had to take up the slack for when they were away - did that mean they really worked, properly speaking? Claire enjoyed learning about aspects of her family business, but if she was anything other than neutral, she was pretty sure she was more of an inconvenience to her grandmother than a real help when she was at home, at least for now. Certainly she didn't sell anything that someone else would need to make in her absence. She wondered what Billy and Iris did, or had done.

The other complication of Iris' life was something Claire thought she could understand, even if she hadn't experienced it personally, so she nodded sympathetically. "Sounds like it would be," she agreed. "I guess it sounds like...if my family had hired someone to teach me to read and do my sums, after Graham just learned from whoever had time to teach him that day?" Their grandmother had given most of their lessons, but it hadn't been unheard of for her mother or father to take a lesson, too, when they weren't needed immediately at their jobs. Claire supposed it had worked as well as any other system, since she hadn't noticed any startling differences between her ability to understand things written down and other people's. "That sounds like it would be hard."

Asked about the game with Graham, she thought back through the funnier requests. "There was one customer who wanted an ink made with ground jobberknoll feathers," she said. "Which...if anyone's ever made that, I don't know who it is. And another guy wanted this massive amount of mugwort paper, which was - " Claire waved with her fork, trying to sum up the issue and failing there. "Mugwort doesn't grow anywhere near us naturally, so all we have is this tiny little amount my grandmother grows in her glass house for potions. The order got finished, but it took forever, and it cost an arm and a leg, since Daddy had to order the supplies. I wish I knew what he wanted it for - mugwort paper's this dark brown color, so it's not really something you're going to use just everyday to write letters, is it?" She took a few bites of food and remembered another. "Oh, and there was a woman who wanted her quills dipped in silver for some reason. I'm not sure if that one ever got filed as a 'weirdest' or if it was just a 'pointless extravagant' kind of thing."

16 Claire Osbrook And to observe! 1540 0 5

Lenny Pierce

February 03, 2022 6:13 PM

Looks like I'm in the Yellow house! by Lenny Pierce

Lenny entered the Cascade Hall and gaped at the cascading waterfalls that gave it its name. They maybe weren't the single most amazing magical thing he'd ever seen (there were a few things vying for that spot, some of them not technically even magical, though Disney might disagree) but it was probably almost definitely top five.

He watched some of the other kids get sorted, and his eyes followed them to the different tables. He missed seeing the people directly in front of him go because he'd caught Rosalynn looking at him, and he'd waved, and then then the person behind him was nudging him to let him know it was his turn to go. He dunked the badge, wondering if it would come out brown or yellow, and he hesitated before pulling it out, making a bet with himself that he'd eat one of the cookies Mum had packed in his trunk if he got Pecari like her and Dad.

He pulled it out and it was yellow! Okay then! Not unprecedented in the family: Ginger had been a Teppenpaw. Not what he was expecting though! Well, kind of what he was expecting. He figured it was one of the two. But awesome! Cool beans! He was a Teppenpaw!

Lenny headed over to the table and took a seat, looking forward to the meal. He and Xander had already talked to a prairie elf about vegan food, so he was sure there'd be something for him to eat tonight, and he knew what to look for that would mark a dish as vegan. That helped remove a lot of the nerves he usually felt about eating away from home.

The last of the first years soon took their spot, and Lenny applauded enthusiastically for the older kids getting badges, having no idea who any of them were, but they were getting badges and he was proud of them! Go people earning responsibility and respect!

"Oh, fair!" he exclaimed aloud when that announcement was made. He loved fairs!

The school song was a problem though. Lenny could not carry a tune to save his life. He sort of mumble-hummed his way through it.

Then the food appeared, and there was a lot of it! Most of it Lenny couldn't eat, but he saw a couple dishes with the green leaf decal on them that the elf had told him to look for. "Can you pass me that smaller bowl of mashed potatoes, that has the leaf on it," he asked his neighbor, ignoring the larger bowl right in front of him that didn't have it. That one was probably flavored with butter or was mixed with milk.

1 Lenny Pierce Looks like I'm in the Yellow house! 1547 0 5

Billy Cobb

February 04, 2022 7:06 PM

Lots 'o things! by Billy Cobb

Billy plunked himself down at the Pecari table, still looking all around for Ray. His red hair was it's usual mess and he pulled at his dress (robe), he still thought they were weird things to wear. Anyway, he had a lot to tell Ray about summer stuff. It looked like he was going to have to find her later though. Maybe in the common room after the feast. Anyway, it was time to get this show started. Oh right, first talking and stuff. Hopefully this was another short speech, he was hungry. Oh right, sorting and things as well. He groaned and settled in to wait, there was nothing else to be done.

The little kids got sorted out, fun times. One of them sat down next to him as she came to the table. She didn't look entirely happy either, not exactly upset though. Oh well. The awards went out. He didn't have many thoughts on the head students, the prefects were only one year ahead of him... that meant that his class was up next year. Huh. He didn't really figure on making prefect, but had to rethink that a bit when Stanley's name was announced. Eh, oh well. If it happened, it happened.

They were having a fair? That could be neat. Maybe? The song came around and and he belted out the song, it' wasn't particularly good, but how often did you get to yell out as loud as you could in the Hall? Then, finally the food arrived! Hooray! Billy began piling things onto his plate, that was when he heard the new girl next to him muttering something, he missed the beginning but tuned in well enough to catch the end.

Billy grinned at her, "Sure!" he volunteered, "Lotsa stuff! Fer one, Pecari is brown so that's pretty dope!" He was so glad Gus had taught him how to use that word. "Lots of neat things are brown as well; dirt and mud, some horses.." he stabbed a chunk of meat on his plate and lifted it up to show, "Roast beef too!" This was kinda a fun game, "Alright my turn!" he grinned at the girl, "What about purple?"

2 Billy Cobb Lots 'o things! 1519 0 5

Philippe Delachene

February 04, 2022 7:59 PM

Runner up by Philippe Delachene

Philippe took a seat at the Teppenpaw table. He was now fifteen years old, going into his fifth year. He was officially now part of the older half of the school. He'd never felt like he was significantly younger than his sister and boyfriend, both of which were in seventh year now. It was an opinion he knew was not universal, especially for the boyfriend part, but now the difference felt smaller than ever, with them all being upperclassmen.

He paid some attention to the new first years as they were sorted, clapping for the new Teppenpaws, but it was the next part that he was most interested in. He held his breath as the new prefects were named and was honestly not especially surprised when it was Valentine's name that got called. His shoulders still slumped slightly in disappointment. Three Delachenes went through Sonora, and of them, it was Anya who got the badge. Not that he begrudged her that, and it wasn't really unexpected given she'd had no competition, but . . . Anya. And not him.

Yes, he was a little bit jealous, and he felt really bad about it, so he clapped extra hard whenever he thought Valentine might be looking in his direction. She was a good choice. The obvious choice, even. It was just bad luck that she was in his year and House during Prefect selection time.

Phillippe would totally have gotten it if he was a Pecari.

The rest of the speech was the mention of the fair, which had been Philippe's first event, so there was another indicator that he was on his final stretch.

After singing the song, the food appeared and he reached for some steak, and tried to smile cheerfully at his neighbor. "Have a good summer?"

1 Philippe Delachene Runner up 1489 0 5

Alexander Whitlock III

February 05, 2022 4:14 AM

'Nervous' doesn't feature in my vocabulary. by Alexander Whitlock III

Alexander had no complaints about Sonora at the moment. The school seemed like a nice enough place and though he hadn't had any big interactions with any of the other students yet (something he was planning on rectifying), they seemed to be a decent bunch of people. He stood tall and proud and walked with an easy, confident saunter into Cascade Hall, his blank badge resting in his hand.

He had no strong opinions about which house he wanted to be in. They all seemed perfectly adequate and he was sure that he would meet and be able to build all sorts of influential and beneficial friendships in any one of them. Despite having no preference, Alexander was pretty certain that he'd end up in Crotalus though he did consider that being sorted into Aladren was a distinct possibility. As he wasn't burdened by preferences or nervousness, Alexander strode up to the potion and dunked his blank badge without hesitation, unsurprised (and pleased that he'd been right) when it came out red for the Crotalus house.

He meandered over to the appropriate table, a relaxed smile on his face as he met the eyes of several of the other Crotalus students without fear. He found an open seat and slipped into it, finding himself sitting next to another student who he was sure was a new first year. Alexander thought that making a friend in his own year group was a good place to start and made sure to direct one of his confident smiles in their direction.

He paid close attention to the Sonora Headmaster and to who the Head Students and the prefects were. It could be tricky to make friends with those people, given the age differences but Alexander didn't think it was impossible and the friendships could prove advantageous. It would take some more thought and consideration. He would work his way up to befriending the older students. Alexander wasn't daft. He knew that many of them would probably have little interest in an eleven year old first year. He would just have to work to prove to them that Alexander Whitlock III was somebody who was worth knowing. Still, one step at a time.

When the food appeared, Alexander reached immediately for the lamb, followed by carrots, roast potatoes and peas, putting a generous helping of all onto his plate. After filling his cup with juice, he started to dig in, curiosity over how good the food was temporarily overiding any thoughts of friendship building he'd had. Finding the food delectable and more than satisfactory, he turned his attention to his fellow first year. His first immediate thought was that he wouldn't be able to cope with such long hair but thought it wise not to voice this opinion as there was a chance that it could be taken as an insult and it wouldn't do to get off on the wrong foot.

"I'm Alexander Whitlock III of the Cheshire Whitlocks," he introduced himself. "Cheshire's in England," he added, just in case the student didn't know and by way of explanation for his clear and crisp British accent. "And you are?"

20 Alexander Whitlock III 'Nervous' doesn't feature in my vocabulary. 1557 0 5

Ellie Alperton

February 05, 2022 4:33 AM

Thank you by Ellie Alperton

“Thank you,” Ellie smiled, as Morgan not only congratulated her but said she had deserved it. That took the compliment beyond the tokenistic, and made it feel like Morgan was actually saying it because it was Ellie not just because she was the person with the badge.

She was slightly taken aback by Morgan’s follow up question. She had never thought Morgan was particularly interested in school politics, in part because almost no one seemed interested in school politics. At least, not out loud. She was quite sure there were rooms where money talked, and perhaps the people with the biggest influence kept the quietest in school because their views had an audience elsewhere. But very few people seemed actively to try to make a point and stand for it. It was perhaps why making a point that she was a person who made points and stood for them had been a risky but effective tactic.

Beyond that… She had ideas. Daydreams and visions, some of which had even made it into her bright rainbow planning binder. Which of those were plans for the LGBTQIA+ Cafe versus actions she would take with her head girl hat on… She hadn’t necessarily separated those out, or come up with a specific manifesto to back up her slogan. It hadn’t seemed necessary. Now though, she clearly needed an answer.

“Yes,” she nodded. “I mean, a lot of it will depend on what the format of the fair is this year, and what my required duties are, but I also want to make sure the LGBTQIA+ cafe is more than just a social space. Hopefully we can do some meaningful campaign work this year.” That was still somewhat smushes together. hich, She didn’t need to be head girl for those things. She had always been planning to do them, as the cafe’s leader. Hopefully it would become clearer as she got further into it.

“What about you? What have you got going on this year?” she asked.

13 Ellie Alperton Thank you 1456 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

February 05, 2022 5:01 AM

Great. Cos I'm not that. by Yaniel Ayala Velez

Yarielis had ended up sitting next to another first year. That was good, right? It sort of felt like they should be on a level playing field, except there was no such thing. People came into school with different advantages, even if it was just an aunt or cousin who’d come here, and meant that they weren’t a total stranger to the place. Then there was money, race, gender, and every other thing that could mean you had to work twice as hard to prove yourself half as good.

Case in point, that mouthful of an introduction. Alexander Whitlock III, of Cheshire in England. An immigrant, then. Except no one would think that, or probably even use that word for him, because he was white and English-speaking. He sounded fancy. Both his name and his accent. Yarielis knew it wasn’t nice to judge, but also, people didn’t exactly throw their surnames around and stick numbers into their kids’ names if they wanted to be low key.

Still, they were going to be in the same classes for seven years. More than that, the same house. They wouldn’t have to share a room, but it mattered to be nice, and smile, and to try to get along. That was true of everyone, but especially true the more circles they overlapped in. Alexander was currently only second to Freya in terms of ‘people I will be forced into interactions with.’

“Yarielis Ayala Velez,” Yarielis supplied, with a friendly smile, in spite of the nerves that were still bubbling furiously under the surface. It was curious how their names both revealed an interest, at the level of society, in knowing who your family were, and in tracing and valuing that. The Puerto Rican practise of taking both parents’ names, following the paternal line down each generation, made for a genealogist’s dream. Relationships and families were so easily traced and mapped out. Though it was probably a different sense of value and pride than the Whitlocks of Chesire, England placed on things… “I’m from Florida, and I’m Puerto Rican. That’s a United States unincorporated territory.” If they were giving out free geography lessons with their introductions, it only seemed fair to inform him of this—a lot of Americans didn’t even know this fact, after all, so what chance did a little English boy have? It was a big, fancy word, and it sounded weirdly technical, but it was a lot less loaded than any lay term, and a lot shorter than explaining.

“What made you pick this school?” Yarielis asked, curious about that.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez Great. Cos I'm not that. 1554 0 5

Alexander Whitlock III

February 05, 2022 5:29 AM

Good for us, being not nervous. by Alexander Whitlock III

Alexander filed the name away and took a moment to process the unexpected, not-typically English name. He was tempted to ask if it could be shortened to 'Yari' or 'Elis' and then decided against it. That would make him a hypocrite. Alexander was always Alexander, never 'Alex' or any other shortened version of his name people could come up with. He'd been given the name at birth, it was the name of his father and his grandfather, a legacy (though, he admitted to himself privately, not a great one but that was something he was determined to change) that had been passed down. The least people could do was struggle all the way to the end.

He also made a mental note to do some research on Florida and whatever a United States unincorporated territory was. It was his pride that prevented him from asking Yarielis for more information but Alexander would make sure that he would be more informed on the subject by the end of the week, just in case the subject of Floridian geography happened to crop up in any future discussions, not necessarily just with Yarielis. There was a likelihood that some of the other students that were attending Sonora were from Florida and it could be a talking point.

"I didn't," he answered plainly before having another forkful of food. "It was the decision of my mother that I should go to a school to further my education rather than continue to be privately tutored. This is apparently the one my parents settled on."

He looked around him then, a slightly thoughtful look on his face, eyeing the crystal chandeliers and the waterfalls that flowed down the walls, a rather fantastic example of magical architecture. "I quite like it so far. What about you?"

20 Alexander Whitlock III Good for us, being not nervous. 1557 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

February 05, 2022 6:40 AM

Mas en lo profundo... by Yaniel Ayala Velez

He hadn’t picked it, his mother had. Well, okay, obviously because what ten-turning-eleven year old walked up to their parents like ‘Mama, Papa, I have selected the institute of my future education?’ Actually, it was eerily possible to imagine Alexander spouting something like that off, based on how he talked so far, though apparently he hadn’t. Yarielis felt like a collective you (seeing as English didn’t bother to distinguish) had vaguely been implied by the question, but wasn’t going to bother digging into it. It was mildly interesting, but not worth a lot of effort. The way he said it made it sound like they hadn’t consulted him at all, which was very weird, but that made Yarielis even less inclined to pursue the subject because weird was either highly subjective, and you risked offending someone by finding their ‘normal’ to be strange, or highly charged as a subject. Conversations were at their most comfortable when there was a good amount of distance or a solid wall between all participants and anything remotely personal.

Which was why—when Alexander asked an ambiguous question in return—Yarielis went for the more neutral interpretation. He could have been asking about the reasons behind choosing this school, or Yarielis’ feelings on it so far.

“It seems nice.” Feelings were, sometimes, a personal subject, but in this case, it was the question that it was possible to answer with the least personal information and the fewest words. Not that there was a stunningly interesting story behind how Yarielis had ended up here. Papa was non-magical, so had no real experience of the schools to offer (though he’d tried to get invested enough to have opinions, because he liked to show his support), and Mama had stayed in Puerto Rico until she was an adult. They’d picked a school that had a reputation for being open-minded and supportive, and which didn’t charge sky high fees. Yarielis wasn’t ashamed of any part of that, but it also didn’t exactly feel like it would give common ground with someone whose other option had been private tutoring. It opened far more doors than staring at waterfalls and saying how pretty they were did. “Kind of wild to think we’re in a desert right now,” Yarielis commented, for the sake of something further to say. The more you said about nothing, the less people tended to notice that you weren’t talking about bigger things. “The food seems pretty good too.” That was true, even if there was a little homesick pang in Yarielis’ heart (or maybe stomach?), one that would probably grow stronger during dessert. Having parents who ran a bakery would make you rather particular about sweets…

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez Mas en lo profundo... 1554 0 5

Giselle Duell

February 05, 2022 8:38 AM

Have you learned to do anything with it? by Giselle Duell

"Good evening Professor Wright," Giselle responded. At this point she had well learned the voices of all of the staff members. Professor Wright seemed to her a bit more social than she was. Still his comment caught her a bit off guard. "Thank-you?" she answered with a fair amount of uncertainty. She hadn't had anything to do with Valentine's appointment. Did he think she had manipulated things to get Val prefect? He had said it so casually, was that expected, was it the norm? Were staff members supposed to intervene to put their relatives into such positions? "I didn't do anything though," She thought she should probably clear that up. She hadn't manipulated the strands of the universe to do anything for her niece. Though from her 'education' in Delphi, she knew of the possibilities.

His second comment was easier to address and make comment upon. "I'm sure she will do her very best to make everyone happy." She smiled hopefully, "Hopefully she does well, perhaps I will need to inquire." That did remind her about the investigation that she'd been doing into Xavier and the impending darkness. She shook the thought away though.

She should be social, she knew she should. He was talking to her and she should make sure to keep the conversation going. But what to talk about? Ask about what he thought the year would bring? That seemed like an odd question for the Divinations professor to ask. Maybe about his summer? Their previous interactions had been more 'academic' that sort of thing seemed a bit more appropriate, but she wasn't sure what to ask along those lines. finally she decided upon, "Do you have anything interesting planned for your students this year?"

2 Giselle Duell Have you learned to do anything with it? 1517 0 5

Alexander Whitlock III

February 06, 2022 6:13 AM

Yeah... What you said. by Alexander Whitlock III

It was, as Yarielis had put it, 'wild' to think that they were currently sitting in a school in the middle of the desert. Alexander had had his doubts when he'd first found out about the location of the school. It had seemed odd to have picked such an unforgiving terrain to build a school but the more Alexander had thought on it, he'd come to the conclusion that it had been chosen because it was out of the way, removed and kept private. The school was unlikely to be accidentally stumbled upon in such a remote location, the magical students and teachers able to study and work in peace. Alexander supposed there was something in the Statute of Secrecy regarding school locations. It would seem like something that would be in there. Or it was just something that magical schools had in common. He knew that the magical school in Britain was in somewhere just as remote... though he couldn't quite remember where at present.

He nodded in agreement in regards to Yarielis' comment about the food and had another mouthful, chewing slowly as he considered where else to take this current conversation. Despite having had many lessons on etiquette and the art of conversation, they had pretty muich only applied to the balls or parties that he'd been required to attend and they didn't seem to work in this current situation. Alexander didn't particularly have any friends to speak of outside of Sonora. He had met a few other children from some of the functions that he'd been required to attend at the behest of his father but Alexander considered them more acquaintances than friends and, apart from anything else, he only socialised and danced with them as it was what was expected of him. The conversations were never particularly riveting, just dull small talk about the weather or how lovely the music was... or how good the food was.

Apparently, small talk had become a habit and that wouldn't do for making friends. Alexander wanted to be able to write a letter home at the end of the week to announce that he'd at least made decent headway on making a friend or two. It would set him back now if he couldn't create an interesting conversation with Yarielis.

"I've never been to Florida," he decided to say as he reached for his juice. "What's it like there?"

20 Alexander Whitlock III Yeah... What you said. 1557 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

February 06, 2022 3:25 PM

You too, huh? by Yaniel Ayala Velez

What was Florida like? Huh. Perhaps that should havebeen an obvious question to expect, given that the school's population was from all over - including other countries. Actually, it was maybe Alexander's status as an outsider that made him ask that. Most Americans probably had their own working stereotype of Florida to fall back on - warm, good for holidays or retirement, kinda full of stupid antics. It wasn't most of those things to Yarielis. It was grocery shops full of plantains, it was shouting between balconies in Spanish, and just... living. Going to school, helping in the bakery, going to the park. It was comments, ranging from Yarielis being an 'unusual' name to things that were straight out worse, and to watching people's face fall and close up over elections, knowing that there was a sense of life and death intricacies on the line without fully knowing how all the details worked. How did you sum up the whole place you lived? Especially when your experience wasn't considered default and representative.

"Warm," Yarielis said, going with the state's most notable feature. "There's actual palm trees and stuff, and it's pretty popular for vacations. Obviously it's a bit different living there, but the weather's still a big plus.

"What's England, or...um, Chester(?) like?" The word had its own individual question mark outside the wider intonation of the overall question to show that that was a guess. Yarielis made a slightly apologetic face at having probably just butchered geography.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez You too, huh? 1554 0 5

Liesl Brockert

February 07, 2022 1:51 PM

I don't think there's ever going to be a Last Brockert by Liesl Brockert

Liesl had had a really good summer. Most of it had been spent on St. Berylla’s and she’d spent a lot of time with her cousins and her little sister. Krisalyn was a year younger than Uncle Cory’s oldest child Jason, so they were more her sister’s age than hers, but the Teppenpaw had enjoyed spending time with them and helping out with the younger children some, which didn’t just include her sister and Uncle Cory’s kids, but her other little cousins, Ella and Roland-the children of Father’s older brother, Liesl’s Uncle Judah-and some of Uncle Mortimer’s younger grandchildren, Alma, Libby, Uriah and Miles. She’d also hung out with some of the ones closer to her age of course and had even met Adam Brockert’s daughter Gwendolyn who was coming to school this year.

However, the best times were when some of the adult men would come down. They had to work during the summer of course so they weren’t always there. Therefore, Liesl looked forward to when Uncle Cory was there and she got to spend time with him. Even with his wife and kids and sometimes his friends there, he still made time for her. That was always the best.

Honestly, she had no idea how her uncle managed it. Summer was a busy time for someone who was selling wands so he didn’t get that much time off and then he had a bunch of people who needed to spend time with him. Liesl was amazed that Uncle Cory would make sure to do so when he had to be absolutely exhausted.

Anyway, even though she’d had a good summer, she was glad to be back at school. The second year was eager to catch up with her friends and hear about their summers. Especially Hans, both because he was probably her closest friend and also, because he lived on a snake ranch-and Liesl very much wanted to hear about snakes.

Not that she didn’t want to catch up with Verdillia and Patience and Lydia-though she had seen Lydia some over the summer, the older Teppenpaw was actually Gwendolyn’s first cousin, so basically, in addition to being Liesl’s distant cousin, their uncles worked together, something the second year didn’t put together last year, but which was so cool, albeit not as cool as living on a snake farm-as well. She was looking forward to seeing them all, and had even brought presents. She had gotten Hans a snake figurine from Cuba-Liesl hadn’t gone there, it was another thing she’d asked Uncle Cory to pick up-some enchanted earrings for Verdilia and a small stuffed unicorn for Patience. The last of which had been the most difficult to figure out because she wasn’t as close to her roommate as the others, but naturally she hoped to change that.

And then she’d felt the need to buy something for Lydia, even though they’d seen each other, in the interest of not leaving her out. Liesl would hate for anyone to do that to her so she’d gotten the other girl this really nice glass unicorn. Both Lydia and Patience seemed more unicorn girls than skull girls. Although the second year unfortunately did not know any other skull girls but at least Hans was a snake boy.

Liesl found a seat at the Teppenpaw table and was thrilled when Hans sat down by her. However, he didn’t have much time to do anything other than say hi and ask her how her break was before the first years came in. She replied. “It was great” and then turned her attention to the Sortings, watching as Gwendolyn went into Aladren.

Then came the prefect and Head Student announcements, which weren’t anyone that Liesl was close to, although Lavender and Stanley were distant cousins of hers and one of the Head Students was a Teppenpaw. Then Uncle Mortimer announced the school fair. Which actually sounded like it could be a lot more fun than the ball. Although Liesl had had fun at that because she’d actually had a group to hang out with, the fair just seemed like something that could be more fun in general. Plus, not everyone had had someone to hang out with at the ball, and the fair just seemed like something that would be, well, more fair .

Finally, they sang the school song, and she could talk to Hans and eat. “I’m not sure, I wasn’t here when you were a first year.” Liesl replied with a smile, as she handed him the potatoes. “How was your break? And what do you know about the fair? Any ideas what you think it’ll be? My cousins mentioned something about a charity fair last time but I know it’s something different every time. Or at least like, they’ll do something and then they won’t do that idea again for a bit.”

11 Liesl Brockert I don't think there's ever going to be a Last Brockert 1537 0 5

Anya Delachene

February 08, 2022 6:45 AM

Don't boo on my account by Anya Delachene

As a prefect, Anya felt it was her duty to applaud loudly for all of the new Pecaris as they were sorted, but that was about where her interest in them ended. Sure, she'd be helpful and friendly if they ever needed a prefect's assistance and she was the one available (and she was pretty sure she was way more approachable than Mab, so she figured she'd be sought out much frequently than the sixth year), but they were eleven, and she was seventeen, and she did not expect much in the way of casual interaction with any of them.

Of far greater interest were the badges, and she sat up and leaned forward as the Headmaster stood again after the Sorting was complete. "YES!" she cheered loudly when it was Ellie's name called for one of the Head Student spots. "GOOO, ELLLIIIIEE!" That her own name was not called barely registered. She hadn't voted for herself, so why would anyone else? She didn't particularly want it.

And then Stanley made prefect, which was awesome! "WHOOO, STANLEY!" Anya added her cheer to her younger friend after Theo shouted at him what had happened. This was going to be an awesome year! Stanley was prefect with her! Patrols with him were going to be the best!

When the feast appeared a little bit later (mostly the length of the school song later, because say whatever else you wanted to say about Headmaster Brockert, he was short and to the point in his announcements each Feast), she cheerfully filled up her plate with some of her favorite foods that her family never made at home.

"We got classes together again!" she noted in a happy, upbeat tone to Theo as a conversational opening. "This should be a good year! What classes did you decide to keep? I'm still in DADA, Charms, Divination, and CoMC."

1 Anya Delachene Don't boo on my account 1453 0 5

Mab

February 08, 2022 7:50 AM

There are worse things. by Mab

"Not a fan," she agreed to Xavier's assessment, though she thought it was a bit of an understatement. She wasn't a fan of the Red Sox, as she had zero interest in baseball, but you couldn't be from Boston without feeling slightly cheered when you heard that the Yankees lost. Her feelings toward Stanley ran a bit more toward the Yankees than the Red Sox. (Though, admittedly, it was true that she wasn't a fan of the Yankees either.)

"Why do the other Pecari prefects have to be so . . ." she struggled for a word that encompassed everything wrong with Anya and Stanley, "conspicuous? They're loud, they climb things, they talk too much, they get in trouble in class..." Which, she realized, described about half of her House and she wondered again how she'd gotten put into this mess. She sighed. "I'd have been an Aladren, I think, if I could have picked. They're at least generally quiet and usually mind their own business." That would have put her with Morgan and Mara instead of Leonor, which she wasn't sure was a great trade, but not being a Pecari might have been worth it.

She sighed and started poking at the food on her plate. "What about you? You're quieter. Do you mind being a Pecari?"

1 Mab There are worse things. 1473 0 5

Rosalynn Tellerman

February 08, 2022 8:22 AM

Arguably, that's 'the' middle. I only claimed 'a' middle. by Rosalynn Tellerman

"Probably," Rosalynn agreed to Bertie's assessment that Lenny might be better off in Teppenpaw. She wasn't sure the other Teppenpaws would necessarily agree to that, as Lenny could get adamant in his opinions sometimes, but they'd probably be quicker to accept his quirks than maybe Pecari would. Though Pecaris were supposed to be adaptable, so he'd probably have done all right in either House. "Though his parents are both Pecaris, which is why I guessed that, so he has practice getting Pecaris to like him." Which, arguably, maybe played into how his badge had come out yellow.

To be entirely truthful, Rosalynn had not expected Bertie to be interested in a performance art club. She'd asked mostly just to be friendly and inclusive, but she'd more or less assumed he would state his time would be better spent elsewhere.

She sat up in surprised delight when he gave a (admittedly defiant) 'maybe' instead, like he was challenging her to take back the implicit invitation to join her club. "Oh! Cool!" she exclaimed instead. "What do you like to do? Do you play an instrument?" she guessed, thinking he seemed more likely to be the kind of person who did that than someone who acted or danced or juggled, though he was in that role playing club, so maybe there was acting involved in that? "Or do you act?" Or maybe he just wanted to try something new? Was that where the defiance came from? "Or it's totally okay if you don't have experience yet."

1 Rosalynn Tellerman Arguably, that's 'the' middle. I only claimed 'a' middle. 1520 0 5

Theo Spurn

February 08, 2022 11:55 PM

Oh. Okay. Woo. by Theo Spurn

Anya was wooing rather than booing, so it seemed like things were probably okay. Theo relaxed a bit, happy that his friend was happy. It probably wasn't one of those tricks were someone pretended to be feeling something but was actually lying. Anya didn't play many of those. It was one of the good things about her. Wally did it a lot, which was very annoying, but apparently so was calling it 'lies and betrayal' so it was one of those things that Theo just had to sort of accept even if he didn't like. It wasn't that Wally was lying, it was just that he tended to keep everything in boxes. Like his toys, and his potions kit, everything all tidy and with the lid on. He liked things being like that, and his feelings were no exception. Theo and Stanley couldn't do that. Wally didn't get mad at them for being messy, so Theo didn't get mad at him for being tidy, even if sometimes he had to ask Wally if he was upset or annoyed, just to make sure.

"Yes! We will!" Theo bounced as Anya mentioned being in classes together. But then she pointed out that it was subject-dependent, and he deflated slightly. "Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, and COMC," he said. He had tried Divination because it seemed floaty and the teacher had a lot of nice scarves but there was too much 'maybe.' He didn't mind 'maybe' in theory, where it made it much easier to be right, but there was only so long he could stare at swirly fog before thinking 'so, now what?' "I wanted to take potions so I could learn to make Wolfsbane for my dad but I failed that," he added sadly. He could learn with his aunt, but he had wanted to learn at school. School was where you were supposed to learn things. The desire to learn Wolfsbane had been why he had put up with so many slimy things. And because he liked Professor Brooding-Hawthorne, and because he liked doing the right thing. "It is deeply unfair," he glared at the table, and stabbed a few peas more forcefully than necessary. "Also, I might not do great in Transfiguration because my essays are superficial and tangential, but even if I fail the course, I will learn some useful things."

13 Theo Spurn Oh. Okay. Woo. 1476 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

February 09, 2022 12:29 AM

I'll hold you to that by Xavier Lundstrom

Mab, for once, went beyond the bare minimum of agreeing or disagreeing, and also gave her reason for dislking Stanley without Xavier having to prompt. Conspicuous. By which she meant loud, climby, and in trouble. The latter was kind of odd for prefects, he had to admit that, but so was 'grouchy' which described Mab. Disadvantage of small year groups and putting all the excitable kids in the same group, he assumed.

"Well, look on the brightside - they can direct that energy at each other, and you can stay out of it."

He considered Mab's other question. It was a weird sort of compliment, 'hey, you're less noticeable than most other people.' Like, gee, great. He knew in her book that was a positive, but her book was weird. He was acutely aware that he didn't have many friends. He suspected the reasons he came off as quiet were to do with spending copious amounts of time in academic support, in the hospital wing, or just in his room because he couldn't cope with reality, none of which were really things he wanted to be the defining features of his personality, much less be complimented on. He was 'polite,' he supposed. Adults had often said that about him. And it wasn't like he didn't look at Oz or the Floor Is Lava gang and occasionally think 'What the heck?' or 'Why are you doing that?' but... But he had felt like Pecari suited him. He hadn't questioned why he was there, and had felt a vague sense of camaraderie. Was it just because he'd been too swamped with everything else to give it any thought? He mentally flicked through the other houses, not feeling like any of them were really better for him. Aladren called to mind Lorena and Phil, so was right out. Teppenpaw and Crotalus... He'd never thought he would get on in the latter, but if he was 'quiet' and 'polite' maybe he would have. And maybe if he'd had a normal life, he'd have had more time to be a person. One, apparently, Mab would have found objectionable.

"I think I belong in Pecari," he shrugged, his voice now betraying the edge of doubt she had put into his head. "As much as I belong anywhere here," he mumbled, still more than loud enough for her to hear. He wasn't supposed to say such things of course, but he felt safe enough saying them to her. And it was true. He hadn't questioned it as much in his first year, but there were undoubtedly huge wedges between him and his classmates now - some of them driven in by the very people who were so worried by his lack of assimilation.

13 Xavier Lundstrom I'll hold you to that 1529 0 5

Bertie Jackson

February 17, 2022 2:48 PM

But you claimed 'of your time here' so it's still definitely relative to that by Bertie Jackson

"How...diplomatic of him," Bertie said, when Rosalynn mentioned that Lenny was good at getting people to like him. The pause was mostly for dramatic emphasis, and only a tiny bit due to feeling the words stick in his mouth.

Rosalynn was very excited about the possibility of him joining her club, to the extent that he instantly regretted saying anything. It was very tempting to just snap 'yes' and let it be done, but given that the first option she gave was musical instrument, it was a good thing he didn't. He was pretty sure he couldn't bluff his way through that. He tried to take deep breaths, and both think through his options and make his words come out more smoothly. It was a practise he didn't do so much any more. With the D&D group, he was relaxed enough about how he talked that he didn't try to control it every single second. Plus he generally played not-very-talky characters, which mostly helped, though he still had to narrate what they were doing.

"Juggling," he said, not sure where that had come from, though he did manage to at least say it without stammering. It was a good choice though. It was probably reasonably easy to do the basics, and it didn't involve talking. "But only since summer," he added, to cover himself.

13 Bertie Jackson But you claimed 'of your time here' so it's still definitely relative to that 1497 0 5

Eris Ryan

February 18, 2022 11:21 PM

Brown might be the most magical color by Eris Ryan

Eris cringed slightly when the boy next to her started listing off brown objects with equal enthusiasm to his rendition of the school song that seemed to be at one volume: loud. But, he looked very genuinely intrigued by the list of brown objects as he hoisted some roast beef onto his plate.

Purple? She knew she shouldn’t have dyed her hair such a crazy color. It draws attention. Not that her natural hair color was any better. Most people at her old school would say that gingers have no souls and make jokes about her constantly. She glanced at his hair and noticed it was also bright red. Maybe she would have gotten away without jokes at her expense with him.

“Uhm… my hair obviously?” She said with feinted confidence trying to match his energy. She even attempted a smile. After a slight pause she continued, “Bruises…. And uhm… galaxies… and uhh royalty? But I don’t think royalty is particularly good… nor bruises. But galaxies are cool.”

Eris couldn’t think of anything else so changed the subject back to brown, “I’m from a muggle family, so I thought coffee was the most magical brew until recently. So brown must be the most magical color.”

Forgetting her manners yet again, she realized she was talking to a stranger. “My name is Eris. I gather you’re in Pecari too since you’re sitting here?”

60 Eris Ryan Brown might be the most magical color 1552 0 5

Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

February 19, 2022 8:29 AM

A little late to the party. by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

Lazlo’s eyes scanned diligently as he followed Professor Wright throughout the castle over the duration of the Orientation program. It was all wonderful, sure, but honestly, he felt a little underwhelmed. After all he had heard about this place from his mom and her family members, he had expected it to be familiar somehow. A dumb expectation, he realized now, since he himself had never been here before. There were items he could pick out from description, but Sonora was, for all intents and purposes, entirely uncharted territory for him.

At the Sorting, he dunked his badge in the potion as instructed and was a bit surprised by the result: blue. So Aladren, was it? That was Professor Wright’s House, which he recognized meant that he would be seeing a lot of the Charms professor over the next several years. Lazarus didn’t feel that he particularly fit any of the House descriptions, so again, his expectations were a bit skewed. He supposed he might have been Pecari once, when he was younger. But he didn’t want to explore anymore. He just wanted to sit quietly and be left alone. It was easier that way, the barrier of communication rendered a non-factor.

He took his seat and listened politely through the rest of the process. Naturally, he didn’t know any of the names the Headmaster rattled off, although there seemed to be some apparent controversy around one of the Prefects.

Then the Headmaster announced something about a fair and made sheet music appear, and for once, Lazarus was rather glad that he was voiceless. He wasn’t sure he would’ve really wanted to go singing in front of new people on his very first day. That was an odd introduction, to be sure.

When the food appeared, Laz quietly began helping himself to whatever was nearest to him, filling his plate to the brim. He sat his trusty book on the table, accessible just in case anyone decided they needed to speak to him and he would need it. The book was filled with phrases he could make it recite with the tap of his wand, with tabs on the sides to indicate sections (although by now, he hardly needed the guide.) He hoped no one did speak to him, though, because he was tired and people were generally inconvenient by nature.

12 Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher A little late to the party. 1548 0 5

Constance Melcher

February 19, 2022 8:42 AM

Please elaborate. by Constance Melcher

As always, Constance was quite glad to be back at school. Summer was a nice reprieve, but she was always bored a few days in. She loved spending time with her family, of course, and her parents did their best to keep her mind stimulated, but they were only two people, and they had other things to do. Not like her professors, of whom there were more, and whose very job it was to answer all of her questions. Especially Professor Wright. She often went to his office hours and asked him lots of questions, some course-related and some not. Sometimes they were personal, too - she liked to know things about people, and whatever he would tell about his life, she would eagerly accept.

So now she was back to school and ready to learn. Connie was an intermediate student now, and as such, there would be more demanding classwork and expectations placed upon her. And of course, she had signed up for all of the electives available to her. She was grateful for the prairie elves taking her belongings to her room for her, because goodness, did she have a lot of textbooks! All the ones for her schoolwork, plus her personal collection! It was quite a feat to carry alone, given her relatively small stature. She appreciated the help, indeed.

There was much to do about the new Prefects this year, which was both interesting and annoying. The source seemed to be Stanley O’Malley, which was (as far as Connie could tell from her limited experience with the older students) indeed a surprise. She wasn’t sure what to think of it, really, but her friend Theo did seem happy about it, so she resolved to be happy as well. And later, she could investigate whether or not this was actually a good choice for the school.

She noticed then that the boy next to her - Eben, she was certain his name was - seemed to have a faraway look in his eye. Sometimes Constance got that look when she was deep in thought too, although it was easier to tell because it usually meant she had pulled up her hair. He started to look as if he were returning to reality a little bit after the food arrived, and it occurred to Connie that she had not gotten anything yet to eat either; she was too busy watching him. Now that he was back, though, she still had more pressing priorities than the meal before them. “What were you thinking about just now?” she asked him.

12 Constance Melcher Please elaborate. 1523 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

February 19, 2022 8:53 AM

Back in action. by Lorena Abernathy

It was a little harder to say goodbye and hop on the wagon this year, Lorena had found. While she was always eager to return to the first school she had ever fit in and decorate the room she shared with her besties, she had actually had a pleasant time with her parents, specifically her mom, which was rare. Mom still didn’t want to talk about magic, which had caused quite a rift between the two Abernathy women since Lorena began showing signs indicative of her abilities. But this year, Mom wanted to know about school. Or, more specifically, about boys.

Lorena was old enough to gossip with Mom about boys now! And while the conversation flowed more easily when she glossed over the magical elements, she had a lot to say, having gone on her very first date. Sort of. She thought the ball was a date. Anyway, she went to a dance with a boy, and that was very new and very exciting. Mom wanted to know everything there was to know about this Oz Spellman (so did Dad, but not in the same way, and his was less fun), so Lorena was more than happy to tell all.

Lorena had always been closest with her dad, but she couldn’t help feeling a little lightened by this interest her mother was taking in her experiences. She still didn’t really know why magic bothered Mom so much, but at least now, as she grew up, she and Mom had some more common ground. Mom even told her about her first date with Dad! It was strange and fun and new, and Lorena was sad to see her house disappear into the horizon as the wagon pulled away.

Still, it was nice to be back among her friends! She was excited to see what the new school year would hold for her and Oz, especially. She had a really good time with him at the ball - he was really funny and seemed like maybe he really liked her. Or maybe that was wishful thinking; she was a little nervous and reluctant, having had some not great experiences with the kids at home, and remembering the way boys would pull on her pigtails. Oz didn’t seem like that, though. He just seemed fun.

She waved over to him and smiled as she sat down at the Aladren table. Maybe he’d be her boyfriend this year! That would be cool. She was sort of busy thinking about that while the Headmaster spoke (whoops!), but when it was appropriate, she was ready to engage with a neighbor. “Hi!” she smiled brightly. “Did you have a good summer?”

12 Lorena Abernathy Back in action. 1510 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 19, 2022 9:01 AM

I appreciate it. by Stanley O'Malley

Oz and Stanley were a lot alike. At least, Stanley thought so. Maybe Oz didn’t. Whether or not he did, though, he definitely hit the nail on the head with his statement. “Yeah,” Stanley replied, the corner of his lips wanting to grin but not finding comradery from the rest of his mouth.

“It just sucks,” he said honestly. “Like, I’m happy for my cousin Lavender, but also, Wally really wanted this. And me?” Stanley gestured to himself, glancing down as well, as if he had to confirm his suspicion that he was in fact, somehow and against all odds, simultaneously wearing a Prefect badge and named Stanley Jacob O’Malley. “I’m probably a terrible choice.” He wasn’t really sure what Aelia and Janis really got up to - come to think of it, he didn’t really see them much - but they had to be better choices than… well, Stanley.

“I don’t like being mopey and lame,” Stanley stated plainly, “so I guess I’ll try to suck it up. Thanks for… I dunno. Getting it.” If anybody would, it was definitely Oz, so he was glad to be sitting beside him. “Anyway. How was your break?” He asked, ready to change the subject. That was just about the maximum amount of emotional transparency that he could tolerate.

12 Stanley O'Malley I appreciate it. 1491 0 5

Wally O'Malley

February 19, 2022 9:07 AM

That's probably a bad plan. by Wally O'Malley

It was Valentine. Of course it was Valentine. It was always Valentine. At every turn, every corner of his vision. She was there, beautiful and kind and understanding and warm. And she was here now, with compassion in her voice. It never felt like pity, like how a lot of people sounded when something went wrong for someone else. She always cared. She always meant it.

“I can’t stay long,” she said, and Wally was immediately awash with guilt. He remembered when at a different Opening Feast he had gone to her, and the hot embarrassment he had felt when for the first time in his life he was doing something Wrong and a teacher caught him. Maybe that was why he didn’t get Prefect - and was Valentine at risk now of being stripped of her rank, on her very first day? He couldn’t bear the thought!

“Yeah, fine,” he said, a little too quickly to really be convincing. “You should… y-you should go.” It was painful to say, given that all he wanted was to stay like this forever, her arm around him and her head on his shoulder. But he had to think of her. “I don’t want you to get in trouble. We can talk later. I’ll be okay.” That time sounded slightly more convincing; he did feel slightly better that she had come. At least it was clear that someone cared, and indeed, someone wonderful.

12 Wally O'Malley That's probably a bad plan. 1492 0 5

Tommy Jamison

February 19, 2022 9:14 AM

Hanging. by Tommy Jamison

Valentine seemed a million miles away. She didn’t even answer his question. Heck, she didn’t even finish her own sentence. But it was immediately clear why, as Tommy’s gaze followed hers and saw the same sight across the room at the Crotalus table, a boy they both knew well, whose robes hung slightly lighter than hers.

Wally.

Things were inarguably complicated between the relationships of the students in the year above his own. (It made him very grateful for his stable relationship with Rosalynn and the lack of drama among her friends, at least to his knowledge.) Stanley and Wally, however, were always involved in something, and in some combination of them, Valentine, and Bonabelle Row. Tommy tried not to pay too much attention, but he felt like he had something of a reputation, as the Responsible One, for also being a bit of a relationship master. The boys had definitely both come to him last year for advice on stuff for the ball, when they had gone with Valentine and Bonabelle. Who were also apparently dating each other? So yeah, it was just… complex.

He could hardly blame her for going to Wally, although whether it would actually help or just make matters more complicated, he could hardly say. Tommy just stayed in his seat and watched with his fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

12 Tommy Jamison Hanging. 1518 0 5

Billy Cobb

February 20, 2022 12:26 PM

It does have a lot going for it by Billy Cobb

Billy looked at the girl next to him properly for the first time when she mentioned her hair. Huh, it was purple. That was kinda neat, she continued on before he could finish his bite of food and make a comment. Ma had been awful insistent about that whole 'talking with your mouth full' thing again lately. She'd listed some things, and some of them were kinda odd. Oh well.

She changed things around a bit, but he kept up. They were doing introductions now. Right, that was a thing. Billy gave her a friendly smile, "A pleasure to meet'cha Miss Eris," he drawled a bit, the southern accent still readily apparent, "I'm Billy Cobb of the Kentucky Cobbs." She'd said she came from a Muggle family, so he figured she most likely wasn't from one of them high society magical families, but still old habits were tough to break. Especially when there weren't no great reason to do so. "Yup," he confirmed her guess, "This'll be my fourth year as a Pecari, so if ya got any questions, feel free to ask." If he was a potential for prefect for next year, why he may as well practice just in case he got the thing like Stanley did. "My family is Muggle as well," he added just so she knew, because for some reason lots of folks seemed to like to know these things.

"Dunno much about coffee though," he continued to rattle on without much of a pause. "We ain't learned to brew that one yet in potions class." Then he did pause for a moment to consider her. "Sorry, but I gotta ask, is your hair normally purple, or did someone put a charm on it, or is that some sort of Muggle magic?"

2 Billy Cobb It does have a lot going for it 1519 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 23, 2022 4:09 PM

Bah, it's the cool new trend, right? by Valentine Duell

Valentine really wished she could stay. Wally didn't sound particularly 'fine' the first time he said it. She wondered, only very briefly, whether he was upset that she had come over. He continued though and it seemed like he was more worried about her breaking the rules.

She gave him a slight squeeze with the arm that was around him. "It wouldn't be the first time." Val responded, trying to sound casual. It was true, she could remember times when Mama and Papa had sat her down because she'd done something she wasn't supposed to. Sure, it had been a while, but it still counted. She gave Wally a smile as she slowly pulled away. That was harder than she thought it would be.

"Tomorrow." She affirmed his 'We'll talk later' statement. She almost said 'at breakfast', but didn't. First day back breakfast was always with Bonabelle. She wasn't quite sure where her girlfriend was on all of the relationship stuff by now. Val thought it best to stick with traditions for now before rocking the boat more. "I will see you in class and we can talk more."

Valentine paused again, she had to go, she knew it, but she still didn't want to leave Wally yet. She had to though. "It's good to see you again Wally". She darted in quickly and placed a light peck on his cheek before she turned and scampered back towards the Teppenpaw table.

2 Valentine Duell Bah, it's the cool new trend, right? 1490 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 23, 2022 4:27 PM

Sorry! I'm back! by Valentine Duell

Valentine did her best to hurry back to the Teppenpaw table without making it look like she was hurrying. That would just make it obvious that she'd done something that she knew she wasn't supposed to have done. She slid back into her seat next to Tommy and glanced over the staff table. None of them had seemed to strike her down on the spot, so that might be a good sign?

"I'm sorry about that," she apologized to Tommy, "He just seemed so..." she cast about for a moment or two, looking for the right word, "...alone." She glanced back towards Wally and gave him another smile. He seemed to maybe be doing better. "Anyway, you were saying something about your summer?" She prompted him again, she really hadn't been paying any attention to him before she left and felt awful about it. Hopefully he understood. He was dating Rosalyn after all, surely he would do something similar if she were in distress. Although... she wasn't actually sure if she was 'dating' Wally. Maybe he'd decided over the summer that he didn't want to date someone like her after all. Well, they would talk tomorrow.

Her stomach rumbled quietly and she looked down at her plate with the lone piece of turkey she'd put there before running off. It looked a bit lonely as well. "Do you see the mashed potatoes?" she asked as she pulled the container of green beans closer to scoop some onto her plate.

2 Valentine Duell Sorry! I'm back! 1490 0 5

Lavender Brockert

February 24, 2022 9:11 PM

Sounds like a plan by Lavender Brockert

Lavender’s summer had been pretty good. She'd actually gotten to go to the Royal Ball on Livilia this year. Which she supposed was a perk of her first cousin being a princess and the future queen , but the Brockert family had always been invited to such things. It had been better than the ball at Sonora, of course, because really, who could honestly compare a school dance favorably to a Royal Ball ?

Although she had, in the end, had fun at Sonora’s ball too. Lavender had been grateful to Val for asking Graham to go with her and hoped that she could become better friends with the other Crotalus. Maybe he couldn’t give her that female friendship that she desired, but he could possibly give her his time , something Val didn’t seem to have nearly enough of.

Which was, admittedly, part of the problem with the Teppenpaw wanting to date multiple people at the same time, Lavender didn’t get enough with her to begin with. To make matters worse, now Wally -and to an extent, Stanley, she didn’t think for a second Bonabelle was actually going to date the Pecari in addition to Val, given her prior… general disdain for him-had been dragged into this! It was one thing to just sit back and have misgivings but not say anything to keep peace and keep her friend but this was her cousin and she cared about him. He deserved to have someone who could be truly all his and not have to compete with Bonabelle for all eternity. Something that Lavender knew full well was absolutely impossible.

And from what she understood, the Aladren was the one who’d asked the twins to the ball. Because of ******* course it was!

She took her seat at the Crotalus table and waited for the feast to begin. The first years entered and were sorted, she smiled as she watched her cousin Piper go into Tepppenpaw.

Then it was time for the announcement that Lavender was really curious about. Prefect. Not that she really expected to get it, but it would be nice. She was sure she’d just have to be happy for Val and whomever got it between Wally and Graham.Then Headmaster Brockert called her name and she got up and walked to the front to get her badge with the others who were chosen.

Unfortunately, Bonabelle had been chosen for Aladren. Because apparently, the universe hated Lavender. She had no real fondness for either of the two boys either, mostly because she felt like they thought they were better than her, the sort of Aladrens that her cousin Fabian disliked so much but mostly, they didn’t bother her-probably because they thought she was beneath them. If it had been one of them though, then Lavender could have hung out with Val doing prefect stuff, something that the two could have shared and had as theirs but now Bonabelle was going to take that too. Not to mention the Crotalus would have to patrol with her as well. Ugh.

So, she could only deduce that the universe hated her. Not only was she constantly denied what she sought, a close female friend that actually could spend time with her, but now even when something supposedly good happened to Lavender, being chosen for an honor over two worthy candidates, it had to be spoiled.

And then, to make matters worse, as she sat down she noticed Wally. Wally did not look even remotely happy-and she felt guilty. Now she had something and Stanley had something and Val and Gabriel too. They all had a group that they were part of and he wasn’t. Lavender couldn’t help but empathize given how she herself had always been too young, too old or the only girl. Wanting a close female friendship wasn’t and had never been about wanting to do girly things, it was about feeling like she wasn’t different, like she belonged-and now her cousin would have to feel what that was like, something that Lavender wouldn’t wish on anyone. (Except maybe Bonabelle.)

Really, it was too bad that Wally wasn’t an Aladren. Maybe then he would have gotten it instead and both problems could have been solved. He certainly would have been a better option-and not just for that, either.

Before she could decide whether or not to go and apologize to her cousin, Graham joined her. "Thank you.” She replied, considering his question. “Honestly, I’m not sure that part of it has hit me yet.”

11 Lavender Brockert Sounds like a plan 1504 0 5

Oz Spellman

February 25, 2022 5:16 PM

Cool. Now let's never speak of it again. by Oz Spellman

“I think you’re a good choice,” Oz assured him, before stopping to question whether that was a ringing endorsement. Given the number of times his name was used by teachers using That Voice, it probably wasn’t. “I mean, the girls are kinda stuck up and don’t really talk to people. At least you’re nice.”

Stanley shook off the subject after that, which was probably a good thing, because Oz had abruptly realised that they were talking about something awfully like feelings and real opinions, not just laughing everything off like none of it mattered, and since when did he do any of that? He tried to work out whether it was Xavier’s influence. According to everyone back home, talking about feelings was ‘gay.’ Xavier was actually gay, but also said that a lot of the things people said were ‘gay’ were not actually ‘gay’ even if he did them — like wearing chapstick. As for talking about feelings, Stanley had started it though, so he guessed it was okay, and Stanley wasn’t going to take exception to him or call him names for doing it. For a minute.

“It’s cool,” he said when Stanley thanked him, glad to shrug off being real and get back to being superficial. “Summer was cool! We moved! I mean, same city, but different part of it, and it’s way nicer. How was yours?”

13 Oz Spellman Cool. Now let's never speak of it again. 1514 0 5

Eben Sosna

February 25, 2022 5:59 PM

They're a secret society that rules the world, of course. by Eben Sosna

Eben blinked when it looked like someone was speaking to him. Constance, he thought, recognizing the red hair. He also thought she was a second year, which meant she was really wasn't one now, since he wasn't used to thinking of people in their new grades yet. Was she actually talking to him, and, necessary addendum, if so, was this the setup to a tedious joke?

"Uh - you mean me?" he confirmed. "I - " probably should not mention anything about wanting to break into prohibited spaces or wondering if former prefects are all in touch with each other and basically the Illuminati - "was thinking about seeing ghosts," he said, which was also true. "I mean, why can I do it when my brother can't? What's so special about my eyeballs? After this summer, I'm...eh, yeah, 99% sure he's not lying about not seeing this ghost who lives in this old convenience store near where we live, but I first saw him years ago, before there was even a store there, so what's up with that?"

He frowned at his plate, but then looked at Constance. "That's only a rhetorical question if you don't know the answer," he added, remembering too that Constance had, last year, appeared to spend a lot of time sucking up to Professor Wright. She could know lots of things. He wished he had the nerve to bother teachers like that, it could save so much time.... "If you do, or know how to figure it out, then - I would like to hear about that."

16 Eben Sosna They're a secret society that rules the world, of course. 1538 0 5

Grayson Wright

February 25, 2022 6:29 PM

Not unless you count 'try to look calm and hope for the best.' by Grayson Wright

Well, there was an implication he had definitely not intended to imply. Gray was grateful she couldn't see his face as he prepared to reverse faster than he had that time in school when he'd ended up falling off his broom and breaking his ankle. What year had he been in with that, anyway? And how long ago would a calendar assert that it had been, and where had all that time gone....?

"Of course," he said. "I didn't mean to imply otherwise - I thought that was just a thing people say for some reason? I could be wrong." His social life was not exactly a thing anyone would call flourishing, after all; when he was here, his main conversation partners were troubled children and Constance Melcher, and when he wasn't here, he...tended to not talk much, really. It wasn't as if he swore himself to silence for the holidays like a monk, but nor did he pine for an abundance of company.

He nodded without thinking when she said Valentine would try to make everyone happy. That fit with what he knew of the girl. "I suppose that could give her confidence, if she needs it," he said on the subject of Giselle 'inquiring' about her niece's future as a prefect. He thought he would have found the thought of his future being interesting enough to get any answers about more than a little terrifying - but perhaps if he'd known ahead of time how his exams were going to go, or if this-or-that publisher would work out....

"I'm starting the Advanced class out by asking them to try to figure out all the ways that one of the simpler spells on their curriculum could kill them," he said when asked about whether he had anything interesting planned for classes this year. "So the papers should be somewhat more interesting reading than usual, and it will hopefully get the idea of being careful into their heads better than reading the book or listening to me drone about it would. With the Beginners, I'm thinking of trying something a little more ambitious than usual with charms of motion - maybe having them, them construct their own objects and then make those fly, when we get that far, by the end of the term, you know. Anything planned for yours?"

16 Grayson Wright Not unless you count 'try to look calm and hope for the best.' 113 0 5

Giselle Duell

February 26, 2022 5:49 PM

That is a start, does it work? by Giselle Duell

Professor Wright suddenly seemed uncertain about his statement. Giselle wasn't sure if that was because she had claimed to not have done anything and he now needed to cover his tracks, or whether the confusion was genuine. She thought back over what she knew of the man, they had talked on occasion but not much. To be fair, she didn't talk to anyone all that much and from the rare social interactions that she had with Professor Wright, she suspected he didn't either. Perhaps his reply was genuine. Maybe she was just being overly suspicious. She had been naive and trusting for a long time and it had cost her, she didn't want that to happen again. However, she logically knew that the world was not all like the situation that had been most of her life. Logically knowing something and feelings about it were as far apart as Swords and Cups though.

He was a shrewd one though. She couldn't help but smile a little, "You've pierced the veil. I'll have to call in the special diviner's aurors now on you." She paused just a moment before continuing. "One of the reasons looking into your own future is so difficult is that knowledge of that future changes it. As such, one of the great secrets of the Divination field is that it works the other way as well. Self-fulfilling prophesies are a thing, if most people believe that they will accomplish something with some effort, they usually will." She took a sip from her cup and let a smirk slip out, "Baring 'unforeseen' circumstances of course."

Professor Wright had some interesting ideas for his class. "That does sound like it might make some interesting reading." She wondered if any of her advanced students were also in Professor Wright's class. It was probable, Charms was one of the major classes that taught the students how to use their magic properly.

Of course he then turned the question around on her. She thought for a moment while eating. "I was considering playing the occasional game of hide and seek with my advanced class. Set up for having a class somewhere appropriate other than in the classroom, leave them a note on the door and let them get some practical work in trying to find me. I don't have much interesting planned for the intermediates, any new third years will need to focus on the basics while not boring the fifth years." She sighed, that intermediate span was often difficult to handle. She would need to see Professor Skies again sometime for some more advice on that subject. Although she did have an experienced professional right here, "Have you discovered any good ways of handling the intermediate class?"

2 Giselle Duell That is a start, does it work? 1517 0 5

Freya Curtis

February 27, 2022 12:31 PM

Well isn't this exciting! by Freya Curtis

So far Freya was feeling rather awed by the grandeur of the school. The gardens that they had first been introduced to looked incredible, and now they were being led into a large room, known as Cascade Hall, no doubt a reference to the waterfalls cascading down the walls. It was a very impressive sight, light dancing amongst the crystal chandeliers.

What was more overwhelming was the number of older students seated at the long tables. It was a little nerve-racking to be watched by so many unfamiliar people as Freya stepped up for her sorting. This was something she was quite excited for, although given the descriptions of the houses she wasn’t really sure where she would be placed. Unlikely to be Aladren if she were honest with herself. Her aunt Joella had told her that she didn’t want to be in Aladren anyway and that there was no better house than Pecari, but her father had told her that any house would be lucky to have her and it wasn’t something she should worry about.

As it turned out, Freya’s badge turned red. Crotalus. She was quite content with it, she knew at least a couple family members had been in that house, and besides the colour seemed preferable to the Pecari brown.

Freya paid close attention to those following her that were sorted into the same house, although it was hard to keep track of them once they’d sat down and she also wanted to watch the other kids get sorted. She noted Yarielis, who she had met at orientation, was sorted into the same house and it put her at ease that she had already met her roommate and that she seemed nice.

The headmaster was the same guy who’d be in the role during Aunt Joella’s time - Freya had received the lowdown from her aunt prior to starting school, Joella having been the most recent graduate in her close family. Freya tried to make note of the new head students and prefects when they were called up but knew she wouldn’t remember. There was just so much to take in at the moment, it would definitely take her a little while to settle in. She tried to join in with the school song, although rather quietly and self-consciously, and was more preoccupied with looking at her fellow students, in particular the ones sat closest to her.

When everyone around her began helping themselves to the feast, Freya followed suit, helping herself to the roast chicken in front of her. “Would you like some chicken?” Freya offered her neighbour politely.

8 Freya Curtis Well isn't this exciting! 1551 0 5

Grayson Wright

March 11, 2022 7:40 PM

Fake it until you make it? by Grayson Wright

"Oh dear," said Gray, amused, when threatened with the diviner's Aurors. If real, those would be terrifying, but he was sure that Professor Duell was only joking. Well. Fairly sure, anyway. "I suppose I should have foreseen that."

He was interested in what she had to say about self-fulfilling prophecies. "Of course," he agreed. "That's a more positive view of self-fulfilling prophecy than I think I've heard before, though - usually, I think of ancient Greeks being murdered by the sons they abandoned at birth so that...those same sons wouldn't kill them. I think I like your version better," he admitted. "Logically, I suppose, you could argue that a good outcome has the same implications for free will as a bad one, but..." He shrugged. "Don't tell the rest of my House, but there are things besides logic, aren't there?"

He wondered if the proposed assignment for her Advanced students counted as stacking the deck against the kids - surely few had more than the barest glimmer of the second Sight? - or if it was just what they should expect if they were planning to continue on to Advanced Divination. The intermediate class, though, was probably at least as knotty of a problem.

"In Charms, I can sometimes create different diffi - bah. Words too close together. Different. Difficulty levels for them - building in how long the effect lasts, or how far they can reach with the spell. Sometimes I'll give them multiple charms from within the same 'family' of spells to work with - a lot of charms are...not interchangeable, but you can accomplish similar things with them. I'm not sure how useful that is for your classes, though," he admitted. "I suppose you could put one group to work on research while you instructed another, or have older ones partially teach younger ones?"

16 Grayson Wright Fake it until you make it? 113 0 5