Mortimer Brockert
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
Returning Feast by Mortimer Brockert
Ah the holidays. Same crap, different years. As usual the midterm break had been full of forced socialization, saccharine atmosphere, and putting up with Eustace’s consistently abominable behavior-honestly, he had the child that he had and was unlikely to get another one, so Mortimer wished he would let it go. Anyway, the Headmaster wasn’t necessarily against familiarity, but when it was something that he did not like, well that made it very irritating. Not that he wasn’t constantly irritated in general, but the holiday season somehow managed to be irritating in a very boring way.The only even remotely interesting thing that happened was Topaz putting her own take on the Twelve Days of Christmas-the most irritating holiday song in existence-by taxiderming seven swans a swimming, six geese a-laying, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Obviously she couldn’t taxidermy people, but Mortimer had been forced into attending many society balls and seen plenty of ladies dancing and golden rings.
As usual, he was glad to be back at Sonora, even though most teenagers were totally and completely obnoxious. At least he really didn’t have to interact with them that much. Besides, he firmly believed that education was one of the most important things in life, and so, was passionate-as much as one could ever consider him to be-about making sure that happened. Even if it did mean having to deal with irritating people. Which, come to think of it, was a redundant phrase if Mortimer had ever heard one.
Anyway, once everyone had assembled in the Cascade Hall, he stood up and cast Sonorus on himself. “Welcome back. I hope you have all had a nice break.” Why did he always say that? He really didn’t care. If they had one, great. If not, it wasn’t his problem. The emotional well being of those attending the school, was something that Mortimer was ill-equipped to deal with and not especially invested in, so long as it didn’t affect the safety of the students or cause problems for him in the form of complaints or lawsuits.
He continued. “Before we eat, I have one quick announcement. As you know, the school fair is this year and we have decided to have a carnival.”Which, in the end, was the easiest thing possible.”Also, the school alumni have been invited back to showcase what they have done post-Sonora.” Which could be interesting for some, more so for the potential reunions it would bring than anything career-related that came up.
Subthreads:Aladren
First of many lasts by Ellie Alperton with Rosalynn Tellerman
Back again already? by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Teppenpaw
Year One Round Two by Lenny Pierce with Leviosa Scurlock
Hooray! (Hans) by Liesl Brockert with Hansel Hexenmeister
Pecari
Let's make one thing clear. [Billy] by Reighleigh Mae Thorn with Billy Cobb
Peopling by Oz Spellman with Fortune Ardovini
Peas please by Theo Spurn
Crotalus
Staff
11
Mortimer Brockert
Returning Feast
6
1
5
System
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
System
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
System
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
System
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
System
April 03, 2022 11:53 AM
Reighleigh Mae Thorn
April 03, 2022 6:47 PM
Let's make one thing clear. [Billy] by Reighleigh Mae Thorn
Ray had spent the first term of Sonora mostly just getting by, living life in the usual routine of mischief with Billy, class with Billy, homework with Billy . . . oh, and occasionally spending time with Iris and other folks too. It wasn't as if Billy was her only friend, just that he was her only actual friend and she only half-liked most of the other people she called friends. There weren't that many people in that category either though, to be honest.However, she'd spent the break with her mother and father both, which was weird. Things had been rocky in both their most recent
Her mother's own relationship wasn't the only one on her mind and she'd made it perfectly clear to Ray that it was high time she start thinking about her own love life and social circles. Ray thought that was stupid for a lot of reasons, not least of all because she was a friggin' child still. The whole conversation had turned her head in ways she didn't appreciate and now she wasn't entirely sure how to think her way around it. As such, the only thing to do was to nip all of that nonsense in the bud before it got weird.
She made sure to grab a seat next to Billy at the feast and blah blah blah, Headmaster Pez Dispenser said some annoying stuff (but actually the carnival sounded pretty interesting), and then it was food time. And conversation time. Immediately dumping some potatoes on her plate so she had something to fiddle with, Ray looked at Billy as she launched into her topic of choice, preempting his own opportunity to speak first.
"Hey, so my mom thinks that I should find a husband or something basically now. I think that's stupid. But to keep me from being paired off with someone stupid and horrible, do you just wanna go out or something?"
None of that was actually what she'd meant to say but uh . . . well, there it was. She shoved too much potato in her mouth and tried to force it down her throat with a cup of pumpkin juice.
22
Reighleigh Mae Thorn
Let's make one thing clear. [Billy]
1525
0
5
Lenny Pierce
April 03, 2022 7:30 PM
Year One Round Two by Lenny Pierce
Lenny walked cheerfully into the Cascade Hall. He was super duper excited to be back. Winter was never his favorite part of the year. His family were nomadic tent dwellers, which was fine during most of the year, but even migrating to the Mexican border and pitching their homes on the property of the Hernandez family, about as far south as you could go and still be in the US, it could get bitter cold in the winter, and Lenny had discovered he really liked beds.Plus, he'd gotten into a conversation with a cousin named Louisa (truthfully she wasn't related to him at all, as the Hernandez connection was in Jose's part of the tree not Dad's, but neither the Hernandezes nor the Pierces cared much about this technicality, so everyone had embraced the simple short hand that everybody was everybody else's cousin), trying out his Spanish language skills, and he still felt a little bit off balance because he wasn't actually sure if he'd been clear enough to correct her when she handed him a gift wrapped box and declared, "Para ti, muchacha!" and he'd responded, "Gracias! Pero yo soy chico," and she responded, "Yo soy chica." and he really did not know if she had been informing him of her gender identity or trying to correct his Spanish because she didn't think he meant what he'd said (which was fair, his Spanish was not great; but he did know the difference between a chico and a chica). But she'd had other presents to distribute and that hadn't been the time or place to get into an extended discussion about it, and he hadn't managed to run into her again later.
So he was glad to be back here at Sonora where there were beds, and heated room, and people who knew he was a boy.
Also, he'd missed his twin. "Hola, hermano!" he greeted Cole warmly as he settled into a seat near him. At the confused look his twin sent him, he explained, "That's 'hello, brother!' in Spanish. This split custody arrangement sucks. You don't get to hang out with our Latino cousins." There was, of course, the very obvious ridiculousness of their claim to being twins while living on opposite side of the country, but hopefully 'split custody' would suffice to explain why they took different wagons to different families to anybody who was eavesdropping and not in on the secret already.
"Which reminds me!" he declared, and pulled a box full of cookies out of his robe pocket (it might have a slightly illegal extension charm on it). "I brought these from home to share! So save some room." He made sure the other people sitting nearby understood they were included in the invitation to have some homemade cookies. Not that he expected Sonora would have anything less than wonderful deserts, some of them even properly vegan, but vegan cookies were rare and he was eager to show off that they did exist. "They're totally vegan," he added, to make sure they understood the importance of these cookies to him.
"Did you have as delicious a holiday as I did?" he asked the table at large.
OOC: Cole is mine too. I gave myself permission to have him make expressions at Lenny.
This post is open to anyone sitting at Teppenpaw's table.
1
Lenny Pierce
Year One Round Two
1547
0
5
Billy Cobb
April 04, 2022 6:23 PM
I like things that are clear. by Billy Cobb
Billy arrived back at school in a sullen mood. Winter break had been terrible. It had been better than last year's, but it had still been terrible. They'd been all but penned up inside with the snow almost the whole time, he almost thought that being at school might have been better. Almost. He'd gotten out a bit, but it was cold and wet and just pure winter ridiculousness. He hadn't been able to go where he wanted to go and now he wouldn't get a chance again until summer break. Ma and Pa thought that the snow had also been a good excuse to keep their distance from the rest of the family, which meant things weren't really weird on that front.He made his way into the hall and flopped down at the Pecari table, just like he was supposed to do. Billy wasn't sure if he wanted to admit it at this point, but there was really only one thing that might make him feel a little better. Then she sat down next to him. He tried, but the grin forced itself onto his face completely against his will. It was nice to see a friendly face again, even if she didn't necessarily look all that friendly. He'd figured out a long time ago to not try and read to much into Ray's expressions.
After the headmaster did his talking bit he turned immediately to Ray, all set to complain about his winter woes and such. He grabbed the nearest food thing in the process because he was hungry and didn't really care what it was. She beat him to the punch on the talking though.
There was a bunch of stuff in her statement for his brain to process. He blinked slowly as it started to work through the info. As usual, before it was done, his mouth had already said the word, "No." At that point his brain seemed to sit back, cross its arms and say 'Alright mouth, go for it, what are you doing?'
"I'll go out with you 'cause I like you, and we have fun together," Billy's mouth continued, "If there are other reasons," he kinda waved his hand dismissively at those 'lesser' reasons, "fine, but I'mma gunna do it for the reasons I like best." After which he stabbed whatever it was he'd put on his plate and stuck it in his mouth. It was terrible and he nearly gagged on it.
A full glass of water washed whatever it was down, "Gah! Smack me if I ever put that stuff on my plate again." She had potatoes and those seemed safe, so he grabbed some as well. "So, other than your mom being...." She'd said 'stupid' but his brain threw some override switch, insisting that a better choice of words might be better, "...your mom, how'd break go? Mine sucked."
2
Billy Cobb
I like things that are clear.
1519
0
5
Reighleigh Mae Thorn
April 04, 2022 8:56 PM
I'm not sure if we've really accomplished that. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn
Ray wasn't about to pout at being turned down as her ego wasn't sure which was worse: rejection or disappointment. She didn't have a chance to come up with any other response either though before Billy continued. He liked her? Like in the dating sense or in the friendship sense? She sort of wished she'd been more clear on whether she was asking him to go out just once or on an ongoing basis. With labels. She wasn't sure now which one he meant either. In any case, the matter seemed settled, and she wasn't about to start discussing feelings with Billy, that would be weird. Especially at dinner.She blinked a few times rather quickly, trying to rewire her brain into doing something normal, like making her mouth say words or . . . yeah basically just that.
"Great," she managed as Billy chugged his own chaser of choice. She raised an eyebrow at him when he denounced the food he'd eaten. Glancing at his plate, she realized he'd taken the garnish from the dish of roast chicken where she'd grabbed potatoes. "That's parsley," she told him, reaching over to scoop it off his plate and onto hers. She wasn't sure why that quasi protective instinct always kicked in with Billy; it just seemed instinctual to try to help him or take care of him. Or give him a hard time. "Unless you're a flobberworm, I don't recommend it."
She considered for a moment whether she wanted to explain more about her mom being her mom but since that had led to them possibly now dating, she wasn't sure launching into that was wise. Especially since it had turned out that Billy actually maybe just wanted to date her all on his own and she was much happier right now than she'd really expected to be.
"It was alright. It's weird going 'home' and it doesn't feel like home at all," she grumped, stabbing another potato. "Why did your break suck?"
22
Reighleigh Mae Thorn
I'm not sure if we've really accomplished that.
1525
0
5
Leviosa Scurlock
April 05, 2022 6:39 AM
Ding ding by Leviosa Scurlock
OOC: CW - queerphobia BIC:
Levi made her way into the hall, doing several things that Verdillia didn’t approve of all at once. Firstly, she was wearing the new cardigan their Scurlock grandparents had knitted her under her robes, even though Verdillia felt it was too bulky and made her into a lumpy, awkward shape. She also made a beeline to sit with Lenny. At first, Verdillia had very much approved of Levi making friends with Pierces but disapproved of the way she was going about it, where she couldn’t even tell her what branch they were from and did Levi ever pay attention to important details and blah blah blah… Of course, she knew the answer(s) to that, but she had made the pinky promise to keep up the pretence they were twins. They seemed to be really leaning into it, and having a lot of fun with it. She did when she was on the inside of the secret with them, but not quite so much when she felt put on the spot and felt like she might be the one to mess it all up. But anyway, now Verdillia had found out that Lenny was a boy, but an ‘odd’ one, and she didn’t approve half so much as she had before. That had only made Levi dig her heels in harder, until Verdillia had said that being so stubborn wasn’t very Teppenpaw. That had shut Levi up for a bit, but now she had decided that being Lenny’s friend even if he was a bit different counted as both being kind and being interested in the personal growth of herself, and that Verdillia could stuff it.
She took a seat by him, offering him a friendly smile, happy to just be in the background for a bit whilst he bantered with Cole. She found herself hoping, every time they did this, that someone would call out their lie, so that they would be the source of their own undoing, and it would be over without being her fault. But that possibly wasn’t a very nice thing to think.
Lenny was offering cookies, but she hadn’t had her main course yet, and she was pretty sure mother would faint if she took a cookie before eating her veggies, even if it was just to save for later. Plus they were vegan cookies, which meant they were special to Lenny, and she didn’t want him to run out. He also posed an unusual holiday question. She could answer whether her holidays had been good, which was what she had expected. She supposed she had also eaten a lot of things she enjoyed, because that was what the holidays were all about, but that wasn’t what he had asked. “Don’t we need to know how delicious your holiday was first in order to be able to compare?” she challenged, with a friendly smile.
13
Leviosa Scurlock
Ding ding
1545
0
5
Oz Spellman
April 05, 2022 10:29 PM
Peopling by Oz Spellman
The Cascade Hall was a blur of people, and Oz sank gratefully into its anonymity. Here, he would only stick out as much as he wanted to—or as much as his stupid, loud mouth made him. Midterm had been… interesting. And a lot of awkward, and TMI. He would never say he was glad to leave his mom, but he was glad to put their conversation behind him, and just blend back into the crowd. Just a regular guy.He took a seat at the Pecari table. He wrestled with whether or not to sit with Xavier. On the one hand, he was sure he would be seeing him soon enough, and there were the parts of him that wanted some space, because what Xavier was asking of him was… a lot. On the other hand, maybe it would be nice to just sit and eat - to do something normal, something that Xavier couldn’t screw up with his little experiments. They could just… be.
In the end though, his need for space won out. There would be plenty of other times he could spend with Xavier, and it would actually really help to have some friends outside of him.
Oz ignored the headmaster, thinking about the food that would appear shortly instead. When it did, he grinned wide. The amount was still something mind-boggling, and something that made him uncomfortable, but he couldn’t deny that he was hungry and that it looked amazing. He grabbed a big piece of lasagne, and put some carrots next to it, because they were a cool vegetable.
“This looks so good!” he grinned to his neighbour.
13
Oz Spellman
Peopling
1514
0
5
Billy Cobb
April 06, 2022 4:35 PM
What makes you say that? by Billy Cobb
Billy eyed up the offending food bit that apparently wasn't food, but was still on the food plate with the food that should be eaten even though it shouldn't be. Wizards were just weird. "You're not gunna eat it, are you?" He asked, watching it carefully where she'd put it on her own plate, as if it might spring to life at any moment and attack her. "'Cause, I can tell ya from experience, it's not very good and yer way to pretty to be a flobberworm."If Billy knew one thing about having a girlfriend (which he now did), he knew that he was supposed to compliment her. That was one of them things that Aunt Emily had made sure he knew well and good. There'd been plenty of other things as well, he'd have to see if he could remember any of 'em later. He pulled some of the chicken from the serving plate onto his own. He was pretty sure this part he could eat.
"Mine kinda felt like that to," Billy commented about his break. "We had gigantic piles of snow and couldn't really go out nowhere." He stabbed at the chicken on his plate, "I had some big explorin' plans while that stupid bear was hibernatin'." He shoved the chicken in his mouth and chewed on it a bit aggressively for a moment before swallowing it. "Instead I got to spend way to much time trapped inside listening to Aunt Emily drone on and on about girls and stuff."
It was about this point that his brain finally connected some things. "It was a little like what you said yer mom way saying to you I think. Apparently back home there's only a couple of girls I'm allowed to marry for some reason, and she was talkin' about them. I don't much like any of 'em, they're boring. But, unless I did like Uncle Bert did and find me a girl off the mountain, I'd be stuck with one of them." He sighed and took another bite. The lack of exploring that house had been the bigger thing on his mind, but now Aunt Emily seemed like a worse problem.
"So I dunno what I'm gunna do," he said to Ray, "Got any ideas...?" The question trailed off as he looked at his new girlfriend, his brain was busy trying to figure out if his mouth had actually solved a problem before it had a chance to realize there was one.
2
Billy Cobb
What makes you say that?
1519
0
5
Ellie Alperton
April 06, 2022 5:51 PM
First of many lasts by Ellie Alperton
It was weird to think that this would be her last feast. When Ellie had started seventh year, graduating had still felt like a long way off. In some ways, it still did—there was a lot to get through before then. But the whole year was peppered with lasts, and they were only going to get more and more as it drew nearer.She considered trying to pull Anya and Freddie together, to have their last feast together. In theory, house seating wasn’t enforced at the Returning Feast. But it wasn’t ever a rule she’d taken advantage of, and it felt weird to pull people away from their house tables and their routines just to say they’d done it once.Her traditions for events were much more to do with how she looked. Even if she was stuck wearing the school robe, she still liked to style herself like it was an occasion, and she had taken care, fixing her hair into a coronet braid. She had spent a lot of the holidays playing with various trans pride eyeshadow looks. A lot of the ones she found online were very big and bold, which wasn’t her style, but they had at least convinced her that the three very distinct eyeshadow colours could look good together, and she had a soft white and blue blend across her main lid with pink at the corner to make an outer v. She’d also done some crafting, and had made some earrings where tassels in those same three colours hung from a large silver hoop. Even if people didn’t know the significance of the colours, it would be clear to anyone with observational skills that they were at least thematic and co-ordinated between her makeup and accessories. And the pride pin next to her head girl badge.
She took a seat at the Aladren table instead, hoping she’d find someone friendly to talk to. She got on well with most of her housemates, and they could usually be relied on to provide an interesting discussion, even if she wasn’t particularly close with any of them. The food appeared, and she surveyed the choices.
“Any recommendations?” she asked her neighbour. “Maybe there’s something I’ve overlooked all these years, and now’s my last chance to try it,” she added, to encourage them away from the generic ‘mac and cheese is always a safe bet’ type answers.
OOC: Ellie's eyeshadow is something like this, but without the pink extending as far.
Her earrings are like this, but with five tassels in the colours and order of the trans pride flag.
13
Ellie Alperton
First of many lasts
1456
0
5
Iris Cobb
April 06, 2022 5:55 PM
What will this term bring? by Iris Cobb
Iris sat at the Crotalus table in a bit of a somber mood. Winter break had really been kinda weird, it had been nice to get back home again, see her family and reconnect a bit with her cousins. Each time she went back though it was harder. They were spending all of their time together and she just dropped in on occasion. Some of her closest friends now seemed so distant, she felt like an outsider each time she came back and tried to do things with them. She just wasn't a part of their life anymore.Plus there had also been Billy being all moody and stomping around the place, and then Aunt Emily's visit. Oh gosh that'd been terrible on top of the situation with her cousins. So in the end, she was glad to be back at Sonora, back with people who she could connect with. But, she was also sad that she was so glad to be back. She wanted to be able to go home and just have it be the same as it had been before. It couldn't though.
Aunt Emily's visit had made her think about the whole 'dating' thing again. It hadn't been until then that she'd realized that she hadn't really seen or heard much out of Henry after the ball. She supposed he wasn't really interested in her. That was fine, she didn't need a boyfriend... yet. She wouldn't mind having one someday though. She wasn't really sure who though.
Iris poked listlessly at the chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans she had put on her plate. She should be hungry, but she wasn't really. It was dinner time and she should eat so she scooped some of the food mechanically into her mouth. It was also a feast and she should be social. Iris turned to look at her neighbor, "Hi, got any exciting plans for this term?"
2
Iris Cobb
What will this term bring?
1526
0
5
Theo Spurn
April 08, 2022 4:43 AM
Peas please by Theo Spurn
Feasts were the worst kind of Sonora meal. Theo was not sure who had decided that forcing everyone to eat at the same time, and forcing every food into existence onto the table at the same time, was a good idea. It was loud, and it smelt weird, and—whilst he could normally tolerate the way other people mixed things in gross ways onto their plates—it was even more extreme at the feast. It was like people were trying to purposefully make their food into a heaping monstrosity of ridiculousness.Apparently, everyone else liked it, but he had long since come to the conclusion that most other people were weird.
He couldn’t even give out his homemade Christmas cards, because they were designed for feeling, and he couldn’t trust that people would have clean hands—or wouldn’t set them on the table where they could get grease stains and spills on them. He had the box in his pocket though, and he spent the pre-feast time running his fingers over Anya’s card, which featured a golden snitch with a halo, in shiny foil and pipe cleaners.
Once it was time to eat, he spread a thin layer of mashed potato on his plate. He was never very hungry, so the feast, for him, was more a chance to have fun with his food, seeing as he was stuck here for as long as it took everyone else to eat (another serious design flaw). He took a knife, shunting potato to the sides to carve out a complex winding path from the far side, all the way to himself, with several branching paths and dead ends. He placed a short train of peas at the far side of the maze, and then realised that it wouldn’t be very much fun, seeing as he knew the route.
“Can you get the peas to me?” he challenged his neighbour, rotating his plate ninety degrees so that the peas were on the side nearest them. Besides it being unfun for him because he knew the answer, this seemed like it would be a joyful experience, and it was nice to share. “Mind your sleeves,” he advised. He had very carefully rolled his own out of the way whilst carving, and didn’t want anyone else’s (or his potato maze) to fall victim to an accidental brushing.
13
Theo Spurn
Peas please
1476
0
5
Fortune Ardovini
April 11, 2022 5:32 PM
I can give that a try as well by Fortune Ardovini
Fortune found an open seat at the Pecari table and settled in for a grand 'Welcome back' speech from the headmaster. He was a bit underwhelmed with what he got. Sure, he'd heard that the headmaster wasn't much of a talker, but... wow. He'd been under the impression that most people in such a position like to hear themselves speak, apparently Headmaster Brockert wasn't one of them. Oh well, it meant they got to the food quicker and that was good.Looking over the selection of eatables that had appeared on the table, Fortune selected some slices of roast beef, a potato, and just to make Mom happy some broccoli. However, before he could dig in the older boy next to him grinned at him and commented. "Yeah!" He agreed, "I can't say I've ever had any complaints about the food here."
Oz wasn't in any of his classes, but he was on the Quidditch team. As such Fortune remembered his name. This was good because he'd never been really good with names. He was glad he hadn't wound up next to one of the other older students that he didn't know at all. Oz seemed cool though.
He stabbed into the roast on his plate, "What do you think about that carnival at the end of the year?" After asking the question he stuffed the food into his mouth and chewed while waiting for a response.
2
Fortune Ardovini
I can give that a try as well
1549
0
5
Osvaldo Alamilla
April 11, 2022 5:44 PM
Why does fate conspire against me? by Osvaldo Alamilla
Osvaldo wanted to break down and weep. Fortunately he was not some weak-willed lesser man who did such ridiculous things. He sat at the staff table with proper dignity and restrained any level of emotional outburst to a slight sigh and a sweeping look of disapproval over the entire hall. There was no changing things now, he had lost this battle. It was fine, he would survive, he would endure.In truth he blamed the alumni, or at least their inclusion in the event. Had the fair just been a carnival for the children they could easily have allowed Tumbleweed to bear the brunt of the damage it would cause. But since the alumni were to be involved, it was only 'proper' to hold the event at the school itself. That meant that everything would need to be more immaculate than normal, and it would most likely take all summer to return it to such a condition afterwards.
He was beginning to reconsider his position here. It had been a few years now, perhaps it had been long enough. He had heard of nothing for a long time, perhaps it would be safe to venture out again. To do what, he wasn't entirely sure. One did not simply work at his level in such a field without drawing some level of notice. This had been something of a snap decision, and one that had not been revisited. Perhaps it was past time to start some longer-term planning.
Those were thoughts for later. For now, Osvaldo picked and choose some of the better looking food on display before them all. For now he had to try and think of a way to salvage the school grounds.
2
Osvaldo Alamilla
Why does fate conspire against me?
1503
0
5
Rosalynn Tellerman
April 14, 2022 7:15 PM
And this really is THE middle now. by Rosalynn Tellerman
Rosalynn arrived back at Sonora for the second half of her entire Sonora life, feeling like she was doing well for herself. She had a solid group of friends in her roommates. She'd been dating Tommy more or less since Orientation. She'd taken over as the Art Club's president, and now she'd started her own Performing Arts club. (If she didn't win Most Creative in the yearbook, she really didn't know what more she could have done for it.) She was doing well in all of her classes, as befit an Aladren, though she didn't think she was quite in the running for valedictorian or anything. She didn't know yet if she'd earn Prefect next year, but she figured she had a good shot at it. (And Isla and Lorena were both her friends so she'd feel more proud of them than disappointed for herself if she didn't get it.)All in all, she figured her first half of her Sonora life had gone just about as perfectly as it possibly could. It made her just a little bit nervous about what was going to go wrong in the second half. She was a fairly optimistic person though, so she was able to brush aside those pessimist thoughts with disbelief that karma actually balanced itself out like that. Some people were just lucky, and she happened to be one of the ones fortune smiled upon.
When the Headmaster gave his short announcement, Rosalynn briefly wondered if her father counted as an alumni - he'd never been a student here, but he had worked here once upon a time. Probably not. Her brother was in that category though, and she kind of wondered if he'd come. He hadn't said anything about it over break, but maybe the alumni hadn't been invited yet.
Food filled the table suddenly, but Rosalynn was well accustomed to both Sonora's feast habits and far more dramatic magics than that, so she just looked over what her choices were when her neighbor spoke to her.
Rosalynn smiled at her, and her eyes widened in delight as she took in the older girl's appearance. "Oh! I love your earrings! Did you make those?" The colorful eyeshadowing was quite nice, too, she thought, but as Art Club President, the earrings were the more pressing to remark upon. "As for food," she glanced around. "I've always liked this rice," she picked it up and offered Ellie the dish. "I don't know what it's called. It does have a bit of a kick to it though, so if you don't like spice, it may not be for you."
OOC: No definite ideas on what the rice might be, but I'm loosely thinking of some Indian rice sides that I've had at work potlucks.
1
Rosalynn Tellerman
And this really is THE middle now.
1520
0
5
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
April 21, 2022 6:35 AM
Back again already? by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
The school year was going well, all things considered. Lazarus had managed to survive the first half of the year with relatively little impact, keeping his head down and just getting through what he had to get through. He was pretty sure most of the school probably just thought of him as the weird kid who didn’t talk, and that was fine by him.He took his place among the ranks of his fellow Aladren at the table and listened idly to the chatter surrounding him. These feasts were a bit too chummy for his liking, and he wished he could just sit by himself in a corner somewhere, but at least being in the “smart” house, some of the dialogue was bound to be interesting. Eavesdropping was probably something of a bad habit, but it was a bit hard to avoid in a crowded space like this, and unless something was especially intriguing, Lazlo did his best to switch his focus every so often.
The Headmaster spoke - succinct as always - and mentioned a carnival featuring alumni, which could have its appeals. Lazarus wondered if his mom had heard about that yet or if this was a new development, and if she had any plans to attend. Mom talked about Sonora a lot, as it was a huge catalyst for change in her life, to say the least, so an opportunity to return - especially while he was attending school here too - was probably not something she would want to miss.
In the meantime, though, the first year planned to just keep surviving with as little social interaction as possible. Meals were pretty good for that, generally, as nobody expected much when you were actively eating. Step one before filling his stomach was to fill his plate, but as he reached to take the dish in front of him, so too did his neighbor, and he bumped their hand with his own. Lazarus immediately retracted. Sorry, he mouthed, his other hand reaching into his pocket beneath the table in case this ended up being a real conversation and he ended up needing his language book.
12
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Back again already?
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Verdillia Scurlock
April 29, 2022 6:19 PM
Peace? Quiet? by Verdillia Scurlock
Christmas had, as usual, been an affair of two halves. There were things that Mother prioritised, which Verdillia enjoyed—all the concerts, and visits to stately homes, and doing classy things—and all the silly things that Father prioritised, and which Leviosa was silly enough to go along with. All the hokey homemade stuff. It was strange going back home with Levi, and having some of the same stories to tell, instead of finding her waiting at home to hear them. That was a part Verdillia didn’t mind so much. As the oldest, she knew far more about Sonora, but all its little quirks and foibles were now things she could laugh about with her sister at home, rather than just having to try to explain. That part was nice.Now they were back at school, and Leviosa was mixing with odd Teppenpaws again, and Verdillia was trying not to notice because she didn’t want to be immediately fed up with her. She turned her attention from her sister, trying to focus on the people around her, all of whom were well-behaved and quite proper to know by default. She seemed to be sitting next to Iris Cobb, whose manners and accent stood out, even against the default strangeness of most Americans. Still, Verdillia had taken her cues from those around her, and none of them seemed to mark Iris out as problematic as a result. In fact, she seemed quite friendly with a number of very proper people.
“Probably keeping an eye on my little sister, as much as possible,” she answered, with a roll of her eyes which showed that the plan was not an exciting one, at least not in the conventional sense. “It’s so hard being the responsible one sometimes, isn’t it?” she added. It was hard not to notice that Iris had a brother here, one who was loud enough that Verdillia was aware of him in spite of not sharing classes. “How about you? Any plans?”
13
Verdillia Scurlock
Peace? Quiet?
1541
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Liesl Brockert
April 30, 2022 8:03 PM
Hooray! (Hans) by Liesl Brockert
As much as Liesl preferred Halloween to Yule-Halloween being a lifestyle for her, not just a holiday anyway-she had to grudgingly admit that she rather enjoyed the Yuletide holidays because she got to go home and see her family. Not that Sonora wasn’t rampant with her family members but not currently the right ones. Basically, Liesl had been excited about seeing Grandpa Icky and Grandma Imogen and extremely excited to be able to see Krisalyn and, of course, most of all, Uncle Cory. And of course, she got presents and presents were nice. Even if Mother didn’t exactly want to get her most of the things that she wanted. However, Uncle Cory or Grandma and Grandpa usually did.Still, while Liesl would miss her uncle and her sister, she was not unhappy about being back at school. She was excited to see her friends again. Especially Hans. She considered the older Teppenpaw to be her best friend and he was probably one of her favorite people in the world. He was definitely her favorite person at Sonora, possibly even more so than Isla, who was her favorite relative at school, given that obviously neither Uncle Cory nor Krisalyn were here. Liesl and Isla definitely had a Weird Girl bond even though they weren’t weird in the exact same way.
However, Hans was the only other person that the second year knew who liked snakes. Well, him and his dad who had the snake ranch but Liesl didn’t really know Mr. Hexenmeister. She had yet to meet him though he was in talks with her parents about visiting the snake ranch over the summer. Mother, unsurprisingly, was not thrilled with the idea. Not even because it was a snake ranch but because Hans was a boy and she thought it was inappropriate for Liesl to go visit a boy and spend the night at his home. However, Father was a bit more on the reasonable side and maybe the second year could at least go for a day. Or even go for a day, come home to sleep if Mother was so worried about propriety and appearances, and then go back the next day, despite the fact that would all be so much extra trouble and extremely convoluted. Still, it would mean that Liesl would get to hang out with Hans on his (dad’s) snake ranch.
What was interesting to the second year was that Hans’ dad was actually biologically his uncle. However, emotionally he was her friend’s dad, and therefore, his real dad. The thing was, Liesl had a closer bond with her uncle than she did her father (and much closer than with her mother). She knew it wasn’t the same thing, not really, since both her parents were still around and the older Tepp’s weren’t but…that did not stop her from feeling left out of her own family. Mother clearly favored Krisalyn with all her makings of being the perfect pureblood girl that Liesl didn’t have and Father, for all he could be somewhat reasonable, favored Desmond both because of their shared intellectualism and also, probably because he was a boy. The second year was the one who didn’t fit, didn’t belong, was the odd one out.
Which was really lonely and hurtful. She wasn’t going to stop-couldn’t stop-being who she was, and loving snakes and bats and eyeballs and skulls and all the other things that most people considered creepy and gross.And while Hans was literally the only person she knew who liked any of those things-though Isla had puppets that fit into those categories and Gwendolyn thought some of Liesl’s skulls were sort of cool-she still had a bond with her uncle who saw how she was an outsider of sorts with her parents and siblings and took her under his wing because that was just the sort of person Uncle Cory was. And she loved him and understandably, had a stronger bond with him than her parents. Though Liesl would feel weird calling him her dad when her biological father was around and-with the help of nannies and house-elves and tutors-raised her and her uncle had his own kids.
Uncle Mortimer began to speak, something that never took all that long. Usually, he just welcomed them back, which seemed to be a thing that he did to let them know that the Returning Feast was beginning. Her great uncle seemed to live by the saying “It’s better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to speak and have it proven.” However, this time he announced the plan for this year’s Midsummer fair. Apparently, they were going to have a carnival but that wasn’t the best part. The best part was that alumni could come! And pretty much everyone who’d ever had the last name Brockert since Sonora had been around had attended school here. Which meant Uncle Cory could come! She turned to Hans. “Guess what! You’ll probably get to meet my uncle Cory at the fair!” Liesl was pretty certain he would come.
11
Liesl Brockert
Hooray! (Hans)
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Iris Cobb
May 02, 2022 6:17 PM
That might be nice by Iris Cobb
Iris' eyes widened a bit at Verdillia's opening statement. The girl was absolutely right, but she wasn't sure that anyone else around here actually understood such a position. Still her housemate did have an advantage or two that she did not. "It is," Iris agreed, "At least you have the advantage not having an older Pecari sibling." She smiled as if in resigned hopeless defeat as she very much did not look anywhere close to the direction of her brother. Iris really did not want to witness another round of Billy's traditional feast manners. "I'll trade if you'd like?" She asked half-jesting. If Verdillia wanted to trade watches, she'd be game for it. A younger, Teppenpaw girl instead of Billy? Absolutely.Iris had to shake her head at Verdillia's question. "Not really, no. Just more studying and such I guess. Whatever the art club and the garden club have going this term I suppose." She needed a bit more of a life around here. "The only thing out of the ordinary I had been thinking about...." she cut herself off when she realized what she had almost said. She couldn't just throw that out there to someone like Verdillia, could she? No, it'd probably be viewed as crass or something by these higher class girls. "Nevermind." she finished a bit awkwardly, "It was nothing, just a random thought." She smiled, trying to brush it all away.
What she really needed now was a distraction, a change of conversational topic. "So, what do you think about the fair announcement? Do you know any alumni that might be there?"
2
Iris Cobb
That might be nice
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Hansel Hexenmeister
May 02, 2022 7:27 PM
Hurra! by Hansel Hexenmeister
Hansel had returned to Sonora in a cheerful mood. He had enjoyed his break at home, catching up with all of the snakes back on the ranch, as well as his family members. Heinrich had split his time between Utah and Vermont, spending a fair amount of his break with Evelyn (which Hansel didn't think was quite fair since they went to the same school and got to see each other all the time while Hansel was only home for two weeks), but Hilda had been around the whole time, and of course his dad never left the ranch at all except to do errands, so he'd at least gotten to see a lot of them. They were the ones he was closest to, anyway, if he was being honest. Heinrich had been 'away at school' for the vast majority of Hansel's life, and as soon as he wasn't, Hansel was the one 'away at school'. Seven years was a rough age gap to overcome.So he'd gotten caught up on the goings on at the ranch - Dad was handling it just fine on his own, which was expected because that was how he'd lived before he'd taken in his brother's children - and learned about Hilda's school and some of her new friends and teammates as well as what she knew of how her Sonora friends were doing out in the Real WorldTM. She'd already been keeping him up to date with her Quidditch triumphs and defeats, but she went into some of those in more detail as well, with play-by-plays and hand gestures to demonstrate positioning. It was good to see her again and he realized how much he'd missed her.
By the end of the two weeks, though, he was starting to miss the people at Sonora, and that was what brought him hurrying into the Cascade Hall for the Returning Feast, eager to catch up with his classmates and Housemates once more.
He found himself sitting next to Liesl, which was great. She never got tired of hearing about the snakes, which was good, because he didn't really have a lot else to talk about most of the time.
The Headmaster's speech was quick and informative, and then the Feast was underway! Liesl brought up that new topic right away. "That's great!" Hansel enthused, eager to meet the uncle she talked about almost as often as he talked about Uncle Karl/Dad. "My dad can't come - he went to a European school, probably in Germany," Hansel realized abruptly he didn't actually know where his dad had learned magic, and wondered if it was mixed up with the other things that Karl did not like to talk about it. Hans mentally shrugged it away as not really relevant. "You'll get to meet him this summer though, so that'll be soon enough. My siblings might come though, they're alumni!"
1
Hansel Hexenmeister
Hurra!
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Verdillia Scurlock
May 13, 2022 8:52 PM
Why does it seem so unlikely? by Verdillia Scurlock
“Fair point,” Verdillia acknowledged, as Iris pointed out that an older, Pecari sibling was probably the worse deal. She could definitely see that, although she didn’t want to agree so strongly as to be rude. Teppenpaws were rarely thought of as problematic, though every house had its foibles—in Levi’s case, that she was so very friendly that she wasn’t at all discerning or discriminating about who she was friendly to. That was an attitude that could land her into all kinds of trouble. “I’m sure you know how to handle him better than I could,” she smiled at the proposed trade, not wanting to insult Billy by turning down the offer too vehemently but definitely not wanting to take Iris up on it. Of course, it was just a joke really, but jokes could easily turn sour if not handled correctly, and there was no such thing as a bad time to practise tact and diplomacy.“Those sound fun. I was thinking of joining at least one of them this term, now that I’m a bit more settled in. Which would you recommend?” she asked. “Go on,” she encouraged, when Iris cut herself off. “What were you thinking of doing?” She was curious to know as much as she could about the school, and about the people within it. Most of the time, knowing more was a useful thing.
“No, my family’s all in Wales, so they went to Hogwarts,” she said, when Iris asked about alumni, careful to make it clear and specific enough that the reason was geographical rather than being non-magical. “How about you?” she asked.
13
Verdillia Scurlock
Why does it seem so unlikely?
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5