A new start [welcome thread for Lyla] on Labyrinth Gardens

Grayson Wright

June 07, 2022 4:04 AM

Orientation for First Years by Grayson Wright

The wizard who stood under the 1st Years Here banner off to the side of the wagon landing site could, to some eyes, have seemed assembled from a couple of incompatible stereotypes. His head and shoulders - largely unremarkable face, short-cut, very dark hair which was starting to go grey, rectangular, wire-rimmed glasses, a none-too-boldly-colored tie - could have belonged to any non-magical man in his mid-forties. Then, though, what could at first have resembled a businessman's dark blue jacket just kept going, extending into a long, wide-sleeved wizard's robe, and he wore a matching pointed, round-brimmed wizard's hat, overshadowing the mundanity of his hair and glasses a bit.

"First year students...All first year students over here, please...."

Finally, all the older students seemed to have gotten off the wagons and dispersed, leaving only the new students. A quick head count came up to the expected number, and Grayson Wright smiled around at them all.

"Welcome to Sonora," he said pleasantly. "My name is Professor Wright. Tomorrow morning, I'll become one of your teachers, so I look forward to getting to know you all this year. For now, though - leave all your luggage with the wagons, and follow me, please."

He only led them a short distance into the Labyrinth Gardens, walking down a wide path which opened onto a hedge-walled courtyard with a central fountain, several stone benches, and three tables in it. On one of these tables, there were as many dark green folders as there were students present. On another, there was a buffet of light snack foods, with lightweight plates and paper napkins available so students could gather several refreshments in one trip if they wished. On the third table, there were several large apparatuses, each topped with a clear (and unbreakable) glass bulb which showed the color of the drink within, though they were also distinguished by written labels on their fronts above the spigots which, when turned, would dispense the contents into glasses: pumpkin juice, apple juice, grape juice, iced tea, and plain water. There was also a box of ice (charmed not to melt) with a scoop in it and plenty of clear cups.

"Come in, everyone, and please take one folder," he instructed them. "You'll get to the refreshments soon, but if you could give me your attention for a few minutes first..."

For many years, Professor Wright had recited almost the same speech to each group of first years, mostly from memory. He had noticed, however, that a lot of students seemed to find it all just as tedious to listen to as he found it to recite. He had, therefore, taken the (for him) bold decision to cut it down the previous year, leaving out most of the information that wouldn't be applicable to first years and focusing on topics they wouldn't also hear about from their heads of houses later in the evening. It seemed to have gone well, the previous year, so he repeated that one instead of going back to the classic version.

"Once again, welcome, everyone," he said. "Tomorrow morning, you will all start taking seven classes - Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and flying lessons. I'll be your Charms teacher, so you'll see a lot of me for at least the next five years." Older students might have expected him to add for them to contain their enthusiasm, but he tried to be uniformly pleasant and straightforward with the Beginners classes. "You have schedules in your folders which tell you when and where each class meets, along with other important times, like when meals are served and when curfew is. Just to be clear - we know that you all may have had very different educations before this, and different levels of information about the wizarding world before today. You'll also each learn at your own pace, and find you're stronger in some areas of magic than others. If you find yourselves struggling, we - your teachers - will all understand, and so will many of your fellow students. You'll each be Sorted into a House tonight, with a Head of House from the staff and several older student leaders we call 'prefects' who you can go to for support, along with all teachers having regular office hours and the option for scheduling special sessions if that's what's needed. Don't get discouraged, or let things get out of hand. It's best to address the problem as soon as you see there is one, so we can find a way around it sooner and easier.

"On more cheerful notes, we also can provide enrichment for any subject where you find you learn unusually quickly, and you'll have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities here during your free time. Club leaders will post sign-up sheets in the next few weeks, and the school Quidditch sign-up sheet should appear in the Cascade Hall. You'll also most likely find people in your Houses who you can create activities you're interested in with, if we don't already have something - you're Sorted into different Houses based on personality traits, though you're welcome and encouraged to make friends from other Houses as well. The Sorting Ceremony will take place later, in the Cascade Hall, where you'll dip the blank badges attached to your folders into a potion. If it turns blue, you're in Aladren, and will get to see even more of me, since I'm Head of that House. If it turns red, that means you're a Crotalus and will be under the care of Professor Skies, our excellent deputy headmistress. Yellow badges go to Teppenpaw, and your Head of House is Professor Xavier, our very capable Herbology teacher, and brown ones go to Pecari and Professor Carter-Xavier - who, yes, is Professor Xavier's wife, as well as the person who keeps classes running whenever one of the rest of us has to be away for some reason. Some people think of their Houses as a sort of extended family here, and I hope you'll all do your different Houses proud during your time here."

He resisted the temptation to add especially if you're Aladrens; he was not only Head of House, but had also been an Aladren student during his years in school, long, long before any of these kids had been born. Instead, he said, "if no-one has any questions about all of that, you can talk for a while and have some snacks until we begin our tour of the main building. If you do have any questions, feel free to come see me before we begin our tour – and welcome again to Sonora.”

OOC: Welcome first years to Sonora! You can post a reply here to ask staff questions or meet your new classmates. This thread is intended for first year students to have a chance to try out posting and get acclimated to the site before we throw you into the big Opening Feast, which is open to the entire school population and can be a bit overwhelming. New authors have been given a buddy for ease, so look for your names below.'

Now, go forth, new first years of Sonora! Post, enjoy, have fun! Everyone here is happy to help out, so if you've got a question, put it on the OOC board or try to catch somebody in the Chatzy and we'll try to get you an answer as quick as we can. Have fun and we’re glad you could join us!

Handy link to the class schedule, if your characters wish to discuss that: Schedule. The Class Overview page also has helpful information and can be found in the School Locations drop-down menu.

[Credit to Nathan Xavier's author for the content of this OOC notice]

Subthreads:

A new start [welcome thread for Lyla] by Robyn Lundstrom with Lyla Holland

Here we are. by Nausicaa Scapetello

Here I am! Whoo! Adventure! by Xarryn Bavol

16 Grayson Wright Orientation for First Years 113 1 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 07, 2022 5:04 AM

A new start [welcome thread for Lyla] by Robyn Lundstrom

Robyn stepped off the wagon, and stared at the white stucco building and sprawling gardens. This was it—Sonora Academy. Since the wagon had crossed into Arizona, the view had been the burnt reds and oranges of the desert, but inside the grounds of the school everything was lush and green. She trailed a hand through one of the hedges, almost expecting her fingers to pass through it. But it wasn’t an illusion, this was a real oasis of lush greenery, supported by magic.

The same magic that she was here to learn.

She’d had three years to get used to that, ever since her older brother, Xavier, had been whisked away to this strange school. She hoped to make a better start and a better impression than he had. It was always irritating being the youngest and being compared, and that had been when she’d been being compared to something good. At their non-magical school, he’d had a perfectly fine reputation, and it was still annoying every time someone called her ‘Xavier’s sister’ like she didn’t have her own name or personality. Now though, she was fighting against everyone’s terrible impression of her brother. It wasn’t his fault, not really. He was just all magically wonky or something. She was still understanding how magic worked, so getting to grips with why exactly her brother’s didn’t was complicated. Her own accidental magic had been more noticeable than his, so she had some confidence that she would exceed the low expectations that might be set for her, but it was still frustrating.

She thought she looked fairly witchy, with her school robes (although everyone would be wearing those) and long dark hair (though she wasn’t sure if other magical people actually thought that was witchy or whether it was an inaccurate stereotype from her non-magical books – though the real witches at school did fly brooms and use cauldrons, so it wasn’t like non-magical people had got it all wrong! Apparently unicorns were real too, and she couldn’t wait to meet one).

She made her way through the gardens, following the signs that pointed out where first years should go, until she joined the orientation party, complete with information folders and snacks. She helped herself to juice and a cookie. Someone else seemed to have the same idea, so she smiled at them.

“Hi. I’m Robyn,” she said. She opted not to give her family name. She knew some people, the ‘Purebloods,’ cared an awful lot about family names, but it didn’t make a difference… She could either give it, and they’d know she wasn’t one of them, or not give it, and they’d still know she wasn’t one of them. At least by not giving it, she dodged the more specific association of her brother, in the event that they had siblings here and knew about him. “I’m so excited to be here!” she added, deciding that steering things towards a positive start was the best way to make a new friend.

OOC: Welcome! This is a practise thread so that you can get used to how things work here, and get started posting right away. If you like how it goes, we can move it to the main boards and count it canon once term officially begins.

We will start posting the new school year on June 17th, though from our characters' point of view, it's September 1st. Until that time, please only post on the sandbox or OOC page.

If you have any questions, please put them in notes to me as we post, write them on the OOC page, email us, or join our student chatzy.

We're so happy to have you!

13 Robyn Lundstrom A new start [welcome thread for Lyla] 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

June 07, 2022 7:58 AM

A new friend? by Lyla Holland

Lyla knew that there wasn't anything to be afraid of, but she hadn't ever been more happy to set foot on terra firma than getting off the wagon at Sonora Academy. Her legs wobbled as she followed the other first-years up the path to the lush gardens.

Despite her mother being a witch, Lyla had spent more time in the Muggle world than the wizarding world, and she felt out of her depths.

"Just do what everyone else is doing," she whispered to herself, "Everyone is new, everyone is in the same boat- or wagon- as you."

She took three deep breaths, following the conga line of students retrieving refreshments. Lyla glanced around to see where she was supposed to go next. She caught the eye of another girl, with long dark hair.

"Hi. I'm Robyn," the girl said with a smile, "I'm so excited to be here!"

Lyla felt her anxiety wash away. One friend. If she could make one friend, she'd be okay.

"I'm Lyla," she replied, extending her hand, "I'm excited, too!"

OOC: OOC: I'm excited to give this a try. Writing is something that I've put on the back burner for a long time, so I'm glad to get a chance to get back into it :)

64 Lyla Holland A new friend? 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 07, 2022 5:13 PM

Here's hoping by Robyn Lundstrom

“Nice to meet you,” Robyn smiled, taking the hand Lyla had extended, glad she hadn’t already started on her cookie – who would want a crumby handshake? Gross. Alright, they had cookies, they had names, and they were both excited. That was a good start. Robyn tilted her head, indicating the direction she was heading, so that they could move away from the crowded refreshment table and find a seat.

It was nice having orientation outdoors, and the charmed weather was pleasant – nothing like the desert that surrounded them. Robyn had seen parts of the school when they’d had to visit Xavier here at Christmas, the year he hadn’t been able to come home, but she was excited to see more of it later.

“So, do you have any guesses about what house you’ll be in?” she asked. Even people from non-magical families got pretty thorough information before starting school, so if that was the case for Lyla, hopefully had more to go off than the brief description offered by Professor Wright. Well, okay, she should definitely have had the chance, failing postal disaster, to read about it and think about it, and if she hadn’t taken advantage of that, then she would probably be in Pecari.

OOC: Awesome! Sonora is a great way for doing that :) It’s a game, not a masterwork of fiction, so the goal is to just get words out there and not worry too much. It’s definitely done my writing a whole lot of good.

For some context, the event I’m placing this at is this (that was last year’s but we’ll get our own copy of it when term starts officially).

Like the sample post, site posts should be 200 words. I loved that you included internal feelings, a bit of background for your character, actions, and dialogue. If you’re not sure how to get to 200 words, maybe include some physical description, or just add an extra sentence or two into any of the things you did already. But you’re so close already, and I have faith in you :) Hopefully seeing the orientation post gives you some extra info to react to as well.

13 Robyn Lundstrom Here's hoping 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

June 09, 2022 5:01 AM

An Accidental Interrogation by Lyla Holland

OOC: Thanks for the reminder about post length! I wish it had a word count when you were writing the post-that would be helpful! BIC:

Lyla could feel the anticipation thrumming through the first years as they chattered with their neighbors, making introductions. She followed Robyn to the seating area, sharing a stone bench with her new classmate. The weather was incredible here- warm, but not too warm, although it was humid enough that Lyla could feel her curly hair starting to frizz already. Lyla scanned the gardens from her seat, scoping out spaces to sit outside with a good book. Maybe she could even do her homework outside! It was all she could to do keep from bouncing in her seat.
She took a large bite of her cookie, just as Robyn asked her which House she thought she might be in.
"Mmmph!" Lyla said, trying to chew as quickly as she could. She could feel the other girl's eyes on her as she choked down the chocolate chips. Lyla clapped her hand over her mouth, which had burst into a fit of giggles.
"Sorry," she said, muffled behind her hand. She cleared her throat. "My mom was a Pecari, but I don't really think I'd fit in there. I think I'd like Crotalus, or maybe Teppenpaw? What do you think? Did your parents go here? Do you think we'll be in the same House? Sorry," she interrupted herself, "That's too many questions at once. What House do you think you'll be in?"
Lyla held her tongue between her teeth to keep more questions from brimming over. If she kept doing all of the talking, Robyn would never be able to answer!

64 Lyla Holland An Accidental Interrogation 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 09, 2022 7:17 AM

It keeps the conversation going! by Robyn Lundstrom

OOC: Hmm, I'll ask about that. I tend to type a lot of my posts in word/Google docs then copy/paste them, so it's never been an issue for me. I know that on the main site, it warns you if you're about to post something that's below the word limit. I don't know whether that feature is deactivated on the sandbox? BIC:

“Don’t worry,” Robyn assured Lyla, as she hurried to swallow her mouthful after Robyn’s ill-timed question.

Lyla’s mom had been a Pecari. That short bit of information sent Robyn’s mind pinging off in two directions at once. The first was that Lyla clearly had at least one magical parent. The other thought was ‘like Xavier,’ as her brother was also in Pecari. Though Lyla professed she saw herself as a Teppenpaw or a Crotalus, so maybe it was more Lyla’s mom, and not Lyla, that had something in common with Robyn’s brother.

“It’s okay—they’re all related questions,” Robyn waved the apology off. “Uh, no. My parents didn’t come here.” She could feel herself holding her breath just a little bit. On the one hand, she could just leave it at that. There were plenty of magical schools, so that comment on its own didn’t reveal anything about her. Except she wasn’t sure she wanted to put a lot of time and energy into liking Lyla if she turned out to be a snob. “They don’t have magic,” she added, her eyes clearly sweeping the other girl for any adverse reaction to that statement.

“But one of my brothers goes here. He’s in Pecari,” she continued. “But I don’t think I’ll be there.” By which she also meant that she didn’t really want to be there. Being the youngest meant always being compared, and that would only be compounded if she ended up in the same house as Xavier. Had it not been for him, she might have thought Pecari sounded quite fun. However, if she was being realistic, she liked adventures more in theory than in practise, and that would probably be enough to stop her landing in Pecari. “Maybe Teppenpaw or Crotalus too?” she guessed. “I know about the houses,” she clarified, not wanting Lyla to think she was a clueless little Muggleborn. “I just don’t really know which one sounds like me.” Teppenpaws were nice and friendly. She really tried to be those things, and she definitely wanted people to be it to her. Making friends was quite a high priority for her, alongside not being seen as being the same as Xavier. Crotalus… She wasn’t sure. Xavier’s best friend’s twin brother was in it, so he’d never said anything bad about it, but he hadn’t said much good. Robyn thought the ‘respectable’ and ‘rule following’ bits sounded a little stuffy, but there was a small corner of her brain that said she was exactly the kind of person who did as she was told. Still, with Lyla considering it a possibility for herself, it didn’t sound as bad.

13 Robyn Lundstrom It keeps the conversation going! 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

June 09, 2022 4:12 PM

Common Ground by Lyla Holland

For just a moment, Lyla felt a thread of tension inside of her. What if Robyn was a snooty pureblood? One of the biggest reasons Lyla had grown up in the non-magical world is because her mother's family had disowned her when she'd married Lyla's father. Lyla had asked her mom when she was younger, why Dad had Gigi and Pop Pop, but there were no grandparents on the other side. Her mother had bit her lip, telling Lyla that she had parents, they just lived very far away. Lyla had been older when she'd found out the real reason she only saw one set of grandparents.
So, when Robyn mentioned that her parents were non-magical, Lyla's face lit up. She was liking this girl more and more, and was really hoping they'd be in the same House.
"How old is your brother?" Lyla asked, "I've just got a little sister, she's five, and she's annoying."
Way to put your foot in it, Lyla, she chastised herself, She's the little sister, and you just called little sisters annoying.
"I mean, MY sister is annoying, specifically," she clarified, searching Robyn for any sign that she'd been offended, "She hogs all mom's attention. Anyway, my dad is a muggle. He's a pilot for the Air Force. Does your brother like it here?"
Lyla finished her cookie, brushing the crumbs off her robes into the grass. There would be a feast for the ants today, with all the preteens milling about, dropping crumbs, and in the case of one boy two benches down, a whole cookie. Lyla watched, horrified, as he picked it back up, dusted it off, and took a large bite. She immediately turned to Robyn to see if she'd seen what had just happened, too.

64 Lyla Holland Common Ground 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 10, 2022 4:50 AM

Let's keep finding it! by Robyn Lundstrom

"Fourteen. He's going into fourth year here," she said. That still sounded weird to her, like Xavier was a fourth grader, but of all the weird magical things she needed to get her head around, that one was pretty minor. She wondered whether she should clarify that she had two brothers... On the one hand, it was obvious from context which person they were talking about, and Xavier was the one who was here, so he was the most relevant to Lyla. On the other, it felt like they were leaving Joel out, just because he wasn't magical, which didn't feel very nice. But before Robyn could make her mind up, the conversation moved on.

Well, sort of. They were talking about Lyla's siblings, and apaprently she had a younger sibling, who was annoying. Robyn was torn... On the one hand, she definitely felt that it would be annoying to have to hang out with a five year old at their age, and obviously she wanted to be friends with Lyla, not her little sister. But she did feel a pang of baby-of-the-family loyalty. It always caught her off guard when someone was the same age as her but the oldest in their family, even though it obviously made total sense. It was just strange to think about being her age and not being treated like the baby.

"It's okay," she waved off Lyla's apology. "I'm pretty sure there's a law or something that says siblings have to see each other that way. She probably thinks you're the mean one, who never lets her do anything," she replied, though she was smiling as she said it. "We have another brother. He's at college though," she added, seeing a chance to rectify the earlier omission of Joel. "And he didn't go here.

"Oh! That's really cool!" Robyn smiled, when Lyla said her dad was non-magical. "I mean, not that it's not good to have both, or that one thing is better than another or-" She tried to sort out the tangle of thoughts and feelings she had about that into a coherant sentence. Her family was non-magical, and so was Xavier's best friend's. Her own family had experienced a lot of pressure and judgement around making sure they fitted into the magical world. She knew it had been a small group of people, and a lot of the things they'd said had been ignorant or ill-informed, but in her limited exposure, it had felt a lot like one world versus the other. "What's it like living in both worlds? How does that work?

"Uh. Yeah," she replied, when asked if Xav liked it at Sonora. Mom had spent a lot of time keeping on a smile and performing in line with how she felt the magical world wanted them to act, and Robyn couldn't help but absorb some of the same fear of making waves. Except she wasn't sure that her 'yeah,' was at all convincing. "He talks about his friends a lot." Well, okay, mostly his one friend... "And he says people here are generally nice." That sounded more convincing, mostly because those were all true facts, but she couldn't help but wonder whether Lyla was going to notice the gaping holes in that review.

She made a slight face at the cookie-dropper, but she knew it wasn't good to waste food. Also...

"Eh, two older brothers," she reminded Lyla. "I've seen way grosser things."

13 Robyn Lundstrom Let's keep finding it! 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

June 13, 2022 1:21 AM

Getting Comfortable by Lyla Holland

Lyla nodded as she started to get a picture of what Robyn's home life looked like. It must have been a shock for them when her older brother started showing signs of being magical, especially since the oldest hadn't. Lyla thought that grown-ups sometimes assumed their children would be all alike, and were surprised when they were different people. She wondered what it would be like if Lena turned out like her dad, non-magical. Her mother was telling the neighbors that they had sent Lyla to boarding school so she'd have some consistency, what with all the moving around they did. What would they think if Lena stayed home?
"Well," Lyla started, "It's a lot easier, I think, for magical folks to fit in amongst muggles, because all they have to do is not use magic. Mom does both, kind of. Inside the house, she's a witch, and outside of the house, she's a muggle. I remember once, I told my kindergarten teacher about mom being a witch, and she called my mom and told her that I'd been telling outlandish stories. I butted heads a lot with Ms. Birdie, though now that I'm older and I understand about muggles, it makes a lot more sense why she refused to believe me."
"Anyway," she continued, "I think it must be hard to be non-magical and then suddenly find out that there's a whole world right under your nose. Did your parents have a hard time with it?"
Lyla smiled, glad to finally be here, at Sonora, making friends. Just talking to Robyn made her feel like everything was going to be alright. She glanced up quickly towards the front as a middling-to-older man started hushing the front rows. Was it time for a speech? Lyla sat up a little straighter, wondering if she and Robyn should have sat a little closer to the front.

OOC: How do I join the Chatzy? It's telling me I need a password.

64 Lyla Holland Getting Comfortable 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 13, 2022 3:00 AM

That makes one of us by Robyn Lundstrom

Magic folk could fit easily into the non-magical world. All they had to do was not use magic. Hm. That wasn’t the impression Robyn had got, both from Xavier’s descriptions and the few magic folk that had visited their home. They’d never heard of things like movies or cellphones, and seemed like they’d get lost in about five minutes both in conversation and in trying to navigate the physical elements of her world. Not to mention that ‘not using magic’ would probably sound like a sacrifice akin to slicing off their arm to some of them. But maybe Lyla meant magical people like Robyn - ones who had come from that world in the first place. It wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice for Xavier, seeing as he could barely do magic in the first place.

“Are your mom’s parents non-magical?” she asked.

She nodded in sympathy with Lyla’s story about her teacher.

“I remember when Xavier started school. I knew we were supposed to keep it a secret, but a couple of times when people were annoying me, I told them my brother would turn them into frogs. Obviously they didn’t believe me.” Which, on a technical level, she guessed was fair because Xavier actually couldn’t do that, but that hadn’t been why they hadn’t believed her.

“No. They were fine with it,” Robyn said when Lyla asked if her parents had had a hard time. Except she said it far too fast, like Lyla’s words had been a gust of wind that made a door slam. It was silly. Lyla wasn’t connected to the magical government. The school seemed only to have the most cursory relationship with it, and had come around to Xavier’s side of the story. But it was an ingrained habit—smile, and don’t bad mouth the wizards, or they will overreact and take you away. It was something she was going to have to get better at doing more calmly and convincingly if she wanted not to continually make this sore spot very obvious to everyone she spoke to.

Luckily, they were interrupted at that moment by Professor Wright’s welcoming speech. Robyn folded her hands in her lap, doing her best to appear attentive, though really she was focussing more on trying to get her heart to settle back to its normal rhythm, after the flight or fight response that Lyla had triggered.

It was a long speech, which gave her time to manage that, although plenty of time to now worry that Lyla was now going to think she was a weirdo, and whether she should try to explain herself or just move the conversation as swiftly as possible in another direction.

“What’s your favourite food? I heard they serve more or less everything at the feast,” she said, cramming the words in with barely space to draw breath once the speech ended.

OOC: I assumed that was the speech/event you were referencing, otherwise I'm not sure what else would be going on here.

And so sorry - I meant to put the password in your welcome email. It's 'sonorachat.'

13 Robyn Lundstrom That makes one of us 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

June 16, 2022 4:00 AM

Curious-er, but also curious-er by Lyla Holland

Lyla sat attentively, trying to memorize everything that Professor Wright said. Luckily, Robyn had fallen silent so she could concentrate.

"My mom doesn't really talk about her parents too much," Lyla had said carefully, trying to be diplomatic, "They are purebloods."

Lyla couldn't help but feel as though she'd brushed a nerve, the way Robyn had answered her question about how her parents were getting on in the magical world. It was almost a canned answer- everything's fine, don't look behind the curtain. Part of her wanted to ask more about it, but she knew that asking too much would probably scare Robyn away.

She'd just decided to not ask any more questions about Robyn's family, when Professor Wright finished his speech. Before Lyla could even wish she'd thought to take notes, Robyn burst out with another question.

Her favorite food? Lyla thought for a minute, suddenly having forgotten every food she'd ever eaten. She always froze like this when she was put on the spot. It was infuriating.
"Um...I guess it depends what I'm in the mood for," she started, grasping at the first thing that came to mind, "I could go for some tacos. What about you?"

Professor Wright gave the first years permission to mill about for a few minutes before the main tour, so Lyla stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of her skirt.

"Want to go for a quick look around?" Lyla asked Robyn, "I'd love to find a good reading spot. We'll stay within sight of the others."

64 Lyla Holland Curious-er, but also curious-er 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

June 16, 2022 5:07 AM

Down the rabbit hole we go by Robyn Lundstrom

Lyla’s mom didn’t talk about her parents much. They were Pureblood. That sounded like family drama. Robyn was torn between pressing the point—trying to be kind by showing interest and letting Lyla talk—and leaving it well alone. That was its own kind of politeness sometimes. Of course, if Lyla didn’t want to talk about it, she probably wouldn’t have brought it up. But what if going into Lyla’s stuff meant she thought they should go through Robyn’s in return? It wasn’t like she didn’t want to have friends she could trust with that, but it was still fresh enough that she wasn’t sure how to put it into words. Not ones that would make people understand properly, and not see them in a bad light.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, regarding Lyla’s grandparents. If she wanted to talk about it, she could, but Robyn wasn’t sure how to push without… well, seeming pushy.

“Mmm, tacos are good,” Robyn agreed. “Same, I guess—that it depends on my mood, or the occasion. My mom makes really good spinach and ricotta manicotti, but like… I’m not expecting it at the feast tonight.” Even if they made it, it wouldn’t be the same. Plus, there was a difference between a home favourite and an eating-out favourite. “My dad’s a bit more experimental in the kitchen—mom uses her mom’s recipes, but dad will try random stuff from recipe books or whatever. He’s been really into Japanese curry lately, so like… that would be homey but it wouldn’t need to taste the exact same as home. It’s not like it’s turned out the same way twice yet. I guess I’m meant to eat savoury pumpkin too, cos that’s a big magic culture thing?” she added.

Lyla suggested a quick poke around, within the limited area that they were allowed to explore. Robyn wasn’t sure there was too much more to it, but she nodded anyway, wanting to be agreeable.

“Sure, let me just grab some more juice first. Do you want anything?” she asked.

OOC: Hi :) So, the official version of this event is going to be posted tomorrow (Friday 17th). I'm feeling slightly like I dug myself into a hole here, because now you've already posted at it, and I don't want you to be bored!

So, I thought I'd make it that you can keep talking to Robyn, or choose this as a place to split things and post with someone else. It'd still be at the same event, but you could post with someone new for a bit if you want (I can ask another author to join the thread, saying that they approached Lyla whilst Robyn was getting drinks).

The Opening Feast will be posted the Friday after, and from there on in, you'll have more going on and plenty of different places to post.

13 Robyn Lundstrom Down the rabbit hole we go 1558 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

June 17, 2022 7:15 PM

Here we are. by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa Scapetello's objectively short wagon ride was far, far too long for her liking. It was an absurd, uncomfortable, undignified, and overall ridiculous way to travel. She thought that whomever had come up with this as a way of transporting students to school needed to have their brain checked, and then severely punished regardless of the results. Once the contraption had finally landed, she allowed the others to clamber off the horrible conveyance first. In the meantime, she attempted to fix her hair. It had gotten quite disheveled from the ride and she was not about to make a first impression looking like that.

She had insisted that Emilia get it just perfect for her first day. It had taken quite a bit of time and numerous attempts, but the woman had eventually gotten close enough. Now it was ruined. There was nothing she could do to return it to its previous, glorious state, so instead she just let her long, dark hair fall straight down around her back. It was simple and boring, but would have to do. She could make the best of it, she was nothing if not capable of dealing with difficult situations.

Her dress was another matter. It was the finest garment she had to wear… and it didn’t make a bit of difference. The ugly, green, horrible school robes covered it completely. What was the point of trying to look nice and proper if all her attempts were to be thwarted by this school? It was bad enough to have been sent away from home, but to this… this pathetic, small, little back country school in the literal ‘middle-of-nowhere’ of America of all places. She wanted to scream at her misfortune. But she wouldn’t. That wouldn’t help her one bit. She had plans, she had dreams and aspirations, nothing would stand in her way. Not even this terrible little Sonora school.

Nausicaa gracefully descended from the wagon and took her first real look around. Did she see a magnificent towering castle or beautiful chateau for a school as she might have expected back home? No. The building before her looked as though it was covered in mud. She knew well it was ‘stucco’ and ‘Spanish colonial style’, but that did little to raise her opinion of it. She had done her research on the school to which she had been banished, there wasn’t much that she learned that she liked. Now that she was here, it wasn’t any better.

The man who was gathering them together looked ridiculous. He obviously had no idea what ‘fashion sense’ even was or perhaps such a thing existed at all. Something about the man’s smile irked her as well. She wasn’t sure why, but it did. And he seemed confused, was he a teacher or a professor? Still, she held herself erect as she walked with the group of other students, doing her best not to pay much attention to them just yet. This was not the time for proper introductions.

As she moved with the others through the garden she thought that at least someone had been sensible enough to make some green in the middle of this barren wasteland. The path opened up into a courtyard. Nice might be an extreme term to describe it, it was... acceptable, certainly nothing to write home about. Her eyes scanned quickly over the tables and she cringed inwardly as her gaze fell upon the green folders. She was going to come to despise that color. However, she took one as instructed and turned to listen to what this man had to say to them.

Nausicaa soaked in the information, the basics of which she already knew. Parts of his speech sounded like they didn’t expect much out of their students, which didn’t surprise her much. She planned on being well ahead of any learning curve that the teachers here would make. Especially if they were all busy helping everyone else with special sessions. Once again she wondered why father had sent her here of all places. Was it really possible to get a decent education here?

She did her very best to not roll her eyes at the mention of the school’s sorting ceremony. Even that sounded rather pathetic compared to some other school’s methods that she had heard of. Finally he stopped talking and she took the opportunity at that point to inspect the contents of her unpleasantly green folder. It took her only a few moments to absorb the information it contained.

It was time for her to begin her plans. Step one was to see who she was stuck with for the time being, and find out how useful they would be to her. She approached the closest classmate and gave them a confident and polite smile. “Hello,” she spoke in clear English, but there was a definite Italian accent to them, “I am Nausicaa Scapetello of Ravenna. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

2 Nausicaa Scapetello Here we are. 1561 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

June 19, 2022 7:08 PM

Here I am! Whoo! Adventure! by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn Bavol had always known of magic. He had been surprised, when he was six, to learn there were people who didn't know this; more surprised, when he was ten, to learn that his mother was one of them. During his rare visits to see her, he had never been shy about telling her about the magic he saw every day, but he hadn't understood until then she thought he was imagining things, or thought it was special tourist effects, and just humored him, hadn't know Dad would just chuckle when they talked about it in private, and tell her that children were so easy to impress with a few stage tricks.

They weren't stage tricks, or special tourist effects, though, and Xarryn had always know that magic was real. What he hadn't always known was that there was a statute of secrecy that meant Mom - who had never married Dad, and couldn't do magic herself - wasn't allowed to know. What he hadn't always known was that someday, he would have to put his feet on solid ground for more than the annual maternal visitation week they spent in port in San Diego, to learn to use it himself.

Someday had come.

Well, honestly, so far, there hadn't been a whole lot of solid ground. They'd docked in San Diego yesterday. He'd gotten to see Mom briefly, before Dad rushed him off to a wizards' area Mom couldn't go to, and bought him a ton of stuff - weird clothes (well, clothes like he saw the tourists wear, but he'd figured that was what some people wore to denote that they were on vacation since none of the other people Xarryn knew wore such impractical garments), books, quills, parchment, a wand, some really questionable looking things that Dad called 'potions supplies' including a heavy cook pot that he'd originally though Dad was picking up for Tooth, and some thick gloves. Then they went back to the ship, emptied out his foot locker, put in the new stuff, put his favorite things that he couldn't go without until Christmas back in, and then slept one last night in his own bunk. This morning, they went out for breakfast with Mom, and then it was time to go to the wizards' transportation depot.

He'd been there before, picking up tourists for the cruise, or dropping them off afterwards, but this time it was Xarryn with a shrunken foot locker in his pocket and waiting for a flying wagon to Elsewhere. It had come more or less on time, and he'd gotten aboard and the flight was very enjoyable. He'd liked it a lot.

But now it was over, and the solid ground had come back, and he was being told to leave his foot locker in the wagon. He pulled it out of his pocket and left it on top of some luggage that hadn't been shrunk and hoped it wouldn't get lost or overlooked, small as it was. He joined the group of people gathering around the guy with the spectacles and tourist robes (that apparently weren't just for tourists, who knew?). He milled with the other kids, taking them in like they were rare creatures. The cruise lines had a strict age policy and no children had been allowed. (Other than Xarryn, of course, but he was the captain's kid, and the company wasn't liable if he got hurt.) He'd seen older teenagers, and obviously there were other kids in San Diego, but these ones were kids he'd actually get to know and play with and learn with and even grow up with, at least until they were seventeen anyway.

He wasn't quite sure how to interact with people who were not paying guests on his dad's ship, either, or crew that he'd known almost his whole life.

'Friendly' he thought, might be a good starting point. "Hi," he said, smiling at one of them. "I'm Xarryn."

Soon, they were shuffled through some tall plant things into a wider area with some tables and the Not-Tourist man told them to take one of the folders. Xarryn did so. The man talked some more, and Xarryn (mostly) paid attention, though it sounded a lot like a rehearsed speech and having heard a lot of those, at the start of every cruise trip his father led, he was predisposed to tuning it out and just watching the people around him.

It was different that watching adults listening to safety lectures about sailing ships and how not to fall off and die. Probably because there wasn't any potential death involved, but also possibly because they weren't adults.

He was still standing next to the person he'd said hi to earlier, so as the Not Tourist finished up his speech, Xarryn turned back to them. "What do you think so far? I mean, obviously, we've been here like six minutes, but . . . it's way different than anything I'm used to. I think it's gonna be kind of scary, but also awesome. It's not a real adventure unless it pushes your limits, right?"

Every one of the tourists that ever came aboard the Wind Harness was stepping outside their comfort zones. Xarryn had to be at least as brave as that.

1 Xarryn Bavol Here I am! Whoo! Adventure! 1560 0 5