Team Challenge Meet and Greet on Cascade Hall

System

July 15, 2022 1:55 AM

Team 6 by System

0 System Team 6 0 System 0 5

Selina Skies

July 15, 2022 1:55 AM

Team Challenge Meet and Greet by Selina Skies

Selina did her best to keep an ear on what the students of Sonora were talking about, and the challenges certainly seemed a popular topic. The name plus some application of common sense was, apparently, not enough to adequately conjure up what they might be in for (no, there was not going to be mortal peril…. No, they weren’t going to throw the first years into something that was utterly impossible for them to do), and as well as giving the teams a chance to meet and greet today, she felt obliged to expand a little on the Headmaster’s… enigmatic remarks.

“Good morning,” she smiled, one Saturday when all the students had been requested to remain or assemble after lunch. “We will shortly be posting the team challenge lists for this year. If I could ask you to stand in the middle for now, the prairie elves are going to rearrange the tables with one for each team. Teams will be captained by a seventh year, so please look out for your name and number and make your way to the appropriate table.

“Whilst we wait for that to happen, a little more about the challenges,” she said, as the prairie elves dismissed the large house tables, replacing them with nine smaller ones. Each had seven or eight chairs around it, a team number and a seventh year’s name displayed in glowing letters above it, and a small selection of juices and snacks, even though lunch had just finished. “The challenges are something we do once per cycle of students, so whilst some people here may have friends or relatives who remember them, no one here has done them before—and this will also be your one and only time doing them. They are designed to create connections with people you might not otherwise have a chance to work with, and as such we have done our best to mix you up across ages groups, houses, and other variables,” - namely, splitting apart any obvious couples or friendship groups, though that sounded too cruel if spelt out so directly. “The challenges are designed to be accessible to a wide range of skill levels, and whilst each challenge will vary, there will often be an element such as every team member having to make a contribution in order for the team to be counted as successful. Therefore all team members, regardless of year, will have the opportunity - and the expectation upon them - to contribute to their group’s success.

“Today, you ca get to know your team, and start planning out some overall strategy—there are some suggested questions on each table.” These dealt with things like strengths, weaknesses, situations each student would be (un)comfortable taking a lead in, and any phobias. Whether or not the teams choose to use these talking points was up to them, and how thoroughly they would strategise based off it was anyone’s guess, but it gave them all an equal point from which to start.

“You may now find your team,” she added, waving her wand. In smaller letters, but still bright and visible, each team’s members appeared under their captain’s name at the relevant table.

OOC: Team 1:
Morgan
Wally
Oz
Iris
Patience
Piper
Eris

Team 2:
Mara
Stanley
Lavender
Gus
Amethyst
Yarielis
Lenny

Team 3:
Gabriel
Graham
Tommy
Rae
Philip
Olaf
Robyn

Team 4:
Alexander P-B
Bertie
Billy
Alexei
Christopher
Cole
Freya

Team 5:
Esme
Quincy
Rosalynn
Connie
Verdillia
Xander
Nausicaa

Team 6:
Sadie
Bonabelle
Isla
Hans
Eben
Gwendolyn
Lyla

Team 7:
Leonor
Valentine
Lorena
Lydia
Tissena
Levi
Xarryn
Amariah

Team 8:
Mab
Jasper
Henry
Xavier
Liesl
Fortune
Alexander W

Team 9:
Theo
Philippe
Ian
Winston
Claire
Samara
Lazarus

Subthreads:

Team 6 with System, Sadie-Lake Chalmers, Hansel Hexenmeister, Lyla Holland

Team 1 with System, Wally O'Malley, Iris Cobb, Oz Spellman

Team 2 with System, Yaniel Ayala Velez, Lavender Brockert

Team 3 with System, Olaf Brockert, Phil Carson, Robyn Lundstrom, Tommy Jamison, Gabriel Wilson

Team 4 with System, Bertie Jackson, Cole Pierce, Christopher Brockert

Team 5 with System, Constance Melcher, Esme Brockert, Verdillia Scurlock

Team 7 with System, Valentine Duell, Xarryn Bavol, Leviosa Scurlock, Lorena Abernathy

0 System Team 9 0 System 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

July 15, 2022 2:19 AM

This is... complicated by Yaniel Ayala Velez

It was the day of reckoning; the day when their teams for the mysterious challenges would be announced. And, rather than just posting a list and letting them all scurry away in horror, there was then going to be enforced mingling. Allegedly this was so they could ‘get to know each other’ before being thrown into some stressful situation. Yarielis had taken an entire year to get comfortable thinking of one person in this school as a 'friend,' and was not convinced that the headway that would be made over a cup of juice was going to be sufficient.

At least the teams had been predetermined by the staff, which removed the risk of no one wanting you. Yarielis stood still, suppressing any nervous fidgeting as Professor Skies drew the whole thing out. Okay, this was important, good to know, whatever…. But it wasn’t make or break information.

Finally, the team lists were revealed. Yarielis did not have to scan very far to find the right team. The universe was giving with one hand and taking away with the other... Mara Morales' team. The Crotalus had noticed the two Latina seventh years, as it was hard not, when you abruptly went from being surrounded by that community to it being a noteworthy feature. However, Yarielis would never have dared to try talking to them without a reason. Now the universe was providing one. However, it had made up for that in the form of Lenny. Yarielis had made a conscientious effort to steer clear of him, because it was likely that too much exposure to him would lead to some of Yarielis' discomfort and annoyance with him making its way to the surface. Out of deference to trying to stay friends with Cole and trying to introduce minimal conflict into his life, avoiding his twin altogether was probably the best strategy. Now Yarielis had to be around Lenny for prolonged periods, under highly stressful circumstances. It was a good job the Crotalus was used to pushing things deep down where no one could see them and they couldn't cause problems.

Yarielis headed over to the table.

"Mara Morales?" the second year confirmed. “I’m Yarielis.” Some might have said there was a Spanish accent on the pronunciation of both names. Yarielis just called it ‘saying them correctly.’ Sure, the second year code-switched, smoothing out the pronunciation to something more American for most people, but Mara wasn’t most people. At least, hopefully not. It wasn't like Yarielis could just outright ask or, or even start speaking Spanish in front of everyone else because that would be rude, but still... It would be nice to know, and to theoretically have someone to speak Spanish with, even if Yarielis couldn’t really think of many opportunities where that was likely to happen. Even having it as a theoretical possibility was a nice step forward. It was weird not hearing it for months at a time.

Yarielis offered a pleasant social smile to everyone who came over, though it was belied somewhat by the second year’s posture—elbows on the table, chin propped on hands, shoulders hunched forward. The smile was welcoming and friendly. The posture was… guarded? Hostile? Bored? It was not situation-specific, and was how Yarielis sat in most classes too. It was just unfortunate that two totally contradictory behaviours were both becoming firmly ingrained habits.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez This is... complicated 1554 0 5

Mab

July 15, 2022 10:43 AM

Meeting. Greeting. Yay. by Mab

Mab was dubious about the challenges. She had owled Ben, and got some information about them from her cousin, and Cole reported what his parents had told him, and they didn't sound entirely awful until Teams will be captained by a seventh year. She groaned softly and sighed.

Fortunately, though, to her surprise and relief, when names went up over each of the team tables, it was MAB that appeared in glowing letters along with a bunch of other first names scattered about over the other tables. So this wasn't going to be overly formal then. That was good. Mab started edging her way toward table eight as Professor Skies kept talking without sharing anything particularly useful about the specific challenges they'd be facing this year.

When the other names joined hers, she was close enough to easily read them and she let out another breath of relief. Nobody she actively disliked had been added to her list and Xavier she actually did like well enough.

She sat at the the table and nodded politely but silently as the other team members joined them. Only once they had the full team did she speak. "I'm Mab," she introduced herself for those who didn't know already. She gestured up to her glowing name in the largest font at the top of their team list as a way to indicate she was the captain here without actually making any claim to the title. It was a small school, and she was a prefect, so she went down the list, naming each of the other people and pointing them out so everyone could put a name to everyone else. She hadn't learned all the first year names yet, but she hadn't gotten any, so that worked out. Alexander W, she figured out by process of elimination, as she didn't know the youngest Crotali very well either, but he was the only one she didn't know at least by sight, so that made it easy.

"Is there anything anyone wants to share about what they do or don't want to be responsible for, if it comes up? For example, if we need to do any presentations," which might be possible given the Headmaster's vague statements that sounded like the concert and challenges were somehow related this year, "I don't want to do it."

1 Mab Meeting. Greeting. Yay. 1473 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

July 15, 2022 5:00 PM

Fun. Games. Probable humiliation. Yay. by Xavier Lundstrom

Team Challenges. Xavier was... curious. The Pecari in him was always up for a challenge, and he was imagining fun and games, and things that he generally would have enjoyed. Generally. Would have. The challenges were going to be magical versions of the things he was used to, and - to put it bluntly - he still sucked at magic. That was humiliating enough in class, when it was just his own project and comparing to his neighbour. Now a team's success was going to be put partially on his shoulders? Professor Skies' comments about how they would all be expected to participate destroyed any ideas he'd had about hiding at the back, just being dead weight. A vision came to mind instead of them stuck in the middle of some challenge because he couldn't do a basic spell. His team mates were going to hate him so much...

When the team lists went up, he got a little burst of relief as he saw his name under Mab's - the one seventh year he knew and liked. She also knew already that he wasn't the strongest at magic. He wondered if she would protect him from humiliation. 'Protective' wasn't a word he would have used about Mab, but nor was 'cruel' - she was capable of putting two and two together, and he thought she would understand the position he was in. He wasn't sure she could do anything about it, but it was still a step forward.

The other most interesting name on the list was Henry. Xavier suspected the staff were breaking up obvious friendships because of the whole thing about getting to know new people. Which said a lot about how much effort he'd made with his best friend/future husband's twin. His first thought was that there was nothing like a soul destroying experience of humiliation for bonding. His second was that if anything happened to Henry, Oz would literally kill him. It didn't matter that Henry was older and Xavier was magically incompetent. Oz was emotional over logical in all things, but Henry was absolutely the number one button pusher on that front, however hard he tried to hide it.

Mab introduced them, and Xavier nodded at each of his team mates as they were mentioned. Mab also led by example with things she wasn't comfortable doing. Xavier almost laughed at it though. It was such a stark contrast to what he'd been imagining - something along the lines of scaling Mount Everest but by magic and with added fire.

"I don't mind taking something like that, if it comes up," he answered, happy to be able to volunteer a useful skill. "Do you really think it's likely? And wait, by presentation you just mean talking right?" he checked. They had done some presentations in class, which had been very similar to back home, except it was always with posters never with Powerpoint but maybe for challenges or fancy presentations there was supposed to be some way of including magic, like for visual effects. "I'm also decent at sports. Mostly non-magical ones, but there's transferable skills, and I still fly sometimes for fun."

13 Xavier Lundstrom Fun. Games. Probable humiliation. Yay. 1529 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 15, 2022 7:23 PM

Welcome Team 7! by Valentine Duell

Valentine had no idea what to expect for these challenges. She'd written Mama and Papa asking about what they'd done. Papa had written back and he had been... less than helpful. She was pretty sure he had been purposefully vague in answering, just because he could. She did know the challenges were different each time and his had been ages ago, so whatever he might have been able to tell her may not have been very useful anyway.

The professor's speech was filled with more vague words. It seemed like today's meetings was more about the teams than the challenges themselves. That was good though, she'd get to meet her new team! Once dismissed, Val quickly searched for her name among the new tables. She wondered if the tables were going to stay like that for the rest of the year... were they to be eating and such in teams for this year? True they weren't required to sit at their house tables for most of the year, but if they were trying to build a solid team... maybe they should? Maybe at least one meal a day maybe? She couldn't imagine being confined to one group of people for the entire year.

When she found her table, she was a little surprised for a moment. Leonor, Lorena, Lydia, Tissena, Levi, Xarryn and Amariah were the other members of her team. They were people she knew, some better than others, but none that she was very close to. Professor Skies had talked about mixing up the groups... clever. Val grinned, now she had a good excuse to get to know these people better! She took her spot at the table and welcomed everyone already there, or as they arrived.

This was technically Leonor's team, but being a sixth year Val figured that made her second in command. As such, she quickly looked over the suggestion questions at the table. "Let's do formal introductions just to make sure we're all on the same page." She was pretty sure she knew everyone, but the same probably wouldn't be true for some of the younger or slightly less social people. "I'm Valentine Duell, Sixth year Teppenpaw." Then she indicated the questions, "My strengths, at least in school subjects, are probably flying and divinations. My weakness is definitely transfigurations." She handed the question to the person beside her with a smile, "Your turn!"

2 Valentine Duell Welcome Team 7! 1490 0 5

Sadie-Lake Chalmers

July 15, 2022 8:03 PM

Non-vengers assemble? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers

Sadie entered the Cascade Hall with butterflies in her stomach. The not good kind. There were a lot of rumours going around that seventh years had to take a big role in the challenges. This was confirmed pretty quickly by Professor Skies. Each of them would be leading a team.

But I'm not a leader.

The student body had voted decisively on that fact, and given the deflating, hopeless feeling she was getting at being told to lead a team, they had probably been right in their judgement. For a brief minute, she had entertained the idea that she might make a good head girl, thinking about the organisation and responsibility sides. The public, outgoing, being someone others listened to... That wasn't her. And that seemed like what was needed now.

She made her way over to her glowing name, glad to see it was her preferred version of it. It had appeared that way on the head student ballot too. Apart from the one excruciating time when Headmaster Brockert had called her up to get her prefect badge, the memo about what to call her seemed to have got around. She used the time whilst the others gathered to read over the sheets and to think about what to say, though she paused to offer a 'hello' and a smile to everyone. Hoepfully she could at least achieve 'nice' and 'friendly' as a leader. She normally would have valued 'neatly put together' amongst her better qualities but she wasn't sure that a tidy manicure and a good mermaid braid made her look anything other than decorative and ineffective.

"Hello," she greeted them, once they were all assembled. "I'm Sadie. Welcome to team six." She offered them an even, white smile, managing to hold it even though she felt like an enormous dork after saying that. "I'm good with handling animals, even pretty sick or bad tempered ones. I do a decent job with most charms and transfigurations. I dropped Defence Against the Dark Arts after CATS." She felt awkward saying it all, but it was what they were meant to say. She wanted to reassure them that she wouldn't judge and it didn't matter if they didn't do perfectly, but she wasn't sure how to say that without sounding cheesy. And for all she knew, she had a team of go getters, willing to spill blood for victory, and that kind of 'we're all winners if we do our best' talk would make them despair of her.

"Next?" she passed it on with another friendly smile.

13 Sadie-Lake Chalmers Non-vengers assemble? 1480 0 5

Theo Spurn

July 15, 2022 8:18 PM

Go Team Softness! by Theo Spurn

The challenges had popped in and out of Theo's mind in the run up to the official team list announcement. They occasionally recurred to him as a passing thought in the form of 'That is a thing that is happening!' but he had not been inclined to dwell on them.

Now, as Professor Skies said that all seventh years would lead a team, and his own glowing name appeared above a table, they became exciting enough to warrant a little squeak. Theo scurried over to his own table, beaming up at the lights. His had been one of the few left off the ballot for head student last year. He wasn't sure why, and he didn't really want it, but it wasn't nice to leave people out. The challenges were, therefore, already better than the head student vote.

"Hello! Welcome! Hug, high five or salute?" he offered each person as they joined his table. It was nice to offer choices including non-touching options. He possibly didn't know anyone well enough for hugs, which were for friends really, but if they were going to be a team, he thought that counted as close enough. It was nice to offer anyway.

"My name is Theo and I am LEADING our team," he smiled proudly. "I make great chocolate chip pancakes. Maybe we can have a pancake party one day."

13 Theo Spurn Go Team Softness! 1476 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

July 15, 2022 8:35 PM

I can assemble? by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel smiled as their leader introduced herself. He knew . . . some of these people by sight, particularly the other Intermediates, but he wasn't close to any of them. Isla and Eben were both Aladrens one year older and younger respectively, so hopefully that meant their team had book learning checked off their skill sets. Sadie was a Crotalus, and they were supposed to be good at strategizing, so that was a good House for a leader. Bonabelle was also an Aladren, so having an Advanced Aladren on the team had to be a good sign, right? Of the youngest two, they had another Aladren - very Aladren heavy team here, that was probably good? But no Pecaris, and no Quidditch players either, so hopefully there wasn't too much athletic going on in these challenges, or if there was, there was a smart way around it. The youngest, like their oldest, was also a Crotalus. He was the sole representative of Teppenpaw, so he figured he'd get the diplomacy bits by default if there was any of that to be passed around.

"Hi, Sadie," he greeted her when she passed introductions around to him. "Hi, everyone else. I'm Hansel. Or Hans. Either way. No preference. I'm good with snakes, like, I grew up on a snake ranch good with snakes. And I'm decent in all of my classes, so basic fourth year level stuff there. I can speak two languages - German being the other one," he added for those who couldn't guess based on his accent. And he spoke Parseltongue, too, but he didn't exactly advertise that. He'd said he was good with snakes. Any snake related challenge bits should come his way already. "I'm a part-time member of the Dueling club, so I'm alright with DADA," he added with a nod to Sadie, though as someone who finished their fifth year, she probably still had the advantage there. "And I don't know if it will come up at all, but I'm the team Teppenpaw, so I guess I'm pretty good with people, too? And I was briefly on the Quidditch team so I can fly pretty well if that comes up."

He gestured on to the next person, passing along the friendly smile Sadie had given him. "Your turn."

1 Hansel Hexenmeister I can assemble? 1524 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

July 16, 2022 12:00 PM

I feel welcome! by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn was just rolling with everything. It was his first year at school - at any school - so he'd had no idea what to expect upon arrival beyond some basic pamphlets. There was a lot more reading and writing than he particularly cared for (and the teachers who cared about spelling probably already dreaded grading his homework), but the practical parts of the lessons were all very interesting and exciting. He'd also signed up for Quidditch because that sounded like the activity most like melee sword battle (sadly, they used balls instead of swords, but it was flying dozens of feet over the ground and people could fall to their deaths or something so that was cool), and he'd joined the dueling club because that had the word dueling in it even if they used wands instead of swords, and the performing arts club because his job on the ship was at least as much acting as cleaning boy.

Then there were the challenges. People were talking about those a lot and they sounded pretty exciting, too! He learned, as the transfiguration teacher, Professor Clouds, explained about them, that they were something everybody got to do only once, which was super exciting because he got to start with them! He waiting (mostly) patiently as she went on a bit longer about how the teams were chosen to keep everything fair and balanced which made sense, and how everyone had to participate which definitely made sense because everyone had to contribute something or it wasn't really a team. And then finally the names of the team members appeared, and Xarryn wandered around trying to find his own name, which was unexpectedly more difficult than it should be because there were an oddly large number of people at this school who had X as the first letter of their name.

Finally, he did find the list with the right X name, and he grinned back at one of the older girls who greeted him. The same girl started things off, and he was a little surprised that she introduced herself as Valentine and not Leonor, which was the big name over their table, but he rolled with it.

After introducing herself, Valentine told them some of her strengths and weaknesses, and then he startled a little bit when she told him it was his turn to do the same. Okay then. They were not doing this in any sort of age order then. "Hi! I'm Xarryn Bavol. I'm a first year, so that's probably my weakness. I've seen magic done a lot but I'm only just starting to learn how to use it myself. Also, I have terrible handwriting and spelling. For things I'm good at . . . I can climb stuff really well and I was a quick study on a broom, and I can smell water," he wasn't sure if that was skill everyone had or not, "and I can predict the weather pretty good, and I can sword fight! And I can tie ropes and sing sea shanties and navigate by the stars. Also I know a ton of facts about pirates!"

He turned to the person on his other side. "Your turn!"

1 Xarryn Bavol I feel welcome! 1560 0 5

Lyla Holland

July 17, 2022 6:50 PM

Some assembly required by Lyla Holland

Lyla chewed her bottom lip as she made her way to table six. She recognized Sadie as being in Crotalus also, but the other kids around the table were unfamiliar, though friendly-looking.

Sadie's smile was reassuring, but when she started listing her aptitudes, Lyla's heart sank. She didn't know if she was good at anything yet, she was brand new! Although she knew that there would be things to do that were on her level, she obviously didn't know what they were yet, and didn't know if she'd be any good at them. Her heartbeat settled a little bit when the boy next to her started talking about things he was good at outside of school. Lyla started thinking about what she did at home.

Before she knew it, it was her turn. She returned the boy's- Hansel, that was his name- friendly smile with a shy one, and took a deep breath.

"Hi everybody, I'm Lyla," she started, "I'm not sure what I'm good at magic-wise, yet. Hopefully I'll have time to learn some stuff before the challenges really get going. Otherwise, I like to read, and I'm a good listener. I'm pretty quiet, I guess, but my mom always says once I decide to do something, I don't stop til I do it. My dad calls it being determined."

She shrugged, out of things to say.

"Next?" she offered, looking to the next person.

64 Lyla Holland Some assembly required 1559 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

July 18, 2022 5:34 PM

Umm.. Adventure. Excitement. Yay.? by Fortune Ardovini

This was going to be great! The challenges could be anything, they could be like some of the adventures out of the books and wireless shows he'd read/listened to. Fortune supposed they might also be really boring and strange tasks as well, but that wasn't as much fun to think about. So he was going to err on the side of excitement if he was going to err at all. Fortune listened to Professor Skies talk about the way today was going to be a 'meet your team' sort of thing. That sounded fine, they could properly assess their strengths and weaknesses and strategize. That was good planning.

Once they were released, Fortune wandered about the tables looking for his name, he found it at team 8, with 'Mab'. Taking his seat, he grinned around at the table as the others joined them. This was going to be fun. Mab began the meeting and he waved at everyone when she said his name.

Xavier volunteered to do presentation stuff, and then said he was good at sports! "I do sports as well!" Fortune volunteered, "I'm on the Quidditch team and flying is fun." He grinned at Xavier. Then he thought he should keep talking a bit, "Other than that.. hmm..." he paused and thought, "I'm okay with trying most things out, but I can't promise I'll be great at them." He shrugged then, not quite sure what else to add.

2 Fortune Ardovini Umm.. Adventure. Excitement. Yay.? 1549 0 5

Philippe Delachene

July 18, 2022 7:55 PM

I like the name. by Philippe Delachene

Philippe was eager for his chance at the challenges. Both Anya and Jasmine had gotten to go in the last cycle, but he'd missed it. Honestly, he was kind of glad he did, because it meant he was coming into them as a sixth year advanced student, which was just about the perfect spot. He didn't need to lead anything (though he would have been fine with it if he did; it was just less pressure this way and he could just enjoy the experience without needing to be responsible for keeping a team together) and he knew a lot of stuff and had a good handle on magic and who he was and what he was good at.

As he wandered among the tables looking for his name, he found it right under Theo's. Theo was more Anya's friend than his, but he liked the older boy just fine. He wasn't sure Theo was exactly the most organized person in the whole world, but maybe Philippe could subtly help out with that, like he did with Anya.

"Uh," he said, stumped by the question of whether to hug or high five (or salute, but Phillippe was definitely not a salute guy). He knew Theo and Anya hugged as a greeting, but he wasn't sure they were quite there. "Uh, high five this time. Maybe a hug next time?" he suggested, and high fived. "Unless you want me to pass one on to Anya, then I'm totally okay with a hug." He wasn't sure why that made a difference but it totally did. It was Anya's hug not his. She'd earned Theo hugs.

Once everyone had gathered around the table (and Philippe had started drinking some grape juice) , Theo made his introduction and yes. Philippe was definitely going to be co-leading this team and letting Theo think he was doing it on his own.

"Hi, everyone, I'm Phillippe, and I'm in sixth year, so I guess I'm Theo's deputy. I'm not so good with making pancakes -though I love eating them - but I got Es and Os on all my CATS so I'm pretty decent all around on the magic academics front. I'm starting RATS level material in CoMC, Charms, DADA, and Transfiguration." And Muggle Studies, but he didn't really think that was worth bringing up, nor was he sure that his independent studies into German and French were going to be at all helpful. "I'm the new President of the LGBTQIA+ Cafe." He wasn't quite sure what that brought to the table either, but it was kind of a plug for the club and kind of a warning to the others that they should be openminded and accepting of others on this team or they would get Teppenpawed.

He smiled encouragingly at another student. "Hi, go ahead and introduce yourself and share some of your strengths."

1 Philippe Delachene I like the name. 1489 0 5

Bertie Jackson

July 21, 2022 3:12 AM

Strength in numbers. As in, math, not other people. by Bertie Jackson

Bertie was curious about the challenges. That word could mean all manner of things, some of which he enjoyed very much. Solving a complicated puzzle was a challenge. Casting complex spells was a challenge. Working nicely with others was a challenge, as was engaging in mindless physical activities, and he had a horrible feeling that a lot of those types of being challenged were going to be on the cards. The team element had been painfully apparent from the get go, and it only got worse as Professor Skies talked about it, and mentioned mixing things up, which basically meant forcing him to be with stupid people who he didn't like. Great.

When the names went up, he found his group. There were worse leaders, and the one obviously superior one was someone he was far too close with to be allowed to work with. Alexei, Christopher, Cole and Freya were all people he knew little enough about to not actively object to, and he was reserving judgement until they opened their mouths. So, that was five out of the six people he was being forced to work with who weren't instanty objectionable.

He allowed Alexnder to start the meeting, both out of respect for him as team leader, and also no real desire to initiate social interactions. He was busy sorting through what he wanted to say, trying to work out which words would trip him up the least. He could smooth his speech out, he could apply tricks ad strategies to make the stammer go away, but they were effortful, and made him speak unnaturally slowly. He was used to having a few bumps, and to just not caring about them, but then he was more used to speaking only to selected, trusted people.

"I'm Bertie," he said, stumbling a little over the words. His name was still one of his biggest tripping points, which was beyond frustrating. "I'm good at problem solving and puzzles, including deciphering codes. I can also do non-verbal magic to a higher degree than most people my age." There were advantages to having to compensate for his stammer, which was noticeble as he spoke. He figured most people could assume all by themselves that that was his 'weakness' although he didn't think of it that way, given the fields of knowledge it had opened up to him. The only way in which it was a problem was other people. "I don't fly much," he added, for the sake of giving a weakness, sticking to something he really cared little enough about to not mind exposing.

13 Bertie Jackson Strength in numbers. As in, math, not other people. 1497 0 5

Olaf Brockert

July 22, 2022 1:06 PM

scowls by Olaf Brockert

Olaf scowled. He was less than happy about this whole Team Challenge thing as it would seriously cut into his reading time. It was one thing with classes, because that was learning something which was something the Aladren did actually like. This, however, was really going to suck. Who knew what sort of Challenges they’d have to be put through?

As in what sort of sadistic torture would the staff come up with? When Allegra and his older cousins had done this, he remembered that they’d had an obstacle course and a survival challenge. Neither of those sounded like much more fun to him than they had to his older sister albeit for probably different reasons. It didn’t sound like something that would be traumatic to Olaf per se, just…unpleasant. And irritating. Not to mention that even if a Challenge involved something that the first year wouldn’t hate, he was still being forced to spend time with people. Yech.

To make matters worse, his sisters seemed…happy about this whole thing. Esme seemed like she’d really been looking forward to leading a team and had been since she figured it out that she would be doing so. Of course, Olaf could see that it would be her last chance for glory since she had not gotten prefect or Head Girl. As for Isla, she had a tendency to be positive about most things. If it weren’t for the fact that there were other people in their family that were quite different from each other, it would be honestly hard to believe they were even related at times, let alone siblings. The Aladren, for his part, was doing his very best to remind the two of them that Allegra had found the whole experience traumatic and that it might not go well for them either. Olaf was a realist after all.

He listened to Deputy Headmistress Skies give the introduction, rolling his eyes. All this…nonsense about connections with random people that he’d otherwise never speak to. Okay, yes, the pureblood world was full of that, and it was seriously annoying. Olaf had very little desire to connect with others, thank you very much. He was already going to be forced to do it most of his life, he didn’t want to do it now too.

The Aladren also doubted he’d actually bond with or become friends with his teammates. He was pretty sure that didn’t happen often although he supposed that last time Emerald had bonded with her now sister-in-law Caitlin and Ruby was now friends with one of her teammates. Also, Beau Tate, their distant cousin, seemed to alway check in with Sapphire who’d been on her team.

Okay, so it did happen. But it was seriously unlikely to happen with Olaf. Yeah, he wasn’t Topaz whom nobody would possibly be able to bond with, unless maybe they were another psychopath, but he was still…not someone who bonded with people easily. He loved most of his relatives even though he didn’t understand them, but really, the only person Olaf ever felt a bond with was Grandfather. Which, considering what Grandfather was like, was kind of strange too. However, that was sort of why they bonded. Just like Isla and Liesl had their Weird Girl bond-which was exactly what they called it-Olaf and Grandfather had a Misanthropic Bibliophile bond.

When Deputy Headmistress Skies finally finished talking-he honestly never minded if she or any other professor was long winded in class but that was interesting and this was irritating-he sighed to himself and set out looking for his team. He spotted his name under Team Three and looked at the other names while he waited for the rest of the team to join him. Olaf recognized the name of the Head Boy, Gabriel Wilson who was both a distant cousin and another Aladren, so he supposed that he’d got one of the better options for leaders, more because of the latter than the former. Robyn was another first year whom he didn’t know well. Because he had spent more time getting to know the library than his classmates.

As for the rest, he didn’t know much about Graham, he supposed that his relatives around Graham’s age must have a fairly positive impression of him. Of course, two of those people were Jasper and Isla who rarely said bad things about anyone who wasn’t Uncle Eustace or Topaz, although Isla also seemed to not like her friend’s ex-boyfriend. Which was another thing Olaf did not understand about his sister. She had whined and moped quite a bit about being left out when her friends had boyfriends and she was the odd one out. Now, one of them had broken up with her boyfriend, so, problem solved.

And speaking of which, he thought Tommy might be the boyfriend of the other friend. Whom Isla seemed to like okay. Again, though, it was Isla , who really seemed to only dislike three people.

Anyway, Esme would have said something if Graham was terrible. Esme was far more picky about people than most of them other than Olaf himself. Olaf guessed that he and Tommy both might not be awful. The first year probably wouldn’t connect with either though.

Then there was Phillip. He knew little about the boy, other than he was one of only three people in Chris’s class who was named something normal, besides a girl named Claire and Christopher himself. However, Phillip apparently had an odd side that made up for it. Chris generally seemed to think Phillip was okay, though, not mean or anything. Olaf, however, was worried the boy was going to be another Isla. Weird Aladren. Great. At least he was an Aladren though which meant he was probably smart. Regardless of anything else, at least there was that.

Ray, however, was the girl he was pretty sure that Amethyst disliked. A rude obnoxious Pecari who sought out trouble for trouble’s sake. That was way worse than the possibility of Phillip being a male Isla. Olaf just found his sister mildly annoying at times, especially when she was being happy and positive about something that he personally didn’t want to do or, of course, bugging him when he wanted to read. But a miscreant troublemaker? Olaf had even less patience for that than he did normally, which was really saying something. He had nothing but contempt for the sort.

He sat and waited for the lot of them to arrive, hoping that the Pecari creature would not be the one who showed up next. He did not want to be left alone with her.

11 Olaf Brockert *scowls* 1564 0 5

Phil Carson

July 22, 2022 6:09 PM

happy positivity! by Phil Carson

Phil was pretty excited about these challenges. He was pretty sure enjoying a good challenge was part of his House definition, so he thought he'd do well with them. Plus he was intermediates now, so he had mastered Magicking Basics^TM so hopefully he would be an asset with whatever needed doing. Though a couple of weeks of Intermediate classes had kind of humbled him and shown him how much he didn't know yet. Still, he wasn't a Beginner anymore and that wasn't nothing.

He listened to the Deputy Headmistress talk about what to expect (and not expect - apparently teaming up with his roommate Eben was definitely not in the cards) from their teams, today's meet and greet, and the challenges ahead.

Soon enough the team members' names appeared below the Captains names, but smaller. Phil headed toward Gabriel's name first, partly to say hello and good luck to his friend, and partly to scope out who got lucky enough to be on Gabe's team. He was therefore surprised to find that Phillip was listed there. He read it twice. That definitely said Phillip and not Phillippe and he was pretty sure he was the only Phillip in the school.

"That's me!" He said grinning. "I'm on your team, Gabriel! Whoo! This is going to be the best challenge thing ever! I'm so stoked. We're going to do great!" He noticed another kid already sitting there. He also had an Aladren badge. "Whoo! Three Aladrens. We're going to rock this. Welcome to the team! I'm Phillip! You're a first year, right? I'm in third. I'm really excited to see what these challenges are all about. This is going to be really cool. Meeting new people. Learning new things. Challenging ourselves to be our best. I bet it's going to be like going on quests!" He aimed the last bit at Gabriel with a big smile.

1 Phil Carson *happy positivity!* 1536 0 5

Cole Pierce

July 27, 2022 8:10 AM

Strength in Numbers. People, not math. by Cole Pierce

Cole was keen to try out these challenges. He enjoyed working in teams and meeting new people, and from what Professor Skies was saying, he was going to get to do both of those things this year. He found his name at Team Four's table, which seemed like some kind of Auspicious Sign, as he associated the number four very strongly with his dad (him being named Derwent Pierce the Fourth and all). When his parents had done this, Dad had been on Team 18 though, and Mom on Team 15, so either the teams were bigger this year or there had been a lot more students attending Sonora back then, because he only saw nine teams gathering in here today. He'd have to ask his parents, but he thought they'd said Team Four had been the winners their year, so that was promising.

Of course, it was an entirely different team assembled here today.

They were led by Alexander Pierce-Beales, which was very awesome because he was Cole's cousin (adopted), and Cole was totally excited to be on his team. He'd been under the impression the teachers were trying to separate close family, but they might have forgotten Alexander had gotten adopted into Cole's a few years ago. (Also, the Boston Family Tree was fairly convoluted with all the adoptions going on, and Cole himself didn't know if Alexander was a first cousin or a second cousin because Bel and Dad were birth first cousins, but Bel and Three were adopted siblings by Gramelia and Three and Dad had the same birth parents, so was a sibling of a sibling a sibling too or just the cousins they were by blood?)

Cole was glad they were on the same team, though. He like Alexander.

Alexander got things rolling with introductions and stuff, and then Bertie went next, and then it was Cole's turn. "Hi, I'm Cole! I'm a second year, in Teppenpaw with Alexander. Also, cool fun fact, Me, Alexander, and Bertie are all from Boston!" Mab had mentioned that once, that the Jacksons also lived in their city. Cole had never seen them there (Boston was quite large and they lived in different parts of it) but it was still interesting.

"I'm on the Quidditch Team, so I do fly pretty good," he added to fill in the skill gap Bertie had drawn attention to. "I also played baseball at home, and I was a Cub Scout before coming here and that taught me a little bit about a lot of things. Also I went to scout camp over the summer, too, so I can hike and pitch a tent and even cook a little over a fire!" Hot dogs and s'mores anyway; but what more could they need?

"And I like Legos," he finished as an afterthought, but after his parents did a Lego booth at the Fair, he felt this was known quality that was worth mentioning, "and I'm good with people. I'm okay in my classes, I guess, but I'm still a beginner, so I'm probably one of the weakest magic users in our group." Particularly since they didn't have any first years. It was him and Freya representing the Beginner class. While he didn't think he was any worse than the second year Crotalus, he didn't think he was any better either.

1 Cole Pierce Strength in Numbers. People, not math. 1546 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

July 28, 2022 1:32 AM

spins by Robyn Lundstrom

Robyn was so excited and so ready for the challenges! They were going to be great! They were going to be fun! The main enthusiasm for this came from the fact that she got to do them at the exact same time that Xavier did, so now who was ‘too little’ or ‘too much of a baby’ to be allowed to join in? Ha. Ha on him for every single time he’d said that.

So far, Robyn had seen lots of interesting people around school but hadn’t had reasons to talk to all of them. She definitely agreed with Professor Skies’ comments about mixing them up and giving them reasons to make friends. That sounded great!

At least, in theory.

When Robyn saw her own name, it was surrounded by boys’ names (and one maybe girl), and as she made her way over she overheard one of them enthusing about how so many of them were Aladrens. Well, the point was to make new friends, ones you wouldn’t normally, right? Except the Aladren boy had definitely sounded like he thought it was a good thing to be with other Aladrens. The other beginner in the group was Olaf, whose name she knew from roll call. It was hard not to pick up names from roll call, given that there were only like, three other people in her class, but Olaf’s had stood out because that was a Disney snowman. This was a fact she had taken great care not to point out, because either he had no idea what Disney was, and would not appreciate it, or he knew exactly what Disney was, and would not appreciate it. There had been an Elsa in her class at elementary school, and anyone who made ‘Let It Go’ references got stabbed in the hand with a ballpoint pen, or got their shins bruised at the following recess. Olaf was very scowly. Robyn was trying to give him her Teppenpaw best benefit of the doubt on that. Like, maybe he really needed glasses, and no one had ever worked that out (did wizards even check? A couple of people including Professor Wright wore them which suggested yes?) so maybe he was just always frowning because the world was a bit blurry. Still, he wasn’t the most comforting person to have been placed with.

Robyn took a seat, twisting her pendant between her fingers. It was just a simple gemstone bead, carnelian, if she remembered rightly, but it spun satisfyingly on its setting. She wished her brother was with her—Joel more than Xavier, he’d always been better at looking out for her. Plus he was older than the oldest kid here, so they wouldn’t be able to make her feel small then.

“I’m excited,” she offered, trying to join in on the wave of enthusiasm that Phil was putting forth. It was how she felt, or how she wanted to feel about the challenges, so long as someone at her table actually wanted her there. “I’m Robyn,” she added, suspecting he could figure that out, but not everyone knew the spelling rule or understood to look for a girl when seeing her name. Plus it was polite. “I’m in Teppenpaw,” she added, because she was new enough that he might not know that, and because it was Saturday they weren’t all wearing their uniforms. She was, in fact, in a Crotalus-red tank top - it was a colour she owned a lot of, thanks to her name. Unlike Elsa, she’d leant more willingly into the association. Her eyes flicked between the Aladren super-friends as she said it.

13 Robyn Lundstrom *spins* 1558 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

July 28, 2022 1:54 AM

I feel impressed! by Leviosa Scurlock

Levi had been hoping to meet all kinds of new and exciting people at school. It had, in fact, been her number one goal, and Sonora had really delivered on that. Now, it was offering them challenges, the main purpose of which was to get to know people outside their usual group. Excellent!

She looked around when their names went up, finding hers under Leonor. She didn’t know much about her (so, this was already working!), but she definitely knew the second name down on the list. Valentine Duell. Wow! She knew who Valentine was, because of course she did. Everyone knew who Valentine Duell was. She was one of the most popular girls in the whole school. She was also one of the prefects in Levi’s house, which meant she’d helped Levi out a couple of times when she’d been lost or confused, but it wasn’t like they’d had real interactions that would make Valentine think of her like an actual person. Levi really hoped the challenges did that in a good way.

She made her way over, trying to look totally chill and not at all star struck, and just about managing it, given that she was semi-used to Valetine’s dazzling presence from the common room. Levi took a seat, letting the introductions get started, with Valentine giving a very modest list of achievements. Then it was Xarryn, who she’d mostly noticed in class for having a weirder name than hers, although his at least was weird in an I-haven’t-heard-that-before way, not an I-have-heard-that-in-daily-life-but-never-as-a-name way. He seemed unphased by his own name in a way that she definitely wasn’t by her own.

By the time Xarryn finished speaking, Levi’s mouth was hanging open slightly. Once again, Sonora was really delivering on the interesting people! She had a lot of questions she really wanted to ask him, and she definitely needed to expand her friend efforts outside of her Teppenpaw circle! Perhaps she had become complacent, if there had been someone this interesting at her school for weeks already and she hadn’t even known it!

Xarryn’s introduction seemed to have stopped everyone else in their tracks too. Or,or at least, she thought so, until she realised it was her turn, and she was just busy staring. She abruptly closed her mouth, then opened it because she was supposed to be talking, then closed it again because she realised she had nothing to say.

“I’m Levi,” she said, going for the easy bit first. “Leviosa,” she added, pointing to their sparkling names for clarity, where her full name glistened. “But I prefer Levi.

“Um. I know about animals? And plants?” She liked animals. She could usually recognise them and rattle off a few basic facts, but it wasn’t really anything impressive. “I don’t think I have any really special skills. I was learning to crochet?”

13 Leviosa Scurlock I feel impressed! 1545 0 5

Christopher Brockert

July 29, 2022 4:00 PM

Strength in Numbers. As in Word Count by Christopher Brockert

OOC: CW-A little toxic masculinity discussed BIC:

Christopher was extremely anxious about the Team Challenges, both about what they would have to do, and about who would be on his team. He knew full well that he wasn’t going to be with anyone that he was even remotely comfortable with and likely not with anyone that he was cautiously optimistic about either. Okay, yes, Owen and Jemima had been on the same team when they’d done this, but he didn’t think they would do that now. Not that Chris had a girlfriend or anything anyway.

He was more inclined to remember how it went the last time around, when Allegra and the four older Gemstones did them where people with close relationships were generally separated. While Emerald ended up with her now sister-in-law, Caitlin-apparently, future sister-in-law did not count as a close relationship-and Ruby had been with a girl named Jasmine whom she’d had a lot in common with and they’d become friends, Allegra had been the only girl on her team. Which had been bad enough for her, but then the first two Challenges had been things that had an athletic component. While Christopher might be able to handle being the only boy if it came down to it-he was actually used to being around a lot of girls-the idea of an athletic competition made him downright queasy, especially if it involved a flying or Quidditch related element.

Actually being the only boy might work to his benefit in an athletic competition. Not that it would make him superior to the girls-likely, they’d probably be better at it than him, depending on the girl, not ones like his cousins but like, Pecari girls or Quidditch players-but overall, they’d be less likely to make fun of him for not liking or being good at anything athletic than some aggressive alpha-male Uncle Eustace type person. Although, Chris supposed there were girls like that too….particularly the sort he knew would be better at the athletic stuff than him.

In some ways…that sort of girl might actually be worse than his uncle because Uncle Eustace’s convoluted misogyny meant that he didn’t expect girls to be good at sports, just boys. Sporty girls might be disdainful of everyone who was unathletic. Of course, Uncle Eustace was still disdainful of girls who were unathletic, he just didn’t expect them to be good at or into sports. Which made them lesser people in his eyes. Also, even boys who didn’t think girls were inherently inferior as athletes and people might still look down on anyone unathletic regardless of gender.

Now, as Christopher waited with the rest of the school, for the Team assignments, he felt sick to his stomach with anxiety. He was seriously convinced that he was about to get the worst possible teammates for himself. The Crotalus wasn’t sure exactly who those people were, but basically anyone who thought themselves superior to others because of athletic talent and looked down on non-athletes as well as anyone who didn’t like purebloods and automatically assumed they were terrible people. He hadn’t had that experience yet-and he didn’t want to either.

Professor Skies began to speak and tell them about the Challenges in greater detail than Grandfather had at the feast. Granted, that didn’t take much. Still, Chris mostly knew all of this information. And he’d been right about them not putting people together who had close relationships. In other words, he wasn’t going to be with his first cousins and likely not with Verdillia either.

Then they were released to join their teams. Christopher took a deep breath as he walked around looking at the team lists. He spotted Amethyst’s and Olaf’s names on Teams Two and Three respectively, then found his own name on Team Four, the team lead by Alexander Pierce-Beales, the only seventh year Teppenpaw. Which was admittedly somewhat comforting. Christopher didn’t know him, but, well…he was a Teppenpaw. So, that meant he was probably nice. Plus, neither Esme nor Jasper had ever said anything bad about him, so he was probably okay.

The third year looked over the rest of the team. It looked like Freya was going to be the only girl on it. Chris felt bad for her because being the odd one out was not an easy thing. Allegra had not enjoyed it at all when she’d done the Challenges-even though the boys she’d been with had all been pretty nice and not at all misogynistic-nor had Angelique more generally.

Then again, Freya might feel differently about it than his cousin had-and, in all honesty, Christopher was still sort of wary of her. She was a non-Teppenpaw Quidditch player and while her roommate, Yarielis, was also one of those, he’d spent time with Yarielis during the fair last year and she really didn’t seem so bad. He had no such experience with Freya.

However, Cole was on his team! And that made the Crotalus feel a little better. Cole was someone he knew and had spent time with and wasn’t…worried would be horrible to him. Even though the Teppenpaw was a Quidditch player, he wasn’t like Uncle Eustace at all. While he wouldn’t quite count the younger boy as a friend yet, Chris did like him and felt slightly more comfortable with him than most people at Sonora. Besides, maybe now that they were on the same team, they could actually become friends. Christopher would like that. Maybe some time he and Cole and Yarielis could go play with LEGOS or Magi-Blocks-the magical equivalent of them that the Crotalus had a ton of-together again some time. He could bring his Magi-blocks and Cole could bring his LEGOS and they could all make something together or even just hang out doing their own projects.

For now though….Challenges. And meeting his other teammates. Chris supposed Alexei would be okay. He was a Pecari, but he was a Pecari that Amethyst liked. Which meant that he probably was not the sort of Pecari that Uncle Eustace was and that..was the most important thing. Besides, Amethyst generally wasn’t a fan of Pecaris so if she liked Alexei, he was clearly not too bad.

Billy, on the other hand, was a very typical Pecari. He was loud, and fairly boisterous in general. And he played Quidditch. He was also the older brother of Amethyst’s roommate Iris, who had a typical sibling rivalry thing with him and the older Crotalus generally seemed to have her roommate’s back so Amethyst wasn’t the biggest fan of him but Isla liked him okay. It didn’t seem like he was mean or rude to those different from him.

Bertie was another unknown quantity. He was an Aladren, in Jasper’s year and wasn’t particularly friendly. Jasper didn’t dislike him exactly but he didn’t think Bertie or the other Aladrens in that class probably liked him much or were interested in him. However, at least Bertie wasn’t an alpha-male jock type who looked down on the unathletic so, again, huge relief.

Not that Chris wasn’t still nervous about him. Or really the others besides Cole. The older students had not been in his classes so he’d had little opportunity to observe them and was largely going on what his cousins had said about them, their houses, and whether or not they played Quidditch.

He took a seat next to Cole and waited as Alexander began introductions. When Bertie spoke, Chris was actually slightly more relieved. The Aladren didn’t fly much. It wasn’t exactly the same as saying that he sucked at all things athletic, but it was enough that the third year knew that older boy would not mock him for his own lack of ability or interest in it.

Then Cole went and Chris smiled a little when the second year mentioned LEGOs. The whole cooking over a fire thing would have been useful on a survival challenge or cooking contest-or party planning with a food component- like they’d had last time but fortunately, they wouldn’t be doing the same things. Christopher thought that a survival challenge sounded quite awful and was glad that wouldn’t be one of the events.

And then it was his turn and he felt his nerves return full force. “Um, I’m Christopher.” He decided against introducing himself the pureblood way, lest anyone here have an issue with it. Hopefully Alexei wouldn’t think less of him for not doing so. “Or Chris, either is fine. I’m good at making things with blocks like Magi-blocks or LEGOs too. I can also draw pretty well. So, I’m good at building and designing things” He felt this was okay to mention with this group. Cole had opened the building things out of blocks door for him and last year, Eben hadn’t seemed to think there was anything wrong with being good at drawing. “I do pretty well in my classes, Transfig especially.”

Chris took a deep breath and gripped the table in front of him. While he knew that Cole and Bertie would not make fun of him for this and Alexander probably wouldn’t either,he was still anxious about saying this. Yes, Bertie was a non-flyer but he hadn’t said he was bad at it or anything else athletic, just that he didn’t do it much. Not the same thing, exactly. “I’m not all that good at anything athletic. I especially do not like flying or Quidditch.” Chris didn’t simply dislike them, he had a downright Quidditch-phobia “ and even in classes like Defense, I don’t do as well when the lesson involves something physical. I also tend to think things through which means I’m not exactly quick on my feet which depending on the Challenge could be either a strength or a weakness.”

He felt his face flush, and looked back down at the table, which he still had in a death grip. Neither Cole nor Bertie had admitted to such a weakness. Bertie just said he didn’t fly much, which did mean that he probably didn’t think it was that important, but again, he hadn’t said he was bad at it either and Cole said he was the weakest magically because of his age. Maybe Christopher shouldn’t have said anything. Why had he said so much? He’d often been told that “real men” didn’t admit to weakness, ever. Didn’t let themselves be vulnerable. Yes, that was from Uncle Eustace and other people in his family said not to listen to him but still. What if one or more of his teammates felt that way, either about males specifically or that people in general should not admit to them. Or one of the other people on his team mocked him for his specific weaknesses.

Of course, they were supposed to tell what they weren’t good at, it was one of the items on the questionnaire but still, neither Cole nor Bertie really had. Cole wasn’t bad at magic, he just was younger and knew less of it. It was to be expected. Bertie just didn’t seem to like flying, he did not say he was bad at it, or afraid of it.

Christopher waited for someone to say something, something that was hopefully not making fun of him. At least he hadn’t admitted to that weakness of his.

11 Christopher Brockert Strength in Numbers. As in Word Count 1539 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

July 30, 2022 9:38 AM

I feel excited! by Lorena Abernathy

Lorena was looking forward to the Challenges this year, for sure. It seemed like an interesting way to break up the regular school year, although she did hope she still had time to do her homework. The more magic she learned, the more she actually liked homework. She had kind of thought she just ended up in Aladren because she liked to read, but maybe it really was the right place for her, after all.

She found her group and listened with a polite smile as the other members before her introduced themselves. It always amazed her that Valentine Duell was only a year older than her - she had always seemed so… grown up? Not in an attitude way, because there was still something kind of innocent about her, but with whatever that was that went on with Bonabelle and the O’Malley boys, Valentine seemed to be, like, The It Girl. If Muggle sitcoms had taught Lorena anything, that meant she, the quiet bookish girl, wasn’t supposed to like her, but Valentien was also always so nice to everyone. Like, she was a Teppenpaw for heck’s sake.

Lorena was positioned next to Levi, so when the younger girl finished, she began. “Crocheting is cool,” she smiled in Levi’s direction. She didn’t like hearing her say that didn’t have any special skills (although she was fully about to do pretty much the same thing).

“I’m Lorena Abernathy. I’m a fifth year Aladren, and I don’t know that I’m really good at anything specifically, but I do read really fast and I have a good memory! I’m not very athletic, though.” Unfortunately, she had always been just a little too gangly in build to ever be coordinated enough to utilize her length. She had always been on the tall side, although now at fifteen she hoped she was at least closing in on her final height.

12 Lorena Abernathy I feel excited! 1510 0 5

Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

July 30, 2022 9:47 AM

What about Team Quietness? by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

Okay, so right off the bat, Laz was not loving this Challenges thing. It seemed okay, and maybe it was even a good opportunity to work with some other students without having to, like, actually maintain a conversation - hopefully, the challenges would be busy - but this intro day was immediately not his favorite thing.

He was sure this Theo kid was perfectly nice, but he was also… immediately a lot. The only not-touching-this-random-kid option was a salute, but that also felt weird, so Lazarus just kinda gave an awkward wave as he took his place among Team Nine’s ranks.

As Theo and the next kid, Philippe, gave their introductions, Lazarus listened enough to assess the format of information they presented and paged quietly through his communication book. There was always a readily available “My name is Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher,” which he began with - a tap of his wand, and the words on the page became audible, read out by a magical voice. Sometimes Laz wondered whose voice it was, but now was not one of those times, because his brain was a bit occupied.

He had recently added a “I am an Aladren” preset, so he went there next. He didn’t add his year to that, but he figured everybody generally could tell he was in the younger years. He was thirteen now, but being a year behind, he was still just a second year. Still, that meant everyone probably knew he was in the beginners classes, and that was enough detail for him.

His next statement was another preset, one he’d had a long time. “I can’t talk.” That one was always awkward, but maybe already implied, and he had to let it hang in the air a moment while he assembled the next statement. “I know a lot about animals. I can’t fly a broom.” There, that was enough of a look. It gave them an idea of what he knew and what he could do. He doubted anyone expected much more from him.

12 Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher What about Team Quietness? 1548 0 5

Tommy Jamison

July 30, 2022 9:59 AM

waves by Tommy Jamison

Looking at the team names, Tommy thought he got a pretty good group. Obviously he would’ve liked to be on Rosalynn’s team, or with some of his closer friends, but this group seemed fine. He was a little intimidated by having the Headmaster’s grandson on his team, but he figured it was pretty much impossible to have a team without some kind of distant Brockert relation on it. Heck, most of them probably had more than one of them. He kinda was one, technically, if you counted through marriage.

One of those such people, Gabriel, was also on his team, so that was fun. Tommy didn’t know Gabriel super well, but he was one of Stanley and Wally’s closer cousins on their dad’s side, and while he himself was related through their mom’s side, obviously, there had been some overlap at functions, so he was sure he had hung out with Gabriel outside of school at a few birthday parties or whatever, in addition to some conversations here and there at Sonora.

When Tommy got to their table, it was mostly just a few of the younger kids. Despite being among the youngest in his family, Tommy had a strong parental tendency, and he immediately adopted a supervisory mood to his demeanor. He wanted to be like a cool older sibling: trustworthy and grownup, but still fun and accessible. Like his big sister, Sophie.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted cheerfully. “Nice to meet you all! I’ve heard these Challenges are super fun, so we’re in for a great year.” Sophie talked about them fondly from her time here, and he thought he recalled knowing that Ryan, his brother-in-law, had been on a winning team. “My name’s Tommy Jamison, and I’m a fifth year Teppenpaw. I’m good at Potions in particular, but I do pretty okay in all my subjects.” Anything he didn’t understand, he had a gaggle of Aladren girls he knew who could help him, with one in particular always around. “Are you guys excited?”

12 Tommy Jamison *waves* 1518 0 5

Olaf Brockert

July 30, 2022 2:16 PM

headdesk by Olaf Brockert

The next person to show up, fortunately, was Gabriel but before Olaf could be forced to make small talk with him-which, even though the seventh year was one of the lesser evils available, he still didn’t want to do because the younger Aladren despised small talk about as much as he loved to read because it was so bloody mindless-the next person, Phil showed up.

Oh. Dear. Merlin.

Phil was apparently as cheerful and positive and Isla-like as Olaf had feared that he would be. Or he’d had a lot of caffeine and sugar and other things that made a person hyperactive for lunch. The first year could only hope it was the latter because that would wear off eventually. And apparently, Phil knew and was friends with Gabriel. Great.

The third year addressed him and he responded “Yes. First year. Olaf Brockert, of the Western Brockerts.” He sincerely did not care if they were offended by how purebloods introduced themselves. Anyone who did was the one with the problem, not him. Why should him doing so be offensive? Olaf could not help being a pureblood anymore than people could help not being so. That was just who they were and how they were born. He wasn’t necessarily offended by their existence-well, okay, he was but not because of their blood status or anything like that, he just found people annoying in general-so if they were offended by his, that meant they were the ones with a problem.

Olaf did have to give Phil credit for one thing though. “Yes, three Aladrens should be beneficial.” After all, while he grudgingly acknowledged that Teppenpaws and Crotali had their good points and individuals may have strengths that came in useful, people in his house were intelligent, logical problem solvers, regardless of any other traits that they possessed. Even Topaz was brilliant, she just happened to use that gift for evil. However, despite the fact that he disliked her immensely for obvious reasons, he did respect her intellect.

And he respected Isla’s too. Even though she was cheerful and positive and optimistic and weird. Well, some kind of weirdness was okay, it was just that being cheerful and positive and optimistic got on his nerves. Especially when it was about something that Olaf was annoyed about and resented doing. Admittedly though, he hadn’t really liked seeing her mopey and sad either. Anyway, he guessed he would respect Phil’s intellect too. If he could do that with Topaz of all people, he could for the third year as well.

Then Robyn showed up. And she was excited too. Great, just absolutely *peaching* peachy . Tommy too seemed thrilled and thought they were in for a good time. Olaf could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. He thought of the book that was in his bag-he never ever went anywhere without a book- longingly. That was what he wanted to do. Read. Every year for the last few, the Aladren had counted the amount of books that he read in a single year, trying to break his record. These stupid Challenges-and admittedly, probably school itself- was going to interfere with that big time-and he was seriously not okay with that.

And all this blasted enthusiasm was really starting to grate on him. Olaf had to speak up, the way he had with his sisters. “No, I’m not really excited. This might not be fun at all.“ He knew he personally wouldn’t be having fun at all. Unless the Challenge somehow involved reading”We might have to do things that are unpleasant. Like, last time, my sister and cousins had a Challenge where they had to do desert survival. My sister really did not enjoy that.” He continued. “I mean, we won’t have to do that specific thing this time, because Professor Skies said they were different every time but there might be something else that’s not particularly enjoyable for someone.”

11 Olaf Brockert *headdesk* 1564 0 5

Gabriel Wilson

July 30, 2022 4:08 PM

leads by Gabriel Wilson

Gabriel could not believe that he was Head Boy. Or, rather Head Student, he supposed since they didn’t seem to want to use the gender specific terms for the position anymore. Anyway, before they changed it, he’d thought he’d had a really good chance at the title. There were three boys in his class and one of those was, well, Theo. The Pecari had a lot of good qualities, but honestly, he was not really someone that seemed like Head Student material. Of course, Gabriel didn’t necessarily know if he personally was either, but apparently, the other students did.

Still, when they’d changed to everyone competing against each other instead of just those of the same gender, his chances of winning had diminished significantly. The Aladren was certain he wouldn’t get it, even with the Pecaris being left off the ballot. After all, he no longer was either one out of three or one out of two, depending on whether or not Theo would have been left as an option in that situation. And unless there wasn’t much competition, Gabriel tended to err on the side of not getting it because he didn’t want to get cocky. Especially when he was up against people who were all fairly decent choices. He supposed he might have expected Alexander to get it if they were still just competing against each other (and maybe Theo.)

But he’d won and so had Morgan. So, now Gabriel got to do Head Student duties with one of his two closest friends and he was thrilled. Nothing against Mara, Esme,Alexander or Sadie, but he definitely thought it would be fun hanging out with the other Aladren doing Head Student and prefect stuff. It was more fun to do these things with friends and he already had Stanley, Lavender and Val to hang out with. Now he would have Morgan too. And Ian, who was a distant cousin that went to O’Malley twin events because Ryan was close to Ian’s mom, Valerie and made sure Ian was included. These were all great people to patrol with. It was just too bad they couldn’t have Wally, Phil and Piper join them too.

Anyway, Head Student wasn’t the only leadership position that Gabriel was holding this year. He was also going to be a Team Leader. Which admittedly was less special that getting Head Student, both because Head Student was a validation that his classmates liked him or at least thought that he would do a good job in the position, and because,well, all the seventh years would be Team Leaders, even the ones who’d been left off the Head Student ballot

Still, Gabriel wanted to do a good job at this. Maybe they wouldn’t win-after all, there were nine teams which made their chances of winning eleven percent, which was even less than his chances of being Head Student had been-but he wanted to be the best Team Leader that he could be.

After Professor Skies gave her introductory speech-which was mostly stuff that Gabriel knew already but not everyone had a ton of older cousins that had already done this and had told them about it so it was necessary, especially given that what Headmaster Brockert had said about them at the Opening Feast was not especially informative-it was time to meet his team. He headed for the table with his name over it where whom Gabriel assumed was one of the first years was already sitting.

Before he could say anything to the first year or look over who was on his team, Phil came over. “Hey Phil!” The seventh year greeted his friend. Then the younger Aladren exclaimed that he was on Gabriel’s team! “Really?” He said, peering at the names. “That is awesome!” This was going to be great! He wasn’t going to be in a situation like Amity had where she’d found almost all of her teammates to be totally repulsive. At least he’d have Phil! “Think it’ll be like a live action version of the quests we go on in Gaming?”

Which would be great. After all,the seventh year’s two big strategies for this whole Challenge thing were to write to Ryan and ask what he’d done as Leader-even though he hadn’t won, he’d obviously done something right, second was not bad, Ryan had been thrilled with it-and to act like it was an adventure from Gaming Club.

Then the other boy sitting there introduced himself. “Nice to meet you, Olaf. I’m Gabriel Wilson, of the Nebraska Wilsons.” Gabriel greeted the first year pleasantly. He knew the younger boy was some distant cousin but he couldn’t remember exactly how they were related. That was just how it was in the Brockert family, but he’d try to figure it out later.

Olaf commented about the advantage of three Aladrens, just as Robyn and Tommy, both Teppenpaws, arrived. “Well, all houses have their good qualities.” The seventh year stated diplomatically. After all, Crotali tended to be good planners, which might be why Ryan had ended up with second place when he’d done this, only being beaten by Morgan’s dad-an Aladren- and his team, although,from what he understood, they’d had at least one super ambitious younger student, also an Aladren, who’d been very…helpful.

Still, planning was good, and Gabriel noticed that they did have one Crotalus, Graham, who the Aladren felt was probably going to be a good Assistant Captain. Someone whom he could get on with though. True, there weren’t all that many people that Gabriel didn’t think he could get on with and a few of those he was wary of were in his year and thus, leading their own teams. Stil, he felt Graham might be easier to get on with than any of the sixth year Aladrens, even Bertie, would have been. Plus, the Crotalus was friends with Lavender and had never done anything that Gabriel found objectionable.

And Teppenpaws…were nice. And diplomatic. He didn’t know exactly how that would translate to the actual Challenges but perhaps that they could help the team…get along and be cohesive? And at least they would be nice to people. Gabriel wanted a team that worked well together.

As for Pecaris, well they tended to be more athletic types and that could definitely be helpful if they had that sort of event. Which they probably would. They had the other times. Which wasn’t something that Gabriel was really looking forward to. Sports were never something he’d excelled at, partially, he was not at all interested in them.

Tommy asked if they were excited and Olaf…replied honestly. The seventh year would give him a little bit of credit for that. “He has a point.” Gabriel replied. “ While this is very exciting and I’m looking forward to working with everyone, there might be a Challenge where we have to do things we don’t want to do. Or aren’t good at. Which is why this sheet mentions weaknesses, phobias and stuff like that. So, let’s discuss them so we can plan a strategy for how to deal with them.” Between Tommy mentioning what he was good at, and Olaf’s response to the question about being excited, this was a great opening.

“I’ll start. I’m Gabriel, for those who don’t know. I’m your Team Leader. My strengths are that I’m really good at my classes, especially Transfig, and I know a lot of trivia. As for weaknesses, well, flying and sports aren’t really my thing. I’d prefer not to do them, and even though I’m the leader, it would be better if someone else took charge if that kind of event comes up. I know that there are things I’m afraid of because everyone does, but I can’t think of anything specific, so nothing, like, terrible. Like, nothing that’s going to completely freak me out” He did remember his older cousins mentioning a boggart on their challenge.

He turned to the next person. “Your turn.”

11 Gabriel Wilson *leads* 1481 0 5

Constance Melcher

August 01, 2022 6:17 PM

More curious by the moment by Constance Melcher

Constance was, on the whole, a bit disappointed by her assigned team members. She knew the Deputy Headmistress said they had tried to move people around - part of the “fun’ was working with people one did not know well - but she had somewhat hoped that such division would not apply to her and her friend Theo. They had gone to the ball together, sure, but they were such entirely opposite in their dispositions that she hoped perhaps the school officials would think it was a fluke. Alas, no such luck.

As noted, there was not really anyone on her team that she knew well. That was to be expected, as she did not know many people exceptionally well here. Something about her general demeanor and pedantic inquiries somehow did not seem to invite random conversations with strangers. That usually didn’t bother her, but it sure was broadcast before her eyes realizing as she looked at the lists that there… wasn’t really a much better team where she would fit.

Still, she sent a smile and a wave in the direction of Theo’s table as she made her way over to join Esme Brockert. She was glad to see at least that her group had a good few Aladrens besides her, so she would not feel out of place in that regard. Constance was the first to arrive, though, so for now, she just took a seat beside her captain. “Hello, Esme,” she greeted as she did so. “Do you think this will be interesting?” She noticed the juices on the table and grabbed one for herself. Then she extended a second in Esme’s direction. “Are you thirsty?”

12 Constance Melcher More curious by the moment 1523 0 5

Wally O'Malley

August 01, 2022 6:35 PM

Ready and awaiting orders. by Wally O'Malley

As the information became available regarding the teams and their structure, Wallace was immediately and completely grateful to the seventh year class for being big enough to fully lead the challenge teams. If the sixth years were saddled with that pressure - namely, if he were saddled with it - he wasn’t sure how he would handle it. This felt like something that could technically involve dangerous feats and all sorts of things that made his stomach bubble and turn sour at the thought of it. Perhaps it was cowardly of him, but he didn’t particularly want to be involved in anything where someone could get hurt, and he definitely didn’t want to be the authority body for his team in such a situation.

No, he rationalized, it would certainly be best with Morgan leading the charge. It was good fortune for him to be on the same team as the Head Girl, really. The school year and her title were still relatively young, but at least she could handle the pressure. Of course, he didn’t actually want anyone to know that he was nervous about responsibility, since there was still a part of him somewhere that wanted to be Head Boy. But maybe since he hadn’t gotten Prefect, he was already removed from the runnings. That was a fear for another time, though.

For now, he just got to where he needed to be and tried his best not to show his nerves. He was glad to see Oz’s name under his own, at least; the school was obviously not going to let Wally and Stanley be together, but having Oz was like basically having Stanley anyway. So that was comforting.

Wally smiled at any team members who had arrived before him but didn’t speak first, instead just seating himself and awaiting instruction from their leader.

12 Wally O'Malley Ready and awaiting orders. 1492 0 5

Iris Cobb

August 01, 2022 7:17 PM

Same here? I think? by Iris Cobb

Iris wasn't really sure about these challenge things. She kinda would just have preferred to have a normal school year without odd things like this going on. They were okay? But, everything now was revolving around them, what was wrong with just having normal school stuff to deal with? Oh well, such was life. She listened to Professor Skies talk about the goal of today's meeting, namely meet your teammates and such. That she could handle.

The small level of confidence to complete the task for the day dwindled when she found her name. She barely knew any of them, and the one name that did stick out was not one she was all that thrilled to see. Oz was in her group. Wonderful. He was only a minor step better than her brother, very minor. Fine, it was just fine. She could do this. As if it were to convince herself, Iris very determinedly took a seat at the table.

With a quick glance she reviewed the list once again, there was only one other Crotalus at the table. Wally wasn't someone she spent a lot of time with since he had only been in classes with her last year. Still at least he was in her house, she greeted him and took his lead in waiting for their leader to start things.

2 Iris Cobb Same here? I think? 1526 0 5

Oz Spellman

August 08, 2022 6:27 AM

Being awesome by Oz Spellman

OOC: CW - slight homophobia BIC:

It didn’t take Oz long to find his name, though it took him a while to take his seat, as he needed to scope out a few other things first. Namely where Henry had gone, and if he could find it without wasting too much time, where Xav was as well. It turned out to very much be a two birds, one stone situation with that. He managed to push down the little prickle of jealousy. The two people he cared about most in the school each had someone he trusted to watch their back. That was a comfort, especially as their team leader was the weird creepy girl. In theory, murdering people (or letting them die in a mudpit or whatever was on the cards) was not very prefectly or team-spirity or likely to earn them a lot of points. In practise, he didn’t really think that Mab played by anyone’s rules except her own, and therefore couldn’t be guaranteed to give a normal and civilised amount of f…ocus to such things.

He didn’t know much about the rest of Henry and Xav’s teammates, except that Fortune played Quidditch. He turned his attention instead towards his own group.

Morgan was an Aladren and Head Girl, two things that strongly suggested she would hate his guts. Wally was a familiar face, and point of some curiosity. Oz always felt like he and Henry should have been closer to their twin counterparts (even though Stanley and Wally didn’t actually fully get it, seeing as they weren’t identical) but they never had been, and now… Now Wally was dating Val, and Val was bisexual so did that make Wally like… bisexual-by-association? Oz did not want a reputation for hanging out with the queer kids. If people wanted to do that, there was a whole club for them to go to, which Oz was very clearly not a member of. He didn’t need to accidentally recreate it around himself. He felt he was using up all his allotment on Hanging Out With Gays Without Raising Suspicion on Xav, and so he couldn’t really spend time with Wally, even if that had been a thing they’d done. The challenges, he supposed, were a good chance to get to know him better. Oz wasn’t choosing this, the school was basically mandating that they acted like friends for a bit. And really, who else on the team was he going to hang out with? A bunch of little girls, headed up by Iris? No thanks.

“Team one,” he grinned, taking a seat. “You reckon they gave us that number cos we’re obviously awesome?”

13 Oz Spellman Being awesome 1514 0 5

Esme Brockert

August 08, 2022 3:47 PM

Great! by Esme Brockert

Esme had been a bit disappointed about not getting Head Student, of course. However, she was going to be gracious about it and not truly let it affect her. Ultimately, it wasn’t a really big deal and at least Gabriel and Morgan were decent choices. Morgan could be a bit goofy but she’d been nice to Sapphire which was a big point in her favor.

However, not getting Head Student (or prefect) had only made Esme more determined to do well in the Challenges. Although they were already something that she’d only been waiting for since the year before she’d come to Sonora, and she’d realized that meant they would be doing it again her last year of school which meant that she would get to lead a team. She hoped to finish in at least the top three.

Which, actually, would be sort of beating Topaz whose team had gotten fourth last time, even though they were not in direct competition. That wasn’t why Esme wanted to do well though, she wanted to do well for the sake of accomplishing something. Not that she never had, she was a good student and did well in her classes and had done so on her CATS. Still, she felt a sense of pride in doing well and in this case, there was a responsibility to her teammates whomever they ended up being. Still, it would be satisfying to do better than Topaz had, especially since she was a team leader. She would not be afraid of her cousin. She would not give the Aladren alumna that satisfaction.

However, despite the fact that Esme had been waiting to do these Challenges and lead a team since she was ten years old, she had not really been able to strategize. Because, they were different every time. Owen and Angelique had done different things than Allegra and the four older Gemstones had. She also had not known who her teammates would be, and obviously had not even been able to predict who would even be attending school at the time besides her brother, sister and some of her cousins, who presumably would not be on her team, although Allegra had mentioned two first cousins ending up together last time. It was still unlikely though.

So, unlike her younger brother, Esme was thrilled when they were requested to stay after lunch one day. While it could possibly be that someone had behaved so horribly that the school thought they all needed reminders of what was acceptable-a reminder that the Crotalus would personally never need-it was more likely that this was about the Challenges and she would finally get to find out who was on her team.

Of course, there were those who she would prefer not to have as teammates, mostly loud obnoxious Pecari types. Although, those types were often the athletes and could come in handy in the more physically oriented Challenges, which Olaf had oh so kindly pointed out that they were likely to have. Honestly, her brother was being so negative about this whole thing.

However, he did have a valid point. The Challenges had not been a pleasant experience for Allegra, as the Aladren had repeatedly pointed out anytime Esme or Isla had expressed any sort of enthusiasm for the event. The seventh year really wasn’t looking forward to any sort of athletic challenge, while she could do some of it, if need be, she would strongly prefer not to.

Still, the odds were that there would be such a dreadful thing, and, as she did want to lead her team to at least the top three, it might possibly be worth it to put up with loud irritating types, so long as they weren’t like Uncle Eustace and belittled anyone who was weak athletically. As Team Leader, she would not stand for that. There would be no disrespecting each other. Of course, that meant that Esme would have to practice what she preached and be pleasant to the boisterous Pecari sorts. Fortunately, she’d been trained in politeness and manners her entire life. It was something she prided herself on.

Professor Skies began to speak. Just as the Crotalus suspected, she would not be with anyone she was at all close with already, such as her siblings, cousins-well, first cousins anyway, Esme suspected it would be impossible not to get one of the more distant ones-roommate or friends. Of course, none of the seventh years would be together anyway, given that they were all leading their own teams. Which, while it meant she wouldn’t be with Sadie, at least she would not have to be with Leonor.

She pitied the people who did, as well as those who had Theo as a team leader. While the Pecari boy wasn’t horrible and mean, like his housemate, he just did not have the qualities that were essential for leadership. There was a reason neither of them had made the Head Student ballot. Esme was certain whomever was the next oldest on his team would have to step up into the role of Leader.

The Crotalus had also known that she wouldn’t have to do the exact same things her relatives had done in previous Challenges. Which was good, since she didn’t really like the idea of desert survival. Still, a “wide range of skills” was…well, it seemed fair enough, she guessed. Esme usually felt that it was awful to make the unathletic do things that were, mostly because of what Uncle Eustace was like. However, she supposed that some people might not be intellectually inclined or good at magic. After all, Sapphire did not think herself smart. The difference was that Sapphire wasn’t actually stupid while some people really were unathletic and would feel humiliated and burdensome on such a Challenge, the way Allegra had and the way Esme was certain that Christopher would feel too in such a situation.

She supposed it was up to her to be a supportive leader and make sure that those people knew they were still valuable to the team.

Anyway, once the professor finished talking, Esme set out for the table that had her name above it, looking down the list of people who would be her teammates.

Although she did not indeed really know much about most of them, they looked to be a pretty good group. There were four Aladrens, another Crotalus besides herself, one person she thought might be a Pecari, and no Teppenpaws. Among them were Rosalynn who was Isla’s roommate and friend, Verdillia who was friends with Chris and Liesl and Connie, who was a distant cousin of Esme’s in Amethyst’s class, and the fourth year did not have anything bad to say about her. Amethyst’s main opinion of Connie was that she was incredibly smart, possibly the smartest person in their year, which was big because the younger Crotalus admitted someone else was superior to her in some way. Which was a big sign of growth on Amethyst’s part.

Verdillia being Christopher’s friend was also a huge recommendation for her as well. The third year boy tended to be wary of most people so the fact that she’d gotten past the huge wall that Chris put up spoke quite well of her.

Then there was Quincy, who was not the nicest person out there, but at least he was smart and not loud and obnoxious. Esme hoped they could work all right together since he was essentially her Assistant Leader. She didn’t know anything about the two Beginners though. Nausicaa was in Olaf’s year and house and a pureblood from Italy. Of course, Olaf had not said much about her because he was more interested in the library than his classmates. Xander…was a second year and a Pecari. Christopher was wary of him and Olaf was somewhat contemptuous of him, but that wasn’t saying much about him as an individual because that was how her brother and cousin acted about most people normally, Pecaris in particular, thanks, in part, to Uncle Eustace. There were not a lot of Pecaris in their branch of the family, the only other one was her dad’s cousin Toby, who, while better than Uncle Eustace-which wasn’t saying much-was not a great example of humanity either. So, that explained why Chris and Olaf had the biases that they did, ones Esme sort of shared anyway.

Still, nobody said anything too specifically horrible about Xander . Nothing about him dripping with arrogance and toxic masculinity because if he was like that, Esme reasoned, Christopher and/or Olaf would have known and said something. Therefore, the seventh year would give him the benefit of the doubt, because she had to work with him anyway.

She gazed around to see how her family and friends had fared in terms of teammates. She spotted Isla at Sadie’s table, which was great and Olaf was with the new Head Boy. Which did not seem to make him any less grumpy. Esme saw that her brother was doing his Grandfather-esque scowl. Amethyst appeared to be on a team with two of their distant cousins, Lavender and Stanley. Jasper and Liesl were together and Christopher…was on a team with Alexander and Bertie and a bunch of other boys as well as one of the younger Crotalus girls. Esme thought one of them was the boy whose parents had the LEGO booth that her cousin had liked at the fair last year. Christopher looked seriously uncomfortable, but that was to be expected, as well, that was how the third year was. At least he had the LEGO boy, and Amethyst’s friend Alexei.

However, Esme winced when she saw where Val was sitting. Leonor’s team. Poor Val, she had to be with the nastiest, meanest girl in the entire school. The seventh year had nothing but pity for her friend. Of course, it was Val and if anyone could get along with that vile creature, it would be the Teppepaw.

Connie arrived then and Esme smiled at the fourth year. “Hello Connie. Welcome to Team Five, I’m glad to have you. Yes, I’m sure it will be interesting” She heard her younger brother’s voice in her head, telling her why this whole thing might not be so great and she added. “ We might have to do some things we won’t like, but I’m still looking forward to these Challenges over all. With all the Aladrens we have, we should do well if there’s an intellectually based event.” Merlin, did Esme ever hope they did. Four Aladrens would put them over the top! Plus, Crotali were planners so Verdillia would hopefully be useful to help Esme strategize.

11 Esme Brockert Great! 1479 0 5

Lavender Brockert

August 08, 2022 5:30 PM

It'll be fine by Lavender Brockert

It was time for the Challenges and Lavender was sort of unsure about them overall. She had always heard all about them from her siblings and cousins…and it was a mixed bag. For Ryan, he had gotten second place and it was his proudest moment other than marrying Sophie and the births of his children. And, admittedly unlike those, this was something he had actually done well on. Of course,for someone with Ryan’s extremely low self-esteem, finding someone who loved him was a big deal. Lavender would definitely feel pretty good about herself if she did the same.

And then Savannah had gotten first and Scarlett second the next time so they’d also been successful but even though Savannah had gotten first it wasn’t quite as big a deal, as with Ryan because she wasn’t the Team Leader and she didn’t need the self-esteem boost as much.

On the other hand, some of her other relatives had not done as good, including her siblings. Vlad (and Natalie’s) team had tied for fifth and Ivy had been in a three way tie for ninth . Lavender hoped her experience would be more like Ryan’s and the twins’ than Ivy and Vlad’s. It wasn’t the be all end all, but it was natural for her to want to do well. (And beat Bonabelle, of course)

The thing she was really worried about though was who her teammates would be. Amity in particular had a team full of awful people. The Crotalus was extremely worried about that. Of course, the only person she really didn’t like was Bonabelle but that didn’t mean that there weren’t others that would make her uncomfortable or that might not be nice to her.

So, after lunch, Lavender stood with the rest of the school while Professor Skies went over the information about the Challenges. Of course, none of the information was truly new to the sixth year but she knew that there were other students here who did not have a ton of relatives who had already done the Challenges. Besides, as Professor Skies mentioned, the exact events were different every time.

She noted that Professor Skies had mentioned that they were splitting up people who knew each other well-or at least that was the gist of it, even if it wasn’t the professor’s exact words. While that did make Lavender slightly nervous, one thing occurred to her. She would likely not be on the same team as Val but…neither would Bonabelle. And she couldn’t help but smile at that.

Then they were released to go find their teams and despite the small amount of joy she’d momentarily felt, she felt butterflies in her stomach again. She knew she couldn’t have Val or Graham but she really hoped to get people who were nice.

However, when she quickly found out that she was on Team Two, she was thrilled to see that she was on the same team as Stanley! Apparently, first cousin once removed was not a close enough relationship to the Powers That Be that they needed to be split up. This was going to be awesome! Whomever else was their teammates, Lavender knew her cousin would have her back.

She looked over the rest of the team. Mara was their leader. The Crotalus didn’t know her that well, but she seemed okay. The seventh year was very intelligent and even though she hadn’t gotten prefect or Head Student, she seemed like she would be good at leading them. And she wasn’t mean.

Then there was Amethyst, who was another distant cousin. Lavender sort of knew her, they were in the same house and went to some of the same family and social events. It would be nice to get to know her better.

Gus was also okay. Like Mara, she didn’t really know him all that well, but he seemed pleasant enough. He had recently gotten prefect so Lavender basically knew him a little because they had to patrol together at times-and while there were people doing that that she preferred to the Pecari,people like Stanley, Val and Gabriel, he wasn’t the worst either. So far, she liked him well enough.

And finally, there were the two Beginners. Lenny was one of Piper’s friends but Lavender didn’t know much about Yarielis.

Overall though, it seemed like a good group and she was relieved, She would not be in the situation that Amity had been in. She had Stanley and a bunch of people that weren’t terrible. Well, she supposed Yarielis could be, Lavender didn’t know much about her. Although, Piper wasn’t anti-Yarielis, so that was a good start. Then again, the Teppenpaw generally liked most people. Which Lavender supposed meant that if Piper had disliked the other second year, she would have had to be completely terrible but that wasn’t the case so, there was no reason to worry.

Besides, being afraid of or intimidated by a second year seemed ridiculous to Lavender anyway. She was a sixth year, a prefect and she had her cousin with her. Everything would be fine .

The Crotalus approached the table and sat down, noting that there was already a younger student sitting there along with Mara. She supposed that it was Yarielis. Who really didn’t look all that threatening. She smiled politely, still feeling slightly nervous anyway. After all, other than Stanley, these weren’t people that she really knew.”Hi. I’m Lavender.” Even though most of them knew her, she introduced herself for the benefit of the younger students. “It’s nice to meet you. Are you Yarielis?” She asked the younger Crotalus.

11 Lavender Brockert It'll be fine 1504 0 5

Ian Malone

August 09, 2022 2:24 AM

Soft and quiet, I can get behind those things. by Ian Malone

Why did the Challenges have to be this year? Ian had CATS this year and he needed to study and do well so he could be a Healer and help people with weak immune systems and make them better. Make his mom better. These Challenges would seriously cut into his time to study. What if Ian was so busy with them that he did poorly on his CATS and couldn’t continue with a class he needed? Then he wouldn’t be able to fulfill the goal he’d had since childhood all because of an extraneous and unimportant event.

Okay, maybe it was unfair to call it unimportant. Ian knew that Uncle Ryan had done really well and was super proud of how he did in them so they were important to him and the Teppenpaw would not want to belittle something that meant so much to someone who’d always been so nice to Ian and made sure he was included in things. However, for the fifth year, it was far more important that he did well on CATS and was able to become a Healer than it was to do these Challenges.

Except, he had to do the Challenges. He didn’t have a choice about it. Therefore, his CATS scores, his entire future and the lives of others were in jeopardy because Ian would not be able to study as much as he would otherwise.

If the Challenges had been next year or last year or any of the years prior to last year, it would have been okay, but not this when Ian had a big scary important test that would determine his future and the lives of others at the end of the year!

And while the impairment of his ability to study as much as necessary was his primary issue regarding the Challenges, it wasn’t the only problem that Ian was having. He was, of course, nervous about who his teammates would be and what the Challenges would entail specifically. He knew that they wouldn’t be doing the same things that Mom and Aunt Melanie and Uncle Marcus and Uncle Ryan and Aunt Sophie had done when they had this event.

However, odds were that, while they weren’t doing the exact same thing, there would be some horrid athletic competition that Ian would completely suck at. What if he had a teammate who was mean and would belittle him for it? Or they did poorly because of that and everyone hated him because he caused them to lose.

Not to mention that there was the potential for someone to be maimed if one of the Challenges involved something dangerous. Ian knew first aid and could probably help out with some issues if they came up but the best thing to do was avoid situations where you could get hurt. Which he could not do.

Ian nervously listened as Professor Skies began to talk to them about the Challenges. He sort of felt like throwing up. The idea of potentially doing dangerous things and failing at them-both because he was not at all athletic and because he did not want to take a risk of being injured-and making people hate him was making his lunch threaten to make a return appearance.

And, of course, he was not going to be with people he knew. Great. Of course, Ian didn’t have a lot of people at Sonora that he was close to anyway, just some family members and Tommy. Although, Stanley, Wally, Gabriel and Lavender were distant relatives, not siblings or first cousins and considering the…prevalence of Brockert relatives compared to the amount of teams-although he did not know how many teams there would be since there were not necessarily going to be the same amount as when his mom was here-odds were in favor of him having a relative on his team, just not a close one.

But then Ian didn’t have a close relative here. He knew the O’Malley twins, Lavender and Gabriel, but like, Seth and Jana and Uncle Ryan’s biological mom were Grandpa Charles’ first cousins or something. So, while he knew them, they were still not that closely related to him. Nobody closely related to Ian such as Olivia or Aunt Melanie’s children was old enough to even be at school.

Which hopefully would improve his chances of being with them, right? Ian could only hope.

Unfortunately, those hopes were quickly dashed when they were released to find teams. First he saw that Wally was on Team One…and Ian was not. Then he noticed Stanley and Lavender were both on Team Two…and he was not. That wasn’t exactly fair, that they were together when they were more closely related to each other than ian was to them. Anyway, then he saw that Gabriel was leading Team Three which Tommy was also on….and Ian was not. Rats.

That meant that the fifth year was on his own. He continued looking at the Team List for his name, finally finding it under Team Nine. Which was apparently going to be led by Theo. Great. Ian sort of knew him from O’Malley twin events and liked him fine. He was a nice person..but the Teppenpaw was sort of…wary about him as Team Leader.

Thank Merlin, however, that Phillipe Delachene was also on their Team. Because if it wasn’t for his presence, Ian would have to do a lot of helping to lead. And that would put more pressure on him when he was already under a lot of it due to CATS. Anyway, Phillipe was someone that, while Ian didn’t know well, at least was another Teppenpaw and generally nice. So, that was also a tremendous relief. The sixth year was unlikely to bully Ian for his lack of athleticism. And, regardless of whether or not Theo was able to lead their team successfully-Ian was certain of Phillipe’s ability to help-the Pecari was generally a nice person and also unlikely to bully the fifth year.

However, then there was the rest of the team. They were younger students so Ian was unfamiliar with them. Although he probably should start to familiarize himself with the younger Teppenpaws since he was a prefect and Ian being Ian wanted to do the very best he could at it, even though he desperately needed to study.

None of them were Teppenpaws though, so he didn’t have to feel too terrible about it. He did sort of recognize one of their names however. Samara was Uncle Marcus’s niece and somehow related distantly to Ian through their moms. Samara’s mom was a Brockert and so was Ian’s great-grandma Caroline. So,he did get the distant relation, although not the one he was hoping for. Nothing against Samara, he just didn’t know her like he did the O’Malley Twin Group.

Still, Ian was sort of glad to have her anyway so he could get to know her better. Although, he was a bit anxious about offending or upsetting her, because her mom was an absolutely terrifying person from what the fifth year understood. He did not want to face the Wrath of Tawny Brockert Crosby. So, he needed to be extra nice to Samara and look out for her the way he would Olivia-although he didn’t have the same desire to lock her away in a tower like Rapunzel so she would be away from boys, that was reserved for his little sister, and maybe Nadia, Adelaide and Marigold-but he still would go out of his way to protect her if need be. The Teppenpaw thought his aunt and uncle might appreciate him looking out for their niece.

Anyway, Winston was only a year younger than Ian so they had classes together, but Ian didn’t know much about him. The Crotalus was very quiet, and the fifth year…well, he was pretty quiet himself and always so busy trying to get the best grades so he could continue every class except for COMC and become a Healer. So, he didn’t really know Winston, though he’d heard rumors that the fourth year had suffered some sort of tragedy, which of course, made him feel bad for the younger boy.

And then there was Claire and Lazarus, who Ian knew very little about. He hoped they were nice. That was overall the most important thing to him regarding the Challenges.

So, he shook hands with Theo and once everyone arrived, the meeting began. Theo seemed very thrilled about being the Leader and Ian felt bad about his doubts regarding the seventh year’s competency. “Pancakes are great. I’ve never cooked anything at all so that’s completely awesome.” He said, wanting to encourage the older boy. Although he doubted they would have a Challenge involving that, which was absolutely too bad both because pancakes were yummy and because he really did want Theo to have a chance to show his strengths.

Then Philippe, their Deputy, spoke. Apparently, he had done well on his CATS, which was great- Ian hoped to follow suit -and was the new president of the LGBTQIA cafe. Well, good for him, that was cool although the fifth year didn’t know how that was a skill. Maybe Phillippe was pointing out that he had leadership experience. Which was quite reassuring, honestly.Or he was saying he was accepting and open minded, which was also great. That might not be helpful for specific Challenges but it was a great quality to have

Next, the younger boy, whom Ian assumed-apparently correctly-was Lazarus spoke up. Or rather, had his book speak. Apparently the second year was incapable of speech. Ian vowed to do whatever he could to help him as well. After all, as a future Healer-and a Teppenpaw-it was his duty to help people who had problems although not being able to talk and whatever issues Theo had were not going to be his specialties as Ian planned to work specifically with people who had immune deficiencies. However, he still had compassion for both boys.

Also, apparently Lazarus could not fly. Which meant that Ian was not alone there. Well, he could technically fly but he didn’t like it very much. It was too dangerous. However, he did wonder if the Aladren was like Uncle Ryan and could never get his broom to even go up. “That’s okay, Lazarus, I don’t really fly either. Or anything else athletic or dangerous. “ He added, feeling that it was probably a safe place to say that considering his team. Ian wasn’t exactly comfortable with them but he felt that this team was overall going to be fine.

Actually, it would be awesome if they did well. Admittedly, they were kind of the underdogs-and who didn’t love when underdogs won or at least did very well. As much as Ian resented the fact that the Challenges would take him away from studying, now that he had met his team he felt a bit more inspired. He remembered how getting second had been a big deal to Uncle Ryan and this group probably needed a similar boost and he wanted it for them all.

Ian went on, as Phillippe had asked for their strengths “I’m generally pretty good at all the academic subjects and magically too, especially Transfig. I’m planning to be a Healer so I have to do well in everything but COMC.” Merlin, was he looking forward to dropping it. Not because he disliked it but because it was such a heavy load. “I also know first aid.” Which,if they had to do some dangerous athletic thing, might come in handy.

He looked at the group, wondering if he should also share his weaknesses. He supposed he’d already done so with regards to flying and sports, but there was also the fact that Ian tended to be an anxious worrywart with a tendency to catastrophize everything. While they seemed to all be fairly nice people, he wasn’t sure he was quite comfortable enough to mention this to them. Of course, they would probably find out this trait of his soon enough. It was not like he could hide who he was.

11 Ian Malone Soft and quiet, I can get behind those things. 1522 0 5

Liesl Brockert

August 10, 2022 1:26 AM

Ummm....Snakes. Transfig. Yay? by Liesl Brockert

Liesl had the Best. Summer. Ever. In addition to the usual time spent with her family, and in particular with Uncle Cory, she had gone to Hans’ snake ranch! She’d even gotten to stay overnight because in the end, Father was exceedingly practical and did not think it made sense for her to go back and forth so she’d stayed in a guest room. It had been truly awesome to hang out with her best friend and meet his family, both the human ones and the reptilian ones. It turned out the snakes liked her. Which meant a lot because Liesl, honestly, wanted approval. She didn’t want to change herself to get it, but she still wanted it.

Now, though, she was at school and it was going to be a really big year, it seemed. They were having the Challenges, which was apparently a big deal and sort of a rite of passage of sorts. Unlike the Midsummer Events, which cycled every four years and which one that you only got once depended on what year you happened to end up in-which for Liesl was the bonfire, unfortunately, because that sounded like something that could be fun, she hoped she could find a group to share a tent with since she obviously couldn’t share with Hans-the Challenges were an event that only occurred once for everyone.

She hoped that they would also be a lot of fun, but that would depend on what the activities were and who her teammates were. Like, if they had to fly or do a survival thing, like Liesl’s cousins had, those were things that she would not enjoy. However, there were probably things that she would like better, though she was not sure what. The Teppenpaw would enjoy something spooky or something with snakes, of course, but she was unsure how that would translate to a Challenge event. The only thing she could think of was the party planning event that they’d had last time, where one group had had Halloween. She might not be the best future pureblood socialite ever, but a Halloween party did seem right up her alley. Liesl only decorated for Halloween all year long. That was her normal decor.

The other issue was that how much fun this was depended on who her teammates were. There wasn’t anyone off the top of her head that she felt the need to avoid but obviously, it would be the most fun to be with Hans or Verdillia or Isla. Or one of the girls that she hung out with during the summer on the island, when she wasn’t hanging out with Uncle Cory and some of the younger kids. People like Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn thought Liesl’s skull collection was cool.

Of course, the third year doubted that she would end up with her friends. While Owen had been on the same team as Jemima-apparently, they just couldn’t be split up-last time, her cousins had not been with any of their friends, Ruby made a friend and Emerald bonded with her now sister-in-law, but like nobody had been with people that they were already friends with. Which meant, sadly, she would not be with Hans probably. Come to think of it, Liesl was actually confused about how Owen and Jemima ended up on the same one when it was supposedly about mixing people up. Maybe someone else chose the teams that time. Or Owen and Jemima were attached to each other by invisible ropes that meant that they couldn’t be separated. Liesl wished that she had someone like that. Though maybe she was attached to someone like that and just didn’t know it. Maybe Hans was that person but they were overall less obvious than Owen and Jemima. She did like to spend time with the older Teppenpaw most of all. Well, him and Uncle Cory but she couldn’t have that “invisible rope attachment’ thing with her uncle . That would be wrong and gross!

Maybe, just maybe, though, someone would realize those invisible ropes were there and put her with Hans.

However, when Professor Skies began to speak, it was obvious to Liesl that those hopes had been in vain. For one thing, she said that they’d be split up among houses and age groups, so that probably meant that the third year would not be with another Intermediate Teppenpaw. Of course, she might get another Teppenpaw in her group because there were probably going to have more than four people in a group. Possibly another Intermediate in a different house. However, not Hans. Probably not Patience or Lydia either. She wondered if Verdillia would be a possibility since they were not in the same house.

Now was the moment of truth. They were released to find their teams. Liesl scanned around for her name and those of others. She noted sadly that she was not with Hans, although Isla was. Gwendolyn was too. The third year suddenly felt slightly left out. Not like they were trying to do so, Isla and Gwendolyn weren’t even friends with Hans, but still, they were on the same team and she wasn’t.

She sighed to herself as she continued to look for her name. Liesl spotted Verdillia’s with Esme’s team, but her own was not there. So, she wasn’t going to be with the Crotalus either.

Finally, there it was on Team Eight with Mab…and Jasper! The third year wasn’t as close to him as some of the others, because of the age difference mostly, but he was still generally nice to her. Maybe they would bond and be closer now. That would be so cool. And Mab was a Pecari that Esme, who was generally not fond of people from that house, did not mind so even though the seventh year was mildly intimidating, she couldn’t be too bad.

Then there was Henry. He was one of those quiet people, which was fine. There was nothing wrong with being quiet and introverted. However, it still meant Liesl knew very little about him. Isla didn’t seem to have an issue with him but Isla liked nearly everyone. All the third year knew about him was that he was in Crotalus, a fifth year, a prefect and that he had a twin in Pecari named Oz, whom was the one person besides Topaz and Eustace that Isla didn’t like, because he was her friend’s ex-boyfriend. So, if Isla didn’t like him, he had to be pretty awful and Liesl was glad that they had Henry and not Oz.

Next on the list was Xavier. Amethyst was not a fan of him, because of an incident involving him being rude to Iris and her brother. However, Liesl had always rather thought that he seemed like he needed a hug. She’d been reluctant to reach out to him though…because of the aforementioned incident. Besides, he had Oz. Which made the Teppenpaw wonder if he was guilty by association in Isla’s mind. Probably not though, while Esme and Amethyst were the types to judge someone by the company they kept, Isla really wasn’t. Actually, it was more likely that Amethyst would judge Oz as guilty by association for hanging out with Xavier .

Still, Liesl…was stuck with him for the year and she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt as she usually did with people anyway. Besides, he might have been nasty to the Cobbs as a reaction to whatever he seemed to need a hug for. Hopefully, he would be nice to her and if he wasn’t, hopefully Jasper or Mab would call him out for it. She was slightly worried, both because of the Cobb Incident and because, well, Xavier just screamed “Cool Popular Normal Kid”. And Liesl was definitely not cool, popular, or normal and those who were the ones who looked down on her. Amethyst, who was those things albeit in a different way than the Pecari, was nice enough to her but the fourth year sort of had to be since they were family. Which Xavier wasn’t.

Although, as far as Liesl could tell, Xavier was only friends with Oz, but in this case Popular was about a frame of mind, an attitude, not actual numbers. If it had been…that would have made her more popular than he was, she had at least two friends outside of her family.

Finally, there was Fortune and Alexander. Not people she knew well, but they both seemed nice enough. It would be cool to make friends with them.

Mab started the meeting, asking them about things they didn’t want to do. Apparently, the seventh year was not a fan of presentations and public speaking. Something Liesl did not have an issue doing if they really had to, depending on what kind of speech or presentation or performance it was. She would prefer being in a play or skit or puppet show to giving a speech or presentation.

Fortunately, Xavier was all right with doing that sort of thing. And he was good at sports. Yup, Liesl had sure pegged him right. Cool Popular Normal Kid all the way. The kind that books and wireless shows aimed at her age group said hated people like the Teppenpaw and made fun of them.

And Fortune was sporty too. Great. True, they would be a lot of help on a physical challenge but they…might not want to be friends with her. Well, she knew that Xavier wouldn’t anyway but she was hoping that the younger Pecari might. He didn’t quite give off the same vibes.

Then it was her turn. “Um,well, sports aren’t one of my strengths.” Mab had specifically asked what they did not like and weren’t willing to do. “I can fly okay if I absolutely have to but I’m not especially fond of it. Other sports stuff, I don’t really do.” Liesl blushed, having said this right after the two jocks. They were probably thinking poorly of her and she once again wished she was with Hans instead but at least Jasper would have her back on this one. She knew her cousin loathed flying and Quidditch. Like an extreme amount. Much more than she did. “So I’m glad you guys have it covered.” Maybe that would encourage them and they would like her more.

“ However,I’m good at..” Liesl bit her lip. What was she good at? Being into creepy stuff was a hobby but it was not a skill. She didn’t play an instrument or dance, aside from the pureblood ballroom stuff, which she was far from exceptional at. Nor did she sing and as already covered she was not an athlete. She was an all right student, but more of an E student than someone who was truly brilliant. After all, Desmond was the smart one.

She looked over at Jasper, as if for reassurance. He nodded and mouthed the word “puppets” Liesl took the hint. “I’m actually pretty good with puppets. My cousin Isla is into them and when she puts on puppet shows, she enlists the rest of us to participate. I often play the villain and am honestly decent at it.” She thought for a minute. “I do all right in my classes, more so at the magic parts than the writing or theory parts.” The third year had been told she rambled and went on too many tangents in her essays. Of course, Professor Wright had no room to talk there. “Um, Transfiguration is my best.”

Liesl felt her face flush. She had just realized how, despite her odd, creepy persona, when it came to skills, she was painfully average and ordinary. She might be one of the better people in Transfiguration on her team, though not as good as Jasper since he was older, that was a Brockert thing, not a Liesl thing. “I guess I can draw all right.” Again, there were people in her family that were definitely better at it. Miles, who was seven had the real talent there. Okay, she had to be better at him right now overall because she was thirteen-almost fourteen- and he was seven but his drawings currently were superior to her own at that age. She was mediocre, maybe above average at best.

However, there was one more thing that occurred to the Teppenpaw that she was good at. “Oh, I’m good with snakes!” Honestly aside from the Transfig, which wasn’t even a Liesl-specific thing, she was just another Brockert like all the others who were good at it, none of these things would even be helpful for the Challenges, unless they maybe had a pit of snakes as part of one. She supposed that the only one who’d beat her on that was Hans.

Thinking of Hans made Liesl think about the Invisible Rope Attachment again. Would the other Teppenpaw even ever want that with someone as untalented as her? Afterall, he has his parseltongue gift, regardless of what ridiculous stupid prejudices people had about that.

She looked nervously at her cousin again, who muttered something to her that sounded like "good with scary things" Liesl was surprised, she didn't think was a skill but Jasper seemed to, so she added “I’m pretty good at dealing with things that most people think are creepy and gross too. And I know about Dark Creatures and Dark Magic.” Realizing what she said, and how badly it could be taken–thanks to her little brother being sort of scared of her and calling her creepy and not meaning it as the compliment that it should be-she added “I mean, in an academic sense. I don’t practice it or anything.”

OOC: Jasper is also mine

11 Liesl Brockert Ummm....Snakes. Transfig. Yay? 1537 0 5

Verdillia Scurlock

August 11, 2022 8:07 AM

I'm sure it will be! by Verdillia Scurlock

OOC: Permission for bits about Chris from his author BIC:

Verdillia was excited for the team challenges. The general buzz going round was that these were a really big deal—a once-in-their-education experience and a thing that fostered life long friendships. It depended a little how the cards fell with team allocations, but it seemed certain that Verdillia would have someone influential on her team, just by virtue of basic maths. Chris had told her that senior students usually led the teams, and there was no way they could divide everyone up equally without her landing with someone important—especially as they tried not to put family members together, so for once not being related to the wealthy elite here worked in her favour. It also meant she was guaranteed not to be with Levi. The thought that people could and did stack the decks didn’t really occur to her, though luckily it didn’t apply in this case.

When the team assignments went up, she was delighted with hers. Not only was she with a Brockert, she was being led by one! A Crotalus Brockert, and direct descendent of the headmaster too! It couldn’t be any more perfect. Hopefully, as a fellow Crotalus, Esme would be particularly impressed by the types of skills Verdillia was bringing to the table, such as punctuality, organisation and good manners. Speaking of which, she made her way directly to her appointed table rather than looking around for Leviosa’s name—it wouldn’t do to keep a Brockert waiting. She arrived just in time to hear Esme express that they might have to do unpleasant things (well… alright, they were ‘challenges’ for a reason) but her team leader seemed overall upbeat, so Verdillia felt no reason to be concerned either.

“I’m sure it’ll be great!” she smiled, taking a seat. “I’ve been hearing so much about these challenges from my friends,” because they are important people who know these things and have legacies here - she hoped that subtext was nice and clear. “A lot of them have relatives who’ve done them before,” she added, just to be on the safe side. “They seem like a defining Sonora experience!”

13 Verdillia Scurlock I'm sure it will be! 1541 0 5

Theo Spurn

August 11, 2022 6:16 PM

Red list, yellow list by Theo Spurn

Theo gave Philippe his requested high-five, along with a hug to pass on to Anya. Which, he guessed wouldn’t be until midterm. Oh well, hugs stayed fresh for a long time. He tried not to think about none of them being able to hug Anya until then though because it made him feel awful. He was sure her at-home family was giving her lots of hugs, but he missed being able to do it himself.

They were joined by their other team-mates, who all responded in different ways to his greeting, which was why there were options.

The discussion got going about strengths, and also about some things that other people didn’t like or couldn’t do. Theo listened carefully, whilst twisting the ends of his cuffs between his fingers.

“Is flying on your red list or your yellow list?” he asked the two people who’d said they didn’t do it/didn’t really do it. “Red list means ‘absolutely no way never’ and yellow list means you might be able to like… If it’s just a little bit, or someone’s helping and being kind, or you’re just having a trying things kind of day. It’s wrong to make people do things from their red list, but sometimes it’s nice to help them do things from their yellow list, if they say they want to.”

13 Theo Spurn Red list, yellow list 1476 0 5

Ian Malone

August 13, 2022 3:40 AM

Red as the blood that will spill out of me when I inevitably am maimed by Ian Malone

Sometimes, people really surprise you. A few years ago, Ian had been impressed with Billy Cobb’s insights on a topic and now he was impressed with Theo’s response regarding his and Lazarus’ aversion to flying. The Teppenpaw had not heard of red lists and yellow lists, but the concept was simple enough to understand.

What Ian was impressed with now was the seventh year’s level of compassion . The encouragement of helping people with things they found difficult and not making them do things that they had a real aversion too. He actually wondered why Theo was in Pecari and not Teppenpaw. Sure he was bouncy, but he wasn’t…an arrogant jock who would look down on him for not being athletic. Okay, Stanley wasn’t either, but Theo had never seemed like an adventurous athletic type, like Stanley was.

Was he adaptable? The fact that he mentioned red lists and yellow lists, and the former was stuff that one just did not do, Ian presumed Theo had these lists himself, and wasn’t adaptable enough to do the stuff on his red list. Maybe he wanted quick and effective results? Although he seemed fairly patient if he was willing to help people with things they found difficult. Hm.

Despite his confusion right now regarding his teammate’s sorting–which really had nothing to do with the Challenges themselves-Ian was really glad he was on this team. While he still had his doubts about Theo’s organizational and strategic skills, he was starting to feel overall more at ease. The seventh year was not going to force him to do something he truly hated, or belittle him. Phillippe was not going to either. Ian was relieved and happy and hoped to become better friends with both boys.

However, while Theo would not force them, he was unsure about whether or not the school would force them. He tried to think back to what they had done way back the first time around. Ian didn’t know as much about the two previous times, because he had no close relatives who’d been in them, he had only had knowledge of when Mom and Aunt Melanie and Uncle Ryan had. He knew they had not been forced to ride them, but they had had an obstacle course which had an overseer position where flying had been one of the two options. His mom had been the overseer and had chosen that other one. Uncle Ryan, who also had issues with flying, had gone through the obstacle course.

Which honestly wasn’t something Ian really wanted to do either. Unless there was a way he could subvert the physical requirements in some magical way, he would be utterly useless at it and he did not want to humiliate himself. Or let his teammates down. He really didn’t think they would hate them, at least not Theo or Phillipe, but still. Nobody really wanted to be a burden.

Especially given that, unlike his mother, Ian didn’t have a physical ailment. He was perfectly healthy, he just…was terribly unathletic and had a genuine fear of doing anything that might be dangerous. The Teppenpaw had this tendency to see the danger in absolutely everything. While he personally believed and Theo, at least, seemed to believe that was enough reason to not to do something, the school might not care. Ian knew, based on his mom’s experience, that they were willing to make things accessible for those with disabilities, so would likely take into consideration how Lazarus couldn’t talk without his book, but unless someone had an actual physical condition like his mom did-which would also give other non-athletes an out-physical activities, including flying, were very much on the table. Unless the reason Lazarus could not fly was also due to a disability. In which case, they might have one non-flying role and then he’d have to be the one to take it, while everyone else suffered.

He looked at Theo and replied. “Well, I’d really very much like to say that it’s on my red list, and I appreciate you asking and saying it’s wrong to make me do it, I am not at all sure that those designing the Challenge will actually care. Like, me not liking it will not matter to them because I don’t have an actual disability that prevents me from doing it. After all, my not wanting to do it,being generally unathletic and being afraid of all the dangers inherent with flying did not prevent me from having to take Flying Lessons. Which I did the bare minimum to pass and I haven’t been on a broom since. “

The fifth year took a breath and continued. “They’d probably say that this was all to push us out of our comfort zones and point out that some people are less inclined magically or academically or creatively or whatever while excelling athletically and that if they have to do those things, us non-athletes have to suffer through the pain and humiliation of doing more physical things and risk being injured.” Okay, Ian was sure the Stanleys and the Billys of the world could get injured doing these things too but they were less likely to be embarrassed in front of everyone when they couldn’t fly well or run fast or couldn’t do something requiring upper body strength, which Ian had none of.

11 Ian Malone Red as the blood that will spill out of me when I inevitably am maimed 1522 0 5

System

Team 6 by System

Selina Skies

Team Challenge Meet and Greet by Selina Skies

System

Team 1 by System

System

Team 2 by System

System

Team 3 by System

System

Team 4 by System

System

Team 5 by System

System

Team 7 by System

System

Team 8 by System

System

Team 9 by System

Yaniel Ayala Velez

This is... complicated by Yaniel Ayala Velez

Mab

Meeting. Greeting. Yay. by Mab

Xavier Lundstrom

Fun. Games. Probable humiliation. Yay. by Xavier Lundstrom

Valentine Duell

Welcome Team 7! by Valentine Duell

Sadie-Lake Chalmers

Non-vengers assemble? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers

Theo Spurn

Go Team Softness! by Theo Spurn

Hansel Hexenmeister

I can assemble? by Hansel Hexenmeister

Xarryn Bavol

I feel welcome! by Xarryn Bavol

Lyla Holland

Some assembly required by Lyla Holland

Fortune Ardovini

Umm.. Adventure. Excitement. Yay.? by Fortune Ardovini

Philippe Delachene

I like the name. by Philippe Delachene

Bertie Jackson

Strength in numbers. As in, math, not other people. by Bertie Jackson

Olaf Brockert

*scowls* by Olaf Brockert

Phil Carson

*happy positivity!* by Phil Carson

Cole Pierce

Strength in Numbers. People, not math. by Cole Pierce

Robyn Lundstrom

*spins* by Robyn Lundstrom

Leviosa Scurlock

I feel impressed! by Leviosa Scurlock

Christopher Brockert

Strength in Numbers. As in Word Count by Christopher Brockert

Lorena Abernathy

I feel excited! by Lorena Abernathy

Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

What about Team Quietness? by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

Tommy Jamison

*waves* by Tommy Jamison

Olaf Brockert

*headdesk* by Olaf Brockert

Gabriel Wilson

*leads* by Gabriel Wilson

Constance Melcher

More curious by the moment by Constance Melcher

Wally O'Malley

Ready and awaiting orders. by Wally O'Malley

Iris Cobb

Same here? I think? by Iris Cobb

Oz Spellman

Being awesome by Oz Spellman

Esme Brockert

Great! by Esme Brockert

Lavender Brockert

It'll be fine by Lavender Brockert

Ian Malone

Soft and quiet, I can get behind those things. by Ian Malone

scowls by Olaf Brockert

happy positivity! by Phil Carson

spins by Robyn Lundstrom

waves by Tommy Jamison

headdesk by Olaf Brockert

leads by Gabriel Wilson