System
July 15, 2022 1:55 AM
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 9 with System, Theo Spurn, Philippe Delachene, Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher, Ian Malone
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 6 with System, Sadie-Lake Chalmers, Hansel Hexenmeister, Lyla Holland
Team 7 with System, Valentine Duell, Xarryn Bavol, Leviosa Scurlock, Lorena Abernathy
Team 8 with System, Mab, Xavier Lundstrom, Fortune Ardovini, Liesl Brockert
13
Selina Skies
Team Challenge Meet and Greet
26
1
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!
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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.
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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?
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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
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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.”
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Theo Spurn
Red list, yellow list
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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.
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Ian Malone
Red as the blood that will spill out of me when I inevitably am maimed
1522
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