System
October 22, 2022 4:52 PM
Selina Skies
October 22, 2022 4:52 PM
Challenge 3 by Selina Skies
After two challenges in the garden, the poster for the third offered a change of pace—one that would probably be met with mixed reactions.For Challenge 3 please meet in the library on Saturday at 8.30 am. You can expect to be there until dinner time (with a break for lunch). Bring wands.
It had been tempting to say ‘and books’ as extra copies of the school textbooks wouldn’t be a bad thing to have, especially with everyone drawing on the same resources. However, Selina didn’t want to prejudice them against the task before it even began, any more than the location might already. Besides, many of them probably had books that would be of use besides the school textbooks, but they wouldn’t know it until the challenge was announced. It would be better to let students gather their own resources once they knew what they were working on, which was part of the reason for meeting in the library in the first place.
The other was that it offered a large enough space to spread the teams out, but a small enough space to keep an eye on them. The first clue that they would get when walking in was large tables with their team number on, only some of them immediately visible. What was not visible about the tables (but would be easily guessed based on how their classrooms were set up) was that they were extremely fireproof and had shielding charms around them so that any stray spells didn’t go hurtling across the room.
“Please gather here,” Selina called, from a space between tables one to four. “Welcome to your third and final challenge. We are very impressed with all the work you have put in so far. Every team has shown strength and creativity, along with a wide range of other skills.
“Today is something of a construction challenge, using magic. You will each be given a type of attraction, for example a water park or a tea room. You will have to draw out a plan for the whole attraction, and design and make one element for it. It could be a ride, it could relate to serving food, or any of the tasks needed to keep your attraction running. For some attractions, you will be able to make it to scale, for anything that would be larger than your table, you should scale it down and make a miniature model. It should be unique to the attraction you are given, and should use magic in its creation and operation.” Whilst the main focus was the latter, the beginner students would probably be best suited to mostly cosmetic elements, although there might be a few cases where simple charms of motion could help.
“You will keep a reflection log throughout the task. That means writing down everything you try, and why it worked or didn’t work. You will be judged on the quality of your final product, but also your process and the reflections you make about how you got there. As usual, your ability to include everyone in your team and have them make a meaningful contribution is also important. You will be expected to note who did what.
“With that in mind, it’s suggested that you get into the making and doing as early as possible. You should have a reasonable plan when you make your first spell attempts, but you are aiming to problem solve as you go.
“You may have access to any basic material you like, such as wood, wire, or objects that are in everyday use at the school. This task is more about how you enchant those objects and make a magical experience, so don’t be afraid to ask for materials that will help you save time in construction and focus on your magical elements. Of course, most of our basic school supplies won’t look very aesthetically pleasing and on theme, so you are encouraged to manipulate them to suit your project. You can use library books, or return to your rooms to gather any books you have there, or any materials you feel may be useful.
“Staff will be walking around during the event, and you are free to call on us for help. We can’t fix things for you, but we can recommend things to look up, and we can supervise and correct if you’re trying new spells. The usual safety rules on that apply - test your pronunciation first, don’t try anything too far above your grade level, and practise first on something small.
“Are there any questions?” Once these had been answered, they were dismissed to their tables, where they would each find an envelope with their assignment.
Team 1 - Water park
Team 2 - Arcade
Team 3 - Children’s museum
Team 4 - Escape room (an escape room is a room in which a team must solve a series of puzzles in order to reveal further clues, access materials such as keys etc, and ultimately open the door to get out of the room).
Team 5 - Tea room
Team 6 - Formal garden/park
Team 7 - Petting zoo
Team 8 - Haunted house
Team 9 - Mini golf
Subthreads: Team 6 with System, Hansel Hexenmeister, Lyla Holland, Sadie-Lake Chalmers, Isla Brockert, Gwendolyn Brockert
Team 1 with System, Iris Cobb, Piper Wilson, Oz Spellman, Morgan Garrett
Team 2 with System, Lenny Pierce, Lavender Brockert, Yaniel Ayala Velez, Amethyst Brockert
Team 3 with System, Phil Carson, Gabriel Wilson, Robyn Lundstrom, Olaf Brockert
Team 4 with System, Bertie Jackson, Billy Cobb, Cole Pierce, Christopher Brockert
Team 5 with System, Esme Brockert, Rosalynn Tellerman, Nausicaa Scapetello, Verdillia Scurlock
Team 7 with System, Xarryn Bavol, Valentine Duell, Lydia Priory, Leviosa Scurlock
Team 8 with System, Jasper Brockert, Mab, Liesl Brockert, Fortune Ardovini, Xavier Lundstrom
Team 9 with System, Theo Spurn, Philippe Delachene, Ian Malone, Samara Crosby
13
Selina Skies
Challenge 3
26
1
5
Hansel Hexenmeister
October 25, 2022 6:26 PM
Formally flourishing by Hansel Hexenmeister
Team six was killing this challenge thing. They'd ruled over the obstacle maze and took a substantial lead right from the start, and challenge two had not played to their strengths quite so completely, but they'd not only held their lead but taken first place again. Tied this time, but it was still an astounding win given how little all of them really knew about music. They hadn't even needed to borrow a secret extra legless teammate to do well this time.After two first place finishes, Hansel was feeling pretty confident going into the third challenge in the library. Winning again would be nice of course, but they really just needed to maintain their fairly large lead. That wasn't going to stop him from giving this challenge his all, of course, but it did take a lot of the pressure off.
As Professor Skies told them what they'd be doing, Hansel nodded along, thinking they were a pretty well rounded team that should be able to handle designing some kind of attraction. He wasn't counting on himself being able to offer much in the way of experience or ideas for this one, unless they needed to design a snake ranch, though they didn't get too many tourists coming out to theirs. Hansel himself was not particularly well travelled. He'd been born in Germany (which he obviously didn't remember) but he'd grown up in Utah and only left once to visit Hilda's friends (also in Germany). There had not been a lot of sight-seeing or attraction visiting along the way. The only tourist areas he'd ever gone to was Tumbleweed and the zoo, both with the school.
If they got a zoo, that wouldn't be too far off a snake ranch. There'd just have to be a much larger variety of animals.
They did not have a zoo, he discovered a few minutes later when they were sitting around their table and Sadie read out that they were going to be designing a formal garden or park.
Okay. Not terribly exciting, but it should be easy to pull in herbology at least. He had no brilliant ideas, though. He lived in a desert. Sure, they had a few habitats for snakes that needed greenery and water, but they were fairly wild areas and certainly couldn't be considered anything close to 'formal gardens' or anything. He waited to see what the others said first, in case it sparked an idea.
One thing he could do, though, was volunteer. "I can take notes and write the log, unless somebody else wants to do that."
1
Hansel Hexenmeister
Formally flourishing
1524
0
5
Lyla Holland
October 27, 2022 1:08 AM
Really Rosy by Lyla Holland
Lyla couldn't believe that Team Six had managed to pull off getting first place again. As exciting as it was to be winning, she dreaded actually having to perform in front of people. At least there were two other bands- and she used that term loosely- to draw some of the attention away from her team's presentation.Challenge three was feeling more comfortable already, sitting in the cozy library. Once Sadie had read out that they were in charge of creating a formal garden, Lyla breathed a sigh of relief, happy to dodge the 'amusement park' bullet, as roller coasters made her ill. Flowers were fine, and trees and bushes and other shrubberies. She'd never been to a formal garden, but she'd helped her mom in her garden, and she'd been getting decent marks in Herbology, so growing plants was definitely something she could do.
She had no objections to Hans being the note-taker, so she gave him a little nod. She normally would volunteer for that position, but she was confident that she'd be able to contribute to this challenge in a hands-on way. First things first, she needed to know what direction to think in.
"What makes it a formal garden?" Lyla asked the table, looking around at her teammates, "Is that like in movies where they have twinkle lights in the trees and a big fountain that you throw pennies in? Or is it more like a museum for plants?"
64
Lyla Holland
Really Rosy
1559
0
5
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
October 29, 2022 8:04 PM
Blooming marvellous by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Sadie had previously been of the opinion that it was unfair that alumni/boyfriends couldn't come to the concert if they wanted to. She hadn't been planning on performing but she would take any excuse to see Dathan. Now that her team had done so well in the music challenge that they would be performing, she was very glad he wouldn't be there. Allegedly, getting into the top three was a mark of quality, but... The best improvised music by unskilled people on junk instruments was its own very special category. Apparently, they had somehow been the best in their school at doing that one particular thing but she still didn't think that meant they had been good. Especially when there were points for things like being 'inventive' and 'unusual.'She thought she might have picked up some of those points with her contribution. She had just finished a paper on the trade of live Jobberknolls. The birds' ability to recall all the sounds heard in their lives made them a hot commodity. They were useful in memory potions, but it was widely believed that the most potent feathers came from live birds—in theory, the older the better. Whilst, in some cases, this led to well-cared for Jobberknolls, the standard of ‘alive’ could also be met without the birds being happy or healthy. Jobberknolls from feather farms were making up an increasingly large proportion of the residents at bird sanctuaries, which had previously dominated by augureys, who were still often mistreated, regardless of how many times people tried to dispel the myth that they were unlucky. All of which had Sadie wanting to volunteer at a bird sanctuary, or at least adopt a few augureys and jobberknolls after graduation. It has also led to a piece of knowledge which had seemed like a throw-away side note when writing her essay, but which had become essential during the music task; along with potioneers, composers and instrument-makers valued jobberknoll feathers for their ability to take on enchantments relating to sound.
It had taken a fair bit of digging to make use of that fact. So much so, that Sadie had wondered whether she was wasting her time in pursuing it, as most books only ever seemed to give surface level reference to this fact before moving to memory potions. However, years of Google-less existence had taught her how to get the most out of a bibliography, and to really hunt down books, and efficiently check them for what she needed. Eventually, she had found charms which helped jobberknoll feathers to retain and reproduce sound on request. She had been only been able to make that a very, very short term thing, but seeing as they had only needed to a couple of minutes of performing, it had been enough. That had allowed them to take sounds they were making individually and layer them in interesting ways. She supposed that a similar effect might have been achievable by getting instruments to play themselves—essentially, it had meant they had more hands per person. But maybe they had picked up points for being quirky and interesting.
Which she was grateful for in terms of the challenge, but apprehensive of in terms of their performance.
Now it was time for the final challenge, and Sadie had butterflies in her stomach. They were doing so well. And if they crrashed at this point, it would be awful. Even if they slipped just one place down to second... Objectively, that was a good result that they could all be proud of, but she was sure it wouldn't feel that way - everyone would be wondering what they had done, what she had done to lose their first place spot.
The challenge sounded okay. It sounded like a complicated school project with a very short deadline, but at least she had experience of one of those things.
She made her way to her team's table, waiting for everyone to gather before opening the envelope. A formal garden/park. Okay... Her mind swirled, trying to think how to make that anything more than a bunch of plants. How were they meant to include fancy, show off magic on grass? And was it option a, formal garden, option b park (regular), or did it have to be formal regardless of whether it was a garden or a park?
She kept her poker face on, pushing the voice of doubt down. They had gotten through a music challenge, for crying out loud, when none of them was the least bit musical. They could do this. They had probably all been to a park at some point. That was kind of like saying they had all seen a musical instrument prior to the last challenge—didn’t sound like it was anywhere near enough, but maybe it could be.
Judging by the job he volunteered for, Hans wasn’t super confident at either voicing ideas or creating something for this. As someone who was adept at shifting herself out of the spotlight, Sadie could recongise the behaviour in other people.
“Thanks, that would be great.” She gave him a smile, trying to make sure his contribution was recognized as valid.
“I think it could be either,” Sadie said, when Lyla offered up a question. She wasn’t totally sure what she meant by ‘a museum for plants’ but she didn’t want to make Lyla feel bad by calling attention to that. There was also a tiny little insecure part of her that said everyone else would absolutely know what that meant and she would be showcasing her own ignorance. “Why don’t we brainstorm around both ideas, and see which we come up with the most for, or whether they can be merged?” Hopefully a little more discussion would either clarify what it was, or allow it to naturally fall to the wayside without anyone’s feelings being hurt.
“I like the idea of fountains and lights, those could definitely be ways to make a garden feel special and to showcase some magical ability. In the planning element, we can definitely show some herbology knowledge by arranging plants according to different climates. I guess some might also need artificial environments, which might be another way to use magic, though I think creating a fountain or sculpture or something would be more fun.” Once again, now that she’d been given a starting point, she was feeling more confident. She’d been to parks, or nice scenic spots, and the same basic structures applied—just magicked up. She hoped. And she was sure that, if she went way off base, one of the kids with a magical family would tell her.
“We could also consider having nice areas to take pictures. That’s probably more something for the plan than an element to make. Mirrors look really cool in parks, especially on the floor, because they reflect the trees, and it looks like you’re standing in the sky, or just makes pretty reflections.” She’d been to a few Instagram spots like that with her parents. It wasn’t necessarily the part of herself that she wanted to draw on the most, but if they were throwing ideas at the wall, she might as well put it out there. "We could include some reflective elements in a sculpture or fountain too," she added, to tie it back to ideas that were already on the table, and to take it closer to the formal and fancy side of things.
13
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Blooming marvellous
1480
0
5
Isla Brockert
October 30, 2022 5:47 PM
Formality is overrated by Isla Brockert
Isla could not believe her team was in first place. Not only had they done so in the first Challenge but they’d also tied with Esme’s team for first place the last time. And that was with a Challenge involving playing music when none of them were musical. She supposed they had just been extra creative or something, and the Aladren appreciated that as she liked to think of herself as such. It was just that her version of creativity ran towards puppetry, not music.Interestingly enough, Olaf’s team had taken third and , while Esme had some musical people on her team, the first year’s team was as unmusical as her own. As confusing as that was, Isla still thought it was really cool that it would be the three of them performing at the concert. She was doing so in the puppet show with the Performing Arts club, anyway, but she just thought it was nice that the three Vowels currently at Sonora would be in the show. Their parents thought so too. Of course, Olaf was less than thrilled.
Isla was also happy that Esme’s team had tied with hers.Her sister had previously been in last place overall and while the Crotalus was the sort to keep a stiff upper lip and not show that things bothered her, the fifth year knew she had to be disappointed. After all, Esme had wanted this for years so for her team to do poorly had to make her unhappy. And Isla did not like to see people she cared about suffering.
However, she couldn’t help but want her own team to retain their first place position. At this point, it would be unlikely that Esme would get to first place, especially as Isla’s team was currently beating them by a total of eighteen points. They were even beating the second place team- which was Liesl and Jasper’s-by seven. So since it would not be Esme who got it instead, she would prefer to stay in first place. She probably would anyway, but like, if her sister beat her, Isla would have just been happy for her. Although she supposed that would be the case if any of her family or friends beat her, Jasper and Liesl being the most likely at this point.
Still, obviously she would still do her best. She was not about to let her teammates down and wouldn’t have even if Esme would have had a chance to win. The Aladren didn’t think her sister would want to win like that anyway.
Although it was entirely possible that the next Challenge would entail something that her entire team was horrible at and all of Liesl and Jasper’s team was very good at and her cousins’ team could surpass them. After all, after the second Challenge, both teams that had been tied for third after the first one had not so well and while Amethyst’s had only gone down a couple of spots, Lorena's, which was the team her cousin's team ,had been tied with,had taken a significant tumble, while Esme’s and Olaf’s teams had done very well and had each moved up a couple places overall.
Then again, there was no way there was a thing that everyone on Team Eight was good at given that, based on what Jasper and Liesl said, they had very little in common with some of their teammates. There were three Pecaris on their team who were all pretty athletic, which Isla’s cousins were not, and Henry Spellman didn’t seem to be either. And while their team certainly had more athletes than hers, today’s Challenge was supposed to be in the library, so-thankfully for so many reasons-it was unlikely they would be doing such things.
Anyway, regardless of whether or not they won, Isla was still rather sorry to see the Challenges end. She had really enjoyed herself and had liked getting to know some people that she probably wouldn’t have otherwise. She had really gotten a great bunch of teammates and while it was entirely possible that the Aladren would continue to be friends with them,she was not sure since most of them were a bit younger than her and she really doubted that Bonabelle, one of the people closest to her age would be all that interested in hanging out with her. Maybe Hans would though.Although, Isla wasn’t sure she would feel right spending time with the fourth year without Liesl, since he was the younger girl’s best friend.
At least she might get to hang out with Gwendolyn a bit, since they were related. Unfortunately, the fifth year, now that she was sixteen, would probably have to go to all sorts of fancy parties this summer instead of hanging out with the younger girls as much. Which did not sound terribly fun. They sounded like stuffy affairs where Isla probably would not fit in at all and be incredibly bored while Esme and Amethyst would be mingling and having a great time. And she wanted them to enjoy themselves, but did not want to feel left out.
However, right now, it was time for the final Challenge, and she had to admit, as complicated as it sounded,it also sounded kind of fun. Although, some attractions might be more fun than others. Of course, as always, Isla wondered how she could work in puppets. A tea room would likely be easier to work them into than a water park, actually. Not that that would be the sort of tea room elegant classy pureblood ladies would go to, but…puppets could serve people tea and…maybe be decorations for the room, hanging from the ceiling and stuff.
As it turned out, their attraction was a formal garden or park. Hans offered to take the log and then Lyla asked a very good question. Isla was not sure what made something a formal garden but she assumed that it probably was a very fancy garden at a very fancy estate owned by very fancy people like her family.
However, she had an entirely different idea that might be more…fun. After Sadie mentioned her ideas, Isla spoke up. “You know how we incorporated things about ourselves into the last Challenge? I think that might work even better on this one. Like we can have a park involving stuff about puppets and snakes and UFOs. Like a puppet theater and like dioramas with puppets acting out scenes.” She would let the others come up with the ideas for their own interests”And we could still have a fountain…maybe one with colorful dancing water That would be really pretty. And maybe the fountain could be one people could wade in? Like sometimes when you’re at the park and it’s really hot out, you just want to cool off. I know it’s not too terribly formal but we can do a park that isn’t.” After all they weren’t terribly formal people but quite frankly, Isla was going to have a summer full of that and she was in no hurry for it to start.
11
Isla Brockert
Formality is overrated
1521
0
5
Lyla Holland
November 01, 2022 10:30 PM
Informal is fine by me by Lyla Holland
With her teammates pushing ideas out left and right, Lyla was feeling excited. Her toes tap-danced on the floor under the table as she listened to Isla's thoughts about making it an 'informal' garden. She beamed at the fifth-year for putting to words what Lyla had been feeling. Being themselves and doing things that they were good at was how they'd performed the Challenges so far, and it had worked well enough to earn first place, not just once, but twice. If they could follow the same pattern, Lyla was confident in her team's ability to win again."We should have someone to keep us on track, time-wise," she suggested, knowing her own tendencies to allow her creativity run away with her. She knew she wouldn't be an effective timekeeper, but with a group as diverse as hers, she was sure somebody would.
"Also," she mused out loud, "It would probably be helpful to write down all the things we need to do, and then divvy them up by grade level. I can't do much magic, not stuff that would help with the special effects, but I can do other stuff, like gathering supplies or making model trees or something."
It felt like she was putting herself down, but unless somebody asked her to transfigure a matchstick into a toothpick or levitate the fountain, she couldn't think of a practical application for the spells she knew. She did know quite a lot about plants, having fallen asleep with her nose in Herbology books ever since her first class. Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants was the tome currently on her bedside table, and that might tie in nicely with the fountain idea.
"Anyway," she said quietly, hoping her teammates wouldn't think she was getting bossy, but knowing that it was important to get all of the information on the table, "I know a lot of different plants, and what climates they are used to, if we want to do something with that."
Lyla caught the eye of the teammate across the table from her and gave a smile. No matter what Team Six ended up doing, it was going to be good because they built it together.
64
Lyla Holland
Informal is fine by me
1559
0
5
Gwendolyn Brockert
November 02, 2022 9:29 PM
Sounds good to me by Gwendolyn Brockert
Gwendolyn had to admit, she was really enjoying the Challenges. Which admittedly, probably at least a little bit had to do with the fact that they were winning. That felt pretty good, and she was admittedly proud of herself and her teammates. She actually really liked them and would love to hang out with most of them again.. Of course, the two oldest probably wouldn’t want to and Sadie was graduating anyway.Honestly, Sadie was a really good Team Leader. The older girl reminded her of her dad, in that she was quiet and shy and seemed to lack confidence.And Gwendolyn absolutely loved seeing someone like that be a successful leader and winning first place. It just proved the second year’s very firm belief that introverts-which she considered herself to be-and shy, quiet people were not somehow lesser beings than more confident, outgoing, extroverted types and were worthy of important positions.
Anyway, when it came to being friends with the rest, that was more likely. Isla, despite the age difference, was her distant cousin, and Gwendolyn had already hung out with her some before all this. Eben and Lyla were pretty cool and she hoped to get to know them better and be friends. Maybe she could become friends with Hans too. Honestly, aside from her cousins, she didn’t exactly have any besides maybe Fortune whom she’d hung out with last year at the zoo. She had really had fun with their adventure regarding Spaghetti the Niffler and the corrupt zoo with safety concerns.
So,Gwendolyn was sorry to see the whole thing end, which in addition to having awesome teammates, had been a fun and interesting experience, getting to try new things and use intelligence and creativity to solve problems. She knew it had been hard for some people-mainly Lydia-but she had personally had a really good time and felt a bond with the people she’d done it with. People who, for the most part, she hoped to get to spend more time with once the Challenges were over.
Today was to be the last one and while the second year was sorry it would be ending, she was absolutely curious about today’s task.All she knew so far was that it was to be held in the library and they needed their wands. As if any magical person would ever not have their wand on them. Did they really need to be told to bring them? Wasn’t that second nature to basically everyone?
Or did Gwendolyn only think this way because her father was a wand maker? She generally knew that not everyone thought the same way-look at Uncle Evan-but really some things were just common sense. Although not everyone had even that, she supposed. Sometimes, it was due to a serious mental health issue, as with her cousin Autumn but on the other hand, some people were just stupid.
She supposed, as in wanted to believe, that this reminder to bring wands was meant to be more of a hint that this task would have a magical component, than an insult to their collective intelligence.
Anyway, Gwendolyn was glad that the task was in the library. After all, she was an Aladren and the library was basically her natural habitat. Plus, the entrance to her common room was in there, so she could basically step right of her dorm to where the Challenge location was.
She listened to Professor Skies’ direction for the task at hand. This actually sounded like a lot of fun. They went to their table and Sadie opened their envelope, announcing that they would be doing a formal garden or park. The Aladren was not quite sure precisely what the former actually was-and she found a few moments later that nobody else seemed to either- but she assumed that they could probably figure out how to design a park.
After all, they had figured out the previous two Challenges, the last of which involved playing music when none of them were good at it, so despite all the different aspects to this one, it actually sounded somewhat easier than the others had been. Although being a second year, her path in the first one, had probably not been as hard as those of the older students. Still, running around, fighting obstacles including dueling, was not one of her favorite things, nor did she know how to play an instrument, so this was comparably easy.
Hans apparently did not feel the same way, given that he offered to take the log. Gwendolyn nodded in approval at Lyla’s and Sadie’s ideas.Fountains and lights were definitely pretty.
Then Isla spoke up. “That’s a really great idea.” She replied. “I mean, that sounds like we can make it really fun and whimsical as well as fairly unique. I mean, how many parks out there have specific exhibits for snakes, puppets and UFOs as well as a fountain with colorful dancing water that you can wade in? We can obviously have the photo spots and mirrors and gardens too.”
The Aladren paused, trying to think of what she would want to represent her. “Maybe we can also have a Chinese themed garden and a grove of wand wood trees?” Admittedly, most of her own interests tended to run to the more indoorsy things like reading, but she was also interested in Chinese culture and wandlore. “Also, what about a skating rink and a playground?” After all, the playground was always the best part of a park when she was a child. Without them, a park would have been boring. Their park wouldn’t be though.
“I think those are good ideas too, Lyla.” Gwendolyn went on as she locked eyes with the younger girl across the table. “Both figuring those things out and writing them down and having plants from different climates in different places. Or like an Around-the-World Garden, with plants from China and Germany and other…places our families are from.” She actually was not completely sure what nationality the name Brockert was, at least her mother was of Chinese heritage. "Or at least plants native to where we live. Like I'm from Colorado." The Aladren was not sure what plants were native to Colorado or China off the top of her head., but that was why they were in the library. "We could also look up what a formal garden is." She added, sort of curious about that herself
11
Gwendolyn Brockert
Sounds good to me
1555
0
5
Lyla Holland
November 05, 2022 10:37 PM
Inspiration strikes again! by Lyla Holland
As Gwendolyn offered up her contributions, it finally sunk in for Lyla that this was the last Challenge. She had enjoyed being on the multilevel team, and she’d learned a lot from the older kids that she probably wouldn’t have from just attending her classes. Her stomach shifted to realize that she probably wouldn’t talk to them much after this. She’d share classes with Gwendolyn until the end of term, but the Aladren would be in the Intermediate group next year. She wouldn’t see anyone else with any real regularity, and besides, they’d probably all go back to their normal friend groups after this, anyway. She tried to put on a brave face, but her feet kept tapping under the table, anxious now instead of excited as tried to listen to Gwendolyn.Lyla liked Gwendolyn; the older girl had shown in the previous challenges that she was both smart and kind. Lyla’s small smile turned into a full grin when the older girl praised her ideas. Working together with Gwendolyn had been a treat, and Lyla allowed herself to hope that they would stay friends after the Challenges were over. After all, there was only a year difference in age, and apparently not much of a geographical distance.
“I’m from Colorado, too,” she said in a quiet voice. She didn’t know why, but she had expected her classmates to be scattered across the globe. The Aladren apparently lived practically in Lyla’s backyard, which bolstered her hopes for a continuing friendship. “Maybe we could do some aspen trees?”
Aspens were the Colorado tree, though Lyla wasn’t sure if they were used to make wands or not. The silvery-white bark contrasted the small green leaves all summer, and when autumn came, the green turned into a bright golden-yellow that littered the mountainside like confetti. Lyla’s favorite part was when the wind would rustle through the leaves and the tree almost looked like it was shimmering with the movement.
Lyla volunteered to collect research materials, picking out books on mobility charms for the puppets, though she had no doubt that Isla was more than capable of taking care of those, general building charms for the practical side of sticking it all to the table, and a couple of advanced transfiguration books, just in case. On her way back to the table, she found a large book with glossy pictures of botanical gardens sticking out from between two much smaller books. Lyla vaguely wondered if the coordinators of the Challenges specifically planted books like that for teams that had no clue what to do for their assignment, or if she was just lucky.
Plunking the books down on the table, she passed them left and right to the appropriate age levels. She opened up the book on botanical gardens for inspiration. The first few pictures were stuffy and boring- all concentric circles and hedge mazes. Lyla kept turning pages until she came to one that was all roses in bloom, shaped like a rose, with footpaths between the petals. It was gorgeous, but it didn’t have a personal feel to it. She kept turning and found another garden that was all poisonous and venomous plants. That was neat, but not really what she was looking for. The very next page held something that might actually be useful.
“Look,” she said, pushing the book forward so everyone could see. It was a page with a garden that had four different paths snaking from a central fountain.
“What if we do four seasons?” she suggested, ticking off on her fingers all the suggestions she could remember, “There could be an outdoor puppet theater for summer, some sort of snake exhibit for the spring section, wand trees in the fall when they are all pretty and have their leaves changing, and for winter, maybe a UFO themed skating rink with lights under the ice? That way we can each do a little bit of ourselves, but it’s also all connected? And maybe in the center we could do a cool photo thing, like a three-sixty view of all the seasons with the person in the middle?”
Lyla hoped her team liked her idea, although she figured that even if they didn’t go with it, it would hopefully get some points from the log for creativity. Either way, they needed to get started on building, or they would never finish before their time was up.
64
Lyla Holland
Inspiration strikes again!
1559
0
5
Isla Brockert
November 09, 2022 8:20 PM
Best. Park. Ever by Isla Brockert
Isla was impressed by Lyla’s level of organization. It must be a Crotalus thing, Esme and Christopher were both pretty organized meticulous people. Although, Allegra and Amethyst were both…just moderately organized, like an average amount. And Aladrens could be so too, although it sort of depended, in both houses, what they were organized in. Like, Topaz was super organized about her schoolwork and her nefarious schemes, but was sort of messy when it came to being neat and tidy. Although that wasn’t so much because he was a naturally sloppy person but because she thought cleaning and picking up after herself were beneath her.Of course, Hans was supposed to be the log taker. He had volunteered to do so first. Isla doubted that it was going to cause conflict though, they all seemed to get on so well. She felt lucky that way, given how Jasper felt about one of his teammates. The Aladren didn’t think her cousin disliked Xavier exactly, but that he thought the fourth year disliked him and Liesl. She really did not know how they’d done so well with that happening but she still felt for her cousin.
After all, Jasper was pretty likable, there was literally nothing offensive about him. So, unless it was like the sixth year suspected, that it was because he was unathletic, Isla had no idea why anyone would have an issue with the Teppenpaw. He was nice and fairly normal in terms of not having any blatant eccentricities the way she and Liesl both did.
Come to think of it though, why did people put the terms nice and normal together so much? Normal was allegedly either very proper purebloods or sporty types. Neither of which was all that nice to people who didn’t fit the mold. Hence why Isla was super dreading going to the balls this summer. She did not feel like this was going to be a place where she belonged. Hopefully, her sisters and cousins would look out for her but it still didn’t sound like something that she would enjoy or a place that she would feel comfortable.
And, admittedly, it was sort of difficult that the relatives that Isla would have with her at the balls, at least this year, were Amethyst and Esme . Both of them were perfect, polished pureblood princesses. Her sister already fit in perfectly and her cousin would too. They would never understand what it was like for Isla.
At least in a few years, she would have Liesl there too. The third year knew it was like to be different and not belong, in fact the whole thing might be worse for her than it was for the Aladren.
Weirdly enough, the other person who could understand what it was to not belong in proper society, who did not fit into social norms was Topaz , of all people. Obviously the Aladren alumna did not seem like she wanted to be a socialite or get married and have kids like her older sisters and Allegra. Isla actually wondered if Sapphire would be married before Topaz was. And if Topaz would be angry about that if it happened, since she tended to be hyper-competitive and never let her relatives-especially Allegra and Sapphire-beat her in anything but this was like, something that she didn’t even seem to want but that she’d likely be forced into doing anyway.
If it wasn’t Topaz, Isla would feel sorry for someone in that situation. As it was, she felt worse for the future husband and children. Unless the husband was like the Aladren alumna. Which was scary, they did not need to have two of them around. Especially since they all had to deal with Uncle Eustace too.
The fifth year,however, did want marriage and children. She actually always had, it was just that she was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to boys. Of course, there was unfortunately none at Sonora that she could be with, which had actually made it all the more frustrating when her friends both had boyfriends and Isla didn’t. If she’d been allowed-she hadn’t actually been allowed to have one then, but she was sixteen now so now she could-it would have to be someone outside of school. Isla couldn’t marry any of the boys at Sonora and she didn’t think there was any value in being in a relationship when you knew it would end eventually.
And she did hope to meet someone who was sweet and kind and yes, a tad odd. She believed that since not all pureblood girls were cookie cutter ideals,that must be the case with pureblood boys too.
She nodded at Lyla “I think those are all good suggestions. Knowing about plants will definitely come in handy.” Isla told the first year.
Gwendolyn expressed her approval for the older Aladren’s ideas and Isla smiled at the younger girl. It made her feel good to know that someone liked her suggestions. “Your ideas are good too.” She replied. A playground was absolutely a must in a park. “It’s a good idea to have activities to do. Not everyone wants to just look at flowers.” In particular, she thought of her cousin Miles, who was not only a seven year old-children generally didn’t have much interest in looking at flowers-but was pretty allergic to most plants. Of course, Aunt Madeleine wouldn’t be taking him out to a park anyway for that reason.
Which did make Isla think of something else. “Um, what about a playground that’s in an enclosure for kids who have allergies so they can play without being exposed to allergens.” Her aunt and uncle had one of these at their house so Miles and Libby had playground equipment to play on. Libby could play outside in a regular park, but since her brother really couldn’t, she never got to and just used their enclosure playground as well.
Of course, she didn’t know how they would get to the safe allergy friendly enclosed playground without going through the pollen filled park. She believed her aunt made use of the Bubble Head Charm quite a bit whenever she had to take Miles anywhere that allergens were an issue. Isla felt really bad for her little cousin, and it couldn’t have been easy on his parents or Libby either.
She continued “I love the idea of a wand wood tree grove. Wands are essential and nothing represents wizard-kind better. We can have Aspen trees too.” It didn’t sound like Gwendolyn’s idea about plants native to their states or their heritage was going to work out though. Both the second year and Lyla were from Colorado. Isla was from Utah, an adjoining state, and she thought Hans was too, as she knew Liesl had gone to visit him there and they were all on the same wagon. As for their heritage, the fifth year…did not actually know hers. She was a Brockert and basically a regular white American pureblood witch. No obvious cultural heritage with regards to nationality like Hans and Gwendolyn. “We can definitely also have a Chinese themed garden.” As the second year seemed to value her Chinese ancestry, Isla absolutely felt like it should be included.
Lyla went to get some books and when she came back she seemed to have an idea that would encompass a lot of their other ones. “That sounds pretty good, Lyla.” She told the younger girl. “I think we should put the fountain in the summer part since that’s when it’s hot and people want to wade in them, at least I do.”
11
Isla Brockert
Best. Park. Ever
1521
0
5