[Pre-Concert] The anniversary of our engagement on Cascade Hall

Selina Skies

November 18, 2022 7:45 PM

The Concert by Selina Skies

The concert was easily the most stressful event for Selina as a staff member. The ball and the bonfire probably came with the most interpersonal drama, some of which ended up as her responsibility to deal with the fall out from, but the event planning mostly took care of itself. The fair required organisation, which was sometimes up to the staff and sometimes up to the students, but the concert always relied on the contributions of the students, to be showcased to families. They had approached performance generation in different ways over the years, such as having prefects lead groups, or having house acts, and sometimes it was just a free-for-all. It was always a worry in the latter case that they wouldn’t get enough acts, and in all cases about whether they’d be fit to present. The staff kept an eye on things, helping students to develop rehearsal schedules, and checking in that they were progressing, but it was a lot more work than sticking some tents on the school field and setting something on fire. Especially this year, when it had fallen in line with the challenges.

But, as ever, Sonora’s students had risen to the occasion. There was a suitable number of acts, showing a diverse range of skills, and the challenges had actually provided a further opportunity to generate acts.

The other part of the concert that was stressful—the fact that it was presented to families—was also what made it so enjoyable. Sonora didn’t have a lot of opportunities to have families visit, and it was (almost) always a delight to welcome them to campus. The school had reached out to the families of Muggleborn students to help with travel arrangements, and had the option of a pick up in town. The car involved might stretch their limits of what a car should look like on the inside and how it ought to behave, and there was really no way around just having to sort of… whoosh at some point when entering an itinerant magical school, but it was still gentler than any of the other options. The welcome station was located in the gardens, lined with fireplaces for Floo travellers, and temporarily placed outside the apparition limitations. A number of portkeys had been arranged from major travel hubs, and the school had signed off on any for families large enough and magical enough (and rich enough) to arrange their own. The welcome station was also stocked with water, an anti-nausea potion, and some chairs should anyone feel the need to recover from their journey. There were also sticky labels on which people could write their name and relationship to the students they were there to support.

The faculty were present to greet families, after which they were allowed into the main hall for snacks and mingling and taken on a tour if they wanted to see the school.

After that they were let into the Cascade Hall, which had been rearranged as a theatre for the evening, with rows of chairs facing a large stage. Whilst it might have been easier to use one of the MARS rooms, the hall did have such a sense of occasion.

“Hello, and welcome,” Selina addressed the assembled families. “We’re so pleased to have you here for our concert. The concert is part of an events rotation which occurs every four years, and is a chance for our students to show some of the skills that they have outside of their classes, and sometimes a few of the ones they’re using in them. We have a great range of acts for you tonight, which you can see listed in your programme.” The acts ranged from puppetry to comedy to a… band(?) which was playing some Muggle rock songs in what Selina had deemed a passable enough way to allow in. “The majority of these were devised by the students in their free time or through student-led extra-curricular activities. In addition to this, we have three musical performances from our schoolwide challenges this year. In our second event, students had to use their transfiguration skills and their imaginations to turn junk into musical instruments, conventional or otherwise, and to compose a piece for performance. The three winning teams from that challenge are showcasing their pieces tonight.

“Without further ado, let us welcome our first act…” Selina had asked each set of performing students for a brief introduction for both the program and her intro speeches. She had tidied them up as necessary, and used them to welcome each act onto the stage.

Once the final group had performed, she took to the stage to invite one more round of applause, and then asked the audience to stand and to mind out as the furniture rearranged itself. With the audience off to the sides, several tables trotted in from the lobby, and the chairs gathered around them. At the back of the hall, a buffet table stocked itself. After that, parents and students were free to mingle. Students could leave that evening with their parents, although there would be one more night at school and the wagons in the morning for any whose families hadn’t attended, for whom travelling back together wasn’t practical, or who just wanted one more night to spend with their friends and one more trip on the flying wagons.

OOC: Welcome to the concert!

Some house-keeping:
- Please use the 'other' box and specify the lead POV character if writing a family post (e.g. 'Monica Spellman').

- If a post writes for more than one character, please mark this using 'What of thread is this?' and selecting 'This whole post is mine but writes for more than one character.' Any thread that includes dialogue or actions from another character that wouldn't be within reasonable god-modding limits (e.g. having someone let you into an office, invite you to take a seat etc are defined as reasonable) should be tagged this way. A good rule of thumb is... If they weren't your character, would you need more than a head nod from someone in chatzy to approve the actions? If so, you're probably writing for multiple characters. The purpose of this tag is to keep such posts out of the running for 'longest post' where they would obviously have an unfair advantage.

- Posts with a Sonora character as their lead POV are added to their page/stats for the term even when using this tag. Posts with a family member as the POV aren't automatically added (cos computers cannot understand) but may be included towards a character's activity total at the discretion of the admins.

- Please include a time frame [pre-concert, concert performance, post-concert] in your post title to help others stay organised. Your post may cover more than one of these time frames - go with tagging where it ends.

Subthreads:

[Pre concert] (Magical?) Cookie! by Joel Lundstrom

[Post concert] Looking for moral support by Leviosa Scurlock with Christopher Brockert

[Post Concert] Dashed hopes by Nausicaa Scapetello

[Post-Concert] That's my daughter! [tag Adam] by Wendy Holland with Adam Brockert

[Post Concert] Things begin to draw to a close once more [Amethyst] by Iris Cobb with Amethyst Brockert

[Pre-Concert] The anniversary of our engagement by Bel Pierce with Monica Spellman, Deidre Beales

[Pre Concert] Date night! [Marissa] by Andrew Duell with Marissa Duell

[Post Concert] That’s my boy by Camden Bavol with Catherinre Scurlock

[Post concert] TWIRLY HUGS! [tag Anya] by Theo Spurn with Anya Delachene

[Post-concert] So hard to say goodbye (Phil) by Gabriel Wilson with Phil Carson

[Post-concert] I just can't stay away. by Allegra Brockert

[Pre-Concert] Touring by Flo Carbondale with Jana Wilson

[Post Concert] Brother to Banjo Girl by Sullivan Quincy

[Post-concert]The End by Esme Brockert

[Post Concert] This is terrible [Wally] by Valentine Duell with Wally O'Malley

[Post-concert]Forgiveness rather than permission (Karl) by Cory Brockert with Karl Hexenmeister

[Pre-concert] Reuniting with an old friend (Hilda) by Sophia Priory with Hilda Hexenmeister

[Post concert] Nevermind by Constance Melcher

[Post concert] Well, it's half the family, anyway. by Mara Morales

[Post concert] ...so, mom talk? (Sophie) by Marissa Duell with Sophie O'Malley

[Post-concert]One of these days I will just type random words for a title by Ian Malone

[Post-concert] Glad it's all over. by Lydia Priory

[Concert Performance] The Middle by Oz Spellman with

[Post-concert] I really don't want it to be over. by Isla Brockert

{Post-concert] by Piper Wilson

13 Selina Skies The Concert 26 1 5

Joel Lundstrom

November 18, 2022 11:29 PM

[Pre concert] (Magical?) Cookie! by Joel Lundstrom

Joel stepped out of the weird magical car, making sure not to frown. His parents had eased up a little on their whole ‘wizards are judging our every facial expression’ paranoia, but he didn’t want to appear rude to the magic people, or set his mom off. She was already… well, she was kind of in a walking Xanax coma, but given how many times he’d seen her jumping at small noises during the week, he was trying not to do anything extra to freak her out.

But yeah, the car was… like, Joel was currently breaking his brain every weekend cramming for high school physics finals, and the car just made that seem pointless. Though maybe not for his non-magical self. Xav and Robyn could go around turning into cats and making things fly or having boxes be bigger in the inside or just… whatever else, but Joel was probably stuck obeying the laws of physics.

They made their way quickly through the welcome area. He was glad his parents’ whole obsession with fitting in with the magical world had waned enough that they’d been able to take the not hideously violent space travel options. He wrote ‘Joel Lundstrom’ on a sticker but didn’t bother to specify who he was related to and how, figuring that was obvious to anyone who knew the name, even if he didn’t look exactly like his siblings. He and Xavier had similar faces, but Joel being a blond made people say they didn’t look alike.

He’d been to the school before, in spite of this being the first concert Xavier was involved in (or Robyn, but… obviously) because they’d all come to visit him here over Christmas during that whole thing where the government had kidnapped Xav and refused to let him see them and called their parents cultists. The school had been on their side though, and so whilst setting foot back here did bring back a bunch of chest-tightening memories, it was more a reminder of a terrible time than anything that anyone here had done… When they had visited Xavier over Christmas, they’d only been allowed into limited parts of the school, due to other students staying and the visit needing to be on the down low, because the magical authorities still hadn’t really agreed with it. Therefore, Joel agreed to go on the tour. The library brought back memories of watching Professor Wright make Robyn’s UNO cards dance for her, and his mother trying not to flinch both at that and her declaration that she’d be coming to school here. The classrooms were new, and the plants were weird and the potions lab smelled like feet. It was good to put a scene to the things he heard about and… well, who’d pass up the chance to walk around looking at literal magic? He wondered what life would have been like if he’d gone here. Parts of it looked fun, but so was programming robots in design class, and getting to like… actually leave his house and stuff. It was cool to look at, but he wasn’t sure he’d have traded. The only thing that bugged him was how it might have fallen out differently for Xavier if he’d come here. Judging by how Robyn was doing, and the whole Seer revelation, sucking at magic was a Xavier problem, not a Lundstrom one. If Joel had come first and done okay, even just perfectly average, would things have been different? It would have meant that when Xavier showed up and was all wonky and full of misfiring magic and migraines, then the school and the authorities would have already had evidence that it wasn’t caused by his home environment… If Joel had just been magical too, maybe none of that would have happened.

There wasn’t much to do with that thought except feel sad and guilty about it. Some days he could shake it off as being silly. Today it was a little harder to.

As they came back into the foyer, he glanced around for someone to talk to, as that usually lightened his mood. There were a fair few people who looked to be around his age. He wondered if any were actually like him, or whether they were all graduated older siblings with just as much magic as the people they were here to see. The snack table had double chocolate chip cookies, which seemed a safer bet for a serotonin boost than someone who might not think he was worth speaking too. He went to collect one, and was just getting some juice to go with it when someone approached him.

13 Joel Lundstrom [Pre concert] (Magical?) Cookie! 0 Joel Lundstrom 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

November 18, 2022 11:47 PM

[Post concert] Looking for moral support by Leviosa Scurlock

Levi was feeling all sorts of nerves about the concert. Some of those had to do with performing, although she felt like she and Xarryn had given enough to their rehearsals, and she was expecting it all to go smoothly. In fact, she was super excited for it, and she had resolved to join Rosalynn’s performing arts club next year, even if it would be four years before that became concert-relevant again. Maybe there’d be some chances to do other small stuff.

Whilst she was on stage, she didn’t have time to feel much of anything except excitement and adrenaline at the possibility of meeting her untimely demise. Yes, the swords they were using were blunted, and all the moves were choreographed, but it still required absolute concentration to make it look good, and there was nothing wrong with adding a little drama in her own head. Plus she had to concentrate on not smiling, since this was a serious battle to the death, and that was not a skill that came naturally to her. The piece did, in fact, end with her dying horribly. However hard they’d rehearsed, Xarryn obviously had the upper hand, as he’d been raised on this stuff, and the disparity showed. She had suggested that they work it into the piece by having him disarm her, and the piece ending with her dramatic death, including squeezing a pack of fake blood so that it squirted spectacularly from her wounded soon-to-be-corpse.

It. was. great.

It was the most fun she’d had ever, and she thought she’d done an excellent job of holding her own and faking her death, and she was excited that she’d got to do something with Xarryn outside of the challenges, meaning they might actually be friends for real now.

That excitement lasted until she made her way off stage and started changing from her pirate costume back into her regular clothes. The signal that she was becoming Levi again, not her on stage persona, came with the crashing realisation that whilst her on stage death had been fake, her mother might now want to kill her for real.

Obviously, she’d known her mother was coming, and that theoretically she wouldn’t approve of sword fights, but that had been distant and hypothetical enough for her to say ‘yes’ to it, and to think it would be future Levi’s problem to handle that. Now she was future Levi, and she felt like her past self could have made better choices… She had checked with Piper that she didn’t think doing a staged swordfight was terribly disgraceful or awful or anything, and Piper had encouraged her to go for it. That had been before they added the pirate costumes and the fake death…

Still, there was nothing to do about it now except to make sure the fake blood was very thoroughly cleaned off her hands and face, and to go face the music.

Unless she went to meet her friends’ parents first? No, that was probably a bad idea. It was only delaying the inevitable and was probably rude, which would add another black mark next to her name. Plus her ‘twin’ friends would have four parents showing up between them, unless any were busy or sick, which sounded like an awkward situation to involve herself in. They had never asked her to actively lie, but she felt like the secret was on perilous ground which made her feel responsible, and worried that people would be mad at her, depending on what happened. Verdillia already knew because she was enough of a nerd to have looked up the Pierce family trees when Levi hadn’t been able to tell her the branch, but had just rolled her eyes and declared Levi impossible when she’d explained it was a game/secret. That presumably meant her own parents knew, so introducing them wasn’t going to reveal anything, but it was just one of those moments where it seemed more complicated than fun.

Just like her own interactions with her mother were about to be… Levi was excited to see her parents after so long, but she was sure mum would want to socialise with fancy people, and improve their standing and all that stuff, all of which Levi found embarrassing. And then the fact that Levi didn’t want to play along, and wanted to introduce her weird friends who played with clippy blocks and ignored perfectly good genealogy and that she probably hadn’t done her hair as well as expected would all mean mama would think she was the embarrassing one. Not to mention the melodramatic sword fight and faked death…

She had followed all of mothers’ hair care rules for the last two weeks, hoping it would hide the weeks she’d forgotten, and had asked Verdillia to give her a coronet braid with a small amount of her hair, leaving the rest loose. She was pretty sure that even if her hair was flawless, which it most definitely was not, she would still be in trouble.

She weaved through the crowd still hoping to see her own friends, either to introduce or to say ‘hi’ to their families or just to hang out before they went their separate ways for summer. And only a teensy bit to try to impress her mum and avoid a dressing down for her behaviour.

She didn’t feel like luck was on her side when she spotted Christopher Brockert, because he was one of Verdillia’s friends. But then Verdillia was soooo much more adept at making the right kind of friends than she was that he would be exactly the kind of person mama was pleased to see. Maybe pleased enough that she’d gloss over the whole sword fighting thing? Or at least not mention it until they got home?

“Hi Christopher-Mister-Brockert,” she said, correcting herself halfway through his name. “Uh, how’s it going?” It was lucky her mother couldn’t hear her right now because that was not how one addressed a Brockert. “Did you enjoy the concert?”

13 Leviosa Scurlock [Post concert] Looking for moral support 1545 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

November 19, 2022 12:07 PM

[Post Concert] Dashed hopes by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa hadn't been nervous about the concert. That would have been ridiculous, what would she have had to be nervous about? She had signed up to perform a violin solo, because this was a concert and musical performances are what happened at concerts. She also felt the need to do that after her team had won the second challenge and would thus need to perform their act. She had to show everyone what actual music sounded like, untainted by the noise of the banjo.

None of that made her nervous, because she wasn't nervous. The very mild sense of unease that flitted about her was caused, as best she could reason, by a strand of hope that she knew would be crushed. She hoped that Mother and Father would come to the event, she hoped they would witness the torment to which she had been subjected for the past year, she hoped they would take her home and perhaps raze the school behind them as they left.

However, Nausicaa knew that wouldn't happen. She had already received word that they would not be able to attend, but that Uncle Franklin would be there and whisk her home. To his home, his cramped and miserable little residence, for the summer. From the sounds of things,
Mother had nearly completely recovered from the accident, and if she was feeling well enough would come to visit over the summer.

It was illogical and irrational, and she mentally chided herself for the action, but now that the performances were over she looked around for her parents. No such luck. She did spot her Uncle, tall and tanned in a good (but certainly not exquisite) suit. His dark hair and mustache were both trimmed neatly, both just shy of falling into the 'bushy' category. He was chatting just a little bit too amicably with some of the other adults present.

Nausicaa quickly shifted out of his line of sight. A slight wave of expected disappointment washed over her. No parents, no razing the school to the ground. Should she just tell him she was ready to leave, or was there anything she wanted to do before she left?

2 Nausicaa Scapetello [Post Concert] Dashed hopes 1561 0 5

Wendy Holland

November 19, 2022 9:41 PM

[Post-Concert] That's my daughter! [tag Adam] by Wendy Holland

When Lyla had written to ask her to meet her friend's parents, Wendy hadn't thought much of it. Apparently the other girl was also based in Colorado, so a summer visit was what her daughter was aiming at. Wendy had no problem with that, but there were two things that made her pause.

The first were the words, Please don't embarrass me , which Wendy would normally laugh at, but coupled with the next thing, made her frown.

Gwendolyn Brockert.

Wendy knew she hadn't ever met this girl, and she probably hadn't even met the girl's parents when she was in school, but any pureblood worth their salt knew of the family. The Brockerts were one of the most prominent pureblood families this side of the Atlantic. And Lyla didn't want to be embarrassed by her dear old mom in front of her new friend? Like Wendy was an embarrassment.

Given that Wendy had been disowned by her parents for daring to fall in love with a man who was decidedly not a pureblood, it had taken a day or two for her to work her jaw out of its tight clench before agreeing to her daughter's request. Not all pureblood families were dirtbags that didn't care about their daughter's feelings, and she had no reason to think that the Brockerts were that way, either. She would just have to wait and see. She absolutely would be an embarrassment, though, just to prove she could.

Wendy declined to go on the school tour, instead getting Lena a cookie so the five-year-old wouldn't cause too much of a fuss for the performance. It was almost uncomfortable to be back here; it made her feel like a student again, and it wasn't in a pleasantly nostalgic way. Not for the first time that day, she wished that Russell had been able to get out of work for this. Since he couldn't, Wendy twisted her wedding band around her finger, letting the action distract her mind.

By the time the concert started, Lena was four cookies deep and singing quietly to herself. Wendy was just happy she wasn't trying to crawl up onto the stage. After Lyla's group had finished their...interesting performance, Wendy jumped up from her seat and cheered at the top of her lungs, startling the man seated next to her.

"That's my daughter!" she shouted, pointing to Lyla. Lyla's cheeks turned bright red, and Wendy whistled. She sat back down and waited through the rest of the performances.

As she gathered up the cookie crumbs that Lena had left all over her seat, she asked the man she'd startled, "So, which one's yours?"

64 Wendy Holland [Post-Concert] That's my daughter! [tag Adam] 0 Wendy Holland 0 5

Iris Cobb

November 20, 2022 2:23 PM

[Post Concert] Things begin to draw to a close once more [Amethyst] by Iris Cobb

Well, it was all over and there hadn't been any terrible incidents. For that, Iris was immensely relieved. She'd been afraid that her stupid brother was going to do something really stupid at the concert after the success of his transformation attempt. Thankfully he had not. She attributed this largely to the warnings that animagus status is one of those things that the government likes to keep track of. The Cobbs and everyone else back home up on the mountain generally had no great regard for the usefulness of any sort of government interference. Their particular local culture had lived apart from any sort of excessive government meddling for as long as anyone could remember, it was mostly an inherent, ingrained sort of thing.

As much as Iris was one to follow the rules, she was with her family on this one and followed theirs more so. What kind of reasonable rules could some far-off government folk give you when they had no idea of what your situation was or how you lived? Some of them, she had to accede to though, the Statue of Secrecy was one they would and could enforce. She could also see the rationality behind that one, so it was fine... if not really annoying and made life difficult for everyone. Such was life though.

Once the concert itself had wrapped up, she'd found her parents. This was their second time at the school, and they had opted to take the car instead of portkey this time. She couldn't blame them. The car ride had apparently been interesting as well, but much better than the portkey. Iris chatted with them a bit then went off in search of her friends to say farewell for the year before heading home. Pa had parked his truck in town to meet the car, so they'd still have a bit of a drive once they got back.

It wasn't long before she found her roommate. "Hi Amethyst!" she called out. "We are probably going to head home soon. You will keep me posted on all of your exciting summer adventures, right?" Amethyst was most likely going to be doing some traveling and maybe some parties over the summer. While she was going to.. well, she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to be doing. Other than trying to keep Billy out of trouble anyway.

2 Iris Cobb [Post Concert] Things begin to draw to a close once more [Amethyst] 1526 0 5

Bel Pierce

November 20, 2022 2:57 PM

[Pre-Concert] The anniversary of our engagement by Bel Pierce

Bel stood in front of their fireplace, floo powder in one hand, Reilly’s hand firmly held in the other. Deidre stood on Reilly’s other side, holding the six year old’s other hand. Four years ago, they had taken a portkey from a public transportation station as barely civil strangers. They’d come back engaged to be a family. Now, four years later, they all shared an apartment and had their very own floo to travel through.

On one hand, Bel didn’t think this concert could possibly be as life changing as the last one. On the other hand, she hadn’t imagined the last one would be either and look what happened. She was, as a consequence, just a little bit hesitant to throw the powder into their family hearth. She liked where her life was now.

“Happy anniversary of our engagement,” she offered.

Deidre snorted. She’d come a long way from being the timid woman who seemed simultaneously afraid of confrontation with Mab’s legal guardian and irritatingly determined to break apart Bel's little family. Part of that, of course, was just that they were no longer in the middle of a custody battle, and they'd grown a comfortable familiarity and trust between them, but Bel thought Deidre had grown more generally in self-confidence and spunk over the four years of their married life.

Marriage had been good for both of them. It wasn’t without miscommunications and arguments and discomfort and moments where one or the other did something that absolutely infuriated the other, but Bel wouldn’t trade any of it. She kind of liked the tumultuous nature of it.

Nothing was more endearing than Deidre's eye rolls and sighs of exasperation. Nothing fired her up more than a good argument and, with her Irish temper, Deidre was perfectly capable of arguing with the best of them, even if she lacked interest in physical fighting. Kissing it out was almost as good, Bel had discovered, to her own surprise. In past relationships, she'd tolerated kissing as a necessary part of dating, but when it was done with the passion of anger it was a whole lot better than when it was done as a disgustingly sugar sweet expression of fondness.

Bel had always figured she was asexual. She had assumed Deidre was heterosexual. She'd figured their bed would never be for anything but sleeping, but somewhat by accident and somewhat by trial and error, they'd found physical compatibilities that Bel had never thought she'd experience with another person. Even better, Deidre was happy and satisfied without any risk of further infants invading the house.

Bel loved her three children very much, but she liked that they had mostly all arrived in her household already potty-trained and verbal, thank you very much. (Reilly hadn't quite been either, having only been two at the time of their wedding, but Deidre had been the one who dealt with most of those issues. Bel definitely preferred teenagers to toddlers.)

"Not sure 'here put this on' counts," Deidre remarked dryly. "Anniversary isn't until tonight when we get home."

That was fair. That was when she'd proposed properly. But it would never have happened without the concert playing out like it had first. "We'll celebrate properly later, then," Bel promised. Deidre smiled back.

"Can we go now?" Reilly asked, rolling his eyes, entirely missing the innuendo and not yet grossed out by his moms flirting. Bel would never be this blatant in front of Mab and Alexander.

"Right. Poof!" Bel declared dramatically as she threw the powder into the flames, turning them green. "Let's go!" They stepped in to the fire together, as she didn't quite trust Reilly on his own yet and since Deidre was a muggle, she could use the floo but she couldn't operate it. "Sonora Academy of Magic!" Bel called out loudly and clearly and they were speeding and spinning across the country through the floo network.

The stepped out into the Gardens' welcoming center, and they took a few moments to reorient themselves. Both Deidre and Reilly had used the floo going back and forth from Amelia's house before, but that was a much shorter trip and less disorienting. Still, the practice had helped, and neither of them looked ill and they both stayed on their feet.

The went over to get name tags and she filled them out the same way she had last year:
Bel Pierce-Beales, Parent: Alexander Pierce-Beales, Mab Pierce-Beales
Deidre Pierce-Beales, Parent: Alexander Pierce-Beales, Mab Pierce-Beales
Reilly Pierce-Beales, Sibling: Alexander Pierce-Beales, Mab Pierce-Beales

They moved out among the other guests, Bel on edge now that there were pure-bloods about, but none of them were Wesley Pierce, so there was no need to be publicly affectionate with her wife and son just to make the homophobic bastard squirm.

"Snacks?" she asked, and the family agreed, so they made their way over there.

Bel tried not to actively scowl as Deidre smiled at another person and greeted them pleasantly, "Hello." As a fifty-three year old woman who barely reached five feet tall, Bel was not physically intimidating, but she could radiate menace without even trying. Taller, but softer looking, and only thirty-four years old, Deidre was the far more approachable looking of the two of them. Reilly was more interested in the cookies than the people.

OOC: I am making wild assumptions on muggles and the floo network because the internet could only tell me that Jacob Kowalski was able to take the floo but not whether he could do so alone.

1 Bel Pierce [Pre-Concert] The anniversary of our engagement 0 Bel Pierce 0 7

Andrew Duell

November 20, 2022 2:59 PM

[Pre Concert] Date night! [Marissa] by Andrew Duell

This was his second, and probably last concert to attend back at Sonora. Andrew wondered a bit if this was going to be his last time to see the inside of that school. It probably would be, unless they invited him back to teach a random alumni class again. That had been sort of fun, but he'd learned something about himself. He wasn't cut out to be a classroom teacher. On occasion it wasn't bad, but it wasn't something he would want to do on a regular basis.

The last time he'd gone, he had decided it had been his job to embarrass his daughter. This time, he decided to go the other route. Mainly because she wouldn't be expecting it. Also, she was a full, grown-up, adult... according to the magical rule-making people. That made something of a difference for some reason that he couldn't quite adequately explain. She wasn't just his little girl anymore, well she was and always would be, but yet she wasn't. His mind worked in these circles as he dressed up in his fanciest attire.

He complimented his beautiful and wonderful wife once she was ready and they took to the floo to arrive at the school. Upon arrival at the welcome station he breathed in the garden air and smiled. "it's always fun to come back, isn't it?" He gave his wife a wink, offered his arm and found the name tag stickers. Not being able to resist, he wrote 'Andrew Duell, father of Valentine' and dotted the 'i' in her name with a heart as she had used to do all the time.

Once in the main hall and presented with the option, Andrew turned to his wife, "What do you think, do you want to go on the tour or just mingle?" The same mischievous twinkle of the eye that Val inherited sparkled in her fathers'. Then in a conspiratorial whisper, "I'm mildly tempted to take the tour, just to break away from it and see if I can still get into the Teppenpaw common room." His face sobered a bit, "But I suppose the current Tepps might still be in there finishing their preparations for the show." He sighed a bit melodramatically, "It's so difficult being grown up and responsible now."

Dang it, that brought his mind back around to his previous musings, which prompted him to bring up the same topic they'd been discussion on and off since February. "I still can't believe our little girl is an adult now." He shook himself free of that sentiment when another thought took hold of him, "While we're here, do you think it might be good to check in with some of her profs? We know she's fighting tooth and nail in her classes here, maybe they've got some ideas of what we could do over the summer to help her?"

OOC: Marissa accompanying Andrew on this venture has been approved by her author

2 Andrew Duell [Pre Concert] Date night! [Marissa] 145 0 5

Camden Bavol

November 20, 2022 9:30 PM

[Post Concert] That’s my boy by Camden Bavol

Camden Bavol had arranged the Wind Harness’ travel itinerary to pull into port three days before the Midsummer concert. That gave him one day to see about doing most of his captainly duties in port before delegating everything else to his officers, then two days to get out to Arizona with Marian. That shouldn’t be difficult, they were already in San Diego, California. Even in a mode of transportation as slow as a car, that should only take about five to six hours, depending on number of stops and traffic.

The sticking point there was ‘number of stops’ and it had been, oh, approximately twelve years since Camden and Marian had gotten to spend any time together kid-free, and they were going to make a mini-vacation out of it.

One where Camden was not the tour guide. He wasn’t even in charge of transportation. Marian was the only one of them who had a driver’s license. He’d never had any need for one of those when as a wizard and a sea captain. Being a muggle bartender on the other hand, Marian did find having one to be useful.

Marian was … now vaguely aware that magic was a thing. She was not legally married to him, so he’d never been allowed to talk to her about it because the Statute of Secrecy was a pretty big deal, but with her son starting at Sonora, she’d finally been deemed close enough family to be let in on the secret.

She was still mostly convinced it was another one of Camden’s cruise tricks that Xarryn was gullible enough to believe, so even if they weren’t having some couple time together, he wouldn’t have wanted to try apperation or floo or a portkey with her because that would probably break her brain and that would make both Camden and Xarryn sad.

So they drove to Phoenix and took the vehicle that looked fine to Camden but seemed like it came close to doing exactly what he’d been trying to avoid by riding in a car all this time.

She recovered, though, and they made it to Xarryn’s school. Camden had attended Ilvermorny in his day, but with a home port in California, and most of their lives spent on the Pacific Ocean, he had decided Sonora was the better option for Xarryn. (Which was undoubtedly for the best, because he couldn’t imagine he’d survive riding a muggle car clear across the continent if they’d ever had to go to a parent event over there.)

Camden applied his nametag to his shirt (he was not in costume- or maybe he was because he looked like a muggle tourist rather than a pirate, which is how he usually dressed), identifying himself as Captain Camden Bavol; Father: Xarryn Bavol. Beside him, Marian affixed her own which declared she was Marian Brandey; Mother: Xarryn Bavol.

The took the tour, and he was reasonably sure Marian was starting to believe this wasn’t all stage tricks, and when the Deputy Headmistress explained about the three challenge events, Camden leaned over and whispered an explanation of what transfiguration was. “Xarryn isn’t doing that though. He’s in one of the other acts.”

Xarryn’s letters (there had only been three all year - he clearly hadn’t started to like writing any better while he was away) had mentioned his team had never done very well but the challenges had been fun, and had said he was going to be performing though the details of his act had been scarce.

As it turned out, he’d found another student to do a mock swordfight with, and Camden thought his form was quite good. He and Marion both clapped quite loudly as Xarryn and the other child took their bows.

After the show, Camden mingled among the other families, idly on the lookout for his son, but giving the kid time to hang out with his friends before if he wanted to do that before being separated from them for a whole summer.

“Good show,” he remarked to another adult. “My son was one of the sword fighters. Was your child in it?”

OOC: If anyone want to lay claim to being Xarryn’s sword fighting partner, it’s wide open. Go for it.

1 Camden Bavol [Post Concert] That’s my boy 0 Camden Bavol 0 5

Theo Spurn

November 21, 2022 2:50 AM

[Post concert] TWIRLY HUGS! [tag Anya] by Theo Spurn

Theo was super excited for the concert. Not the on stage stuff, which he was sure would be fine and which he would try to watch politely, but for the visitors! He listened to everything that happened on stage and he watched when people were actually doing stuff, but during several of the things that were just talking, he twisted around to scan the crowd.

Once they were released, he found his parents first because they were absolutely the most important people ever and that was the right order, but they understood his desire to be elsewhere and let him go after a quick hello and a look at his miniature trophy. He had decided that it was better than the big one because it fit right in his pocket. It wasn't even soft but it had rapidly become one of his absolute favourite things.

He wove his way through the hall, looking for his other visitor. She technically wasn't there to see him but he was pretty sure he could go say 'hello' because her brother would get her all summer and she was his best friend. He had a height advantage compared to a lot of people in the hall, but a height disadvantage, in that the person he was looking for small. But after a minute or two he spotted her.

"ANYAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, dragging it out for the length of time it took to dive across the (thankfully open) space towards her. "Twirly hug!" he declared, picking her up and spinning. They hadn't seen each other for so long, that there were a lot of twirls to catch up on. Theo had a high capacity for spinning, and he twirled Anya multiple times before returning her to the floor.

"We came third in the challenges! Did Philippe tell you? LOOK!" He pulled the little bronze trophy out of his pocket.

OOC: Theo would stop if Anya protested the number of twirls at any point

13 Theo Spurn [Post concert] TWIRLY HUGS! [tag Anya] 1476 0 5

Adam Brockert

November 21, 2022 8:56 AM

Send lawyers, guns and money, they'll get me out of this! by Adam Brockert

OOC: CW-Brief mention of substance abuse BIC:

Adam could not say that he was all that happy to be returning to Sonora after all this time. Some people might feel nostalgic about going back to their old school but those people were either ones who had been well-liked and popular or those who were seriously deluding themselves. Or maybe people like his cousin Marshall who were so out of it that they didn’t remember how badly it had sucked. Although, he didn’t think school had sucked that bad for Marshall, and his alma mater was no longer open anyway, but he meant those who tended to abuse substances to the same level that his cousin did but would have had bad memories of school, like Adam did, had they not obliterated them, probably on purpose.

Last year,the Crotalus alum had managed to avoid having to come here for the alumni career/hobby fair, and did what he did on a daily basis-have Cory do all the horrible people-related things that Adam did not want to do. In fact, it was not just that he simply didn’t want to, it was more like the idea filled him with horrific anxiety. That he would do or say something that would not only make people dislike him, as had been the case when he was a Sonora student, but that it would cost him business. Adam very much wanted to be judged on his wand making abilities and not his social skills. The former was by far superior to the latter. Granted, his abilities in just about anything else were superior to his social skills.

So Cory, who was generally less off-putting to people than he was-not that that was saying much, he was pretty off-putting-did things like sell the wands that Adam made and handed out brochures about wandmaking and wandology at school alumni fairs. There had been absolutely no way that Adam had been about to give talks to teenagers about his job. There was way too much potential for him to make a fool of himself.

However, Adam’s older daughter Gwendolyn was a student here-which, incidentally, was another reason why he absolutely hadn’t wanted to attend the fair, he could have embarrassed her and caused others to bully and exclude her, which was the absolute last thing he would ever want for his daughters-so he had to be…unselfish and put what was good for him aside to make his daughter happy. Although, arguably, much like last year, the best thing that Adam could ever do for anyone was to stay away from them so they weren’t associated with him.

But Gwendolyn was going to actually be performing in the Concert tonight. Apparently, she and her Challenge teammates had ‘won’ the dubious honor of performing tonight on instruments transfigured from random junk. Honestly, this was another reason why Adam was supremely glad that they had not had the Challenges when he was in school. The idea of being forced to perform on stage in front of every student in school and their families made him queasy. He was just glad Gwendolyn did not have this same issue.

And hopefully, Adam would not have to speak to anyone besides his own relatives. And hopefully, not that many of them either. Although Gwendolyn had said something about meeting her friend’s parents because they both lived in Colorado and wanted to meet up or something. Even though he really felt that him having to meet someone new was extremely unnecessary. Adam would give them the benefit of the doubt that they weren’t some sort of violent criminal if it meant that he didn’t have to talk to someone and potentially make a fool of himself.

On the plus side, he was glad that Gwendolyn had made a friend and that he didn’t immediately recognize the name of the friend and have to worry that the friend’s parents were people he knew and never wanted to see again. So, there was that at least.

Although Adam had spent some time chatting with his sister Kaylie and her husband Ian, they had gotten separated and he found himself sitting next to a woman that he thankfully didn’t know. In fact he’d made sure to avoid anyone he recognized that wasn’t a relative and purposely sat next to someone unfamiliar, with no plans whatsoever to speak to them.

A decision that Adam realized was a wise move, after the woman stood up after Gwendolyn’s performance and cheered, pointing out her own daughter. He felt nothing but pity for the poor girl. Did she not know that her daughter was likely mortified? That this was a place where her daughter would be surrounded by her fellow students for-judging by the presumed age of the girl she’d pointed out-for quite a while? Maybe the woman just had some issue with impulse control and couldn’t help herself.

Wait. The age of the girl she’d pointed out. The fact that Gwendolyn said that her friend was one of her Challenge teammates. Oh no . Oh dear Merlin help him, no .

Not that it meant he would forbid his daughter from being friends with this woman’s. Adam would never judge someone by their relatives, seeing as he would not want that himself. He definitely was not the same as some of them.

As the performance ended, Adam wondered if he should try to escape or if he was going to be forced to talk to this woman soon enough so he might as well stay there and face the music, no pun intended.

Before he could make his decision,or indeed, actually escape,the woman addressed him, asking him which child was his. Adam smiled nervously, and scanned the room for Gwendolyn. “That one.” He pointed, spotting her. “She was in the act with your daughter.”

He really really wished that this was a moment where he could have Cory stand in for him.

11 Adam Brockert Send lawyers, guns and money, they'll get me out of this! 78 0 5

Amethyst Brockert

November 22, 2022 9:49 AM

It's been a long one by Amethyst Brockert

So the year was over. The Challenges were over. They had been…interesting. Of course, Amethyst had wished that her team had done better. She and her team had ended up tied for sixth with Olaf’s. Which was the worst any of them had ended up doing. Still, she guessed that it was okay, it wasn’t as if she’d been in last place and anyway, most teams had been within points of each other.

Although maybe that made things worse, because if they had done just a little bit better they could have placed higher. However, Amethyst did not know what exactly they could have done differently. They had actually done very well in the first Challenge and then it was all downhill from there. Which, admittedly, had been kind of discouraging.

Maybe that was why Lavender had seemed so down by the time of the final Challenge. Amethyst supposed that the fact that they hadn’t done well in the previous one when the sixth year actually played an instrument might have made the older Crotalus feel sort of bad, like she really wasn’t very good at something that she had been doing for Merlin knew how long. Amethyst would feel pretty crappy if she’d had a skill that she had been developing for years and then was in a competition involving that thing and not placed all that well. Especially when a lot of people who had no skill in that thing at all did much better than her.

Still, there had been other components to the second Challenge and the rest of their team had not been all that musical, Lenny in particular. Although the Teppenpaw’s rhythm was better than his singing. As in, it did not sound like an animal being brutally tortured. Come to think of it, Topaz might actually enjoy his vocal talents.

The point was though that Lavender should not be so hard on herself if that was why she’d been so grumpy during the last Challenge. It was not her fault at all. In fact, if it weren’t for her oboe playing, they might have done even worse. The fourth year really hoped the older Crotalus did not think they blamed her for falling in the rankings.

Besides, Amethyst was not all that broken up about not playing bizarre junk instruments in front of everyone at the Concert. She really did not think anyone was-and Olaf was annoyed that he’d had to. Not that she’d had an issue with performing in itself, but it was much better to do something that she actually had talent in. Even though it was acting in a puppet show which was more Isla’s thing.

And now the Concert was over too. The Performing Arts Club’s act had been excellent and soon, they would all be leaving school for the summer. Amethyst was glad to have a break from classes and studying after what had been a busy year. Especially since next year would be another big one, with prefect announcements and CATS. Not that the Crotalus was really all that worried about the latter. She actually was pretty smart and pretty good at magic. Besides, as Amethyst had zero intention of ever having a career, there wasn’t really any pressure on her to get a particular score.

Prefect, however, well, of course she hoped that she got it. If she managed to get it, she would be the only one of her siblings besides Emerald to do so. For some reason, the staff did not think they were worthy of the honor. Which was kind of irritating, though of course Topaz really hadn’t deserved it.

However, Amethyst was up against Iris, who would be an excellent option. On the other hand, if Alexei didn’t get it, she might actually demand a recount.

Anyway, after spending some time talking to various relatives, she heard Iris call out to her.”Hey!” She replied. “Of course I will.” She was well aware that her summer might be more interesting than her friend’s “I’ll miss you. But I am really really glad for the break.” Okay, Amethyst’s summer was likely not going to all be relaxing. After all, she would be attending a lot of balls and parties, but at least some of the time she would be hanging out on the beach. “It’s been sort of a long year and next year probably will be too.”

11 Amethyst Brockert It's been a long one 1532 0 5

Catherinre Scurlock

November 22, 2022 7:25 PM

I wish that wasn't my girl by Catherinre Scurlock

Catherine Scurlock had done her best to raise her daughters right. Right, in her eyes, meant so thoroughly magical that no one could fail to be impressed by them. That had started with their names. No one hearing either of their names could mistake their magical heritage. She had also done her best to immerse them in magical culture, with frequent trips to concerts, and the kinds of magical stately homes they could aspire to living in if they married right. She had also made sure they were well tutored in magical history, and had the kinds of suitable, ladylike skills that would make them attractive prospects, such as painting, dancing, and playing musical instruments.

The concert had illustrated to her that maybe more than fifty percent of her efforts had been in vain. Verdillia's contribution was neither terrible nor of own volition, so she could be forgiven. Her piano playing wasn't even bad, and they could blame any irregularities on the junk approximation she was working with. She had, thankfully, not attempted to do a solo performance or playing the violin. Over the years, Catherine had had to fire several violin teachers for failing to recognise or bring out Verdillia's talents. Whilst she maintained that it was their fault entirely, she supposed it might have put her daughter rather behind where she should be, and that she might not yet be ready for an audience of this scale.

Leviosa was an entirety different matter. She had always tended towards the childish, and towards silliness of one sort or another - be it grubbing about for bugs in the garden or playing at being an explorer in the non-magical world. Catherine had hoped that sending her to school full of sophisticated people would force Leviosa to grow up in order to fit in. It seemed to be having the opposite effect. She had gravitated towards people who either shared her propensity for silliness or were influencable enough to be dragged down to her level.

A sword fight. Really?

Perhaps if it had been a controlled demonstration of the art of fencing, she could have passed it off as appropriate. The pirate costumes would have made that challenging, if not downright impossible. The melodramatic death scene and copious fake blood had really pushed it over the edge.

Could it qualify as theatre? Had any of the blood effects been enhanced by magic?

Catherine was mentally running through the ways she could spin the event to make Leviosa come out more favourably. Though judging by the first person she ran into, that wasn't going to be necessary. He seemed proud of his son, the presumable instigator of the incident.

"Yes, that was my daughter he was fighting," she said. She was not as enthusiastic as him, but she also didn't display her disapproval in her tone. It didn't do to make negative impressions, even when one suspected there wouldn't be much common ground or a desire for future friendship. "It was certainly dramatic," she added, her smile becoming a little fixed-looking.

13 Catherinre Scurlock I wish that wasn't my girl 0 Catherinre Scurlock 0 5

Gabriel Wilson

November 23, 2022 5:02 AM

[Post-concert] So hard to say goodbye (Phil) by Gabriel Wilson

This was it, this was his last night here. Gabriel was graduating from Sonora and going off to college. And he did not feel like he really wanted to leave. Oh, leaving for the summer would have been one thing, but for good ? That was another thing entirely.

It wasn’t as if he thought everything about college itself would be bad. After all, Gabriel would be learning all sorts of new things and that was very exciting. Still, though, the social side of things was different. He wouldn’t have his family or the Gaming Club or Phil at college. He had made friends at Sonora and that wasn’t something that Gabriel really found all that easy. He knew he was weird and had a tendency to spout off trivia spiels at the slightest prompt, whether people really wanted him to or not.

Although he honestly didn’t know why people wouldn’t. After all, who didn’t want to know that trypophobia is the fear of closely-packed holes. Or more specifically, "an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps." Or that the diameter of Australia was larger than that of the moon. Or that the unicorn was the national animal of Scotland. Gabriel actually wondered if the team who had done the tea room where unicorns featured prominently had known that. Although probably not since none of them were Scottish or trivia fanatics.

Speaking of the final Challenge, he had been a little disappointed in their placement. It wasn’t that he was mad at his teammates or blamed them, it was more that Gabriel thought their placement was unfair. Like, that the judges were wrong for marking them in last place. Their museum was amazing, and Phil’s water table idea was fantastic. They had presented many facts and ideas for their exhibits. Even Olaf seemed pleased with the results of their project and Gabriel didn’t get the impression that the younger Aladren was pleased with much.

However, apparently, the judges had not been that impressed since they had tied for last with Lavender’s team. Gabriel still did not understand why exactly but at least his sister’s team had one event that they hadn’t scored the lowest, so he was happy for Piper anyway. Even though the slide that she came up with was super awesome and also deserved to score better than it had. Granted, maybe he was a little biased towards both teams as it was his own team and he liked museums and his sister’s team and her cool slide idea.

Yet, somehow, Gabriel’s team had lost with their cool water table and otherwise awesome museum…but won-well, taken third-with their junk instruments and terrible musical skills. Even though it was-thankfully- over now, he was still tremendously baffled by this. He supposed they must have just come up with more interesting and creative uses for the junk. Plus, well, Gabriel was pretty good at Transfig so that probably helped them. Although he used the word helped loosely.

Anyway, it was over now, and they’d gotten through it. The seventh year had other things on his mind. Soon he’d be gone and he had some goodbyes to say. After the performances ended, Gabriel looked around for Phil. Spotting the younger Aladen, he made a beeline for him. “Hey.” He greeted his friend. “So, it’s…well, um…” He really did not want to say goodbye and leave forever and not see Phil or Morgan or anyone else anymore. “I’ll definitely keep in touch. I want to hear all about Gaming Club and all the adventures you guys go on.” Merlin, was he ever going to miss Gaming Club! Gabriel really did not want to leave.

11 Gabriel Wilson [Post-concert] So hard to say goodbye (Phil) 1481 0 5

Allegra Brockert

November 23, 2022 7:53 AM

[Post-concert] I just can't stay away. by Allegra Brockert

Although she had only graduated a few years ago, this was already Allegra’s second time returning to Sonora. Last year, she had joined some of her female relatives at the alumni career and hobby Fair, at their needlework booth, where she demonstrated how to make small baby blanket quilts and now she was back to watch Esme, Isla, and Olaf at the concert. As it had turned out, her younger siblings had been very successful at one of the Challenge events that involved transfiguring random junk into musical instruments and playing them. Since none of her siblings played musical instruments-and it sounded like most of their teammates didn’t either- Allegra figured it was more the former that they had succeeded in. Also, Isla was doing a puppet act with the Performing Arts club.

She was just glad that her siblings had had a better experience with the Challenges than she had. As in, they weren’t completely traumatized by it, Olaf’s feelings about having to perform in the Concert aside. She didn’t really blame him, as she never wanted to either, granted, for very different reasons. The idea of getting up in front of people and performing in any manner sort of made Allegra feel sick to her stomach. Never mind the judgment of others that would be inevitable,which would have been bad enough, Topaz likely would have found some way to sabotage her and make sure she was humiliated. Not that she would have needed her cousin’s help for that.

At least Allegra did not need to worry about her cousin being here tonight. Ever since they graduated,she had seen much less of the Aladren alumna. Which she thanked Merlin for every day. She wished she could say that she hadn’t seen Topaz since then, but they were still cousins and they were at least somewhat stuck with each other.

Of course, Allegra owed some of the improvements in her life to her fiance Josh. Not only did he make her feel loved and wanted and special, he also protected her from her cousin. Josh was just the right combination of strong and gentle. He was kind and caring with her but tough enough to stop Topaz from bothering her. Although, sometimes, Allegra did worry that Topaz would do something to him .Which terrified her. She would never ever forgive herself if something happened to Josh because he fell in love with her.

And then there was the fact that they would be getting married in just a few weeks. Topaz, for reasons completely understandable to everyone, was still single. Which meant that Allegra would beat her cousin to the altar. She had never been allowed to beat her cousin in anything, and while she was eager to be married to Josh, she still couldn’t help but be terrified of repercussions. Topaz was like a fairy tale villain, both horrendously evil and exceedingly petty. As had been the case when Emerald and Ruby married their husbands, there would be strict instructions to keep Topaz away from everyone’s food, not just Miles’s. Granted, that was probably common sense anyway

The Concert ended and Allegra laced her fingers through Josh’s. Technically, since they weren’t married yet, she didn’t think he was supposed to be here, but they were close enough. “Let’s go get something to eat.” She said.

They made their way to the buffet table and got in line. "I'm so proud of Isla." She told her fiance. "I mean, she won and they were winning all the way through. And her puppet act was amazing as well." It was true. Even though Allegra's own Challenge experience had been horrid-even though the boys on her team had actually been very nice people-she in no way wanted that to take away from Isla. Or her other two siblings either, but Isla had won and she deserved her triumph, her moment.

Because Allegra was pretty sure the Aladren was in for a rough summer. Being one of her bridesmaids would be fine-the Crotalus alumna was naturally more bothered by the fact that she'd been obligated to ask Topaz, just as Emerald and Ruby had even though it was the last thing she wanted-but then there would be all the other balls and events, and while there was quite the difference in their Challenge experiences, she worried that their social experiences would be quite similar, albeit for different reasons.. While Allegra was shy, and seriously traumatized, Isla was just a bit odd. And she loved that about her sister but others might not.

But Josh did. He seemed to get on great with everyone in her family, except the obvious people. He even got on with Olaf . Josh nodded. '"She was amazing. So were the others." Amethyst had been in the puppet show too "I mean, Esme and Olaf-and Isla too-sure did their best for people who don't know how to play instruments."

Allegra chuckled. "I am sure Isla will focus her energies towards her puppets." Which was what the fifth year had always done.. Something that Allegra really always had understood because she knew despite how Isla generally seemed okay with herself, she knew others didn't get her and bonded with her puppets.. "And Olaf will just keep reading and Esme will be a perfect socialite." Everyone would just keep on being themselves.

Everyone would..

And that was what she was most worried about.

11 Allegra Brockert [Post-concert] I just can't stay away. 1426 0 7

Marissa Duell

November 23, 2022 10:19 AM

Back where it all began. by Marissa Duell

Valentine was an adult now, and her mother had, for the first time, been glad that Valentine had been sequestered at school on her birthday. This had spared Marissa the task of trying to be uniformly upbeat and not at all weepy on her daughter’s birthday. It had been quite enough to not end up in a…complete spiral of Acting Like Stereotypical Parents with her husband on the day itself, anyway. A bit of such a spiral had probably been inevitable, but not a complete one. If Val had been around, it was not outside the realm of possibility that she could have at least briefly convinced her forty-two-year-old parents she had a point about younger siblings being a good idea, and while Marissa imagined they’d have come to their senses before such siblings actually existed…well, better not to risk it.

“It is,” Marissa agreed, though unable to keep a straight face as she did so, when Andrew bemoaned the downsides of being a grown-up and expected to be responsible. “Still – it might be nice to walk around the old place one more time…even if it’s just to see if we think we’d get lost now on our own.”

She added the half-joke as a barrier to getting too sentimental, though she was half-curious about that issue, too. It felt like she should have been able to walk around the school on her own without getting lost, just on the strength of how long she had spent living here, but…she was past forty, and had been a few years short of twenty when she’d stopped living in this building. In the years between, she’d gone through the ups and downs of any long relationship – gotten married – had and raised a child – lived for a while in another country – buried her mother – gone through all the drama of rediscovering the existence of her sister-in-law, who she had to remind herself sometimes wasn’t actually another daughter, and dealing with the fallout from Giselle’s past….Was she even anything like the same person she’d been when she had been Valentine’s age? In her head, it felt like she had been, for the most part, but she was also fairly certain that seventeen-year-old Marissa Stephenson would have had a nervous breakdown even before she got to Greece. Growing up was an odd thing, and she wasn’t sure it was possible to pinpoint the moment she’d done it. Maybe when Andrew’s parents had died? When she’d had deal with the pure terror of the responsibility that came along with being sent home with this helpless little creature which relied on her for everything when Val was born? Some point in between…?

None of which, of course, logically had anything to do with the part of her memory that would presumably contain floor plans, but then, magic wasn’t always logical. Neither were people. She suspected this fact had something to do with why some of the Aladrens were a tad neurotic.

“I know,” she sighed, hugging Andrew’s arm to her when he remarked on Val’s alleged legal status; she wasn’t even sure she’d bother denying it was partially to comfort herself as well as him if confronted about that. “Shouldn’t she still be about…I don’t know…five?”

Marissa nodded when Andrew had his revelation about a possible practical function of their visit. “That’s a really good idea,” she said, nodding. “Goodness knows anything that could take some of the strain off her next year would be a good idea, poor baby. I don't know how she finds the time to do so much now." Marissa didn't even think to add that she was fairly confident Val would have even more to do next year; she had enough sense to not mention it to Valentine, because she didn't want her to think she was in any capacity letting Marissa down if it didn't happen, but she thought it extremely probable that Val would end up Head Girl on top of everything else she had to do.

16 Marissa Duell Back where it all began. 147 0 5

Monica Spellman

November 23, 2022 2:49 PM

What's one of those? by Monica Spellman

Age-gap lesbians. In spite of herself, it was the first thought to flash through Monica’s head once she’d read the name tags that ascribed both these people parental roles over two children named Alexander and Mab. Age-gap same sex couple she mentally amended. Given that she was bi, and that she had a strong suspicion that her older son was, she ought to not make assumptions about labels. It was amazing how hard it was not to do that though—not to leap to the automatic conclusions that the world had taught her about how families looked, and what labels went with that, regardless of the fact that she didn’t exactly fit the mould either.

In some ways, she thought she might blend in better than she had at her first concert. At that point, she had looked suspiciously young to have any child eleven or older. Four years provided a bit of a buffer, in that if people didn’t know the ages of her children, she wasn't such an outlier for the lower years. The younger of the two women looked to be about her age, maybe. It was hard to tell. She always defaulted to assuming people were her age-ish only to find they were in their mid-twenties or were well-kept for their forties. Monica herself was hard to place. Given that life hadn't always been kind, she felt she had more lines on her face than most thirty-five year olds, but in times of stress, her skin still tended to break out like she was a teenager. Not that she was stressed at the moment, no more than usual, and she'd even had time to do her hair and make up before coming. She wasn't sure what direction that pulled her appearance in. Her cover would be blow when two great, galumphing fifteen year olds came running at her (okay, one great galumphing fifteen year old, and one quiet and well-mannered but still decidedly taller than her - and they were still fifteen until the day after tomorrow and she absolutely refused to round up). But, until that happened or someone asked, she could pass for a relatively reasonable parent and adult type person. Given the age of the younger child, and the fact she hadn't heard of Mab or Alexander, she was going to guess these women's children were beginners. Although she thought ther was something familiar about the older woman... And Monica wasn't sure the woman actually liked her, even though she hadn't done anything so far.

"Hello," she smiled back at the younger woman, Deidre. "I'm Monica," she added, indicating her name tag, which read 'Monica Spellman, Mom Oz + Henry.' "Which way did you get here?" she asked, mostly to make conversation though she realised it would give her a bit of a read on them too.

13 Monica Spellman What's one of those? 0 Monica Spellman 0 5

Flo Carbondale

November 23, 2022 5:49 PM

[Pre-Concert] Touring by Flo Carbondale

Flo Carbondale like to think she was adventurous and willing to try anything once. So when the muggle liaison officer explained the ways she could to Sonora for her son’s concert, she’d opted to try the item called a ‘portkey’. She arrived at the transportation center where Phil boarded the flying wagon twice a year (Steve took care of pick-ups; she had drop-offs) and touched the snowglobe that was supposed to whisk her three states south.

She felt a sensation not unlike freefall, or like when one of those amusement park rides launches straight up a hundred feet in one second, or when a roller coaster comes to an abrupt stop, or like when a car rearends into yours and you’re jolted unexpectedly into your seatbelt and airbag, except it was all four of those at the same time.

Flo stumbled forward a step and saw she was was now outside in a hedge garden. She laughed in delighted surprise and then her rational brain and stomach conspired together to say ‘nope!’ and she threw up.

One of the staff rushed over, used a wand to clean up the mess, and asked if she was ok. Promising she’s just gotten a little portykey sick, she accepted some nausea medicine and water to wash away the taste of the bile and the medication. Well, she’d give magic points for instantaneous travel and easy sanitation. The medicine was surprisingly fast acting, too. She was still glad she had a few hours before she needed to make a return trip, though.

Thanking the staff member for their help, she headed over to the nametag table and made one for herself.

Flo Carbondale
Phil Carson’s Mom

She slapped it onto her khaki polo shirt that she was wearing with blue jeans. Looking around, she wondered if she should have dressed up a little more. She hadn’t been sure what the dress code was for this and wasn’t sure anybody else had either; there seemed to be enough of a range that a dominant style didn’t really exist, other than maybe ‘robes’ (even those seemed to come in a mix of formal and less formal) but she didn’t have anything like that unless you counted the sleepwear kind. Well, there wasn’t anything to be done about her attire at this point anyway. It was the low end of business casual, but she didn’t think she was the most underdressed parent here.

Nametag complete, she made her way inside the school. She joined one of the tour groups and found herself walking beside another person through the hallways, getting to be tourist for once instead of the guide (not that she regularly lead tour groups; she mostly just patrolled and made sure the guests weren’t doing anything dangerous to themselves or the park, but occasionally she had to lead a lost group back to the parking lot). “It’s nice to see where the kids spend most of their year, isn’t it?”

1 Flo Carbondale [Pre-Concert] Touring 0 Flo Carbondale 0 5

Sullivan Quincy

November 23, 2022 7:05 PM

[Post Concert] Brother to Banjo Girl by Sullivan Quincy

At thirty seven, Sullivan Quincy was more likely to be grouped among the parents (albeit, the younger ones, at least) in attendance than the siblings. Consequently, he made sure to write BROTHER on his nametag even larger than he had written Sully above it or of Rosalynn after it. He wouldn’t swear to it, but he’d guess, at 64, his step-father Simon Tellerman was probably the oldest person who had “Dad” written on his nametag. Mom was not significantly younger (Sully knew better than to ask or even do the math to get a number), but he’d wager she was up there on the ‘Mom’s, too.

He took the tour, because that seemed to the thing to do, and it was cool, because he got to point out things to Mom that she’d never gotten to see that had been important to him for seven years of his life. He also got to hear some of Simon’s stories, too, and by the end of the tour, he’d collected a small army of prairie elves who were excitedly talking to him and catching him up on everything he’d missed in the last thirty years since he quit working as the groundskeeper here. Apparently, the current guy did not hand out impromptu promotions and special missions and they wondered if Simon would come back.

Simon let them down gently that no, he was a successful performer in Vegas, and he would not be returning, but maybe he could talk to the current groundskeeper about reinstating the First Order of Janitors and the special missions. They seemed satisfied by that and slowly dispersed to return to their duties.

It was the most weirdly heartwarming and yet vaguely discomfiting thing Sully had ever seen. He was strongly reminded of Gru with his minions.

As they took seats together for the concert, Sully leaned over to whisper, “Were you a supervillain before you married my mom?”

Simon’s bright grin and the cheery, “Yup!” might have been meant as a joke, but Sully was not convinced.

Rosalynn was in three acts. Her team had tied for first in the second challenge and were punished by needing to perform the act at the concert. He wasn’t sure how they’d only tied for first, though, given their competitors. Ros and Violin Girl carried the act very well and it was easily the best sounding of the three junk bands.

Simon stood up and whooped and twirled a cowboy hat he hadn’t been wearing until that moment as the act finished. “Nice banjo, Ros!” he called out and Sully tried to hunch down and pretend he’d never met Simon before in his entire life.

The puppet act was cute and actually funny, and Ros and Lenny did a good juggling act together. Some of the other acts that didn’t include his baby sister were pretty good, too, including Violin Girl’s solo, but Sully was of the totally biased opinion Rosalynn’s were the best.

“Gonna see if there’s anyone here I know,” Sully told his mom when the show was over. “Have Simon use his minions to summon me when you’re ready to go.”

With that he took his leave of his parents and wandered among the crowd looking to see if there was anyone here he recognized after almost twenty years. He didn’t think he’d changed much. His hair was still blond, still cut in the same short style he’d always worn, and his glasses were the most prominent feature on his face. He’d even worn a green robe to help people out by seeing him in the same color he’d almost always worn at school.

OOC: He says he’s looking for someone he recognizes but that is not a requirement for whoever ends up approaching him first.

1 Sullivan Quincy [Post Concert] Brother to Banjo Girl 207 0 7

Iris Cobb

November 24, 2022 5:33 AM

You're not wrong by Iris Cobb

Iris nodded in agreement, "Next year will be busy as well." A thought occurred to her and she had to smile. "However, it will be the second time that I won't have classes with my brother. So that will be fantastic." She could put up with RATS and whatever else the next year would bring if she didn't have to put up with Billy in her classes. Someone else would have to make sure he stayed out of trouble. He wasn't going to be her problem.

But that was next year. First they had summer to deal with. Iris was really quite jealous of Amethyst's situation and everything that went with it. Her roommate had fancy clothes, and would get to do exciting things. She was going to have to spend her break up on the mountain, pretending to not be a witch while trying to reconnect with her cousins and do whatever work that Ma and Pa and the others had lined up for her. That line of thought reminded her of something.

"Oh," Iris added a tad reluctantly, "If you send me some owls... it's best not to do it to often. Last I heard some folk back home were getting a bit suspicious about them." Although perhaps.... she wondered if Ulrich had some sort of solution. "I'll let you know though if anything changes over the summer."

2 Iris Cobb You're not wrong 1526 0 5

Esme Brockert

November 24, 2022 6:42 AM

[Post-concert]The End by Esme Brockert

The Concert was over now and so was Esme’s time at Sonora. She couldn’t help feeling a little...disappointed. While she had done great academically and she had even made a few friends...she hadn’t gotten prefect, she hadn’t gotten Head Student and she hadn’t led her team to victory in the Challenges. They hadn’t even made it to the top three. The best that Esme could say was that she led them out of the last place pit they’d been in after the first Challenge and succeeded in the dubious honor of having her team perform in the Concert on transfigured junk instruments.

So yeah, Esme was just so proud. Okay, maybe she should be a little since they actually sounded as decent as possible with the materials they were given and the fact that she, the Team Leader, and therefore, oldest most advanced student on the team, was a Brockert and therefore, probably one of the two best students in the whole school at Transfiguration.

Which also explained why Olaf’s team had done well in that event and now had to perform, as Gabriel was captaining it. She was sure that her brother was cursing the fact.

Anyway, the seventh year couldn’t help but feel like she’d failed . Although, she absolutely could not stand to think that. Esme Christabel Brockert was not a failure! Still, she had not succeeded in basically any accolade that would win her respect. Not getting things like prefect and Head Student, had made her feel like she didn’t have the respect of staff and students. True, the latter was nothing but a popularity contest, but still, even though Esme had not done as well as she wanted in the Challenges, she’d done better than Morgan and Gabriel, which meant she was probably a better leader than they were.

Of course, going by that way of thinking, Sadie and Mab should have gotten Head Student, although Mab wasn’t on the ballot and neither was Theo, so should it have been Sadie and Alexander? Which, she guessed, meant her roommate deserved prefect over her. Not that she’d ever thought Sadie was a bad choice, it just…felt bad that she’d been chosen over Esme. Like, it was a sign that someone thought someone else was better than you. And that…hurt.

Then again, it had always seemed like people either resented pureblood girls or thought they were inferior. And she didn’t mean like how Uncle Eustace thought women were inferior. The seventh year meant that people thought they were silly and spoiled and useless and snotty and mean. This was most likely why people like her didn’t get badges. Some people were anti-them. After all, literally only Emerald and Allegra had gotten it among them.

Although, obviously, there were good reasons why Topaz didn’t get prefect. Well, sort of. Topaz with that power was obviously a terrible idea but the thing was…she hid that to avoid detection, but her roommate had been abrasive and pretty much openly anti-certain types of people, that included Esme. So, logically speaking, from the point of view of people who didn’t know what Topaz was, it would have made more sense to give it to her cousin.

Also, in Isla’s case, Rosalynn was genuinely probably more worthy given the two clubs she ran. Esme had been really impressed with the fifth year’s performance in the Challenges. She just hoped that Rosalynn had gotten prefect for the right reasons.

Anyway, Head Student was a popularity contest,not a measure of who was truly best for the job anyway. And the people who had voted in that election had not…really been Esme’s constituents. She, like Angelique-although her time at Sonora had been better than Angelique’s-was going to be far more successful outside of school.

She had to tell herself that. She had to make herself feel better. And it was probably the truth anyway.

The Crotalus looked around, a lot of her family was here, but she had some goodbyes to say, because despite feeling bad about being beaten out for being prefect, she really did like Sadie. And she wanted to say goodbye to both her roommate and Val before she left Sonora for good.

11 Esme Brockert [Post-concert]The End 1479 0 5

Valentine Duell

November 24, 2022 7:31 AM

[Post Concert] This is terrible [Wally] by Valentine Duell

This was not what Valentine wanted. It was all wrong, she had been agonizing over it since Gary's wedding, and still hadn't come up with a solution she liked. She had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to Wally about things, but none had conveniently presented itself. Now they were here in the last hours of school and she just had to do something. She would feel terrible if this continued over the summer, but she was going to feel terrible now as well.

Valentine liked Wally, he was great and nice, but... she just... she just didn't know. She just always got the feeling that he wasn't quite sure of the relationship they had going. Like he wasn't entirely comfortable with her and Bonabelle and him. They needed to talk about it, like really, really talk about it. The post concert event was hardly the best time to have such a talk, but it was the last chance they would have to talk until next year and that just wasn't good enough. If he didn't think this would work out (and she wasn't sure herself), she needed to make sure that he knew that they didn't have to continue as they were.

She really, really, really, really didn't want to break up with Wally. Or anyone really, Stanley's note still pierced her whenever she thought about it. But at the same time, she didn't want to keep on perpetuating a relationship that wasn't going to be everything they wanted. So to that end, she reluctantly but determinedly hunted the hall for Wally. She found him and her insides rebelled against her plans, but she pushed forward.

"Hey Wally," Val opened nervously, "Do you have a few minutes?" She looked around trying to find some quieter out-of-the way part of the hall. Spotting something close, she took his hand and led him over to it. Now that she was here semi-alone with him, her stomach churned again, "I'm sorry... I don't really know..." she stopped and rethought her approach again. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about this conversation a million times before, but none of them were any good. She took a breath and tried again, attempting to give Wally a smile in the progress.

"This is our last chance to talk for a little while, and I've just got to know... tell me honestly now Wally, what do you think of our arrangement? You, me and Bonabelle? Is it what you want?" Something of a guilty expression crossed her face, "I'm... I'm not..." she wasn't sure if she could say it, but she had to. She asked Wally to be honest she had to be as well. "I care for Bonabelle a lot, and I like you a lot as well. But... If I'm being honest, I want the boy I like to care for Bonabelle just as much as I do." She sighed, "I just wanted to talk and see what your thoughts and feelings were by now."

2 Valentine Duell [Post Concert] This is terrible [Wally] 1490 0 5

Cory Brockert

November 24, 2022 8:44 AM

[Post-concert]Forgiveness rather than permission (Karl) by Cory Brockert

Cory was not supposed to be at the Concert, which was for parents,guardians, siblings and siblings-in-law of current students. He had been informed of the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be here several times by his brother, his sister-in-law, and Adam given that he fit in none of those categories.

He was here anyway. Even though his niece, Liesl, was not even performing in the Concert, Cory still wanted to be here. He knew full well that he was the person that she wanted to see more than anyone, just like at the Fair last year. Although, he’d also been there to give out brochures about wand making and wand lore and performing and teaching guitar, but mostly for his niece.

And tonight, Cory was only there for her. Her parents, brother and sister were there as well, but he knew…well, he was sure they did care about her but Liesl didn’t always feel like they did. Or that they liked Desmond and Krisalyn better or that they didn’t get her. The last of those things was absolutely true.

Although it was not as if Cory was super into spooky stuff either, but he loved and accepted Liesl for who she was. He tried to do that with most people. Some made it hard though. Sometimes his brothers did. Toby had never done anything but torment him relentlessly. Judah and Alfie, had always treated him like an annoying little pest, and he kind of felt that the latter and his wife, Jacqueline, who were Liesl’s parents, did that to her, Jacqueline-whom Cory had to admit that he did not especially like , which was pretty bad since he tended to see the best in everyone, the only other person that he’d admitted to himself that he didn’t really like was his cousin Eustace -was especially bad this way

Which Cory felt was awful and a way that nobody should ever treat their kid . His older brothers doing that to him was one thing, siblings were like that to each other sometimes-though it still had really sucked for him-but parents? Parents should love and accept their children no matter what. He always made sure that his own children felt wanted and loved. Alfie and Jacqueline did not do that, at least not with their oldest child. It didn’t seem this was the case with the other two, but that was probably because they fit whatever mold that their parents-their mother, in particular-wanted.

And Cory knew how bad it really hurt Liesl. That she felt like they didn’t want her, that she was some weird prototype that they’d screwed up badly. Which, arguably, they absolutely were screwing up and making mistakes with her, but they were the problems not her.

Which was why he had to come tonight, regardless of the rules that said he wasn’t supposed to. Besides, the odds were that the third year would be coming home with him anyway, before going on to visit her friend Hans at his snake ranch. Liesl wanted to be at his house and he wanted her there and her parents seemed to want her there too. So everyone won. Except that his niece felt rejected by her parents.

Honestly, it made Cory kind of angry-and he typically didn’t get angry much. Except when he saw someone mistreated, especially someone he cared about. Not that he would end up confronting Alfie and Jacqueline, he really never had confronted anyone, but he would just…offer emotional support to Liesl.

Anyway, tonight, Cory also hoped to meet the father of Liesl’s friend, Hans. Who was his uncle actually. The third year seemed to think it was pretty cool that the two of them both had super close relationships with their uncles. From what Cory understood though, Hans’s uncle was the only father he’d known while Liesl only wished Cory was her dad.

He scanned the room for someone who fit the description his niece had given him and spotting a person who did, made his way over, reading the man's name tag in order to double check“Hi. I’m Cory Brockert, Liesl’s uncle.” He introduced himself. Which was exactly what his own name tag said. Despite that he was not supposed to be here and probably should have lied on his like Allegra's fiance Josh had, he had no idea who else he would pretend to be. It wasn't as if Cory could say he was Liesl's dad when Alfie was actually there.

11 Cory Brockert [Post-concert]Forgiveness rather than permission (Karl) 0 Cory Brockert 0 5

Phil Carson

November 24, 2022 9:44 AM

Should we say 'see ya later' instead? by Phil Carson

Phil was pretty excited about the concert. He hadn't planned to be in the concert, but then his team did well enough in the second challenge that they won a spot in it. He was pretty sure most of his team didn't agree, but Phil thought it was great. Now all three of his parents (including Tanya) had decided to come out to see it, which meant Dad and Tanya could meet Gabriel (Mom already had when Gabriel had served as his responsible adult for the Harper wedding) and all of his immediate families could see where he lived most of the year. He wasn't sure all three adults would have taken off work to come if he wasn't actually in the concert.

Of course, the downside was that Loki had come, too.

Consequently, when the concert was over, Phil went looking for Gabriel before his family. The effort was apparently mutual because the seventh year headed straight for him, too.

"Yes! I'll owl you a lot and keep you up on the Gaming Club adventures!" Phil promised when Gabriel reminded him that his friend was old enough now that he wouldn't be returning in the fall. That was saddening, and Phil was definitely going to miss him, especially since they'd been on the Challenge team together this year and gotten to spend even more time than normal together.

"Oh!" he said suddenly, as if he'd just thought of it, "I want you to meet my other family. You met my mom, and she should be around somewhere, too, but Dad, Tanya, and my little sister should be here, too. They live over in Helena, and they're the ones who always brought me to the museum with the water table!" He'd explained when they made arrangements for the wedding that his parents were divorced and had split custody, and they'd agreed to meet at Mom's because there weren't any people around her log cabin in the woods who might notice somebody appearing or disappearing from or into thin air. Dad, Tanya, and Loki lived in a city apartment and there were a lot more muggle witnesses around.

1 Phil Carson Should we say 'see ya later' instead? 1536 0 5

Gabriel Wilson

November 25, 2022 6:28 AM

Absolutely by Gabriel Wilson

Gabriel managed to smile, though it was tinged with a touch of sadness, when Phil confirmed that he would write to him telling him all about Gaming Club activities. “Great. I will tell you all about college and all sorts of new random facts.” The older Aladren promised.

Honestly, this was terrible. What if he never got to do gaming again because nobody at Dofmore played it? He could attempt to get one going himself, but Gabriel wanted to play not be the GM. And, admittedly, he was worried about the fate of the Gaming Club at Sonora too. Val, Bertie, and Phillipe would all be graduating next year, Morgan was graduating along with him. Gabriel was going to have to say goodbye to his year and housemate later too.“Do you think that Gaming Club will continue once Val leaves?”

This worried him terribly, even though the seventh year would no longer be here. Gaming Club had been so important to him. It had given him so many good times and fond memories. It was where he had made his closest non-related friends. Gabriel had looked up to Gary and,really, Heinrich too, and then had, seemingly, filled a similar role for Phil, who was now like a younger brother to him. So, the club was extremely special and important and needed to keep going. Sonora without Gaming Club just would be wrong .

And hopefully, Phil would pick out a protegee too.The legacy needed to keep going.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was going to be…alone. And it bothered him. A lot. Much more than he would have thought, to be honest. Which reminded him of an especially appropriate and poignant random fact. He looked at his friend and asked “Did you know in Switzerland that it’s illegal to only own one guinea pig because they’re social animals and get lonely?” Hopefully, Phil would understand what he was trying to convey with that bit of interesting trivia. While Gabriel went into trivia spiels all the time for no reason at all, he especially sought comfort in them when he had to deal with unpleasant sorts of emotions. There was no more Gabriel-ish way to say goodbye or express his feelings than that.

He nodded “Sure! I would love to meet the rest of your family. And I still say our water table should have done better. Does it make any sense to you that one of the best ideas that our team came up with got last and our worst skill got third place? Was everyone else just that good at the last event and that bad at the previous one?” The seventh year was still excessively baffled by this, and while Gabriel hated being confused, it was still preferable to dealing with sadness and anxiety.

11 Gabriel Wilson Absolutely 1481 0 5

Sophia Priory

November 25, 2022 8:03 AM

[Pre-concert] Reuniting with an old friend (Hilda) by Sophia Priory

In all honesty, Sophia probably would have skipped the concert. After all, Lydia wasn’t even performing, although Gwendolyn was. Still, she had come more because Hilda would be there than to support her sister. After all, there was nothing to support, really. It wasn’t as if she and her sister had a close bond to begin with and Sophia really could not give the Teppenpaw the level of support she apparently needed.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t care about her sister at all. It was just that it was hard sometimes to deal with that level of neediness.Plus, well, she sort of resented it just a bit that her parents had babied her sister so much. Like, they had created this whiney fragile being, and while Sophia was glad not to be that way, she still sort of felt like her parents had favored her sister over her. And while that was not really Lydia’s fault, she couldn’t help but resent her just a little, and find her neediness overwhelming and just more than a little than she could actually handle all that much.

Not that Sophia had an issue with shy anxious types in general. She actually had empathy for her dad-even though he was part of the problem with Lydia, Dad had a lot of his own anxiety problems- and Uncle Adam and others as well as for people who had other issues like Bridget and her parents. Sophia wasn’t just generally a cold unfeeling person like her cousin Arianna, it was just her parents expecting her to coddle and fuss over her sister the way they, and to an extent, Connor, did.

And, of course her parents had put pressure on her to attend-and of course Sophia had responded with the absolutely valid point that her sister was not even performing. The fourth year did not need her there. In fact, had Lydia’s group done well enough in that particular Challenge in order to have to perform, which would have been the only way the Teppenpaw would have ended up actually being in the Concert-something that Sophia actually did feel was perfectly fine and did not judge Lydia for at all-the Aladren alumna’s presence would absolutely not have helped anything much. And she certainly was not about to sit and fuss over Lydia because the Challenges had stressed her out. After all, they were over and the Teppenpaw did not have to perform in the Concert and Sophia’s team had been last when they’d done them.

Anyway, normally, she would have refused on principle to come at all.However, her friend Hilda’s brother Hans was performing tonight in the same junk instrument Challenge act that Gwendolyn was and Hilda was coming to see that. So, Sophia had come to hang out with her friend and maybe just a bit to see her cousin. It was pretty cool that the second year’s team had won and dominated throughout. Aside from Uncle Evan, whose team had also gotten first during the first time the Challenges had been held.

Once they arrived at school and Sophia got her name tag and everything, she scanned the room. Spotting her friend, she walked over. “Guten abend!” She greeted the former Pecari.

11 Sophia Priory [Pre-concert] Reuniting with an old friend (Hilda) 1447 0 5

Wally O'Malley

November 25, 2022 10:48 AM

That's... not promising. by Wally O'Malley

Wally went with Valentine willingly, as he went with her everywhere. She didn’t seem like herself, which gave him a bad feeling about where the conversation was going to go (a concern which was soon proven right), but despite the heavy feeling in his stomach, he made no indication that he didn’t want to go. For two reasons, he went: 1) because it seemed important to her and he wanted to make sure she was okay, and 2), Wally remained completely and utterly enamored with her. Despite the.. general weirdness to their relationship, he maintained his deep devotion to her. He loved her.

He resisted a flinch as she referred to their “arrangement” - it felt like a clinical way to refer to something so emotionally driven as a relationship, but it wasn’t like this was anything simple. Dating Val was complicated, because she was also dating Bonabelle.

And that was what she was asking about, although Wally wasn’t positive if he fully understood the question. “Are you asking me if I have feelings for Bonabelle too?” he clarified cautiously. “Val, I… I don’t think I can do that. I like spending time with her, and I don’t mind if you date her too, but…. I don’t think I’m wired like that. I can only like one person.” He paused briefly, hoping what he had said was good enough. “Is… that okay?”

12 Wally O'Malley That's... not promising. 1492 0 5

Constance Melcher

November 25, 2022 11:01 AM

[Post concert] Nevermind by Constance Melcher

Connie was happy to be reunited with her family, but she had excused herself briefly to go locate someone else. She would have all summer at home, but this was the last day of the school year, and it was Theo’s final year at Sonora. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him, or how to reorganize her thoughts to strip away the facade of intellectual fancy behind which she disguised herself, but there were some… trickier messages she needed to convey prior to his ultimate exit. Feelings, as it were.

She spied him across the way before he seemed to see her. She smiled authentically and pulled out her hair tie. Mother had already chided her for having it up, but she kept it despite the nagging. She dropped it now in the hopes it would perform in the opposite direction. Perhaps it would… slow down her mind to let some other part of her shine. And also, maybe it would make her look prettier. A little more feminine.

But Theo saw someone else - an alumna Connie recognized as a friend of his - and from the display, the Aladren thought that perhaps she was… mistaken. Theo was an affectionate person in general, but Constance allowed this visible display with a girl to shake her resolve and justify her brewing cowardice. So she did not approach any further. She turned on her heels and returned back to her parents, returning her hair to its ponytail and accepting her mother’s disapproval. It was normal. It was known. It was better that way.

12 Constance Melcher [Post concert] Nevermind 1523 0 5

Valentine Duell

November 25, 2022 1:59 PM

I know, I'm sorry by Valentine Duell

She couldn't do this... she couldn't. Wally was being perfectly Wally and she was once again not sure at all what she wanted. Wally liked spending time with Bonabelle, and didn't mind them dating as well. Did he mean that? Was he being honest, or just telling her what she wanted to hear? She'd always gotten the feeling that Wally would throw whatever he wanted aside to make someone else happy. Was he doing that now? He didn't say that he wanted to date Bonabelle as well, so it wasn't everything that she had said she wanted... but maybe there were some lines that he couldn't cross? This was silly though, it wasn't like she was testing him or anything. Was she? Now she wasn't even sure about that. She didn't want to be. She just wanted to know what he wanted and to see if they were on the same page.

This was why she had wanted to talk to him about this before now, before it was moments before they had to part for the summer. It could have been a much more casual, all-encompassing conversation instead of some rushed exchange. Naturally at that moment a random thought crossed her mind. She recalled some notes Gary had scribbled into the side of his GM manual, he had been doing some sort of research on the magical manipulation of time at one point. It had just been a few random notes, it didn't look like he had gotten anywhere. It was a shame, that could be nice. Even if she could just freeze time for a bit so she and Wally could chat for as long as they needed.

Valentine looked in Wally's eyes earnestly, "I''m sorry Wally. I just... I'm not sure. I've been busy and we haven't really gotten a good chance to just talk and check in with each other all term." She hesitated a moment before dropping her gaze and continuing quietly, "I'm not a great girlfriend. I spend a little more time with Bonabelle... but that was mostly 'study dates' where it was pretty much only studying." Relationships had seriously taken a backseat to everything else this year, and that had made for a not-much-fun year.

She shook herself free of that line of thinking and took his hands, "It is okay Wally. I don't want you to change yourself based on what you think someone else wants. I want you to be you. I'm still figuring out my future, and I don't entirely know what I want. I do know that I don't want you to ever think that I wasn't open and honest and misled you. And I don't want to think that of you. At this point all I know is that I'm going to do my darndest to be a wandmaker after school, and Bonabelle will be there with me. I want a shop somewhere eventually, matching up people with their new wands. I want a husband and kids and Bonabelle with me." There was a slight blush in her cheeks as she added a bit more quietly, "Perhaps a bunch of kids..."

Finally pausing to catch her breath again, she finished off her rushed speech. "Ideally, we'd all just be one big family. So I guess what I'm asking, is can you see yourself in that role?" There was definite hope in her eyes as she asked the question. She was well aware that Bonabelle was not a big people-person and knew her ideal was most likely a fantasy. Still she could not allow herself to lead Wally on. "Where do you see yourself? What plans do you have for the future? Are our dreams compatible?"

2 Valentine Duell I know, I'm sorry 1490 0 5

Wally O'Malley

November 25, 2022 7:29 PM

I'll try to make it better. by Wally O'Malley

He had to admit one thing, she was right about having not seen each other much this year. That was more on him than her, though. The year had just… gotten away from him somehow. He didn’t know where the time had gone, or how they were now seventeen years old and preparing for their final summer break. Valentine was busy because she had a lot of friends and two partners and also needed time for clubs and homework - and he was proud of her for how hard she worked to maintain it all, so it broke his heart to hear her blaming herself for it all now. He was almost certain he had told her before how proud he was, but obviously he had not done so enough. He was going to now, but she kept going, so he resolved to remind her later.

It struck him all at once as she talked about the future, how not far off all those things were to them now. Careers and marriages and children were all so close. Hers were so real and concrete, but Wally didn’t really know what he wanted to do. A lot of people in his life had always known what they wanted, just like that. Mom’s love of Potions was in her since childhood. He thought he remembered knowing it took Dad a bit longer to decide, so maybe he was just more like Dad.

“Valentine,” he said gently, giving a small squeeze to the hands she had placed in his, “I wish I had a plan, but I don’t really know yet. I’m still trying to figure out a lot of that grown up stuff. But I know that I’ve never known a “you” without Bonabelle. She’s, like, part of you, kind of. So I guess when I try to look ahead and I see us, I still see her there too. And I think the three of us and a bunch of kids sounds… pretty nice.” He wore a slightly crooked grin, and a rosy tint filled his cheeks. He was a respectable and polite boy, but a boy he still was, and part of his brain couldn’t wholly separate a particular implication of the child-having process.

It was an unorthodox way to raise children, maybe. But wasn’t the saying that it “takes a village”? The Crotalus was from a fairly “conventional” home, but there were still atypical factors. Mom grew up with no mother and received some extent of parenting from all over: Grandpa Jamison, Serapes, Theo’s parents (first separately and then together), Great Aunt Cecily… The list went on. And Wally considered himself raised by Serapes as well, to an extent, as he had lived with them for many years now since his decline in health. So Wally was at least somewhat familiar with an unusual set of adults, and in his experience, the only thing that mattered was the adults provided unconditional love and support. And that was what he was prepared to do, whether a hypothetical child was his and Valentine’s, or Bonabelle’s and someone else’s, or any other imaginable combination.

12 Wally O'Malley I'll try to make it better. 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

November 26, 2022 6:25 AM

Don't forget about yourself in the process by Valentine Duell

Valentine had crushed herself against Wally before she realized it. Her arms wrapped around him and her head was pressed tightly against his chest. She could hear the warm, comforting sound of his heartbeat and it was heaven. That all sounded 'pretty nice' to her as well. "You are wonderful Wally O'Malley," She murmured in his general direction. It hadn't just been the words, she had seen it in his eyes and in that cute slightly crooked grin of his. He did want this as well, or at the very least was honestly okay with it.

There would naturally be details and things to work out, but they had time. The daytime was easy enough to imagine, everyone doing things for mealtimes and working and such. It was the nights that concerned Val a little more, she didn't want to have to pick where to go each night, or set up something as ridiculously impersonal as a schedule. She'd much rather be snuggled in between her two favorite people for the night. But she knew it wasn't fair for everyone else to make sacrifices so that she got her way. She could make sacrifices as well. They would work it all out.

Valentine slowly loosened her grip on her boyfriend and pulled back a little bit. Her eyes now danced with relief and a playfulness that hadn't been there at the start of the conversation. "Well now that you know what you are in for, you will need to figure out what you want to do with your life. I need to know what I should do to help and support you as well." She placed a finger over his lips, just in case he tried to come up with something on the spot for her. "You've got the summer to work things out, no pressure." She gave him a wink. "I'm not sure how close I'll be in communication this summer, I'm going to be traveling with Lavender a bit." Bringing up Lavender's name sunk Val's spirits just a tiny bit. Val knew that Lavender just didn't quite understand her situation and that made her sad. How would that relationship work out in the future? Would she not want to do things with the three of them (not that she was all that interested in doing things with Bonabelle at the moment) as they got older?

Hopefully these concerns were not as dire as she was making them out to be, and she wasn't about to worry Wally with them if they could maybe get sorted out. So she did her best to stay positive, because this was a good moment. Val gave him another smile, "Now you behave this summer and I'll write when I am able to." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Now I've got to go find Bonabelle yet to say good-bye." Her arms tightened around him and she gave him a quick kiss on the lips this time. "I'll see you next year."

2 Valentine Duell Don't forget about yourself in the process 1490 0 5

Amethyst Brockert

November 26, 2022 6:38 AM

Good. I like being right by Amethyst Brockert

Amethyst laughed. “Well, that’s always good.” Honestly, she was extremely happy that Jasper was nothing like Billy. Okay, Billy was not really a mean and horrible Uncle Eustace type Pecari, but he was still loud and annoying and she would rather have Jasper a million times over. Her brother was kind and quiet and really cared deeply about them all.

And to be fair, Billy had nothing on Topaz. While Amethyst was obviously glad to have Jasper as a brother instead, she would have probably traded Topaz for even someone like him. After all, her sister was an evil sadistic psychopathic monster, she didn’t think someone could ask for a worse sibling than that.

“I’ll never be in a class with any of my siblings again.” Amethyst said. “In fact, after next year, I won't even have any of them in school with me.” She had never actually been in school with Emerald or Ruby and thankfully, she had only put up with Topaz at school for a year. However, when Sapphire graduated, the fourth year had actually felt sad. She had been happy for her sister, who was eager to leave academics and a social structure where she was ignored, but Amethyst still missed her. And she would miss Jasper too when he graduated. It was

“Although I do have cousins, though only Christopher will be in class with us.” She added. “Oh, and Liesl.” Liesl was the daughter of her father’s first cousin, so by Brockert standards, she was a fairly close relation.

What Iris said next reminded her of the…differences between their lives. And that also made Amethyst feel a bit sad and guilty. While she was off to a fun and glamorous summer of parties and beaches and travel, her roommate would have to go back home where she and her brother were the only ones with magic.

That had to suck quite a lot. Amethyst could not imagine how hard that would be to be the only magical people in what seemed to be a tight knit community. And the only other person like you was your annoying brother!

It was something that made Iris different . And people who were the different ones were never really accepted regardless of the difference was being the only magical person, the only non-athlete, the only one of your gender-poor Jasper-or the only pureblood. The Crotalus felt lucky that it had never actually been her. Although there were differences obviously between herself and her roommate, which was never more apparent than when they left for the summer, Iris was still her best friend. So even though the other Crotalus wasn’t a pureblood-and Amethyst actually wasn’t the only pureblood, because there was Alexei too, and she was even friends with him-they still had always had each other.

And she was sorry that her friend ever had to be that person,even for the summer. But maybe, just maybe. “Hey, maybe you could come visit me?” Amethyst suggested. Okay, so Iris wasn’t a pureblood so maybe she would fit in there either, but at least she’d be with other magical people besides Billy, whom she really did not seem to ever be around.

If Amethyst had been feeling really generous, she would have maybe suggested Billy could come too, but she wasn’t that generous. And the Pecari definitely would have a hard time fitting in with fancy pureblood types. Iris could probably though and maybe she could talk to Alessa about that Cobbson thing she’d mentioned. Alessa might have heard of them.

11 Amethyst Brockert Good. I like being right 1532 0 5

Christopher Brockert

November 26, 2022 10:15 AM

I think I can manage that by Christopher Brockert

OOC: CW-A little talking about trauma BIC:

Christopher had done it. He had survived the Challenges. They were over and done with and he never ever had to do them again. Truthfully though, they had not been that bad. He had decidedly been fairly lucky with both his teammates and the events they’d had to do. Chris was even pretty sure that he could consider Cole his friend now and the rest of them hadn’t been bad either. He even liked the two Pecaris well enough. They hadn’t been mean and horrible and belittled him as unmanly for his lack of ability in flying or the even greater lack of desire to do so.

And the events had even been…not as terrible as what they sounded like last time around. Like, Christopher had not been super into the first two events, but the first one, even though it had involved obstacles, had not been that bad. A crucial difference was the fact that they had been alone and looking for each other. When his older cousins had done the Challenges, their obstacle course had been together. Therefore, if there was some task that could be done athletically, but could instead easily be subverted with magic,that Chris physically could not do, he didn’t have to show that in front of others, including Pecaris and Quidditch players and humiliate himself and end up being bullied.

Even though none of his teammates had not been like that, the third year still had this paranoia about that ingrained in him. Something that had been programmed into him since childhood was hard to overcome even though he knew it was unfair to just assume things about people. After all, Christopher didn’t want people to think he was snobby and awful because he was a pureblood.

Still, some things were just different. Like Sortings were based on a personality type. People who grew up with their family going to a particular school had…stereotypes of them. Growing up, Christopher had only known one Pecari, and that was Uncle Eustace. Who had abused and bullied him and his male cousins over Quidditch and flying and what “real men” were supposed to be. So, because of the trauma that the third year had over this, he…worried about others, especially athletic alpha male types, bullying him for the same reasons. And while Alexei and Billy were perfectly nice, Christopher had been initially worried. Well, maybe not too much with Alexei because Amethyst liked him and she didn’t like Pecaris much. However, now he liked his teammates fine, he didn’t know if he’d remain close but at least they hadn’t been awful.

Anyway, regarding the events, he would also have to say that transfiguring and playing junk instruments in front of everyone was not his favorite thing either. Well, okay, coming up with ways to make the junk into instruments and doing transfiguration on them was sort of fun. Chris actually liked building, designing, creating and problem solving and he was a Brockert, so while only a third year,he was still pretty good at transfiguration. It was just the playing and performing that had been completely awful. He might not have even minded the playing bit in itself, if he had known how to play an instrument, but Christopher would rather eat something that Topaz had made than get up in front of a crowd.

Granted, playing an instrument even when he did not know how was better than, say, giving a speech full of his own opinions in front of people who might make fun of him, judge him or be confrontational towards him. The idea of someone getting in his face made him feel sick all over. The more invisible Christopher made himself, the more likely that he wouldn’t have to deal with one.

Although,it could just…happen. Not just with Uncle Eustace either, who obviously, the third year went out of his way to avoid, but others too. Jasper had been doing absolutely nothing at all but chatting with Xavier-making up to a degree from the awkwardness between them during the Challenges, from what Christopher understood-and Oz just came over and got in his face. For no reason whatsoever, he just assumed that Jasper was doing something wrong. Chris had made a mental note to avoid Oz almost as much as he did Uncle Eustace.

Anyway, they had ended up in a three way tie for fourth place in Challenge Two, although Olaf’s team had only beat them by one point. Christopher was glad that they’d narrowly avoided it. They had also tied for fourth in the last Challenge and then got fourth overall. He did not think that was so bad at all.

And the final Challenge had even been pretty fun. So, overall, better than an obstacle course with teammates present and being humiliated by admitting that you did not want to fly or didn’t have the muscles to climb a wall or a desert survival Challenge which was would have also involved admitting he was not physically very capable or even party planning when he was extremely awkward and shy and did not even like parties.

Now it was all over and while maybe it hadn’t been that bad, he was still relieved. And the Concert was over too and he was going to get to go home. Although, a part of Christopher really did not want to. School was a nice place with no Uncle Eustace and no Topaz, so he felt considerably safer here. He’d take school work over his uncle and cousin any day.

Still,he had to go and find his family, most of whom he did like and wanted to be around. On his way to find them, however, he heard someone call out his name. Chris looked around, spotting the source. Leviosa Scurlock. Verdillia’s sister. Cole’s friend. Teppenpaw. Probably safe. “Hi. Christopher’s fine. All the Mr. Brockert stuff gets super confusing because there are so many of us, plus, I’m like only a year older than you.” He reassured her. “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Concert was nice. You did really well.”

11 Christopher Brockert I think I can manage that 1539 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

November 26, 2022 12:01 PM

Yay! by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hansel’s team had done very well in the challenges, having easily claimed first place after winning every individual challenge. It was a far cry from Hilda’s experience, but she’d been young and barely able to communicate with the rest of her team. She hadn’t expected to do well and hadn’t. They hadn’t been last or anything but there had been no challenge trophy for her. She wondered if they would do better now if they could do a rematch, with her being older, stronger, and better able to communicate in English.

‘Better’, of course, was a relative measure. She and English still hated each other with a mutual passion.

Anyway, having tied for first, Hansel’s team had qualified to perform in the concert, during which he would be playing a self made version of a Hümmelchen.

Hilda would not miss this for anything. He might have a pretty trophy, but she never needed to play bagpipes in public with no training.

Of the three of them, Heinrich had done the best, having been on a first place team as well but, unlike Hansel, Heinrich was smart enough not to tell people he knew enough about bagpipes to try to make and play them in front of an audience.

Knowing she’d be attending the concert, she’d written to her friends who still had younger siblings at the school, too, to arrange a mini- reunion. Having arrived at Sonora, apparating in on her own from her college, she got her nametag (Hilda Hexenmeister: Schwester von Hansel), and found Sophia almost immediately.

“Guten Abend!” she returned to her friend, smiling widely at being greeted in her native language. “Ich bin wirklich aufgeregt!” she exclaimed. “I see you! Und Hansel wird urkomisch sein!” She grinned in anticipatory glee. “This be terrible und funny!”

OOC: Ich bin wirklich aufgeregt! - I am really excited.

Und Hansel wird urkomisch sein - and Hansel is going to be hilarious

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Yay! 1433 0 5