The Middle. It's the Middle of My Story. The Middle. on Cascade Hall

Mortimer Brockert

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Returning Feast by Mortimer Brockert

Midterm was every bit as dull as usual for Mortimer. He would never quite understand why he was required to attend parties. They were painfully boring and served no real purpose. Allegedly, they were meant to be celebrations. However, he was not quite sure what exactly was being celebrated, most of the time. Occasionally, it was something like a wedding or a birthday or at this time of the year, the Winter Solstice. Why, precisely, this last thing was important in this day and age was beyond him, although he supposed it being dark longer was a positive thing. Sunlight was overrated. However, Mortimer did not understand why this was something that required him to spend time with a bunch of people making small talk, which was a far worse torture than any medieval device that had been designed for such a purpose could hope to inflict.

The other thing about this particular time of year was that there was disturbing…wholesomeness about it all. Mortimer had never trusted wholesome things. Like there was something fake, a dark undercurrent about it-and the more wholesome something seemed, the darker said undercurrent was. If something seemed ideal the more likely it was to be a cover for severe dysfunction. If someone seemed too good to be true, then they probably were because nobody was really that…perfect. It had to be an act. Like the families on those sickening holiday wireless specials where the problems were minor at best, everyone got along and the parents had all the answers.Nobody was like that, and if someone seemed to be, they were pretending. Period. And probably covering up something awful. Like a “concerned” parent who was really overbearing and controlling.

Mortimer preferred for darkness and dysfunction to be upfront. It was far less insidious that way. He supposed, in this respect, he could even give Eustace credit for the lack of subtlety in his obnoxious behavior. While completely vile in every way, at least it was honest.

Anyway, between the inane small talk of parties and his son’s honest but still completely deplorable ways, Mortimer was glad to be back at Sonora, where he could at least ignore most of the most irritating aspects of the people around him. The students entered the Cascade Hall and he stood up, placing a Sonorus charm on himself. “Welcome back.” He stated. “I hope you have all had a nice break.” Still didn’t care. He sat back down and began to eat.

Subthreads:

Aladren

Looking forward to the Bonfire (tag roommates) by Rosalynn Tellerman with Lorena Abernathy, Isla Brockert

Preperations are needed by Nausicaa Scapetello with Quincy Wright

The Middle. It's the Middle of My Story. The Middle. by Phil Carson with Bonabelle Row

Teppenpaw

Oh no... by Valentine Duell with Philippe Delachene

Happy Holidays, Liesl by Hansel Hexenmeister with Liesl Brockert

Frog boy no more by Leo Lyons with Charlotte O'Malley

Crotalus

All is well. by Iris Cobb with Verdillia Scurlock

Twins, separated at school by Alexander Pierce with Ida Stanford

This is allowed, right? (Tag Lyla) by Robyn Lundstrom with Lyla Holland

So....the end is nigh, I guess (Graham) by Lavender Brockert

Pecari

Back Again! by Xarryn Bavol with Fortune Ardovini

Are you ready for this? [Ray] by Billy Cobb with Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ew, gross by Oz Spellman with Stanley O'Malley

Time for a food coma by Donovan Peters with Misty Brockert

Staff

11 Mortimer Brockert Returning Feast 6 1 5

System

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Aladren by System

0 System Aladren 0 System 0 5

System

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Teppenpaw by System

0 System Teppenpaw 0 System 0 5

System

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Crotalus by System

0 System Crotalus 0 System 0 5

System

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Pecari by System

0 System Pecari 0 System 0 5

System

February 24, 2023 4:09 PM

Staff by System

0 System Staff 0 System 0 5

Iris Cobb

February 24, 2023 9:19 PM

All is well. by Iris Cobb

Iris returned to the school in the highest spirits she could ever remember being in. All was well. She, with more help than she would have liked to have needed, had succeeded at her task! It was over with and she could just relax for a bit... mostly. She still did have those pesky CATS coming up at the end of the year that the teachers had been talking about non-stop. But, even the thought of those tests didn't bother her to much at this point, she wasn't sure how much they even mattered to her now. She wasn't about to assume they were completely irrelevant yet, just in case. There were some more things she would need to figure out about the future now, and how they all factored it was going to take some thinking and planning.

On top of that, Hansel had sent her a beautiful little Christmas present! He must like her! She had felt terrible about not thinking about doing likewise and had scrambled about trying to find something suitable to send in return. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that she could find that seemed appropriate and that he would like just lying around the mountain in the dead of winter. So she did her best to follow suit along the lines of what he had sent her. Iris gathered up what she could of materials around the mountain; twigs, plants, leaves, pebbles and such to twist and shape into a boy shaped ornament complete with snake companion. She thought it actually turned out pretty well.

So, for the moment, Iris was happy enough to be back at school and to have left the situation back home on the mountain in an okay place. She strolled through the crowds on her way to the hall for the returning feast with her head held high and a look of confidence that hadn't been there before. With a minor adjustment to her robes and prefect badge, Iris entered the hall and made her way towards the Crotalus table. All the way she kept her eye out for Hansel and spotted him heading towards the Teppenpaw table... and Liesl. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she thought about how unfair that was. Liesl just had that much more access to him. Well... maybe things might be a little different now.

Once at the Crotalus table, she took a seat and did her best to be politely sociable until the ceremony got underway. As always, the headmaster was brief with his speech and then the food appeared. Iris then began to fill her plate with chicken, potatoes and some vegetables. As she started to eat, she also started pondering her options past graduation, and how much some of these tests might actually matter.

2 Iris Cobb All is well. 1526 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 24, 2023 9:32 PM

Oh no... by Valentine Duell

It had finally happened. The thing that had happened to so many other people that had come before her, now it was her turn. Valentine had stepped off of the wagon for her last trip back to Sonora. She had wandered down to the Cascade hall for her last feast. She sat at the Teppenpaw table looking around at everything and everyone. She was going to miss this place. There would be some more classes, some more tests (that she was rather concerned about), and then she would be packing up and leaving this place forever. Well... until she had her own kids and they came here and she could return for concerts and such. That would be a long time though before that happened. This was probably one of those things she could talk to Mama and Papa about, they would be able to understand.

There would be so many of her friends that she just wouldn't see much of anymore. A few she hoped to see more of... perhaps a lot more of. A blush crossed her face at the thought and she immediately banished it. None of that now. There were still so many plans and details to work out. Would Aunt Giselle get by here at the school without her? Of course she would, she would be fine. Maybe it would be good for her.

The Headmaster's speech was as short as ever, and the food appeared in front of her. Val looked over it with a bit of uncertainty. Then she turned to her neighbor, "This is my last feast here." She stated with only a hint of melancholy and yet a smile, "What do you think I should eat for the occasion?"

2 Valentine Duell Oh no... 1490 0 5

Alexander Pierce

February 25, 2023 12:39 AM

Twins, separated at school by Alexander Pierce

Going home for midterm had been both familiar and strange. On the one hand it, was good to see Mother and Father again, and Grandfather and Grandmother, and obviously sharing a room with Nicholas again had been as easy as breathing, and in fact breathing had almost felt easier with them both where they should be again. But it had also been strange. Strange to fall back into old patterns and habits that had been months out of use. Strange to know life had carried on at the mountain without them. Strange that Mother was shorter than she'd been when they left. Strange how accustomed he'd gotten to the white noise Professor Skies had enchanted his room with, so now home felt too quiet.

Their family had fallen back into their usual routines though without too much trouble, and followed the same holiday traditions they'd always had. That part of their year hadn't been upended by going to school.

Alexander had written home about his House placement - and Nicholas' - shortly after it happened (once he'd started being able to sleep again, and felt confident he wouldn't sound delirious to anyone reading it) so everyone had had months to get used to the idea that he was a Crotalus, and nobody really mentioned it too much. After Alexander had beaten him in a game of wizards chess, Father had even made the comment that strategy was a Crotalus trait and Alexander had utilized a good one against him, so he felt almost like his parents maybe even approved of him going there.

So returning to school was still difficult - Alexander still didn't like that he and Nicholas no longer shared a room, that his brother got to spend more time with Quillan and Desmond than him - but he was ready to face the challenges of the next half year with confidence and independence. (Independence was an Aladren trait, and Alexander thought it was a bit ironic that he was becoming a bit more Aladren by not being an Aladren, as it was forcing him to learn to live without Nicholas or anyone else always at his side.)

The Headmaster's words were short and to the point, and then the food appeared and Alexander began to fill his plate. He nodded politely in greeting to his Housemate sitting nearby. "Did you have a good break?"

1 Alexander Pierce Twins, separated at school 1566 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

February 25, 2023 10:13 AM

Happy Holidays, Liesl by Hansel Hexenmeister

He'd had a little bit of a rough start making friends at Sonora, but that was no longer the case. He had Liesl as his best friend, he'd made friends in his challenge group, Lydia was his co-Housemate/yearmate though they weren't especially close, and lately Iris seemed to be popping up whenever he didn't have any of those around him.

For his challenge group friends, including Sadie, he'd made and sent them all little bagpipe Christmas ornaments at the beginning of midterm, Lydia and Iris had gotten more generic ones of a girl in traditional German dress wearing Christmas colors, and Liesl had gotten a snake wearing a Santa hat. He also had a small wrapped present in his pocket for Liesl, that he wanted to give to her in person, so he waited almost until when the Feast was due to start before arriving at the Hall to make sure she was already there and he could sit next to her.

He found her without too much difficulty and snagged the seat next to her. "Hi," he said, but didn't get much farther than that into the usual exchange following a holiday apart when the Headmaster spoke up. Fortunately, it was barely long enough to notice an interruption, so as soon as the food started appearing, he pulled out the present and offered it to her. "Happy holidays! This is for you."

Inside, she would find a green bracelet that looked like a snake wrapping around her wrist. Dad had helped with the enchantments to make it move a little bit like a snake shifting around.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Happy Holidays, Liesl 1524 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

February 25, 2023 1:04 PM

Back Again! by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn returned to Sonora sun-tanned and with his hair lighter than it had been when he left. The Wind Harness had picked him up and dropped him off in Los Angeles - along with a group of holiday tourists - but they'd been sailing along the equator, and occasionally dipping into the Southern Hemisphere where it was summer, so coming back to Arizona in January with its Irish American climate was . . . cold, and he walked into the Cascade Hall bundled up in the heavy coat he'd worn to get from Pecari back to the main school building.

The Hall was warm enough though, so he took the coat off and sat on it once he found a spot at the Pecari table. "Ugh," he shuddered at his neighbor already sitting there. "Worst part about Pecari is getting between the House and the School in the winter."

The Headmaster said hello and waved for the food to arrive and Xarryn began to fill his plate. "Did you have a good break? Mine was great! I love going home. Still miss it a lot when we're here." Part of that was all the reading and boring parts that were part of attending a school, but a large part of it was just how much he loved sailing and performing mock sword battles, and he just didn't get to do that enough here.

1 Xarryn Bavol Back Again! 1560 0 5

Billy Cobb

February 25, 2023 1:50 PM

Are you ready for this? [Ray] by Billy Cobb

Billy waltzed into the Cascade hall with one thought on his mind. He was looking for his girl, and it wasn't long before he spotted her. To the best of his knowledge, things were good between them. He wasn't entirely sure since the last little bit had been kinda weird. Last year he'd had his own 'project' he'd been working on, along with those dumb tests which he had 'studied' for somewhat. They'd turned out well enough, well other than Transfigurations and potions. He'd done fine in Defense, Creatures and Herbology and alright in Charms. But between all of that they hadn't exactly had a lot of extra time to hang out. Now she had the dumb tests, and he wasn't much help on that front. So he hadn't gone out of his way to bother her a lot if she wanted to focus on them.

Now though, he had 'official' things to tell her. Billy did his best to quietly approach Ray from outside her field of vision in order to wrap her up in a surprise hug from behind and hopefully plant a kiss on her cheek as she reacted. Then finish it all off with a suave and debonair "Hi Sweetie-pie, I missed you." Before releasing her and grinning while fending off whatever violently cute retribution she may have in store.

He'd then sit next to her at the Pecari table and listen to the short bit the Headmaster talked before loading his plate with the food before them for the feast. Once that was done, Billy grinned at her again. "So I got lots to tell you," He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Some of it is still secret." Then he brought his voice back to normal volume again, "But first, what about you? How is the awesomest person in the school doing?"

2 Billy Cobb Are you ready for this? [Ray] 1519 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

February 25, 2023 2:56 PM

Same here by Fortune Ardovini

Fortune was having difficulty in trying to find anything 'interesting' going on with his life. He pondered this as he dismounted from the flying wagon that had brought him back to his magical school after the holiday break. He continued to do so as the animated armor allowed him access to his house and he settled back into his room at school once more.

He wasn't entirely sure why this topic was on his mind, but it was. Perhaps it was because of all of the adventure stories he listened to on the wireless, or read in books. Maybe it was the game club at school. Compared to these things, his life seemed so ordinary. When feast time rolled around he made his way through the garden's labyrinth and up into the main school building along with his fellow students learning to use their magic. The Cascade Hall looked the same as ever, the wall covering waterfalls with their cascading water, the crystal chandeliers... it just was so ordinary. Where was the adventure and excitement?

Fortune found a spot at the Pecari table, as always and listened to the headmaster's incredibly short speech. The food appeared in front of them and he just gave a slight sigh. Xarryn, next to him, began to talk. Fortune smiled at the slightly younger boy, this kid had an adventurous life, he was a little jealous.

"Break was fine I guess," Fortune responded with a touch of resignation while he loaded his own plate with some food. "It was pretty routine, nothing really exciting happened." He paused for a moment, "You live on a ship, right?" Fortune was really, pretty sure of that but it didn't hurt to make sure. "What is that like? It sounds fantastic."

2 Fortune Ardovini Same here 1549 0 5

Rosalynn Tellerman

February 25, 2023 11:13 PM

Looking forward to the Bonfire (tag roommates) by Rosalynn Tellerman

Rosalynn was now halfway through her sixth year. One and a half left before RATS and graduation. It seemed altogether too soon, and yet still comfortably distant. She didn't need to worry about college applications quite yet, and she was only just getting into the swing of her Advanced courses. The most immediate major event on her calendar at this point was the Bonfire, and she was mildly disappointed that Headmaster Brockert didn't even give it a passing mention in his eleven words that he said to them before the feast began in earnest.

Still, she'd had one before, so she figured she knew what to expect. Turning to Isla and Lorena, who she'd chosen to sit beside tonight, she smiled at them. "Short as always," she remarked with a vague gesture toward the Headmaster. "Shall we make it official that we plan to all share a tent together for the Bonfire this year? I think it's up to four people; is there anyone else we want to add to ours for the night?" Her two roommates were her closest friends at the school and she couldn't really think of anyone else she might want to include, except maybe Verdillia, who she was training to take over the Visual Arts Club, and who had been a good challenge teammate last year, but the younger girl probably had other friends she'd want to share with.

She supposed there was also Constance, in the year below theirs, who Rosalynn knew through prefecting, and who probably didn't have a large circle of friends to choose between. "Constance, maybe?" she suggested, "Or one of your cousins?" she wondered with a look toward Isla.

1 Rosalynn Tellerman Looking forward to the Bonfire (tag roommates) 1520 0 5

Philippe Delachene

February 25, 2023 11:46 PM

Oh yes! by Philippe Delachene

It had finally happened! The thing that had happened to Mom and Dad, and Jasmine, and Anya, and Freddie before him. Long before him. Too long before him. Philippe had stepped off the wagon for his last trip to Sonora. Just one semester left. Just one last feast. He was so close to done. Just a few more months, a few more tests, and then he'd be out.

It wasn't that he hadn't liked Sonora; he had, very much, and there were parts of it and people here that he would certainly miss. But he'd been ready to graduate for two years, ever since his his sister and boyfriend had. He'd never felt that much younger than them, and it had been painful to be left behind for so very long. He'd turned seventeen a week before school started, so he was now legally an adult and soon he'd have his diploma and RATS scores to prove he was a competent wizard, and then his life could finally move on from here.

He wasn't done with schooling yet, of course, but he thought he could probably manage with just a two year program, and then follow up with an apprenticeship. There wasn't exactly a college program for ambassadors, after all. He just needed some formal courses on history, government, politics, and language, and the rest would be on-the-job training.

He took a seat near Valentine for his last Returning Feast, though it was a hard choice between her and Jasper. He'd ultimately decided on Val because he figured he was less likely to keep in touch with her, so making memories was a bit more important. He'd have lived with Jasper for seven years by the time they left, and he was sure they'd spend their last Midsummer together, so he decided tonight was for Val. She'd been an important part of his Sonora existence, too. She was ever present, and the leader of their band of adventurers, and they'd been something of rivals for prefect and Head Student (not in a bad way, but there were only so many to go around, and they'd both been well qualified for each with club leadership, a friendly outgoing nature, and a circle of friends, and they'd ended up each claiming one of the badges).

She didn't sound nearly as excited as he was to be embarking on their final Feast and semester though. "How about we go for a little bit of everything, even if its something we never had before or don't like?" he suggested in answer to her query of what to eat to celebrate the occasion. "Make sure we don't miss any experience we could have had."

1 Philippe Delachene Oh yes! 1489 0 5

Liesl Brockert

February 26, 2023 11:53 AM

Happy Holidays, Hans by Liesl Brockert

Midterm had sort of sucked. Liesl had, of course, been happy to see Uncle Cory, Krisalyn, Grandpa Icky, Grandma Imogen, Aunt Amy and her cousins, but her parents were…her parents. Lots of praising Desmond and fussing over his grades and his return from his first term at Sonora. She was inferior by comparison.

Although, not really ignored. Unfortunately, it was not the sort of attention that she wanted. This time, since Liesl had turned fifteen in November, Mother had decided it was time for her to be a proper pureblood girl and attend balls. And, of course, her mother would not let her go to them and present herself in a way that made the Teppenpaw feel like herself. No creepy gothic gowns. Instead, she had been made to wear this pastel pink concoction that was more…normal. More Esme, more Amethyst-although Amethyst tended to wear purple most of the time, not pink-more Krisalyn even. (Her sister thought that the dress was pretty, they had very different tastes, but she still understood that Liesl was distressed and uncomfortable, and gave her a hug and comforted her.)

The balls too had been as awful as Isla had said they were. Truthfully, it seemed like very few of her relatives were that into them for a variety of reasons. Allegra and Sapphire were painfully shy, though the former had her husband to lean on now. Christopher seemed to feel the same as them, though he didn’t have to go yet. Which was unfair since they were the same age,but his parents weren’t forcing him. Probably because he wasn’t a weirdo whose mother wanted to force him into being something he wasn’t. And Uncle Mortimer was a misanthrope as was Olaf, but the second year absolutely didn’t have to go since his parents wouldn’t let their kids until they were sixteen.

Then there was Isla. The Aladren was like Liesl…sort of. They were weird in different ways but still weird. However, Isla’s parents at least let her be herself and wear what she wanted to parties. (Within reason. The sixth year couldn’t go in something too revealing or something that didn’t suit the occasion like pajamas or a swimsuit of course. Not that she wanted to or anything but the point was, Isla’s parents were reasonable and Liesl’s weren’t.)

Anyway, she had stuck close to her cousin, since Isla was the only one who really understood this situation because she hated the parties for the same reason Liesl did. Of course, the fourth year had cried-literally-to both Uncle Cory and Jasper, who had of course comforted her. Her uncle had said that she looked pretty but not…like herself.

So, as usual, Uncle Cory demonstrated the emotional intelligence and compassion that her parents lacked and understood perfectly what the problem was. He had even attempted to talk to her parents, but of course that was futile. Her parents did not listen. Father-and Uncle Judah- never listened to Uncle Cory or treated him with much respect. The fourth year hated them both for that. Mother never listened to anyone, not really. She only appeared to treat Desmond and Krisalyn well because they fit into what Mother found acceptable for her children-and people in general- to be.

Once again, Liesl wished Uncle Cory was her dad or at least that she lived with him. Honestly, everyone would be so much happier. Her uncle, aunt and cousins loved her, her parents didn’t, or at least they didn’t understand her. Krisalyn loved her and would miss her but that was all.

Or Liesl wished she could live with Hans on his snake farm. Her fantasy was that she lived there with Hans and his dad and siblings and Uncle Cory, Aunt Amy, Jason, Sam and Lorelei. She’d like her sister there too, but…well, she guessed since it was a fantasy, she could fantasize that Krisalyn was there as well. Isla and Jasper and her grandparents and Uncle Judah’s kids Ella and Roland could come visit as well.

This was obviously not going to happen, but Liesl would seriously settle for living there with Hans and his dad. Or with Uncle Cory and his family.

She was glad to be back at Sonora now. With Hans. Being at pureblood balls just…really cemented how much she truly appreciated the older Teppenpaw. Plus, well, every time someone had asked her to dance, she sort of wished she was dancing with him instead. Or not dancing, but hanging out and doing things that were more fun.

Liesl couldn’t wait to see him. She had loved the ornament he’d given her of the snake with the Santa hat. It was adorable . Of course, she wasn’t allowed to hang it up on the tree. Their tree was, naturally, very...dull. No fun quirky ornaments, just plain balls. This one wasn’t just unfairly applied to her though, actually. Her sister couldn’t hang up kitten and teddy bear ornaments either. So, Liesl and Krisalyn had taken to putting up a separate tree for fun ornaments. Which was an interesting mix of her sister’s cute ornaments and her own creepy ones, bought for them mostly by their grandparents or, of course, Uncle Cory.

It was a nice tradition that they shared as sisters. They’d offered to include Desmond too, but he didn’t really participate.

Anyway, she had decided to make a gift for Hans. Actually, she’d painted it. It was a painting of a snake that looked sort of like Cori. Or at least Liesl had tried to make it look like him. She was okay at drawing and painting so it was not exactly perfect, but…she’d really put a lot into it. There was something just special about a gift that was handmade. She liked ones that people bought too, but…Liesl just wanted to do something extra special for her best friend.

Hans joined her at the Teppenpaw table, she smiled at her friend and replied to his greeting. “Hey.” Then Uncle Mortimer stood up and welcomed them back, as briefly as ever.

Then her friend handed her a gift. Liesl took it and opened it. Inside was the coolest bracelet. She looked up at the fifth year and beamed. “It’s beautiful! Thank you so much!” For just a moment, she felt the urge to kiss him on the cheek but she wasn’t sure if he would…be okay with that so she gave him a big hug instead and then put the bracelet on.. “I got you something too, but it’s upstairs because I thought it would get in the way at the feast. Happy holidays, Hans.”

11 Liesl Brockert Happy Holidays, Hans 1537 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

February 26, 2023 1:33 PM

Preperations are needed by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa left the Aladren common room in order to make it to the feast on time. She absolutely refused to be late for anything. True, sometimes it could make a statement of power, forcing people to wait until you are good and ready, but in this situation the feast would begin with or without her. In such a case, tardiness just looked poorly.

Upon her arrival in the hall, she looked over the assembled masses with well-hidden disdain. She had been working this year so far on trying to assess the students and teachers and had so far come up without any favorable results. Everyone here was just to pathetic, they were to concerned with being 'nice' and 'friendly'. She guessed most of them wouldn't even be ashamed to be considered weak and pathetic, they'd see it as some nonsense like 'caring'. The ones that wouldn't, would most likely run off crying and then it would make her task even more difficult. Next year she would need to begin to put her plan into action, and she didn't have a solid one yet.

Nausicca strode her way to the Aladren table and took a seat. If she couldn't convince anyone of the futility of their ways, would she need to pretend to adopt them? That sounded horrible to her, and yet it might be her only option. She would need allies... well, minions. Dupes would work just as well so long as they did what she said. It would be nice to have someone of like mindedness at her right hand though, but she still hadn't found anyone to fill that role.

The Headmaster made his normal 'speech' and the food appeared. Nausicaa thought he was the most sensible person at the school. But he sure didn't seem to care about exerting his influence over how the place should be run. He was weak as well. If she wasn't so eager to get out of this place and never see it again, she would be tempted to investigate taking over the school as a proper Headmistress when she got older just to set the place right. But, she had much, much better things to do with her life. Maybe she could appoint an appropriate candidate someday.

Nausicca gracefully selected some of the finer looking foods from the selection before her and continued pondering her plans for this coming term. Thankfully it would be her last one as a 'beginner'. She would need to be a bit 'friendlier' with her schoolmates. Also there was the Bonfire at the end of the year. Last year's 'concert', which hadn't really been a concert at all, had at least some level of allowing one to retain a certain level of respectability and dignity.. if they so chose. Which some did not. As for dancing like primitives around a big fire and sleeping in tents outside, the bonfire did not seem to leave such options. There had been mention of single occupancy tents, which had been her original plan, but now she wondered if that would be the wisest option. Should she attempt to gather or join a group of girls that she could work with?

2 Nausicaa Scapetello Preperations are needed 1561 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 26, 2023 1:49 PM

Oh... umm... something? by Valentine Duell

Philippe had sat with her. That did make her smile a bit brighter. Philippe had always been a pleasant constant in her life here at Sonora. Val well knew that he had some good reasons to be ready to get out of school and move on with his life, to catch up to some people who had a little bit of a head start. In that respect, she knew she was fortunate. Bonabelle and Wally were both in her year and they hadn't needed to spend any time apart other than breaks.

"If we go that route," She replied sounding a bit less morose, "I at least had better start with the things I haven't tried yet." There were parts of her, she knew that were pretty solidly ingrained into habit. Picking food at a the feasts had been one of them. She usually tried to pick things that Mama might have made just to remind herself of home a bit once she was away from it again. "Or else I'll fill up before I get them all." Her eyes roved over the table and she was surprised to see she had tried more of it than she had originally thought... but there was still plenty she hadn't. "I don't think I've ever had those round things over there." She gestured at a dish on Philippe's other side. "What do you want to start with?"

Once food had been distributed, she poked at it a little before turning back to him. "So, where will you be going once we're done here? You're going to a short study program before officially getting started, right?"

2 Valentine Duell Oh... umm... something? 1490 0 5

Verdillia Scurlock

February 27, 2023 5:57 PM

Now that I am back, yes by Verdillia Scurlock

Verdillia was glad to have a second home. Firstly, it sounded very fancy and well-to-do. Secondly, Levi wasn't in this one. Verdillia slid into a space at the Crotalus table, glad to be free of her sister. School was supposed to make people more mature but it seemed like Levi was getting sillier and sillier. It was like she was being annoying on purpose, and being forced to spend confined time with her had made Verdillia snappish over what would otherwise have been a lovely break. Levi had also perfected her big-eyed, wounded deer face, which she went about using to suggest that Verdillia was the one being unreasonable, and adding to her irritation.

Her seat was next to Iris, which was interesting. Iris certainly ought to have ranked below Verdillia socially but she seemed very popular. Not that Verdillia wasn't friends with all the right people in her own cohort, but Iris was an interesting study in coming from the wrong background but having the right kind of friends.

After the brief welcome, they were free to eat and chat. Verdillia helped herself to some vegetable soup as a starter, trying to work out which of the other dishes she really wanted after weeks of heavy Christmas food.

"Good evening. How was your break?" she greeted Iris.

13 Verdillia Scurlock Now that I am back, yes 1541 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

March 03, 2023 11:11 PM

This is allowed, right? (Tag Lyla) by Robyn Lundstrom

It felt okay to be back at Sonora. Not amazing, not terrible. Home was a cosy place, and Robyn loved Christmas and gifts and movies, all of which had been plentifully indulged in. Xavier was increasingly unhinged and moody, and that was much more obvious when she was forced to share a house with him—albeit a large, comfortable five bedroom suburban house, it still wasn’t as much space and distance as she had from him at school. It wasn’t exactly a change. Robyn didn’t really remember a time when he hadn’t been moody and high strung, though her dim and distant pre-Sonora days involved him leaving her out to play with Joel. He’d been happier then, but not exactly someone she could hang out with. At school, he usually dropped in a few times a week for a meal with her, and they wrote letters home together. When it was just them and a sea of people, that felt like a comforting amount of caring and siblinging, but when forced to occupy that role full time, they just didn’t know how to be friends. He was at his best when he was a sleepy lump, which had happened a couple of times over the holidays, with him slumping his way through family movie time, practically passed out on the couch. Apparently, it was a teenage boy thing and the fact that he was shuffling around and monosyllabic was ‘normal.’ It was definitely an improvement over theatrics anyway.

Outside of Xavier—a strange place that she suspected her brother didn’t know existed—she had spent time helping mom with the mega baking of the Christmas cookies. Mom still seemed stressed and tired all the time, but she’d had the energy to do all their usual favourites, so it felt like a step back to how things had been before The Whole Drama.

Now Robyn was back, and there were things she liked about school, like casting spells, although she didn’t feel much less lonely here than she did at home. She was the only Teppenpaw in her year, and the four in the grade above her were a solid group. The ones in the grade below seemed okay but an unknown quantity. Perhaps that meant a good option was staying at her own table and trying to befriend some of them, but she was tempted to explore a different option that the returning feast presented…

She didn’t see many people switching tables, but it was technically allowed. She could see the Teppenpaws when they were in their house. And Lyla could hang out with her roommate then too… Of course, they’d be able to see each other in class, but other people got to see their friends straight away, and Lyla… was Robyn’s friend? Maybe her best friend? Which was sort of sad, given the number of question marks Robyn had to give it. Robyn liked her, and she thought that Lyla liked her too, but it definitely felt like she was closer with Samara given that the two of them lived together. She was pretty sure Samara could rely on Lyla, if she needed someone for something—a partner for a project, or even just a study hang, or say someone to share a tent with at a school wide bonfire where being a loser with no friends and no roommates was going to be a big problem—and Robyn couldn’t say the same.

She slid into the seat next to Lyla at the feast, hoping this wasn’t a really terrible idea.

“Hi. Is this okay?” she checked, wondering if she was intruding on Lyla’s Crotalus time. After all, you were meant to be housed with people who were like you.

13 Robyn Lundstrom This is allowed, right? (Tag Lyla) 1558 0 5

Ida Stanford

March 04, 2023 8:57 PM

True, but you still have your 'sister'! by Ida Stanford

Ida considered Alexander's question for a brief moment before she answered. "I think so." was the best she could come up with and voiced it with a fair bit of uncertainty. It had been a bit of an odd break. She had gone back 'home' to Aunt Lucy's house in Aladren in Oregon. She knew her parents were on a case somewhere in eastern Europe and wouldn't be there for the holidays. That was fine and she understood. Holiday traditions hadn't really been a real 'thing' growing up as she had done. There had always been to much movement and uncertainty for much consistency. "It was really just a bit of a quiet time with Aunt Lucy. She had mostly settled in and even decorated a bit," Ida couldn't help a small smile while remembering the small, sparsely ornamented tree and the three other holiday bits set about the house. "Mom and Dad were off on a case in Europe."

She had sat down with Alexander on purpose. As far as she could tell, he was still having a bit of a difficult time being separated from Nicholas. That meant it was her duty as his house sister to make sure he was still doing okay, even if she wasn't his brother. It was what a good sister would do. She hoped. Not having been a sister until she arrived here, Ida wasn't really entirely sure, but it sounded good.

The food before her smelled wonderful as always. Not that Aunt Lucy wasn't a good cook, but.... this food smelled really good. Ida began to load up her plate, following Alexander's lead. "How about you?" She asked in return, "How was your break? Anything exciting happen?" She had a vague idea of what his home life might be like, and she was pretty sure it was nothing like hers.

2 Ida Stanford True, but you still have your 'sister'! 1571 0 5

Phil Carson

March 04, 2023 9:21 PM

The Middle. It's the Middle of My Story. The Middle. by Phil Carson

Phil was glad to be back at school. This wasn't as strange a concept as it might initially seem, given he'd always liked school, both here and regular muggle elementary school, and also given that Sonora taught magic, which still boggled his mind a little when he thought too hard about it, even four years in. Sure there were things he missed from home when he was here (Mom, Disney Plus, video games, real trees - the Gardens had some, but the forests of Glacier National Park, it was not) but there were now also things from here that he missed when he went home (Eben, Game Club, A Giant Library Literally Right Outside His House, the privilege to cast magic basically whenever he wanted, the absence of a bossy five year old who shrieks at the top of her lungs when she doesn't get her way). It was the last of those that was making him particularly glad to be back in Arizona tonight.

Over the summer, he and Loki had more or less worked out a co-existence plan that made his little sister nearly tolerable - and on rare occasions even fun to be around - but many of those included bringing her to the park down the road, and it was freezing outside so that was out of the question, and she had gotten used to being the only child again during his fall semester away, and she also was angry at him for leaving her, so . . . there had been a lot of screaming, and he was glad to be away from her constant bad mood.

The first half, with Mom, had been good though.

And school still had the aching absence of Gabriel, but that was a little less now than it had been at the beginning of the year. He was adjusting to the older Aladren having graduated and no longer being around, though he still sent his pseudo-big-brother regular letters keeping him up to date with the gaming club's campaigns and some general happenings around Sonora. It was fun that Eben had joined up with the club, too, so he still had a close friend there.

Taking a seat at the Aladren table, and waving in Val's direction when she happened to glance in his general direction (or maybe Bonabelle's), he readied himself for his Middle Feast. Today marked the day that he was officially in the second half of his Sonora time, being in the second semester of his fourth year. Three and half years behind him, three and half ahead of him.

After the Headmaster said a few words and officially began the feast, Phil began filling his plate and smiled at his neighbor. "Welcome back."

1 Phil Carson The Middle. It's the Middle of My Story. The Middle. 1536 0 5

Iris Cobb

March 04, 2023 9:32 PM

You have a point there. by Iris Cobb

Iris had never really thought of herself as a popular girl at school. She was friends with her roommate, sure, but Amethyst was her roommate and you were either friends with them or your time at school would be miserable. Right? Being friends with Amethyst was nice and because of that she was by default 'in' with some of the other Brockerts and Alexei maybe? She was also friends with Ray... although perhaps not so much as her brother but that was something else entirely. Something more how she was friends with Hansel... probably? He had given her that really nice ornament, so probably yes. Anyway, because of this Iris was a little off guard when Verdiallia Scurlock of all people sat with her, and then talked to her.

Verdillia had always struck Iris as one of those nice and proper and well-to-do folks that wouldn't really bother with someone like her without some very good reason. Yet, here she was. Maybe she had some very good reason? Iris straightened herself up into the proper posture that she always saw Amethyst use and tried to replicate. She really wished that she'd already taken a bite of her food so that she could take a moment to think while she chewed, but no such luck. So she gave Verdillia a proper smile and willed with all her might that her Kentucky drawl would desert her for the moment. She was getting better at removing it, but it came back every single time she went back home to the mountain. The darn thing would still happen for at least the first week back at school.

"Good evening to you as well." Ida replied more slowly than normal as she tried to split her focus a few different ways; not saying something dumb, looking friendly, and not sounding like some uneducated mountain person. "My break was good, really... good." That question was actually harder than she would have thought to answer. She glanced at the Pecari table to spot her brother sitting with Ray. No doubt he was telling her all about what had happened. Could she do the same?

To Amethyst, yes. She wasn't sure about Verdillia, they didn't quite have the same connection. Still, she should say more than just that and... hmm... "Break brought about a little change in options for me going forward." She paused for a brief moment, "Have you given your future much thought? What do you think you will do after you graduate?"

2 Iris Cobb You have a point there. 1526 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

March 04, 2023 10:02 PM

Do you even know what we're getting into? by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ray was glad, as usual, to be back at Sonora. Things with her parents were only ever getting weirder and it sucked extra to be away from Sonora now that she had friends and a boyfriend. It was weird because she hadn't really intended on caring aboout anybody, but she did now and she couldn't take it back. The fact that she'd actually missed him while studying for tests and being generally absent was as telling to her as anything else, and she didn't even cringe at his term of endearment.

Okay, she cringed a little bit, but mostly in jest.

"I missed you too, squishy boo," she replied in a tone she hoped would leave him guessing. It was nice joking with Billy; she could say exactly what she meant and also be completely sarcastic all at the same time. She did swing a good solid pinch at his backside though before he managed to grab a seat.

She loaded her plate while he did, appreciating that they mutually honored food as a sacred moment - important decisions had to be made! - and raised an eyebrow at his first two opening comments.

"You can't just leave me with something like that and expect me to dive into my own news," she scolded. "Besides, it's always the same with me. Mom sucks, dad's a loser, I'm the disappointment and it totally never bothers me. What's your non-secret information?" As much as she'd like for him to tell her everything, she understood all too well that sometimes secrets were kept for good reasons. Sometimes, the reason wasn't even that the other person couldn't know the information but that the holder of the information just wasn't ready to acknowledge that it was true yet. It was easier to pretend a secret wasn't true than something everyone knew the details of.

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn Do you even know what we're getting into? 1525 0 5

Bonabelle Row

March 04, 2023 10:10 PM

And the end of mine. by Bonabelle Row

Regret felt like a big piece of Bonabelle's whole heart as she sat down at her final returning feast. It was the last feast she'd have at Sonora and she felt as if she'd thoroughly squandered her time the past few years. Well... not so much her time. She'd gotten in the middle of a quadrouple or some such, she had a steady girlfriend, her relationship with her uncle and grandparents was better than ever, her dad was known of but not around which wasn't really all bad although she'd expected it to be, and she kept in fairly regular contact with Jean-Luc. In fact, she was hoping to spend some time with him over the summer after graduation, she just hadn't figured out how to ask. She supposed she was gay or some such, although she wasn't entirely sure because Stanley kind of made her not gay but maybe that wasn't the case. She knew enough about all the letters that made up a special rainbow sort of alphabet soup to know she was maybe just a meatball instead.

In any case, she'd been distant, detached from the present. Each moment was cloudy or cloud nine but she hadn't properly taken the time to appreciate what she had while at school. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure there actually was any way to appreciate it all enough anyway. It was like trying to get enough out of a goodbye hug; you always ended up wishing you'd taken one more breath of the moment before the moment ended.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a housemate welcoming her back and she smiled at him in return. "Thanks," she said, scooping some salad onto her plate. "How was your break, Phil?" She liked to make sure the younger kids knew she paid attention and that she was a good prefect. Or maybe she liked to make sure she knew that about herself.

22 Bonabelle Row And the end of mine. 1488 0 5

Quincy Wright

March 04, 2023 10:19 PM

Get all your loadouts ready. by Quincy Wright

Quincy was pretty sure his parents had been counting on him being even less muggle-ish over the years, but it just hadn't happened. It was probably because so much else had happened though, honestly. It was easier not to think too much when there was a controller in his hand, or a keyboard under his fingers. At Sonora, thinking was inevitable, so he did his best to consume himself with puzzles and studies. He was good at it. He'd even developed a new hobby: astronomy. The stars were a passion saved for when the whirring lights of his games at home failed him, and for when he inevitably couldn't play anymore. The electronics at home were already failing faster than he could replace them, especially without a proper job nine months of the year. It was best for him to move on and video games were no lnger the thing he could move on with. Truth be told, the bonfire was mostly exciting because it would be an opportunity for sanctioned time on the grounds examining the stars. He intended to make the most of it, and the rest of this year, before graduation and the inevitable slog of adulthood.

"Could I have the potatoes?" he asked the student across from him. She looked like she was thinking pretty hard about stuff so he changed his mind and used these great new grown up arms he'd grown at some point mid-puberty and reached for the potatoes himself... and knocked a cup of juice all over the girl's plate. "Oh, sorry about that," he grimaced. "Would you like me to disappear it for you?"

22 Quincy Wright Get all your loadouts ready. 1495 0 5

Billy Cobb

March 04, 2023 11:13 PM

When has that ever stopped me before? by Billy Cobb

Billy jumped as Ray pinched his butt. Mostly in exaggeration, but that was mainly to cover his minor bit of surprise at the action. Maybe it had been longer than he'd thought since they'd hung out properly. On the plus side, he'd definitely take that as an invitation to get her back at some point in a similar fashion.

After all of the time that he'd spent with Ray so far, he could read into what she was saying about her break. Not great, don't want to talk about it, family doesn't appreciate their incredible daughter. Strange people. He grinned at her in response, "I kinda hate to say it," he didn't really but it sounded good, "but if they've got problems seeing the incredible person that you are..." he trailed off a bit not quite exactly sure how to actually finish that statement, but then it hit him. "Well, I just feel sorry for them." Yeah, that sounded fine and hopefully not to insulting. He thought she wouldn't mind fully bashing on her parents, but they were still her parents and Billy had learned at least enough that there was always at least some respect due to them.

Billy scooped a large pile of mashed potatoes into his mouth and smiled at her. He wanted to tell her everything so badly, but most of the fun of their relationship was teasing and taunting one another. So he chewed away at the potatoes for a moment, completely unable to tell her anything because talking with your mouth full is terribly rude. Finally he swallowed and took a drink to wash it down.

"Alright," he began, "You know how I became an official wizardy adult just a few days into the beginning of the year? Well, since I completed my task last year... which I'll have to show you later." He added that as an afterthought. Hopefully that wouldn't freak her out or scare her away or anything like that. "Once I got home again as an official adult over break," he lowered his voice again and leaned in a bit closer. She smelled nice. "I am now the official in-charge person of the Cobbson name and fortune." Then as another afterthought, "At least until Iris is seventeen as well, then it becomes a shared thing." He decided to let that sit and sink in with her a bit, he began to move back from her then decided not to waste the opportunity and gave her another quick kiss before sitting back up and sticking some chicken in his mouth.

2 Billy Cobb When has that ever stopped me before? 1519 0 5

Oz Spellman

March 05, 2023 6:18 PM

Ew, gross by Oz Spellman

Oz took a seat at the Pecari table, trying not to stare at the spectacle that was Ray and Billy. It was hard not to though. Partly because it was so blatant but also because it was so unfair. How come they got to be like that and he didn't? He'd been able to enjoy much more with his boyfriend in private to make up for not being able to do things in public, but now the stupid bed rule was doing it's best to get in the way of that. And, like, he should have been able to kiss Xav in public. It was objectively less gross than seeing anything Billy and Ray did. He and Xav were way cuter. But other people might not see it that way. Oz was one of the lead beaters. He was the class clown. His entire security was built on being untouchable. Then there was Henry to consider. Henry was in the house of ultra conservative rule followers. It was probably bad enough being related to the class clown. But the class clown with a boyfriend? He couldn't do that to him.

Most of the time, he didn't feel like a terrible boyfriend. Philippe's compliment thing worked great. He might not be able to give Xav a good morning kiss at the Pecari table but he could whisper 'hey babe' when he slid into place by him (so long as no one else was close by), which was definitely something he hadn't done when they were friends. He had been sure to pass his thanks along to the older boy.

Most of the time, it was fine. It was just when other people made it look so easy that he started to feel like he was missing out or letting Xav down... Still, there was nothing he could do about it right now.

"How was your break?" he asked his neighbour, still with a hint of a frown on his face and a sigh in his voice.

13 Oz Spellman Ew, gross 1514 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

March 05, 2023 9:40 PM

I'm with ya there. by Stanley O'Malley

It was hard - surprisingly hard - coming back this time. Stanley never considered himself a particularly emotionally charged person, but in his old age, he seemed to be growing some unanticipated feelings. It was the last time he was likely to see his parents before the arrival of the new baby: their last holiday as a family of five. He was excited, of course, but a bit of wistfulness for what had been how things were for so long still flavored that excitement. Still, he looked forward to getting that call that it was time to go meet his newest little sibling.

And of course, the obvious nostalgia factor, this was the final feast at Sonora which he and his brother would attend. At least as students, that was. Sonora was pretty good about doing alumni events - sometimes it was actually difficult to keep his mom in particular away from the place - so there would be chances to pop in again. It just wouldn’t be the same.

But for now, he was here, making the same type of idle chit-chat with classmates and friends that they made every year. He was glad at least to end up seated by his buddy, Oz. Stanley had definitely tried to hang out with Oz and the other sixth year boys as much as he could, especially around Pecari. He didn’t want to insert himself in a way that seemed desperate, but truthfully, he was a bit lonely this year without Theo. Having grown up half of a twin unit, Stanley in particular hated sleeping alone, so he would often have sleepovers with Theo. Now that he was sort of by himself again, it seriously sucked.

“Pretty decent,” he answered Oz’s question. “Nice to be home again for a bit. My mom’s having a new baby soon, so I think they appreciated having the kids home, but they also probably appreciated it when we left.” Stanley did sense something a little bit off in Oz’s demeanor, but he figured Oz was the type of guy who wouldn’t really want to talk about it. “How about you guys? How’s your mom?”

12 Stanley O'Malley I'm with ya there. 1491 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

March 05, 2023 9:52 PM

Same here! by Lorena Abernathy

Be it Opening Feast or Returning Feast, the best part of coming back to Sonora was definitely always getting to see Rosalynn and Isla again. When Lorena first came to Sonora, she’d just been hoping at a minimum to blend into the background enough to not be made fun of, but she’d really exceeded her own expectations over the course of the last five and a half years. Really, from day one, she’d been very fortunate to settle in with some great roommates, who instantly became great friends.

Like Rosalynn, she had been hoping for more information about the upcoming bonfire, but Headmaster Brockert was a man of few words - really, the fact that he hit double digits for a Returning Feast was pretty good - so she really shouldn’t have been surprised. She was glad to see Ros’s mind was in the same place as she began talking about their arrangements for the bonfire tents.

Lorena had forgotten in the years since the last bonfire that they could have up to four people in their tent. Rosalynn suggested Connie Melcher, who Lorena kinda thought was weird, or one of Isla’s many cousins, if she wanted to do so, and Lorena nodded along. “I’m fine with any of those,” she said. She wouldn’t want Connie to know she thought she was weird, having been the weird kid herself in elementary school, although Connie wasn’t especially perceptive in that regard anyway. “Are we allowed to just do three? Maybe we just sorta plan on the three of us and then if anyone else needs a tent, we can let her in. Unless you’ve got a strong opinion, Isla,” she added, opening it up to their other friend. Really, Lorena's only concern overall was that whoever joined them might feel a little left out, since their group was pretty tight, although all three girls were pretty welcoming and nice, so it wasn't like they would do anything intentional to exclude anyone. But it was probably pretty well known that Lorena, Rosalynn, and Isla were a package deal.

12 Lorena Abernathy Same here! 1510 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

March 05, 2023 11:02 PM

We're in agreement then. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ray bristled at the idea of feeling sorry for her parents, even if Billy meant well by it. She also bristled a bit at the idea of being an incredible person because she absolutely was not at all. She liked to think she was an alright person but she definitely wasn't winning any awards for most loving offspring, and it was hard to imagine there was anything her parents were missing. It was easier to think that they were right and Billy just hadn't yet caught on that she wasn't incredible after all, but that wasn't something she was about to accept. No, good ole Reighleigh Mae had never let a big stupid name stop her and she wasn't about to let something as silly as her own self-esteem get in the way either. If her parents were ever right about anything, then she'd just have to prove them wrong. New goal: be incredible. She smiled a bit at Billy, grateful for the compliment despite all the mental hoops it put her through.

Ray raised an eyebrow, wiggling a little with excitement at the thought of seeing just how Billy's project had gone. She hated that they had been so distant, each stuck in their own lives, that she hadn't yet gotten to see it. She blinked several times in confusion though as he continued, trying to understand exactly what he meant.

She barely registered as he kissed her, thoughts racing. "Wait, did someone die?" she asked in a hushed voice when her mouth was no longer occupied. "Is everything okay? How are you the in-charge person? Is Cobbson different than Cobb?" She felt a bit bad for interrogating him and leaned in, pulling him towards her with a finger under his chin and kissing him back more softly. "Sorry," she murmured with a smirk that didn't reach her eyes, only a small glance towards the staff table to make sure they weren't in any active trouble for their PDA. "I didn't mean to skip that part."

Even being intentional to revisit their affection, she couldn't help the way her thoughts went back to a pit of guilt that formed in her stomach as she wondered whether she'd been so absent and so bad a girlfriend that she had missed some huge news. It was, of course, entirely possible that Billy was springing it on her exactly like this. He was one for the big mic-drop moments more than the slow burn ones, but that didn't mean it was impossible she'd missed anything either.

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn We're in agreement then. 1525 0 5

Lyla Holland

March 06, 2023 3:15 AM

I won't tell if you don't by Lyla Holland

Coming back from midterm break was something of a relief for Lyla. It wasn't that she'd had a bad vacation, her dad had managed to stay home for almost the whole time, and he'd even taken Lyla out ice skating, just the two of them. They'd gone for pizza afterwards, and he asked Lyla all about school and her friends, and she'd happily filled him in.

Lyla's vexation wasn't Lena's fault for once; although she had been her usual amount of annoying, Lyla noticed that she didn't really mind her antics as much as she used to. Maybe Lyla was maturing, or maybe Lena was starting to grow up, or maybe Lyla just realized she missed her little sister while she was away. Lena had grown even just from the beginning of the school year, and it was a shock when Lyla realized her baby sister was no longer lisping her 's's. As she watched Lena waving at her from the wagon platform, Lyla thought that someday, they might even be friends.

It was her mom that had acted weird the entire time, all withdrawn and quiet, which, knowing her mom, was double-weird. She had at least done some baking, which meant that Lyla had come back to school with another tin of chocolate-peanut butter swirl cookies, but Lyla couldn't help but feel that something was going on.

After having driven herself nuts trying to figure out her mom's problem, Lyla was glad to be back at school, where the only problems she had to worry about were on their pop quizzes.

No sooner had Headmaster Brockert finished announcements-scarce though they were- than Robyn slid in next to Lyla. The other girl asked if it was okay, but Lyla honestly didn't know. She certainly didn't mind, but she had thought that they were supposed to stay at their own tables, at least for big feasts, or she would've sat with Robyn much sooner.

"I'm so glad to see you!" she told Robyn, "Happy late holidays!"

Lyla had wanted to hang out with her first Sonora friend more often, but had trouble finding time between classes and the Challenges last year. Maybe this year, they could do some things together? Like- what was it? The Bonfire? Lyla wasn't sure about the logistics, but it sounded like a big camp-out to celebrate the end of the year. Maybe they could do that together?

"Do you know what the deal is with the Bonfire?" she asked, "Like, do we have assigned tents, or do we get to pick our roomies?"

64 Lyla Holland I won't tell if you don't 1559 0 5

Oz Spellman

March 06, 2023 6:50 AM

The gross just keeps coming by Oz Spellman

Oz grabbed some ribs and coleslaw, figuring the feast was not meant to be an elegant affair, given the mishmash of foods that could end up on a plate, and given that someone like him was invited. Not a lot distracted Oz from good food, and he certainly hadn’t expected Stanley’s small talk to do so. But as Stanley dropped his holiday news bomb, Oz’s face snapped up from the rib he was attacking.

“Whff?” he asked, through a mouthful of meat. He swallowed it hastily. “You know what that means your parents did, right?” he checked. “Or at least, what your mom did with someone. That is next level gross.” He wrinkled his nose. “My mom better not pull any nonsense like that. I do not want to live with a baby. She’d be a hypocrite to boot if she did, seeing as she’s always telling me and Henry not to get girls pregnant.

“She’s good, yeah,” he added, pleased that Stanley had asked after specifically. “She’s painting. Again, apparently. Like, it’s a thing she did a lot before me and Henry. And I guess with us, but like… actual painting, not just cruddy kid painting. She was talking about a few things she might do in the next couple of years, but I guess it depends on what happens with us. But like, if Henry gets a scholarship somewhere and I get a job, maybe she can do what she wants for—

“Urgh, do they have to do that after literally every bite of food or something?” he huffed as Ray and Billy continued to smooch at the table. Like, seriously… how was that better than ribs? It wasn’t like Oz didn’t know how good kissing could feel, but there was only a limited amount of it you could do at the table… Like, choosing between actually making out and ribs would have been tough. But the pathetic little pecks they were giving each other? All it was good for was putting other people off their food. Though maybe the two of them hadn’t worked out proper kissing yet.

“Anyway, what are you and Wally doing after graduation?” he asked, bringing his attention back to Stanley from where it had drifted (a drift that had definitely totally not included lingering a moment longer than it should have on Xavier).

13 Oz Spellman The gross just keeps coming 1514 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

March 06, 2023 6:03 PM

I think they know but don't mind by Robyn Lundstrom

Lyla was pleased to see her! That was all the confirmation Robyn needed that she was in the right place. Sitting at other tables for the returning feast was allowed, and she didn't think she needed teacher permission in advance... She glanced at the staff table but no one seemed on their way over to bust her, nor were the Crotalus prefects stirring in their seats.

"Happy holidays," she returned. "How were yours?"

Lyla then asked something which she, as a wise and connected person with an older sibling at school, knew the answer to. The bonfire had been in Xavier's first year. Although his first year hadn't gone great, he hadn't, at that point, been totally crushed by the system. And the bonfire had been a highlight, seeing as it was something he could join in with just as easily as anyone else. He had come home overflowing with stories about it. Robyn remembered that much... She had been young enough that a few of the details were on the fuzzy side...

"We get to pick," she said confidently. "At least, I think so... Want to share if we can? It'll be exciting having a roommate for a change! I definitely don't snore. I've been camping with my family, and my brothers would absolutely have teased me about it if I did."

13 Robyn Lundstrom I think they know but don't mind 1558 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

March 06, 2023 8:56 PM

You seem to be talking nonsense. by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa pondered her plans and the obstacles before her without paying much attention to the rabble around her. As such, she was caught almost completely off guard when the person across from her at the table dumped an entire beverage on her plate and her keen eye spotted a few drops land on her robe as well. She hated the robes, but that was beside the point. It was the principle that mattered.

Her eyes blazed with fury as she looked at the boy. He was a seventh year, and she hadn't bothered to learn about the older students as they would not be useful to her before they were gone. This boy however, apparently had a death wish. If she was at home… unfortunately, she wasn't. Her father and his minions could not come to avenge her, and this boy had five and a half years of learning and practicing magic on her. Her mind raced to find an appropriate response, but the best she thought she could manage at this point was to return the beverage to him and his attire. That seemed petty and childish. She remembered Mother's talk and thought about how she could work this to her advantage other than petty vengeance.

"That will do for a start." Nausicaa replied without much forgiveness in her tone. Vanishing spells were not in her course work for quite a few years yet, but if he wanted to show her how it was done, she would take that knowledge from him. She nudged the plate a little bit closer to the boy, spilling a bit. "Oh, oops. I guess you had better get that as well." Her tone was again not very apologetic. "There are a few spots on my robe as well." Nausicaa indicated the barely visible places.

2 Nausicaa Scapetello You seem to be talking nonsense. 1561 0 5

Billy Cobb

March 07, 2023 6:45 PM

Absolutely by Billy Cobb

He wasn't entirely sure, but Billy was almost certain that there was something about Ray that shifted after he told her that she was incredible. It was definitely a good shift. He was gunna have to do that more. Plus she smiled, and that was always something he liked to see.

There was no stopping the grin from forming on his face at his reaction to what news he could tell. He hadn't been quite sure how she'd react, but he had been kinda hoping for bewildered confusion. Just 'cause that seemed like the most harmlessly fun one. Still, there may have been something of uncertainty or something in there as well which didn't inspire him to drag things out. But he certainly wasn't going to interrupt if she wanted to kiss him.

Her apology seemed a little odd. He thought he'd been pretty clear that she could kiss him whenever she wanted to. She didn't have to apologize. While she looked at the staff table, Billy took the opportunity to see what Oz was up to. He gave his roommate a quick wink and brought his focus back to his girl.

"Bah, no problem." He responded with his standard grin. "Someone did die though." He was completely unable to not pause there for a moment just because. "Like a hundred years or so ago. He went crazy after a town turned on his wife an' daughter for bein' witches." They had been witches, but that didn't make it right. "He put a heck of a curse on the place and then abandoned them. He moved his whole house and such up to our mountain and put every sort of magical barrier and whatnot around it." He got quiet and moved in close again to whisper. "An Aurorer couldn't even find us in there."

He moved back, "Iris has got all the details if you're interested. Me 'n her are the first descendants that have been magical enough to find the place again, so now I'm in charge of it all… well, until Iris is 17 anyway." He grinned as always, "Any questions?" Then took another bite of chicken.

2 Billy Cobb Absolutely 1519 0 5

Lyla Holland

March 08, 2023 1:45 AM

In the name of school unity, I declare it to be fine by Lyla Holland

Lyla was glad that Robyn had on older sibling to help her navigate the goings-on at Sonora. As the oldest in her family, Lyla felt like she was flying blind a lot of the time. Sure, her mom had gone to school here, but that was ages ago and things had probably changed at least a little since then. It wasn't like Mom talked much about her school days, anyway.

As it was, Lyla was happy to ride on Robyn's older-sibling-wisdom as long as her friend allowed it.

"That would be great!" Lyla exclaimed when Robyn offered to bunk together at the bonfire, "Although I don't know if I snore...Samara hasn't mentioned it, but I think she might be too polite to say if I did."

Lyla resolved to ask Samara about her sleeping habits as soon as possible. She hadn't ever considered it. She wouldn't want to subject anybody to snoring, but she couldn't very well do anything about it if she didn't know about it in the first place. Hopefully she hadn't been annoying Samara by sawing logs all last year!

"Do you think they'll roast marshmallows? And tell ghost stories?" Lyla asked, much more excited about the former than the latter. Scary stories gave her the heebie-jeebies, which she knew was the point, but she still didn't like it. Marshmallows were far better.

64 Lyla Holland In the name of school unity, I declare it to be fine 1559 0 5

Phil Carson

March 08, 2023 10:40 PM

I wish you luck by Phil Carson

Phil was a little surprised that Bonabelle remembered his name. There was a fairly significant age difference between them (though, to be fair, smaller than the one between him and Gabriel, so it wasn't that weird, really, and they were in the same House, if not in any classes or activities together, and he did hang out with her girlfriend in Gaming Club, so maybe Val talked about him a little with Bonabelle). He smiled a little more warmly at her, feeling pleased and even a little flattered that she knew who he was.

"It was alright," he said neutrally in response to her question. "Had a good time with my mom. Christmas was fun. Dad and Tanya - my stepmom - were fine." He shrugged and rolled his eyes a little. "My little sister was loud and the force of chaos she usually is." That was why he called her Loki after all. He wasn't sure if he'd ever called her Felicity. Maybe, maybe, when she was a baby and taking a nap. Her actual name had otherwise never suited her at all.

"How was yours?" he returned, both because this was the polite and obvious question to ask at this point in the conversation, and because he was genuinely curious what the seventh year did over break. At seventeen, witches and wizards had more autonomy along with the legal right to do magic, and he wondered if she'd taken advantage of that.

1 Phil Carson I wish you luck 1536 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

March 10, 2023 3:59 AM

Huzzah! by Robyn Lundstrom

"I don't mind if you do," Robyn assured Lyla, when she said she would need to check about the snoring thing - Robyn was just relieved to have someone to share with. "Though I'm sure you don't," she added.

"They'd better!" she said, regarding marshmallows. It was hard to tell which customs were likely to transfer. At times, it seemed utterly random. But the school at least served pizza from time to time, so it had heard of what Robyn regarded as 'normal' food. There was no reason for the school not to know about marshmallows, and yet that was no guarantee of them appearing. She couldn't recall Xavier specifically mentioning them, but it would have struck her as an unremarkable detail (besides the fact that he'd had marshmallows and she hadn't). "I mean, maybe creepy stories rather than ghost stories?" she guessed. "Seeing as they have actual ghosts. And they're not reeeally scary," she said, allowing for some wiggle room on that point. Most of her interactions with them had been okay, once she had gotten over the idea of them in general. There were a couple that liked to talk about their grizzly deaths, which she didn't want to hear about, but generally they were just kind of awkward to talk to because they and Robyn had very little in terms of common frames of reference. They asked about classes, commented on how she was growing, and occasionally made uncomfortable sexist or racist generalisations. It was less like being haunted - as per the movie depictions - and more like talking to a transparent elderly relative.

13 Robyn Lundstrom Huzzah! 1558 0 5

Donovan Peters

March 12, 2023 3:47 AM

Time for a food coma by Donovan Peters

It was bittersweet to be back at Sonora. While he was glad to be back where he could keep practicing magic, Donovan missed home. It had been a little weird to go back to Iowa for the break; Leo's family had invited them over for Christmas dinner for the first time ever, and his parents had foregone their traditional pizza-and-ice cream fare and trundled him down the road to the Lyons'.

You wouldn't know anything was special about the Lyons household by looking at it, but once you got inside, it was clear that there was something fishy. Most notably, in the living room, there was an entire wall, where one might have a TV, dedicated to glass baubles suspended in the air, each a different color, and each labeled with numbers that made no sense to Donovan. His dad had been the first to say, "hey, what's with all the baubles?", which had launched Mr. Lyons into a diatribe about temperature, and barometric pressure, and then Donovan stopped paying attention, so he never really found out what the baubles were for.

Other than that, they had decorated for the holiday like a hybrid of wizards and muggles, paper snowflakes taped up next to the garlands of shimmering gold strands, an enchanted weathervane on the top of the tree, spinning lazily like a truck stop diner sign.

That morning, Donovan had gotten a new broomstick from his anxious parents ("Is it a good one? Do you like it?") and was itching to try it out. So, as soon as it was acceptable, he and Leo had snuck out to the back field to run some Quidditch drills.

Donovan had largely gotten over the frog incident in Potions, but he still kind of wondered about whether or not he was out-maturing his friend. Being on the receiving end of such a prank was...not nice, and it sort of made him feel badly for participating in such things before. He'd never really gotten the chance to talk to Leo about it, and it had been so long, he didn't know how to bring it up now. He had ended up deciding to just move on, and take it as a lesson to keep a closer eye on Leo, and stop him from doing dumb things like that again.

The Feast was one of the best things about coming back, and it was even better that the headmaster wasn't a particularly wordy fella, so they could dig in almost straight away. Donovan had learned from the feast at the beginning of the year to pace himself, so he surveyed the options carefully before making his selections. Spying a favorite, he nudged his neighbor.

"Could you pass the tater tot casserole?"

OOC: Leo/the Lyons are also mine :)

64 Donovan Peters Time for a food coma 1569 0 5

Leo Lyons

March 12, 2023 4:23 AM

Frog boy no more by Leo Lyons

Leo didn't regret very many things, but he certainly regretted sitting next to Nausicaa in Potions class last semester. It wasn't the detention that he minded, nor the smell of the pickled frog juice that had spilled in his satchel. It was the fact that she had been ahead of him at every turn, acting like she was better than him, smarter than him. She might be a year older, but she was still just a kid, and Leo was determined that he would never let her outwit him again.

He could see her at the Aladren table, giving a sneer to the boy across from her. Leo started tallying up the ways he could win. He was a better flyer, he was pretty sure. He'd never seen Nausicaa fly, and all the best flyers were probably on the Quidditch team, anyway. He'd practiced every day over winter break, just to be sure. She was an Aladren, which most likely meant she was highly logical, which meant that he would have to be creative and unexpected to get around her.

What he was trying to win, he didn't fully know. All he knew was that he never wanted Her Snobbiness to have any reason to look down on him again, even if it meant studying and practicing in every spare moment. He would be the top student in all of his classes, he would be the star Quidditch player. He didn't have any more time to waste on stupid antics that just ended up making him look dumb. He was going straight.

As he tore his eyes away from the Aladren table, he realized he was gripping his fork in his fist. Relaxing his fingers, he noticed the person across the table looking at him.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm just....excited to eat. Pass the gravy?"

64 Leo Lyons Frog boy no more 1568 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

March 12, 2023 9:38 PM

And it don't stop comin' by Stanley O'Malley

“Dude, I spend so much mental energy trying not to think about it,” Stanley grimaced. Yeah, he definitely knew where babies came from, but he was trying to be excited about the baby part and not grossed out by the other part. He just let Oz talk about his own mom some more. It was cool to hear that she was doing stuff like painting if that was what made her happy. Stanley was noticing more and more the kind of hard choices and sacrifices you had to make when you were a grown up, and it really kinda sucked. He also got the distinct impression that Oz and Henry’s mom had to make even more sacrifices than usual, because her life was a lot less cushy than his parents’ (at least financially - his own parents still had a lot of trauma of their own).

That train of thought was derailed by Oz’s disgust over some of their other tablemates. Billy and Ray, huh? That was… meh. There was just, like, food and stuff and a lot of people around, so despite a whooole winter break apart, it seemed a bit like overkill. Or maybe Stanley was just frustrated and annoyed that he didn’t have anybody to kiss. He resisted the urge to glance at the Aladren table.

Oz got them back on track, although Stanley wasn’t sure he loved this new track. What was he going to do after graduation? “Wally’s probably gonna want us to go to some lame, stuffy college,” he groaned. “We’ve started on applications, but we haven’t followed up to compare in a while.”

12 Stanley O'Malley And it don't stop comin' 1491 0 5

Misty Brockert

March 12, 2023 9:48 PM

Coma coma coma coma coma chameleon~ by Misty Brockert

She did it: she had made it through her very first semester of her magical education. Misty felt like she was integrating okay, although she wasn’t sure that she had formed any truly strong friendships yet. And her impression on her professors was probably not much either. Aside from her last name, she was so far not of particular note in class, except for a reminder here and there that she needed to pay more attention and turn her homework in on time. All stuff they probably never had to tell her sister, Gwendolyn, of course. But the girls were different, of course, and Mama said she was proud of them both, so everything was okay.

It was exciting to come back and feel a little more in the loop. For the most part, she knew which hallways led where, and how much time she needed to get from her dorm room in Pecari to the Great Hall, for example. It felt good to fit in, even if only a little.

Now immersed in her second Sonora feast, Misty scanned the options on the table before her, but she was interrupted by a neighbor asking for a dish. “Oh, sure,” she said, grabbing and handing down the tater tot casserole in question. She recognized the person as Donovan, the only other Pecari in her year. Misty thought he seemed nice, and he had really pretty eyes and soft-looking hair, so she hardly minded his company, to say the least.

“How was your break, Donovan?” she asked cheerfully. “So weird going home now, wasn’t it? Finally starting to get into the swing of things here, and it’s already time to go home again! Are you glad to be back?”

12 Misty Brockert Coma coma coma coma coma chameleon~ 1567 0 5

Donovan Peters

March 13, 2023 1:05 AM

A pet chameleon would be cool by Donovan Peters

Although it seemed like half the Pecari table was on the Quidditch team, Donovan had managed to sit next to none of them. Misty was nice enough, though, and in his year-group and his House, so it wouldn't be a bad thing to be friends with her. He accepted his requested dish with a word of thanks.

"My break was good, thanks for asking," he said politely, "It is kind of weird to go back home now, knowing about all of this-" he waved his hand to indicate the school, "-and not being able to do anything about it. I'm a muggleborn," he tacked on by way of explanation, just in case Misty didn't know already, "So it's all pretty different from what I'm used to."

His mouth twisted to the side while he thought about the other half of her inquiry. He picked a tater tot apart to buy some time.

"I am glad to be back," he tested, and finding his words to be true, he went on, "But at the same time, I'm homesick. But then again, I know that last semester flew by, and I'm going to blink and this one will be over, too. So...." running out of words and feeling slightly like he'd overshared, Donovan shrugged.

"How was your break?" he returned her question, trying to smooth over the brief awkward silence that had settled between them, "Did you do anything fun?"

64 Donovan Peters A pet chameleon would be cool 1569 0 5

Isla Brockert

March 13, 2023 3:36 AM

Ditto by Isla Brockert

Midterm had really been mostly okay for Isla. She’d had to go to a party but she was sort of less bothered by that-even though it had actually not been at all fun-because Liesl’s mother had forced her to go and to wear a very not Liesl like pale pink dress and otherwise, just things that did not suit the Teppenpaw at all such as a matching manicure. Ugh. It would not have been Isla’s style either. It was more Esme. Which was fine-for Esme . It was so wrong for Liesl. One thing that Isla was eternally grateful for was that her parents were understanding and at least she could wear what she wanted, within reason.

Anyway, she had actually felt the need to go to that ball in order to have her cousin’s back. After all, this was a situation that she understood most of anyone. Other members of their family-such as Grandfather and Allegra- disliked going to balls but the Aladren was the one going through the same reasons for disliking them as Liesl. So, the two of them had spent the ball together. Which might have been fun, except that the fourth year was barely keeping it together. Jasper had spent time with them too, consoling the younger Teppenpaw, but he was very… eligible , so felt obligated to ask girls to dance, not that guys didn’t ask Isla or Liesl.

It was a bit bothersome though because these boys were not seeing who Liesl truly was. As much as Isla felt the need to stifle herself and not talk too much about puppets, at least people were seeing something of the real her. The Teppenpaw might as well have been dressed in a costume, which, depending on said costume, might have actually suited Liesl better.

Honestly, Isla felt that there was a boy here at Sonora who was just perfectly well suited to her cousin. Hans absolutely saw Liesl for who she was and liked her. That was something rare and special, especially for someone like the fourth year, like Isla herself, who was not exactly…mainstream. And Isla was pretty sure that he was even a pureblood. Maybe Alfie and Jacqueline would decide that the fourth year should take what she could get. It would be mean for them to think of it that way, but that was like them where their eldest was concerned, and would work out best for Liesl anyway.

Other than that though, Midterm hadn’t been that bad. The Aladren had had to put up with Topaz and Uncle Eustace at times, which was never fun, but at least there had been plenty of times where it had been just Isla, her parents and siblings. And Josh. It would never be just the seven of them, the “complete family”-as in her dad’s idea of his complete family- they’d been since Uriah was born, now that Allegra was married. Not Isla disliked her brother-in-law, he was really great. He treated her sister super well and stood up to Topaz for her.

Which meant the Aladren alumna absolutely despised him. Josh had been made well aware that he needed to exercise an abundance of caution around her, and use such common sense practices as not accepting food or drink from Topaz or allow them to go unattended around her. These weren’t just rules for Miles, it was just that the eight year old was easier to poison than everyone else.

Anyway, it wasn’t so much anything against Josh personally as it was that his presence meant things were different now and they’d never be how they were again. And they’d probably just change more when Esme got married and then Isla and her brothers-although the idea of Olaf marrying was extremely odd to her and not because he was her little brother and the idea of little brothers marrying was weird in general-and then they’d all have children with their respective spouses. Isla just felt a little…wistful about it, even though she liked her brother-in-law. Hopefully, she’d like the rest of her siblings-in-law too someday.

And speaking of things that she knew in the long run she would feel all sad and nostalgic about, now she was back at Sonora with her roommates. Her real friends. The sixth year felt super lucky to have them, especially given Topaz’s experiences-which, after all, had of course been inevitable when Topaz was involved but still, Isla was glad to have a much better one. Sometimes even normal non-sociopathic people did not get on with roommates and there was always the possibility, outside of Teppenpaw, that someone would be the unpleasant version of their house’s traits. Like, Isla could think of some Aladrens that were less than pleasant, aside from Topaz, and she felt lucky that she’d gotten roommates who were the good kind of them.

Isla nodded at Rosalynn’s remark. “That’s Grandfather for you. Short and not so sweet.” Although she loved her grandfather and he was always fairly decent to her and his other grandchildren and had not said anything offensive-which arguably might be a reason he kept things short so he didn’t end up doing so-sweet was not an adjective she would ever apply to the man.

She considered what both her friends had to say. “Actually, there is a three person minimum.” Isla left unsaid why they needed at least three people. It was pretty much the same reason as the new bed rule, although for whatever reason the spells on their beds in the Bonfire tent were less strict. They could at least sit on the beds in their tent together and she did wonder why the ones on their regular beds were stricter. Isla thought it was really sad that she and her friends couldn’t sit together and talk on their beds like they had previously. She understood that they didn’t want anyone…doing inappropriate things but the wards were a little extreme. She did not want to have to sit on the floor to be able to have intimate conversations with her friends or study or play games. Nor did she want to sit in the common room where any of the Aladrens could hear what they were saying. Granted, that wasn’t quite as big of an issue since Topaz graduated, but still, it was reasonable to want privacy when talking to your friends and it was reasonable to want to sit on their beds to talk and whatnot.

“It used to be four to a tent, but they changed it because people were being left out.” Isla continued. “Like, imagine every girl in your year was sharing a tent with each other except you. That would totally suck.” Which was more or less what happened to Angelique. Although she did have Tasha, another distant cousin, but it was, like, really hard to feel like you had nobody but your family to hang out with. Like, you were grateful to have family, but it hurt not to be accepted by others. Although Angelique often mentioned how she just did not fit in with her overly sporty year group. However, not being accepted by others was exactly what Isla was worried about happening to Liesl-and herself -at society balls. These situations made her all the more grateful for Rosalynn and Lorena. “So, it’s three minimum, and no max.”

The sixth year went on “I actually do agree with Lorena. That we should plan on it just being us. And it’s not so much because I want to leave someone out, but because well, we’re sort of a unit and like someone else might feel left out because we’re such good friends” Isla would hate being in such a situation personally, although she supposed it was better than, say, having nobody at all. As it was, she was a little worried about some of her relatives, Liesl-whose best friend was a boy-and Olaf-who was a giant misanthrope-in particular“Although we could take in a pair who can’t find a third if need be.”

11 Isla Brockert Ditto 1521 0 5

Oz Spellman

March 13, 2023 7:05 PM

No comment by Oz Spellman

Oz smirked as Stanley revealed that yes, He absolutely understood where babies came from and was trying not to think about it. As they were friends, he let it drop.

Stanley's descriptions of his future plans were a little weird to Oz. Not the way they might have been to most people, in that they seemed to hinge on Wally - that made total sense to him. But the way Stanley talked about college made it sound like high school - something you dragged yourself through, whether you wanted to or not, rather than some lofty goal that you could aim for if you were good enough. Oz had long ago accepted that he himself was not. He wasn't smart enough to get an academic scholarship, and whilst he was passionate about sports, he wasn't top tier and headed for an athletic scholarship. Still, he'd been gifted the golden opportunity he needed in the form of Sonora - out of the whole heap of trouble he would have wound up in had he continued living where he'd grown up.

"Benefits of not being college material," he gestured to himself. It wasn't worth being bitter or jealous over something that had never been in his future anyway. Even if the casual way Stanley spoke about it- it didn't matter. "So long as I'm not dead or in jail, I reckon I'm exceeding expectations. I mean, not mom's. But like... She's always been delusionally optimistic about me." He'd also hidden a lot of the worst things he'd been mixed up in from her. "I guess you have to go even if you don't really want to?" he asked. Colleges were full of rich kids, so he guessed it made sense for Stanley to see it as his default future as much as Oz had seen his as majorly screwing up, prior to Sonora.

13 Oz Spellman No comment 1514 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

March 13, 2023 9:10 PM

Yeah I regret saying it. by Stanley O'Malley

“I guess you have to go even if you don’t really want to?”

The question surprised him so much that he didn’t even have a chance to comment on Oz’s previous statements about just remaining alive and out of jail (a low ball, Stanley thought, that Oz could easily overcome). “Well yeah,” he blinked. “I mean, no. Like, I don’t have to.” The magical world’s career trajectories seemed sometimes less reliant on formal education after their seven years of schooling. Mom had done an apprenticeship under an apothecary to continue building her knowledge of potions. How that made her a qualified teacher, of course, was up for debate, but when you were smart enough to invent some of the course material, that seemed to matter less. Dad had taken some time to figure out what he wanted to do, and while his social work did require a degree, he hadn’t gone immediately after graduating. But that wasn’t it. His parents would have loved him no matter what he chose to do.

“It’s just… Wally, y’know?” Maybe it was different for Oz and Henry, but Stanley and Wally… well, Sonora was the most they’d ever been apart, being in different Houses. And even that was hard. More on Stanley than Wally, he had come to realize, and more than he expected. “Wally’s all smart and stuff. So he’s definitely gotta go. And I’d…. miss his dumb, stupid face.”

12 Stanley O'Malley Yeah I regret saying it. 1491 0 5

Misty Brockert

March 13, 2023 9:17 PM

I'm just relieved I spelled it right, honestly. by Misty Brockert

Oh! Misty didn’t even realize that Donovan was a Muggleborn. Technically that meant she wasn’t supposed to date him - her parents and immediate family felt no ill-will or active prejudice, but there were supposed rules to things like that, and Misty wasn’t quite old enough yet to ask questions - but it also kinda just made him even cuter. Her eyes twinkled with a spark of rebellion.

“My break was lovely,” she answered. “I went ice skating a lot. I do that sometimes here too, in the MARS rooms, but it was really nice to do it outside. And my mom was in a super fun production of The Nutcracker this year! She’s a ballet dancer.” Mama was by no means the prima anymore at her age - not that she was super old, but for a ballerina, the prime was fairly short-lived - but she did a really good job in the party scene at the beginning of the show, where Clara gets the nutcracker from her godfather, Drosselmeyer.

“The school year really does fly by, though,” she added, nodding in agreement to Donovan’s sentiments. “That’s what my parents say. My dad went here, along with a bunch of our family. And my sister Gwendolyn is already a third year, and I’m just like, wow! Where does the time go?”

12 Misty Brockert I'm just relieved I spelled it right, honestly. 1567 0 5

Rosalynn Tellerman

March 13, 2023 9:39 PM

Great. We're all on the same page here. by Rosalynn Tellerman

Rosalynn nodded along as Lorena and Isla both expressed a preference to be just the three of them, and Isla confirmed that was allowed. She'd forgotten that was the case, and it explained why she couldn't remember who their fourth had been last time. Sully or Dad must have said something about there being four to a tent and she'd just held onto that number.

"Okay, cool, that sounds good," she agreed readily, as the two of them were easily her closest friends and she didn't need anyone else to join in for it to be a good time. Being in a tent was different enough to make it special and not like their normal sharing of a room. "Just the three of us unless a pair of girls we like need more people for a tent." It sounded like a good compromise to her between the comfort of their usual configuration and being welcoming to others.

"I can't believe we're coming up on our last two midsummer events already!" The last one would be the Ball, which would be more about couples than friends, though she'd definitely make sure to spend at least some of the time with Isla and Lorena and not just hog Tommy the whole night long, but this one was definitely designed more with friends in mind, and she was really looking forward to it. "I wonder if they're going to do some kind of theme with it?" From what she'd heard about Sully's experiences and what Dad told her about when he worked here, the staff usually seemed to do something a little different from one bonfire to the next, though the main points all remained the same. "I wonder if the Performing Arts Club could do a campfire puppet show or something?" she wondered aloud with a grin and glance at Isla. "Or some dramatic story telling, or lead a sing-along?"

1 Rosalynn Tellerman Great. We're all on the same page here. 1520 0 5

Quincy Wright

March 14, 2023 12:13 AM

Oh. Good. by Quincy Wright

Quincy felt even worse for the girl he'd spilled on when she responded and seemed really stiff and awkward and then managed to spill even more on herself. He thought she must be one of those kids that was just a total mess. He understood; he'd been that way at varying times too. He just didn't think about that anymore. Never again.

He waved his wand and muttered the incantation to clean the girl up and nodded to her with a polite, flat smile.

"There ya go," he said, putting his wand away and rubbing his palms on his pants. "Do you want a drink back?" The pitchers were all far enough away that he thought she probably couldn't reach. "Or anything else?" There weren't a lot of things he was super proud of about himself anymore but he thought that probably reaching stuff further along the table was something he could offer.

He wasn't sure if he actually wanted to ask about her break since she seemed so awkward and miserable but he wasn't sure where else to take the conversation.

"You uh... you like the... uh. Do you like the... bread?" he finally asked, floundering as he tried to find something neutral to say.

22 Quincy Wright Oh. Good. 1495 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

March 14, 2023 12:22 AM

As... usual? by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ray shivered a little at the idea of a whole town going after a couple of women for being witches. It oozed with the fear and hatred that had run an entire race of people out of a shared world, and, even worse, the misogyny that made it so ferocious against women more than anything else. It was hard to say for sure whether or not the woomen in the story were actual witches or not since women didn't actually have to do any magic to be called witches in a lot of the world throughout history, but the idea hit close to home for Ray either way. She was all too familiar with being run out of a place for being who or what she was, even if she had been fortunate enough not to have been murdered for it at any point so far. She hoped it came off as being a properly good audience member instead of anything more sincere. Fear wasn't a good look.

"That sounds really... intense," she decided. "What are you going to do with it all? Are you guys the only ones who can get in?" The last was offered with a small enough cmirk to suggest that maybe, just maybe, she'd like to come visit sometime. Depending on how it went, of course. "Is it haunted?" she added. Then she smiled a bit. "Are these Iris questions?"

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn As... usual? 1525 0 5

Donovan Peters

March 14, 2023 3:50 AM

Haha spelling-get it? Because it's wizard school by Donovan Peters

It sounded like Misty's whole family had gone to school here, which shouldn't have been a surprise, with all of the Brockerts in and around Sonora, but Donovan simply hadn't made the connection before. She was, then, presumably a pureblood, which as far as Donovan could tell, didn't mean much outside of the upper crust of wizarding society. And, as she seemed happy enough to be chatting with him, he didn't think anything more of it.

Ballerina-ing sounded kind of boring, but he nodded politely and said, "That's cool for your mom. I've never been ice skating, at least not for real, like at a hockey rink. I didn't know that MARS could do that. You should show me how to set that up sometime. I've just got a little pond at home, and it's really bumpy to skate on."

At least he wasn't alone in thinking that time moved faster when he was at school. He had been prepared to let embarrassment roll off his shoulders after minorly freaking out about the whole time-jump thing, but apparently it had not shown as outwardly as he'd thought, because Misty wholeheartedly agreed with him about how weird it was, and it made him smile in relief. Not crazy, he thought to himself, at least, not about that.

"I didn't know you had a sister," he said, keeping the conversation rolling as smoothly as he could while shoveling green bean casserole into his mouth, "What House is she in?"

64 Donovan Peters Haha spelling-get it? Because it's wizard school 1569 0 5

Billy Cobb

March 14, 2023 10:17 PM

Absolutely! What are we talking about again? by Billy Cobb

If he didn't know any better, Billy would think that something was off with his girlfriend's initial response. He swallowed his mouthful of chicken with a nod. "Yeah, it sure sounded like it. Witches or not, them townsfolk were dumb and got what they deserved." He paused for a moment to ponder. "They still might be gettin' it too, though I suspect most of 'em do what they can to avoid it. Oh well." He waved his hand dismissively.

Her next quest was lots more fun and his face reflected that thought. "I dunno yet, my plan was always to run off and explore as much of the world as I could. I kinda figured doing that the rough way, but this sure could make things easier!" From the sounds of what he had learned, there was plenty of money for a trek about the world, or two. He gave Ray a wink, "It'd be a lot more fun with some pleasant company…"

"As for anyone else being able to get in, I dunno. No one else back home has been able to," then added, "Not that we've tried." He liked that smirk on her pretty face. "If you happen to know any magical folk that wanted to experiment, well I could probably be convinced to try." He really wasn't sure how that would all work, but if he did manage to get Ray to visit, then just maybe it would get Aunt Emily off his back for once and for all.

These questions weren't so hard. Apparently he didn't need Iris for them. It was the boring stuff he hadn't paid any attention to. Ray was asking about the interestin' stuff. "Oh, it's haunted alright." He responded in a spooky voice. "The place comes with a ghost butler that's been watching over the place for ages."

The feeling had struck him once or twice since he'd learned about what was happening, and he generally dismissed it as 'something to deal with later'. But, as he talked about it with Ray, it was creeping back and 'dealing with it later' wasn't working so well any more. 'Later' was rapidly approaching. Still, this wasn't something that Ray should need to worry about, so he did his best to hide it. How would it look if she knew he didn't have any idea what he was supposed to be doing with all this?

2 Billy Cobb Absolutely! What are we talking about again? 1519 0 5

Charlotte O'Malley

March 15, 2023 4:13 AM

refrains from making lion pun by Charlotte O'Malley

Midterm had been so nice. Charlotte had been so happy to see her parents and all the other relatives that weren’t at school. Although she was feeling a bit…sentimental. Like, as excited as she was about her new younger sibling, she still felt a bit sad about this being the last time it would be the five of them. Not to mention that Wally and Stanley were all grown up now and might be around less once they graduated from Sonora.

Which actually made her more sad. Charlotte was extremely excited about the new baby but her brothers leaving-even though they’d been at school for half of her childhood anyway-just seemed…like it wasn’t quite the same, because they were adults and would be starting their own lives and just moving out and not being home. Not living there. Not being just away at school but gone . What if they never got to be together with the six of them because Stanley and Wally weren’t there?

She was suddenly gripped with worries. Not only about personally missing her brothers, but like, she was worried about her parents. Dad was so happy to have this wonderful family because his childhood was…not great. Charlotte didn’t know all the details but she knew that it had something to do with those unmentionable relatives. Plus, he saw the absolute worst every day at his job. Those were things she absolutely didn’t know in great detail because Dad never wanted to expose them to those gory details. Plus, there was confidentiality and all that. So, it was nice that he had built a loving, mostly functional family of his own. Would he have a hard time with her brothers leaving for good? Would Mom? Like, with the new baby, if they were gone, would they get to be the full family of six? Would her parents-Mom’s upbringing wasn’t a picture perfect one either-be disappointed and upset if they didn’t?

The other thing Charlotte honestly worried about was Wally and Val. And Bonabelle. The Teppenpaw didn’t know if Lavender’s picture of Wally’s girlfriend’s girlfriend was accurate, if she was really that selfish and mean but even if Bonabelle was super nice-which honestly was doubtful, because there had to be some truth to Lavender’s view of things since if the other seventh year was super nice, Lavender would not just think she was terrible, no matter how jealous the Crotalus happened to be-it was still completely unfair to Wally for his girlfriend to also be with someone else but Charlotte’s brother was so head over heels in love with Val that he’d put up with anything.

Okay, yes, she was only twelve and probably did not understand the intricacies of Big Kid drama. She did wonder what it would be like to be in love with someone like that. The Teppenpaw absolutely did want to find someone special, and have what her parents did. However, Charlotte still didn’t want to share her boyfriend the way Wally had to share Val but she wanted to have someone she loved so much that almost anything else was okay.

Still, she was worried about her brother, and she wondered about the older Teppenpaw’s intentions for him. The first year might need to have a chat with Val about her intentions for Wally. He was a sensitive person and Charlotte didn’t want to see him get hurt. She knew that if she was in the same situation she would feel like she was always competing with the other partner and that she was maybe not good enough, that she didn’t matter as much.

She entered the Cascade Hall for the Returning Feast, waving at Quillan before sitting down at the Teppenpaw table, where she found herself sitting across from Leo, her year and housemate, whom she didn’t really know yet. Really, other than that fact, all she knew was that he had a friend in Pecari, and he had played a huge prank in Potions class. Charlotte did not necessarily like pranks much, but this one was not on a specific person, so it was forgivable. Pranks played on specific people qualified as bullying as far as she was concerned, because the target experienced potential humiliation or were made to feel stupid. Leo’s prank was on the entire class, and while Charlotte didn’t understand his exact motivation-it had been admittedly a boring class for anyone who wasn’t completely new to the subject of Potions, so maybe he was just trying to liven things up-it wasn’t the kind of thing that made him a mean person.

However, since a lot of their classmates were the…serious type, sort of like little adults, it was very possible that they did not want to associate with Leo now. And, well, Charlotte wanted to be the sort of person who befriended people who might be having a difficult time making friends. Even though he had his friend from home, who would hopefully stick by him. Also, he was her year and housemate, so, yeah. Charlotte wanted to be on good terms with him.

Headmaster Brockert welcomed them back and said little else. Actually, he said nothing else. The Teppenpaw had heard that he was a man of few words. Then the feast began. She noticed that Leo was looking at the Aladren table and gripping his fork rather tight and she felt even worse for him, wondering which Aladren was making him react in such a way, although Charlotte was sure it wasn’t Quillan who seemed sweet. Still, not all Aladrens were nice people-Fabian had made sure that she knew that. Some of them were snobby and hypercompetitive.

"Sorry,I'm just....excited to eat. Pass the gravy?"

“Sure.” Charlotte replied, complying with his request. “So, how was your midterm?” She felt that was a safe question to ask, although one never knew. She was pretty sure her dad had some pretty bad ones. Like there was the time Grandpa Jeffrey couldn’t take it more with the Teppenpaw’s biological grandmother and left, taking Dad with him and filing for divorce. Which, come to think of it, might have actually been a good one, because Dad and Grandpa Jeffrey had gained their freedom from a terrible situation.

Still, if something was bothering Leo, it was clearly someone here. Charlotte absolutely did not buy his story about being excited to eat, unless perhaps he wasn’t getting enough food at home for some reason. Still, she didn’t know him well enough to pry. Although arguably it might be prying to ask someone about their midterm, but most of the time that was considered a normal innocuous question.

11 Charlotte O'Malley *refrains from making lion pun* 1573 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

March 16, 2023 9:05 PM

I like this page. by Lorena Abernathy

Lorena was relieved that her friends were pretty much on the same page as her. It was nice having Isla around for talks like this: whether she wanted to or not, Isla probably knew everything about the school, what with the Headmaster being her grandfather. That was definitely something that would have intimidated Lorena if she had known it before she had met her.

Rosalynn mused over it being their second to last midsummer event, which Lorena did not want to hear because that was entirely too close to sounding like getting close to graduating and being adults and Lorena just had absolutely no idea what to do with that. But Ros mostly kept positive, wondering what kind of themes might be announced as the bonfire grew closer. “Ooh, that would be so cool!” she grinned in agreement.

Because of the rotation of the events, their ~~senior year~~ seventh year would be another ball. That was a bit daunting as a final send off, but that was the reality of it. Rosalynn always did a good job balancing between hanging out with the friends and hanging out with Tommy (and Lorena was still pretty proud of helping Tommy with his last promposal-style display). She did wonder for herself and Isla, though. Lorena went to the last one with Oz, and that had been kind of like dating for a while, but it didn’t really work out for too long. Dating at fourteen was hard, unless you found yourself with… well, with a Tommy.

There weren’t a ton of boys in this school for options, though. Maybe this time Lorena would see about going with Henry, so she could compare. Although Henry had always seemed more mature, so really, maybe the better gauge would've been going with him before and then Oz next time. In any case, she had a whole year to worry about that stuff, so she pushed it from her mind and instead tuned back into the conversation with her friends.

12 Lorena Abernathy I like this page. 1510 0 5

Misty Brockert

March 16, 2023 9:22 PM

I get it! That's hilarious! by Misty Brockert

Oooooh, Donovan wanted to come skating with her! “I would love to show you!” she beamed. Ice skating was her most favorite thing in the whole world - like how Mama loved doing ballet. Sometimes Misty thought she wanted to go to the olympics, but she knew that was super, super hard to do, and while Mama had to work very hard to become a professional ballerina, Misty wasn’t sure if she was willing to put in as much work. She didn’t want to lose the spark and fun part of it in pursuit of the career and accolades.

She was also glad when Donovan asked about her sister. Misty didn’t think it was hard to tell they were related, but maybe he just hadn’t noticed. There were a lot of people in this school named Brockert, but exactly two of them were this level of racially ambiguous. Misty thought Gwendolyn got the better traits from both their caucasian father and Chinese mother, but at the end of the day, she also thought that the two of them made a nice little set.

“Gwendolyn is in Aladren,” she answered. The first year leaned in her seat slightly to try to get a line of sight on her sister. “There she is!” she smiled as she saw her, pointing so that Donovan could see and then giving a wave in case Gwendolyn was looking. “Aladren suits her. She’s so smart. Sometimes I’m pretty sure she knows absolutely everything!”

“Do you have any siblings?” she asked in return, realizing now just how little she actually had gotten to know Donovan thus far.

12 Misty Brockert I get it! That's hilarious! 1567 0 5

Leo Lyons

March 18, 2023 3:45 AM

If it's a good pun, I'd laugh by Leo Lyons

As Charlotte passed him the gravy, she asked about his midterm. It had been a decent break, with new Quidditch gloves under the tree for him. His family had invited the Peters over for Christmas dinner, and once his dad had cornered Mr. Peters into 'weather talk', he and Donovan had been able to slip out and break in their new gear. Leo poured the gravy into the waiting mashed potato volcano while he thought about it. If there was anything he had learned in his first semester, it was to be careful when you were talking to people.

Not that Charlotte was anything like Nausicaa. Quite the opposite, actually. Although Leo had not had the chance to spend much time with Charlotte, she seemed like she was always kind to her classmates-like a true Tepp. He should probably try to hang out her more, she was what his mother would call, 'a good influence'.

"Pretty good, I guess. My dad made it snow for Christmas morning so we could go sledding. It was kind of nice to just get a break from school for a while." And hopefully put enough time and space away from the frog incident that people would just leave it in the past, he added silently. It had been a couple days' worth of side-eye thrown his way before Leo realized that a lot of the kids here were way too mature for silliness during class.

"How was yours?" he asked, taking a bite from his plate, "Did you do anything fun?"

As the mashed potato hit his stomach, he felt instantly better, and he wondered if perhaps he was just hangry before. He took another, slightly-bigger-but-not-rudely-big bite while he listened to Charlotte's reply.

64 Leo Lyons If it's a good pun, I'd laugh 1568 0 5

Donovan Peters

March 18, 2023 6:29 AM

Pass the pun-kin juice? by Donovan Peters

Excellent! Misty's enthusiasm was contagious, and Donovan found himself grinning ear to ear. Misty was turning out to be a pretty awesome person, and he didn't know why he'd just now found that out. He waved towards her sister at the Aladren table. It was cool that Misty spoke so highly of Gwendolyn; there were a lot of sibling pairs that let the whole sibling rivalry thing take over their whole relationship.

"No, no brothers or sisters," he answered, shaking his head, "Just cows. My family owns a dairy farm. I've got Leo, though. He's my neighbor, and he's four days younger than me. He goes to school here, too. He's over in Teppenpaw."

He offered a cheery wave at Leo, but he wasn't paying attention. Donovan shrugged. "Eh...you can meet him later."

He scooped a second helping of casserole onto his plate. His mom always said he could eat his weight in tater tot casserole. He couldn't help that the creamy, cheesy, potato-ey goodness was so delicious. It made up for all the tuna noodle and vegetable surprise casseroles his mom had tried to feed him. Truly, it was the king of all casseroles.

Breaking away from the love of his life, he looked back up at Misty. She was actually sort of...cute? Like, in the way her eyes sort of squinted when she smiled, but also her smile was really nice, as well. He kind of wanted to keep making her smile, just so he could see it. Study it. Figure out what was so intriguing about it.

He couldn't remember ever being this... curious.

"How about next Saturday? For skating, I mean. Before Quidditch practice?"

64 Donovan Peters Pass the pun-kin juice? 1569 0 5

Lyla Holland

March 18, 2023 6:56 AM

You've got a point, there by Lyla Holland

"Oh yeah, you're probably right," Lyla admitted, acknowledging Robyn's observations about ghosts, "It's probably more like Acromantula stories or something. Not that I'm hoping for that!" she added quickly, "I'd prefer just regular stories, to be perfectly honest. Or funny ones."

She tried to think of an example of a story, but put on the spot, her mind went blank. She'd have to write some down later so she could remember them.

Lyla hadn't ever been camping, but Robyn had, so she quickly organized her questions in order of importance. Ticking them off on her fingers, she recited them.

"I haven't ever been camping, so I've just got some questions," she started, "First, what do you do if a creepy-crawly gets into your sleeping bag in the middle of the night? Next, how many marshmallows can you eat? I'll get my mom to send me some so we'll be sure to have them. Lastly, well, it's not a question, but I don't know how to put up a tent. I know they'll probably do it for us, but I'd rather be prepared."

Her most pressing inquisitiveness sated, Lyla leaned back and munched on a roll while she listened to Robyn's answers.

64 Lyla Holland You've got a point, there 1559 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

March 18, 2023 9:08 PM

Good? by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa stared at the boy, nearly dumbfounded. Had he completely missed the utter disdain that she had held for him? Had he not picked up on any of the cues she had plainly given him? Could anyone be that utterly oblivious? It didn't matter. He didn't matter. He would be gone soon and he had given her what she had wanted. His mutterings of the spell had not been loud, but she'd been ready for it and had listened intently while watching his wand motions. She would need to jot them down as soon as she could for future reference, but they would stay sealed up inside her mind for the time being.

The only reassuring thing about his behavior was that it at least was appropriately subservient. His offers were familiar enough sounding for her to react nearly automatically. "Yes, some more pumpkin would be acceptable." She gestured towards her now empty glass. Her plate seemed fine after he had removed the spilled beverage, but did she want anything more just to make him do a little extra work for her? Hmm.. could she get him to teach her any more magic ahead of schedule? She looked down the table for something just a bit out of what she thought his reach was and spotted a basket of rolls. "Yes," she then replied, "One of those rolls if you please."

Nausicaa really was starting to wonder if this boy had been misplaced in the house sorting years ago when he first came to the school. Did she like the bread? Really? "It is far inferior to what I am used to back home," She replied honestly. Proper Italian bread was so much better than this American 'bread'. "However poorly though, it does serve it's purpose."

2 Nausicaa Scapetello Good? 1561 0 5

Isla Brockert

March 20, 2023 9:41 AM

Well, it's much better than the next one by Isla Brockert

So it was settled. It would be the three of them together, just them. “I mean, I guess if someone by themselves really needs someone to share with, they can join us, and then we can try to make sure they don’t feel left out among us.” Isla added. She really didn’t want someone to feel like the odd one out like Angelique had been.

Or like she had been when her friends had boyfriends and she didn’t.The Aladren had felt different in a way that she wasn’t comfortable being. Rosalynn’s mention of them only having two more midsummer events only reminded her of the fact that next year would be the ball and that time when she’d felt a bit left out.. “I wish we had a different last event.” Isla wrinkled her nose a bit at the thought.. It was absolutely her least favorite of them all. She not only found them inherently not much fun, but even though Sonora’s balls weren’t like the pureblood society ones at all, the last one had really left a bad taste in her mouth. And she wanted to spend the end of her time at school hanging out with her friends, not standing by herself with nobody to talk to while her friends and literally everyone else had dates except the younger students and her own relatives.

That last one especially stung. It wasn’t just leaving Isla out, it was largely leaving her whole family out. Okay, a few of her distant cousins had dates, if she remembered correctly, Lavender went with Graham and Gabriel with Morgan Garret. And Amethyst had sort of a date, because someone had asked Iris so that had left the fourth year to hang out with Alexei on her own.

However, for the most part, it was everyone else paired up, which felt like…people disliked them as a whole. Like there was something inherently wrong with the lot of them. At least at society balls, people wanted to be around them. Like, there being a Brockert was a big deal. Not that Isla especially cared about such things, she would much prefer to be liked for herself than for her family but yes, generally she did prefer feeling wanted to being left out.

And she just knew there were some-not Rosalynn and Lorena, of course, but definitely some people– who would definitely paint it as them being the ones who were stuck up and wanted nothing to do with people who weren’t purebloods. Which was so not true. Off the top of her head, the only people in her family who had a close Sonora friend who happened to be purebloods were Amethyst-who was also friends with her Muggleborn roommate-and Liesl who was friends with Hans but he wasn’t even a high society pureblood. Oh and Desmond might be friends with his roommates, Isla wasn’t sure.

Granted, there weren’t that many purebloods of the Brockert’s social status around Sonora now, but even if there were , it definitely wouldn’t have changed anything. Isla still would have been friends with her roommates. Generally speaking, other than Amethyst initially probably zeroing in on Alexei for those reasons-Isla was pretty sure her cousin did genuinely like the Pecari now-most of them didn’t pick their friends that way.

Although, it did suck that there was nobody around Sonora for her to date. She knew that she would likely have to marry a pureblood boy and even if there had been anyone left for her to go to the ball with last time, it would have had to be as friends. The sixth year wasn’t about to spend time dating someone when they would inevitably have to break up. Isla wouldn’t want to hurt anyone-or get hurt herself and besides, she genuinely felt that there was no point in something that couldn’t end up being serious in the end.

Admittedly, that also sucked,because if she had met someone that she liked at school that wasn’t a pureblood…it would just be complicated. Isla might be disowned and she loved her family way too much to risk never being able to talk to them again. Hopefully, eventually, she would meet a pureblood boy who liked her for who she was and whom she liked back for who he was. Isla knew that it could happen, she knew not all pureblood boys were horrid and snobby. Not even all the ones she’d met at balls.

The problem was, however, that people didn’t necessarily feel that they could be themselves there. She didn’t. Liesl didn’t. And Liesl’s mother definitely did not feel Liesl could, apparently. So, how was Isla truly supposed to get to know the real anyone there?

As for the Sonora ball next year, what if what happened last time happened this time too? Who would Isla talk to? Even with her relatives, all the close ones would be gone. Esme had graduated, Jasper would be. And while Amethyst and Liesl wouldn’t be, hopefully, they would have actual dates with Alexei and Hans. Isla wanted that for them, and she did want her friends to be happy too, but she really really didn’t want to be standing around alone, both because it made her feel bad about herself, and because it was quite frankly boring.

Still,while she knew Rosalynn never neglected them, she would want to spend time with Tommy at the dance. It was a given and made perfect sense, but still, Isla really did want more than anything to spend her last night at Sonora with her friends. Not standing alone by the punch bowl or talking to some random younger student who also didn't have a date. Maybe one of her Challenge teammates would be available.

At least it was still a year away though. This year was the Bonfire and that would be fun. Especially if they did the things Rosalynn suggested. “Those are great ideas. I mean, maybe this can be sort of…I dunno, a festival of sorts. Although that might be too much like the Concert but we could still have Performing Arts Club entertain people.” That was, after all, sort of the purpose of the club, although arguably they didn’t have to actually have an audience, and could just enjoy having camaraderie with like minded people, which was just such a rare thing in life. “I suppose I could ask Grandfather.” Who, to be honest probably would not care.

11 Isla Brockert Well, it's much better than the next one 1521 0 5

Lavender Brockert

March 25, 2023 2:04 PM

So....the end is nigh, I guess (Graham) by Lavender Brockert

Lavender couldn’t believe that she was almost at the end of her time at Sonora. Now that they were back for Midterm, it felt like graduation was quickly approaching. She was certain that they were now going to be hearing about RATS every single day in class-which she honestly wasn’t all that worried about, after all, CATS had not lived up to the hype for her. Although Lavender knew it had been pretty stressful for her friends who admittedly had more at stake than she did and that was absolutely valid, her own experience had been that they hadn't been and that was fair too.

Maybe she was smarter than she thought. Obviously this was the explanation that the Crotalus preferred because the other explanation was that her social life was lacking and she had more time to study. Which sort of made her sound like a loser who barely anyone liked other than her own relatives, Val, who barely had time for her, and Graham. So, naturally, Lavender wanted to believe that it was just that she was smart.

Not that she’d ever actually thought she was stupid, but Ivy…was the smart one. Not that their parents would ever label them in that way because it was the sort of labeling that was bad. Like if Ivy was the “smart one” then that implied Lavender and Vlad weren’t smart and that wasn’t true. Plus, it would put pressure on Ivy to never make a mistake academically or her self-worth would be in jeopardy.

However, Ivy was the one who was interested in academics. Lavender…well, she honestly rather believed the explanation that her social life was lacking so she had more time to study, regardless of the fact that she preferred the other theory. Honestly, it was probably often the explanation you liked less that was the true one. So, while she was not stupid,and didn’t have much trouble academically overall, the fact was that Lavender had not had the easiest time making friends at Sonora. She was Head Student, and that felt really great-it was nice to know that some people did not hate her and thought she had qualities that would make her good at the position-it wasn’t the same as having people who she was close to.

Anyway, while RATS was not as terrifying as it could have been and was for others…the Bonfire was stressing the Crotalus out big time. On the face of it, this was weird, because like, arguably this was the lowest stress Midsummer event. Students didn’t have to do any preparation work like they did for the Concert and sometimes the Fair. They just…had a bonfire and slept in tents. In theory, this sounded like tremendous fun, unless you were the super prissy type who hated all things nature.

In practice, however…there was this tremendous social pressure when it came to sharing tents. Okay, it was better than it used to be where it was four to a tent period (and like, maybe a few tents with three people if the amount of students was not perfectly divisible by four). That had left people out and probably led to like, people having to share with those with a wide age gap. Okay, like occasionally someone became friends with someone who was not close to them in age, Lavender thought Gabriel would have happily shared a tent with Phil but most of the time people felt it was weird.

Still, even restructuring the way tents were done, was not…especially helpful for the seventh year’s
personal situation. It was now three per tent minimum, to keep people from doing inappropriate things-Merlin, were they ever cracking down on opportunities for same sex couples to do those things-based on gender-because unlike Head Student, it was okay for tents to be gendered-but you could have as many people you wanted in a tent.

Great. Now, Lavender would like nothing better to share with Val. Unfortunately, she was certain that the Teppenpaw would want to share with Bonahelle too. And the thought of sharing with the Aladren made Lavender want to vomit. Never mind the inevitably tense situation, that basically made the Crotalus a *lemon*ing chaperone. Something that would have affected her ability to enjoy herself even if she didn’t basically think her friend’s girlfriend was part Dementor.

And the thing was, who else could she possibly use as a buffer? Graham was male, her cousins were male-and Merlin knew, Lavender felt adding Wally and Stanley would have actually made the situation worse, even if Graham was there too-or much younger. The sixth year girls were a trio and as they were seventh years,there wasn’t anyone older, like Morgan or Sadie or Esme. Maybe Amethyst and her roommate? They were only two years younger and Amethyst was a cousin and a Challenge teammate.

Or maybe Val would want to have a ton of people share with them. Maybe the Teppenpaw would want, like, a huge goodbye sleepover with all her female friends. Even though Lavender would normally probably not be comfortable sharing a tent with the half the girls in school-which was also possibly the percentage that was related to her-the idea of sharing with just Val and Bonahelle was much much worse. Honestly, she could just imagine the Aladren pressuring her to leave the tent-arguably something Lavender might want to do willingly but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let the other seventh year push her around-so Bonahelle could have alone time with Val, even though if they were so in love with each other, the Aladren would have plenty of that, while Lavender got to see Val even less than she did now. Therefore, arguably, the Crotalus needed that time with her friend more.

Actually, much as she was worried that Wally was going to get hurt and thought he deserved someone who loved only him romantically, and as much as she did not want Val to be with someone who was rude and selfish and toxic and soul-sucking, the fact that Bonahelle would, while unfortunately for Lavender and Wally and anyone else, come first for Val, also would never have what she truly wanted, which was Val all to herself, because the Teppenpaw was too social for that to happen, was deeply satisfying to Lavender.

Did that make her a bad person? She knew it was okay to not like bad people. She thought she was even supposed to hate bad people and if she liked them, then there was probably something wrong with her moral compass. Still, Lavender worried there was anyway. Like, she constantly had mean thoughts about Bonahelle that while, yes, it was absolutely acceptable not to like someone who was so churlish and absolutely all around rotten, but she did realize that she was also motivated by jealousy and felt the urge to do things like…casually suggest that huge sleepover idea to Val. However, that felt manipulative and she didn’t want to be that person or even be seen as such. Val would hate her and Graham would hate her and Lavender couldn’t bear either of those things. She honestly was terrified that if her friends found out that she had these feelings, they would not be her friends anymore. That somehow, she would look like the bad guy, the mean girl, and Bonahelle would look like the innocent victim. The Crotalus would not put it past her to manipulate it to look that way, and make everything into some dramatic teen novel. Which might be interesting to read but Lavender did not want to have be her real life.

As she headed into the Cascade Hall, for her last ever feast, however, there was only one person she had in mind to sit with and that was Graham. Okay, maybe a little of that was because they were in the same house, and Val was in a different one, but still. Lavender really did enjoy spending time with the other Crotalus and she was going to miss him when they graduated. She sat down across from him at their house table, listened to Headmaster’s ever brief remarks, and then turned her attention to her friend. “Hey, how was your break?” Lavender asked him.

11 Lavender Brockert So....the end is nigh, I guess (Graham) 1504 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

March 27, 2023 8:50 PM

And a happy new year by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel couldn't help a bit of pleased pride as Liesl opened his gift and obviously liked it. He let out a little squawk of surprise as she threw her arms around him, but he hugged back once the initial shock of it passed. Nobody in his family was particularly inclined to spontaneous hugging, except sometimes Hilda, so it wasn't something he was really used to, but he had to admit, he rather liked it, even more so with Liesl than with his sister.

As they pulled apart, and she explained that her present for him was still upstairs, he nodded in understanding. "No problem," he promised. "After the feast is plenty soon enough. I'll have the whole dinner to anticipate it," he joked, smiling at her. "I was just excited to give you yours and you can wear it, so it shouldn't be too much in the way, right?" he added, starting to worry that maybe he should have waited until later for the gift exchange, too.

She had already put it on while he talked, and he felt one of his worries slip away. "Oh, good, it does fit! I wasn't sure how big it should be. It looks good on you. You have pretty wrists." He flushed slightly, and then panicked slightly that she might think he was that specific because he only thought her wrists were pretty, so he added, "And you are pretty." Then he panicked that this was an awkward thing to just say to a girl in the year below his who probably wasn't interested in him in a way that invited compliments like that, and he added again, "And Dad did a good job with those charms, didn't he? It moves just like a snake!"

1 Hansel Hexenmeister And a happy new year 1524 0 5

Liesl Brockert

April 04, 2023 12:02 AM

I sure hope so. by Liesl Brockert

Liesl smiled back at her friend. “I hope you like it as much as I like yours.” Of course, now she would have to worry through the entire feast whether or not Hans would like her gift. If she did a good enough job on it. The fourth definitely got gift giving anxiety, where she wanted so badly for people to like what she got them, like, she was terrified of disappointing them.

Which was probably why Liesl only gave gifts to people whom she thought would like them, like Uncle Cory and Hans. With her parents and siblings though, the only person she felt comfortable making or choosing a gift for was Krisalyn. And then she felt bad about getting something for her sister and not Desmond but she wasn’t close to him and felt like he would never like anything Liesl picked out for him. Or that he wouldn’t like it because it was from her. Sort of the opposite of Uncle Cory who liked what she got him no matter what.

As for her parents, they did this thing where there were presents that were picked by someone else-either the other parent or someone they hired for this sort of purpose-and then Liesl and her siblings put their names on them saying it was from “the children”.Which was a good thing, because it removed any sort of responsibility-and anxiety-from Liesl. If they didn’t like their gift, it was not her fault. Plus, if it was a gift from her siblings too, it would hopefully negate the fact that it was from her as well and they’d like it because of them.

Anyway, she really hoped that Hans was in the same category as her uncle and would like what Liesl got him no matter what. That was, after all, how she felt about him. Plus, the gifts he got her were actually amazing. She loved her ornament and her bracelet. And so, Liesl hoped that her gift was good enough for him. It was honestly this weird thing where, like, even though Hans generally made her feel accepted and happy and liked and wanted, he was one of her two favorite people and she would never ever want to disappoint him or end up losing him. Even though that had yet to actually happen, obviously. Still, Liesl was totally worried about it. Hans wasn’t family, he didn’t have to put up with her. Currently, he was doing so but she was terrified he would stop.

Or even that he would decide he liked someone else better. Like Iris, who always seemed to want to try to be around him. Not that Liesl blamed the Crotalus for that. Hans was great, and she totally understood why someone would want to hang out with him. Although, nothing against Iris, but the fourth year really did not know what she and Hans had in common. But then, it wasn’t as if Liesl knew Iris all that well anyway. Mostly she thought of the fifth year as Amethyst’s friend and roommate.

She smiled at her friend again. “It’s amazing, I’m glad you gave it to me now. I think it’s my favorite present. I just hope you like yours as much as I like mine.” Dear Merlin, did she ever hope that! “And the bracelet is not in the way at all! It’s beautiful and I will wear it every day.” The boringness of their uniform robes made accessorizing an absolute necessity and Liesl tried her best to show her personality despite the irritating rule that she had to wear the bland robes.

And then Hans said something…amazing. Shocking, but amazing . He said she had pretty wrists! And that she was pretty! “T-thank you.” Liesl stammered out. She was pretty sure her face was doing a really good impression of a tomato at the moment, which most likely negated anything about her being pretty.

But Hans had said she was. And that meant everything . For one thing, people generally did not call her pretty, for the most part. Or they did, but it was usually followed up with a “but” as in “but the way you dress and act ruins it”. So yeah. And Uncle Cory usually complemented Liesl on things related to her personality. Which meant a lot too since it was what her parents seemed to dislike about her. Plus, inner qualities, inner beauty and being a good person was more important than her appearance. Also, it would probably be creepy for her uncle to say nice things about how she looked. The bad kind of creepy.

Still, a boy called her pretty, The real her, not the one at the society ball wearing the stupid pink dress. And not just any boy either, but Hans .

How should she respond? She had to say something. “You’re good looking too!” Liesl blurted out and then stared down at the floor. Had she made a horrible mistake saying that? She did feel silly and stupid and worried about how he would take it and if she had just made a bigger fool of herself. Also, there were much more important qualities that Hans had than just being attractive. He was but that was far from her favorite thing about him. However, she felt the need to respond in kind.

Hans quickly moved back to talking about the bracelet. Did that mean that she had screwed up? Or…maybe he was worried about having done so and was trying to shift the conversation away from what he might consider an awkward moment-which it was and that was probably Liesl’s fault-but at the same time was an amazing special moment that meant the world to the younger Teppenpaw.

Still, instead of dwelling on it-well, okay, she totally was and was going to think about this moment for like, a very long time, especially in those moments where she felt crappy about herself. Her best friend thought she was pretty. And pretty as herself, who she really was. However, right now she replied. “It is amazing charms work. Tell him I said thank you.” Hans’ dad was awesome and she really appreciated what he’d done with the bracelet.

11 Liesl Brockert I sure hope so. 1537 0 5