Mortimer Brockert

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM
Summer was over and now school was back in session again. The break had passed as it usually did, with the annoyances that were Eustace and socializing. Other than that it had been fairly mundane. Actually, the socializing had been pretty mundane too. Mortimer was decidedly glad to be back at Sonora where he didn’t have to deal with that as often. Or Eustace at all.

Once the older students were assembled at their tables and the first years entered the room. Mortimer cast Sonorous on himself and rose." Welcome to Sonora for the new first years and welcome back for all older students. First years, you should have received a blank badge at the end of Orientation. You will dunk the badge in the Sorting Potion and it will turn the color representing your house which are blue for Aladren, yellow for Teppenpaw, red for Crotalus, and brown for Pecari. Afterwards, you may join your house table." He watched with interest as Libby was Sorted.

After the first years had been settled, Mortimer continued. “Would Amethyst Brockert and Hansel Hexenmeister please come up and get your Head Student badges." He continued. "In addition, I'd like to call up Gwendolyn Brockert,Cole Pierce, Yarielis Ayala Velez and Fortune Ardovini to receive their prefect badges. Congratulations.” Finally, a group that he couldn’t really complain about! Apparently,the current group of Advanced students had at least some semblance of intelligence and reason. And he was very proud of Amethyst. Emerald and Allegra had both been prefects, but the Crotalus was the first of his grandchildren to get Head Student.

Admittedly, he was also glad that Gwendolyn had gotten prefect for Aladren since otherwise he would have had to put up with Uncle Clifford. Her dad probably wouldn’t have made a fuss if she hadn’t as he tended to be as conflict adverse as Christopher was and easily intimidated, and Mortimer tended to be intimidating. The Brockert family patriarch was another story. It wasn’t as if the headmaster was intimidated by him so much as he just didn’t want to deal with it.

Once the prefects and Head Students were back in their seats, Mortimer continued. “Our midsummer event will be the Fair. Details to be announced at a later date.Now for the singing of the school song..” Lyric sheets were passed around and the song began.



Every day we strive
Learning to survive
Life’s hardships and to solve its mystery.
Learning to defend
Our honour and our friends,
Flying high to meet our destiny
We will stand and face those who want to harm us.
We won’t let the world transfigure, jinx or charm us
I won’t fight alone, as long as you are with me.
Sonora be my home, my tutor and my spirit
Vasita quoque floeat; Even the desert blooms.


That done, he dug into his steak and bourbon.


OOC: Mortimer is unaware of Yaniel being Yaniel
Subthreads:

Aladren

Teppenpaw

Crotalus

Pecari

Staff
11 Mortimer Brockert Opening Feast 6 1 5

Kerri Stonehurst

December 09, 2023 12:08 AM
Kerri’s trip on the wagon was uneventful, and she’d already grilled her cousin Lyla on the whole orientation thing, so the only part of beginning her Sonora experience that she wasn’t able to replicate was the tour. Professor Xavier paraded them all through the castle, pointing out all the relevant places she would need to know about, and despite taking notes, Kerri felt sure she would forget at least one of them.

Then it was time for the sorting. Kerri was towards the middle of the pack, and didn’t have to wait too terribly long for her results.

Aladren. She hadn’t expected anything different. Kerri’s slight shoulders squared as she marched down to her table. Not at all like the girl that had been sorted into Aladren before her. Kerri could understand being disappointed in your sorting, but to cause such a scene seemed childish. And while Kerri knew that technically, they were children, throwing a tantrum seemed more like a toddler than a preteen. At the very least, Mama would give Kerri that look if Kerri had tried such a stunt. The one that says, “I didn’t raise you to act this way”.

In all fairness, Kerri supposed she didn’t know if the other girl had a mama that gave her such looks, and she didn’t know whether or not her own mama was particularly strict, so she decided to withhold judgement and just find a seat.

She slid into the first seat available, smiling at the new housemate beside her.

“Hi!” she said brightly, offering a handshake, “I’m Kerri. I’m excited to be in Aladren!”
64 Kerri Stonehurst First day jitters? Not me. 1584 0 5

Jason Brockert

January 03, 2024 2:37 AM
Jason was excited to be at Sonora. He had never known anyone who wasn’t at least a little bit since it was something all children in magical families expected their entire lives. He supposed it was possible that some were a little nervous about it depending on their personalities, people who were shy and worried about being bullied though the only person he actually knew who fit that was his cousin Miles. And Jason knew that he at least wanted to be with his sister and the cousins that he was closest too. It might have also been hard for Uncle Raúl since he was also pretty shy and unlike Miles hadn’t actually known anyone at Sonora. Luckily, the first year’s honorary uncle had Jason’s dad, and their other friend, Uncle Neal. Jason had never asked him about it though since it actually hadn’t occurred to him until this moment. He filed that away to ask Uncle Raúl later.

It also might be hard for Muggleborns, who were totally new to magic, which was another thought that hadn’t occurred to him before. Jason tried to be as empathetic as possible but he was an eleven year old boy and didn’t come even close to having thought of every single situation, especially ones that he hadn’t encountered directly. Jason had empathized with both Miles and Uncle Raúl for their allergies and shyness and Miles’s older sister Libby for being sad about missing him-he had spent Orientation making sure she was all right–and being worried about him.

And he most definitely felt bad for his favorite cousin Liesl, whose parents quite frankly sucked,especially Aunt Jacqueline. Jason’s aunt was one of the two people he knew his dad honestly disliked, the other being Dad’s cousin Eustace-which Jason also couldn’t blame him for either since Eustace had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. And Uncle Alfie, Liesl’s father and Dad’s older brother was barely better. He was not only not a great father to Liesl but had never been particularly nice to Dad either, even if he hadn’t bullied him like Uncle Toby had. Actually none of his dad’s older brothers were great. Uncle Judah was likely the best of the bunch since he wasn’t crappy to his own kids and some of the lack of closeness between him and Dad was due to a huge age difference. Uncle Judah was pleasant enough to Jason but the first year was definitely closer to his honorary uncles than his biological ones.

Anyway, Liesl’s younger brother Desmond…wasn’t great either. He could euphemistically be called a “difficult person” but was honestly a brainwashed little snob who looked down on anyone who didn’t conform, like his older sister. In his case though, Jason could hope that he’d eventually grow out of it and become decent. Which could only be seen as a testimony to the first year’s optimism and faith in humanity.

The only one any good was Liesl and Desmond’s younger sister Krisalyn, who was a year younger than Jason and very sweet and kind. She and Liesl were close. Overall though, the first year could understand why Liesl was always at his own house-or with her friend Hans- during school breaks. She most likely preferred to be in a place where she was treated like a human being.

Now Orientation was over and it was time to be Sorted, which was obviously something else that Jason was pretty sure most magical children were at least mildly curious about if nothing else. He personally wanted to be in Teppenpaw, where Liesl was and his dad (and Uncle Neal and some of Jason’s other cousins) had been though he’d probably be okay with any of them.

He didn’t have to wait long, being second in line. After Libby was Sorted into Teppenpaw, it was his turn. Jason stepped up and dunked his badge in the potion. He pulled it out to see that it was blue. Aladren! Okay, that was Desmond’s house, and that was…well, he would have much preferred to be with Liesl but this was where he was and it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He took his seat with his new housemates albeit nowhere near his cousin. Jason was happy to encourage him to change his ways-while it was wrong to try to change who someone was like Aunt Jacqueline tried to do with Liesl, it was a bit different when someone behaved in a genuinely horrible way-but now was not the time.

The next person in line, a girl named Summer Collindale, was also Sorted into Aladren and, unlike him, did not…accept it with grace and ease. She absolutely lost it. Jason felt for her, it couldn’t have been easy to be in a place you really didn’t want to be-again, like Liesl with her home situation-and who knew her reasoning. Maybe she had an unpleasant relative there. Plus, she was blind and that couldn’t have been easy either. Jason decided he would check on her later and make sure she was okay. He’d try to reassure that there were decent people in Aladren.

Then his mind skipped from Desmond…to Uncle Alfie….to Topaz, who was an absolute psychopath…to Olaf and Uncle Mortimer, who, while…not completely terrible people were not exactly warm and fuzzy types.

Hm, maybe Summer had a point.

Still,his god sister Gwendolyn-her dad, Uncle Adam, who unlike his other honorary uncles was actually related to him, but was a distant cousin, not an actual uncle, was Jason’s godfather, making her and her sister Misty his god sisters- was cool and Isla was nice and while he wasn’t especially close to Emerald, she was all right. And of course, Dad's first cousin Alessa, who was his sister Lorelei's godmother, was awesome.

Besides, aside from maybe Teppenpaw, he was pretty sure there were good and bad in each house. True, all the Crotali that Jason knew were decent and kind and the only two Pecaris he knew sucked, but he was pretty sure there were Pecaris who were nice-like Amethyst’s friend Alexei sounded all right, he’d been there for Amethyst with her recent…troubles, plus he and Christopher had been on the same Challenge team without it being traumatic for Chris-and that there were crappy people in Crotalus but Jason didn’t actually know any of them.

Anyway, the Sorting continued with one more person, a girl named Kerri Stonehurst, being Sorted into Aladren and taking it better than her new roommate. She sat down next to Jason and he offered her a warm smile.

Then it was time for the prefect and Head Students to be announced. Uncle Mortimer called them up and Jason enthusiastically applauded. He didn’t know Cole, Yarielis or Fortune, but he was thrilled to see Amethyst, Gwendolyn and Hans win. Gwendolyn was his god sister and an example of a decent Aladren that he knew, Hans had been so good to Liesl and Amethyst wanted this so badly and had had a difficult time recently. Plus, Uncle Mortimer was actually not scowling which was a miracle. Uncle Zachariah swore up and down that Uncle Mortimer was born scowling and Jason was pretty sure that he had never seen his great uncle look even a little happy.

Then the Fair was announced, which definitely sounded like fun. He couldn’t wait to see what they did this time. Last time they’d had an Alumni Fair where Dad had gone to teach guitar-something that Jason himself was quite good at and passionate about-and hand out pamphlets about wandmaking since Uncle Adam refused to go and teach students about things and Dad basically worked in Uncle Adam’s wand shop selling wands that Uncle Adam made as Uncle Adam hated dealing with people. This was how Dad and Uncle Adam were close enough for Dad to make him Jason’s godfather. And he probably jumped ahead of Uncle Neal and Uncle Raúl, who were the godfathers of Jason’s brother Sam and sister Lorelei respectively, because he was the future patriarch of the Brockert family.

Finally, they sang the school song and food appeared. Jason was about to introduce himself to Kerri, when she spoke first. “I’m Jason Brockert.” He replied, shaking the offered hand. “Pleased to meet you. And yeah, Aladren is not bad. We have a reputation for being smart if nothing else.” It might not have been the most important quality to have but it was definitely not a bad thing.


OOC: Obviously Jason doesn't know Yaniel as Yaniel either
11 Jason Brockert Glad to hear it. 1590 0 5

Kerri Stonehurst

January 22, 2024 8:27 PM
Ah. One of the Brockerts. Kerri had figured she would run into at least one of them at some point during her schooling here; the family was practically a fixture at Sonora, case in point being the Headmaster, and Lyla was roommates with one of them, besides.

Jason, at least, seemed friendlier than the surly Headmaster, and Kerri offered a warm smile. it was sort of nice to make friends with people her age, rather than sitting in at dull parties that her parents threw for their Canadian family, or worse, sitting with the nanny while the party went on without her. She was the only cousin in her age range- all of the others were either already grown or still little babies. That is, until Aunt Wendy had waltzed in.

Kerri wasn't quite sure how it had all happened, but Daddy and Aunt Wendy had been thick as thieves this past summer, leaving Kerri to entertain her cousins. Lyla and Lena were sweet girls, but they hadn't been raised...traditionally...with Lena especially being a tornado of etiquette issues. Lyla, at least, hadn't been too fussed about propriety to cause a rift. Lena ate with her elbows on the table, backtalked her mother, and had complained loudly of being bored practically all summer. It was embarrassing, and Kerri hoped the eight-year-old would outgrow it by the time she got to school.

Kerri's smile froze as she realized that she had made an etiquette mistake. She hadn't used her last name in her introduction. Such a little thing, but it was important to start off on the right foot. Her cousins must have rubbed off on her. Still, it made little sense to fix it now, any attempt would likely be seen as awkward or silly. She could only hope that Jason didn't notice, and if he did, didn't mind.

"I'm not opposed to being smart," she said, with the smallest of throat-clearings, "But I suppose that means my parents will expect top marks in class. Hopefully I'll still have time between studying for fun things. What do you like to do in your spare time?"


OOC: The Holland family is also mine (Lyla, Lena, and Wendy) so no god-modding here.
64 Kerri Stonehurst Nice to meet you 1584 0 5