Mortimer Brockert
November 12, 2023 4:10 PM
Opening Feast by Mortimer Brockert
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
This isn't right by Summer Collindale with Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
It was not supposed to be this way. by Constance Melcher with Eben Sosna
First day jitters? Not me. by Kerri Stonehurst with Jason Brockert
Teppenpaw
A very very very fine House by Dora Xavier with Robyn Lundstrom, Libby Brockert
Welcome to Advanced, Liesl by Hansel Hexenmeister with Liesl Brockert
No hard feelings, I hope? (tag a Teppenpaw fifth year or two or three) by Cole Pierce with Leviosa Scurlock, Lenny Pierce
Crotalus
I feel weird breaking the silence by Wesley Wu with Cecily Welles
Of course. by Iris Cobb with Claire Osbrook
How do we feel about this year? by Ida Stanford
I did it! by Amethyst Brockert
Pecari
New beginnings? by Rowan Westfall with Donovan Peters
What happens next? by Fortune Ardovini with Misty Brockert
To the future. by Alexei Vorontsov
Staff
Proud Papa by Nathan Xavier with Isis Carter-Xavier
11
Mortimer Brockert
Opening Feast
6
1
5
Dora Xavier
November 15, 2023 10:20 PM
A very very very fine House by Dora Xavier
Dora could hardly contain herself through the tour. She already knew her way around the school. She'd gone through a mapping phase when she'd first learned about Dora the Explorer and while those maps hadn't actually been any good (scaled drawing was something that came at some age older than four and the ability to label things legibly also came after that point), she had a pretty good one of the school and all its passages in her brain. Soon, so very soon, it would be time for the Sorting and she'd finally know if she'd be in Teppenpaw with Dad or Pecari with Mom. Dora figured she had a pretty good chance at either, and wasn't to set on one or the other as long as she didn't get Aladren or Crotalus (not that she thought she had much chance of either even if she had wanted them).Finally, they reached the Cascade Hall, and it was Time. Dad handed out the blank badges to everyone, and Dora kind of stared at hers for a moment. Soon - but not soon enough, because her last name started with an X - she'd see it turn brown or yellow and she'd finally finally belong to Sonora fully.
Summer was luckier. Her last name came much closer to the beginning of the alphabet. "Good luck!" she told her friend when it was her turn. Summer stuck her badge in and it came out blue. "Aladren!" Dora yelled helpfully, pushing aside her disappointment that they would not be roommates.
Summer . . . did not want Aladren.
It took some time to sort out, but eventually the rest of the first years got back to dunking their badges again. "Crotalus!" she yelled helpfully to Petey when it was his turn.
Then, finally, Dora dunked her own badge. "Teppenpaw!" she crowed triumphantly, hoisting the yellow badge high when it came out, feeling this was Right and As It Should Be. She was in her Daddy's House!
She skipped over to the Teppenpaw table, grinning at Edu and the other new First Year girl who'd sorted here. She was with one of her best friends, and she was about to make another one! This was great! She felt a little bad about Summer not getting where she wanted to go, but there wasn't a lot that could be done about it.
"I'm a Teppenpaw!" she declared happily to the people sitting next to her as she sat down. She beamed up at Mom and Dad at the Staff table and waved at them, showing off her yellow badge. Daddy looked so so proud. He might even cry.
She didn't want to see that so she turned her attention to the Headmaster who was standing up to announce Head Students and prefects. Dora cheered along with everyone else. Then Headmaster Brockert said a few more things and a lyric sheet appeared in front of her. She'd only started being old enough to come to the feast a couple years ago, and they only sang it once a year, so she didn't have it memorized yet, but she sang along with at least as much familiarity as the second or third years.
Then the food appeared, and she grinned with ebullient happiness at her neighbors, at her Housemates. "Best. Day. Ever." Dora declared.
1
Dora Xavier
A very very very fine House
1507
0
5
Robyn Lundstrom
November 24, 2023 9:26 PM
With two cats in the yard? by Robyn Lundstrom
Robyn’s summer had been something like normal. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t completely overshadowed by a Xavier-related crisis. In fact, more of the focus had been on Joel. They’d had his college graduation, followed by a normal family vacation. It was a little strange to think of her oldest brother moving on to Real Adulthood, and that that might mean he stopped being around for the whole summer. Especially as he couldn’t ping across the country by magic. But once she was a real adult, she’d be able to do that, so maybe she could use it to pull him back in, and make sure they stayed being a family despite all the odds…That was a few years away from happening though. The main things Robyn could do this year were to make sure she focussed on her studies, and kept an eye on Xavier so he stayed on the right track. Not being kidnapped by the government or having a mental breakdown were big improvements in how he spent his summer, but it wasn’t like he was back to normal. In fact, it seemed like ‘back to normal’ wasn’t really something they were aiming for with Xavier any more. He was probably always going to be kind of screwed up by what had happened to him and by his powers, and they just had to make sure he functioned and didn’t go diving off any cliff edges. While they were at school, that was Robyn’s responsibility.
During the opening feast though, he was at his table, and she was at hers. She ended up next to Dora. It was a little weird seeing her in uniform and sitting with the students when Robyn thought of her as a little teacher kid. But as Robyn was the youngest of three, she knew what it was like to be treated that way—like you were too little to be included, and so she made an effort to quickly update her mental picture of Dora, and see her as one of the ‘big kids,’ even if that was a strange thing to think about a first year.
“Yes you are.” She grinned as she agreed with the younger student’s self-assessment. It was safe to say Dora was happy about her sorting. “Welcome officially to Teppenpaw. I’m guessing you don’t need a lot of questions answering.”
13
Robyn Lundstrom
With two cats in the yard?
1558
0
5
Dora Xavier
November 27, 2023 9:24 PM
Life used to be so hard by Dora Xavier
Dora beamed at the older student as she officially welcomed Dora to Teppenpaw, which even dad hadn't done yet because he was up at the staff table with Mom and Otto (and not her, which was simultaneously exciting and a little bit unnerving) until everyone was done eating. "Thanks! And yeah, I think I know most of the stuff about Sonora already."The older girl was one who didn't often look happy (though she was smiling now and that was good) and Dora had occasionally caught Dad watching her with some concern over the last few years, though he hadn't thought whatever the issue was had been any of Dora's business, so she didn't know exactly what had happened, but she knew enough to be careful and not blunder into any landmines by cheerfully asking about the older girl's background. "You're," she narrowed her eyes and looked the girl over consideringly as she tried to judge age, "An intermediate, right?" She hadn't seemed particularly keen on paying attention to the prefects, and she looked more than a year older than Edu, so, "Fourth year, maybe? I'm sorry, I never caught your name." Being friends with Edu and Zeus, who talked about their classmates, she'd actually retained many of the second years' and even some of the third years' names, but the older ones had always just been 'the students' - who were obviously cool and awesome and Older and often fun to interact with but had rarely been people she got to actually become friends with.
That was going to change starting now, because she was a student herself and now they would have similar shared experiences and opportunities. Dora was a Sonora student, just like her, if a couple years behind, one of the group, no longer an outsider watching from the fringes.
1
Dora Xavier
Life used to be so hard
1507
0
5
Robyn Lundstrom
December 01, 2023 5:26 AM
La-la-la-la-la by Robyn Lundstrom
It was a tad unnerving have a staff kid begin with the word ‘You’re’ and then just narrow their eyes at you. Robyn couldn’t imagine Professor Xavier saying anything mean, but she still let out an internal sigh of relief when Dora just followed up with a guess at her age.“That’s right,” she confirmed Dora’s guesses, slightly surprised to find she didn’t just know everyone. But then again, Robyn’s first year would have been when Dora was… what, seven? At least Dora’s lack of knowledge of who Robyn was suggested Professor Xavier hadn’t done too much complaining about Robyn’s family. Not that she thought he would unload about his students’ brothers’ unsavoury habits to his kid, but having been a perpetually excluded ‘too young’ for everything, Robyn knew just how much kids could pick up by listening at doors they weren’t supposed to be at. Or that adults could say things by their silence and their pinched looks. But either that hadn’t happened or Dora was one heck of an actress.
“I’m Robyn,” she added, finding herself weirdly hoping that her name didn’t spark sudden recognition, and opting to leave out her family name for exactly that reason.
“These are really good,” she added, moving a tray of cheesy tomato pastries towards Dora. “Unless you’ve been eating them for eleven years already and are sick of them. But I tend to only see these ones at the feast.”
13
Robyn Lundstrom
La-la-la-la-la
1558
0
5
Libby Brockert
December 16, 2023 10:06 PM
Come to me now..... by Libby Brockert
She had only just gotten to Sonora and Libby was already worried about Miles. Oh, it wasn’t as if he was going to go into anaphylactic shock or have a run-in with Uncle Eustace the moment that the wagon took off, and going off to school was a normal part of life that they both accepted was going to happen, that for two years, Libby was going to be away at school and Miles wasn’t but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried that he was going to be sad and lonely and miss her really bad. He tended to be the more sensitive type and when they’d said goodbye at the wagon, there had been tears on both their parts.So, the first year hoped that her brother was okay right now. She was going to have to write to him later as she had promised, even though he actually wouldn’t get it for a few days. Still, Libby wanted to make sure that Miles knew that she hadn’t forgotten about him. Not that she ever could, he was the most important person to her, and aside from her own husband and children some day, he always would be.
However, if Libby was planning on writing to him later, she needed to have something to say. So far, all that had happened was Orientation which was a lot of information that she already knew. Mostly, she had spent it talking to her cousin Jason, who obviously had been at the wagons and saw her tearful goodbyes with Miles and was making sure she was okay.
And she was. Of course, she was thrilled to be at Sonora, it was one of the biggest moments in the life of any witch or wizard, going off to school and learning how to actually use magic. Plus, Miles would not want her to be sad. Libby knew that he sometimes felt like a burden and it would only make him feel guilty if she was too busy worrying about him to make friends and otherwise be happy at Sonora. Despite that she would feel guilty for having this amazing time at school making new friends while he was at home by himself missing her.
Though Uriah was there and hopefully he and Miles would get to spend lots of time together. Knowing that their cousin was around did make Libby feel a bit better. Next year when he came to school too was probably going to be hard on Miles though.
Right now though, it was time to be Sorted, a true defining moment because it determined so much about your time at school, like how others saw you. Like, Libby knew that two people who were in the same house weren’t necessarily anything alike. Her cousins Isla and Topaz had both been Aladrens, for example, and while the former was super nice, the latter was anything but. However, people tended to see Teppenpaws as nice and Aladrens as smart.
Plus, everyone had house biases. Libby herself did not really want to go into Pecari, because while logically she knew they weren’t all like Uncle Eustace…there still might be ones that were and she didn’t really want to be around them. Also, she knew that Miles would not end up there which was good because it would be even worse for him to be around people like their uncle than it would for her. Miles was exactly the kind of boy that people like Uncle Eustace targeted.
She had to admit she was slightly nervous for her own sake too. Being in the same house was not a guarantee of friendship. Lots of her cousins had not really been friends with their roommates. In fact, some of them didn’t get on with theirs at all! Although, to be fair, in those cases, Amethyst had been close to hers but they’d had a fight and Topaz was…evil so nobody would have gotten on with her. Libby was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have an evil roommate but there were other reasons why two people just didn’t click.
However, she didn’t really have time to worry about it as she was apparently the first to be Sorted as her full name, Elizabeth, started with an E which put her ahead of Jason. Although It was honestly weird to hear herself be called by it and for just a moment, she was confused. If she hadn’t been fully aware of the only other Brockert in her class being male, she might have taken longer to respond. Libby didn’t actually hate her full first name, but nobody ever called her by it and she preferred Libby anyway. She dunked her badge in the potion and pulled it out. She smiled big. Teppenpaw! Even though the only fairly close relative she had there right now was Liesl, she was still thrilled. Because she too had the bias that they were nice people and that if she had a roommate, her roommate would be someone nice. Although Libby supposed they still might not connect for some reason but even though she had her family, she really hoped they would. If she had a roommate, that was. Sometimes people didn’t have them.
Now that she was in Teppenpaw, she kind of hoped that she would . While she knew that a roommate was not a guarantee as a best friend, even among Teppenpaws, Libby also felt like it was a good place to start and at the very least, she wouldn’t have to worry about her roommate being mean. And she knew that making a friend would make the separation from her brother easier. Not that the Teppenpaw would ever replace him, people were not replaceable, but…yeah, if she spent time talking to her roommate and getting to be friends, then Libby wouldn’t be worrying about Miles. Well, she would but her focus would be elsewhere.
So, now she just had to wait for everyone else to be Sorted. Jason went into Aladren and so did the girl after him…who seemed rather distraught about it. Libby felt awful for her. She didn’t think the other first year, Summer, was upset about going into Aladren because she was a jock or mean girl who thought that Aladren was for nerds and that being a nerd was a bad thing because Summer had started crying and people like Uncle Eustace and the mean popular girls in books didn’t cry. They made others cry and then mocked them for it.
Maybe the other girl had family in another house that she didn’t want to be separated from, though that could be Libby projecting her own feelings about Miles.However she honestly couldn’t think of another reason besides those two that someone would have such an issue with being Sorted into Aladren. Someone might be upset that they were in a house where they didn’t think they’d fit in, but they probably wouldn’t express it in such an extreme way. Like if Libby had been Sorted into Pecari, she would not have been pleased but she wouldn’t be crying and arguing with staff members though she certainly wouldn’t have been celebrating either.
Of course, it could also be the exact opposite issue from not wanting to be separated from someone, where Summer had a Topaz-like relative in Aladren whom she was afraid of. Allegra and Sapphire probably would have had a panic attack had they been with Topaz, especially the former since they would have been roommates. Libby doubted that Summer was worried about sharing a room with a psycho Aladren since the only person Sorted there so far was Jason, who was the furthest thing from a psychopath, and also male but there might be someone older that she wanted to avoid
The Sorting continued and Libby watched, eagerly waiting for another first year to join her in Teppenpaw. And waited…and waited…and waited. The new Teppenpaw had infinite patience with some things but this was apparently not one of them.
Finally, it turned out the very last person to be Sorted, a girl named Theodora Xavier-a last name Libby recognized because it belonged to two of the professors- was in Teppenpaw. Libby grinned. She was going to have a roommate after all and they could even bond over having relatives on staff and probably already knowing everything they needed to know about Sonora.
Then Grandfather moved on to the Head Students and prefects and the first year cheered loudly for Amethyst, the first person in her branch of the family to get the honor. Well, technically she supposed Owen had gotten it too, but Amethyst was the first of their group of first cousins. Libby was glad that the Crotalus had won since she had really wanted the badge. Although she was sure Topaz would be homicidal over it. She also was happy for Gwendolyn, who was a distant cousin and Hans, who was Liesl’s
Finally, Grandfather mentioned the Fair. Libby thought it sounded like one of the most fun events, although she’d probably play the piano in the Concert next year. The Bonfire had potential to be fun, except that she was painfully aware of how allergy unfriendly it was. And that would be Miles’ first year too, unfortunately. She wished he only had it once and wondered if he was going to even be able to participate at all.
As for the Ball, Isla had told her how lucky she was that she’d only have it once. However, Libby didn’t think she was necessarily going to have the same traumatic experience that her cousin did. She probably would not end up with a date, judging by the amount of boys in her class and Alma’s, two of whom she was related to, but hopefully, she would not be on her own all night. At the very least, she’d hopefully have her cousins and brother. Although Libby sort of hoped for their sake that they did have dates or other friends. Of course, she had doubts that Miles in particular would have the nerve to ask anyone, especially as he’d be a second year, and despite what Alma had said happened last year, people in younger years often weren’t ready for that.
They sang the school song and food appeared. Libby served herself some macaroni and cheese and some shrimp, but she was honestly more interested in meeting her roommate. Unfortunately, an older girl started talking to the other first year before she got the chance. Libby waited patiently for an opening,trying to figure out if she’d ever heard Robyn mentioned before. She thought the older girl might be in Olaf’s class, based on conversation clues, which would explain why the name wasn’t recognizable. Olaf had close to no interest in his classmates or people in general and when Libby said “close to” she was being generous.
Robyn offered Theodora some sort of cheesy tomato pastry, which looked delicious. “Oooh, those look good.” Libby said, finding a way in. “I’m Libby Brockert by the way.” She skipped the standard pureblood introduction as they hadn’t used it but made her preferred name clear up front. “Literally nobody calls me Elizabeth.”
11
Libby Brockert
Come to me now.....
1591
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Dora Xavier
January 04, 2024 10:07 PM
Hi to both of you! by Dora Xavier
"Oh, interesting!" Dora said as Robyn offered her some tomato things that she might have seen at Feasts before, but hadn't paid much attention to because they weren't something she knew she liked, but if they were being recommended, she'd give them a go. She had just gotten one on her plate when the other first year who had sat down nearby also opted to try one, and introduced herself as well."Nice to meet you, Robyn and Libby," Dora said to both of them, smiling brightly. "I'm Dora," she added, just in case Libby hadn't caught that yet. She felt pretty confident Robyn knew who she was already given their conversation so far. "Short for Theodora, but nobody ever calls me that either. Except, like, just now." She gestured vaguely over to where they'd just been called for their sorting. She'd gotten it sometimes from her elementary school teachers, too, before they learned Dora was her preferred name, but the professors here had literally changed her diapers in some cases (and that was something she would try to never think about again if she could at all help it because that was kind of weird, even if two of them were her actual parents) and nearly all of the rest had definitely watched her grow up from pre-verbal, so she doubted any of the teachers here would bother calling her anything but Dora even on the first day of classes.
"I'm so excited to be a Teppenpaw!" she burbled again, because it was just so hard not to think about and she didn't have a very good brain-to-mouth filter. "I mean, Pecari would have been great, too, because that's Mom's house," it occurred to her that some other kids might say those words, meaning their mom had been in Pecari, but for her, the House actually was Headed by her mom, just as Teppenpaw was Headed by her Dad. "But Dad's been keeping me out of Teppenpaw Commons for years and I can just barely remember it from when I was tiny, and I really want to see it again!"
She'd seen it since she was a baby, of course, sneaking around where she shouldn't have been when she was supposed to be doing something else, but it wasn't the same. Tonight, she'd belong there.
1
Dora Xavier
Hi to both of you!
1507
0
5
