First day jitters? Not me. on Cascade Hall

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

System

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM

Aladren by System

0 System Aladren 0 System 0 5

System

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM

Teppenpaw by System

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System

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM

Crotalus by System

0 System Crotalus 0 System 0 5

System

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM

Pecari by System

0 System Pecari 0 System 0 5

System

November 12, 2023 4:10 PM

Staff by System

0 System Staff 0 System 0 5

Wesley Wu

November 14, 2023 3:54 AM

I feel weird breaking the silence by Wesley Wu

A couple of months ago, a weird guy had shown up at Wes’s home, announced they were both wizards, and turned a large lacquer bowl into a large toad to prove it. That had been Wes’s least favourite thing about magic, in spite of his limited exposure to it, until he got on the bumpy flying wagon to his new school today, whereupon that had taken the title. After that though, he’d been allowed to eat some relatively normal cookies, and been given a long talk about his classes and a tour of the school, all of which was almost normal if you overlooked the details, like the classes being potions, and the complete lack of electricity.

He was slightly more disturbed by the loss of his personal routine than he was by the loss of all physics, having always been more an arts than a sciences kid. He hoped it meant there were less confusing formulae to memorise in his near future but he rather suspected that whatever it was that could break physics was more complicated than physics itself.

Wes stuck to the middle of the pack as they made their way through the school, trying not to do anything that made him too conspicuous, though that was definitely a lost cause when they all got shoved up in front of the whole school and made to go dip a badge one by one into a cauldron for it to change colour based on their personalities. He might have marvelled at it had he not been too busy dying of embarrassment and secretly worrying that he might not have enough of a personality to turn it anything.

Apparently though, his personality was red, and he made his way to his own house without complaint - unlike the girl a few turns before him, who had kicked up a mighty fuss about being in Aladren. Wes had doubled his efforts to melt into the background on her behalf whilst that was going on. He wasn’t the best with people, but he didn’t think that was a great way to start a relationship with the group you had to board with for the next seven years. As he settled in at his own table, he did his best to look at neutral and not-minding-at-all as if, on some cosmic level, he could counteract her, or at least not make his new housemates tarnish all the incoming crowd with the same brush.

He applauded for the people who he didn’t know, and then jumped slightly as the food appeared.

“Well, this is all very interesting,” he said to his neighbour, not specifying whether he meant the food, the school in general, or the dramatic scene during the sorting, but deciding that ‘interesting’ was a word that very much applied to all his experiences so far.

OOC: Normally writing another character's reaction without it being posted first would be god-modding/not allowed, but I also author Summer and know how she will react.

13 Wesley Wu I feel weird breaking the silence 1592 0 5

Iris Cobb

November 14, 2023 9:00 PM

Of course. by Iris Cobb

Throughout Iris' school years, she had always assumed this year would be, without a doubt, the best year she would have at Sonora. This was naturally because it would be her only year of attending the school when her brother would not be here at all. He was now off... doing other things. She wasn't exactly sure what, something at the Cobbson place with Ulrich. She knew he was not off adventuring and traveling the world like he had always wanted. He had a kid to take care of now. Iris felt a bit sorry for Ray.

Upon arrival, Iris had very briefly visited her room and then moved on elsewhere in the school. She didn't like avoiding her roommate, but she just wasn't sure what else there was to do about it at this point. The girl had stabbed her in the back and been completely and utterly unapologetic about it. Iris had never felt so betrayed before. They had been such good friends beforehand, it made it feel so much worse. Why couldn't Amethyst have been just a tiny, little bit sympathetic to her plight? But no. Heaven forbid the Brockerts not support each other.

Iris wandered into the hall early and found a seat at the Crotalus table. There she moped until the feast began. After this year was over, she could be done with Brockerts entirely. The new first years came in and got sorted, Iris watched without much interest. Her mood grew darker when the Brockert headmaster called Amethyst up to get her badge. Along with Hansel. Surprise, surprise. As if she needed her face rubbed in it some more. Technically the headmaster didn't have a say in who got picked for head student, it was a popularity contest, but she could tell the Headmaster was pleased with the result. As a popularity contest, well it just went to show who had more friends. Iris wondered if anyone had voted for her other than herself. Probably not. Maybe Ray. It didn't matter at this point, soon she would be out of this place.

She did not sing. The food appeared and Iris considered it a while trying to decide if she was hungry or not. Eventually she half-hardheartedly flopped some nearby food onto her plate, and stared at it a bit longer still trying to decide if she had any sort of appetite. This was going to be a long year.

2 Iris Cobb Of course. 1526 0 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

Summer Collindale

November 17, 2023 5:22 AM

This isn't right by Summer Collindale

The tour of the school was interesting for Summer, probably in different ways than it was for everyone else. They probably all had a lot of things to stare at. Now there weren’t a bunch of older students jostling and shouting, and they were inside on the stone floors, she felt more confident in her ability to follow the noise of Professor Xavier and her peers, and to start getting a feel for her environment with her cane. She trusted her peers to move out of her way if she was about to hit them, and mostly trusted them (or at least Professor Xavier and Dora) not to leave her behind.

The most interesting place was the library, though they didn’t stay long enough for her to discover whether it had many books she could read. She did get to run her fingers over spines and page edges, and just enjoy their familiar, comforting presence. The least interesting spot was the Quidditch Pitch. She could already fly, in tandem with someone else, so she didn’t actually need the classes the school offered. And what else was she going to do on the Quidditch Pitch? Play a game? Spectate? The only interesting thing about it was the smell of fresh grass, but she could get that in the gardens without the risk of being hit by a bludger or an idiot on a broom.

After the tour was a moment she was excited for—the moment when she and Dora would become roommates. They’d be Teppenpaws together, like they’d played in Dora’s bedroom a couple of Christmases ago. And even though Summer wasn’t going to get scared or homesick or have trouble with anything, it was nice to know that Dora and Professor Xavier would be right there, just in case.

She stepped up when her name was called, finding the edge of the cauldron first with her stick and then with her hands so that she could dip her badge. She held it up to her eyes, trying to catch a hint of the colour. But she couldn’t see the yellow. And Dora’s voice was calling out the wrong thing, and now Professor Skies was echoing it.

“No!” Summer protested. They’d got it all wrong. “I can’t be in Aladren.”

She didn’t know who was in charge of Aladren but there was no way he was as nice as Professor Xavier, or would look after her like he would. Aladren was full of super smarty pants kids who probably looked down on anyone who didn’t play chess and go to the opera at the weekends.

But it didn’t matter how much she protested, or how she thrust her badge back in the direction of the adults’ voices, they didn’t take it back. She was prepared to stand there arguing the rest of the night (an act which in itself rather confirmed what the sorting potion had decreed) until Professor Skies uttered the magic words ‘I can get someone to show you to your table if you need help.’

“I do not need help!” Summer fumed, insult now added to injury, combined tears of disappointment and rage breaking onto her cheeks.

She turned, swinging her cane, heading in what she hoped she’d remembered accurately as the direction of the Aladren table. It wasn’t information she’d thought she would need. Her cane hit without anyone correcting her. Doubt flickered as she realised that, although she’d found the table, she didn’t know which seats were vacant. She pushed her way in, deciding that if there wasn’t already a space for her there, they could make one.

She didn’t want to keep crying. If people saw her crying, they would think she was helpless. But her stupid tears wouldn’t get the memo and shut up. This wasn’t what she had planned when she’d imagined coming to Sonora. She wanted to be in Teppenpaw or she wanted to go home.

When she had been little, she had once magicked herself all the way to the library when it had been denied to her. But maybe it was just that she was older now, and such prominent accidental magic was unusual. Or maybe it was the wards around the school. But Sonora’s will was stronger than hers.

OOC: Professor Skies is mine, and Dora's comment comes from her own post

13 Summer Collindale This isn't right 1589 0 5

Rowan Westfall

November 22, 2023 4:02 AM

New beginnings? by Rowan Westfall

Rowan hadn’t stopped moving the whole time. Nervously bouncing his knee or fidgeting with his hands as he said good bye to his parents, and on the wagon ride to the school, which hadn’t been nearly as fun as he’d thought it’d be. But his nervous energy started to turn into more excited bounciness as they climbed out of the wagons. The school was gorgeous, Rowan was immediately captivated but the buildings and gardens, unlikely and magical in the dry, hot environment. Not really what he’d been expecting, it wasn’t the huge gothic castle of story books, but it seemed to fit and he wasn’t left disappointed. He’d ended up paying more attention to the plants and halls and other students that he had the teacher… Professor Xavier, if Rowan was remembering correctly. Though he was sure he’d caught enough information to not be completely lost. This place was huge, probably the biggest building he’d been in for years, so he kept the green folder with the map held tight. If he lost his map they would probably give him another, but it didn’t feel worth the risk.

When the first years were lined up in Cascade Hall, Rowan tried not to feel like everyone’s eyes were on him, with ended up being futile seeing as every student in the school was here and watching the first years be sorted. Oh god. Blue for Aladren, red for Crotalus, Teppenpaw was yellow, what was Pecari again…? He felt his anxiety start to build up a bit, what if he got a bad house? Was there a bad house? What if he tripped on his way up and people laughed, or he couldn’t figure out where to go? It will be fine, he had to remind himself, trying desperately to calm his nerves in time for his name to be called.

He was honestly glad he wasn’t one of the first on the list, it felt better to be able to watch the others do it before him, to see that it was easy. He was the third from last, and could feel his pulse as he walked up to the caldron and dipped in the blank badge.

It came out brown. That’s what Pecari was! He didn’t wait for anything else once he had his color, and quickly made his way over to the Pecari table, sliding in at the end of the bench, not really paying attention to who he was sitting next to. He felt a mixture of complete excitement, and deep fear. This whole magic thing was daunting, but he’d be damned if he didn’t say it felt like a who new world, a new life, was opening up and revealing itself to him.

71 Rowan Westfall New beginnings? 1586 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

Nathan Xavier

November 24, 2023 9:50 PM

Proud Papa by Nathan Xavier

Nathan led the new first years into the Cascade Hall and turned them over to Selina to do the Sorting. He hovered nearby in case Summer needed help since the Sorting was largely visual, but between Dora and Selina, they had it well in hand, at least until she decided she didn't like the result. He wasn't quite sure what to do at that point either, continuing to hover nearby, and even took a step closer when Selina offered to get someone to show her to her table, but such help was unwelcome, and she made her way to Aladren as Nathan finally made his way to the staff table and took the seat next to his wife.

Dora was the last one sorted, running into the hereditary bane of all Xaviers: being stuck near the end of the alphabet. Nathan was pretty sure he didn't even breath as she dunked her badge into the potion.

He knew it would be yellow or brown. Her parents' Houses ran strongly through her, and he doubted her suitability to either of the other two, not that she wasn't smart, but learning and following the rules were not her primary objectives in life.

The badge came out yellow. He could see that very clearly when she held it up over her head like she'd just won a sports trophy. "That's my girl," he breathed just loud enough for Isis to hear. Dora made her way over to his House table and joined her new Housemates.

Feelings overwhelmed him. His kid was one of his kids. Merlin, how had she gotten to be eleven already? But there she was, in Sonora robes, sitting at the Teppenpaw table with her yellow first year badge, looking like she belonged there. She looked up at them and beamed, waving and pointing at her badge proudly, and Nathan felt his throat get tight and his vision got just a little blurry for a moment. Then she turned away, and the Headmaster fortunately started naming the new Heads and Prefects, and Nathan could focus on that for a moment, clapping as Hansel claimed one of the Head Student positions. It was always a proud moment when one of his Teppenpaws was honored with that badge. He also applauded for Cole becoming the new Teppenpaw Prefect. Any of the fifth year Teppenpaws would have been a good choice for that this year, he thought, and it was one of the largest classes they'd had in recent years, so it was quite the honor to get selected as prefect this year as well.

The students returned to their seats with their new badges, and soon enough the food appeared and Nathan's eye drifted back to his eldest daughter, now talking to Robyn.

"I'm so proud of her," he said to Isis, hoping she didn't feel too badly that Dora hadn't gone to Pecari.

1 Nathan Xavier Proud Papa 28 0 5

Donovan Peters

November 26, 2023 11:04 AM

Welcome! by Donovan Peters

Donovan's summer had been somewhat uneventful, and other than practicing Quidditch with Leo on the back forty, had consisted mainly of helping his parents with the cows. He sometimes missed having a normal muggle life, but after a couple of months of mucking out the barn, he was ready to go back to school.

He was excited for the new students, wondering which of them were brand-new to the wizarding world, just like he'd been. Professors Xavier and Carter-Xavier's kid was getting sorted this year, so she was obviously acquainted with the lifestyle. There were a couple of Brockerts as well, along with a number of names he didn't immediately recognize. Donovan thumped and cheered for the two kids that ended up in Pecari. It was always good to have housemates!

One of them, a smallish boy with long hair sat down next to him. Rowan, that was the name they'd called. He looked a little nervous.

"Welcome, Rowan!" Donovan said with a bright smile, "I'm Donovan. I'm a third year, so if you have any questions or anything, let me know. I'm happy to help!"

The food appeared posthaste, and Donovan helped himself to a little bit of everything, offering each platter in turn to Rowan so he wouldn't have to reach.

"Where do you come from?" Donovan asked by way of dinner conversation, "I'm from Iowa, myself. Big middle-of-nowhere energy. Total snoozefest. Sonora is way more exciting, and I get to learn magic, besides."

64 Donovan Peters Welcome! 1569 0 5

Isis Carter-Xavier

November 27, 2023 4:23 PM

Mama, too. by Isis Carter-Xavier

Isis was feeling all of the feelings today.

Sad: Oz was officially gone, and it felt strange not to look over at her House table and see his messy brown hair poking up. She was glad she had gotten to say a farewell, but a part of her was afraid that she wouldn’t be the same teacher anymore. She couldn’t let that happen. What Oz had given her, she had to carry forward. But still, she would miss him.

Excited: it was Dora’s first year! This too came with its own bittersweetness, of course. How could her little girl be old enough to be a student? Dora had sat through many Sonora feasts and events in her short life already, but to actually participate - to be a student - was simply something else. Isis was so proud of her.

Anxious: the circumstances were vastly different, but Isis could not help but recall the last time she had been in this position, with a child at her school. Isis had come to terms with the many ways she had failed Nevaeh, and this time, there were no secrets to carry. Isis also had a lot more parenting experience under her belt now, having actually raised her younger two children this far into it. Still, the sinking feeling in her stomach reminded her of where she had been nearly twenty years ago. It reminded her of the time she lost with Nevaeh, and also with Dora, how long it had taken her to step into herself again. But Dora, at least, would not remember. Nevaeh carried the burden, and while their relationship had mended somewhat as the years went by, it would never be whole.

Still, with her boys on either side of her, she did her best to sort her feelings and be in the moment for her daughter’s sake. Her father’s last name gave Dora some time before it was her turn, but even before she raised her badge, Isis knew what the outcome would be. “That’s my girl,” Nathan whispered beside her. She placed her hand on his arm and gave an affectionate squeeze.

The rest of the ceremony rolled as usual, but Isis could hardly take her eyes off not Dora, but Nathan. Her husband was absolutely beaming. And when he said how proud he was, Isis chuckled. “Yes, I can see that,” she smiled. “I’m just glad one of us can still keep an eye on her. It’s going to be so weird, not having her in our quarters. I know she’ll be just fine - Teppenpaw is a perfect place for her. I’m more concerned about us.”

12 Isis Carter-Xavier Mama, too. 31 0 5

Constance Melcher

November 27, 2023 4:44 PM

It was not supposed to be this way. by Constance Melcher

The logical portion of Constance’s brain - which was, truthfully, about ninety-eight percent of it - told her that she should not have been surprised. The Head Student election was a popularity vote, and she was not an especially popular person. She felt like maybe she had made two friends last year - Xavier and Lydia - but that was obviously not enough to turn the tide of an election. Even if she was likely the most intelligent candidate, responsible, and not only familiar but comfortable with authority as a Prefect and the oldest of four siblings, no one here was going to vote that way. No one else was as logical as she was. They were all voting for friends. They led with their emotions.

And those emotions, which accounted for the remaining two percent of her brain, were clearly no good, as they now soaked through to corrupt the rest. Despite all the reasons she shouldn’t have been surprised… she was still hurt. She had wanted Head Girl, and she did not get it. And those mean little emotions tried to sting worse, telling her that maybe it was because everybody disliked her. She had gathered from evaluating her peers that she was likely considered a bit odd, but it had never outwardly seemed to bother anyone. She felt an instinct to ask one of these potential new friends their opinion, but “do you think everyone hates me?” was probably a bit too forward of an inquiry for the level of development the relationships had currently achieved.

It was always that stupid little emotional bit that got her into trouble. See what happened when she wanted things that depended on others? Books did not hurt her feelings. And nor did adults, really. Perhaps she was too mature for her fellow students. Yes, that was it. She was too mature. And she was definitely not crying, she insisted silently as she wiped away a single tear. Absolutely not.

12 Constance Melcher It was not supposed to be this way. 1523 0 5

Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

November 27, 2023 4:59 PM

I know how you feel. by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher

Summer had been interesting enough, to say the least. Lazlo was always happy to return and see his family again. Now that he was sixteen, his mother let him start driving the car, a prominent step in the life of a teenager from a mixed Muggle and magic household. He spent a lot of his time at the zoo, following along behind his parents and seeing what magical creature he could get just a little closer to before they noticed and inevitably called him back.

Most of his time, though, he spent with his little brother. He still couldn’t believe that Atticus would not be joining him at Sonora. Once upon a time, Lazarus had dreamed of the day when he and his brothers could all go to Sonora together. When three became two, he was crushed. When two became one and a Squib, he knew his dream was gone.

He loved his little brother greatly and was fiercely protective, in no small part because they had lost their middle brother Icarus in childhood. He knew Atticus would be okay - Mom and Dad were hardly upset by his lack of magical powers - but Lazarus couldn’t even imagine what Atticus had to be going through. If Laz was this sad not to have Atticus at Sonora, it had to be even worse to be the one left behind.

Despite the lack of familial presence, the Sorting ceremony was still anything but boring, as there was a girl who did not want to be an Aladren. A girl with a cane. Lazarus glanced involuntarily at his speech book; he knew how it felt to be different.

She came over guns blazing and ready to push, but Lazarus was still glad she ended up beside him. He kept an eye on her as the Headmaster gave his speech (if it could be called that), and although he had a feeling the girl wouldn’t be in the mood to sing, he ran a quick hand over the music sheet that appeared before her to check if it was in Braille for her.

With the required formalities out of the way, Lazarus genuinely felt, for the first time in who knows how long, like starting a conversation. He fumbled the pages briefly, making sure he could put together the message fairly quickly when it wasn’t one he had preset. “Hey,” he selected, and the book read it out. It wasn’t as flat and toneless as what you’d find on a Muggle cell phone, but it wasn’t a perfect representation of English speech, either. “Welcome to Aladren. It is okay here.”

OOC: The voice of the book is male and meant to sound approximately the right age (like what he would sound like if he could speak). Let me know if you need any more specifics.

12 Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher I know how you feel. 1548 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

November 27, 2023 8:54 PM

What happens next? by Fortune Ardovini

Fortune sat at the Pecari table and wondered what this year would bring while he waited for the festivities to begin. He was an official fifth year now, which meant all of those warnings that had been thrown about last year about big tests that he'd ignored, would be something he'd need to worry about this year. However, the important thing that he was really worried about was naturally Quidditch. Oz had graduated now, the team needed a new captain. Plus Billy was gone as well. Hopefully they would get some new players with the new batch of first years.

People found their seats and the Headmaster began the ceremonies. Fortune watched over the first years as they were sorted, trying to see if any of them looked like potential teammates. It was hard to tell though, and one of the kids made an awful fuss. As for the head students, he didn't really know Amethyst all that well, but Hansel showed up for Quidditch sometimes and he was pretty cool.

He was a little surprised to hear himself getting called for Pecari prefect, but he realized he probably shouldn't be. There wasn't a lot of competition for the position. That was alright though, he'd do his best and it'd make Mom and Dad proud. So he collected his new badge and pinned it to his robes with a bit of a smile.

The headmaster mentioned the fair, and he wondered what the theme would be this time around. When the song sheets arrived, he sang along. He was a prefect now after all, and he had to set a good example. After that, thankfully the food appeared. Fortune suddenly realized that he was starving and moved to fill his plate with whatever was in reach. After he had a bite or two, he turned to his neighbor with a grin, "So, ready for this year?"

2 Fortune Ardovini What happens next? 1549 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

Misty Brockert

November 28, 2023 6:01 PM

Now the fun begins! by Misty Brockert

“Absolutely!” Misty beamed. After the proceeding ceremonial bits of the Opening Feast, her neighbor - the new Prefect, a fifth year boy named Fortune - asked if she was ready for the year. She had thought of little else for days now, although part of the Sorting did catch her attention. There was a boy who, when called for his turn to dunk his badge, she thought she had heard the name “Wu”. Truthfully, Misty didn’t know if that was just a common name or something, but the only people she’d ever known with it was her mama’s family, the pureblooded Wu family, born and thriving back in China. Misty didn’t really know that part of her family well - Mama kept some distance and seemed happy for the excuse of international distance, although sometimes Mama’s siblings visited or sent gifts - but that was her basis for context. She thought she might have to investigate this later.

Other than that, she had thought nothing but eager thoughts for this school year specifically. This year, a lot changed. Misty was thirteen now - a real-life teenager! And if she knew anything from the young adult novels she had read, that meant her life was finally going to truly begin!

Plus, she had one more great joy this year. “I’m really excited to be in the Intermediate classes,” she added brightly. It would be the only school year in which she and Gwendolyn would share classes, so she really wanted to make the best of it! Misty sometimes felt bad asking Gwendolyn for help with her homework, but now that they would be together, they could work on projects and assignments as a team!

“What about you? Excited to see what being Prefect holds? Congrats, by the way!” she added. Misty had caught his name in the announcement, but she had mostly been cheering for her sister, who now also featured a badge and a title. That wasn’t a surprise, though. Gwendolyn was absolutely amazing!

12 Misty Brockert Now the fun begins! 1567 0 5

Summer Collindale

November 30, 2023 7:23 AM

Oh yeah, how's that? by Summer Collindale

Summer didn’t sing, which put her in a further bad mood. She liked singing and was decently good at it, but felt all caught off guard and confused. She’d practised the words before, when she and Dora had played Sorting Ceremony, so she knew the song. She should have been ready, and been singing it side by side with her friend. She mumbled half a line or so at the end but her heart wasn’t in it.

And then someone tried to tell her it wasn’t bad here.

That was weird… Not the message. There wasn’t much that was novel or surprising about ‘hey, welcome to Aladren.’ It was more or less expected. Okay, the ‘It’s okay here’ was a little more personalised. The subtext of that message was ‘calm down.’ That was part of the weirdness… That Summer almost wanted to. The voice had caught her attention, in a way that made her want to listen to it. And Summer didn’t listen to most people, especially not when she was upset.

She turned to the voice.

“Yeah?” she said, clearly skeptical. She could smell the table filling up with food around her. Food she would need a stranger’s help to access. She had never felt so adrift or helpless, and that feeling was Aladren’s fault.

And when she did not get an immediate reply, she realised her mistake. She was not looking at the right angle to be speaking to an older boy, even though that’s how the voice had sounded. And the reason it was calm and comforting was that odd cadence that she should so easily have recognised… But she’d been thrown off by Aladren and by it being a child’s voice and by everything else.

“Read.” She was no stranger to talking books. She preferred to read for herself, but they were a nice way of passing time as a family on long road trips. She couldn’t hear any other similar devices going off around the table, though it was hard to tell under the loud chatter. Maybe it was just a book that appeared to crying first years? “Continue?” she tried when her initial command didn’t work. “More?”

OOC: Made some assumptions about her and Dora's past activities. If Dora would swear to secrecy on the school song, I can edit. Also making some assumptions about the timings of Lazarus' replies - let me know if accurate.

13 Summer Collindale Oh yeah, how's that? 1589 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

Alexei Vorontsov

December 01, 2023 5:19 PM

To the future. by Alexei Vorontsov

Seventh year. It seemed impossible that it was upon him, but yet that was what seemed to be the case. Somehow, it had been six full years since Alexei had started attending Sonora Academy, and now he was almost ready to leave. Just a few more months and then….

Well, it wouldn’t be the end of his family’s association with the English-speaking world, he supposed. His father might let him roam for a while, but only Katya spoke better English than he did, and Katya was a girl. Alexei was not, and therefore would be expected to use his skills to the betterment of the family and of Volshebnaya Derevnya as a whole. Plus, Katya’s children would presumably come to school here, along with having family in the south more generally on their father’s side; the tricky part with them might be making sure they spoke Russian and were properly part of the Vorontsov family, since even Tatya would have to admit that Katya would have a point about it being odd to speak to the children in front of their father in a language he didn’t really speak at all. But except for Katya, most of his immediate family would have only fairly limited contact with this world again after this year (Tatya keeping in touch with her friends didn’t, considering how…idiosyncratic…said communications could get, count).

It was a little strange to consider after so long - Alexei could barely remember a time before Tatya had come to school here - but he was excited for the future. Plans had already been made for after he finished his exams; some of the details remained to be confirmed, but he was confident enough that they would work out favorably that he was not too concerned about those things. First, though, he had his final year of school to complete, beginning with applauding for a friend. He didn’t know if Amethyst would notice, but he was sure to clap and smile when she got her new Head Girl badge. Then the food appeared, and he started serving himself a little of everything. The food was objectively better at Feasts than at other times, but after the holidays, it also resumed seeming almost as foreign to him as it had when he’d first arrived. It was never quite as interesting again, but there was some novelty value restored by the holidays nevertheless. He supposed he was easily amused, but as he started to eat, looking good naturedly around at everyone, he supposed there were worse things to be.

16 Alexei Vorontsov To the future. 1531 0 5

Cecily Welles

December 01, 2023 7:34 PM

It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. by Cecily Welles

Cecily hadn’t really thought about what settling back into school life would be like, but somehow, she still managed to find it a little surprising. It had taken a few minutes to do so, because she’d had to unpack her toiletries and family photographs and musical jewelry box and books before it had begun to feel really familiar, but it had felt sort of good, being back in the little room she shared with Alma. At home, she had barely stopped feeling like everyone constantly noticed her appearance (well, did so in an unusual and slightly uncomfortable way - last year was the first time in Cecily’s life when she had ever gone unnoticed, much less wanted to do so) as an anomaly before it had been time to pack up again. For the moment, at least, it seemed she and her family had all accepted that school was where she was supposed to be by default.

On one hand, that was good, because maybe she’d be less homesick than she had been this time last year. On the other hand, though, she wasn’t sure what it foretold for her chances of successfully acting on her resolution not to remain as quiet as she had been last year. If it felt natural to slip back into being here, in the dorms or the dining hall, then did that mean she would also just naturally reassume the unnatural withdrawal into herself she had undergone as a first year, once the reality of the situation - of the absence of Kenneth and George to boss around, and of no longer being surrounded exclusively by her brothers and a flock of adults who more or less unanimously adored her and had done so since the day she was born - had settled in? And even if that didn’t happen - what would everyone think, anyway?

In light of those concerns, she was not displeased to find herself sitting next to one of the new Crotalus first years. Nobody in first year, after all, knew anything about her, unless one counted what she had put into pen pal letters with Rowan Westfall over the summer. None of them had any reason to expect her to be the way she had been last year, including Rowan Westfall. They were all also younger than her, which was the proper thing for other children in her orbit to be. These things all made them the perfect specimens to practice on.

“If you’re talking about the Sorting, then it was definitely more interesting than mine,” she told the boy when he commented that ‘this’ was interesting. Her eyes flicked over to the Aladren table, looking for the girl who had made a fuss and wondering how on Earth school was going to go for her. “I don’t know how normal that is, though, since this is only the second one I’ve seen. Mine was last year. I’m Cecily Welles.” One thing she had gotten pretty well established last year was that her name wasn’t Cecelia, despite what legal documents and class rosters might say to the contrary. She had no objection to the name Cecelia or anything, but nobody had ever called her that, and it just didn’t occur to her naturally to answer to it. “We’ll be in the same classes. Welcome to Crotalus!”

16 Cecily Welles It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. 1578 0 5

Rowan Westfall

December 02, 2023 3:47 AM

Friendlier than I had expected by Rowan Westfall

Rowan was a little surprised to be greeted by another student so quickly, he was expecting to be ignored at first in favor of the other students greeting their friends after not seeing them over the summer, or at most to get a few polite ‘hellos’ and nods. He surely wasn’t expecting a full introduction from one of the students as soon as he sat down, but it was more than welcome, a pleasant change from how kids in the public muggle schools tended to treat him.

The boy—he said his name was Donovan—was quite friendly, introducing himself and passing Rowan offerings of food, which he of course happily accepted. They weren’t joking when they said it was a feast, he couldn’t believe how crowed the table was with platters of various foods, some Rowan recognized and others he didn’t, although that didn’t stop him from accepting the food that came his way.

Rowan returned Donovan’s smile, wide and crooked with his dimples showing, and brushed some hair out of his face. “Hi!” He was still nervously fiddling with his nails a little, but stuck his hand out for the boy to shake. Him being so friendly without hesitance did make Rowan feel a bit more comfortable. When he spoke Donovan could hear a distinctly British accent, “I’m from Oregon, just outside of Astoria. We moved there a few years ago from London. I’m really excited for Sonora too! It’s like a story book come to life, I think it’s fantastic.”

71 Rowan Westfall Friendlier than I had expected 1586 0 5

Wesley Wu

December 02, 2023 4:03 AM

Do they? by Wesley Wu

Wes nodded when the girl next to him referenced the sorting, though he probably would have agreed whatever she had pinpointed as the subject of his comment.

"Is Aladren... bad?" he asked. He didn't think it would make sense to have a 'bad kids' house and nothing he had read in the litetature about the school had suggested it to him. But perhaps there was something, eithet subtextual or unofficial, that he was missing.

"I'm Wesley Wu. Though most people call me Wes," he added. He had defaulted to using his full name because she had, and when he gave his family name it sounded silly if he abbreviated his given name - 'Wes Wu' was over so quickly most people had just wrapped their ears around the fact he was speaking when he stopped.

"Oh. Yes," he said, when she reminded him that they would be in classes together in spite of her being older than him. That was another thing that would take some getting used to. He scrambled to find something more than 'oh yes' though it was hard to know what to say to someone older than him. At his previous school, mixing between grade levels hadn't really happened. "How are they? The classes, I mean. Any particular teachers I need to look out for?"

13 Wesley Wu Do they? 1592 0 5

Cecily Welles

December 02, 2023 12:39 PM

I’m afraid so, otherwise everyone just sits here and it’s awkward. by Cecily Welles

Cecily responded to the inquiry about Aladren with a firm, immediate head shake ‘no’ before driving the point home verbally. “No, there’s nothing wrong with Aladren,” she said. “My favorite uncle was in Aladren.” This, as far as Cecily was concerned, was all the endorsement that was required, but she had just enough of an ability to see past the end of her nose to appreciate that this might not be enough for anyone else, and so she tried to elaborate. “Aladrens are usually really smart. So are people in other Houses, but I think we have to work harder for it or something? They’re just…good at school.” That was kind of why Cecily hadn’t been altogether surprised not to be Sorted into Aladren, and why she had worried about whether she would be able to live up to expectations if she had been. She was quite certain she wasn’t stupid - it wasn’t allowed in her family - but she didn’t always feel the need to seek out new things to know the way John and her grandmother did. “And sometimes they can be a little…um…” she tried to think of how to explain the concept in her head. “Weird, I guess, but not in a bad way? And some of them aren’t even that,” she added, thinking about the ones who had been second years when she was a first year - three American Society boys, plus usually Alexander Pierce; it was sort of surprising, sometimes, to see Alexander in the Crotalus common room, since she was used to seeing him with his brother and their friends. “So there’s nothing wrong with being in Aladren, and I don’t know what her problem was.” This with the tiniest tilt of her head toward the first year girl again.

“Wes,” Cecily repeated, hoping this would lodge firmly in her memory. “Nice to meet another nickname person - my real name’s Cecelia Marie, but nobody’s ever called me that.” Her baby brother Kenneth called her Lily sometimes because he couldn’t pronounce ‘Cecily’ quite right, and George had picked up the habit from him because, she was sure, he thought it annoyed her, but not Cecelia or Marie, not that she thought anyone had ever planned to call her Marie. Her second name had been an afterthought that sounded all right with ‘Cecelia’ after her father had decided to call her that and her mom had agreed it was pretty. “Which is sort of funny, since almost everyone else in my family uses their whole names - though with one of my brothers, that might be because there’s…just not anything else to call someone named George,” she conceded. A bit of an oversight on her parents’ part, she thought; ‘William,’ ‘Julian,’ ‘Cecelia’, and ‘Kenneth’ all lent themselves to nicknames even if Cecily couldn’t imagine anyone really calling the other three Will, Julie, or Ken, but George was just…George, whether he liked it or not. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

Wes asked about classes and teachers to look out for, and Cecily thought about the question for a moment before she answered it. “Professor Wright’s kind of boring, so you have to pinch yourself sometimes to make sure you keep paying attention long enough to figure out what the important part of whatever he’s saying is,” she said finally. “He’s the Charms teacher - see that man with the glasses and the stupid hat at the staff table? That’s him. He’s Head of Aladren. The Black lady is Professor Carter-Xavier, and she’s sitting beside Professor Xavier - they’re married to each other. Carter-Xavier’s the Head of Pecari and fills in for other teachers when they’re sick or something, and Xavier’s the Head of Teppenpaw and the Herbology teacher. Professor Xavier’s really nice, and so is Professor Brooding-Hawthorne, the Potions teacher. Sometimes plants in Herbology are dangerous and ingredients in Potions are always gross, but their teachers are really nice about it. And the blonde lady who was supervising during the Sorting, that’s Professor Skies - she’s the Transfiguration teacher, and the Deputy Headmistress, and she’s the Head of Crotalus. Transfiguration is a really tough class - as long as you follow all the rules and you’re trying hard to do it right, you should be okay with Professor Skies, but she’s pretty strict if she thinks you’re goofing off. Professor Wright and Professor Skies both warn us about stuff being dangerous all the time, but don’t let them worry you too much - it’s fine as long as you don’t do something stupid on purpose, I think.” She decided to take a pause for air and for eating some of her food and turned the conversation back to Wes. “Are there any classes you’re looking forward to?”

16 Cecily Welles I’m afraid so, otherwise everyone just sits here and it’s awkward. 1578 0 5

Claire Osbrook

December 02, 2023 2:30 PM

Reality sucks, wanna team up and break it? by Claire Osbrook

The fairy tale unreality of the Ball was past and another year was in progress, but Claire had not - to her own surprise - returned completely to her usual appearance. She still had longer hair than usual, and she was still wearing the necklace her mother had given her the previous Christmas.

As far as major life developments went, these were both, Claire had to admit, pretty minor. She could have had her hair cut back to its old length instead of just having it trimmed for split ends over the summer and nobody would have noticed or said anything, just as she expected nobody to notice or say anything about her wearing it longer now. As for the necklace, well - she had taken the time to make sure it was outside the collar of her high-necked uniform robes tonight, but she expected it would go back to where it had been most of the previous semester soon enough, constantly hidden by the fabric. Last year, she had worn it constantly and kept it hidden until the night of the Ball because she had assumed her mother would want the diamond pendant back, but now - since Mom had explained that no, it was Claire’s to keep, now, and since she had gotten used to it being around her neck - it would probably slip under her robes more often than not just because that was a natural place for the eighteen-inch chain and small pendant to fall, and because it would feel strange to go to as much trouble this year to keep it visible as she had last year to keep it hidden - that despite being perfectly aware that the vast majority of the other girls in Crotalus wouldn’t even regard it as valuable enough to be worth stealing, at least maybe unless they knew it was an antique. Somehow, though, Claire couldn’t help but almost feel…wary, somehow, about starting her sixth year with these reminders of the first time she’d ever felt beautiful. Like she might lose focus on what was important in favor of….

…Of…

Well, she wasn’t exactly sure what else there was, but she knew it would be a bad idea to do it. Spending all her time trying to be as pretty as the uniform allowed, maybe? Trying to see if anyone might suddenly see her differently, much less anyone she’d actually want to have see her differently? Those things were not practical, not sensible uses of the two most important years of her education. Even if she’d been straight, she highly doubted she’d have had a prayer of marrying up in the world, and therefore, her looks didn’t really matter much beyond being good enough to get her a baseline positive response from people in general.

She fiddled with the necklace as she thought about the things that were important. Things like not being weird around other girls, not spontaneously proclaiming her love for her roommate before they were separated forever at the end of next year, and working as hard as possible in a bid for academic honors while trying to figure out what to do with them and the rest of her life after she had them - something that would, among having other perks, also help her with her first and second goals. That was what was sensible. That was how she should use her time. That was what would lay the groundwork for her being the best at what she did next.

Claire had always struggled with a certain apathy toward the majority of humanity, but she did notice them, and thus she noticed, as the Feast began, than Iris looked exceptionally unhappy. Since she and Iris were friendly enough in general, on the basis of shared interests, that she was not overly apathetic toward Iris, Claire found herself experiencing a flicker of concern, though she suspected she could guess the reason for Iris’ discontent.

“Hey,” she said, pausing in serving her own plate. “Sorry about Head Girl. You’d have been great at it.”

16 Claire Osbrook Reality sucks, wanna team up and break it? 1540 0 5

Eben Sosna

December 05, 2023 3:44 PM

Things in life do tend to end up that way. by Eben Sosna

It was not, Eben thought as the Feast began, the best of all nights for Aladren. For one thing, their first year apparently hated them out of hand, and for another, one of the Crotaluses had just gotten Head Girl even though one of their own had been on the ballot.

He glanced at Constance Melcher, wondering how she felt about this and then feeling bad for catching her doing something that looked a lot like wiping one of her eyes. He wasn’t exactly surprised - no more than he would be surprised when he didn’t get Head Anything next year - but it looked like maybe she’d felt differently about it? Or maybe it just sucked anyway, and she was the emotionally demonstrative type?

Eben wondered about people, sometimes. He understood basically why he wasn’t one of the cool kids (paranoia and a tendency to extend this to most new people he met probably had a lot to do with it), but Constance? She was pretty, just listening to her harassing Wright sometimes proved she was super-smart and interesting. He’d considered asking her if she wanted to come to DnD night sometime a few times, though had always remembered two essential facts (‘she’d look at me like some especially revolting unknown form of sea slug’ and ‘I would really would not enjoy being looked at like some especially revolting unknown form of sea slug’) before he could make a fool of himself. It was just peculiar to him that she wasn’t in the popular group of her year, because she was probably more interesting than, like, a solid ninety percent of them.

Such matters were not, however, for him to comment on, much less represent himself as an authority on, and so as the Feast began, he kept his musings to himself as he filled his plate and aimed to be more interested in it than in the unfairness of the way the world worked.

16 Eben Sosna Things in life do tend to end up that way. 1538 0 5

Wesley Wu

December 06, 2023 7:09 AM

But it's also awkward talking by Wesley Wu

Aladrens were smart and good at school, and there was nothing wrong with them. Wes thought the first two might not be true in the eyes of other students but unless they got pushed around on a daily basis, it didn't seem worth crying over.

Oh. So she wasn't quite using her full name either, though hers still sounded like one.

"There was a Geo at my last school who was really a George. He was a bit odd though." Wes had never thought that really worked as a nickname, as it sounded more like an abbreviation for geography than George, but as it was rude to comment on other people's names or try to call them something they didn't want to be called, he had called Geo by his preferred nickname and kept those thoughts to himself. "Yeah, I have a younger sister, Pandora. Not Pan, not Dora." Whilst both were technically within her name neither really sounded like a logical nickname.

Cecily's run-down of the professors was useful. Wes was typically a good enough student to stay on the right side of all his teachers, but it still helped to know which ones he might need to try a little harder with to achieve that. One of them, he noticed, was their own head of house. He had neither expected Crotalus to be riotous nor had any plans to make it so. So that was all...fine.

"I'm not sure..." he answered regarding classes. "At my old school, I liked art. But I don't know that that really applies to anything here... What's your favourite?"

13 Wesley Wu But it's also awkward talking 1592 0 5

Kerri Stonehurst

December 09, 2023 12:08 AM

First day jitters? Not me. by Kerri Stonehurst

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

Cecily Welles

December 09, 2023 5:31 PM

That’s…also true. At least sometimes. by Cecily Welles

Cecily considered the possibility of calling her brother ‘Geo,’ and shook her head at it. It just didn’t sound natural, somehow. “I don’t think I’m going to call my brother that,” she said. “Geo sounds like…something about rocks, I think? It doesn’t quite sound like the first half of ‘George.’” A thought struck her and she laughed as she added, “it might sound a little more natural to call him Joe or something, but one of our uncles is already named Joseph.”

It went beyond that, too - Uncle Joe was George’s godfather, and ‘George’ was Uncle Joe’s middle name. Since the two names didn’t sound nearly as similar put together, though, she decided this was far too complicated to try to explain. Instead, then, she just concluded with, “but even if it didn’t sound a little like that, I think I’d just keep calling him George.” Her mom said that she’d named George that because he just sort of looked like a George as a baby, so Cecily didn’t know if she would have drawn such a conclusion on her own, but ‘just sort of looked like a George’ was the best description she could possibly think of for her little brother, even though he - to Cecily’s unending envy - simultaneously looked so much like their mom. It was monstrously unfair, she thought, that George was practically a replica of their pretty mother when he had no real use for those features, even if they somehow didn’t hang together the same way on him.

Cecily supposed that, if it came down to it, she looked somewhat like her father, who was also commonly considered very good-looking. Kenneth was his clone, but Cecily did at least have the same coloring. With a massive effort, such as she had made today, she even thought she could look pretty, but just on an average day - or even a good day, if she looked someone too directly in the face; she had figured out that, assuming she had combed her hair over in the right direction, she could make her features look more delicate than they were at a slight angle and thus usually made that small adjustment around people - she had always found her own appearance a little bit of a disappointment. Her chin was too sharp, especially compared to how broad her face was at the cheekbones; her nose was too big, too, and her eyes were just a little too far apart. She hoped she’d grow into it all someday, but somehow, she expected these issues just to get worse and worse….

These, however, were not reflections to confide in a random first year. Maybe if she married him someday or something, but while he seemed nice and she assumed they would speak again, she currently had no reason to think she was going to marry him. This also made her think that maybe she shouldn’t mention aloud how odd she thought it sounded for someone to name one child Wesley and the other Pandora. Plus, well…her mother was a woman called Julian who had been born and raised in an English-speaking culture at some point in the past, like, eight hundred years. Instead, she just nodded and said, “I’m the oldest in my family, too - no sisters, just two little brothers. George and Kenneth. George is still seven, and Kenneth’s [look this up]. I missed them a lot last year.”

She thought for a long moment before attempting to answer the question about her favorite class, but it didn’t help her come up with an answer. “I don’t think I have one right now,” she finally concluded, mildly perturbed by this. “Maybe next year - third years can choose some other classes, so maybe there will be something available that I’d like. But right now….” She shrugged. “They’re all just sort of there. You might like Charms, though, if you liked art, and if you can follow Professor Wright more than I usually do. It’s less…science-y than Transfiguration or Potions. And sometimes the effects are fun, or at least, you can think of something fun to do with them.”

16 Cecily Welles That’s…also true. At least sometimes. 1578 0 5

Ida Stanford

December 10, 2023 3:31 PM

How do we feel about this year? by Ida Stanford

Ida stepped off of the wagons and once more contemplated that she was starting her third year here at Sonora. She was now an intermediate level student. That meant she had some schedule shuffling to do, now she could take optional classes and while she was doing that, it seemed like a good time to re-evaluate her clubs and activities. While the classes had already been taken care of, she couldn't do anything about the clubs until school was back in session. Ida had sent an owl or two to Alexander over the summer to see what he was doing,out of curiosity.

After stopping in at her room and then making her way to the hall, Ida found herself at the Crotalus table making some final decisions while waiting for the feast to begin, and watching for Alexander. She had been in the dueling club, and would continue that. The gaming and gardening clubs weren't quite her 'thing', just as the arts clubs weren't. She just wasn't much of an 'artsy' person. The Cafe seemed like an interesting club, she didn't identify as any of the letters that made up the club's name, but she sure thought they should be treated like anyone else and that seemed to be a big point of the club. So she was planning on checking in with Lenny on that one sometime. Alexander had been in the Speech and Debate club, and she had now decided to join in that one as well. Because being able to debate effectively was certainly a better way to solve problems than violence, if it is an option. If it wasn't... well, that's why she was in the dueling club.

She glanced around the room again as it seemed like things were soon to get started, looking again for Alexander. Ida wasn't attempting to fool herself, she liked him. He was a nice, proper and wonderful boy. They had had a wonderful time at the ball at the end of last year. However, she also knew that he was 'A Pierce' and that she was most definitely not on his level of society. As such, there probably wasn't much of 'a future' for them, but they could still be good friends.

As the headmaster gave his speech, she clapped along with the rest at the new students and appointments. She sang along since that was what you were supposed to do, and eagerly took in the options when the food appeared on the table. She was quite hungry by this point, and everything smelled delicious. In a moment she had her own plate filled with a variety of items. "What do you think the fair theme will be?" She asked her neighbor as she began to dig into her plate.

OOC: Interactions with other characters approved by their authors.

2 Ida Stanford How do we feel about this year? 1571 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

December 10, 2023 9:13 PM

Welcome to Advanced, Liesl by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel arrived very early to dinner, in part because he was a prefect and he felt he should be on hand in case anyone had need of one before the feast. In part, too, it was because it was his seventh year, and he was starting to count down the months he had left to be around the other students of the school and he wanted to maximize what time he had left in their company instead of being alone in his room.

He’d been alone enough over the summer. Sure, there were the snakes, and Dad, of course, and Liesl had visited as she usually did, and his siblings had come back occasionally, but it wasn’t even close to the same as all of the people at Sonora. They said this was a small school, too. He couldn’t even imagine what a big school might be like.

People trickled into the Cascade Hall, filling it more and more, until eventually Professor Xavier lead in the new first years. They looked very much like children to him now. Had he and his friends really been that small once? It felt like only a short time ago. They couldn’t have changed that much so quickly, could they have?

Surely not so much as little Dora and CJ had over those same years, but there they were lining up to get Sorted. Maybe that was the problem? His perception of what a little kid was had grown with Evelyn’s baby brother and his Head of House’s little girl?

He didn’t have time to reflect much more on that, though, because Hansel’s name was getting called alongside Amethyst’s. He rose and headed for the staff table, pleased and a little surprised. All three of the Hexenmeisters had earned Prefect but, of his two elder siblings, only Hilda had gotten Head Student, and he’d always believed he favored Heinrich more, so he hadn’t really expected to be elected either.

Returning to his seat with his new badge, he couldn’t help a proud smile at Liesl. The rest of the Headmaster’s speech was brief and soon enough he was singing the school song for the last time.

Once that concluded and the food began to appear he smiled again at Liesl, this time more as a prelude to conversation.

They weren’t exactly dating. They’d gone to the Ball together obviously, and she’d visited every summer for a few years now, so he didn’t imagine it was a stretch to believe she’d say yes if he asked if she wanted to date, especially after how magical the Ball had turned out, but he hadn’t found the right time yet to ask. He hadn’t thought the ball was the right time because he didn’t want it to seem impulsive or because she was wearing a dress or something, and he hadn’t wanted to do it over the summer because Dad was always hovering nearby looking ready to start discussing the breeding habits of snakes and how Hexemeister hatchlings were not welcome at this time. Again.

So he was hoping being back at Sonora might provide better opportunities. But again, the first words they exchanged in several weeks was not the appropriate time.

Instead, he just smiled and said, “Hi, Liesl. Welcome to Advanced!”

OOC: Relationship status and summer visit discussed with Liesl’s author. CJ’s age and anticipated application checked with his author.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Welcome to Advanced, Liesl 1524 0 5

Cole Pierce

December 10, 2023 9:55 PM

No hard feelings, I hope? (tag a Teppenpaw fifth year or two or three) by Cole Pierce

Cole was more nervous about this Feast than any of the ones since he'd had his own first one. Watching Dora bounce happily into their midst helped a little, but then it was immediately time for the worst part, and he tensed up all over again.

He barely breathed as Hansel and Amethyst were called up as the new Head Students, too caught up in what came next to even clap properly for his Housemate. And then the new fifth-year prefects were named. Gwendolyn. A good solid choice for prefect, and almost neatly foreshadowed by her dancing with Phil during the prefect dance a few months ago.

Cole Pierce.

His breath stuttered and he nearly choked on it. He'd been hoping Teppenpaw would get their new prefect listed last, to delay that revelation to the very last moment. He didn't even hear the next two names as he stumbled to his feet and made his way to the front, torn between being delighted and proud of himself and excited to tell his mom and dad, and upset that Levi, Piper, and Lenny had needed to lose for him to win.

He smiled brightly at Fortune and Yaniel (they must have been the other names) and Amethyst once he got up to the staff table and collected his badge alongside them, and shared verbal congratulations with them as they started back to their tables with their new statuses. But sitting down again at Teppenpaw felt awkward, and he dearly hoped the shiny badge on his robe wasn't rubbing salt into his friends' wounds.

One of them had to be selected, and only one of them, and Cole had been worrying about this for most of a year. What if they resented him for being the one chosen? His mom had been prefect of her year, while his dad had been the Quidditch Captain, but none of his friends played while he did, so they wouldn't even get that as a consolation prize, and it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that he'd get both. He couldn't help feeling a little guilty for being happy he'd gotten it.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out as soon as the song was over. "I didn't want to take the badge from any of you."

1 Cole Pierce No hard feelings, I hope? (tag a Teppenpaw fifth year or two or three) 1546 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

December 13, 2023 6:42 AM

Of course not by Leviosa Scurlock

It was prefect year, and Levi was acutely aware of it, and the fact that she was damned if she got it and damned if she wasn’t. Verdillia was a prefect/good girl/shaping up to be a proper young lady, as Levi was reminded on a near constant basis when she was home for the summer. If Levi got the badge, did that mean that all those things went together, and she’d be seen as even more confusing for not toeing the line on them—if she was good enough to get prefect, why wouldn’t she neatly fall into all the other little boxes that ‘went with it’? But then, if she didn’t, it just proved she was a problem child.

She also knew that if she got it, her friends wouldn’t, but as that was basic maths, she trusted they’d all worked that out and would be happy for the winner.

She was leaning towards not wanting it, deciding she’d rather be damned for being what she really was than something she wasn’t, though there was a little part of her that wanted the staff to see her as both—as different from her sister and deserving.

But she wasn’t terribly surprised when they called Cole’s name instead. What she was surprised by was what came out of his mouth after he sat down.

“Why are you sorry, silly?” she asked, wrapping him in a big congratulatory hug. “We couldn’t all get it, and you deserve it. You didn’t bring a sword to the ball,” she reminded him, amongst multiple other reasons why he was possibly more favoured by grown ups than she was.

13 Leviosa Scurlock Of course not 1545 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 ~~boy~~friend.

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 0 5

Lenny Pierce

December 18, 2023 9:41 PM

None here by Lenny Pierce

OOC: cw: mild gender dysphoria BIC:

Lenny knew, to some degree, that fifth year mean prefect selection. It wasn't a thought that ran through his head often though, and most of his summer had been spent thinking about make-up and costumes, and remembering and delivering his lines, hitting the right choreography on the dance and fighting scenes, and when he wasn't working on his scenes, he was contemplating whether or not he wanted to come off the hormone blockers.

He was still a pretty solid 'no' on that, but he was at least trying to imagine adulthood and what developmental maturity was going to look like for him, which was all kinds of terrifying, and he didn't really like any of his options. He still didn't think he was trans; he liked his male pronouns and standing up when he peed, and he was ambivalent at best and weirded out at worst by the idea of having real boobs instead of just padded bras like the one he was wearing now under his school robes, but the thought of looking or sounding definitively masculine made him feel even more sick and wrong. He liked his narrow shoulders and his soft features and his un-stubbled chin, and if he let himself go off the blockers and let the testosterone run its natural course, there was a good chance he'd lose those. Saul Pierce was hardly Arnold Schwarzenegger or anything, but there was no question his dad was a guy, and he'd look terrible in a dress, and Lenny wanted none of that.

So who was going to get to be the new Teppenpaw prefect was pretty low on his list of considerations when he sat down with his friends at their House table for the Opening Feast. Only when the Headmaster stood up and Cole started looking nervous did he remember the staff would be making that announcement tonight.

Did he want to be called? Sure. Mom and Dad had both been prefects for Pecari, and they'd be proud of him, and it would show that the teachers trusted him to be a good responsible person. Would he be crushed if he wasn't? No, he wouldn't. He'd be glad for . . .

Cole. Yeah. Made sense. Cole was a good guy, with a wider friend group than Lenny, Piper, or Leviosa had. Cole was a team player on the Quidditch team. Cole was a nice person, reaching out to and making friends with people who didn't do that on their own so easily. Cole hadn't made a certain Crotalus cry, even if Lenny was still pretty sure said Crotalus had needed it.

Lenny cheered and applauded for his pseudo-twin, knowing Cole had wanted it too, also had a parent who'd been prefect in her day, had a dad who was a teacher and would probably enjoy bragging about his son the prefect to all his teacher friends. It was fine. Lenny was taking over from Rosalynn as the performing arts club president and that was plenty enough leadership for him, and something his dad the stage magician would brag about more.

Cole came back and . . . apologized? Oh, right, because he was a nice guy and didn't want them to feel bad for not getting what the staff had deemed was Cole's. Lenny nodded in agreement to Levi's reassurance. "We're good," Lenny added. "Ros picked me to take over her performing arts club and I'll probably be running the Café after Xavier graduates, too, so that is more than enough responsibility for me! Badge is all yours, brother!" He grinned and made a warding gesture to keep the badge away from him.

1 Lenny Pierce None here 1547 0 5

Jason Brockert

January 03, 2024 2:37 AM

Glad to hear it. by Jason Brockert

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

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

Liesl Brockert

January 06, 2024 4:14 AM

Thanks! by Liesl Brockert

Liesl’s summer had been mostly okay.The bad parts where she had to dress in ways that she didn’t like or feel comfortable in and go to society balls were awful and being around her parents and brother in general sucked but she had spent most of it at Uncle Cory’s and visited Hans on the snake ranch. Of course, Mother was even more disapproving of the latter since Liesl was older now and had gone to the Ball with the other Teppenpaw. She still thought it was inappropriate for a girl to visit a boy and the sixth year was pretty sure that was about appearances not any concern for Liesl.

Mother also thought she should be meeting and finding boys that were more “appropriate” and “respectable.” Obviously, Liesl didn’t want to. Not because she felt like they wouldn’t know the real her or anything like that, though that was also true, but because she wanted to be with Hans . He was her best friend and more than just accepted her for who she was, he liked it. They had actual stuff in common. Hans was her person . Liesl didn’t want anyone else. It wasn’t even personal against those hypothetical respectable boys. Even though anyone her mother would approve of wouldn’t actually like the real her anyway.

Fortunately, despite not liking it one bit, Mother seemed to be starting to understand that no matter what she did to prevent the Teppenpaw from being happy, Uncle Cory would find a way to subvert her and make sure Liesl got to do what she wanted. The sixth year really appreciated this, not just because she got to go visit her friend and wear clothing she liked to the Ball, but because she was pretty sure it made her uncle’s life more difficult. She disagreed with Mother all the time and it certainly made her life more difficult.

Liesl had felt really bad about this too, but Uncle Cory had told her it was nobody’s fault but Mother’s-and maybe Father’s a bit though he hadn’t actually said that-and that it was his own choice to do what he believed was right and stand up for her.

Unfortunately, while that was no longer something she was worried about, the Teppenpaw had something else on her mind. She was a sixth year-and that meant Hans was a seventh year. Which meant next year, he wouldn’t be here. And while Liesl was sure that they would still be in touch, she would be awfully lonely as she honestly really didn’t have any other friends outside her own family-and aside from Jason, who was coming to Sonora this year and Krisalyn who would be here next year, the ones that she was closest to like Isla and Jasper, had already graduated. This was obviously something that Liesl had always known was going to happen but it had always been far off in the distance. Now it was…next year.

Of course, she would miss Hans for his own sake, and nobody could ever really replace him.

For now though, she was just going to have to make the most of this year. Hopefully, it would be amazing. There was the Fair, which was a fun event and maybe Hans would even ask her to be his girlfriend officially!

Now it was time for the Feast and Liesl joined her friend at the Teppenpaw table. She watched the Sorting ceremony as Libby joined her in Teppenpaw and Jason went into Aladren. Poor Jason, having to be in the same house as Desmond! Of course, her brother wasn’t quite as crappy to him as he was to her and there were plenty of cool people in Aladren but still.

The girl after Jason, Summer, was Sorted into Aladren and she didn’t take it as well as Liesl’s cousin did. The sixth year had to wonder if Summer had an unpleasant relative in Aladren too although Sonora was a small enough school that she knew everyone’s name and there weren’t any other Collindales here. Still, that didn’t mean that she didn’t have one who graduated that sucked and she was worried there were more like that person there-,like how there was only one Brockert or relative in Pecari, Misty, who was perfectly nice from what Liesl knew of her, but some of her cousins were worried some would be like Eustace and didn’t want to be around them, despite the fact that the sixth year currently couldn’t think of anyone who truly fit that mold.

Or Summer had a terrible Aladren relative with a different last name despite the fact that the only terrible Aladren that Liesl could think of was Desmond who was definitely not related to Summer. She found Phil, Eben and Gwendolyn to be perfectly cool-in fact, she might want to cultivate friendships with these people herself, come to think of it-and while Lazarus wasn’t someone that she knew much about, he seemed fine. An awful Aladren relative who’d already graduated seemed more likely.

The rest of the Sorting passed really uneventfully with Teppenpaw getting one more, Professor Xavier’s daughter Dora. Liesl had to admit, it was a bit odd to have both Dora and Jason as fellow students now since she’d seen Dora around school the entire time she’d been here and obviously, she knew her cousin her entire life.

Then the prefects and Head Students were announced. Liesl wasn’t up for either this year, of course, but she did have strong opinions about who should get the latter. She cheered as Uncle Mortimer called out Hans and Amethyst! Yes! Obviously Hans was the best option and she knew how important it was to her cousin, whom the sixth was sure would be excellent at it too. She was happy for Gwendolyn and Fortune too, not that the latter had any competition.

The prefects and Head Students rejoined their houses, Uncle Mortimer announced the Fair-which she was,of course, curious to learn more about-and they sang the school song. Finally, food appeared and Hans spoke to her. “Thanks!” Her CATS scores had luckily been pretty good and Liesl was continuing on with Transfig, Charms, DADA and Divinations. “And congratulations on Head Student, you really deserve it.”

11 Liesl Brockert Thanks! 1537 0 5

Kerri Stonehurst

January 22, 2024 8:27 PM

Nice to meet you by Kerri Stonehurst

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

Amethyst Brockert

January 23, 2024 2:53 PM

I did it! by Amethyst Brockert

OOC: CW-Mentions of abuse, neglect. murder and Eustace. BIC:

Amethyst had mixed feelings about coming back to school this year. On the one hand, things had yet to improve with Iris and another year of tension sounded dreadful. Like, debating asking for permission to live with the sixth year girls instead sort of dreadful. Or maybe there wouldn’t be any girls sorted into Crotalus this year and she could take the empty room if Verdillia and/or Claire objected.

On the other hand, Amethyst really wanted to know who had gotten Head Student. Really really wanted to know. And if it wasn’t her, then this year was sort of…going to be completely unbearable. For one thing, she was pretty sure everyone knew how badly that she wanted. Sonora was not a place that was large enough for people not to be very aware of things that were going on unless it was a huge secret that absolutely nobody knew. Or you were very oblivious.

Which,come to think of it, actually made Amethyst wonder if Liesl did know about Iris’s crush on Hans, but then again, for someone with even crappier parents than her own, and a brother who didn’t suck as much as Topaz and probably would have been perfectly pleasant to someone like Amethyst, but was not very much so towards Liesl, and for someone who was pretty into things that were dark and creepy, the sixth year could be very naive, innocent and completely oblivious.

Truth be told though, that made her a little protective of the Teppenpaw girl. Though that wasn’t why Amethyst had stuck up for her being with Hans. In that case the seventh year was just looking at facts. She hadn’t chosen Liesl over Iris-Hans had. It was one of those really obvious things again. Hans liked Liesl and vice versa. Even though she didn’t think either of them had, like, confessed their feelings for each other or anything. It was just obvious to everyone else, except possibly Liesl, since she had low self-esteem and was, oh yeah, fairly oblivious and Iris, who might very well be…in denial.

And anyway, on the subject of obvious things, it was most likely also obvious that Amethyst wanted to be Head Girl, and had actually taken action-her petition had alerted Professor Skies to the overkill spells on their beds. Not that Amethyst had anyone’s bed she wanted to sit on right now because Iris hated her, Alexei was a boy in a different house, Christopher was in her house but a boy, her siblings had graduated and her other cousins were in other houses aside from Alma. Oh and she didn’t know where Libby was going yet but she had a feeling it would be Teppenpaw.

Actually it was too bad that Alma had a roommate. Amethyst wouldn’t mind sharing with her twelve year old cousin but sharing with an unrelated person that much younger than her felt weird.

Anyway, the fact that the Crotalus wanted Head Student was one of those things that everyone knew she wanted badly. Which included Iris. And Amethyst was pretty sure that even if Iris didn’t win herself, if Amethyst didn’t either, her roommate would probably be super smug about it.

And, thanks to the new rules, she and Iris could both be Head Student. Which did not sound fun. Actually, If the seventh year won, she’d have to patrol with Iris, as the other Crotalus had gotten prefect. Which would also suck, Add Hans and Liesl to the mix and the whole thing was a disaster . Though she was fine with the two Teppenpaws and obviously they were more than fine with each other. The biggest danger there was that they admit their feelings for each other, become a couple, and go make out somewhere instead of patrolling. And be caught by Iris, and her patrolling partner which if it was Amethyst would make things so incredibly bad.

Yet, Amethyst still wanted it. Part of it was pride, the same thing that had kept her from asking Claire, Verdillia and Grandfather if she could switch rooms. Why should she have to move? If Topaz and her roommate could make it seven years without either caving in and asking to switch rooms-Topaz had even more pride than Amethyst and apparently Ness McLeod had too-or Topaz actually killing the other Aladren, the Crotalus could handle Iris who was-thankfully for Liesl’s sake-not dangerous.

Unfortunately, Amethyst’s pride-and the fact that she was actually right-had kept her from caving in and apologizing. So that might be partially her fault. And it was the only fault, at this moment, that she was willing to admit to, at least to herself. Well,and hurting Iris. She’d hated to do that, but she’d really had an issue with Iris framing her cousin as a selfish predator. Of her relatives, she’d only accept Topaz and Uncle Eustace as being framed as such. They were especially heinous, Liesl was not. She was a Teppenpaw , for Merlin’s sake.

Also, facts. Amethyst felt bad for Iris that those were the facts but they were. Sometimes the facts just sucked. It sucked having Topaz be your sister. It sucked to have parents who were emotionally negligent and a mother, in particular, who was even more oblivious than Liesl and probably less mature than everyone except Orion and possibly Honora. It sucked that Uncle Eustace existed-though then Honora wouldn’t and Amethyst actually loved and found adorable- was her uncle though it sucked more for the boys.And even more for Aunt Helena who was married to him and Honora who had him for a father and was a girl. It sucked that Sapphire had epilepsy, and that their parents didn’t notice. It sucked that her parents didn’t realize what Topaz was. It sucked that Miles was allergic to everything.

And all those things were facts that Amethyst didn’t like. Sometimes facts were unpleasant. Those were unpleasant for her-and Miles, Jasper, her other male cousins, Aunt Helena, Honora, Sapphire and all Amethyst’s other siblings, Allegra,who had more than her fair share of Topaz’s abuse, and Aunt Madeleine, Uncle Elmer and Libby who were also affected by Miles’s allergies-and the fact that Hans liked Liesl was unpleasant for Iris. That was that.

Now it was time for the Opening Feast. Amethyst waited impatiently through the Sorting, though she did take notice of where Libby and Jason went-Teppenpaw and Aladren respectively,the latter being a real surprise. Not that Jason wasn’t smart or anything, but he was, like ,super nice, saw the best in most people and was interested in the personal development of others since he still seemed optimistic that Desmond would become a better person and more accepting of people who didn’t conform like Liesl and Lenny Pierce.

She also noted that both new Crotali were boys. That meant an empty room that she could possibly move into!

And the girl after Jason throwing a fit about her Sorting didn’t exactly help them get on with things either. Maybe other times Amethyst would have felt bad for her and tried to figure out why the girl was anti-Aladren but uh, right now she wanted to know who had gotten Head Student! Although she did feel sorry for Summer in that now everyone would know who she was and probably have a negative impression of her. Amethyst was sure Desmond was horrified.

Anyway, Summer finally settled down and the Sorting continued. Finally Professor Xavier’s and Professor Carter-Xavier’s daughter went into Teppenpaw, and then it was time for the Big Moment, the one that could either save or destroy Amethyst’s seventh year. She held her breath.

And then Grandfather called her name. She had done it! She had gotten Head Student!She got up on stage, tears of joy pricking her eyes and grinning from ear to ear. Amethyst was so happy that she didn’t care about anything else right now, including crying in public in front of the entire school. And Grandfather actually seemed proud and happy too like any normal grandparent would feel if their grandchild achieved something.

Of course, the way Sonora did Head Student, it was a popularity contest but still, Amethyst really believed she’d also be good at the job. Also, she was popular and even though she knew three of the votes belonged to herself, Liesl and Chris-and probably Alexei since she caught him looking happy that she won-it was a nice feeling. Maybe she’d lost her best friend, and she totally missed their friendship-but at least other people liked her.

Also, she supposed it was nice to know Grandfather was at least somewhat a normal grandparent. As prickly as he could be, he certainly loved his grandchildren. And this was,like, the second time ever that Amethyst had seen him reasonably happy. (After all, she had not been in school when Emerald and Allegra had gotten prefect, so she hadn’t seen him be happy then, but there was this one time that Grandfather had actually laughed at something. That had been super weird.)

Then she registered who else had received badges. She was pleased to see that it was Hans that was the other Head Student. Of course, Amethyst had voted for Alexei (and herself) but Hans was a good option too. She probably wouldn’t have minded Connie or Lydia either but truth be told, even with the gender neutral ballots, people still seemed to pick one boy and one girl. Only two classes had ever picked two girls, Allegra and Topaz’s and then the one after. Amethyst actually felt bad for the boys in those classes.

Honestly, it only would have been awkward if it had been Iris, since the other two people she might have had difficulty working with had been excluded from the ballot. Granted, Amethyst had more sympathy for Ray and Xavier now than she had a few years ago, but still. She didn’t know that Xavier had the same issues with her that he’d had with her brother during the Challenges.

And the prefects were Gwendolyn, who was Amethyst’s distant cousin and she knew somewhat based on how close they were in age, Christopher’s friend Cole, Yarielis who’d been on her Challenge team and Fortune who’d been with Liesl and Jasper. All awesome choices, not that Yarielis or Fortune had competition and any of the Tepps would have been good. Amethyst didn’t know Levi well, but Lenny had been on her Challenge team too and Piper always held slumber parties for the female cousins around her age. Which did lead Amethyst to be at the same ones with girls on the other side of Piper’s age especially if she co-hosted with Charlotte O’Malley who was Piper’s…first cousin once removed? Interestingly Amethyst knew that but could not remember how they were related to her. She thought Piper’s mom and Charlotte’s biological grandmother might be Grandfather’s first cousins or something? She’d have to ask Alessa if she remembered.

Anyway, Amethyst was feeling super nice and magnanimous, happy for not just herself but the others. Especially as she was pretty sure she could handle all these people without it being awkward. Of course, since she’d been handling Topaz since she was a baby and was still alive, Amethyst should be able to handle anyone. Granted, she might not survive Topaz the next time she had to deal with her since Amethyst had gotten Head Student and her older sister had not. Topaz would likely be homicidal over that fact which would be unpleasant for both of them and likely everyone else too.

She and the rest of the people who had just received badges returned to their seats. Unfortunately for Amethyst, she sat down alone. She couldn’t go sit over with Alexei at the Pecari table and she couldn’t sit down with Iris either. She was happy she had won but she wished she had someone to share it with.

Grandfather announced the Fair. Maybe Amethyst would do a booth if it had student involvement. She was Head Student after all, and she took it very seriously. Of course, she’d prefer to have someone to do the booth with. Maybe Alexei would want to. Iris would likely tell her to go do it with Liesl.

The school song was sung, and then food appeared. Amethyst surveyed the table. “Could you please pass me the gnocchi?” She asked a nearby person.

OOC: Apologies once more for use of Yaniel's deadname since Amethyst also doesn't know

11 Amethyst Brockert I did it! 1532 0 5