So this is Sonora... on Labyrinth Gardens

Jack Thomas

October 31, 2009 7:36 PM

So this is Sonora... by Jack Thomas

Jack wasn't sure what he'd expected to find when he got to Sonora Academy. He'd done the sensible things to prepare himself. He'd gone out and read books about the school. He'd talked to his parents and his uncles and his aunts, and grilled them about the houses, and the sorting ceremony (they wouldn't tell him about that, which he didn't think was in the least bit fair. Secrets were only good when he knew what they were), as well as the sports he would get to play there, and the clubs they had been in. Favourite old teachers, and classes.

The problem with all that, he acknowledged, was that it was old intelligence. It was past its used by date and really not much help at all. And it has been years since they'd graduated - even Aunt Vicky was old enough now that she had graduated ten years ago. Ten years was a lot of time.
From his other research he knew that there had been several changes of Principle (Or Headmaster or Headmistress, as they called the job at Sonora) in that time. If the job at the top could be that unstable, well, it was less than surprising that he couldn't find evidence of any teacher - including the Headmistress - having taught there for more than six or seven years. And with a lot of them, it was a great deal less.

But as he jumped out of the wagon that had carried him here from the designated pick up stop, disdaining using the door so he could vault out in a well co-ordinated movement, and took his first look at the school from the ground, he was rendered speechless. The last bit of the ride had been interesting, due to the colours that had shown in the desert plains. It really did deserve to be called the 'Painted Desert'. But the school? From the air it might have been an illusion.

But no, from here you could tell the truth. It was real. It was Magic. This was serious magic. He could see it, he could smell it. Heck, he could taste it in the air. He thought again about the letter he had received telling him he had been accepted into Sonora Academy. The school motto had been in Latin, so he had knocked on the door of Pop’s den, and ducked his head around the door to see what his father was up to.

“Pop?” he had asked. “Do you know what this says?”

“Bring it here, Jack,” his father had said, and he’d duly trotted across the room and handed the letter over. “Ah,” his father had said. “The old school motto.” He smiled. “It means ‘even the desert blooms’.”

“Deserts don’t bloom, Pop,” he had answered, perplexed. “Well, not in the way we mean ‘bloom’ anyhow. Just some cactus and grasses and stuff like that. Nothing that would need the word ‘bloom’ to describe it.” Natural science had been covered a little in his previous year at school, so he was sure of that in the way only an eleven-year-old could be quite sure. “Why does it say that, anyhow?”

“You’ll see when you get there, Jack,” Pop told him, handing back the letter, patting him on the head and directing him back towards the door.

Even the desert blooms. Sure looked like there was something to that motto after all.

Jack shook his head slowly and leaned back, so his elbows were behind him and propping him up against the wagon. Sometimes magic could surprise you, even after growing up with it as an everyday occurrence.

0 Jack Thomas So this is Sonora... 0 Jack Thomas 1 5

Jose Hernandez

November 05, 2009 9:37 AM

Yes it is. by Jose Hernandez

It was strange, getting off the wagon and realizing there wasn't a single one of his family members at his school this year. The California Pierce clan wasn't ginormous or anything, but he'd always leaned on Jason, Sam, and Karen at his previous schools, and then last year, he'd had both Simon and Saul nearby. Simon had even been his Head of House for most of the year, and Saul had been his seventh-year prefect and Quidditch Captain, so Pecari had been pretty much run by his family.

Now Saul was graduated, Simon had quit his job here, and Jason, Sam, and Karen still didn't have any magic (not that Karen would have been old enough to come to Sonora yet anyway) which left Jose in the strange and unprecedented position of being the only one of his family around. As little as he'd talked to either Simon or Saul last year, and despite his attempts to hide that he was even related to them at all, they'd still been there. Now they weren't.

It was a little terrifying.

He hung back from the crowd, looking around for a glimpse of Simon that he knew wasn't going to come. Simon was supposed to be here, taking care of the wagons as they came in. He'd helped Jose down and gotten his bags out last year. But Simon was in Vegas, pretending he wasn't using magic as he performed magic in front of muggles. Instead, it was one of the prairie elves that got his bag out of the wagon and Jose had needed to jump down on his own.

Last year, he hadn't wanted to live in the shadows of his larger than life cousins, wanted to be his own person, wanted to be independent. Wish fulfillment wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

He felt really really creepily alone. Last year, it had kind of been neat, being the only Pecari First Year, and having his very own room and privacy for the first time in his life. Now, the thought of returning to that empty place just filled him with dread. California Pierces weren't supposed to be alone.

Jose gave a last scan around the area, hoping one of the older students might be wearing a cowboy hat that he could catch of glimpse of and pretend it was Simon, but all he spotted was a new kid leaning against one of the wagons, looking as alone and separate from everything going on as he felt. But not in a bad way. No, the kid looked almost . . . pleased. That made Jose smile, renewed his own cheer, and inspired him to head over to the younger student.

"Hey," he greeted, giving the new guy a friendly grin. "Welcome to Sonora! I'm Jose." Despite the name and his decidedly Hispanic features, there was no trace of a Mexican accent to his words. "I'm a second year." The new first year wouldn't know his House yet, so Jose didn't offer his. "Want company on the walk inside?"

1 Jose Hernandez Yes it is. 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Jack

November 05, 2009 9:58 AM

Ah, that's right. I haven't got inside yet... by Jack

"Thanks," Jack said automatically, as he was startled from his reverie by the greeting, he looked sideways at the boy who had come over. He looked Latino, his name was Latino, but he sure as heck didn't sound Latino. Sounded more like a regular American. West coast, maybe, if Jack was any judge. "That'd be good, actually. I wouldn't want to get lost on my first day here and this place looks pretty big."

He pushed back off the wagon, taking back his usual easy posture. On the taller side of average, Jack was heading past five one already for all he hadn't really started to properly grow. His parents were both tall folk, so he had reasonable expectations of reaching a respectable final height.

"Oh, yeah," he said, tearing his eyes away from the Quidditch Pitch he had just spotted in the distance. "The name's Jack," he stuck out a hand. "Sure is nice to meet you, Jose."

0 Jack Ah, that's right. I haven't got inside yet... 0 Jack 0 5

Jose Hernandez

November 05, 2009 1:20 PM

Showing the way by Jose Hernandez

As the first year pushed off the wagon, Jose realized the guy probably had a good inch or more on him. None of the Hernandezes were particularly tall, but Jose was holding out hope that his Mom's well-mixed Caucasian genes might lend him a few extra inches. Just because all of the rest of her physical traits seemed to be recessive, she still might give him her height. Said genes were taking their sweet time about revealing themselves, though.

Consequently, Jose took as perfectly normal that a kid a year younger than him had the height advantage. Heck, for a while there, Jose had been afraid Karen was going to surpass him, and she was two years younger. Apparently Sonora was good for the growth hormones, though, because he was starting to pull ahead again.

"Good to meetcha, Jack," Jose said, starting to lead the way away from the wagons without a backward look at his luggage. The elves would bring it up to Pecari Second Year Guy's dorm so it wouldn't be entirely empty went he got up there after the Feast. "The place is big," he agreed, "but unless you start heading out into the Gardens, it's pretty hard to get lost. That is fun, by the way, but yeah, maybe not something to do on your first day here. You gotta get Sorted so the elves know where to bring your stuff."

"You got any siblings or cousins here? Mine all left, but I had a cousin last year to show me around and get me up-to-date on the who's who and what's what." He grinned a little and rolled his eyes, "He got a little too into it, I think. Pretty sure I did not need to know the full dating history of the whole Pecari House, including some people who weren't even at the school anymore."

1 Jose Hernandez Showing the way 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Jack

November 05, 2009 6:45 PM

I'm sure I've seen post titles like that elsewhere.. by Jack

Jack hadn't even thought that much about his luggage, until Jose mentioned the elves would need to know where to take it, so wasn't worried in the least. None of the other kids had bothered with theirs, he'd noticed, and while he wasn't really much of a follower - wholeheartedly he preferred to lead - when it seemed the best option he would go along with it. Still, an explanation made it far more acceptable. He nodded his understanding as he followed the older boy towards the school.

"Yeah, about the sorting-" he tried to get in, but Jose was still talking. He waited a little longer, and made the appropriate noises as he was told about Jose's older cousin. "Maybe it'll come in handy," he said at the end, after a moment. "You spot some initials on a desk somewhere, and you'll- no. You're right. I don't see how it would help. Or, wait, maybe. I reckon if'd be useful if you want a background on things. Pop would say that he could use that kind of thing for his writing. Taking this and that from random's he's met and then turning it into a character and a story. But for school, unless there's creative writing classes, it might be a bit of a loss."

Except for potential blackmail. If you found the right angle. Jack frowned at the thought, not liking it much, and banished it with a slight shake of his head, and then, realising that it might be misconstrued turned it into a real head shake.

"No family here at the moment. Last one in my family who was at Sonora was Aunt Vicky. And that was an age ago. My brothers will be here though, eventually. Mite bit strange being here without them, but I figure that's life."

And then, while he still had the floor, he asked the question he'd been trying to get in edgewise before.

"How does the sorting thing work, anyhow? I asked everyone, and no one would say."

0 Jack I'm sure I've seen post titles like that elsewhere.. 0 Jack 0 5

Jose

November 06, 2009 12:12 AM

Pretty sure Saul had one with that title, too by Jose

Jose nodded as Jack explained about his brothers. That was cool. He was about to mention the very remote possibility that Karen might be joining him next year - she could see Regina's ghost so she wasn't a complete muggle, but it was still far more likely she was a squib than a witch - but before he could Jack asked another question that changed the subject entirely.

He grinned, ducked his head, looked around shiftily, and covered his mouth with his hand to protect against eavesdropping lip-readers as he whispered, "I think it's a rule to not tell, but Saul let it slip to me last summer, so I'll give you the heads up, too."

After taking another pause to glace around, which looked far more suspicious and drew at least three times the glances he would have otherwise gotten, Jose continued, "They'll give you a potion, which you're supposed to drink. If you're in Aladren, you'll grow wings - their House mascot is a Hawk. If you're in Crotalus, you'll grow scales on your skin, cause theirs is a rattlesnake. Teppenpaws get fur because they've got a prairie dog as their House animal. Pecaris are represented by a wild boar, so we get tusks. It's really cool. My tusks didn't go away for a whole half hour, so I got to eat with my mouth like that. It was awesome."

By the time he finished telling the story, he'd dropped the spy routine and was talking excitedly. It was, of course, a complete lie - or rather, a twist of poetic license - but story telling is what California Pierces did best. It was in his genes. The ones that Mom gave him that weren't recessive.

If Saul hadn't been trying so hard not to tell him anything (and consequently spilled the beans accidentally and honestly), Jose was sure he would have been similarly duped. Simon had done as much to Saul, or so he had heard tell. Which may or may not have been the truth. Stories like that had to be taken with a pound of salt and were likely to change by the hour.

None of which hampered his delivery at all. Even though he was making the whole thing up on the spot, the emotions behind the false memory were no less than genuine. Having tusks would be awesome, and in this moment, even Jose believed it had happened just as he said it had.

0 Jose Pretty sure Saul had one with that title, too 0 Jose 0 5

Jack

November 06, 2009 9:28 PM

That'd be it by Jack

Jose wasn't the most subtle of people, Jack decided. Definitely not the person to turn to if you wanted someone undercover. Jack found himself looking around slightly guiltily, expecting that everyone realised he had asked something he shouldn't have and was about to get contraband information.

"A potion?" Jack parroted, surprised. He'd figured it'd be something tougher than that. He scratched his head as Jose continued his description of what would happen. He glanced over his shoulder at his school robes. "It'd be pretty awesome to have wings for a while," he commented, "especially they're good enough for flight. But I don't much fancy dealing with them all tangled up under my robes." Fur or scales weren't quite on the same scale of awesome, although they did at least come without the awkwardness.

He tried to imagine how tusks would feel, and looked at Jose for illumination. Apparently, if the Pecari was anything to go by, it was pretty awesome.

"How did you eat?" Jack couldn't help asking, as they reached the entrance to the school building.

39 Jack That'd be it 0 Jack 0 5

Jose

November 09, 2009 9:16 AM

It's not impossible somebody else used it either by Jose

Jose grinned, warming to the subject as they entered the mansion that served as Sonora Academy's main building. "Oh, they kinda came out like this," he held his thumb and middle finger up right in front of his lower jaw, "so I couldn't really close my mouth, and drinking was nearly impossible. I think I wore more of my pumpkin juice than I drank. And chewing was really weird, too, you sorta chewed on the curved bottom insides and it took a while to get used to biting, but once you get the hang of it, it works really well."

He pointed down the hall they were walking along, to where a bunch of unfamiliar kids were starting to gather around Professor Flatt. "I think you go over there. Flatt'll bring you in and give you the potion. You'll prolly want to sit with the rest of your House, once you get Sorted, but if you get Pecari, feel free to sit with me. I'll help you figure out the whole tusk thing."

0 Jose It's not impossible somebody else used it either 0 Jose 0 5