Professor Pye
October 24, 2015 8:11 AM
*First Year Orientation!* by Professor Pye
It was the second year that Sonora had decided to have a first year orientation. The idea was that the first years would be allowed a few hours to meet in the Labyrinth Gardens before the Opening Feast so that they could get to know one another without house prejudice being an issue and without the older students around thereby making it less intimidating a process for those who might otherwise be uncomfortable. This meant that the flying wagons that the students took Sonora arrived at each of the standard magical transportation centers a little earlier than usual, just as they had last year. All the students from the previous years had already done this last year and the new students who would be arriving did not know anything different, however it was still written in large, bright red ink so that no one would cause their wagon party to wait for them.This year, Alfred Pye was there to greet the students and direct them to their proper place—older students were allowed to go to their dorms or the dining hall to hang out while they waited for the Opening Feast to start while all first years were sent towards the Labyrinth Gardens where the orientation was taking place. Alfie Pye was a young professor. He was only twenty-eight with a full head of hair and scruff. He refused to shave—a sign of rebellion against the ever present father who seemed to dominate all aspects of Alfie’s life even when he was in a different country. He had somewhat come to terms with being forced to leave the Auror department and being
“Please leave your luggage on the wagon,” he said in his clear, upper-class British accent. “The prairie elves will take your belongings to your rooms so you don’t have to worry about that. Older students please head to your dormitories, first years this way to the gardens.” He spoke loudly, using the Sonoras charm so that he could be heard over the loud popping noises of the prairie elves taking the students’ belongings from the wagon’s storage cubbies to either the proper house for the older students, or a temporary storage room for the first years to wait until they were sorted at which points their things would be taken to the appropriate dorm room while they ate their dinner.
The orientation was taking place in the same large clearing near a circular water fountain as it had last year. Just like last year, there were two buffet tables full of snacks and drinks so that those who were hungry could have something to tide them over until dinner. The same banner from last year that read *First Year Orientation - Welcome to Sonora Academy!* was unfurled over the tables. “First years this way, all other years find either your head of house or one of your prefects to get your house password and make your way to your dorms. You can hang out there or in Cascade Hall until the Feast begins. Thank you!”
He had asked the four seventh year prefects to accompany him to the first year orientation to help answer any questions that students might have had and also to help keep them together as they toured the school. It would also be helpful, he noted, to have Miss Dobson and Miss Vandenberg around to take the first year witches to the ladies’ rooms and point out where they were along the way as he really wasn’t comfortable in doing so. Once Alfie made sure there were no more students lingering in the unloading area, he made his way to the gardens. There were helpful signs posted up for those who couldn’t follow simple verbal directions just to ensure that they all arrived at the same place, in tact.
“Welcome to Sonora,” he said again to get their attention, the Sonoras charm still in effect on his voice. “My name is Professor Pye and I am the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor as well as Head of Aladren House. Before I let you mingle, I’m going to quickly go over a few things that you might need to know about Sonora. Afterwards, myself and my lovely assistants, the seventh year prefects, will take you on a tour of the campus so you can get to know the area before classes start. Then, we’ll go to dinner in Cascade Hall, our dining area where you will take your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the rest of the year. At the Opening Feast you will be Sorted.
“There are four Houses at Sonora, Aladren, Teppenpaw, Crotalus, and Pecari. Your House will be like your family here, you will earn points during class and for exceptional behaviour along with other activities over the course of the year though bad behaviour will result in a deduction of points. The House that accumulates the most points during the year will win the House Cup, which is a trophy displayed in the common room of whichever House last won.
“Each House has outstanding qualities and though there are many things that go into determining which will be your house, in general Aladren students are those who enjoy learning, Teppenpaws tend to be on the social side, Crotalus, responsible, and Pecari, adventurous. Don’t worry too much over which House you are placed in just because you don’t think you fit the stereotype—there are exceptions to every rule.
“Sonora is a seven year boarding school as such you will be around these people for the next seven years. Get to know each other and try not to make any judgments based on House. Over your seven years, you will be taking five core classes. Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and my personal favorite, Defense Against the Dark Arts, though I’m biased.” Here, Alfie inserted a little wink. The classes are made such that first years and second years take classes together. Your third year will be the first year of Intermediate Studies. You will be allowed to add electives to your five core classes if you like. In your fifth year you will take a Critical Assessment of Talents and Skills, or CATS test. It’s a standardized test that will help decide which classes you will take in your sixth and seventh years or, Advanced classes.
“If there is an elective course you want to take but is not offered, you can talk to your Head of House to set up an independent study program. There is one other major test you will take while here. It’s another standardized test called the Ridiculously Anal Testing of Skills, or RATS. The results of said test will what will help determine what college, university, apprenticeship, or entry level job you get when you graduate Sonora.
“Extracurricular wise we have a variety of clubs whose information you can gather at that table over there,” Alfie gestured towards a side table a little bit away from the two buffet tables. “Any student is able to create their own club if they don’t find one to satisfy their interests, so long as they have a staff advisor and a place to meet. Each House also has a Quidditch team, a wizarding sport played on broom,” he explained for those who had grown up around Muggles. “Every House has openings this year as both Aladren and Pecari graduated players and Teppenpaw and Crotalus don’t have enough for a full team each so they have combined in the past two years.
“Alright, that’s it for the welcoming talk, please feel free to ask myself or one of the other staff members or prefects for help if you need it, otherwise enjoy the food and the company and don’t forget to pick up a school map and a class schedule from the table with the club information and when it’s time for the tour and the Feast I’ll let you know.”
OOC (Our of Character):
Welcome first years of Sonora! You can post a reply here to ask questions to a staff member or one of the prefects or meet your new classmates. This thread is so that first year students can try out posting and get a hang of the site before you get thrown into the big Opening Feast next week which is open to the entire school and can be a bit overwhelming. If you have any OOC board or catch us in chatzy! We’ll try to have an answer back to you as soon as possible! Remember to keep posts realistic and creative, and also to a minimum of 200 words. Enjoy, and once again so excited to have you here!
Subthreads: I feel oriented, do you feel oriented? by Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce with Raine and Kyte Collindale
Hello, world! by Joseph Umland with Natalie Varth aka Nat
Here we go. by Nevaeh Reed with Theresa Whittaker
YES! I am finally here by Camden Miller with Tasha DuBois
Equally as excited as everyone. by Daniel Fintoc with Gabe Valenti
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Professor Pye
*First Year Orientation!*
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Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
October 24, 2015 9:03 PM
I feel oriented, do you feel oriented? by Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
Ben was hugely excited about starting at Sonora Academy. It was not the school of his forefathers - that one had closed after Aunt Bel's final year - but his youngest uncle and brand new aunt had attended Sonora and had good things to say about it. That was a few years ago, though, so when his wagon arrived at the school hours before dinner and a professor named Pye directed him and the other first years to a clearing with a fountain and food in it for an orientation, he was already well outside of what Uncle Derry had told him he could expect.This made the excitement even better, because clearly his information was out of date, and he was thrilled that he'd get to make his own explorations and discoveries. Even with his uncle's tales, though, he was sure his new school would be like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He was neither half-blood nor muggleborn, but he'd lived in muggle Boston his whole life and what magic he had seen in his previous eleven years was small and carefully concealed so as not to alert the neighbors to anything weird about them. He'd gone to muggle school and played muggle sports and had muggle friends and the only witches and wizards he knew were family and they were all loads older than him. Uncle Derry and Aunt Reggie were the youngest and they'd graduated five years ago.
As he listened to the professor provide the basic details of the school, Ben listened and nodded along, not surprised by any of it. Gramelia - the name he'd used for his grandmother Amelia for as long as he could recall - had once been a Head of House here, so between her and his aunt and uncle, he was well versed in what the school had by way of Houses, classes, extracurriculars, and exams. Pye was not the professor any of his relatives had known for DADA, so he squirreled away that tidbit, and eagerly grabbed hold of the remark that all Houses were looking for Quidditch players this year. His dad and uncle had both been beaters, and he kept up with all the latest Quidditch and Quadpot stats and news, especially Boston's. He didn't get to fly often - his Dad said it was too risky in the city - but he'd gotten to take up Dad's old broom a few times; that was his absolute favorite part about visiting Great Aunt Lauren's house: she had a fair amount of space and it was shielded from muggles so he could fly as much as he wanted to without worrying about who might see him.
When Professor Pye finished talking, Ben wasted no time in addressing his nearest yearmate about the topic foremost on his mind. "Heya! Are you going to join Quidditch? I can't wait to actually get to play!"
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Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
I feel oriented, do you feel oriented?
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Raine and Kyte Collindale
October 24, 2015 11:26 PM
I feel disorientated by Raine and Kyte Collindale
This place was just gonna be awful. She’d met enough townie kids to know that they usually weren’t nice to people like her. They made fun of her name and called her family bad things, the mildest of which was probably ‘circus freaks.’ And now she was being made to be in a whole school full of them. She wanted desperately to cling onto her twin, the one little bit of home she’d got with her, but her cousins had said that people might think she was a baby for that, and then she’d get made fun of all over again.She stuck close to her brother as they listened to the speech from the teacher. Certain words from it hit her like bricks - the reminder that she was going to be here for seven years, that there’d be exams and that most likely she and Kyte were going to be split up from this evening onwards. She’d tried to read the brochure that the snooty looking school official had left with them, after he’d decided that Ma’s lessons weren’t up to scratch for a home-schooling programme. She had tried, but it’d been tricky. It wasn’t that she couldn’t read, she knew her letters ok, but she didn’t do it much, and when it was a big long bit of text it kind of made her head swim - doubly so, as the more information she took in about Sonora, the more nervous it made her about going there. She tried hard to listen to Professor Pye’s speech so that she wouldn’t get in trouble later for not knowing but it all sounded kinda scary.
When the teacher finished, she thought she ought to go and get timetables and what-not, but the boy nearest spoke to her and Kyte before she could.
“Hell no!” her brother exclaimed in response to the boy’s question about joining Quidditch. Raine furiously made ‘that-was-not-polite’ eyes at him, but he didn’t seem to notice, so she switched to an apologetic look towards the boy instead. For all his exclamations, Kyte’s tone had been friendly as he spoke, and there was a big grin on his freckled face. He hadn’t meant no offence so didn’t really see that some might be taken just due to his choice of words.
“I wanna be a stunt flyer in our circus when I grow up,” he explained, giving his head a little flick to get his long, floppy hair out of his eyes. “I get my ankle all messed up mucking around with Bludgers or some such that’s game over for my whole life’s ambition,” he said. “I’m Kyte, by the way, and this here’s my sister, Raine.”
“Hi there,” Raine mumbled. ‘Mousy’ was a good way to describe her, from the colour of her hair, to the way she stood and spoke. She wished Kyte hadn’t said what he just had. She wasn’t ashamed of her family or nothing, quite the opposite. But she’d thought she might try and get to know some people first before she told them what they did. She thought maybe, if they didn’t know, they mightn’t judge her before knowing her. And then, maybe, if they did know her first, they might like her. She’d also been planning to tell people they could call her ‘Rae’ in the hopes that they might think it was short for Rachel or somesuch, and not have any reason to laugh within the first five minutes of meeting her. Kyte had rather seen to that plan within a couple of sentences though. He hadn’t known it was what she wanted, cos he’d have only laughed it off and told her not to fuss none about such things. He’d always been good at making jokes about himself before others could, and getting them to like him that way. Or, if they didn’t, it just slid off him. She guessed it had been a flaw in her plan that it was one she couldn’t tell Kyte but that she’d planned to stick square by him for as long as she could. She resisted the urge to slip her arm through his for support as she waited to see what this boy would make of them.
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Raine and Kyte Collindale
I feel disorientated
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Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
October 25, 2015 2:29 PM
I don't think that was what they were going for by Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
Ben's eyes widened at the emphatic refusal to play Quidditch, as much from the curse word as from the foreign idea that somebody wouldn't want to play the sport. Aunt Bel swore often enough that he wasn't unfamiliar with the word, but she was a grown up and Ben was sure Mom would wash out his mouth with soap if he ever dared repeat some of the things Bel said like Kyte just had."Um, I'm Hippo," he said, in return to their introductions. Their names were unusual, but no more so than 'Derwent' or 'Hippocrates' so he felt his family had no room to judge. "Er, Ben," he corrected himself, then decided it didn't really matter if his old school nickname followed him here or not. He was used to it. "Either one. Whichever you like. I answer to both." And if there was another Ben in their year, he was definitely going to use Hippo, if only to avoid confusion.
"Stunt flying sounds cool," Ben added to Kyte, looking interested. "Is that on a broom? Is it like the flying equivalent of skate boarding or snowboarding on a half pipe?" He didn't really follow skateboarding, but he'd been fascinated by the snowboarders in the last Winter Olympics. If the word 'circus' had registered in his brain, it had clearly been overwhelmed by the words 'stunt flying' and he gave no indication that he found Kyte's life goal anything other than awesome. Even it if meant Kyte wasn't going to play Quidditch. Which was still weird.
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Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
I don't think that was what they were going for
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Benjamin "Hippo" Pierce
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Raine and Kyte Collindale
October 26, 2015 12:35 AM
We don't tend to fit most moulds by Raine and Kyte Collindale
Raine and Kyte took the news that their new acquaintance was named ‘Hippo’ in their stride. Raine thought it a little odd but found it hard to clarify why when most of the names in her family also came from nature or geography. She supposed it was cos Hippos weren’t exactly the prettiest thing to be named after. But then, she was fairly sure they had a cousin named Kale (it was hard to keep track sometimes - she did ok with the first couisns but beyond that she could never keep people straight like Kyte could) and kale - the foodstuff - was kinda gross looking even if it tasted good. And most people didn’t like rain either. Some of the townie kids thought it was right clever and funny to chant the kids’ rhyme ‘rain, rain, go away’ at her. Hippos were probably considered noble or something in some kind of animal symbolism. She thought they were nice, anyway, even if being all big and grey weren’t positives in most books. And Hippo, the boy, was a skinny little piece, so she thought it might not be so easy for people to make fun about that anyway. Though apparently his name was also Ben. This was a little confusing but she didn’t venture to ask. She felt much safer talking to someone whose name was Hippo (even it might also be Ben) because she didn’t think he’d make fun of them. She smiled at him.“Nice to meet you,” Kyte smiled for both of them. He thought he knew what Hippo meant by skateboarding - they wandered around most of the towns they visited and he’d seen kids on wheeled boards doing tricks. He figured a snowboard was probably the same just on snow. He wasn’t sure what a halfpipe was.
“Kind of,” he answered, feeling that knowing one and a half of the things in question was enough to hedge an answer. “Though someone told me the Muggle circus equivalent is riding a bear, which sounds crazy to me. I mean, a broom ain’t got a temper whereby it’s going to try to rip your head off on a bad day. And I can’t see that you’d be able to do much in the way of tricks on a bear, other than hanging the hell on.” The actual phrase that had been told to him was that, in the Muggle circus, they did bareback riding, but without much of an explanation, he’d had to let his imagination fill in the details.
Raine stared a little incredulously. Hippo had lost her at skateboard and pipes but Kyte still seemed to know what was going on. She’d never worked out how much of it was just his confidence in bluffing, and was often left wondering whether he knew every darn thing, and how. He was more adventurous, certainly. He went out and explored towns. When new bands of cousins or friends of friends of some auntie or other arrived, he made it his business to get to know all of them. She guessed that was how he knew so much more than she did.
“So, you half and half or what then?” Kyte asked bluntly, weighing up the information that Hippo knew both about Quidditch and skateboarding.
“Kyte!” his sister admonished. She wasn’t totally sure that it wasn’t ok to ask that kind of thing but she’d heard some people were touchy about it, and she didn’t think it was a good idea to go around being straight to the point of touchy subjects.
“What?” he objected. “We ain’t got nothing against no-one,” he assured Hippo, “I was just curious as you seem to know all kinds, is all.”
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Raine and Kyte Collindale
We don't tend to fit most moulds
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Hippo
October 26, 2015 11:23 AM
I'm starting to get that by Hippo
Ben blinked a few times. Riding a bear? He admitted he didn't really go to many circuses, and the one had been to had been years ago so he didn't remember much except how big the elephant had been, but he kind of felt he would have remembered someone riding a bear. Maybe his circus didn't do that show or the bear rider was on vacation that day.Either way, he couldn't figure out how riding a bear could be like riding a broom any more than Kyte could, but having not seen the act in question, he couldn't dispute the comparison either. "Crazy," he agreed, figuring that part was safe enough to say. He didn't want to insult Kyte's dream but if even Kyte thought bear riding was madness . . . surely he wouldn't think Ben thought people who did broom tricks had the same lack of sanity as people who rode bears for a living. Though he guessed if you spend enough time training the bear, maybe it was as good a friend and as reliable to the rider as a horse.
For a moment he just looked confused when Kyte guessed he was half-and-half. Then he remembered he hadn't introduced himself proper-like. Mom said he didn't have to. They weren't that sort. Aunt Bel had also discouraged it from becoming a habit so he didn't come off as weird to the muggles he spent most of his time around. But Dad and Gramelia had taught him the correct form. "Oh, uh, no. Not half and half. I'm," he coughed a little, cleared his throat, stood up straighter, and started over, "I am Benjamin Hippocrates Pierce, of the Boston Pierces." Then he rolled his eyes, shook his head, and relaxed back into his much more casual posture and a normal tone of conversation. "Magical family, muggle living situation," he added by way of explanation on his mixed knowledge.
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Hippo
I'm starting to get that
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Hippo
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Raine and Kyte
October 29, 2015 6:43 AM
Though it seems like you might be similar by Raine and Kyte
Raine wasn’t really used to the grand way that Hippo used to introduce himself, and it would have been a little bit intimidating except he kind of seemed to make a joke about it. Whilst that was good, because he meant he wasn’t serious and scary, she was starting to get the impression he was a lot like Kyte - outgoing, able to laugh at himself a bit. And she liked that, cos she liked Kyte, and it was easy when she got to talking with someone real chatty cos they made up for her, but she was starting to feel like the odd one out too. It’d gone off on a bit of a tangent when they’d talked brooms and she’d not known what to say. All in all, she wasn’t sure it’d really bother either party in this conversation if she wasn’t in it anymore, but she didn’t feel real confident in striking out by herself at this point. Anyway, she didn’t really mind blending into the background. People found it odd that a performer could be so shy but when she went out in the ring, she had all special clothes and make-up. She wasn’t really her anymore. And she knew exactly what to do. In real life, it was harder, and she didn’t have any glitter to hide behind.“A Pierce, hot dang!” Kyte exclaimed. Raine shifted her gaze to him, wondering why that meant something to him.
“Cousin Kit was telling us about the Pierces,” he reminded her, catching her look.
“I don’t know cousin Kit,” she told him.
“Sure you do!” he said. He knew Raine didn’t keep track of the cousins as well as he did but he was always sure that with a little jogging it’d come back to her, and he didn’t like for her to feel out of the loop if he could help it. “Cousin Kit… He’s one of Auntie Idra’s - she’s one of Mum’s cousins - and she has Kit and Irina, and Layla who did the show with India last summer when Asia was sick.”
“Kyte, I don’t know ’im,” she hissed emphatically, wondering why he always did this. He had to know by now that she just didn’t know. And it was embarrassing in front of a stranger - what kind of idiot must he take her for, for not knowing who was in her own family? At best, she could say that some of the names on his list rang a bell. She thought India and Asia might be sisters. Or a brother and a sister. Or brothers. She thought they were siblings of some kind but it wasn’t always easy to tell what gender anyone in their family was by their name - and, even if you could, whether or not they stuck to it was a whole other issue - which just another added further complications to trying to remember them all.
“Alright, doesn’t matter,” Kyte shrugged it off easily, whilst Raine’s cheeks glowed. “Anyway, he was telling us about the Pierces. They practically run the Medieval fairs all over. Kit’s a juggler,” he explained to both Hippo and Raine, “I think he’s crossed paths with them a few times, and always said they’re right nice folk,” he grinned at Hippo. “So, do you do that kind of stuff too?”
Raine supposed that, if he did, it might explain why Hippo was being so nice to them. It was sort of a pleasant surprise, to find out they had so much in common with one of their yearmates, that they wouldn’t be the only one from a family like theirs. Although that still left the bridge of meeting the real townies to cross. At least they might have an ally though.
OOC - I couldn’t remember whether the Pierces organised the fairs or were just major participants. If inaccurate, it can be chalked up to being third hand info from someone who tends to exaggerate.
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Raine and Kyte
Though it seems like you might be similar
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Hippo
October 29, 2015 10:45 AM
Depends on the mould, I guess by Hippo
OOC: They don't run them, they just make up a strong percentage of the cast in the ones they work for, but Ben doesn't know the difference anyway. He just knows they're out west and dress even more out of date than his dad does. BIC:Ben expected his name to be recognized. The family was political enough to be fairly well known in most pureblood circles. His immediate family stayed out of it for the most part, but DISCUSS was a common dinner time conversation if Aunt Bel or Gramelia were present or even brought up. He'd been quietly warned that some of the more uptight conservative purebloods might hold the close association his family had to that organization - his aunt being a co-founder and his grandmother running a local office out of her house - against him.
He had not pegged Kyte and Raine as uptight conservative types so he startled a little when his name caused such a verbal reaction from Kyte. It wasn't a negative reaction though so he grinned back but that faded as Kyte began explaining to his sister why he recognized it.
The relationship of 'cousin Kit' sounded complicated - not that his own family relationships didn't get complex pretty quickly with Dad being adopted by his cousin, but Kit sounded like he was several degrees of separation away, definitely farther out than Ben knew any of his family, so he didn't blame Raine at all for not knowing who her brother was talking about. He imagined she felt about as confused as he did when Gramelia gave them updates on the goings on of the Pierces in other branches.
Speaking of, Ben himself barely recognized the account of 'his' family as Kyte described them, but he got enough clues to work out where the confusion was coming from. He had kind of assumed that anyone who recognized the Pierce name would be aware of which branch(es) they should associate with or avoid and he'd been clear in stating his, but apparently he'd been wrong. He wasn't sure how he felt about being mistaken for a Californian. At least his Red Sox cap hopefully prevented them from thinking he might support the Angels - or worse, the Oakland Athletics - as his favorite baseball team.
"Um, I think you're talking about the California Pierces," he corrected when asked if he juggled and/or ran Renaissance Faires. "I'm from the Boston branch of the family. I think Gramelia said there was one of those Pierces here, though, in Teppenpaw, if you want to go looking for her. Her name's Ginny or Gigi or something like that. She probably juggles but I don't. My dad dresses up in colonial era garb, works as a tourist guide, and sometimes joins Revolutionary War reenactments, but that's as close to Renaissance Faires as my branch gets."
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Hippo
Depends on the mould, I guess
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Raine and Kyte
November 02, 2015 12:11 AM
Maybe not as close as we'd thought by Raine and Kyte
“Oh,” said Kyte, sounding a little disappointed as Hippo explained he was from a non-juggling part of the family.“That sounds interesting too,” Raine offered, not wanting Hippo to feel bad, or like they liked him any less for not being a juggler. Kyte seemed a little deflated by it, which she was sure could give that impression but she thought he and Hippo would get on well anyway, and she didn’t want her brother to put a potential friend off. “And your family sounds nigh on as complicated as ours,” she added with a bit of a smile, pleased to find that Hippo didn’t keep track of all his cousins either, so probably didn’t think she was as dumb as she’d worried he might.
“Is Teppenpaw the friendly one or the bouncy one?” Kyte asked, half to Raine - who’d tried more than he had to read the dry and dull school brochure - and half to Hippo, who seemed like he’d know that kind of thing. “Raine and I’ll be in one of those apiece, I reckon,” he added - a look of pain and panic flitted across Raine’s face at the mention of being split up, even though she knew it was more than likely going to be the case. “But I can’t keep straight which is which. They’ve all got such odd names.” This was met with a look of astonishment from Raine. Keeping track of Asia, India, Kale and an infinite kaleidoscope of second and third cousins was no problem, but four house names was too much to get his brain around? She guessed Kyte hadn’t been so motivated to learn about the school beforehand as she had. She liked to know what was coming, whereas he took things as they come, learning it when he needed to know and not before.
“The friendly one,” Raine confirmed.
“Cool, you can probably meet Gigi Pierce at dinner and talk about juggling.” For once, he noticed the look on Raine’s face. Far from being reassured by this, she looked more upset than ever. “It’ll be ok,” he squeezed her hand. “And you’ll be in the bouncy one with me, right?” he grinned at Hippo. So far, their new friend seemed much more like him than he did Raine.
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Raine and Kyte
Maybe not as close as we'd thought
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Ben
November 02, 2015 9:36 PM
Perhaps not by Ben
Kyte definitely sound a bit let down that Ben wasn't a juggler and while Raine wasn't as obvious about it, he suspected she was, too. "I could try to learn," he offered. "Could you teach me?" He wasn't entirely clear on whether they were jugglers themselves, or if that was just Cousin Kit, while they handled the broom tricks. He thought he might be better suited to learning the broom tricks, but hey, he was willing to give anything a try and he had good eye-hand coordination.He shrugged a bit and smiled back when Raine suggested their families were equally complicated. He guessed maybe they were, but in probably very different ways. Delving into the intricacies of his family - especially if they were counting the other branches - wasn't really something he was too keen on doing, so he let the subject drop there.
Fortunately, Kyte came in again then with a new topic. Ben blinked at him a few times after the twins had a short exchange about Houses and the assumption that Raine would be in Teppenpaw. "The bouncy one?" he repeated, moderately confused. He was familiar with the Houses, and by process of elimination he guessed, "You mean Pecari?" mostly because neither Aladren or Crotalus seemed at all bouncy to him and Teppenpaw was eliminated as the 'friendly one'. "Yeah, I figure I'll probably be Pecari. Pretty sure Professor Pye said it was the 'adventurous' House, though. Where'd you get 'bouncy' from?"
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Ben
Perhaps not
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Raine and Kyte
November 03, 2015 7:20 AM
But seems we could fix it by Raine and Kyte
“Sure we could,” Kyte beamed, glad at Ben’s enthusiasm about juggling “I mean, it’s neither of our specialties - Raine’s is acrobatics,” he added, as this hadn’t been mentioned yet, “But you pick up the basics of most things in our family. Plus, being a stunt rider can be a kinda short-lived. I figure, if I get too old or mess up a knee or something, I’ll go into clowning, so I try to keep my hand in with all types of juggling. Except contact. That’s just crazy hard and you need more patience than I’ve got.”Apparently Pecari was more properly described as ‘adventurous’ not bouncy but Kyte shrugged lightly at Ben’s question.
“It was the one that I remember sounded most like me, and I’m quite bouncy. Anyway, don’t those two go together? I mean, can you be not bouncy and still like adventures?” Kyte tried to slump a bit, letting go of the natural alert and bouncy tension that always ran through him. In as flat and unenthusiastic tone he drawled, “I love adventuring, it’s great. Let’s go have fun,” shaking himself back to his usual self, he added, “Can’t see that being too common.”
Raine thought it might be possible to be adventurous but not bouncy. She would never have described herself as it but she usually liked new things when someone, usually Kyte, helped her to try to them. And sometimes, she’d go off by herself just to enjoy the world, and see how many sounds she could hear and smells she could smell when everything was calm and quiet. It wasn’t exactly wild but it was sort of exploring. She thought if there was someone a little bit like her, only just a bit braver, so they could do those things without their twin holding their hand, or wander further on their walks, then she thought they could be adventurous without being bouncy, but she didn’t say so.
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November 04, 2015 10:12 PM
I'm always willing to add to my skills by Ben
If Ben had to come up with a few words to describe himself, he was quite sure 'bouncy' would not top the list or be one of the runners-up either. Personally, he'd have chosen 'sporty' as his primary adjective. But he guessed it was a synonym of 'enthusiastic' and he probably would pick that one pretty quickly for his list. He was less sure bouncy and adventurous were synonyms, but Kyte's pantomime was pretty convincing."Guess not," he agreed.
Returning to the earlier topic, he asked curiously, "What is contact juggling and why is it so hard?" It sounded like a challenge to him. If it really was as difficult as Kyte said, he'd probably let it go in favor of other athletic pursuits, but if it was something he could use for cross training, it might be worth investigating.
Suddenly, without waiting for a response to his first question, he asked abruptly, "Were you guys hungry? I'm hungry all of a sudden." It likely had something to do with the scents now drifting toward them as the breeze changed directions, but he was totally craving a fresh baked cookie right this instant.
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