Books, lots of books on Library

Librarian DiAnna Diaz

June 27, 2011 4:41 PM

First years' library orientation by Librarian DiAnna Diaz

Considering quite how frequently younger students tended to get lost in the numerous and winding library shelves in the first portion of term, it seemed like a logical idea to arrange an orientation. So instead of attending class following breakfast one morning during the second week of term, the first year students were required to meet in the library, at DiAnna's desk near the entrance from the main school (the entrance to the Aladren commons was also concealed within the library, but that would be one landmark she would keep quiet from the rest of the students).

DiAnna herself was waiting to meet the students. Some of them - most notably the Aladrens - had probably seen her around already. Those who hadn't might not be prepared to discover their school librarian was a young woman of twenty-four years, who was perhaps the Muggle fairytale pictoral representation of a witch (minus the warts, of cause). DiAnna's long hair was dyed black, she always wore dark eye make-up, and further whitened her already pale skin. Her wardrobe was composed almost entirely of black, with occasional flashes of purple and red, and was largely made of velvet and lace. Her feet were encased in high-heeled boots, that helped to put her above the height of the younger students (though several of the older kids were still taller).

"Okay, everyone," DiAnna called attention to herself. She'd gotten a lot more confident with addressing large groups of people since she'd accidentally become divinations professor. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Miss Diaz, the librarian. This morning we're just going to have a look round the library, because it can be quite daunting when you don't know what you're doing. Before we start, you can take out as many books as you like from the library, as long as you're being sensible. They need renewing after a week or they've been charmed to find their way back to the library." how they did this had never been very clear to DiAnna, but they somehow all ended up on her desk without the students' involvement. "Obviously, if you keep having overdue books, you'll be allowed to borrow fewer at one time than someone who returns books promptly, which could get you into trouble at the end of the year when you need to study for exams. That said, you can stay and study in the librry until ten minutes before curfew, and use any of the books without borrowing them. When you want to check a book out, just find me or one of the library monitors." That was something else she needed to explain.

"The library monitors are student volunteers - the sign-up sheet is just over here," she pointed to the noticeboard, "and first years are welcome to sign up, too, as monitors or assistants." That was the basics covered; now for the books. "Okay, so if you could all stay together for the tour, that would be great." Walking round with the first years, DiAnna showed them where they could find all their subject-relevant textbooks and some age-appropriate fiction. She also pointed out the restricted section, and made it very clear that students were not allowed to enter without staff permission. At the end of the tour, she addressed the group once more. "Okay, now you're free to have a look round properly, and if you want to come and check some books out, or if you have any questions, I'll be at my desk."

(OOC: Remember to stick to site rules when you post. You will earn House points for posting here, just as you would in a class.)

Subthreads:

Books, lots of books by Jhonice Trevear with Cherry Bosko

*Yawn* Been there, done that. by David Kim [Aladren] with Kitty McLevy, David Kim

Lost in L-Space! Lost in L-Space! by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari with Michael Grosvenor

Disoriented. (Tag Miss Diaz) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus with Miss Diaz, Renée Errant

Getting oriented by Paul Bennett, Crotalus with Linus Macaulay, Paul

0 Librarian DiAnna Diaz First years' library orientation 0 Librarian DiAnna Diaz 1 5

Jhonice Trevear

June 27, 2011 9:16 PM

Books, lots of books by Jhonice Trevear

Library orientation? Jhonice needed to check her schedule twice when she saw that. Really? It was a library, it has books. She knew what a library was, granted she wasn't one for spending much time in any, but she knew what they were. But, this was school, schools did like their books didn't they? The Pecari girl drug her feet as she approached the dreaded library. There were so many much funner places to be; she could be tossing random ingredients into a pot to see what potions she could make, she could be swishing her wand to make her classmate's hair glow, she could be wrangling the dreaded gnarl, she could... be doing magic. But no... they had to learn the doofy decimal system. She crossed the threshold and looked around at the huge, sprawling labyrinth of dusty books filled with knowledge.

"This is going to take forever..." she groaned to herself. Were they really going to go through every part of this place? It was huge! A woman called them all together, she was most definitely a witch. Jhonice recognized her from the opening feast, so she assumed the woman was the librarian. She introduced herself and confirmed Jhonice's assumption. The librarian talked, and talked. She guided them around the library, it did seem to take forever.

One bit sparked Jhonice's attention, there was a 'restricted' section. Oooo... what was in there? Maybe there was something interesting in this place after all. The entire rest of the orientation she couldn't wrest her thoughts from that area. What was considered restricted? Was it dangerous? The mystery intrigued the girl. She had to know, and she would know. Not today, no, that would be to obvious, she would have to be subtle and sneaky. Things she was very, very good at. Nobody tells her what is off limits and what isn't.

She began plotting, how could she get in there? At night would be best, when there was no one around. What kind of locks did it have? She'd have to go back and investigate. While thinking and walking, she bumped into someone. "Oops, sorry." she apologized. She had to cover her scheming, "I.. umm... was just... thinking how great this place is. Yes. The library isn't it... great?"

2 Jhonice Trevear Books, lots of books 209 Jhonice Trevear 0 5

Cherry Bosko

June 29, 2011 2:38 PM

There must be thousands of them at least by Cherry Bosko

Cherry had already been to the library to find a map of the school and come back to return the book after copying out said map. It had been quite a project involving several colors and an oversized sheet of paper (which was not a problem since she kept a big drawing pad under her bed). About halfway though the copying, she realized that there had been a map in their welcome packet, which all the other kids were using. So she'd used that map to update her map. Well, anyway, her map was more detailed. It had statues on it and even some portraits and other landmarks which had proven helpful in the last couple weeks. Like the welcome map, though, it didn't have any secret passages on it or common rooms. Cherry supposed if it did, they wouldn't be very secret.

Cherry was not particularly interested in books, but last time she was here, when she was returning the book she borrowed, she'd signed up to be a Library Assistant in order to learn her way around the library. She was, admittedly, a little disappointed that everyone got to learn their way around whether they were an assistant or not. She wondered if she should scratch her name off the list.

But that would look messy, and she didn't want the librarian to blame her for making her sheet look less pretty. No, she already signed up. She would do it.

And in order to do it right, she'd better learn about the library.

That decided, Cherry made sure to be near the front of the crowd as Miss Diaz led the first years from one shelf to another. It was also easier to admire how Miss Diaz walked in her heels without falling over from there. Cherry spent a lot of the lecture considering the librarian's wardrobe, her long black hair (was it naturally that dark?) and her skill at walking in platforms. Cherry decided she liked Miss Diaz best of the grown ups so far--so it would be good to be a Library Assistant. Maybe Miss Diaz would make her make big colorful signs to hang by each of the subject areas, each with a picture relating to the subject. That would be a lot easier to see than little itty bitty plaques. Maybe she could make a big library map for the entrance too.

Well, she'd make one for herself anyway to help her put books away because, honestly, this tour was not sticking.

After Miss Diaz was finished, Cherry pulled out one of her class books and started wandering around the shelves, trying to remember which part was which. She'd just gotten turned about and thinking that she'd marked potions on the wrong side when another girl bumped into her. She looked up, half expecting to see Perdita, who had knocked her clear over the first time she'd come in to the library, but it was a girl from Pecari not Aladren.

"Sorry," Cherry replied, even though she didn't really think it was her fault.

"I.. umm... was just... thinking how great this place is. Yes. The library isn't it... great?" the girl said.

"Yeah, sure," Cherry said. "If you like it that much, you should sign up to be a Library Assistant. Just watch out for the dog book. It probably bites. Do you know where Miss Diaz said the DADA books are?"

0 Cherry Bosko There must be thousands of them at least 0 Cherry Bosko 0 5

Jhonice

July 04, 2011 11:47 AM

and I am sure they are all terribly interesting by Jhonice

Hmmm... Jhonice thought to herself, she knew this girl. She was in classes with her. Her name is... a fruit. Yes, that was it. Apple? No. Pear? No. Pineapple? No way. Why did people have to give their kids such odd names? Anyway, it didn't matter. Jhonice smiled at her year mate, "Library assistant? First years can do that?" Her first reaction was 'no way', she wasn't really a library person. However, being an assistant would allow her freedom to roam about the place without people giving her a second thought. Hmm... that might be quite the advantage. She would have to think about it. What people used the library on a regular basis? "I may have to look into that, thank-you."

She looked around the portion of the library that she could see, but she had no idea where the librarian or that section of the books were. She wasn't even sure what section of the books she was standing in. The looking around was more to make sure she wasn't actually standing in the DADA section and the girl was asking her a trick question. They weren't, from a few of the titles she scanned very quickly it looked like they were in some plant section. "Sorry, I have no idea."

Another thought struck Jhonice. She would need allies and an information network, this girl might be the start of that. Even if she didn't know it. "I can help you look for them though." She said helpfully. "They have to be around here somewhere."

2 Jhonice and I am sure they are all terribly interesting 209 Jhonice 0 5

Cherry Bosko

July 07, 2011 2:15 PM

They must be. by Cherry Bosko

Cherry considered this girl and wondered if she had been paying any attention at all during the librarian's lecture. Hadn't Ms. Diaz just said that first years could be assistants? Seriously. Cherry hadn't been paying a lot of attention herself, but she'd at least gotten the jist of everything. Seriously. Cherry didn't remember everything, but at least she'd have some sort of dull recollection if she heard it again... nevermind. It wasn't nice to be judgy. Besides, this girl might be a Library Assistant with her and if she was, it would be nice to not be the only clueless first year around.

Cherry was just about to dismiss her as useless when the other girl offered to help. Four eyes would be better than two, even if the brain behind the other two was apparently a bit spacey. That was probably why she had walked into Cherry in the first place. Off in her own little world....

Judgy again, Cherry berated herself.

"They have to be around here somewhere," the girl said.

"They must," Cherry agreed, making herself not say something snarky--like, Well, obviously, which the valley girl in her wanted to say so badly. There was a time she would have said it, too. But being in a new school without any friends yet to back you up was not the time. Besides, it was mean. Cherry didn't want to be a meanie--she already knew being a meanie made her feel icky inside.

But sometimes it was hard not to be.

But not too hard. Cherry held up her map for the other girl to see and explained, "I am trying to make a map of the different sections of the library, so that when I come back I'll know how to find everything. This," she pointed to the open area where they stood on the map, "is where we are now. This," she pointed to another area with red Xs in it, "is the restricted section. Which makes this one Magical Creatures and this one is Potions.... I think. I may have gotten that one wrong."

"You see?" she said lowering the map and looking the other girl, "I want to label the sections at least for each of the classes. So I still need DADA and Transfigurations and I need to check Potions."

"Oh, what was your name, again?" she winced a little because they'd been in classes together for a week or two now. They just hadn't crossed paths directly before. "I'm Cherry."

0 Cherry Bosko They must be. 0 Cherry Bosko 0 5

Jhonice

July 09, 2011 4:50 PM

Do they expect us to use them all? by Jhonice

Jhonice smiled at Cherry. She was nice. "Cherry is a cool name! Mine is just plain and boring, Jhonice. She was amazed at her new friend's map, it clearly showed that the best approach to the restricted section and still remain unseen was from the southwest. "That map is great. Come on, we have to complete it!" Jhonice could feel it already, this girl would be a great asset. She collected information, made maps, signs and who knows what else. Jhonice would help Cherry to the best of her ability, then hopefully Cherry would return the favor.

There were still blank areas on the map that needed to be filled in, and she didn't know how much time they had left before they would be forced off to their next assignment. "Come on!" She called out over her shoulder as she started to move into the unknown, "Let's get exploring!" Suddenly the shelves and shelves of books didn't look so ominous. They weren't archaic lore and meaningless knowledge anymore. They were a wild and untamed landscape, a mystical maze that needed to be solved. This library would be an adventure after all!

2 Jhonice Do they expect us to use them all? 209 Jhonice 0 5

Cherry

July 13, 2011 2:13 PM

That would take AGES. by Cherry

Cherry didn't think Jhonice was exactly a plain and boring name. It was, in fact, a name she'd never heard before. She tried to think of a good rhyme to remember it by. Jhonice sounded sort of like "John is"... she could use that. Jhonice and John is... no, that wasn't grammatical. John is jumpy for Jhonice. Now if only there was a John around who seemed to like the girl. Jhonice jolts to the john? No. Johnice jogs in ice... No...

She'd figure it out later. Jhonice was running off towards a blank section of her map. Off to discover the unknown! Cherry grinned at Jhonice's sudden enthusiasm and followed at her heels into another section of books. It was a little like exploring, like Jhonice said. They passed the Monster Book of Monsters, which growled ferociously at them. And there was another book called Charms for Girls that nearly blinded them with its flashing lights and sparkly cover. (Charms section!)

It seemed strangely cold in the section where they finally stopped and Cherry looked around at the shelves and read aloud some of the covers she say. "Wolverton's Book of Werewolves, Lunar Legacies, Spells for Beastly Nights."

"DADA wasn't this creepy on the tour," Cherry looked over at Jhonice, "Was it?"

0 Cherry That would take AGES. 0 Cherry 0 5

Mellie
July 20, 2011 1:01 PM

Mellie
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

Dial R for Reply? by Mellie
Mellie couldn’t help but smile broadly in relief when her abrupt, weird attempt at starting conversation seemed to work. Her positive feelings toward Michael, not completely absent to begin with, increased significantly. It had seemed entirely possible that his response to her ramble about the Potions professor would have been to tell her she was weird and then go off and laugh with the guys about it.

“I think she actually likes him,” Mellie said. “Sort of. But then, she’s taking seventh year Potions, so…” Mellie shrugged, not sure what, if any, effect that might have on Alison’s liking or disliking Fawcett. If Advanced classes were really as much harder than the lower ones as she’d been led to believe, having him for an Advanced professor seemed like a good reason to not like him in and of itself. “I don’t know. She didn’t really get to tell me too much, and plus, I think she was lying about half of it. I don’t really think the headmaster would let him and Professor Crosby run secret societies, do you? And I’ve got a sane friend from home in second year who never mentioned anything like that.”

Alison had always liked messing with her. Mellie was just glad that a long time of no contact hadn’t undone all the tiny amount of work she’d ever done toward becoming not gullible enough to believe all the weird things her cousin and others came up with. She was still more gullible than not, or at least evidence suggested she was, but she wasn’t quite ready to buy that her Potions teacher was grooming a new generation of politicians on the weekends or that her Transfiguration professor led a cult until she had something more than Alison’s word for it.

“I guess we’re good company, then,” Mellie said brightly when Michael acknowledged his own occasional problems with conversation. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

16 Mellie Dial R for Reply? 206 Mellie 0 5

Michael
July 20, 2011 3:14 PM

Michael
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 11

L for Lesson Learnt by Michael
“I doubt it. Sounds like something out of a story,” Michael replied. “If that’s the kind of help she gave you, I think I’m rather glad I don’t have any cousins or anything here,” he grinned. He had wished repeatedly in the run up to Sonora and his first weeks here he’d had someone older to tell him what to expect but he’d never entertained the idea that that might have been a bad thing. Nat wasn’t the sort to wind him up and tell him stories but he was aware of that kind of sibling – or in Mellie’s case, cousin – from T.V. shows. “Who’s the second year you know and what houses are she and your cousin in?” he asked.

It was a little odd to think that two people who were inept at conversation trying to have one might be a good thing. It didn’t seem to be terribly sound logic. Perhaps it would lead to a more than average number of awkward moments but Michael supposed it was the not minding that mattered. It was definitely very nice to have someone not mind that you weren’t quite perfect. It would have been exceptionally useful to Michael had he been able to decompartmentalise that idea, removing it from being a possibility merely in the realm of having a conversation and apply it as a general principle. However, he failed to see the greater lesson to be learnt from the interaction, taking from it only that a conversation going wrong wasn’t always the end of the world.

“Yeah, it is,” he nodded at Mellie.

13 Michael L for Lesson Learnt 199 Michael 0 5

Paul
July 23, 2011 1:29 AM

Paul
Peripheral
Written by:

That's the plan by Paul
“Thank you,” Paul said when Linus assured him apologies weren’t necessary. “I should have been paying more attention, though, not looking up at how tall the shelves are.”

One of the things Paul really didn’t like having to do in etiquette lessons was run through a scenario where he was apologizing for something. It wasn’t impossible to find the fine line between being penitent enough and overdoing it, but it was really hard. He often ended up being too apologetic, or not apologetic enough, or apologetic to an extent that made it seem like a form of being over-proud by itself…It was complicated. He could only guess – maybe hope – that it all got easier to remember and use as you got older, because while he did well enough to fool people, he was sure he was nowhere near being a complete gentleman yet, any more than Lize, beneath her carefully crafted veneer she pulled up when she really needed it, was a true lady. They weren’t right on the insides.

He didn’t really care about that, of course, for its own sake. As long as things went all right, he was fine. But it seemed like it might be easier to behave as a gentleman and so not have the problems that came from not acting like a gentleman if he really was one, and if that wasn’t possible, at least being able to remember everything to act like one would be an improvement.

”Do you read a lot?” Linus asked, and Paul considered the question before deciding it was most likely just conversational, not an attempt to get something. With the reputation of the Aladren Quidditch team, it was hard to say that reading was a bad thing when they might hear about it and it was hard to say just who might be behind those shelves, and he thought it was usually all right to moderately read instead of frequently reading as long as you could, and sometimes did it just for pleasure. That wasn’t so bad.

“I read sometimes. I’m not sure I’d say a lot, but I like mysteries every now and then, and then there’s things my tutors set me. Classics and things. What about you?”

0 Paul That's the plan 0 Paul 0 5

Jhonice
July 23, 2011 11:07 AM

Jhonice
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Gami

Age in Post: 11

Maybe we could find the Cliff's Notes section by Jhonice
The atmosphere seemed to change around Jhonice as she made her way into the unknown. There was an unease in the air, she'd like to say it was dark and eerie, but it looked about the same as the other areas they had passed through. There was something strange about it though, she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. The shelves towered over her, she could almost feel something or things watching her every move, as if the books themselves were...

"DADA wasn't this creepy on the tour, Was it?"

Jhonice was jolted out of her self narration and back to reality by Cherry's question. The section still did feel odd and a bit chilly, but not as dark and mysterious as she had been trying to make it. "No, not really." She replied. "I wonder if this is a specialized section and we just saw the 'general' books." She glanced over the titles near them. "Looks like these have to do with creatures, I wonder what kind of organizational system the library uses."

2 Jhonice Maybe we could find the Cliff's Notes section 209 Jhonice 0 5

Mellie
July 25, 2011 1:56 PM

Mellie
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

A is for Agreement by Mellie
“Yeah,” Mellie replied, smiling so he wouldn’t think she was offended, to the idea of it maybe being okay to not have relatives here. “Alison – my cousin’s – seventh year Pecari. Russell’s in Aladren.” She paused, then added, for the sake of completeness, “and there’s Topher, second year Crotalus, but…yeah, I’d believe Alison first.”

She thought about that for a second, then added, “I guess that makes you the first Teppenpaw I know. I mean, unless one of my grandparents was in there or something, but I don’t think any of Dad’s family has ever come here, and Mom’s a Muggleborn Pecari.” And when Mom had told her about Houses, she’d said that Dad would have been either a Crotalus or an Aladren right on the brink of being a Crotalus, since she didn’t seem to think of Aladren so much as a House in its own right as a place where people who were somewhere between being Crotali and Pecaris went.

Mom had been even vaguer on Teppenpaw, though. Dad fit into those House qualities – he was kind, he preferred diplomacy and consensus to a fight any day, he seemed to hold that everyone ought to improve themselves as far as they could – but he was, Mom had explained, just much more precise, detail-oriented, independent, and interested in how things worked. Those qualities were why he’d been promoted pretty regularly through his career, so that now, his knack for looking at plans and making them more water-tight could actually be put to use. It was a point of pride with him that he didn’t make mistakes on the job, that everything was done as quickly and efficiently as possible, with no disturbances and certainly no one noticing strange groups of men in gray suits the way they had in the bad old days….

But yeah. Mom didn’t know what a Teppenpaw was, just that none of them were, and Mellie didn’t really follow the extended family enough to know what was going on with it most of the time, much less what had gone on with it fifty years ago. Which meant, Mellie guessed, she’d have to figure out this one for herself.

“Is it nice, in Teppenpaw?” she asked.

She was relieved to hear that it was good that they were good company - a logical enough conclusion, she guessed, but she'd felt a little like she was walking out on a limb as soon as she'd said it. She didn't really know how to make friends, much less how to indicate that was what she was trying to do. "Also good to agree," she said.

16 Mellie A is for Agreement 206 Mellie 0 5

Michael
July 29, 2011 9:35 AM

Michael
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 11

P is for Phew (haha, curve ball!) by Michael
“So do you know about Muggle stuff and Magic stuff?” Michael asked, as Mellie rattled off a list of friends and relations who’d been at the school, including a Muggle-born mother. He’d thought when Cherry had mentioned it that it must be really cool but it had been a bit tricky to talk out on the pitch. The library was much more conducive to conversation, so maybe he could find out a bit more from Mellie about it. “What’s it like? Do you get to have Muggle stuff like T.V. in your house or does the magic mean it won’t work?” He knew all too well the complications of trying to mix Magical and Muggle technology, having had to see a specialist to fit him with a pair of magical hearing aids before he started school.

“Teppenpaw seems nice,” he replied, “I think it’s meant to be the friendly house or something, and my roommates seem nice. One of them’s a Pureblood but he doesn’t seem to mind about me being Muggleborn, which apparently a lot of them do. I guess the ones that do don’t go into Teppenpaw so I haven’t really had to deal with any of them yet. Do you like it in Pecari?” he asked, as it seemed fair to return the question. Funny how they’d come back to this topic when he’d been so worried that it was boring that he’d clammed up instead of asking it. Life was annoying like that sometimes, he supposed.

13 Michael P is for Phew (haha, curve ball!) 199 Michael 0 5

Mellie
August 01, 2011 2:03 PM

Mellie
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

F is for Friends, then? by Mellie
“A little,” Mellie said when Michael asked if she knew about magic and Muggle things, and then felt like she’d still exaggerated when he started asking more questions and she had to stop to think for a second before she remembered what Mom said a TV was.

“No, we don’t have one of those,” she said. “I kind of wish we did every time Mom mentions it, but we’re really not that close to her parents.” Possibly because they lived several states over. Possibly. It wasn’t like Mom had ever mentioned not getting along with them. Honestly, she didn’t talk about them that much at all. “But they sound really interesting. Are they as cool as she makes them sound?” She figured they had to have something going for them, since Alison usually summed up time spent with her parents as “watched too much TV and played chess on Anthony’s e-reader.”

Mellie was glad Alison had finally explained what an “e-reader” was, because otherwise she was sure she would have either gone on a tangent right now that made her sound like an utter moron speculating about whether there really was something Muggles had to use to read the letter e or else asked Michael what one was out of a clear blue sky without any obvious connection to what they had been talking about. Someday, she was sure, she was going to annoy someone with that habit, which was another one she normally didn’t notice until it was too late to stop herself from doing it.

She half-shrugged, spreading her hands palms-up, when asked how she liked Pecari. “It’s pretty good, I guess. I’m still kind of getting used to sharing a room with so many other girls, you know? But everyone’s been cool so far, and I like Professor McKindy as Head of House..y person. I wish we had different House colors, though. Way too much brown, I guess since gold is so close to yellow and we share that with you guys…That would be kind of awkward during Quidditch, yeah? Do you play any sports?”

And there she went, with the things only loosely connected to the other things. And what did she know, maybe he did play Quidditch even though he was Muggleborn. Maybe Muggles had ground Quidditch or something, or he had learned since coming to school. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad, though, post-agreement.

16 Mellie F is for Friends, then? 206 Mellie 0 5

Michael
August 01, 2011 2:38 PM

Michael
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 11

We don't seem to have a very good grasp of the alphabet... by Michael
“Erm… Well, I guess they are,” Michael realised, as Mellie asked about television. “I mean, it’s sort of weird to think of it as being amazing or special because literally everyone has one, so it just seems ordinary. And there’s loads of shows that are really rubbish, so you can waste your life watching stuff you don’t really want to see but do, just cos it’s there. But when you think about it or try to explain it to someone… Yeah, a box of moving pictures, telling you stories. It’s a pretty cool thing to have. And kind of odd that you guys don’t have it, seeing as even your photographs move…” He trailed off. The world was a funny place – both worlds were funny places, especially in what one had that the other didn’t. It didn’t seem to be an even cut off, like one was more behind than the other. They overlapped in odd areas, or one world had got further than the other in one thing but lagged behind in something seemingly related.

“No. Well, I dunno… I hadn’t really thought,” Michael quickly corrected himself as Mellie asked about sports. Boys were supposed to like sports. Deciding to skim around the lack of sporting experience he’d gained at Muggle school, owing to being picked last when it was compulsory, like in P.E., or left out all together at break times, he focussed on Quidditch. “I don’t really know much about Quidditch. If I was going to get a book out, it’d probably be one explaining the basics. I figure that other kids will have way more experience than me, but maybe I’ll try out in a few years or go for reserve or something,” this was almost entirely posturing. He possibly would go as far as taking a reserve position to save face, if he was actually put on the line but it would very hard to hide his hearing impairment out on the pitch, as he’d discovered in flying, so he had no burning desire to put himself forward. It seemed like a fast track to people Finding Out, and no one would take him seriously as a player once they knew, not to mention the rest of the hell that would follow. “Do you play?” he asked.

13 Michael We don't seem to have a very good grasp of the alphabet... 199 Michael 0 5

Linus
August 03, 2011 9:40 AM

Linus
Peripheral
Written by:

So stick to it by Linus
"Yes, I read sometimes," Linus claimed a similar frequency of the pasttime as much to fit in with social norms as it was true: he didn't read a lot but he did enjoy that which he did read. he did, however, seem to read more than some of his peers, if the Opening Feast and subsequent classes could be relied upon to be good indicators. "Classwork, obviously," he said, cunningly omitting that he read ahead in class, and extra reading round chapters he found particularly difficult or interesting, "and I read mysteries, too." He prefered the sort where you had to choose which path your adventurer would take, and turn to the right page, and so on, but he decided they counted under the broad heading of 'mysteries' that Paul had provided. "I have done a bit of reading about Sonora, and magic more generally," he admitted, because it was safe to do so to Paul who already knew of Linus' Muggle background, "you know, to better understand... everything." He couldn't think of anything more specific that quite fit what he was trying to say.

"At home I spent more time playing computer games," he boldly exclaimed in what sounded a little like a boast, "but obviously I can't do that at Sonora. What do you do for fun, then?" he asked Paul, who had probaly never played a computer game in his life if that stuff he'd read about electrical appliances not working round magic was true. "Besides reading and Quidditch, I mean." He wasn't sure how people survived without computers, consoles, and the like. his parents had played ancient games on their ancient consoles, and been generally more sporting, he supposed. He'd heard them talk about having spent some of their youth meeting friends in coffee shops and such, but Linus didn't think they'd only been eleven when they'd started doing that. There had to be some other activities available for young people that he hadn't yet considered - wizards didn't even watch television. Linus really was curious about how they spent their time outside of classes.

0 Linus So stick to it 0 Linus 0 5

Paul
August 05, 2011 5:08 PM

Paul
Peripheral
Written by:

Shall do. Do you have any plans? by Paul
Paul nodded when Linus said he had been reading about the magical world as well as classwork and mysteries. “That’s good,” he said, though he didn’t think there were enough books in this whole library, even if every one of them had been on United States magical history, politics, and culture, for anyone to understand everything. Just a few weeks at school had let him know that he knew almost nothing about people outside of his own social class, other than that they existed and that women’s lives were apparently more like men’s than they were like the lives of women like his mother and aunts.

He thought, though, that he should change that. The rest of the world, as his classmates had illustrated for him, was there. It had been there for a long time, and it didn’t seem likely to go away. If it did, it would be only a matter of time before his world collapsed. Father had always explained they should be civil to others both because it was convenient and because the privilege they knew was only possible for them because others did not have it. There wasn’t enough to go around, and it was just luck that Great-Grandfather had been in a position to grab some for them and someone else’s great-grandfather had not. If that one point had gone differently, Paul Bennett might have grown up the hopes of being a tailor instead of employing them.

Thoughts of class and privilege were washed away, though, by confusion when Linus said he played ‘computer games’ for fun at home. Those were things Paul had never heard of at all, so he was assuming they were Muggle, but he didn’t like not knowing something someone right in front of him did know.

“We play games as well,” he said when asked. “Father has me and Liza play chess against each other all the time, and games with a world map where we each start out with a country and its resources and have to govern it and deal with international things. He plays the other rulers, and decides when we have disasters or revolts or a Statute of Secrecy crisis or bad press or…something like that. Sometimes, he changes it to fit with what we’re learning in our lessons, with history or arithmetic or something.” He guessed the younger ones would get to play eventually, but the one attempt they’d made so far to include Gemma hadn’t gone well. “The girls have their sewing and their dolls, and sometimes our parents make us pretend to go to parties with them for practice, and there’s card games and building models…” He shrugged, the thought occurring to him that most of this was as much for life preparation as entertainment. “There’s lots of things, I guess. What do Muggles do for fun? What’s a computer game?”

0 Paul Shall do. Do you have any plans? 0 Paul 0 5

Linus
August 07, 2011 1:51 PM

Linus
Peripheral
Written by:

I plan to succeed by Linus
As Paul explained that he played chess with his sister, Linus felt his eyebrows raise ever so slightly to convey an expression of interest. His own father had taught him how to play chess, and while Jonah knew how to play, too, Linus could easily beat the second oldest of the macaulay children, and very few of his Muggle peers had known how to play, let alone been any good. He hadn't brought a chess set with him, but maybe they could find someone in their House who had a set they'd lend to Linus and Paul - they could perhaps share an activity other than silently completing homework. The other game Paul described sounded like many variations on Risk, a board game that Linus had tried a couple of times but he would admit to finding it confusing (all the more so when his siblings tried to play and the rules changed so much it wasn't even possible to call it the same game).

The rest of what Paul said, however, was alien to Linus' own upbringing. Pretening to go to parties, and card games? It was like something out of one of those painfully dull old fashioned movies his mom sometimes watched in the evenings. Happy Families and Snap were okay card games, Linus supposed, but somehow he didn't think Paul was referring to those. Linus had developed a theory, actually, that wizards placed a greater emphasis on preparing for adulthood, and Muggles on enjoying a childhood. He had yet to decide which approach he found most appropriate, but he was fairly certain his generalization was valid; everything Paul ever said contributed to supporting his theory.

"What do Muggles do for fun? What’s a computer game?" Paul asked next.

"Well a computer is a machine that allows you to type, like an electronic typewriter," he began, deciding that Paul couldn't understand the games without first understanding the computer, "and you can load pictures and movies, and go on the internet, and search for information on just about anything you want," he briefly explained. "Computer games you can play either on your computer or using a console on your television. It's like a movie you can interact with. So, like, you can drive cars, or shoot things, or make a monkey explore an island," he mentioned the first three examples that came to mind. "It's all on the screen, and you press buttons to make things happen. It tests your reflexes or lateral thinking, or aim or... well, that really depends on the game." Some of Daphne's dress-up doll games just involved dragging one picture onto another, but then Daphne was still quite young, so maybe it was developing dexterity. "plus they're fun," Linus thought he'd better add, in case that essential aspect had gotten lost in his explanation.

"Anything Muggles play can be turned into a computer game," he said. "There are chess games, too - I've played them because I've got nobody to play against at home. But since you play chess, I was thinking maybe would could try playing against each other, if we can borrow a set form someone.

0 Linus I plan to succeed 0 Linus 0 5

Mellie
August 08, 2011 9:35 PM

Mellie
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

Now I know my ZYXes.... by Mellie
“Photos don’t tell stories, though,” she said, biting her bottom lip a little. “Maybe if paintings put on a play…I don’t know if they’d want to, though, and it could only be somewhere like here, where there’s lots of money. Portraits aren’t super hugely common, they’re really expensive to have made and it’s supposed to be something crazy that makes them work, so most people never have them.” The only time she had ever seen a portrait before coming to Sonora was when she’d gone in to work with one of her parents, and that was rarer than portraits by far.

She smiled, though. “I guess I can understand, though, why it’s weird. It seems just as weird to think of magic being special. It’s just something everyone I’ve ever known had and used all the time.” All the adults, anyway. They kids had performed magic as often as they could get away with and manage it, or accidentally, but if it wasn’t always discouraged as firmly as the law might have liked, nor was it encouraged in them. People had, she knew, very different thoughts about that; though it was supposed to be almost impossible to get full control before age eleven and most people weren’t as strong as they were going to be until much later than that, there were some who felt children should be taught some control as soon as they started performing magic or got old enough to understand, depending on which came first. Her parents thought it was good to learn to do things by hand first, though, because it taught one not to be lazy.

Mellie nodded when Michael asked if she played Quidditch, trying to look modest. “I’m going to be a Chaser on the Pecari team,” she said. “Me and Jhonice – one of my roommates – are both Chasers, with the captain. But I think we’re playing Aladren first, and they’re all older than us, so…” She shrugged philosophically, not mentioning that Jhonice had trouble flying at all in front of a Teppenpaw because she thought it might be bad form more than because she thought Michael would go carrying stories to his team. “I’ve never been on a real team, or in front of lots of people, though. I have no idea how that part of it is going to go. I’m really a little nervous, to tell you the truth.”

16 Mellie Now I know my ZYXes.... 206 Mellie 0 5

Paul
August 12, 2011 1:29 AM

Paul
Peripheral
Written by:

I wish you the best of luck by Paul
There were a few pieces of Linus’ explanation of computers and the games that could be played on them that still meant approximately nothing to Paul. Typewriting, he supposed vaguely, was what was done to make printed books, but he thought only presses had such equipment. He knew that Mother had complained bitterly, if never in front of Father, about having to find a new printer she trusted to make her party invitations after they moved to Illinois, anyway. It was as important to know the person doing that kind of work would do it well as it was to have a good relationship with your seamstress or tailor, because everyone would judge the family based at least partially on their work. But ‘movies’ and ‘television’ were not things he knew.

Reflexes. Lateral thinking. Aim. Fun. “Those are important things,” he agreed, since there was no other use he could think of for making a monkey (which he thought, based on all this, wouldn’t be a real monkey, but who knew) explore an island. Monkeys were animals, so even putting one under Imperius and making it move around to explore didn’t seem to have much of a point. It couldn’t exactly report its findings.

He could, he thought as he remembered where he was, look it up later. This library was large enough that it had to have something about these things in it, or at least references to them in a glossary. Acting too bewildered would make him seem stupid and silly, a bit like a small child asking too many questions and seeking guidance, and he didn’t want anything to do with that. Paul went out of his way to never hear when anyone reminisced about his early childhood, most of which he didn’t remember, even the parts that were only a few years ago. He thought it was most likely a defense mechanism.

Linus mentioned the possibility of them playing chess against each other, then, and Paul found himself intrigued. “That could be fun,” he agreed. “It’s never as easy with chessmen that don’t know you, but that could do for now, and we could bring our own back after midterm. If mine survived Gemma and Leo and will speak to me again, anyway.” He was mostly joking, since they would do as ordered, if with complaints. It never occurred to him that he might sound crazy.

0 Paul I wish you the best of luck 0 Paul 0 5

Michael
August 15, 2011 10:37 AM

Michael
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 11

It's as easy as.... x-ray specses? by Michael
Michael nodded along to what Mellie said about photos and paintings. He guessed it made sense if you thought about it that way.

“I like the idea of them putting on plays,” he smiled, “Or even just telling stories. They must know some interesting stuff.” He wondered how much they actually knew. Mellie had said the magic that made them work was ‘crazy,’ which he could well believe. They seemed so real but he wasn’t sure whether they could really think. Maybe they were kind of like robots, in that they could appear to think but were only capable of running the programmes they’d been given. He wasn’t going to ask. He was sure that was a debate that was way beyond him.

“I’m sure you’ll be really great,” he encouraged, when Mellie talked about her Quidditch debut. He could definitely see why flying in front of so many people was a scary prospect but he was going to be full of respect for anyone who was daring to take it on, and he was sure lots of other people would feel the same. “They chose you after all, and the people in the stands either didn’t get chosen or didn’t try. And I promise I’ll be cheering you on. I mean, if you’re not against Teppenpaw because I think my roommates are on the team and I’m probably supposed to be wanting us to win, but even if you are against us, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you too.”

13 Michael It's as easy as.... x-ray specses? 199 Michael 0 5

Librarian DiAnna Diaz

First years' library orientation by Librarian DiAnna Diaz

Jhonice Trevear

Books, lots of books by Jhonice Trevear

Cherry Bosko

There must be thousands of them at least by Cherry Bosko

David Kim [Aladren]

*Yawn* Been there, done that. by David Kim [Aladren]

Kitty McLevy

A lovely maze of books by Kitty McLevy

Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

Lost in L-Space! Lost in L-Space! by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

Michael Grosvenor

G is for Good Grief, Girl (A)Gain! (WotW) by Michael Grosvenor

David Kim

It's not a maze when you know the path! by David Kim

Kitty

Or know someone who does by Kitty

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Disoriented. (Tag Miss Diaz) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Getting oriented by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Jhonice

and I am sure they are all terribly interesting by Jhonice

Mellie

Re: G is for Good Grief, Girl (A)Gain! (WotW) by Mellie

Cherry Bosko

They must be. by Cherry Bosko

Miss Diaz

Take it easy by Miss Diaz

Valerie

I usually do by Valerie

Jhonice

Do they expect us to use them all? by Jhonice

David Kim

This is also true. by David Kim

Kitty

It’s good to have friends who know the way by Kitty

Michael

We should be filed under M (WotW) by Michael

David Kim

Just keep turning right. I think. by David Kim

Kitty

Following the leader, in right turning circles by Kitty

Cherry

That would take AGES. by Cherry

Miss Diaz

Good to hear it by Miss Diaz

Renée Errant

Avoiding Distractions by Renée Errant

Valerie

I think I am one. by Valerie

Mellie

Or S, for Speechless. by Mellie

Renée

ooc: posted! (nm) by Renée

Linus Macaulay

Orient yourself in your own space by Linus Macaulay

Michael

Or C for Can't Think of a Clever Title... by Michael

Mellie

Dial R for Reply? by Mellie

Michael

L for Lesson Learnt by Michael

Paul

That's the plan by Paul

Jhonice

Maybe we could find the Cliff's Notes section by Jhonice

Mellie

A is for Agreement by Mellie

Michael

P is for Phew (haha, curve ball!) by Michael

Mellie

F is for Friends, then? by Mellie

Michael

We don't seem to have a very good grasp of the alphabet... by Michael

Linus

So stick to it by Linus

Paul

Shall do. Do you have any plans? by Paul

Yawn Been there, done that. by David Kim [Aladren]