Difficulty Speaking. on Teppenpaw Commons

Julian Babineaux

January 15, 2013 8:45 AM

Difficulty Speaking. by Julian Babineaux

Julian had of course been excited about arriving at Sonora, but had already been taken aback by two unexpected happenings.

The first unexpected eventulaity had occured whilst Julian was getting ready for the journey, and packing the final few items into the heaviy family trunk. None of the Babineaux children were ever ill, so when Julian first noticed a tingling sensation in the throat, it was not immediately apparent why that might be. Mother immediately diagnosed tonsilitus, but Father shrugged off the matter, saying that it was probably slight nerves and that any child of his was not likely to be struck down by so common a disease, and would be right as rain within a few days. As it was, Julian felt mostly ok, but had been unable to speak to anyone on departure, during the wagon rides or the welcoming feast in Cascade Hall. It was a slight inconvenience, but not one that vcould overcome the excitement of a young witch or wizard entering Sonora for the first time.

The second suprise had come during the sorting ritual. father had been an Aladren, and had predicted that if not blue, Julian would turn yellow for Crotalus or red for Pecari. The later suggestion had been made with an expression of seriousness and concern on Father's expressive face, and a glint in his eye. Being the oldest of three siblings, Julian had always felt the need to show off a little with slightly wild behaviour; borthers must be kept in line, and the easiest way of doing this - in Julian's opinion - was to impress them by being daring, high spirited, and taller than them for as long as possible. Over the years this had led to several broken broomsticks, a reasonable amount of hidden embrassment and on one occasion a broken elbow. Thankfully Mother had been able to charm the offending elbow to heal without a scar. Julian was daring for sure, but a little vanity never hurt anyone.

Now neither vanity nor daring were typial Teppenpaw traits, but perhaps the young, yellow colored student had inherited some caring qualities from Mother Babineaux, even if these weren't the most prominent qualities that Julian possessed. Mother was a nose wiper, would healer and tolerator and perhaps her children would be too. Eventually.

Julian did feel a little out of place, but judging by the looks on the faces of the other first years, this was no rare thing. Dancing the jig on entry to the Common Room had been fun, and the room itself was cosy and relaxing.

Although it had been sad to leave Frederick and Paul behind in canada, Julian was looking forward to making new friends as soon as possible amongst the witches and wizards of Sonora.

0 Julian Babineaux Difficulty Speaking. 0 Julian Babineaux 1 5

Charlie B-F-R

January 15, 2013 1:35 PM

So long as you can move your feet by Charlie B-F-R

After the initial shock and disappointment over not being with Henny had dissipated, Charlie had begun to enjoy his first evening at the school. The food at the feast had been great and he'd had a super nice time talking to Julian. His mood was further improved by learning that access to their Common Room would be gained via a jig. He replayed the medic's movements in his head whilst the man talked and then, when he left them to themselves, began to rehearse them slowly to himself.

He noted another boy who seemed to be about his age sitting in one of the chairs and smiled at him, trying to recall whether he had been yellow at the time of the feast. Charlie thought he had been but he wouldn't have bet his last sickle on it. Still, the worst that could happen was that he'd turn out to be wrong and that didn't particularly bother him. The boy had to be a second year at most, so - even if that was the case - they would still be in classes together. Making friends with his room mate and making friends with a helpful older student were both postive outcomes.

"Hey," he grinned, "This is neat, right?" he gestured generally to himself and then, in case the boy misunderstood it as vanitry, he clarified, "The jig. Much more fun than remembering a word." He turned the final step with flamboyant enthusiasm, throwing in a little burst of jazz hands just because any dance that ended not on jazz hands could clearly be instantly improved by the addition of them. As with the school song, Charlie couldn't see why people would not be pleased at the prospect of dancing to get into their Common Room. Singing and dancing were happy things which lifted the spirit - to him, it was like saying that you didn't enjoy playing with kittens.

"Are you a first year too? If so, that'll make us room mates," he smiled, "I'm Charlie."

13 Charlie B-F-R So long as you can move your feet 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Julian Babineaux

January 21, 2013 6:20 AM

As long as there's a decent beat. by Julian Babineaux

Because of The Mystery Illness, Julian hadn’t yet attempted to speak to any one at Sonora, but when another first year approached and started a conversation, there was really no choice but to continue it.

“Oh!” croacked Julian, glancing down quickly to notice that all of the recently yellow skin had now returned to it’s natural colour. “I am a first year! And I like dancing too, but I wonder if everyone will always remember the moves…students from the other houses might be a bit confused if they see us dancing around here…not that I’d mind of course! Anyone can remember a word, but we’re expert jiggers!” Julian chuckled a little and smiled a big friendly smile. The words hadn’t come out in the clearest manner, but they came out nevertheless, and at a slightly exaggerated volume. At least dancing didn’t require vocal cords! Mother and Father Babineux would approve of the light hearted Teppenpaw tradition. It was a relief that brothers 1 and 2 as Julian often called them were not here to witness any beginner errors though.

Julian continued and extended a hand in mock seriousness - real serious seemed like too much effort for someone with a frog in their throat. Charlie seemed like he might be a lot of fun to hang out with, as well as someone that might not mind communicating mainly through gesture. Speaking a little seemed okay though. “It’s nice to meet you Charlie" ventured Julian. "I’m Julian.”

0 Julian Babineaux As long as there's a decent beat. 0 Julian Babineaux 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

January 22, 2013 5:46 PM

And a chorus line of Julians... by Charlie B-F-R

“I think they tend to tuck the Common Rooms away a bit, so that people from other houses aren't likely to be passing by, seeing as they're kind of meant to be secret from each other. Hey, I always wanted a secret den when I little,” he grinned,“So this is pretty neat, huh?”

Charlie had started to extend his hand back to the other boy, glad that he was being jokey about it, when their name caused him to do a double take. This resulted in his hand jumping a little backwards before he recovered and reached forward. It couldn't be the same Julian as earlier, could it? That seemed like a ridiculous idea given that they clearly looked different but then the odds of their being two Julians in the same year and same house also seemed pretty steep. Could Julian have run upstairs and changed into boy clothes? Their voice was different too but perhaps they were putting on this raspy voice to be stereotypically male. The fact that he couldn't see a very good reason for this (Julian seemed a bit young to be involved in a drag act and it wouldn't really make sense to perform it under their real name) and that he was sure there hadn't been time for a costume change were enough to convince him that this was a separate person. Plus this Julian was introducing themselves as if they had not previously met.

“Sorry, you just caught me off guard. It's just, you're only the second person I've met here but you're the second one to be called Julian. Only, the other one was a girl. Well, I'm fairly sure they were,” he added, to explain his odd reaction.

13 Charlie B-F-R And a chorus line of Julians... 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Julian Babineaux

January 27, 2013 3:15 PM

Well I'm clearly the star of the show! by Julian Babineaux

Julian started to giggle for a second or so before it tickled his throat and turned into a rather nasty cough. At least the cough sounded a little more masculine though. Julian had long eyelashes and brown hair that hung a little lower than that of most boys, but he was certain he was a boy.

The other more mysterious Julian intrigued him, as he had never really seen anyone before and not known whether they were a boy or a girl. Some of his female cousins played sports a lot dirtier than boys he knew, and were often largely obscured by great slatherings of mud, but of course he ha always been told that they were girls. It seemed important somehow, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps there was some fun that could be had with this double name situation anyhow, he thought.

"I had a few secret dens when I was a kid, but my brothers always found them." Julian explained, and feigned a look of extreme irritation. "I had to barricade them out in the end. But then usually they found a way to get me out, or I just kind of got bored in there on my own" he said, laughing momentarily, and then coughing again. "What's your family like Charlie?"

0 Julian Babineaux Well I'm clearly the star of the show! 0 Julian Babineaux 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

January 31, 2013 1:35 PM

Please, darling.... by Charlie B-F-R

“You sound sick,” Charlie observed, when Julian started coughing and thus made him sure that the other boy didn't just sound naturally like he had a throat full of gravel. “We could see if Medic Bailey's still in the Head of House office. Or if not... it might be too late to go see him tonight but my sister could show us where to go after breakfast and before class tomorrow.” He felt very bad for Julian being sick on his first night away from home, as both of those could be quite hard to deal with on their own.

“Building settee forts is usually more fun than actually being in them,” Charlie nodded when Julian mentioned getting bored if he actually succeeded in having a secret den.

“I have one sister, who's a forth year Aladren here,” he informed his roommate when asked about his family. “When we're not at school we live with our Dad and our Father. They adopted us after Mommy and Daddy died – we were little, so that's what we called them and we still do to make it clearer who we mean,” he added. Most kids his age had grown out of calling their parents Mommy and Daddy and he did feel a bit babyish sometimes when he said it, which was why he felt the need to explain and justify it. “You don't have to get all shocked and awkward and not know what to say about it though – it was a long time ago,” he reassured the other boy. People often had that kind of reaction to him informing them his parents were dead but, whilst he recognised that it wasn't something to smile about, he didn't need people to act like he was still grieving. It was just a fact of life for him. “You said brothers, plural. How many of you are there?” he queried.

13 Charlie B-F-R Please, darling.... 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Julian Babineaux

April 17, 2013 4:39 PM

Nothing like a bit of competition! by Julian Babineaux

It was good to have found someone who seemed to know his way around life at Sonora a little. Julian hadn't really considered what happened to you if you were ill or had a problem. He didn't want to be a bother to the staff, but he supposed that was what they were there for. And it would help to be able to speak to perform spells of course!

It was going to be interesting to hear about other people's families and maybe meet them too. Julian had of course realised at a fairly early age that not all families are the same and that whilst his family was normal to him and strange to other people, Charlie's family did sound particularly unusual. Julian had only one person who was both his Dad and his father...or so he thought. And Charlie had had a Mommy and a Daddy as well! But he didn't really know them, so that probably wasn't that important. Charlie didn't seem sad and he probably couldn't really remember them much.

"I have two brothers, both younger than me" Julian replied. They'll be coming up to Sonora in a couple of years hopefully. And then I'll know everything and be able to help them!" It was a nice thought, and hopefully they wouldn't be quite such pains in a few years anyway. "I should probably go to bed and see how I feel in the morning - maybe I can sleep my illness away. Thanks Charlie!" he croaked, and a felt a little bit better already.

0 Julian Babineaux Nothing like a bit of competition! 0 Julian Babineaux 0 5