Having a party, planning a conspiracy. on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Alicia Bauer

January 30, 2013 11:48 PM

Having a party, planning a conspiracy. by Alicia Bauer

As much as she had always wanted to, Alicia had never found the time to really test the limits of the MARS rooms beyond what was needed for whatever she was trying to do there at any given moment, and as a result, she was still a little relieved whenever something came out the way she wanted to. She was almost used to the water room, since swimming was her favorite way to make sure she was keeping in shape, but since she usually had it as the ocean when she was here to study and a swimming pool when she wanted to swim, the idyllic waterfall and basin it had conjured up for her today had, when it first appeared, been almost as welcome a sight as the gymnasium she’d been using to train for the challenges for the past week had been the first time she had gotten it to work over in the sports room.

Relief had only lasted about a minute, though, before anxiety had settled back in, and now she was trying not to pace in her sandals – surely someone would be observant enough to notice the upset sand if she did and guess the cause for it – or pick at her freshly-painted nails as she silently rehearsed her sales pitch to herself, glad she had come down well ahead of when she had told her friends (quietly between classes, with assurances it was a small group get-together to keep anyone from thinking she was either trying to seduce them or having a nervous breakdown she wanted to vent about and with permissions to Thad and Cepheus but not Henny to bring their roommates along if they wanted) to come join her for a picnic lunch this Saturday. She was doing something subversive here, something which could, if she was wrong about anything, hurt her social position, throw her right out of the running for prefect, or both. As much as she knew she had to take the chance of doing it, she couldn’t help but be nervous. Even if the staff never found out, or didn’t care if they did, what would she do if her friends all thought she was a crazy person?

Add that on top of a week where she had had to deal with her unsatisfactory challenge team, hadn’t been able to get to bed by midnight once between training, homework, and extracurriculars, and was still waiting to see if her thing with the medic was going to work out, and Alicia thought she had been perfectly justified in taking a mild calming draught before coming down to set the room. Now she just wished it would work a little better as she tried to figure out how to get rid of any interlopers who happened by before she was done.

It’s going to work out, she thought, running the edges of the nails of her longest fingers under those of her thumbs as a compromise with herself until the door opened for real. They’re going to come, and they aren’t going to think I’m crazy. They’re going to go for it. Or even if they don’t, they’ll give me something I can find something good in. Soon, they would be here, and then they’d all eat and mingle for a while, and then she would propose the alliance scheme she had come up with the day after she realized they’d all been split up except for Thad and Evan. So that they could stick together as much as possible until the challenges, or at the very least increase the chances of one of them being in a group that won one. It was going to work. She had said it was going to work, and that meant it was.

She looked around at things one more time: the arrangement of foods and dishes, the pretty scene, the noise of the waterfall which was quiet enough for them to talk comfortably over but hopefully loud enough to thwart any attempt of the staff's to listen in on what students talked about in the rooms. She had always assumed they had some way of monitoring them in MARS - her stepfather was a lawyer, she knew enough about liability to feel that was a safe assumption - but it was the best she had been able to come up with. At least here, they could see if someone else was approaching, which they couldn't do in the Gardens, and in an empty classroom, it would be too obvious they were doing something she wasn't totally sure they were allowed to. Here, she might even earn a prefect point for hosting a social event if they were spying on her.

The door opened, and in her nervousness she reached for a bottle of sparkling water without even checking who it was. "Hi!" she said brightly. "Welcome, welcome."

16 Alicia Bauer Having a party, planning a conspiracy. 210 Alicia Bauer 1 5

Henny B-F-R

February 03, 2013 4:35 PM

Should I be wearing a hard hat? by Henny B-F-R

Henny was tingling with curiosity as she walked down to the water room. She had not been able to fathom out what Alicia's little gathering was going to be about. She was usually good at solving puzzles and, whilst she had experienced some moments of frustration in not being able to figure this one out, she was tingling with excitement about finally discovering what the answer was. She had also known that Alicia was up to something. The two of them weren't joined at the hip but it was fairly obvious – there were just large chunks of time when Alicia didn't seem to be around. The times at which she studied and came up to the dorm had changed. She knew Alicia was already bound to be gearing up for the CATS but that meant she should be found more frequently in the library or the commons, rather than her work suddenly seeming to be pushed back. Hopefully, today would answer that particular riddle. Plus everyone enjoyed a secret and being one of a select few. And there had only been a very few occasions when the thought that Alicia saw them as her main rivals and was planning to incapacitate them all crossed her mind. Mostly, she predicted that today would be about something positive.

“Hey,” she smiled, as she entered the room, taking in the beautiful scenery. She was an occasional visitor, when she wanted to be reminded of home. Being from San Francisco she was used to regular trips to the beach and often took advantage of the possibility this room offered her of strolling along the shore. It was useful when she wished to collect her thoughts and did not want to risk the interruption threatened by the gardens. “Ok, colour me intrigued.... What's this for?” she smiled. Unless it was bludgeoning she was flattered that Alicia had wanted to include her. They were friends, sure, but there was also a set that Alicia moved in that didn't include her. She liked that this wasn't one of those occasions. And she guessed, if it was bludgeoning, at least that was vaguely complimentary of her skills as a competitor.

13 Henny B-F-R Should I be wearing a hard hat? 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

February 04, 2013 12:39 PM

If you've got two, I'll take one. by Cepheus Princeton

Cepheus liked to think there was never a dull moment at Sonora what with the Midsummer Events every year, the friendships he made and the interesting classes, but this year in particular seemed to be taking the cake. He had been spending an awful lot of time with his friends and even more time wondering who to ask to the coming ball. He didn't want to muck it up and be punished for it at home, but he didn't want to adhere to his grandfather's steel expectations either.

When he had received the invite from Alicia asking to meet in MARS, he had been glad to go. It wasn't like he was doing anything interesting but homework on the week-end. He extended the invitation to Gareth, but he had gone ahead without knowing whether or not Gareth was actually coming. They were going to meet in the water room, one of the few rooms he associated fond memories with. He remembered first becoming friends with Alicia as a young first year there. It felt like ages ago since then and he was much less likely to go splashing around in the pools and get into mischief like he had then. It was probably called growing up.

The room itself was beautiful and Cepheus found himself smiling a little when he saw the shore. He loved the beach, though he hated the sand getting everywhere, almost as much as he loved the country. He saw Alicia and Henny there as well as what looked like a picnic spread out. Alicia couldn't just be inviting them over for lunch; she wasn't that sort of person to just throw a party without any reason for it.

Cepheus curiously walked over to join them. When he reached them, he smiled. "Afternoon, ladies," he said, standing around and wondering if there was a blanket they were going to sit on. She was mad if she thought he was going to sit down in the sand in his black robes. "What's on the menu?" he asked, looking down at the food.

40 Cepheus Princeton If you've got two, I'll take one. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Alicia Bauer

February 04, 2013 9:35 PM

Hard hats are too obvious for a secret sign. by Alicia Bauer

In a way, Alicia was glad to see Henny was the one who’d arrived first. For one thing, if something wasn’t spot-on about her picnic, she could fix it without feeling quite as much like an idiot and someone who might be giving up her initiative, and for another, if she ended up needing a chance to explain away their other roommates not being included, it would be better to do that without everyone else there. As an added bonus, Henny being another girl meant her dress could be quickly checked against someone else’s opinion, and it needed it since she was never completely sure of herself in yellow, even though her failure to include any Pecaris or Teppenpaws on her invitation list had made it a practical compromise color for avoiding showing favor in a mixed Aladren-Crotalus group.

Instead of jumping straight into any of that, though, she laughed even as she tried to feign a look of offense. “What, I can’t just invite my friends to lunch for no reason?” she asked, then dropped it. “Okay, you’ve got me,” she observed, then lifted the bottle of sparkling water a little higher. “Here, do you want a drink?”

She supplied herself with one before she answered. “Basically it’s about the challenges,” she said. “I’m…not going to be surprised if you’ve already figured out that I’m not really very happy at all with how the groups went.” She took a drink and added, “that was brilliant, though, thinking of calling them together ourselves. I don’t know about Thad, but I honestly don’t know if I ever would have thought of that one.” She smiled at Henny for a second before continuing. “Anyway, I know there’s nothing we can do about the teams themselves, but I just wanted – “

Nervous as she was, she cut herself off when the door opened again, but it was just Cepheus. “Hi, Cepheus,” she said, waving him over and making a note not to sit next to him. Her dress – made of a shimmery fabric, with a knee-length skirt, high, squared neckline, sleeves which only just came far enough down her arms to avoid being called very wide straps, and sandals to match – was a soft shade of yellow which reminded her of sunrises, but put beside black robes, it might put people forcibly in mind of bumblebees.

“Just sandwiches and cookies, really,” she said about the menu, waving her walnut wand to spread out three big picnic blankets everyone could sit on. She should have tried to figure out furniture, but hadn’t wanted to ask more questions or draw more attention to herself than she could help. “I was just telling Henny about how I’ve just been – stewing all week, thinking about how much I don’t like the team assignments, and I just wanted to do something low-key and relax with my friends, not worry about us all having to compete against each other…And then talk about the possibility of a five-team alliance,” she finished blandly, glad to move past the moment of vulnerability, even with them. "Because if the team I'm on can't win, I want the team of someone I actually care about to win instead."

16 Alicia Bauer Hard hats are too obvious for a secret sign. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Henny B-F-R

February 07, 2013 1:13 PM

What do you suggest? by Henny B-F-R

Henny regarded Alicia curiously when she suggested it might just be purely social. She was wondering whether she had misjudged her – and feeling slightly let down that she might not find out the reason for Alicia's secret excursions – when her friend caved and admitted that something was, indeed, afoot.

“Thanks,” she smiled, taking the drink from Alicia. “You look very nice,” she added because it was true and she believed in pointing out the positive things. She herself was wearing blue. Not particularly out of house pride, although it was convenient that most of her wardrobe matched her house colours rather than anyone else's, but because her dad insisted that it brought out her eyes nicely and, being fond of the colour, she saw no reason to fight him on it. She wore a white tank top with fabric flowers sewn around one side of the neck line. This was tucked into a blue a-line skirt with small white polka dots on, which finished just above the knee. A cardigan in a complimentary shade of blue finished the outfit.

She smiled and nodded as Alicia rambled about teams, and calling them together, still entirely unsure of where this was going. She found she would have to wait a little longer as they were joined by Cepheus. In spite of both being friends of Alicia's, she had very rarely spent time with him. She guessed he tended to be part of the set that didn't include her. She wondered whether he was, in fact, the defining feature of what made it not something for her. She joined in perfectly well when it was Thad. Still, it could have been a coincidence and – whilst he had never been actively nice to her – he had also never been actively rude either. They had just never been particularly anything towards one another.

“Afternoon,” she smiled at him, ready and willing to be friendly..

She was relaxing into the situation as Alicia explained the situation was to help her unwind, as she was stressing over the challenges. And then she tried to casually drop in...

“An alliance?” Henny asked, rather intrigued, and also touched by Alicia's sweet sentiment regarding wanting them all to do well, “That sounds interesting. What did you have in mind?”

13 Henny B-F-R What do you suggest? 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Cepheus

February 08, 2013 9:04 AM

Nothing with flashy buttons, I hope. by Cepheus

Sometimes Cepheus felt that he didn't quite fit in completely when his friends were together. He was the only one not in Aladren and he didn't think they would care much, but sometimes he noticed they were more comfortable with each other. For instance, he and Henny had never really conversed properly before. He knew she and Alicia were room-mates, but that was the extent of his knowledge of her. He should get to know her since she was a good enough and attractive friend of Alicia's.

Just sandwiches and biscuits weren't horrible in Cepheus's definition of lunch. It sounded like she had prepared tea for them, but there obviously wasn't a pot in sight. Alicia set out the blankets and Cepheus gratefully sat down. It would have been a bit awkward standing the entire time.

Alicia clearly had been upset by the team assignments and Cepheus could understand why. She was highly competitive just as he was, and after finding out his team he had been put-out. Not as upset as she was, though. At the very least, he was with Gareth and he had confidence in their abilities.

Cepheus's eyebrows rose in surprise at Alicia's idea of having an alliance. He was ready to repeat the words in surprise, but Henny beat him to it. Ceph had never thought of forming anything of the sort, but now that Alicia mentioned it, it could be an interesting idea. It would certainly make the challenges interesting. Henny asked the question he'd been wondering, so he picked up a biscuit to eat while Alicia told them what exactly she had in mind. An alliance between five people on five different teams was going to be difficult especially if his friends' team-mates were incorrigible.

0 Cepheus Nothing with flashy buttons, I hope. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Gareth Whitebriar

February 08, 2013 11:58 PM

Room for one more? by Gareth Whitebriar

Gareth remembered Cepheus inviting him to a get together hosted by Alicia, and had planned on attending. That had been the plan, until Enion cornered him in the library and demanded they practice, even though there were no Quidditch games this term. The large Crotaluas had been avoiding his little brother sense term started for this exact reason. Enion was like a terrier with a rat when he wanted something, and Gareth just hadn't been able to shake him off.

So, in a haze of irritation, Gareth had forgotten the invitation until now, when he passed the door to the MARS room. Casting a quick glance at the time, he realized that the meeting had barely begun. He wouldn't have time to change, so his Quidditch robes would just have to suffice. Mother would kill me if she knew Gareth thought as he pushed open the door. Lady Whitebriar was a stickler for social graces, and showing up to a social exchange like this dressed like he was would be entirely unacceptable.

Gareth's wind swept blond hair tumbled in untidy locks around his ears and he could almost feel the slight flush darkining his face as he entered the room and spotted the three already there. "Hello, sorry I'm late. I lost track of time." He murmured, Welsh accent thickening in embarrisment when he noticed how nicely the girls were dressed. Maybe I should have changed after all. He thought as he approched the small group.

The room had been transformed into a picturesque picnic setting. Gareth thought the waterfall was a nice touch, the soft singing of water on stone gave the room a relaxing feel without being too distracting. "I hope the new term has been treating you well." Gareth said as he took a seat. The question was directed towards the two girls, he and Cepheus, as roommates, had a good understanding of each other's day to day lives. Gareth wasn't particularly close to either Alicia, or Henny and he briefly wondered why he'd been invited to this get together.

0 Gareth Whitebriar Room for one more? 0 Gareth Whitebriar 0 5

Alicia Bauer

February 11, 2013 4:31 PM

Two more, actually. by Alicia Bauer

“Thanks,” Alicia said, her smile brightening into gratitude, when Henny complimented how she looked today without being prompted. “So do you.” Alicia was sure she herself would have looked completely stupid in it, but for Henny, she thought it sort of worked, even if she did think it was a little more early spring than early fall.

She had been a little worried about how Henny and Cepheus would get along and was glad when they seemed prepared to be cordial enough. It had been the best way to make the numbers work out, and also to ensure that Andri didn’t make any dramatic moves in the dorm, and, most importantly, to get what she, Alicia, wanted out of the situation, but she had worried about mixing everyone together like this. The guest list she had come up with was nearly the first one she had thought of, but a few of her recent falls off the rock wall had had to do with time spent wondering if she should make certain changes – mostly, if she should grit her teeth and invite Theresa and Andri, Alexandra or Ephanie – while she was working on her climbing skills. Finally, though, she’d made her bet and it seemed like it was going to pay off.

She was just about to answer Henny’s question when Gareth showed up, and she tried not to wince at how he didn’t quite fit in with how the rest of the gathering had chosen to look. “It’s all right,” she said cheerfully. “Thad and Evan aren’t here yet, either.” Thad was probably looking for Evan. Evan’s approach to punctuality was not one of the traits Alicia looked for in her friends, but since her life could have been succinctly described as the shortest possible route to an ulcer if he’d been more on top of things, she was prepared to deal with it. “Come, get some food.

“That’s sort of what I invited people here to talk about,” she said, taking the opening when Gareth asked how the year had been treating them even as she reassessed him – a big guy was not the least useful thing in the world, and he appeared to have grown a lot over the summer – and then glanced at the door, confidently expecting the remaining boys to walk in just in time for her to have to repeat herself. “I don’t like how it treated me and my friends when it came to team lists, so I’m proposing we all work together to try to…offset that a little.”

She took a sip of her drink. “My idea is…probably less impressive than it sounds,” she warned them to begin with. “Basically, until the challenges, we help each other out preparing for them – we can navigate the Garden labyrinth in teams, show each other any useful spells we run across in our reading, that sort of thing – and then, in them, we just watch each other’s backs, help each other out, so that hopefully, the teams I’ve invited people from today end up as the last teams standing, and then – well, that’s up to you guys,” she shrugged. “I’d like to just play it out from there, and whoever wins, wins, but if everyone else wants to set up a system where if your team wins one challenge you’ll try to throw the other two or whatever, then that’s fine, too.

“Of course, I have absolutely no information about what the challenges are going to be, so for all I know, we’ll all run courses one team at a time and we won’t be able to do much of that, but we can work together to get ready, anyway. I know how most of us are, we’re competitors, and I don’t want these stupid teams to end up messing things up outside them.”

She had also had ideas about starting a gambling ring and using her new friendship with the medic and research skills in the library to set up a black market in performance enhancing potions which actually made the consumers – all from other teams, of course, and maybe Andri, for annoying her at the team meeting – a little dizzy, or seasick, or just very slightly sleepy so they couldn’t perform at their best, but she had decided not to mention those. For one thing, even she thought that might be a little bit too much risk for too little reward, and for another, she thought they might not take well to the idea of outright cheating. Besides, winning wasn’t really the point. The point was spiting the administration. They, like most adults, thought they could just do whatever they wanted to her and that she just had to first accept it and then pretend that she liked it. She thought otherwise. She might not be able to do anything to them that they would ever catch on to, but just knowing she had done something behind their backs to try to upset their plans made her feel a little better about it all.

16 Alicia Bauer Two more, actually. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Henny B-F-R

February 15, 2013 11:27 AM

You've got to accentuate the positives by Henny B-F-R

“Thank you,” Henny smiled when Alicia returned the compliment.

She smiled at Gareth as he joined them. A bit like Cepheus, he was another fairly unknown quantity, although one she trusted to be civil. She might have found him a bit intimidating – large, Beater, Pureblood – but one had to try not to judge books by their covers (even when said covers were Quidditch robes). She gave a small smile and nod to his question, not really sure whether it was intended for her, for Alicia or somewhat rhetorically. Luckily Alicia struck back up on the subject of why she had gathered them there and thus diverted the conversation away from that moment.

“That's fantastic!” she grinned, as Alicia suggested they helped each other out in their free time. She had never expected to be with her friends for the challenges, and she wasn't really so very bothered by who was in her team, so long as they were all friendly enough. But the one thing that she had been fearful of was that the challenges would drive a wedge in between her and her friends if they took them seriously. She could have hugged Alicia, although she was aware enough that their boundaries were not that side of public hugging and thus held herself back. “I like the idea of helping each other out. Really like it,” she nodded emphatically.

“The other aspects... I'm not so sure,” she said, choosing her words carefully. Alicia had said this part was an optional extra but she still didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings, especially when she was being so sweet and generous. “Training together is... clear, and simple. And it's a positive thing to do. If we start trying to throw matches, it gets a bit more complicated. Plus there's the possibility our team-mates might cotton on. The last thing we want is to fall out with people we have to work with all year. Or for them to start counterstrikes. If they suspect we're up to something, they might start getting up to something. And that sort of thing could rapidly slide out of control, into people playing dirty.

“I like the positive bits though. How about positive actions for ourselves, like training, but not negative actions against others?” she suggested.

13 Henny B-F-R You've got to accentuate the positives 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Thad Pierce

February 15, 2013 11:31 AM

Arriving on cue by Thad Pierce

Thad hated running late. He didn't much care for running too early, either, as that was inefficient, but early was much preferable to late. Unfortunately, sometimes, it was just unavoidable, and he was going to put today's lunch in that category. He had, of course, extended the invitation to Evan as soon as he received it, but he had wanted to remind his roommate about it before heading out to the MARS water room.

Unfortunately, his initial search proved unfruitful, and he'd run into the Anns in the Gardens and couldn't politely extricate himself from conversation until he told them he had plans he would be late for if he didn't leave immediately, and then he'd snagged his green robes - not his school uniform; a nicer set with brown trim and light embroidery in leaf shapes - on a hedge, tearing a seam. By the time he got that repaired - and being late was certainly preferable to showing up with a gaping hole in his clothing - it was already the designated meet time and he was still outside.

He hurried to the MARS room as quickly as dignity allowed, but he was not surprised to find he was one of the last ones there. At least he still preceded Evan, so he wasn't really late. Gareth was just sitting down on one of the picnic blankets, too, so he didn't think he was too far behind the larger Crotalus beater either.

"Good afternoon," he greeted into a break in their conversation, making his way over to the group. "Many apologies for my tardiness." Since he didn't see any placards - not that he expected any for a picnic on the beach, but he checked just in case - Thad settled into an empty spot on one of the blankets and helped himself to what looked like a turkey sandwich. "You host a lovely picnic," he offered to Alicia, hoping to assuage any offense for showing up late to it.

1 Thad Pierce Arriving on cue 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Cepheus

February 17, 2013 5:10 PM

Double Trouble. by Cepheus

Cepheus was glad to see his room-mate, though Gareth's outfit made him panic for a moment, thinking there was a Quidditch practise he had missed. Then he remembered there was no Quidditch practises, really, and remained complacently eating his biscuit. Alicia had made a nice picnic and Cepheus thought it would be nice to eat out here once in awhile instead of Cascade Hall. When Gareth sat down, Cepheus acknowledged him with a nod, not wanting to interrupt their conversation with a verbal greeting.

Alicia finally revealed the totality of her thoughts on helping each other and Cepheus didn't know what to think. Training together would be helpful especially because Cepheus did need to brush up on his skills, but throwing certain challenges to make sure one team won didn't sound very appealing in his mind. Cepheus hated losing with a passion. If Alicia had seen him at all after Crotalus's Quidditch loss last year, he had been stewing in that for weeks. He knew now that he hadn't been very mature about it, but he was a sore loser in any situation. It would literally pain him to throw a challenge away even for the sake of a friend. Besides, he had his entire team to think about.

Thad came in and Cepheus greeted him quickly before Henny began talking, and everything she said made sense to him. He wondered why he hadn't ever approached her before in classes, but he decided to make an effort to the next time.

Even training together just to be against each other made Cepheus feel slightly uncomfortable. Though he wouldn't mind the extra help on the side, these friends, besides Gareth, were going to be his opposition. It wasn't going to be an easy mindset to keep, but they were all on different teams. Choosing one team to win right at the beginning was Cepheus's sort of idea, but he knew that he wanted to be on the team that won undoubtedly.

Alicia's idea that sounded brilliant was beginning to deteriorate in Cepheus's mind, but he didn't know how to say it. Tact was one thing the wizards in his family emphasised highly and Cepheus was still trying to learn how to use his words to say exactly what he meant in the nicest way possible. It wasn't even the positive and negative aspects that bothered him, it was the possibility that his team could lose. He was sick and tired of losing and Cepheus was liable to turn on his friends, at least during the challenges, to ensure his team's own win. Most of his friends were in Aladren, but that didn't mean he conspired with Thad to make sure Aladren won the cup one year and Crotalus another.

The thoughts of the Quidditch match made him angry again so Cepheus quickly came back to the present dilemma. "I agree with Henny," he began. "Training will help us stay ahead of the rest at least in our year and the years below. If at least two teams that two or three of us are on stay ahead of the others, it gives a sense of competition between us. If we make certain our teams stay ahead of the others, then whoever wins at the end will undoubtedly be one of us. Then for the very last challenge, we can throw the challenge for whoever we decide is the highest."

That way the winning team would have won fairly. They just needed to train harder together and make sure to be the shining star of their team. He would rather be in competition with friends that others he didn't know. And celebrating the win of a friend would be sweet, though not as sweet as celebrating his own win. Cepheus still dreamed of holding a trophy after having helped bring his team to victory. He wasn't sure how close he was to it, really, but perhaps Alicia's idea would be a step in the right direction.

0 Cepheus Double Trouble. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Gareth

February 23, 2013 9:43 PM

Indeed by Gareth

Gareth ate a few grapes as he listened to Alicia’s proposal. He didn’t have too many close friends. Cepheus was one, and they were on the same team so he wasn’t particularly upset about how the teams were formulated. But, he could understand how some of the more socially active students might be upset at having normal friend groups split up, and then being forced to compete against those friends. Gareth wouldn’t have felt comfortable competing in a team against Cepheus for instance.

He liked the idea of them all training together. There were many spells that could be shared among more than one group, and the mysterious element of the challenges required as much preparation as possible. They wouldn’t know what they were getting into, so training for every eventuality was a clever way to prepare.

The idea of throwing matches rubbed against Gareth’s upbringing as the son of an Auror. He had a strong sense of fair play, and while he didn’t mind training together, he wasn’t interested in doing less than his best so that someone else could win. He also had a highly developed competitive streak, and losing on purpose was unacceptable. “I like the idea of training together, and learning as much as we can. But in the end I think it should come down to whose team is the most skilled.” After all he wouldn’t want a win that had merely been handed to him. If his team won, he wanted it to be because they were the best, not because some other team gave it to them.

0 Gareth Indeed 0 Gareth 0 5

Alicia

February 25, 2013 3:37 PM

You're all such sweethearts. by Alicia

Alicia had just excused Gareth’s lateness when Thad showed up, looking, she was pleased to note, considerably better than the Crotalus Beater. “Thank you,” she said to him comment, pleased too by the complimenting of her picnic-hosting skills. She had been a little worried about the casual setting, but had finally decided it was best for keeping people’s minds from turning to turning on each other. It was definitely, she thought as she went over her plan in considerably less eloquent language than she had initially planned to use, a disadvantage of having friends who were almost like her.

Almost.

The point was illustrated well as the others began to react, and Alicia realized she had overplayed her hand. She could have kicked herself, and would have if she hadn’t been sitting sideways and in company. Instead, she dug her thumbnail into the back of her ring finger as everyone offered opinions, cursing herself for being so stupid. One of the first lessons she had ever been taught, explicitly, about manipulating others was to never tell them what she wanted them to do. That made it too easy to trace back to her – and worse, gave them a chance to reject it out of hand. That was where lesson two had come in: never, ever admitting she knew there were no really good people, just good presentation skills augmented by smart decisions about where such people let their true allegiances lie.

Instead of slapping her own head, though, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of feigned relief, even letting her shoulders slump forward a little. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “Like I said, playing it out – “ among themselves, but she wasn’t going to call herself on exact words – “is my preference, too, but I felt like I had to put all the options on the table.”

She felt almost bad about knowing there was a chance they might wonder, as she so often did since her disappointing showing in the yearbook awards, about the way they presented themselves to the public because of the way she had phrased that. Of course, they were not like her, so it wouldn’t be as bad even if she had, but she didn’t like to do it, and so she decided to lighten the atmosphere with a smile and a teasing, “Now you guys have absolutely no excuse for holding it against me when I beat you all, right?”

Whether she would or not was a completely separate question, and one she had known instinctively, even before this, that she could never ask any of them outright, which was really whether or not they thought highly enough of her to be okay with losing to her if she was honestly better at something or luckier than they were on a specific day. Deep emotional conversations just weren't the type one had with her friends, at least not often, in general, much less when they concerned the relationships between the people talking. She had come too close to that already today and so continued on in the lighter note. “Honestly, I’m probably taking all of this way too seriously,” she said. “But prizes are usually fun, and I’d prefer for someone I like to have them.” Which was actually a pretty good reason for sabotaging her team if she got the chance; if she had not already publicly set herself up as the leader and then found out Andri was going to be enough of a problem that she was going to have to keep a genuine eye out for attempts Andri made to supplant and humiliate her, she thought that might have helped settle the argument. Alas. She lifted her glass of faintly cranberry-flavored water, putting the matter aside in favor of looking at what she had accomplished in terms of heading off some of the tensions that might have built up between her and them because of these damned teams. "To fun and games, then?"

16 Alicia You're all such sweethearts. 210 Alicia 0 5