First Year Boys on Aladren Commons

Mika

December 12, 2006 12:34 AM

First Year Boys by Mika

Mika made his way up the stairs. It was a slow process, his ascension. His wheelchair levitated just high enough to move up the stairs, almost as though on an escalator. It was slow. When he finally got up to the first year dorm he wheeled in to the room, looking around. There were several beds, and he sighed softly. He had shared a room with other boys at his yeshiva in Israel, but, he didn't really like it. He wished they had private rooms. That didn't seem to be the case though. He looked around and found the bed the most in the corner and out of the way, and wheeled over too it, then dragged his trunks over to it, starting to unpack his belongings in the the set of drawers that were his.

He looked around curious who else would be joining him. Mika felt a little nervous. No one had spoken to him during the feast. He was worried the trend would continue. He liked his own company, but he didn't want to be ostracized. Mika looked up as someone walked in.\n\n

0 Mika First Year Boys 0 Mika 1 5

Cisco Vargas

December 15, 2006 5:41 PM

You called? by Cisco Vargas

Cisco was enjoying his time at Sonora Academy so far--it seemed to be everything his cousins Leo and Gil had said it was--but he had to admit, by the end of the first day he was getting pretty tired. Leo had told him that the prairie elves would take his trunks up to the first years' dorm, so he didn't have to worry about that, thankfully. Stifling a yawn (it had been an early morning--their other cousin, Natanael, who was fourteen and hadn't been allowed to come to Sonora, had woken him up at four-thirty, the sadist), he turned the doorknob and leaned against the door, stumbling a little into the room.

There was already someone in there; Cisco instantly recognized him from the feast. There weren't many wizards in wheelchairs, after all. Cisco hesitated as the boy looked up at him, but then ventured a shy smile that gave his delicate, sun-browned features a very open, affable look. "Hola," he said, his voice a little hoarse from trying to be heard over the masses at the feast.

After speaking, he identified his trunks--easily done, when they were embossed with an embarrassingly ostentatious version of the Idoya family crest--and dragged them over to the bed next to the other boy's.

He dropped to his knees in front of the first and pushed the lid open to start unpacking, then glanced back at the boy in the wheelchair. "I'm Cisco Vargas," he said. Though he was technically an American citizen, having been born in Southern California, and spoke English fluently, his voice was flavored with a Hispanic accent. At home, on the Idoya ranch, that was really all they spoke. "How..." he hesitated. "If you don't mind my asking... how did you manage the stairs?"\n\n

0 Cisco Vargas You called? 0 Cisco Vargas 0 5

Mika

December 16, 2006 11:57 AM

Where's the Rest? by Mika

Mika recognized the other boy who came in. He had been sitting close to Mika at the feast, actually. Mika had tried to join a conversation the boy had been on the periphery of. Everyone had stopped talking when Mika had tried to join in the conversation. After his first glance up, he returned to what he was doing, not expecting the boy to say anything to him. Mika looked up rather surprised when he was addressed.

"Mika'el Romanova." Mika replied, shutting the drawer he had been tucking his clothes away into, his clothing taken care of, he elected to deal with his instruments next. "I am most often called by Mika." He added. Not that his full name sounded all that complicated, it was just seeing it written that threw most people. The boy had an accent, it was rather heavy, but he spoke with careful enunciation that made him easy to understand.

Mika sighed softly, gripping the bedpost at the foot of his bed, carefully lifting his feet off his footbar, placing his black boots just as carefully on the floor. the las few inches of the braces on his legs could be seen, running along either side of his ankle to a molded metal bar that rested across his instep, just in front of the heel of his boot. Gripping the bedpost, the other hand bracing on his wheel chair he levered carefully to his feet, wincing as he did. It hurt to stand, but it was the mostly good kind of hurt. He held on tightly to the bedpost, moving his legs a bit.

"My wheelchair, it levitates." he said "Enough to get me up stairs. I can walk them too, if I have to." He explained. Mika didn't mind the questions. He'd rather have people then ask, then to not.\n\n

0 Mika Where's the Rest? 0 Mika 0 5

Cisco

December 17, 2006 12:44 AM

Beats me. by Cisco

Over the noise of the feast, Cisco must have somehow managed to miss the boy's--Mika's--thick accent. Here, with just the two of them in the first year boy's dormitory, he couldn't quite figure out how. He knew that he himself had a thick accent, had realized it particularly upon reaching Sonora--after all, he'd only left his family's ranch two or three times during his childhood, and everyone there shared his accent (except for Gil and Leo's mother, who was a Spaniard, and had a much different lilt to her voice).

The American accent most of his classmates shared had been easy to get used to; but Cisco had never heard anyone speak the way Mika did. "Mika'el," he repeated, carefully reproducing the accent, and succeeding fairly well. He listened, fascinated, as the boy described how his wheelchair was charmed to get him up the stairs. He was so fascinated, in fact, that he barely noticed Mika's troubles in standing.

"Que extraño," he murmured almost inaudibly. "Where are you from, Mika'el?" His Spanish accent clashed strangely but not necessarily unpleasantly with the foreign syllables, spoken again in an imitation of the speaker's pronunciation.

OOC: Que extraño - how odd\n\n

0 Cisco Beats me. 0 Cisco 0 5

Mika

December 18, 2006 1:19 PM

Party of Two I Guess by Mika

"I was born in Roosia." He replied, watching the other boy a bit, before he shifted and sat down on his bed, pulling a rather large instrument case over to himself. He opened it and took out his cello, settling the instrument between his knees he started to tighten the strings. He had detuned it so much the strings actually hung loose. He hadn't wanted to have one snap. "But I have been living in Israel for the last couple years." he added.

Mika's fingers worked cleverly on his cello, drawing all the strings tight, then plucking at each one to determin the tone of it, before tightening or loosening as needed. Almost always tightening, at this point.

"Where are you from?" He asked the boy. That had sounded like Spanish the boy had muttered. It could mean the boy was from further south, but Mika had read up on Arizona when he found out he would be going to school there, and there were a lot of spanish speaking people in Arizona and the southwest US.\n\n

0 Mika Party of Two I Guess 0 Mika 0 5

Cisco

December 18, 2006 1:45 PM

Nothing wrong with that, though. by Cisco

"Roosia?" Cisco said in surprise, eyebrows rising. He'd suspected the boy wasn't American, but Roo--Russia? And Israel? Crazy. In a really, really cool way, of course.

He watched as Mika pulled a large stringed instrument--he thought it was a cello--and began to tune it. "You play that?" Well, that was a stupid question. He winced a moment later. "I mean, how long have you played it?"

Then Mika asked where Cisco was from. "Southern California. Mi familia--we have a ranch there, all of us, from the patriarch down. It's pretty big," he said, moving towards the window. He pushed the curtains back with one agile, work-callused finger to peer outside. "More than thirty of us. We're right by the mountains."

He looked back at Mika. "Are you going to practice that in the room?" he asked, motioning with his chin towards the cello.\n\n

0 Cisco Nothing wrong with that, though. 0 Cisco 0 5

Mika

December 18, 2006 3:05 PM

Certainly Not by Mika

"Near St. Petersburg." He nodded a bit, continuing to tune his cello.

"This one in particular? Only about a year. I had a smaller one before." This one was almost too big for him to play, but he would grow into it. Strings were one of the only instruments that had 'child sizes'. "But I have been learning to play the cello since I was five." He said after another moment. He stated matter of factly. He wasn't trying to brag. Really, he wasn't even that good. Only second chair, if he was really lucky and didn't have much compition.

He looked up at the other boy when he said how many were in his family, offering a low impressed whistle. "Thirty? That is so many!" Mika's family was very very small. "I do not think I have that many realitivies even if one includes inlaws, and my father's family. Do you all get along?" That was so crazy, Mika could hardly believe that.

"No, I will not play in the room. I would not want to disturb others." He suspected Bach wouldn't be well appreciated by his year mates, no matter how well he played. Even if he played well enough to be first chair. Which he didn't. To Mika, not being perfect was the same as being terrible, and he wouldn't subject others to that.\n\n

0 Mika Certainly Not 0 Mika 0 5

Cisco

December 18, 2006 7:27 PM

Re: Certainly Not by Cisco

Mika had been learning the cello since he was five; that was the age at which Cisco had first been allowed to really help his dad with the horses, not just putting hay in their stalls and that sort of thing. He pondered the parallels for a moment; the practiced way with which Mika touched and tuned his cello suggested that he was very fond of it--after all, if his parents were forcing him to play it, he probably wouldn't have broken it out so quickly upon arriving here. Cisco understood passion like that; wasn't that how he was with animals, especially horses?

"Do we all get along?" Cisco repeated, torn out of his thoughts by the other boy's comments. He laughed, surprised. "Not close. Usually it is only small fights; we're all used to living in close quarters with a lot of people, so it's really not that much of a problem." He paused, moved away from the window, and started to put his clothes away. "I get along with most of them; at least, no one really bothers with me much." His mouth quirked into a wry smile. "No one is as good as finding quiet time in a busy place as I am."

"No, I will not play in the room. I would not want to disturb others."

Cisco looked over, frowning, then realized that what he had asked sounded rather like he hoped Mika wouldn't practice in the room. "Oh! I didn't--I mean--" he hesitated, looking over at the boy. He'd never seen anyone quite like Mika, and he didn't just mean the wheelchair; the other boy was so thin and pale, with that black hair... well, Cisco hadn't really seen anyone who didn't look an awful lot like him, so that wasn't too surprising. But for a moment, he was too fascinated to remember to speak. "I-I--what I mean to say is--well, I like music. I don't know about our roommates, but if it's just you and me... practice away."

Dios mio, Cisco. Never speak again. He could feel the blood rushing into his sun-browned cheek as he turned his back to Mika to rummage through his trunk.\n\n

0 Cisco Re: Certainly Not 0 Cisco 0 5

Robert

December 19, 2006 3:47 PM

And in comes another... by Robert

Tall, dark, and fairly handsome, Robert Dylan made his way up the stair case that led to his Aladren House first years boys dormitories. Robert was -- as said before -- a boy that was tall for his age, and though a bit skinny, had the makings to be a more filled out person as he grew. He himself hoped that would indeed be the scenario, in any case. Robert was also an African American, but had uncharacteristic greenish-gray colored eyes.

His ascension to the top of the staircase was a slow one, and this was purposely so. Robert was a bit nervous to meet the other kids from his house, thus far he had been able to avoid direct conversation with them, but now was most likely going to be forced into confrontation as soon as he entered the dorm. It was a given, he simply could not put off meeting the members of his house forever; he wasn't stupid and new this. He also new that he had to get over his isolation method of living life. For he was no longer at the orphanage were he felt he was around people who didn't understand him, and no longer did he need to feel afraid to trust someone for fear of being judged wrongly and deemed as weird. He now lived in Sonora, a school full of other magically gifted people, who for once, understood him. And so because he was in Sonora, and not the orphanage, it was time to do something he had never done or attempted until now - make friends.

And so, Robert pushed open the door the to his new sleeping area, and instantly he saw two other Sonora first year boys. One of the boys was sitting on his bed, holding an instrument that the Robert recognized as a cello. He had seen this boy before at the feast, he was in a wheel chair before though. Looking round the bed, he found that wheel chair at the base of the bed. The other boy was putting away his clothes while appearing to have a conversation with the boy who had the cello. Giving a rather awkward smile, Robert walked in more and said "Hello." Instantly he was disgusted with himself with how he had said hello, he sounded so weak and little... this was something he had promised himself he would not be.
\n\n

0 Robert And in comes another... 0 Robert 0 5

Lucas Smythe

December 19, 2006 4:17 PM

Hey... by Lucas Smythe

Lucas wandered aimlessly into the dormitory, looking strangely shy. He looked across the room from the doorway, glancing around. The place wasn't too shabby really, he could definitely see himself settling down here in a reasonably short amount of time - if his 'sharers' were easy enough to get along with, anyway.

Lucas peered out the corner of his eye toward the other two boys that were in the room - he recognised them both from the main feast; one of them he had spoken to a little, though Lucas couldn't recall the boy's name and had a feeling that he had never actually been told. Said boy was rummaging through his trunk and appeared to be blushing while the other boy was sitting quietly on his bed with a cello, seeming to be tuning it.

'I think this may be an awkward moment to have got here...' Lucas inwardly panicked, hoping that the bright smile he had to offer should one of them look his way would not be unwelcome at the time.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Lucas Smythe Hey... 96 Lucas Smythe 0 5

Cisco

December 19, 2006 6:00 PM

Robert, look up here! (Integrating threads). by Cisco

Cisco's cheeks were just cooling when the door admitted two more roommates. He couldn't quite recall how many blue boys he'd seen running--or wheeling--around, but didn't think there could be many more, if any. He looked up from his trunk and offered them both a smile; they both seemed tall, at least taller than the petite Hispanic boy, and all four of them had dark hair, if not necessarily complexions.

"Hello," one said. The other just gave them a huge, bright smile. Cisco straightened and waved at them, a deceptively easy grin crossing his face. Introvert though he was, he'd inherited his father's easy social graces and charm--though he certainly hadn't been very smooth earlier, stuttering and stammering like that to Mika.

"Hola," he greeted. "I'm Cisco Vargas, that's Mika'el Romanova." The combination of Russian pronunciation and thick Spanish accent amused him again, but he pulled it off relatively well, for never having studied the other language. "Bienvenidos a Aladren, eh?" he gave them both a lopsided but slightly shy grin and continued to unpack while waiting for them to reply.

OOC - translation: Bienvenidos a Aladren - Welcome to Aladren.\n\n

0 Cisco Robert, look up here! (Integrating threads). 0 Cisco 0 5

Lucas

December 26, 2006 3:28 PM

Re: Robert, look up here! (Integrating threads). by Lucas

Lucas blushed a little, letting his large grin fade into a more normal size of friendly smile as one of the boys, the Spanish boy he had spoken with at the feast, greeted him and the other boy who had just entered with a smile and a wave, welcoming them to the house.

"Hola, I'm Cisco Vargas, that's Mika'el Romanova. Bienvenidos a Aladren, eh?" The boy said, sounding very Spanish indeed. Lucas nodded toward him and Mika-el by way of a greeting before clearing his throat to introduce himself.

"Hey, I'm Lucas Smythe..." He paused, wondering what else he could say about himself since there wasn't a lot he could say by way of introduction. "I'm from Illinois." He decided to add, pushing his blonde-tipped fringe back from his deep green eyes and offering yet another smile to his new housemates.

Lucas walked over to the bed that he had been allocated to, his suitcase laid on top of it, simply asking to be unpacked. He shuffled the case along the bed a little so that he had room to open it fully and began unpacking, first removing a framed picture of a young girl with long blondey-brown pigtails and placing it on his bedside table carefully, taking a few seconds to look at it fondly, before continuing to unpack his case.\n\n

0 Lucas Re: Robert, look up here! (Integrating threads). 0 Lucas 0 5

Mika

December 30, 2006 10:57 PM

And Then There Were Four? by Mika

Mika smiled at Cisco, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "You may not wish to grant me leave to practice, until you hear how well I play. For all you know, it may sound like I'm strangling cats." Mika was teasing the other boy in a friendly manner, and hoped he took it as such. Mika played well enough, at least better then strangling cats.

His smile faded a bit as Lucas entered, and he quickly returned his full attention to his cello offering a brief nod of acknowledgment at the introduction. Lucas had been part of the conversation that had died when Mika had tried to join it. Well, at least the Lucas didn't seem to be mean...

When a skinny black boy entered, Mika nodded to him as well, pushing his glasses up on his nose yet again, though they hadn't really slid anywhere. He continued to tune his cello, it was easier than trying to make eye contact with any of the others. Mika wasn't a typically shy boy, per-say, but he was quiet and reserved. He actually didn't much enjoy making new friends, it was so very awkward. He wasn't trying to be stand offish though.\n\n

0 Mika And Then There Were Four? 0 Mika 0 5

Lucas

January 08, 2007 3:11 PM

There were indeed by Lucas

OOC : Trying to lead on from previous posts as well as integrate the two threads that we seem to have since this will probably make replies easier to follow... For me at least.

IC: From any perspective, it was easy to sense the somewhat awkward silence that feel over the dormitory since Lucas and Robert had entered the room. From where he was sitting on his bed, unpacking his case, Lucas looked around at the other three boys.

'We're all so... different.' He thought to himself, looking first at the closest boy to him, whom Lucas did not yet know the name of. He was dark-skinned and rather tall and, although he had only spoken one word so far within Lucas's hearing, he sounded American. Lucas then turned his gaze toward Mika, a Russian boy - Lucas assumed by his name and accent which he remembered from the feast - who was relatively pale in complexion compared to Lucas and was wheelchair bound. Then there was Spanish speaking Cisco who was quite small in frame and had tanned skin.

Lucas trained his eyes away from Cisco and took a moment to consider himself: he was American born and bred, of average height for his age, neither short nor tall, with lightly tanned skin and deep green eyes. His spiky walnut-brown hair was tipped with blonde and he wore his fringe - also tipped with blonde - only on one side, long, so it was more often than not over and in his eye.

He was musical, so at least there was one thing he had in common with Mika, but to find common ground with his other roommates Lucas knew he would have to work at. He truly wanted to make friends and so far they all seemed good enough people, but perhaps that was only because he hadn't yet known them long enough to be considered otherwise?

Wanting to break the silence, Lucas closed his case and set a smile on his face, before questioning loudly, "So where's everyone from and stuff?" Although not the most specific question, Lucas knew that it would leave some room to expand the conversation past the boys' origins - or so he was hoping, at least.\n\n

0 Lucas There were indeed 0 Lucas 0 5