Headmaster Bulla

November 25, 2006 1:28 AM
The sorting for the year officially over, Manfred stood and waited for things to quiet down. The first years, as the tradition went, had each been given a chalice a clear, bubbling potion to drink as they entered the hall were and instructed to drink deeply. And, just like every other sorting in the history of the school, the result had been that the first years had all turned the main colour that represented the house they were to join; bright blue for Aladren, deep red for Crotalus, muddy brown for Pecari and sunshine yellow for Teppenpaw. The colour change lasted a few minutes only, but for the time it was in effect it tended to get some interesting reactions from the new first year students. It had been ever so since the foundation of the school and would ever be thus.

But now that that was over and the students settling into seats, it was time for the second important part of the Opening Feast.

"Welcome," he said when things had quietened down. "Welcome to a new year at Sonora Academy. To our new students, I am Headmaster Bulla. I hope that you enjoy your time here, work hard and do your new houses proud. To our returning students, I'm sure you've all had wonderful holidays and it is good to see you've all returned. I would ask Mr Zack Dill of Aladren, Miss Chrysanthemum Mathers of Crotalus, Miss Mia Kerova of Pecari and Miss Kaylie Brockert of Teppenpaw to all come to the front please."

He moved around the staff table, holding a small box which he opened when the four had arrived.

"Congratulations," he informed them in a quieter voice. "You have all been selected to serve as Prefects for your houses. Remember this is a position of both privilege and responsibility. You will have the power to give and take points, and will be expected to assist your Head of House if a situation arises. I'm sure you will all do us proud."

He handed them each their prefect badges, bronze metal embossed with the badge of Sonora and the word 'prefect' underneath then straightened himself up a little more to address the school once more.

"Congratulations to our four new prefects. Now, I expect that you are all waiting ravenously for the Feast. Wait no longer."

With a wave, the food started to pile up on the tables and jugs of drinks appeared, all ready for the students and staff to tuck in. Manfred, instead of returning to his seat paused a moment, just in case any of the new Prefects wished to say or ask anything.\n\n
Subthreads:
39 Headmaster Bulla Opening Feast 2 Headmaster Bulla 1 5


Oliver Abbott

November 26, 2006 8:52 AM
As the days leading up to the first day of school, Oliver’s excitement had turned gradually into anxiety. He tried to overrule his nerves by reminding himself that people at Sonora hadn’t met his family, so they were able to take him at face value. That was encouraging, but it didn’t help much to satisfy the butterflies in his stomach.

When Oliver drank from the goblet presented to him, he did so quickly, happy to speed up the sorting process so he could determine some sort of feeling of belonging. He didn’t know much about the houses at Sonora, so it didn’t matter to him into which house he was sorted. Shortly after Oliver swallowed the clear bubbling liquid, his skin turned a fantastic shade of red. Utterly unperturbed, Oliver looked around him to find another red person. Seeing one, he approached his new housemate with what he hoped was a confident stride.

“Hi,” he said, and shook his head to keep his blond hair from falling past his glasses and into his eyes. “It looks like we’re in the same house. I’m Oliver.”
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0 Oliver Abbott Uh... Red 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 26, 2006 4:41 PM
Riley started when a young red boy approached her. She was completely nervous, totally on edge, and feared that even with only a slight provocation- whatever it may be- she would crumble to little trembling pieces. And then the other students would trample all over her and she'd never get herself back together! What would she do? What...

Riley shook her head, her ponytail swishing against the back of her neck, and rid her overactive imagination of such thoughts. Such ridiculous thoughts, at that. She blamed the goblet they'd given her upon arrival; surely there was something else in it, something attributed to more than just color changing.

With a sigh, she calmed herself down. Oh dear, now the boy was probably giving her weird looks. She was acting rather strangely, and he'd only said hi! Oh, and that his name was Oliver. It was a nice name. She smiled at Oliver, somewhat of an overcompensating smile, and introduced herself. "I'm Riley, it's nice to meet you. Yes, it would seem that we're in the same house." Even as the words left her lips, she felt a small ripple of relief. A potential friend. But what if they didn't like her...?\n\n
0 Riley Garraway Oh, hello 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Oliver Abbott

November 26, 2006 5:35 PM
The girl seemed a bit nervous when Oliver approached her, but then she smiled. “I'm Riley, it's nice to meet you. Yes, it would seem that we're in the same house,” she said. Oliver smiled back, but it felt as though he’d already run out of things to say. He felt so out of his depth here. At least he had found someone in his house to talk to.

Oliver readjusted his glasses although they were fine, really. It was just a habit he had when he was nervous. He smiled again at Riley and searched for something to say. “So, er,” he began, and then stopped. That certainly wasn’t a good start to a sentence. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Do you want to find a seat?” he asked, indicating the hall in general with a sweep of his hand. It probably wasn’t the most interesting thing to say, but they did have to find seats, and Oliver would rather sit with someone he knew, however loosely that term was used, than sit on his own. He looked at Riley, hoping that she too would rather sit with him than alone.
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0 Oliver Abbott hi there 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 26, 2006 7:26 PM
Riley smiled, feeling another comforting ripple of relief. Maybe it was just her imagination (seeing that it was so overactive and all) but Oliver seemed a little nervous, too. Maybe not as nervous as Riley, herself, but nervous nonetheless. It must have been a first-year symptom. She nodded. "Yes, a seat sounds nice."

She looked to the table she assumed was for Crotalus, donned with a profusion of red decorations (or maybe that was just the people sitting at it) and moved over there, gesturing for Oliver to follow. She wasn't too keen on standing around all day, either. \n\n
0 Riley Garraway Yes, a seat sounds nice. 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Matt Tripp

November 26, 2006 7:44 PM
After he and Rachel went to drop Cole off at the Aladren table, Matt went off to find his fellow Crotalus first years. He spotted two of them, a boy and a girl, who were about to sit down. He walked over to them.

"Hey I'm Matt Tripp." he introduced himself. The others looked nervous. Matt almost laughed at them. Almost, but didn't. "What are you scared or something? Crotali don't get scared." he said, and chuckled a little. "Now Aladrens, they can be really shy. Like my little brother over there," Matt said pointing to the Aladren table, "He's the one that looks exactly like me."\n\n
0 Matt Tripp Scared? 0 Matt Tripp 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 26, 2006 8:34 PM
Riley nearly started again when Matt came up to them. She offered him an uncertain smile. She hoped it just felt uncertain, but actually looked confident. "I'm not scared," she said. Perhaps it was Matt's apparent confidence rubbing off on her, but no sooner had the words left her mouth than she began to believe them. "I don't think I'd be at this table otherwise." Her smile took on a pretty quirk. "I'm Riley Garraway," she thought it only fitting to provide her last name since he'd given his, "and this is Oliver." She gestured at her new... acquaintance, possible friend. "Are you a first year, too?"

She hoped Oliver didn't think it rude of her to make his introduction for him, but it just sort of slipped with the rest of her words. She tended to get chatty when she was nervous or excited or both, the latter a deadly combination, indeed. \n\n
0 Riley Garraway I'm not scared.. 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Oliver Abbott

November 27, 2006 3:24 AM
Riley smiled, and said, “Yes, a seat sounds nice.” Oliver smiled in relief and followed Riley as she led the way to a table. Just as they were about to sit, another kid approached them. He introduced himself as Matt Tripp, and suggested that Oliver and Riley might be scared.

“I’m not scared!” Oliver said defiantly, and felt the corners of his mouth twitch to an almost-smile as Riley said it too, at exactly the same time. Matt mentioned he had a younger brother in Aladren. Oliver peered in the direction indicated, but he couldn’t see anyone who looked ‘just like’ Matt. He didn’t say so, though, because he didn’t think it was that important right now. He was wondering what year Matt was in. He didn’t say he was a first year, and having a younger brother indicated that he was an older student. Oliver was just thinking about this, and considering he should probably introduce himself, when Riley beat him to the mark on both counts. He didn’t mind, really. He said, “Hi,” when Riley mentioned him, and then sat down at the table, eager to start relaxing and feeling less like he should be somewhere else.
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0 Oliver Abbott Me neither! 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5


Jordanna Howard

November 27, 2006 3:43 PM
Well, this summer had been interesting, to say the least. When Jordanna had come home without Jenna questions were asked, and anger grew. And, seeing as Jenna wasn't there, the anger was taken out on Jordanna, which was unfair. It wasn't like the blond had known anything about her sister's whereabouts other than that it wasn't with the rest of the Howards in northern California. But after the initial anger had subsided, for whatever the reason, it ended with a showering of gifts upon Jordanna. And she of course, had no problem with that. And since the sisters got along far better when they were apart, everything had run pretty smoothly for her at home.

The summer had been very kind to Jordanna. Jenna's potion to cure her skin problem worked wonderously, even Jordanna had to give her sister credit that the brunette had talent. Her growth spurt had slowed down, leaving her at 5'5" and barely growing. The healer said it was likely she'd grow another inch or so over the year, and that she would gain more weight than she was used to- but not to worry, that was healthy. Indeed, she gained several pounds over the summer, and so began the growth of curves.

She'd woken up early to get ready for this dinner, as she planned on doing some work tonight. She was going to wear her green robes of course, but not because she liked them, but because they were the rules. And this year, the year before prefects were picked, she was going to appear to be good. Making prefect was the perfect reason to ask parents for shopping sprees. Anyway, she'd put on a conservative amount of makeup, all neutral colors, and convinced the house elf to fix her hair into a french braid. Tiny silver stars and wands dangled from her ears- anyone had to admit that she looked good, and that made her confident.

Jordanna had sat at a table in the center of the room, waitng for the firsties to drink their vials so that she could find the red ones. It was then that she spotted a blond boy with glasses and a girl with a ponytail who had both turned red. They made there way to a table, where the blond kid sat down and they were soon joined by another boy Jordanna had observed had been sorted into Crotalus. As they were the largest bunch of Crotalus first years she had spotted, the blond walked towards them with a confident demeanor and a smile.

"Hi, I'm Jordanna Howard, Crotalus fourth year," holding her hand out to each of them in turn so that they could shake it, "I just wanted to congratulate you all on being sorted into my house- we're the best one you know, we always win or come pretty close to winning the house cup. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself in case you had any questions about Crotalus or Sonora in general."\n\n
0 Jordanna Howard Mingling with the firsties 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 27, 2006 5:19 PM
Riley flushed happily as the fourth year girl, Jordanna, shook hands with her. So many people already! Maybe not friends yet, but potential friends at best. Matt hadn't answered her question, about what year he was in, but Jordanna seemed to think he was a first year. This hadn't been Riley's first impression of him; he'd seemed far too confident, so much so that Riley envied him for it. And if he was indeed a first year, then she envied him doubly so for it! And the way he spoke of his brother, like he was the older sibling showing his first year sibling around. If that was the case, and his brother was a first year, too, wouldn't that make them the same age? Wouldn't that make them...

"He's the one that looks exactly like me."

twins! Her flush turned into a blush, and she mentally smacked herself for not picking up on that sooner. Matt's brother must have been his twin. She'd have to ask him later, just to make sure. Granted there was a "later" between the two of them. It was likely that they'd go their separate ways after the feast, though she hoped not. He seemed like a fun person. Oliver, too.

"I'm Riley Garraway," Riley introduced herself for the third time. She anticipated having to introduce herself many more times, so it didn't much bother her. She glanced at the two boys and held her tongue this time, not jumping ahead to introduce Oliver or Matt. They might definitely think her overbearing and rude if she kept talking for other people! That was the last thing she wanted, especially on her first day.

She felt a little surer of herself now, especially with Jordanna's generosity. Everything might just be okay.\n\n
0 Riley Garraway Nice to meet you 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Matt Tripp

November 27, 2006 6:30 PM
Before Matt could respond to Riley's question as to what year he was in, an older girl came up to them. She introduced herself as a fourth year in their house named Jordanna Howard, and old them that if they had any questions about Crotalus or Sonora that they could ask her.

"Charmed," Matt said, bowing slightly as his pure-blood raising had taught him to do. "I'm Matt Tripp. And to answer your question, Riley, I am a first year. When I mentioned my 'little brother,' I meant by three minutes."

He smiled and he knew he had caught them in what he called, 'the Tripp trap.'

"We're not twins though." He paused to let them ponder the information. "We're two-thirds of a set of triplets. My sister Rachel is five minutes younger than my brother Cole. She's the Teppenpaw who looks like she's a teenager already and will never shut up." he laughed.

"Don't ask why Cole and I look exactly alike and Rachel's a girl. It's complicated. I don't fully understand it myself, even though Cole's told me over and over." He looked over his shoulder. "Well I guess he doesn't look exactly like me right now, what with that weird blue-green color, don't know if it's from the potion or if he's gonna get sick. Either way he looks like an alien."\n\n
0 Matt Tripp The Same Goes For Me 0 Matt Tripp 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 27, 2006 9:16 PM
Riley craned her neck, peeking over the other heads at the Aladrens. "Ah, I see him..." she said. He was indeed a bluish color at the moment, but it was beginning to fade. It was only supposed to last for a few minutes, or so she'd been told. Her color had already disappeared, much to her relief.

She smiled at Matt, again in awe of his confidence, but this time his charm on top of that. He must have been a pureblood, no doubt about it. And though she was too, she was painfully aware of her own lack of pureblood grace.

"I'd like to meet your siblings," she said. Turning to Oliver, who'd remained rather quiet thus far, she asked, "Do you have any siblings?"\n\n
0 Riley Garraway Triplets, hm? 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Oliver Abbott

November 28, 2006 4:10 AM
Oliver had only been seated for a moment when an older girl approached him, Riley and Matt. She introduced herself as Jordanna Howard, a fourth year, and extended her hand. Oliver shook it, saying, “Oliver Abbott,” as he did so.

"I just wanted to congratulate you all on being sorted into my house- we're the best one you know, we always win or come pretty close to winning the house cup. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself in case you had any questions about Crotalus or Sonora in general," she said. Oliver blinked at her through his glasses. He didn’t have any questions just yet, but he thought it was very nice of her to come and introduce herself and offer to help them.

When Matt introduced himself, he clarified that he was in fact a first year, and that he was the oldest of three triplets. Riley expressed a wish to meet Matt’s siblings, and then asked Oliver if he had any siblings himself. Oliver glanced at Jordanna again before turning to Riley and answering, “Yeah, I got a brother and sister.” He didn’t mention that he was the middle child; he wasn’t sure he was ready for questions about why his older brother wasn’t at Sonora. “How about you?” he asked Riley. He wasn’t really that interested; he just didn’t want to appear rude.
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0 Oliver Abbott Must be fun. 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 28, 2006 6:44 AM
Riley shook her head. "No siblings," she said shortly, though grateful for converesation. She wondered when they'd start to eat; she was feeling a little hungry, not to mention tired from the ride up. She turned to Jordanna then and asked, "Say, how do the sleeping arrangements work? How do we know who our roommates are, and all that?"\n\n
0 Riley Garraway Mm, no. 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Jordanna Howard

November 28, 2006 10:00 PM
Immediately Jordanna's mind went to work, assessing the situation at hand. They were talkative, a bit too talkative for her liking, but she attributed it to the excitement of their first day. That was what the blond hoped it was, in any case, as if they kept up like this she was liable to get annoyed.

Matt Tripp gave off the appearance of being a pureblood, and Oliver Abbott was being too quiet for Jordanna to tell. Riley Garraway was either very uninformed or not a pureblood, based on the question she asked Jordanna. Jordanna was willing to give her a chance, but if it turned out that the girl was a muggleborn, than there really wasn't much that could be done for her.

Jordanna was just about to excuse herself when Riley asked her question, "There's a staircase in Crotalus common room that leads to two hallways, one leads to girls' dorms, the other to the boys' dorms," she didn't even bother saying that students couldn't go up the opposite genders' hall, because no respectable student would do that anyway, "Your roommates will be all the other Crotalus first year girls. There's usually two to five people in a dorm- but I've heard of more or less," she explained, and then glanced at the feast waiting for them, "Shall we sit down and eat dinner before we have to go to our common room?"\n\n
0 Jordanna Howard Assessing 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5


Riley Garraway

November 28, 2006 10:39 PM
Riley smiled a little uneasily. She thanked Jordanna for answering her question, and then nodded. "Yes, let's eat," she said simply, her stomach backing her up with a quiet growl. She looked up and down at the spread, picking the things she liked and piling them onto her plate. As she bit into a dinner roll, she sat back and let her part in their broken conversation dwindle. She felt already as if she was talking too much and giving a bad impression. She tended to loose her bearings when she was nervous (anyone would, she tried to remind herself), and she was probably portraying an image that fell far below acceptable standards (read: her mother's standards).

Riley had trouble seeing past the pomp and circumstance that surrounded pureblood mannerisms and lifestyle, and she had yet to master the grace and decency of her esteemed heritage. She glanced at Matt, one to whom being a pureblood seemed to come so easily, and to Jordanna, who also carried a certain air of quiet hauteur. She couldn't be sure if Jordanna was a pureblood, and thought it rude to ask. She felt stupid; she should be able to tell! Maybe... just maybe she should have paid more attention to her mother than her grandmother over the course of her early years; then maybe she'd have more of that pureblood style. And yet, in retrospect, she was glad of the relationship she and her grandmother had shared, while the thought of her mother was still shed with a light of fearful resentment.\n\n
0 Riley Garraway Food 0 Riley Garraway 0 5


Riley Garraway

December 01, 2006 6:39 AM
OOC:

*silence*

Heelllooo...? Where did everybody go?

Should we end this thread and move on to the common room? Things are starting to happen over there..\n\n
0 Riley Garraway OOC: Silence 0 Riley Garraway 0 5