Advanced concert group (also the same day) on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Charlie B-F-R

September 06, 2015 11:43 PM

Advanced concert group (also the same day) by Charlie B-F-R

Although he wasn’t in any position of authority, like prefect of head boy, Charlie didn’t see why he shouldn’t be the one to organise the advanced group for the concert. In fact, given that he didn’t have extra on his plate, it sort of made sense. Plus this sort of thing was clearly his forte.

He’d rallied the troupe by word of mouth, just passing on to people that he thought they should meet up at the weekend, seeing as the beginners were being encouraged to get on with that sort of thing. He had plenty of ideas, most of which involved fabulous dance numbers, but he knew that everyone else might not feel the same. Glad as he would be to turn this into Charlie - the Musical, he knew he had to run it as a democracy, not a fabulous and glittering dictatorship.

He had arranged to meet at the same time as the Beginners, in a different room, and so was also greeted by the horrible graffiti. His mind instantly jumped to the other Teppenpaws in his year, who fit that description, but they surely weren’t targeting the same people twice… He wasn’t sure what evidence he had for that - the idea that someone was determined to mess with people and spread malicious gossip but was above picking on people more than once because it wasn’t fair, it was somewhat laughable - but it was what he decided in order to keep his cool, and not have to think what effect it might have on Julian. Or at least try to. He set up his flip chart - which had animated stars pulsating in the corners, and which left a trail of sparkles when he turned a page - in an agitated manner.

“I hate this,” he complained, as someone opened the door. “It’s all just so mean, and Sonora’s always been such a nice place. We should do something… something to show we don’t care. That we’re not going to give in to gossiping and believing the worst about each other. Some kind of show of solidarity and friendship.” So much for not taking over….

Subthreads:

I have arrived. by Chloe Jareau

13 Charlie B-F-R Advanced concert group (also the same day) 252 Charlie B-F-R 1 5

Chloe Jareau

September 13, 2015 9:13 PM

I have arrived. by Chloe Jareau

Chloe really didn’t understand why she had bothered to sign herself and her brother up for the Concert. At this point in the school year, she didn’t have a care in the world to be a part of anything. She was invisible in this place and exposed at home. There was too much going on all around her and little she could do about it. She hated being invisible but she didn’t want the same exposure that she had at home. Why did everything go around thinking she was capable of handling adult things? She couldn’t handle dealing with her biological mother. She couldn’t deal with her dying brother. She couldn’t handle the letters from the Pembroke family. She couldn’t handle the responsibilities her parents and the school expected her to complete.

Everything was eating her up inside. So much so that she couldn’t sleep at night. She had nightmares of becoming her mother or of Angel dying in front of her, or a million of other scenarios that often plagued her mind. She spent so much of her free time working out that she had lost more weight, but seemed to be toning up in her legs and arms. She didn’t think she was being unhealthy considering she still ate a lot, but the changing in her physical appearance were noticeable for anyone who was paying the least bit of attention. Most weren’t.

Chloe decided to go to the first meeting of the Concert group because she felt a little guilty for not wanting to participate in it now. She decided not to wait for her brother as he was inevitable going to come with his Aladren packed and Chloe didn’t want to play fifth wheel with them as she often did. Besides, Ji-Eun was being weird and Emery was being weird and Chloe couldn’t be weird herself if they were all being weird.

She noticed the writing on the wall, it was hard to miss, and only frowned. It was just her and Ji-Eun, so it wasn’t for her, but there were probably a few trios who lived together that this could be referring too. They were teenagers, it was only natural for some people to not be truly themselves around the people they spend their days with.

As she walked into the room, she was stopped by a rush of words thrown in her directions by Charlie Boxton-Fox-Reynolds. “If that’s what you want to do.” Chloe replied in an uncharacteristically disconnected from all of it. “But, you know, isn’t that just going to acknowledge that what is happening does bother people? That we do care?” Chloe asked, dropping down in a seat. “I mean, I don’t care either way, but if you were going for the ‘I don’t care’ route, that idea is the opposite. I like the solidarity thing though. That might be a good start.” Chloe was the opposite of solidarity lately. She just wanted to be left alone. She wanted everyone to just stop thinking their problems were the only thing that mattered. And yes, she was including herself in that. Her brother was dying, he had a right to hate the world, but he didn’t. Chloe wished she had his spirit. She could really use it.

6 Chloe Jareau I have arrived. 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Arnold Manger

September 23, 2015 5:50 PM

Same by Arnold Manger

Arnold was both relieved and annoyed when Charlie called their concert group meeting to order. Relieved, because it meant that something definitive was in fact going to happen; Charlie, however flamboyant, had always seemed the type to get things accomplished when they needed to be. And annoyed, because Arnold had been trying to figure out how to organize it himself, mostly so he could take the pseudo-leader role and look better for the Head Boy position.

But whatever, he was going to ignore that for now. Right now, he needed to focus on figuring out what the group was doing. And they definitely needed to figure out something good; he did not want to get up on that stage and look stupid in front of the whole school.

The graffiti on the wall was first to distract him from this noble goal. Fortunately, his room was three boys and clearly not the target of this attack, but he could easily imagine how something like this might rip a room apart. Whomever was responsible for all these stupid rumors really was a jerk. Whether or not any of them were true, they were plainly malicious in intent and just altogether rude. At least none of them so far had spelled out names, which would have been completely heartless. He was still deeply worried about that library one…

He turned to his roommates, with whom he had walked down out of both friendship and convenience, and gave a small shrug before heading into the designated MARS room. When they entered, Arnold caught something Chloe was saying to Charlie about solidarity being a good start, presumably for their group idea. “Are you guys talking about the graffiti thing that keeps happening?” Arnold posed. “Because if so, I think something to show solidarity would be a great idea.”

OOC: Emery and Emrys walking down with Arnold was approved by their authors.

12 Arnold Manger Same 261 Arnold Manger 0 5

Julian Umland

September 23, 2015 7:34 PM

I'm here. by Julian Umland

Technically Julian thought she was the highest ranking student in the Advanced Concert group, but she had not thought twice about Charlie taking the lead in it instead. For one thing, he had the time, and for another thing, he had the skills, skills she just didn’t possess. Julian could and would chip into the actual work and management, but ideas just weren’t her forte. She was best suited to second place, not first.

Accordingly, she came to the meeting with pen and paper and a smile, though the last didn’t make it into the meeting. That vanished when she saw the writing on the wall along the MARS corridor.

Her first thought was about her dormitory, but that didn’t make any sense. She supposed they were all liars to one extent or another – who wasn’t? – but if there was an odd girl out, it was her, and hadn’t the first attack against her been about how accommodating she was? And while she did have the feeling, for no reason she could really put her finger on, that Willow didn’t like her very much, she didn’t think Willow was that close to Gemma, either. This one probably wasn’t aimed at her, however convenient the timing was. It was, though, further vandalism of the school, something which might make people whisper about her, and just another vile thing for someone to do to anyone, the same as when it had been her and Charlie before her….

Her face was frozen in an expression of intense disapproval borrowed from her mother as she walked into her meeting, where the earlier arrivals were talking about solidarity.

“We could definitely use some around here,” she said briskly. “Does anyone know if that filth in the hallway has been reported yet?" She rubbed her right temple. She did not want to be the one to go report this, but if no-one else had, she was the one with the responsibility for helping the staff out. Why, exactly, did anyone ever want these badges? “And I can do any - support work for anything, but I don't really have any ideas for an act. The only performances I've ever done were act-outs from books with my brothers." And a Christmas pageant once, but she really doubted her extensive knowledge of just how difficult it was to look gentle and beatific while her legs felt like they were both about to break was really helpful in this context.

16 Julian Umland I'm here. 254 Julian Umland 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

September 23, 2015 8:35 PM

Making my way in. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery thought this year was getting to be a little weird. In the beginning, he thought things were going to be so easy for them this year due to the fact that they didn’t have to worry about the CATS or RATS exams but everything just sort of fell apart and he couldn’t figure out why. First, over the summer, Chloe got into some trouble with her biological mother which caused a bit of a rift between her and everyone else. And then when they were actually back at school and Emery had the chance to see Ava and Emrys, things were weird with them too. Ava had mother issues and Emrys was preparing to declare his love to Charlotte (which, thankfully went well). Emery still didn’t know where he and Ava were in their relationship (or lack there of) and now Arnold seemed to be having issues too. Emery had been keeping a closer eye on him ever since he came into the dorm and found it a mess after Arnold seemed to have thrown a violent fit.

On top of all that, Chloe was being distant and weird and Emery didn’t know how to help her or fix the problem. Her biological family issues was beyond anything he had to deal with. It was all so frustrating.

Outside the MARS room, Emery saw the writing on the wall. It was about girls and not something that had anything to do with him (although if it had said three male roommates, he definitely would have paused) and continued on his way into the room.

When Emery followed into the room behind Arnold, he caught the look on Chloe’s face as she watched his friend give his opinion on the matter of the concert. It was a curious look to give someone and Emery wasn’t sure really what it meant. She had kept looking at Arnold that way until she realized that Emery was watching her. As soon as she made eye contact with her brother, Chloe had looked away and instead focused on Julian who was now the next speaker. Emery had seen that look on her before. Usually she as looking at a food or a book, but it was always something she was interested in. Something that she was craving in some way. He wasn’t sure he liked the look on her face when it was directed at his friend. Things were already complicated enough.

Ignoring it for the time being as Emery was now in the habit of doing, he answered Julian’s question regarding the message on the wall with a shake of his head. “I know the Beginners’ are meeting too and Professor Pye has them. I’m sure he probably said something.” He had seen the message on the board earlier that week which is the only reason why he knew about their meeting.

Emery tried to think of something that would contribute to the group, but he couldn’t really think of anything. Emery wasn’t one for talents except for being able to memorize random things and not talking about his feelings to people. Those didn’t really help the situation. “So, are we going to sing ‘We Are The World’? or something?” Emery asked lightheartedly. He wasn’t even sure if anyone would get the reference.

“I mean, I guess I’m not sure what the best way to showcase solidarity would be.”

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau Making my way in. 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Emrys Lucan

September 27, 2015 9:56 PM

Me too. by Emrys Lucan

So far Emrys had been having a pretty easy go of his sixth year. After hearing Wesley complain about it the one time he’d seen him last summer, Emrys had not been looking forward to the situation but as it had quickly been turning out to be one of his best years yet—nearly topping his experience at the ball with Charlotte. Not only had he confessed his feelings to her but she had admitted to returning his feelings and even though they had agreed to take things slowly he was still enjoying himself so much more now that he didn’t have to worry about her falling in love with someone else and metaphorically stomping his fragile heart into the dust.

Yet…everything in his life seemed to be going great—his schoolwork, his family (minus the small drama with Caelia), his friends. Granted there was that little problem regarding the Anonymous Vandal as Emrys had dubbed the person spreading the terrible things around the school, but none of it had directly affected him and so while he found the acts to be abhorred, his life wasn’t ruined by them save for a few extra patrols all of which had come up fruitless but even those Emrys didn’t mind.

However the newest piece of gossip that had been pained onto the hallways in the MARS rooms was extra nasty. It targeted not only one but three people simultaneously and narrowed down the pool of potential candidates the secret was about. His first thought was about Caelia but as he counted the Crotalus witches in her year he breathed a sigh of relief to discover there were only two and therefore it couldn’t be about her. He shook his head and followed Emery and Arnold in, nodding his head to show agreement with Emery’s statement regarding Professor Pye’s meeting with the beginner students.

He liked Arnold and Emery’s suggestions for a show of solidarity and suddenly the whole the came to him. He didn’t know how excited the others would be to hear his suggestion (pretty freaking excited, he hoped. He couldn’t see why anyone wouldn’t be excited about Camelot). “Imagine this,” he said, his voice nearly shaking as a grin broke out on his face and he splayed his hands out to capture the room’s attention. “We become the Knights of the Round Table!” His eyes traveled the faces of his classmates to gauge their reaction. “We put on a play—Camelot is all about unity and togetherness (if we ignore the fatal ending where Guinevere and Lancelot have an affair and cause Arthur to lose all hope and faith thereby dooming the Golden Age to end) but before all that it was an amazing time!”

10 Emrys Lucan Me too. 260 Emrys Lucan 0 5

Chloe

September 29, 2015 6:39 PM

Glad to see you all made it. by Chloe

There had been a certain moment for Chloe when she had realized that she might like Arnold. A certain moment when she had been upset over things in her personal life and she hadn’t been comfortable enough to share them with anyone else. As much as she loved her friends, she didn’t think they could truly understand what she was going through and if she tried to talk to them, she felt that they would only half try. So, she kept it to herself and let it bubble in her. One night when Ji-Eun was out, Chloe was crying at her desk. She was on little sleep and just so terrified of what would become of her that crying seemed to be her only relief if she couldn’t get to a work out.

But during this particular cry, her desk drawer was opened a little bit and inside it she had seen the watch that Arnold had causally given to her. She had picked it up and turned it over in her hand. She remembered their conversation. Sometimes it would play in her head when she thought about the Pembrokes. Arnold had talked her through it. He had been there when she hadn’t been comfortable enough to ask anyone else. It had been purely on accident, but it had ended up being helpful.

Despite trying hard against it, Chloe had been thinking about Arnold. At first, it had been about what his family life was like. She knew of his little sister as she was one of Harper’s good friends, but that was about it. She thought about his father and the relationship that they had. And then, slowly, she thought about just Arnold. What made him happy? What did he enjoy eating? How was he handling his father’s gifts? What was with the bandages on his hands? Was he hurting? Was he angry? Did he think about her?

And then the guilt would hit her. Arnold was Ji-Eun’s (in some way, Chloe was still unclear as to what). Chloe shouldn’t be thinking about her best friend’s man; it wasn’t right. Sometimes, when she would look at the watch, Chloe thought about giving it to Ji-Eun. Like anything that was Arnold’s somehow belong to her too, but she couldn’t get herself to actually do it. She couldn’t let go of the watch. It was the only nice thing someone outside of her family had given her (even if it hadn’t actually been a gift for her) and it was from Arnold.

What was her problem? First she liked Malcolm, someone she knew didn’t like her in that way and would never be with her anyway and now she like Arnold, someone she shouldn’t like because of her friend. She shouldn’t even be thinking about as it is. She had other problems to do with, boys should not be on her radar.

But, she was reminded of her boy crush when Arnold came into the MARS room. She watched him to see if there was any sort of indication of his feelings toward her (such a stupid thing to hope for considering everyone knew of his feelings for her roommate), but he didn’t even really look at her. Instead, Chloe say Emery watching her and she immediately looked to Julian who was speaking to play it off as simply listening to Arnold speak. As she listened to people talk, she couldn’t help the smile that came when Emery mentioned the song. She had heard it plenty of times around the holidays because it was on one of the discs that her mother played whenever she was in spirits.

Emrys seemed so excited about his idea that Chloe didn’t have it in her heart to tell him that it was weird. She didn’t really have any ideas of her own. Chloe had very little talents that would help out and when she had originally signed up it was because she thought they all needed something fun to do. Now she just wanted to be alone. “Whatever is decided is fine with me.” She said quietly in her seat.

6 Chloe Glad to see you all made it. 0 Chloe 0 5

Julian

October 03, 2015 3:26 PM

The more the merrier. by Julian

Pye and the Beginners. Of course. Julian had forgotten all about them. Now that John was in Intermediates, the Beginners concerned her only as far as her prefect duties went and while she thought she had seen their notice, her head had evidently not regarded the time on it as information she needed to retain.

“Right, sorry,” she said when Emery pointed this out. “You’re right.”

We are the world sounded vaguely familiar, though Julian couldn’t place it and certainly didn’t know the words. She wondered if that meant it was a Muggle thing or a pureblood - or at least all-magical-culture; there was a distinction - one. Her family officially held that it was better to know the best of both worlds, but Julian privately wondered sometimes. At those times it just seemed to her that they might have been better off if they had been normal anythings, immersed in the low pop culture of either world and so able to fit in somewhere. Being well-educated was all well and good in theory, but realistically, she knew she and her siblings were not people who were going to change the world. They all would have been happier if they hadn't known enough to know it needed changing.

She smiled at Emrys Lucan's enthusiasm, reminded of how her younger brothers used to play Knights and Monsters, dragging her in as a passive princess and their older brothers as the Good and Evil Kings. Paul used to joke that she got kidnapped so much that he bet she just played hostage after the evil overlords were killed to hide that she secretly wanted to marry a dark wizard. "There could be...something in that," she said. "Maybe one of the happier stories, or at least one without all the adultery, maybe the Grail Cycle...You could look at Percival and the Fisher King as a unity story. Our 'land's' health reflects ours, we have to acknowledge there's a problem to fix it...." She trailed off, realizing her mother's voice was coming out of her mouth. "A little allegorical, but it doesn't have Guinevere, so no burning at the stake. That might not be a good idea...here, you know."

16 Julian The more the merrier. 254 Julian 0 5