I'm so excited!!!!! on Cascade Hall

Regina Parker

April 08, 2011 7:43 PM

I'm so excited!!!!! by Regina Parker

Regina’s midterm had been fantastic. Her mother had been away again, which was a bit of a let down, but nothing that hadn’t ever happened before. But her dad had taken the entire vacation off! Reggie hadn’t seen him in months, so she was able to have two whole weeks with him! And just as she had hoped, they had had an adventure together. The two weeks were the best two weeks that Reggie had had in a long time. Sure she absolutely loved being at Sonora. The classes were fun, her roommates were amazing, and her yearmates were interesting to say the least. But she had been homesick. She had been used to her father’s oddities and the rhythm that they had together that she couldn’t quite let them go.

As soon as they were home, they had set off again. Her father had taken her on a cruise. He hadn’t wanted to stay in the cold. He had been cold and lonely for too long and now that his little Rag Doll was home, he wanted to get out and enjoy their vacation. So, he had taken her to the Caribbean. And it had been unbelievable! Reggie even had a tan by the time they had returned. A tan! During Christmas! It was unheard of. And yet, here she was sporting one.

She couldn’t wait to tell everyone and show them her pictures. She wouldn’t be able to show any cool presents that she was sure they had all received, but that was because the trip had been her gift. In reality, just have spent the time with her dad had been enough. It would have been better if her mother had been able to come along, but she knew those days were few and far between. She did get a card from her though, so that was something.

Reggie shook her head, her dark hair disrupting her vision as she flipped through her scrapbook. Her grandmother had helped her create it. She was into all sorts of arts and crafts, so when Reggie had gone to her for help, her grandmother had instantly agreed to help her. Together, for the last days of Reggie’s vacation, they had worked diligently together to have it completed in time for her to return to school so that her friends could see her adventure.

She sat at an empty table, waiting for everyone to return and far too excited to actually eat (although she was sure she would regret that later). When finally someone joined her, Reggie looked up with her wide hazel eyes and an even wider smile on her tanned face. “Hi! How was your vacation?” She asked, genuinely interested, if not just a little distracted.

6 Regina Parker I'm so excited!!!!! 187 Regina Parker 1 5

Madeline Parry

April 24, 2011 12:00 AM

Your excitement is contagious!!! (WotW) by Madeline Parry

Getting back to Sonora had turned out to be a lot harder than getting there in the first place had been. Madeline could have sworn that, wanting to focus on her parents and nice mundane Muggle life, she had barely opened her trunk from the day she left school to the night before the term resumed, but somehow, it had taken so long to check that she had everything, realize something was missing, fix that, and then repeat the whole process that she'd almost missed her wagon! She didn't even want to know what would have happened if she had, since she was just a kid and neither of her parents had magic.

Well, okay, maybe that was kind of an exaggeration. Their Muggle liaison said they could contact him any time, so she probably would have gotten to school before classes started. Still, it would have been super embarrasing, so Madeline was super glad the Disorganization Fairy's evil plan to make her late had been thwarted. That sheer determination of her mom's had multiple uses.

Once the wagon landed, Madeline hopped off quickly, thanking all goodness that she didn't feel as sick after the ride as some people looked before she hurried up to her dorm to make sure her trunk had arrived all right and drop off her carry-on bag before heading down to the Cascade in the hopes of finding some brownies. She was a little tired after sitting and riding for so long, and a good chocolate brownie sounded like just the thing to fix that up.

Once there, though, she was distracted from the search for brownies by the sight of Reggie, who was flipping through some kind of book. After sharing a room and all her classes with her for about four months, that didn't make Madeline hesitate much about going over to greet her.

"Hey, Reg!" she said, dropping into the chair across from her friend in the same moment she spotted brownies. She reached for one as her greeting was returned. "It was great, thanks. Mm," she added as she took the first bite of her brownie. "I think our dining hall is psychic. How was yours?" She looked more closely at Reggie's book, which, up close, looked more like a scrapbook. "Christmas present?" she asked.

0 Madeline Parry Your excitement is contagious!!! (WotW) 188 Madeline Parry 0 5

Reggie

April 25, 2011 9:18 PM

As it should be!!! by Reggie

Reggie was super glad that it was Madeline who had come to sit with her. Maddie and Jess were probably the two that Reggie was the closest too and that was because they had sat and chatted for so long during the opening feast. After that, it was like they were made to be friends. Her dad was uber happy that she had made friends so easily with her roommates. She didn’t know Addi and Hope as well as Jess and Maddie, but she still considered them happy acquaintances. Her dad had been worried that Reggie would become secluded while she was at Sonora since she had only ever been with her dad and grandparents. But, her father failed to remember that Reggie had plenty of friends when she went to muggle school and wasn’t afraid of just going out on a limb and meeting more people.

“Hi Mad!” She greeted in return, still smiling and then started laughing when Madeline starting munching on a brownie. “Oh, mine was absolutely excellent!” Reggie proclaimed and then focused her attention on the scrapbook in front of her. “Sort of.” She commented lightly, swinging around so that Madeline could have a good look at it. “My grandma helped me make it over break. She’s really into crafty things and I wanted to have a book to show everyone all the cool things my Popsicle and I were able to do over the vacation.” Reggie explained, pleased that she and her grandmother had actually been able to complete the book on time.

“He took me on a Caribbean cruise!” Reggie said in excitement. “I have never been on a boat before, but seriously, it was like a little city! There were so many shops and things to do on the boat. And when we weren’t on the boat, we were touring the islands. Look-“ Reggie flipped the pages of the book until she came across the dolphins. “I even got to swim with dolphins! They were so cute! I wanted to keep one so bad, but I don’t think they’d enjoy the Nebraska weather too much.” Reggie said jokingly.

“It was seriously the best Christmas gift ever! I mean, it would have been better if Mom could come, but it was pretty awesome with just Popsicle and me.” It was clear to anyone who was around Reggie that she was positively glowing from her adventures, but she just couldn’t help herself. Her dad was always taking her on adventures and she loved every minute of it.

“What did you get for Christmas? Anything fun? Did you have fun with your parents?” Reggie needed to calm down. She was asking way too many questions at once, but she just wanted to know everything there was to know about how everyone’s vacation weathered.

6 Reggie As it should be!!! 187 Reggie 0 5

Madeline

May 01, 2011 12:58 AM

Excellent, then!! by Madeline

Madeline was impressed when Reggie said her grandmother had helped her make the scrapbook, used enough now to her friend’s way of talking to realize that her Popsicle wasn’t something sold in the frozen food aisle at the local grocer’s. Her grandma sounded seriously cool.

Hers was all right, she guessed. She didn’t really know her that well, since she lived in Iowa, and Dad hated going back to Iowa. Nothing personal, he said, he was just a natural East Coaster whose paperwork had gotten mixed up and resulted in him being born in the heartland instead and not being able to escape to New York until he was eighteen and went to college. Plus, his younger brother was still in undergrad there, so it was kind of weird for them to be together and address their parents when Dad was nearly old enough to be her uncle’s father, too. Mom’s mom was dead and had been since Madeline was four or something.

Before she could say anything about the coolness of Grandma Parker (or maybe Reggie’s maternal grandma), though, Reg sprung the reason for the scrapbooking on her, and she was even more impressed. “Oh, wow,” she said, looking over the book with more curiosity but being careful not to touch it so she didn’t get brownie crumbs on it. Reggie would be completely justified in doing something awful to her if she messed that up. “Wow, that is awesome,” she said, feeling the point bore repeating. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to see the upkeep on a dolphin in Nebraska…I guess this explains the tannage?” she asked, noticing, now that she looked, the dramatic difference between their skin tones right now. Madeline was so pale she thought, though Mom told her she was wrong, her hair looked almost true red instead of its usual strawberry blonde.

She beamed back at Reggie as she summed up the experience. “I’m glad you had fun,” she said. “And got to do something cool.”

She smiled again at the mention of her own holiday. “I think we brought the snow down south with us,” she joked. “Apparently, it was the biggest snow since, like, the beginning of recorded weather history. They ended up cancelling finals at Dad’s school.” She laughed. “Dad couldn’t believe it. We felt like Martians. And I think Grandma thought we were lying about why we couldn’t fly back to Iowa for Christmas.” Grandma Parry was usually okay, but a little much to go into detail on now, she thought. “Long, long story. But yeah, we had fun playing in the snow, I have some pictures, and I mostly got books and clothes.” She looked around the Hall, wondering if her feeling of ambiguity was strange. “Are you happy to be back?” she asked.

0 Madeline Excellent, then!! 0 Madeline 0 5

Reggie

May 02, 2011 7:36 PM

I know!!!! by Reggie

“Tannage?” Reggie asked, momentarily confused before catching her hands and having that click quickly with her. “Oh yes, yes yes yes!” Reggie was in such a glorious mood. The best vacation ever and she had no idea how her dad was ever going to top a cruise during Christmas. Not that Reggie expected to get such extravagant gifts every year, but how could one not hope for a tradition of sorts to start? “I’ve never seen so much sun before in my life.” Reggie said dramatically. “At least not during Christmas.” She probably should have said that her mother helped pay for the cruise, but just couldn’t go with them, but Reggie didn’t really feel it was necessary to explain her family dynamics at this moment. Getting too serious would totally ruin her mood.

Reggie left the scrapbook facing Madeline in case she still wanted to flip through it. They had hopped islands and had done so much site-seeing that there were well over 500 pictures that they had printed and placed into the scrapbook. It had been long hours and a lot of cutting with her and her grandmother, but they had made it a fun project and her grandparents missed having her around since she had started at Sonora. It was good to have some time with them before she headed back.

She gave an involuntarily shudder at the mention of snow. It had been one of the coldest winters in the last thirty years in Nebraska, Reggie couldn’t imagine how it was around the rest of the United States. Blizzards, storms, ice storms, below zero degrees. It was ridiculous and Reggie was happy to go to a school located in Arizona. “They cancelled finals?” Reggie asked, her incredulous-ness showing at such an idea. “Do they have to take them some other time or are they all free from them because of the school’s choice?” She asked, curious as to how all that worked.

Reggie wrinkled her nose at the mention of Iowa. That state was entirely dull. Even the cities were sad. “Ice skating and sledding are my two favorite snow things to do, but I also learned how to snowboard last year, so I kind of wished that I was able to do it this year too because it was fun, but I’ll totally do it next year.” Reggie was rambling. She always did when her mind was going a mile a minute and she had missed her friend and just wanted to tell her everything until her voice was completely gone. “What sort of books did you get? My grandparents bought me a couple of skirts. For some reason, people think I shouldn’t wear pants.” Reggie joked. Her dad always preferred her in skirts too. He said she needed to be a girl and he had to stop acting like she was a boy. Reggie didn’t understand why it mattered.

“Yes!” Reggie said without hesitation. “I mean, I didn’t really want to leave Pop or anything, but I was excited to see everyone too. Are you happy?”

6 Reggie I know!!!! 187 Reggie 0 5

Madeline

May 22, 2011 12:51 AM

Yay!!! by Madeline

Once she was sure her hands had nothing on them that could transfer, Madeline took up the implied offer of a closer look at the cruise pictures. Each was amazing. She had never really traveled just for the sake of traveling – family vacations were generally day trips to state attractions, maybe a trip to a beach once in three or four years, and she’d been to Disney World when she was seven and found it dull, but that was about it – but Reggie’s scrapbook was enough to kind of recommend the practice.

She, too, was still having trouble with everything being shut down over a few inches of snow, but nodded when Reggie expressed equal incredulity. “I think they just don’t take them,” she said. “There’s a week for them to happen in, everyone has a scheduled time, and then the professors submit final grades the Tuesday after that. Which Dad did, so….” She shrugged. “The state only has, like, two snowplows or something, and they were out in the state capitol, not in the middle of nowhere. Everything shut down for four days, and most of it was optional for two more after that.”

Reggie’s ramble took a second to sort through, but Madeline thought she got all the high points. “Yeah, I would totally fall all over the place if I tried to wear skirts much,” she said. She didn’t consider herself a tomboy, but she’d just never worn skirts when she was little, and now she didn’t feel like she had the hang of it, or of going around in tall shoes. It was too much. “Picture day only.” Books. “No books on snowboarding, though, sorry,” she joked. “Dad got me a few more of those – what do you call them – fictionalized biographies? Like they’re real people, but it’s told as a story, or as a diary the person didn’t really write, or something? I love those things. And Mom picked up a bunch of random fantasy novels for me and Dad both because they looked weird and she knows we like weird stuff.” She loved her mother.

“Yeah,” she answered when asked if she was happy, too, to be here. “Which is weird. I always thought I’d go crazy wanting to go home when I went to college, and this is just middle school, but it’s…cool.” She smiled, not wanting to be too much of a drag. “But hey, you’re here. What else do you need for awesomeness besides the Great Caribbean Traveler?”

OOC: Delay? What delay? I didn’t see any delay. Just...apologizing for one anyway.

0 Madeline Yay!!! 0 Madeline 0 5