Will you pass the corn and mashed potatoes? on Cascade Hall

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

July 26, 2013 5:42 PM

Returning Feast by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

The midterm had gone about in its usual chaotic way as a family of seven often did. The only real difference was that Harper was chattering up a storm now while running around and Ayita needed a heart to heart. Jeff and Kiva did the best they could with everyone, making sure they received most of what they had on their wish lists, or giving them gifts in other ways that they would appreciate. It was harder with the teenagers, but she hoped they enjoyed the time with the family.

Now though, it was back to work. Kiva watched the students as they filed in and made their way either to their respective tables or to their friends. She always enjoyed watching them in their elements. Everything was so genuine with them. Once everyone was settled though, Kiva stood and charmed her voice to speak over the crowd, “Good Evening everyone! I hope your Midterm was enjoyable. I am really happy to have you all back here.” She was sure that there would only be one or two people who were happy for the return but otherwise, everyone would have preferred to not have to go back to classes.

“So, before I let you all off to enjoy your food and chat with your friends, I wanted to discuss the end of Midsummer’s Fair.” Kiva called out to them, anticipating a few groans at the food being stalled. “Your participation in creating a booth is entirely voluntary, so I do hope we have some interest from you in creating them. Those of you who decide to have a booth at the fair, the school will provide all materials for your use, so you do not have to pay out of pocket for the supplies. If you have questions or concerns regarding this, please feel free to come and see me.” Kiva advised them. “I will be putting up a Booth Registry on the main board here in Cascade for you to register your booth. I will need to know what type of booth you will have, food, games, informational booth, craft booth, Group Fundraising booth, ectera.” Kiva listed as many categories of booths that she could remember off the top of her head. “The booths that are for Group Fundraising events should be the only booths that charge for services unless otherwise approved by myself. Otherwise, all booths are free.

“You will also be designing your own booth for the fair. So, when you register your booth, there will also be a box next to the sign up, submit your design in the box when you sign up. We will have a team to build the booth to your specifications or as close to them as possible. I know all of you aren’t artists or architects, so even basic information of what you are looking for will help us to create the look you want. The earlier you get this to us, the earlier your booth will be completed and the sooner you can have a look at it and critique it.” Kiva really wanted this to be about their wants since they were taking the time to volunteer for this event. The more the school was able to do for them and they could actual design something from scratch, the more excited they would likely be for the end result.

“The booths will run during certain allotted time slots so that we can try and have as little overlap as possible. However, booths will be running all day long. As much as I love enthusiasm and people who are willing to help out, please do not over extend yourself and sign up for all the booths because then you won’t actually have time to enjoy the Fair. And I want you all to enjoy the fair.” Kiva wanted to express that not everyone was exemplary enough to really do everything. It just wasn’t possible.

“Alright, I think that was all I had to tell you. So, enjoy the rest of your evening.” Kiva declared, setting them free.

OOC: Ayita and Kiva's conversation is currently being written, but it will be posted on wts to show permission was attained. Also, be on the look out for the booth registry, I'll post it within the week.

Subthreads:

I'm not really hungry (tag Julian U) by Charlie B-F-R with Julian Umland

Actually happy to be back to school by Clara Abernathy with Lucian D'Alesandro, Lucian

What's under rock bottom? by Michael Grosvenor with Addison Thornton, Addi

Wallowing. by Cepheus Princeton with Megan Brownbriar, Cepheus, Meggie

I'm hooome! by Rupert Princeton with Amira Thornton, Rupert, Mir

Ham, anyone? by Adam Spencer

Return dinner with a friend (tag Ava) by Dimitri Porter with Ava Fletcher, Dimitri

Out with a flash (Reggie) by Derry Four with Regina Parker

My swan song by Maximilian J. McLachlan with Brianna Japos, Josh McLachlan

Just so...tired... by Waverly Canterbury with Aubrielle Thornton, Waverly, Bri

So much to share! [tag Carter] by Wendy Canterbury with Carter, Wendy

Comfort Food is the BEST by Jude Butler

Will you pass the corn and mashed potatoes? by Abigail Thornton with Henry Carey, Abi

In MY house?! by McKinley Andrews

Good food and hoping for good company by Effie Arbon

I felt pretty! by Darina Porter

0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau Returning Feast 0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau 1 5

Charlie B-F-R

July 26, 2013 5:54 PM

I'm not really hungry (tag Julian U) by Charlie B-F-R

Charlie was not bouncing about. And it wasn't just because he had to come back to school. He was actually quite glad to get away from the scrutiny of his parents. At first, when they had asked him what was wrong, he'd feigned stomach aches. That had only worked until they threatened to take him to see the healer, or pick up a pain relief potion. He had then resorted to vaguer symptoms, such as tiredness or just feeling like being alone. The fact that all this had started since coming back from Grandpa Reynolds' house was a coincidence that had escaped no one's notice. His father and sister knew about the attitude Grandpa had taken over Charlie's choice of booth and tried to be reassuring that Grandpa was just old fashioned, and that he shouldn't mind what was said. But they didn't know that he'd also overheard the row between his Father and Grandpa. That he understood now why Dad was always 'working' when they went there. How mean Grandpa had been to Father about... everything. And that the same would happen to him if he didn't turn into a nice straight boy who played Quidditch and hunted and did whatever else 'proper' boys did. He'd always been happy about how unconditional his grandparents' love for them felt. He'd worried at first that being adopted would make a difference. That they wouldn't be regarded as real grandchildren. But Grandpa and Grandma had always fussed over them, indulged them and loved them. Now that could change. Not because of being adopted but just because of him, and how he was. Grandpa was going to stop loving him. Maybe even stop wanting to see him. He'd always brushed it off before when people teased him for his mannerisms or his interests. Part of his ability to do that had been knowing that his family loved him, and that being yourself was the right thing to be. But what had happened over Midterm put those things into question, which meant he couldn't fall back on them to make him feel better.

He drifted into the Returning Feast, not really feeling all that hungry. He was keen to see other people though. To be amongst people who liked him and to try to find reassurance, although he wasn't really sure how he would be able to be sure of that, given that his own grandfather had been putting on a façade for years. He gravitated towards Julian, who was probably the person he felt closest to at school, friend-wise. She seemed to like him... She'd put up with all his squealing over outfits, and his fussy ministrations as hairdresser and make up artist for the ball last year, and never called him names or rolled her eyes over it all. At least, not to his face... The headmistress said a lot about booths, which he knew he would need to know – if he still ran his silly idea for girls - but which pretty much washed over him. Henny would be listening. She could fill him in. Or he could just tell everyone that he'd changed his mind. They could still run it without him if they wanted. The food appeared and Charlie pulled some soup towards him, stirring rather than eating.

“Julian...” he began slowly. He knew it was pathetically needy but... well, right now he was in need. He didn't know how to make everything alright or make it all feel better by himself. And he wasn't sure he could just believe that what was on the surface was true. “I know when people ask this there's what you're supposed to say. But I don't want you to say what you're supposed to say. I want you to be honest. Do you... do you actually like me?”

13 Charlie B-F-R I'm not really hungry (tag Julian U) 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Julian Umland

July 26, 2013 7:17 PM

Offers cup of tea instead, then. by Julian Umland

Julian felt a little uncomfortable as she sat down in the Cascade Hall, smoothing down the front of her new dress and tugging the skirt straight where it had tried to fold up under her knees when she got into her chair. Mom’s mother had come to see them, something she did every few years, and on such occasions, all the kids got new clothes - really new clothes, not just new to them, or the second-owner stuff which they wore on Christmas and Easter. That happened every now and then whether Mom’s side of the family intervened or not, Julian had had a new dress when she came to Sonora the first time and Stephen had gotten new businessy robes when he finished school, but it was uncommon enough that she felt the need to be extra-careful, so she didn’t damage the navy blue garment she had on beneath her robes.

Blue and green were probably not New Year’s colors, she thought vaguely when she saw Charlie heading her way, but with the new dress, and her shoes freshly polished and a matching ribbon in her newly-cut dark brown hair, she felt almost pretty, which had to count for something. So long as she didn't slip into vanity, anyway. She smiled brightly at her friend as the Headmistress began to speak, quickly overwhelming her with the thought of all the potential Fair options.

She really was not, Julian was a little embarrassed to admit, looking forward to this year’s event. Just going to a fair would have been fun, but she felt obliged to somehow help out, to be involved in things, and she didn’t really know what on earth she was supposed to do. Maybe, if all else failed, Charlie could find her some minor role in his project; she’d hate to ask a favor of a friend like that, but, well, someone would have to keep things straightened out and know what they were running short of and that kind of thing, right? She could do that.

Julian frowned slightly when she noticed the combination of Charlie unenthusiastically (a pair of words which did not go together well in her mind) stirring his soup and hesitating, not sounding very cheerful, when he said her name. Then he went on and she got worried. Then he asked what he wanted to ask and she got confused.

“Yes,” she said, after a slight pause. “I do. Why? What’s wrong?” She frowned again. “Did I do something that made you think I don’t?” she added. She hadn’t noticed anything weird before the holidays and didn’t think she had said anything that shocking in the card she’d sent him at Christmas, but one never knew. She and her brothers had all, at one time or another, just known one or all of the others were mad at them and had no idea why. Donne was right that no man was an island, but Julian thought they were more like peninsulas than firmly-connected parts of a continent most of the time. That, or islands linked by bridges, or Alaska, or...well, not really continents, anyway.

16 Julian Umland *Offers cup of tea instead, then.* 254 Julian Umland 0 5

Clara Abernathy

July 27, 2013 2:41 AM

Actually happy to be back to school by Clara Abernathy

Clara nearly cried with relief when it was time to come home from break and head back to school. That had been the most stressful break she had ever experienced. So many different events all seemed to take place at the same time. Her cousin Arista had gotten married over the break, forcing her to be in the wedding as one of the bridesmaids. That part wasn’t so bad except for the having to dress up like a Barbie doll thing. That part she could have done completely without. Clara was never a big fan of getting dolled up and having to do it for her cousin’s wedding didn’t make her like it anymore than she had before. She especially felt weird about being dolled up since a few of the people from Sonora that they were allowed to invite had come for the wedding as well. Analea got to invite Rory, Bri invited Waverly, Abbi got to invite Wendy and Addison got to invite Josephine. Clara wanted to invite Lucian, but didn’t want to put him through the awkward predicament of having to watch her hang out with another boy the whole time. She was beyond bummed about that prospect.

It might not have been so bad if she hadn’t had to pose for pictures dressed as she was and spend the rest of the wedding with Dean. There was a fun time. Dean, who spent their entire time together at the wedding talking about how much he just LOVED weddings. Who couldn’t stop telling her about his bug collection at home and how he couldn’t wait to introduce her to them all. Who told her all about his comic book collection which would have been fine except for the fact that all he collected was Archie comics. She found some of them to be mildly humorous, but the majority of them she didn’t see the humor in. The only part of their whole conversation that wasn’t frightfully boring was when they discussed their horses. That seemed to be the only thing they had in common. Thankfully she only had to spend a couple of days with his family since they were visiting other relatives over the break. She tried gracefully to bow out when it came to meeting his bug collection, but he insisted. Her eyes widened in wonder and terror at the sheer number of them that occupied jars on the shelves of his bookcase.

After emphatically insisting that she was not interested in holding any of the bugs from his collection (even still in the jars) they went outside to the stable where he kept his horse. It was an English Thoroughbred like the ones her grandparents bred, raised and trained. The horse’s name was apparently Luther. She liked Luther, he was a smart horse and very spirited. She returned to her grandparents house after thanking his parents for their hospitality over her visit. When asked what she thought of him her exact words were, “It will so not work.” She spent NewYears getting to know her father’s new girlfriend Danielle. Clara liked Danielle almost immediately. She had the same French accent as her grandparents and Clara enjoyed herself conversing with Danielle in French for their whole conversation. She knew her dad was lurking somewhere nearby watching the two of them for any signs of animosity. He didn’t find any. Clara was impressed with the fact that Danielle worked in a French pastry shop in Bordeux and had gone to culinary school in Paris. She found herself enjoying Danielle’s company very much, but was still confused why her dad had waited to tell her about the woman. Clara shrugged the thought off and just enjoyed the rest of the break (well the little bit she could anyway). By the time it was time to leave to catch the wagon back to Sonora, Clara was so ready for the break to be over with so she could spend time with one of her favorite people. As she sat on the wagon back towards school she couldn’t help wondering to herself how exactly things were going to work with Lucian. They hadn’t exactly discussed at the time how they were going to spend time together without being too “public” about it. That part she figured they would discuss upon their return to school.

Clara stepped off the wagon with her cousins and headed into the school back towards Cascade Hall. She saw all the students piling into the room and waved hello to the few that she knew pretty well. She spotted Lucian and smiled giving a small wave hello before finding a seat at the Pecari table. She would have liked to sit with him, but was afraid that might be too public for him so she found a seat at the Pecari table. Since she was fairly certain that her cousin Bri and Waverly would be nearby anyway she wasn’t soo bummed about the seating arrangements for the time being. She would always see him in class and they could arrange to meet another time so she wasn’t too worried about it. She never did tell her dad about her new boyfriend over the break. She resolved to tell him shortly after getting back to school though. She settled into her seat at the table and turned her attention towards the Headmistress when she began speaking. She listened pretty closely at the booth creation information, wondering what Charlie is going to want his booth to look like for the fair. She was a little nervous about helping out with it because she really wasn’t very good with fashion, but she was hoping to be of some help to him. Hopefully she could learn something from it herself. Once the headmistress was done with her announcements Clara started to dig in. She put some chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies on her plate. She poured herself some iced tea and then tapped her neighbor on the shoulder. “Could you please pass me the salt and pepper?” she asked politely, giving them a cheerful smile.

0 Clara Abernathy Actually happy to be back to school 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

July 27, 2013 11:29 AM

Have you been speaking to my Father? by Charlie B-F-R

Julian affirmed that yes, of course she liked him. It didn't magically make everything better but he tried hard to believe her. They'd had a whole year group of people to be friends with, after all. Ok, they were in the same house but people didn't always stick with their housemates. Grandpa hadn't really chosen him, he'd been stuck with him whether he liked it or not. But Julian had chosen him.

“Oh, no,” he said hastily, looking up at her as she asked whether she'd done something wrong. “No, honey, of course not,” he stated emphatically. He hated the idea of making other people feel bad over anything, let alone over something they hadn't even done.

“I just... someone was giving me a hard time over the holidays,” he explained, going back to staring morosely into his soup bowl. It was Minestrone, with pasta shells. He poked them with his spoon, dipping each one below the surface until it filled with liquid and became to heavy to stay afloat.“You know, over being...” What was he? Gay? He didn't really have feelings towards anyone yet but it was kind of clear that was where he was heading. Proto gay? “all freaky and queer,” he finished, his tone quiet but clearly hurt.

“You don't mind that stuff?” he asked, turning his blue eyes back to bore into her inquisitively, trying to be sure of whether he could trust her response.

13 Charlie B-F-R Have you been speaking to my Father? 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

July 27, 2013 11:57 AM

What's under rock bottom? by Michael Grosvenor

It was better this way, apparently, for both of them. They'd both be able to move on, and get on with their lives. Eris, he was sure, would be fine. There was probably already a queue of Hogwarts boys waiting to date her. He couldn't believe that he'd be fighting off girls though. He still didn't know what Eris had ever seen in him, or thought was special about him. What were the odds anyone else would see it too? What if she had been the only girl who would ever love him? His romantic life had peaked before he hit eighteen. That was tragic. It had been a bit of a kick in the teeth, after looking forward all term to seeing her. He could feel that things were different, that she felt somewhat like a stranger. But he thought that was still better than no girlfriend at all, ever again.

He supposed a new term should mean a new start. And it wasn't like he didn't have plenty else to think about, as his classes were definitely piling the pressure on. And perhaps he would force himself to concentrate, once he was back to them. He let the headmistress' speech pass him by though. He didn't really feel the need to run a booth, and planned to simply show up to the fair and have fun. Or at least, he had planned to do when fun had seemed like something within his capabilities. Now everything just hurt and he couldn't see why he'd ever be happy again.

The food appeared, and he helped himself, eating mechanically. For all that he was heartbroken, he was a heartbroken teenage boy, and the injury was not severe enough to over-rule his desire to eat about five meals a day. His thoughts, as they had become accustomed to doing over the last few months, drifted over to Britain, what time it would be there, what Eris might be doing... She'd be asleep by now. The Hogwarts feast would be long over. He tried not to imagine some boy with a chiselled jaw and a posh accent walking her back to her dormitory.

“Slimy jerk...” he mumbled to himself, stabbing a bit of beef particularly violently.

13 Michael Grosvenor What's under rock bottom? 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

July 27, 2013 3:05 PM

Wallowing. by Cepheus Princeton

The winter holiday had not improved Cepheus's mood in the slightest. Leo had complained on and on about his sore mouth though it had been fixed ages ago. Rupert had a smug sort of look about him that made Cepheus want to hex him and to top it off he had lost the Snitch to a new Seeker right in front of Theresa. There was no potion that could heal his deep, emotional wound and no amount of gifts could help. Cepheus was not looking forward to showing his face at school again after so many losses. He was the Crotalus Seeker. If they won, he was the hero. But if they lost, he bore the brunt of the guilt. In the past he had so easily cast it off, telling himself that if only those Chasers could have been more competent, if the Beaters could have hit the opposing Seeker then he would have won. But, now that he was older and more experienced, now that he had planned so carefully his diet and his exercise and practises, he had no one left to blame.

Cepheus had reconciled with Rupert over the holiday, but he sat far from Leo at the Crotalus table. He didn’t want to speak to anyone, really, so he kept to himself. The only mates he really had in his house were Gareth, Alex and his Quidditch team, but he didn’t think he could muster up the courage to look any of his house-mates in the eye. He had no hopes for the Cup this year, that was certain, and after such a humiliating loss he doubted they could beat Aladren. And it would be his fault.

He hated brooding on these feelings. They were weaknesses, according to his father, and Cepheus tried to bottle them up and pretend nothing was wrong. But it was a bit difficult in a sea of his house-mates whom he had let down. Cepheus let out a breath. His Quidditch losses were now regular news to his family and he hated it. His father had already deemed athletics not to be Cepheus’s forte and had encouraged him more than once to drop it. It did not matter, according to Father, that one was not good at everything as long as he did the family proud in dealing with people.

This was pathetic. He needed to shake this feeling off. In the pocket of his robes he had a little box. He had been too afraid to send Theresa a gift through the post as he had his other mates. Gifts had been sent to the Brownbriars, but in the name of Princeton and not any individuals. Cepheus had fewer cards to sign that way and left that duty up to his female family members and the patriarch. He didn’t know when he would be able to give his gift to Theresa. He wanted to give it to her personally, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. He would just have to be careful.

The Headmistress’s speech reminded him of the Midsummer Event. The fair was this year which meant he was supposed to join together with his mates to form a booth. Cepheus had had in mind a Quidditch-themed booth, but that didn’t seem like a very good idea now. He would talk to Alicia later and see what she had thought up. She was more competent than him when it came to these sorts of things. Food was now the primary distraction and Cepheus welcomed it. He had no sweet tooth, but he was rebelling a bit against himself and instead of reaching for a slice of turkey, he put a slice of cherry pie on his plate. If he got sick later it would be his own fault.

40 Cepheus Princeton Wallowing. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Rupert Princeton

July 27, 2013 3:06 PM

I'm hooome! by Rupert Princeton

Stepping into Cascade Hall felt like a breath of fresh air. England no longer felt like home to him. If Rup could, he would stay at Sonora all the days of the year and skip the holidays at home. There were so many rules and regulations there and he hated listening to it all. Lesson after lesson to teach him how to be respectable and whatever was draining and unnecessary. After all, Rupert had no intention of going down that path. He didn’t want to get disowned or anything, but he did not want to stick to those old pure-blood traditions. It was a fine line he walked, but he couldn’t see another way to do it right now.

As expected, Grandfather had caught heed of Rupert’s interest in Muggle Studies and, surprisingly, hadn’t bashed him over the head with it. “Don’t let it get to your head,” was all he’d said and Rup had readily agreed. He had been expecting a lecture, not a passing pat on the back. Grandfather had been dealing with something very important and had seemed a bit distracted, but either way Rup accepted it happily. He knew there might be consequences in the long run, but right now it was all right. Megan was in that class as well and Rup was getting to know her better. It was a fun class and he enjoyed Professor Chambers’ teaching styles as well.

He sat down with the Pecaris, wondering what he would be getting himself into if he continued to be friendly with Megan. Some trouble, most likely, with Cepheus, but Rup thought his brother ought to make amends anyway. Rupert had no idea what was going on with Cepheus and his fling and he didn’t think Megan did either. Either nothing was going on or Cepheus was hiding it very well. Rup had made amends with his brother over the holiday mostly because Cepheus had suffered such a terrible loss to Teppenpaw. It made Rupert’s hope for the trophy even higher. While Cepheus loved winning in general, Rupert was passionate about the sport itself. His dream was to become a professional Beater someday for an English team, but he still had some ways to go.

The Headmistress reminded them of the booths they were supposed to be a part of and Rupert decided to join whichever booth seemed fitting. A Quidditch-themed booth sounded the most interesting, but he would have to find others to do that with. And a booth for games sounded more fun to do, but he wasn’t sure if he had the patience to plan and design such a booth or a really interesting game. For now he would keep his ears open. Once the announcements were finished, Rupert put a couple slices of ham and cranberry sauce on his plate. He enjoyed Christmas dinner very much and was glad to find it here as well. “Have a good holiday?” he asked with a smile. He was wearing his brand new Christmas robes, but his blond hair had refused to cooperate and stay down after all that travel. If he was being completely honest, he couldn’t care less. “Would you like some ham?”

40 Rupert Princeton I'm hooome! 248 Rupert Princeton 0 5

Adam Spencer

July 27, 2013 3:08 PM

Ham, anyone? by Adam Spencer

The holiday had been lovely for Adam. He had looked forward to it and seeing his younger siblings again. It would be a few years until Jack joined and even longer till his youngest sister came along, but it was all right. He liked having toddlers around to play with and watch over. Charlotte hadn’t had the best term ever, but Adam had foreseen that. He had tried to take her under his wing, but also kick her out of the nest and she hadn’t appreciated the latter. At least she claimed to have one friend and Adam wished her the best.

Her ideas for the painting booth sounded promising, but he hadn’t promised to join. The booth Adam wanted was a games booth where one could toss something into an enchanted cauldron and, if they made it, win a prize. It was simple enough for the vast range of students that would be at the fair and the second year Pecari was quite proud of the idea. With all the magic he had learnt in two years he thought he'd be able to do a good enough job with it.

The aroma of warm food was absolutely mouthwatering. As comforting as his home was, Sonora was easily becoming his second favourite place to be. He sat with his fellow Pecaris, trying not to make it obvious that he was splitting away from his sister. “Go to your house. I’ll see you later,” he promised and waved at her before sitting down. It wasn’t that he hated her or anything. She just needed to be a little more independent. He had coddled her a little too much growing up and she needed to grow wings.

Adam listened carefully to the headmistress’s speech, but it wasn’t as exciting as welcoming feast. He wondered if he would have to gather friends in order to register his booth, but he really hadn’t made close mates here. It really made him miss his friends back home. Adam had already decided the sort of booth he wanted so he would register it as soon as he could. He could make friends later if others wanted to join. Friends weren’t usually difficult for Adam to make.

The warm stews and soups looked particularly inviting after a long, cold journey back to school. He liked being at Sonora, but he really hated travelling all the way from England just to come here through Portkeys and the like. Once the Headmistress had finished, he grabbed a bowl of beef stew for himself and picked up the basket of bread. “Would anyone like any?” he asked politely while he had the basket in hand. The smell of the stew was going to kill him in a moment if he didn’t hurry and consume it. He could almost feel his stomach writhing inside of him.

40 Adam Spencer Ham, anyone? 257 Adam Spencer 0 5

Julian U.

July 27, 2013 4:12 PM

He and my mom must agree about some stuff. by Julian U.

Julian was glad to hear that at least she hadn’t done whatever had prompted that question, but still didn’t know exactly what had brought it on, and almost thought, when he did say what an unspecified someone had been giving him a hard time about, that she’d heard him wrong, since he was speaking quietly and people were talking all over the Hall. Probably, though, she had not.

Asked directly for what she thought of ‘that stuff,’ she paused for a second to try to organize exactly how to answer. She didn’t have the gift of quick speech anyway, and this was…well, at her house, this kind of discussion over the dinner table might have been all right, but at school, she would have rather have had it more privately. Mentioning that, though, was definitely not the way to go, so she started with one thing she was sure of.

“Well, I don’t think you’re a freak,” she said. The other thing he’d been called, her mother thought was a bad word, so she didn’t repeat that. Actually, Mom wouldn’t be too happy with the first half either, but she was disregarding that. “But…if you were, or whatever, well, I’d like you anyway. You’re fun, and you’re always nice to me –”

Which wasn’t the point. “But even if you weren’t, that wouldn’t be a reason for me to be mean to you about anything about you, and I don’t think I should anyway. I mean, I don’t think they’re things to be mean about.”

She was, she reflected, horrible at speaking about anything on the spot. She needed to work on that. A lot. “Okay?” she asked, a loaded question if she’d ever asked one. Are we all right? Did I say the right thing or make things worse? She was upset he was upset and really hoped the last option hadn't happened.

16 Julian U. He and my mom must agree about some stuff. 254 Julian U. 0 5

Dimitri Porter

July 28, 2013 2:11 PM

Return dinner with a friend (tag Ava) by Dimitri Porter

Dimitri finished placing his fencing gear inside the spare trunk that he planned on taking with him back to school for the fencing club. Luckily it was going into the trunk that had the wheels on the bottom of one end to make it easier to transport. His spare blades he placed in the bag he always carried them in when he and his family went to events. After checking over the contents of both his clothing trunk and his fencing gear trunk, Dimitri changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth and fell into his bed in a heap. It felt incredibly good to be sleeping in his own bed again as opposed to an air mattress on the floor with a bunch of his cousins. His grandparents house in England looked like a campground thanks to the number of bodies that were scattered around the floor of the main dining room thanks to Arista’s upcoming nuptials. Since the rooms upstairs were being cleaned for the wedding they were all forced to camp downstairs. It wasn’t necessarily the rooms themselves that were being cleaned, it was the carpets and rugs. With them all still wet and just being done, grams fussed about them being walked on before the wedding. Dimitri didn’t mind the whole camping deal since he and his family did it every summer for about two weeks straight due to one of the biggest SCA events ever. They had gotten up the next morning early to get ready for Arista’s wedding.

Dimitri found himself sort of lost in the shuffle. He and Darina had been asked to stand in Ris’ wedding party as a groomsmen and bridesmaid. His sister had to wear a dress that matched the one that his other cousins had to wear for the wedding. He felt pretty fortunate that all he had to do was wear a tux with a cummerbund that matched the colors of Ris’ wedding theme. The ceremony in and of itself was fairly short which he was glad for. He felt kind-of bad that Clara was stuck having to hang out with some weird guy the whole time and looked absolutely miserable doing it. Dimitri had tried talking to Dean, but even found himself looking for something else to do besides talk to him. He politely excused himself at some point and then stayed away the rest of the time. He figured he should probably feel bad about ditching Clara with Captain Personality, but technically Dean wasn’t his problem (or so he reasoned). He figured he’d make it up to her when they opened their Christmas presents. He got to meet his uncle Bryan’s new girlfriend and thought she was pretty nice. She made Ris’ wedding cake as a wedding gift which he thought tasted pretty awesome. Once the wedding and the reception were finished he was glad just to be spending time with his family and the few friends that made it from Sonora for the wedding.

A couple of days before the wagon was due to pick them up and take them all back to school, he, Darina, Caspian and their parents all went back home to Arizona. Dimitri spent his last couple of days of freedom getting his bags repacked. The morning they were to leave, his dad Damon helped them both put their trunks and bags onto the wagon for the trip back to school. After hugging his parents goodbye, Dimitri followed Darina into the wagon for the trip back to school. It felt kind-of good to be going back after such a weird break. He pulled out his sketchbook and flipped through it checking out all of the pictures he drew from the wedding that he wanted to show Ava when he saw again. She seemed to like his last batch. He couldn’t wait to show her the ones he drew of his cousins in their dresses. He even added colors to some of these drawings. As he was flipping through the rest of the pictures he came across the one he drew of Clara and Dean. He chuckled to himself as he studied it remembering the exact moment from the reception in which this event happened. The picture shows the two if the them sitting at one of the tables together, Dean talking spiritedly and Clara leaning on her elbow, her chin resting on her palm. Her face was a mixture of boredom and listlessness. Her eyes were half closed and her forehead was completely slacked. She quite literally looked like she was fighting sleep. He flipped through a few more pages of sketches until he reached an empty page. He closed the sketchbook and put it back into his book bag. He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes for the rest of the relatively short trip.

When the wagon stopped in front of the school, Dimitri found himself actually smiling a little than frowning a bit. Just before the break he had been a part of something pretty cool, but he wasn’t sure how his fellow classmates were going to treat him now because of it. Before the break his house had played Crotalus for the first match of the year. For the first time ever Teppenpaw actually won their match thanks to Brielle for catching the snitch. Dimitri had sat on his broomstick at the Teppenpaw hoops and about fell off his broom when he watched her put her hand around the little gold ball. Up until that point his sister, Carter, Derry, Laurie and Enion had done their best to keep the Crotali from scoring. He still felt really bad about Leo’s face and wanted to apologize for Carter’s quaffle hitting the Crotalus Keeper, but he wasn’t quite certain just how welcome his presence would be at the moment since he was part of the team that beat Leo’s. Dimitri was still pondering what to do about it as he followed his twin into the school and towards Cascade Hall. He made his way to the then decided not to when he spotted Ava. He waved smiling at her as he sat down at the table across from her. He was about to ask how her vacation went when the Headmistress began talking. He decided to wait until she was done with her announcements before he spoke again. When she mentioned the fair and a possible booth for it, Dimitri had an interesting idea strike him. What if he and Ave did a caricature booth and drew silly pictures of people for them for fun? It would be great and they would both get a lot of practice while doing it.

Once the headmistress released them, Mitri turned his attention back to Ava. “I hope you had a good vacation,” he told her cheerfully, reaching into his bag for his sketch book. “I’ve got some great pictures from my cousin’s wedding I drew that I want to show you. I also had a great idea for a booth for the fair…if you’re interested,” he told her excitedly. “What did you do for the break?” he asked, putting the sketchbook down on the table between them. He reached for the bowl of spaghetti with meatballs that was nearby and piled a bunch on his plate. He grabbed a garlic breadstick and placed that on his plate as well. He held the bowl of spaghetti out to her. “I’m sorry…did you want some of this too?” he asked, trying to make it appear as though he hadn’t forgotten all of his manners. He smiled apologetically.

0 Dimitri Porter Return dinner with a friend (tag Ava) 0 Dimitri Porter 0 5

Derry Four

July 28, 2013 5:17 PM

Out with a flash (Reggie) by Derry Four

Derry's break had been a good one. Everyone at home was feeling a lot better than they had been the last time he saw them (well, Mom had been suffering from some winter sniffles, but even that had been nothing like the bug that had sent most of the family into bed rest at the end of August). Ben was five now, so his little nephew was getting to be a real person, which was kind of cool. Derry had given him a deck of exploding snap cards and taught the kid how to play the game over the break. He wasn't sure that Gabby really appreciated the gift her son had received, but Ben laughed every time the cards blew up, so Derry figured he did well.

He'd also picked up a present for Reggie while he was home, and he had that wrapped and ready to give her once they got back to the common room. It was a nice picture frame, with a wizarding photograph of them at the ball last year, smiling and dancing during the prefect dance, that he'd gotten Thad to take for him. It was just a little too big to carry in to the feast, so he couldn't give it to her right away like he had last year when he'd gotten her a necklace that could fit into a convenient pocket-sized box.

Besides which, they were already dating now, so he didn't need to bribe her with a pretty piece of jewelry to get her to come to the end-of-year dance with him, so the common room later tonight was soon enough for their Christmas gift exchange. There was, however, another end-of-year activity to think about at the returning feast and as soon as the Headmistress finished talking and the food appeared, he turned to his best friend and girlfriend and asked, "What do you think about making an old-time photo shoot booth? We'd have people dress up like Victorians or Colonists or Cowboys or Pirates or whatever else - we'd have a bunch of costumes for them to choose from - and then we'd take their picture."

1 Derry Four Out with a flash (Reggie) 189 Derry Four 0 5

Maximilian J. McLachlan

July 29, 2013 5:01 PM

My swan song by Maximilian J. McLachlan

This was his last year at the returning feast and Josh was feeling the weight of the countdown. He wasn’t looking forward to it at all, but after taking care of some things over the break he felt a little more confident of what was going to happen. There were always going to be a few drawbacks to his plan, but what mattered most was getting out from under his family’s thumb and living to tell the tale. He had shaved the night before coming back and it felt so nice to feel his chin again. He rubbed his chin as he walked into Cascade Hall feeling a little melancholy and nostalgic. So much had changed since he had transferred here three years ago.

His winter break had been spent all over the place and not at his aunt’s, thank goodness. His relatives were used to him spending his Christmases at school so it didn’t seem weird. It wasn’t the first lie he had told them and it wasn’t going to be the last. Josh rubbed his face, feeling suddenly very weary after all the travel. He had been going from state-to-state back down to Arizona. It hadn’t been a very pleasant trip since all he really did was count down the days till he was back at school.

School had always been a safe haven for him ever since he was a child and he was not looking forward to it ending. Though he wasn’t afraid of the future anymore, he would miss learning from professors and seeing his peers and classmates on a daily basis. Even if he became a professor one day (like anyone would take him) it wouldn’t be the same. He had made some good memories here and at least one friend. It wasn’t like his old school in New Zealand, but it was still something and he had appreciated all that Sonora had offered.

Josh was rarely nostalgic, but he allowed it this one time. He cast a glance over at Brianna, wondering if she was happy with Linus. He had only heard a little bit of her blossoming relationship and he wished her the best. He had missed his prime time for romance, but it wasn’t like Josh really cared. The one girl he had liked was off-limits and out in New Zealand and he didn’t exactly have a magnetic personality. It was fine this way, though. Having very few attachments meant fewer weaknesses for his relatives to prey on. It was going to be a relief when he didn’t have to worry about them anymore.

He fought the creeping loneliness and focused on putting food onto his plate. He would excel on his RATS and would make the memory of his parents proud. And then he would simply pack his things and disappear. He only had one friend anyway and he had taken the necessary risks to keep her. He didn’t need anyone else.

0 Maximilian J. McLachlan My swan song 0 Maximilian J. McLachlan 0 5

Brianna Japos

July 30, 2013 5:14 PM

It'll be sad without you here. by Brianna Japos

Brianna’s midterm was pretty much the same as her summer went. She stayed inside except for the afternoon where her mother had taken her shopping. She said that they had come into some money recently and so, she had wanted to take Brianna out. Brianna had gotten a new dress, but she had also purchased small gifts for her friends. It had taken her awhile to figure out what to get each of them, not that she had many friends to buy for. Three, really. But they were important and she wanted to give them something they each would either appreciate or use. It was very foreign to her to have to buy gifts since normally she could only send a card.

She had intended on staying at the Crotalus table for the feast, but after spotting Josh sitting on his own, she thought the better of it and left her table to sit next to him. She would be able catch up with Linus in the common room and with Valerie in the dorm room. She didn’t think they would be too upset with her for sitting with Josh since she would not have an opportunity to catch up with him later.

Having found a seat, she placed the small wrapped box in front of him. Since Brianna had sat through the Headmistress’s speech at the Crotalus table, she had no fear of interrupting anything other than Josh’s own internal thoughts. “Merry Belated Christmas.” Brianna exclaimed as she smiled at him. It had taken her the longest to figure out Josh’s gift. Valerie’s had been the easiest, but probably because it was more of a sentimental thing than anything. Brianna had bought them friendship charm bracelets. It was the only jewelry that Brianna owned and it was identical to the one she would give to Valerie. Except, Valerie’s had ‘Best’ as a charm while Brianna had ‘Friend’. Both bracelets had their initials on it too. She hoped Valerie would like it. It was expensive to Brianna, but she was sure her friend had pricier things and worried that she might find it cheap. Linus’s gift was somewhat standard as she didn’t know what he wanted or had already. So, she bought him a hand crafted wizard’s chess set. She didn’t know if he played it, but he seemed the sort and Brianna loved to play it with her dad, so she thought it was something they could do together.

Josh’s gift, however, was the most expensive and difficult to find. “You don’t have to open it now, you can save it for when you’re in your dorm.” Brianna said lightly. Inside the box was a handwritten note from Brianna. It simply stated, ‘When you are lost and need a friend, please find me’. The item was that of a Deluminator. They were extremely rare and Brianna happened upon it in a small shop that was cast off from the rest of them. She hadn’t wanted to go in there out of fear, but something had compelled her to do it. The Deluminator was perfect.

“How was your midterm?” She asked him. She hadn’t written to him because she was sure he never would have replied anyway. “You shaved your beard.” She couldn’t lie, he had look charming with the facial hair, but a little too old for a seventeen year old.

6 Brianna Japos It'll be sad without you here. 203 Brianna Japos 0 5

Regina Parker

July 30, 2013 7:35 PM

Like a bat out of hell! by Regina Parker

Reggie’s midterm had gone as it usually did. She spent most of her time with her grandparents. This didn’t bother her too much because she loved to do projects with her grandmother. Her mother had been able to return home for a couple of days from work. Her father had wanted to go on a mini vacation during her time off, but because of her mother’s arrival, that had been put on hold. Reggie thought it would have been better for their final summer hurrah before she went off to college. Maybe invite Derry’s family along too. It had been so fun when they had gone skiing, she thought a beach vacation together would be nice too.

But that was still months away and Reggie wasn’t sure what the end of the year would bring for them. For now, she would focus on her RATS. She had already begun the process of applying to colleges and Universities. It was a long and daunting task, but she wanted to do it while both her parents were home. It was a little early to be submitting applications, but they were at least prepared and she could send the first round in February. The admissions part will only be fully determined after her RATS results were given, but knowing which schools she was pre-accepted to would be a great start.

Her Christmas gift for Derry was this really old fashioned colonial style belt that she had happened upon when she was shopping with her dad. When she had laid eyes onto it for the first time, all she could think of was Derry and his eccentric ways. She had almost laughed out loud at the thought of him. He might not like the belt, but it had brought her joy whenever she pulled it from the box. Maybe it was something to say for herself if a belt made her so happy if Derry wasn’t around.

She kissed him lightly in greeting when he sat beside her, but didn’t say much until after the speech and the food had appeared. Reggie tilted her head slightly as she thought over what Derry had offered up for a booth. She knew that they would do a booth together; they did everything together even before they were dating. But the idea of the booth itself had eluded her. She had thought about doing something with horror, but then thought that might put a label on her. Well, even more of a label. She was almost sure people had lumped her into some category by now.

“Mmm…” She said as she pretended to need to think deeply about his proposal. “I think it’ll be a fun booth idea.” She finally said with a giant grin. “You know I love anything with pictures.” This was an accurate statement; Reggie took pictures of as much as she could to put it in her scrapbook. “We could have it decorated with various backdrops to fit in with all the costumes! It’ll be fun.”

6 Regina Parker Like a bat out of hell! 187 Regina Parker 0 5

Ava Fletcher

July 30, 2013 10:11 PM

It feels so nice to have one. by Ava Fletcher

Ava's break had gone pretty well, her mother had been able to make it home to celebrate Christmas with them and ended up staying for the rest of the break until Ava had had to go back to school. Ava had been so excited for her mother stay the whole time that when Demetri had visited with his parents and grandfather the day after Christmas and tried to scare her by putting graphic pictures of seal clubbing on her door, Ava wasn't even bothered. She just cheerfully took them down and gave him his Christmas present- a forced pleasantry by the authorities of both parties. She was in such a good mood, she even hugged him after receiving her present, a pair of cozy knee-high wool socks. The only down part of her break, she decided, was that it went by all too quickly.

However, as her break came to an end, she got a little bit antsy- she'd told her mother and grandfather all about her DADA class where she'd met Dimitri (the nice Dimitri who shared her interests in art, not the Demetri who tattled on her and tried to scare her anytime they were forced to hang out), and she was excited to get back to school and talk to him. He was her first friend she could think of that was her own age and talking with him before the midterm had been extremely nice, so when it came time to pack up she had no problems doing so, saving a visit to the chocolate shop last. She hadn't been sure of the protocol of having friends at Christmas time or what to get them. Usually she gave her grandfather's friends cookies that she'd baked with his help, but she wasn't sure if Dimitri would want that. Instead, she decided to buy him some fudge, everyone liked chocolate, she reasoned, so fudge was probably her best bet. That night, she put the six pieces in a box and carefully wrapped it up before finding a secure place in her trunk for it so that it wouldn't be crushed by her books and art supplies.

The morning she got up to go back to school was hard because it meant saying goodbye to her grandfather and her mother, but this time she was able to bring Seal with her and she was going back to a friend! Just that knowledge was enough for her to get on the wagon and be excited. She'd made some trips to the beach as well as gone on a few nice hikes with her family- all of which had resulted in some sketches that she was rather proud of. Plus she'd worked on faces by drawing her mother every night after dinner. Charlotte Fletcher had been very willing and patient, probably a result from some guilt due to not being around for much of Ava's life after her husband's boating accident, and the hours of practice had helped Ava very much.

The wagon ride to school had been just as lonely as it had been that first time at the beginning of the year. She still didn't have anyone to talk to and she ended up spending the time watching Seal wander around the small area. Once at school, she got out of the carriage and put Seal back in her carrying case and left it with her trunk before walking into Cascade Hall. At the Aladren table she saw many faces that she recognized- the girls from her dorm for one, and the boys in her grade, as well as the second years who were in her classes. Not knowing any of them well enough to sit down next to them and start a conversation, Ava instead chose to take a seat a little bit apart from the others, hoping that the feast would be over soon and she would be able to find Dimitri to give him his Christmas present. She had left it in her trunk as she didn't know if she'd be able to see him during the feast, but she knew that she'd be able to find a Teppenpaw somewhere and ask for them to have Dimitri meet her in the library afterwards in order for her to hand over the gift. She was mulling over how she'd be able to make sure he got his message when he sat down right across from her. She looked up, startled, about to ask him why he was sitting at the Aladren table, when the Headmistress began her speech.

Afterwards, before she had a chance to ask, Dimitri began to talk. "I hope you had a good vacation," he said as his took out his sketchbook. “I’ve got some great pictures from my cousin’s wedding I drew that I want to show you. I also had a great idea for a booth for the fair…if you’re interested.” He looked very excited about his idea and that made Ava laugh. Her question could wait. "What did you do for break?" He asked, continuing his questioning as he put his sketchbook down on the table.

"My vacation was lovely, I got to spend a lot of time with my mom, what about you?" Ava answered, hoping to get all his questions answered in order to move on from the pleasantries and actually have a substantial conversation. "I'd love to hear your idea about the booth!" She opened his book and began to look at the sketches, now wishing that she'd thought to bring her sketchbook and his present in a bag to dinner. It seemed as though she was always going through hi things while he watched. "These are really lovely, I like them a lot. After dinner I should let you see mine- it would only be fair." She left out the mention of his present because she wanted it to be a surprise. As she looked through his book, Dimitri began piling food onto his plate. While she was hungry, she didn't mind waiting a little bit. She didn't want to get his art dirty after all. However, the smell of his spaghetti and meatballs was really starting to get to her and she closed his book and slid it back to him, taking care not to push it through any splatters of food that might have got on the table. "Here you go," she said. "I don't want to get it messy with food." She then accepted the bowl of spaghetti he was holding out to her and spooned some onto her plate. She grabbed two bread sticks and began to eat.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't realize how hungry I was!" She exclaimed through a mouthful of food. "I'm sorry, I have really bad table manners when I'm hungry!" She was halfway through her plate when she remembered that forgotten question. She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side a little, her forehead slightly wrinkled- and visible for the first time in ages. She'd finally taken her mother's advice and pinned her bangs out of her face and brushed her hair and left it unbraided choosing instead to hold it back with a headband. It felt weird not having the long braid swinging behind her but it was nice to be able to eat without hair in her face. She thought she might wear it like this more often although she was sure that her signature braid would probably make a comeback first thing that night- she hated to sleep with loose hair. "Why aren't you sitting with your house?" She asked. "Not that I don't enjoy your company." Far from that, actually, Ava really enjoyed being able to talk to freely with another person her age. It was quite comforting.

10 Ava Fletcher It feels so nice to have one. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro

July 31, 2013 1:40 AM

Mostly happy to be back at school. by Lucian D'Alesandro

Midterm had left a lot to be desired. Lucian was hoping to see his father during the break, but instead he only received his presents and a handwritten letter of apology for not making it home to visit. Among his presents was a new broom, a new foil for fencing, and a set of charcoal pencils. His father also included in the letter how proud he was that Lucian started his own club and made the Quidditch team. Lucian loved his gifts, but he would have liked to see his father. His mother spent most of her time in her room. She said she was ill, but Lucian suspected that she just didn’t want to deal with him or his sister.

Lucian had mixed feelings about returning to Sonora. On one hand, he would be happy to see Clara again and play Quidditch. He was also looking forward to the next Fencing Club meeting. On the other hand, the holidays gave him some time to think everything over, and he was away from all of the drama that seemed to follow him. Girls were always confusing. Clara didn’t really confuse him much, but Lucian found his sister to be quite annoying. She was always sticking her nose into everything.

Lucian had also spent some time trying to figure out the Baird girls, since he and Alex had been invited to their home for dinner during the holiday break. Their parents mainly wanted Lucian and Honey to spend time together, but Lucian really wanted no part of it. Heaven wasn’t present, for she was spending time with Henri at his estate, and Honey seemed to enjoy reminding Lucian about it every five seconds. It was all she talked about. How Henri is such a gentleman, how Heaven is probably having a great time…it was all so annoying. He kept trying to figure out what her deal was. Honey seemed to be hinting at something before during their betrothal conversation, but he just didn’t understand what. Heaven politely chatting with him during the Teppenpaw vs. Crotalus game confused Lucian even more, but he tried to stop thinking about it. He found himself a bit relieved when Alex and Honey went upstairs to hang out, but it left him alone downstairs with their parents, which was sort of awkward.

As Lucian made his way into the Hall for the Returning Feast, he spotted an empty seat at the Aladren table. He sat down and anxiously waited for the Headmistress to give her speech. Clara walked past on her way to the Pecari table and waved at him, so he waved back and returned her smile. Lucian pulled out a book from his back pocket and flipped through it. He had wanted to buy a present for Clara when he went into town, but he couldn’t figure out what to get her. His first idea was a charm bracelet containing a charm for each of her talents and interests. However, that seemed too easy. He wanted something a bit more personal, so he opted for a homemade gift. With the help of his new charcoal pencils, Lucian put together a small journal of drawings.

Some showed Clara participating in things such as fencing, Quidditch, and ballet. Other pages depicted memories he had of them together. He drew what she looked like at the ball, their pillow fight in class, and her sitting on the blanket playing with a blade of grass the last time they were alone together before break. He had taken the drawings and bound them together, and added a brown leather cover. Lucian was nervous to give it to her, but he hoped that she would like it.

Once the Headmistress began her speech, he put the journal down and listened attentively. Lucian was actually curious about the booths for the fair. He wanted to participate, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do yet. After a few moments, he had a weird feeling that someone was watching him, so he looked around the room. He turned his gaze towards the Crotalus table, for he assumed it was his sister glaring at him, and noticed Heaven Baird was staring right at him. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a curious look as she quickly ducked her head down, allowing her hair to cover her face. She had not been glaring at him, but rather gazing at him with a slight smile. Lucian quickly refocused his attention to the table he was sitting at. What in the world was going on with these girls? He felt his face redden a bit in embarrassment, and refused to look up from the table until the speech was over.

He quickly rose from his seat, not daring to look at Crotalus table again, and made his way to the Pecari table. Lucian took the journal out of his back pocket and sat beside Clara. She was so busy filling her plate up with food that she hadn’t noticed him sitting down next to her. He turned his back to her as he flipped through the journal once more to make sure everything was perfect, and felt her tap him on the shoulder as she asked for salt and pepper. He laughed a bit, and then turned to face her.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you. You seemed very focused on the food.” He grinned a little and held out the journal for her. “I made you a present.”

OOC: Everything mentioned about Heaven and Honey was approved by their author.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro Mostly happy to be back at school. 223 Lucian D'Alesandro 0 5

Josh McLachlan

July 31, 2013 5:07 PM

I'll be sad away from here. by Josh McLachlan

Josh hadn’t expected anyone to sit with him during the feast, thinking Brianna would opt to sit with her Crotalus friends, so he was pleasantly surprised to find her near. He was even more surprised when she put a small package in front of him. A Christmas present? “I…didn’t get you anything,” he said lamely as he looked at it. It had been a long time since he had received a gift from a friend. It would suffice as both a Christmas and birthday present. His birthday was only eight days after New Year’s Day so he had never really made a big deal of it. He’d never had to nor wanted to.

He looked up and smiled at her, his gray eyes bright. “Thank you. That’s really…nice of you.” He didn’t have the words to express his joy, so he simply took it. He wanted to open it immediately, but he didn’t want to embarrass her. Perhaps it would be best to open it in private and express his gratitude to her later on. He could never do his emotions justice in public spaces.

It probably wasn’t difficult to tell he looked different, but it pleased him that she had noticed. He rubbed his bare chin again. “Yeah. I’ve never grown it out before so I thought I should try it at least once. But I’m glad it’s gone now.” He had decided to live with it as soon as he graduated so hopefully he would get used to it over time.

“My midterm was busy, to say the least. I spent most of it in Colorado where I was born. My parents’ house doesn’t exist anymore, but it was nice seeing the town.” His tone was light to keep Brianna from worrying about him and to keep his emotions from showing. “The rest of it I spent traveling around the Midwest back down to Arizona. I was killing time.” It was safe to say he had successfully avoided all contact with his relatives for those couple of weeks. It had been a nice reprieve from the previous stressful months.

The loneliness that had welled up in his chest had dissipated with Brianna’s presence. It was dangerous being so dependent on friendly human contact. Once he was out of school and his plan had gone through swimmingly, he would be able to freely interact with people once more. “How was your midterm?” he asked in return as he decorated his mashed potato pile with gravy and pepper. He wondered suddenly if she had used her last cents to buy his gift and he felt bad. He hoped his anonymous gift had been received well. The gift was burning a hole in his pocket and he was yearning to open it. If it was nothing but a folded up note or a really tiny quill, he wouldn’t care. It was a gift for him and he wished he had thought to bring Brianna something in exchange.

0 Josh McLachlan I'll be sad away from here. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Waverly Canterbury

July 31, 2013 5:23 PM

Just so...tired... by Waverly Canterbury

Waverly had the best friends ever. During the latter half of last term, she had feared going back home. She had found such comfort and joy working at school again and being so busy she could barely sleep. She loved being with her fellow magical friends and living on her own schedule. She had feared going back home and wallowing in her sorrows again with nothing else to do. But instead she had gone to England with her family for the break and had attended Brielle's sister's wedding. It was cool being in a totally new place and seeing cousins that she never even knew existed. She knew her dad had relatives in England, but she had never visited them before. Technically that was her first time outside of the US and as much as she liked exploring a new place, she liked being back home.

The trip back to Sonora was short for her and her sister, but Waverly felt especially tired today for some reason. She had finally bitten the bullet the night before and called up George, Brandon's best friend, to ask about her ex. She knew she probably shouldn't have done it, but it was still comforting to hear that he was slowly getting over her. It was sad, but her heart didn't hurt as much as it once had.

Waverly was overjoyed to be back at Sonora and she felt brighter than she had last term. Finally coming to terms with her emotions, spending time with her family on vacation, and hearing that Brandon was doing okay was all part of the healing process. Waverly had come back with presents too for her friends. Just little things and some souvenirs from her trip. She hadn't had access to any magical post office back home so she had brought it all with her. That was part of the reason why the gifts were so small. She would give it to her friends when she saw them.

The Headmistress's gave her speech and reminded Waverly of the Baking Club booth again. She stifled a yawn. She had planned on a fundraising booth for the club so they could afford more supplies for more complicated recipes. Though her mom provided a lot of the supplies, she couldn't supply everything. Waverly didn't want to keep charging her fellow club members for joining so raising money for the club would be a great idea. She was glad she would get the opportunity to do so with her friends in the club.

The next yawn that attacked was sudden so Waverly couldn't help it. Her eyes watered as a result and she rubbed one sleepily. What she really wanted to do was just put her head down on the table and fall asleep. She really needed to get to her dorm room and just knock out. She could catch up with her roommates later. But she still had dinner to get through before she could do anything so she put some spaghetti on her plate and smiled at the people around her. "Hi," she greeted them. "Did you have a good midterm?" As tired as she was, she didn't want to be standoffish and unfriendly.

19 Waverly Canterbury Just so...tired... 218 Waverly Canterbury 0 5

Wendy Canterbury

July 31, 2013 6:00 PM

So much to share! [tag Carter] by Wendy Canterbury

The moment Wendy had stepped foot on Sonora grounds she couldn't stop thinking about her best friend. She had very few friends at Sonora, but she did have a best friend and she had a present for him. She was thirteen now and getting to the age where boys were suddenly, well, boys, and she was getting taller and was starting to feel kind of weird around them. But Carter was different because he was her best friend. Her older sister had made fun of her outfit for today, but Wendy didn't really care. She was wearing a bright yellow dress with quarter sleeves that made her pale skin and bright blonde hair look pale in comparison. She had worn brown boots to match and a headband made of daisies. Waverly had tried to advise her to wear something less flashy, but Wendy hadn't really listened. This style matched her personality pretty perfectly these days.

She rushed into Cascade Hall, leaving her sister behind, and dutifully took a seat at the Pecari table as she looked for Carter with the other Teppenpaws. The Headmistress's speech went over her head until she finally spotted him and she smiled. His present was in her hands and she was jiggling her foot with excitement. When the Headmistress finally dismissed them, she jumped up and went to the Teppenpaw table and sat right next to Carter.

"Hi!" she exclaimed. "Guess what I have?" She handed the present to him, her hazel eyes shining with excitement. She had gone to Diagon Alley in London when she and Waverly were there. Wendy hadn't been able to take her parents, but she had so much fun showing her parents all she had purchased from the magical alley.

The first little gifts she had packed into the wrapping paper were a couple pieces of fudge she had saved from the candy shop in Diagon Alley, and the second was a wand holder for his arm that she had knitted herself once her great-aunt from England had taught her how to knit. It was soft and Carter's favorite color and Wendy had even put a charm on it that made it secure once it had been tied onto a person's arm. She really could not wait until he opened it.

"Open it now!" she squeaked, excited to see what he thought of it. She wasn't really sure if wand holders were used in the wizarding world, but they proved to be a useful place to put wands when a person didn't want to hold it all the time but wanted easy access to it. Wendy was also really proud of the fact that it was knitted. She had never knitted before this midterm and it had taken three tries before she had finally perfected Carter's wand holder. It had taken another two tries to perfect the spell too and that had been done in the carriage ride over so she didn't get in trouble for using magic back home. That meant it was crudely wrapped since it had been re-wrapped in a hurry. Hopefully Carter didn't mind that too much and just appreciated her handcrafted gift.

19 Wendy Canterbury So much to share! [tag Carter] 245 Wendy Canterbury 0 5

Clara

July 31, 2013 7:31 PM

Only mostly? I'm sorry dude by Clara

Clara had been a tad preoccupied by the food on her plate and missed it when someone had come over to sit beside her. When she tapped her neighbor she hadn’t quite been paying attention to who she was tapping until he turned around, smiling at her. She was delighted and a little surprised to see Lucian sitting next to her at the Pecari table. She giggled at his comment and shrugged sheepishly. “Yeah sorry,” she replied. “I did get a little lost in the food, didn’t I?” She laughed slightly, taking the shakers from him. She could feel her cheeks burn a little when he told her he had made her a present. She smiled curiously at him and cocked her head slightly to the side. She took the brown leather bound journal he handed her and after putting the shakers on the table, she started flipping through the journal. She let out a small gasp of surprise as she glanced at the drawings he made of her doing stuff. She smiled at the fencing picture and giggled when she came to the picture showing their pillow fight. She remembered how surprised she had been when he whapped her one right there in class. She had returned the favor, whapping him right back. She laughed slightly at how flustered she had looked the last time they were together before the break. He actually drew her sitting there playing with the blade of grass she had plucked nervously from the lawn as she asked him if they were indeed a couple. She smiled again when she thought of his reply to that question.

She flipped to the picture of her ballet dancing and shook her head. His rendition of her dancing made her look far more graceful than she actually was. She appreciated the idea, but would have to remind him that should they ever get the chance to actually dance together his toes would mostly likely be in trouble. She grinned at the picture he drew of her playing Quidditch and again shook her head. He was far nicer than she deserved in that respect. Sure, she could now fly around on her broom without maiming herself, but she had no idea how she was going to look flying around on it for their Quidditch match. She just hoped that she lived up to his eloquent picture of her. “Lucian…this is wonderful,” she told him beaming. “I love it. I mean, a couple of the things you drew me doing I totally stink at, but I absolutely love it,” she gushed, hugging the journal against her chest. “Thank you.” She giggled slightly. “Just so you know, if we should ever get the chance to dance together your toes might be in serious trouble,” she warned him. She wanted to hug him or kiss him on the cheek or something, but wondered if that might be considered too public. She resigned to waiting until they were hanging out alone again before she did so. Instead she just smiled at him. She chuckled slightly and reached into the pocket of her own robes. “I have something for you as well,” she told him.

She knew the gift was silly and slightly impersonal, but she had seen it at a gift shop in London and just couldn’t resist. It was a blue t-shirt that had two men in fencing gear on the front and read “I fence therefore I am.” When you flip the t-shirt over the back reads, “Got foils?” She immediately snatched it up and wrapped it as soon as she returned home just before coming back to school. She had folded the shirt down as small as she could get it and wrapped it in paper that depicted two different knights in armor. One of the knights had a gag tied around his mouth and the other had holes throughout his armor. Clara’s dad had to explain it to her for her to get the joke. She hoped Lucian was quicker with it than she was. She pulled the small-ish package out of her pocket and handed it to him. She took a bite from her plate as she waited for him to open it. “I hope you like it,” she told him shyly. “I wasn’t sure of the size so I guessed. If it doesn’t fit I can have my grandparents send me another one with the right size,” she told him. “I hope your holiday was better than mine,” she commented, picking at her food a bit. She did her best to push aside the nightmarish thoughts that were Dean and focus on the now. She was soo glad that her grandparents seemed to share her opinion of him and decided not to betroth them. “Okay it wasn’t all that bad,” she said. “At least my grandparents agreed with me that Dean was a bore and soo NOT the right person for me. Thank goodness for small miracles,” she grinned as she carefully tucked his gift inside her robe pocket.

“Now for the fun part,” she teased. “Any ideas on how we make the non-public dating thing work?” she inquired lightly, taking a bite from her plate again and chewing slowly. “I had thought secret messages and codes might work, but that seemed a bit ridiculous and complicated,” she said, wrinkling her nose slightly. “Then I thought maybe just picnicking in random spots was a better idea. We could send each other a message the night before or something and meet in predetermined spots. It would keep things pretty quiet for us and it might make it hard for your sister to nose around,” she added. “I’m hoping on that last part. I know there’s no guarantee there.” She wrinkled her nose slightly at that part and shook her head. “Oh well…anyway. Have you thought about what the headmistress said about the booths? I personally think you should totally do one. You could do like a fencing booth or a drawing booth. I could try helping out with it if you’d like, although I should probably warn you now that I volunteered to help Charlie with his fashion booth as well. Its funny that I signed up to help seeing how I know next to nothing about fashion other than what I like,” she giggled. “I have no idea what help I’ll be to him, but it couldn’t hurt to try right? Besides if I remember correctly the booths will be set up for certain times so I’ll be able to help out at both of them,” she told him. She started laughing slightly. “Can you just imagine it though? Its going to be bad isn’t?” she asked, still laughing at the idea.

0 Clara Only mostly? I'm sorry dude 232 Clara 0 5

Dimitri

July 31, 2013 7:34 PM

Indeed it does by Dimitri

Dimitri laughed a bit when Ava asked what he was doing at the Aladren’s table and why he was not sitting at his own house’s. He shrugged slightly. “I was hoping we’d get the chance to hang out again outside of class and this seemed to be the best way to do it, besides I don’t really know anyone that well from my own house yet (except for maybe my sister and my teammates). Sitting over here with you seemed like a better idea to me,” he told her. He chuckled when she apologized for having terrible table manners when she was hungry. He waved it off. “There’s no need to apologize,” he assured her. “My table manners crash as well when I’m hungry. Its really nothing to worry about.” He grinned at her taking a bite from his plate. He tucked the sketchbook on the other side of his plate when she handed it back to him. “Thanks. It would kind-of stink if they got dirty, but I wouldn’t have been angry about it.” He was glad to hear that she had a nice break, spending time with her mom. “Sounds like you had a good time,” he commented, taking another bite and chewing it up. He was still chewing when she asked about his break. He nodded slightly.

“It was interesting,” he told her. “My eldest cousin got married at our grandparents house in England. I had to wear a tux for it and my sister was one of the bridesmaids…um…we went on a tour of the Tower of London and then opened Christmas presents. We had a lot of fun…well most of us anyway.” He laughed slightly while he thought about Clara getting stuck having to hang out with Dean. “I don’t think my cousin Clara had too much fun given that she had to spend time with this really boring guy named Dean while we were there for the wedding. I think our grandparents were trying to talk her dad into betrothing them, but I’m not sure what happened with that. Other than that it was pretty good,” he told her. He grinned when she told him she was interested in hearing his booth idea. He almost couldn’t sit still, he was that excited about it. “I was thinking that we could do a Caricature booth,” he explained. “You and I could draw funny pictures of people and sell them for like a quarter or something. It would be great practice for Art club. Heck, we could donate anything we make from it to the Art club for like supplies and stuff. What do you think?” he asked her. He took another bite of his pasta and chewed it up. It was with that in mind that a thought struck him that he almost forgot about. As a gift he had drawn a caricature of her and had it framed.

It showed her facing forward and smiling, streaks of oil paint in her hair and on her face. He drew her hair in the braid it was in when they first met. He drew her wearing a smock that was streaked with paint of varying shades. The only thing about the whole picture that made it the silliest was the size of her head. He had drawn it and her features oversized to show the caricature part. He had a color spattered border put around the picture and had it framed in a blue plastic frame for her house color. He was fairly certain her house color was blue. He wasn’t entirely certain, but it looked good anyway. “I made you a couple of presents. I hope that’s okay,” he told her rummaging in his bag for her gifts. The other present he had gotten for her was a t-shirt from the Tower of London tour. It was blue as well. He thought the t-shirt was funny because it actually read on the back “My friend went to the Tower of London and all I got was this blooming t-shirt”. It also had the location and the year of the trip. Dimitri figured it was a safe gift to get her. He guessed on the size though since he wasn’t sure what size shirt she wore. He figured it was probably the same size shirt that his sister wore. He pulled the gifts out of his bag and handed them to her. He had even gone to the trouble of wrapping them. “I really hope you like them,” he told her. He nodded when she mentioned showing him some of her drawings. “I would love to see them,” he told her. “You’re right it is only fair,” he winked at her playfully.

0 Dimitri Indeed it does 0 Dimitri 0 5

Carter

July 31, 2013 8:18 PM

Can't wait to hear about it by Carter

Carter found himself having a hard time sleeping the night before his trip back to school. Since he couldn’t seem to sleep he tried to occupy himself with packing. He was still completely astonished that he and the rest of the Teppenpaw team had actually managed to finally win a Quidditch game. He and Arista had tried their best to help the team get a win for Kristenna as captain his first year on the team and was still slightly bummed that Kate missed out on her turn while as captain thanks to the challenges. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. It is too bad that we couldn’t win while they were captains, but we managed to do it this time. That has to count for something right? he wondered to himself as he tried to talk himself into sleeping. It was a hard sale though thanks to the amount of endorphins that were being dumped into his system just then. He finally managed to fall asleep sometime around three a.m. He woke up at the alarm and grumpily pushed back the blankets. He stumbled out of bed and took a quick shower before putting on his outfit he’d be wearing back to school. He did a last minute inventory check, making sure that his Quidditch robes were packed safely in his school trunk and his new broom was ready to leave the house with the rest of his luggage. He rode with his parents to the pick-up location for the wagon and waited semi-patiently. He played with Payton while he waited.

Once the wagon arrived to take him back to school, he handed Payton back to their mom after giving her a bear-cub hug goodbye. He gave his parents a hug and then boarded the wagon after his father placed his items on the back. He waved goodbye to them out of the window as the wagon pulled away. He sat back against the seat and rested his head against the wood. He closed his eyes and tried to nap on the ride back to school. He was hoping to run into Wendy once they got back and ask her how her break went. He hadn’t gotten much of chance to hang out with her since the beginning of the term at the pool party. He thought about how his own break had gone and shook his head slightly. The trip home on the wagon had been pretty quiet (at least for him), but had immediately picked up once he arrived home. He and his family were spending Christmas with his grandparents in Dublin. Christmas in Ireland…he couldn’t wait! He didn’t know if Kinley and her parents (his aunt and uncle) would be coming as well since he hadn’t really spoken to his cousin since the summer break just before school. She seemed to be in her own little world lately that didn’t include him. He shrugged a little. I did want her to venture out on her own a bit he told himself shrugging again. He had gotten a new broom for Christmas that he was promised flies twice as fast as the relic he was riding on. Carter laughed at that comment seeing how his old “relic” of a broom helped his team win their match against Crotalus.

Carter had gotten a few other surprises for Christmas, but had to leave them at home. His parents had apparently gotten him a second pet rat, which they discovered was a female. His pet rat Toodles now apparently had a friend to play with. He had also gotten a new potions cauldron which he felt was silly since he had a perfectly good one already. He left that one at home. He did however take the new potions ingredients he had gotten with him to school. The kit was soo extensive that half of what was in it he couldn’t identify by sight. He had packed those into his school trunk as well. Carter got off the wagon and followed the other students in front of him towards Cascade Hall. He glanced around trying to see if he could spot his cousin Kinley to wave hello. Not really seeing her anywhere he walked over to the Teppenpaw table and sat down. He tried his best to pay attention to the headmistress’ speech. He frowned slightly at the idea of dong a booth of some kind and wasn’t sure what (if anything) he would do for it. It helped to know that participation was voluntary. Once the headmistress was done talking, Carter reached for the nearest plate to him and placed some of the food on it onto his own plate. It was fried chicken. He placed a few pieces on his plate and moved to the mashed potatoes, piling those on as well. He poured himself a glass of lemonade and dug in. Man, did he miss the prairie elves cooking! He was about to dig in when Wendy plopped herself down at the Teppenpaw table. Carter heard the plop from the bench and glanced up to see his best friend smiling widely at him. He smiled back curiously and was about to ask how she was when she chirped up. “Hi…guess what I have? she said to him pretty chipperly. Carter shrugged watching her curiously.

“I dunno…a present from your sister?” he lamely guessed. He was about to ask what she was holding when she thrust it at him. It was a wrapped present. He hadn’t expected her to get him a present, but found himself glad that she had. It made the little silver bracelet with the celtic knot hanging from it that he had gotten for her while in Ireland seem like a far less creepy thing to do. He had gotten it while they were visiting with his mother’s parents in Dublin over the break. He had hoped that she would like it. Girls liked stuff like that, right? He took the gift that she held out to him from her and gave the once over. He smiled to himself that she had thought to get him something and was about to carefully tear it open when she seemed to bark at him. “Open it now!” she had squealed with excitement. Carter held up his hands in surrender. “Okay…okay. Just hang on a sec,” he laughed slightly getting excited himself. He tore open the wrapper and pulled out the pieces of fudge and the knitted item from the wrapping. He grinned at the fudge and glanced curiously at the item that was knitted. He had no idea what the item was for, but it was definitely cool (whatever it was). It was also made in his favorite color which happened to be a dark green. “Blimey…this was really nice of you,” he told her. “How did you know fudge was my favorite? I really like whatever this thing is,” he told her, holding up the knitted item. “Um…forgive me for asking, but what is it exactly?” he asked curiously.

While he waited for her to explain what it was he pulled his own gift for her out of his robe pocket. Since he was absolutely horrid at wrapping things Carter had asked his mother to help him wrap Wendy’s gift. When she asked whom the gift was for Carter had mumbled it was for a girl at school. His mother simply smiled, helping him wrap the trinket while his father teased him shamelessly. By the time it was time to leave to come back to school, Carter was ready to shoot himself just to starve off the embarrassment. He was glad he had remembered to put her present in his pocket. He was having a hard time trying to find something flowery to say, but found himself saying instead, “Um…here. This is for you.” He put the small wrapped box into her hand just before turning back to his plate so she couldn’t see how badly his cheeks were burning. “I hope you like it.” He stole a glance in her direction to see what her reaction to it would be. He had noticed her outfit when she sat down and was now focusing on it again trying to distract himself as he waited. “By the way…you look really nice,” he complimented her hoping his compliment hadn’t come to late.

0 Carter Can't wait to hear about it 0 Carter 0 5

Jude Butler

August 01, 2013 1:25 AM

Comfort Food is the BEST by Jude Butler

Jude wasn’t really all that talkative the first half of term. But she was willing to bet that it was because of a lot of things going on at home. Things were sort of odd when she found out that she was magical, but it was a good odd. But after her first year was finished and she was home for Summer she almost didn’t even want to go back. Sure, she liked Sonora, but there was a part of her that just wanted to be home with her family.

Going back for second year was a scary thing for the now 12 year old. The only one she really wanted to talk to was Angel, but without the Challenges, she hadn’t really had any opportunity to talk to him. As much as she missed him, she was sure that he really didn’t want to hang out with a puny little second year. She could be wrong, but who was she to know?

The wagon ride back to school was solemn and quiet, at least in her corner. She missed home and wanted Dane, Seanan and her little Luca. She sat in a corner, staring out the window as all the scenery went by her. The Wagon pulled up to school and she joined the others at the Returning Feast. She didn’t know what would be said, or who would possibly sit next to her, but the second year hoped that it was someone who was going to be nice to her. She just missed home…

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau spoke about the Midsummer Event, which was the fair and she wondered if it would be possible for some of the family to be able to come and join her there, but she doubted it. She thought that Luca would have loved seeing it!

The food arrived, and a large bowl of spaghetti appeared in front of her, a second bowl (one filled with meatballs and sauce) sat beside it. “Spaghetti!” she exclaimed, happily. She’d been craving something like that. Comfort food was the best. “I love spaghetti!”

0 Jude Butler Comfort Food is the BEST 0 Jude Butler 0 5

Aubrielle Thornton

August 01, 2013 1:27 AM

But glad to be back! by Aubrielle Thornton

Aubrielle wasn’t sure about dressing up like she had to for the Wedding. She knew why she had to, but she hated dresses unless she was in a show. Ris had to sit down and explain to her that it was almost like doing a show and that was the only thing that made Bri want to put on the Bridesmaid’s dress. Of course Clara, Rina and many other sisters were also wearing the same dress as well, so that helped too.

She was glad that Waverly was able to come too. It came in handy that her family was there on a vacation at the same time, and she was so excited to show one of her best friend’s all around!

But, with the Wedding over and done with, and school starting again, she traveled on the Wagon with the others. Bri had been reading a book of monologues and had decided that the first night there her signs were going up for Drama Club. She really hoped that she’d get a good turnout for it!

Following the others into the Hall for the Returning Feast, she waved as the family split to their house tables. Spotting Wendy, Rory and Josephine, she waved to them as well and sat down between Waverly and an empty seat. Whoever sits there I will befriend. she thought to herself, smiling in Waverly’s direction, though she wasn’t sure if her best friend had seen her. She heard someone sit down on her other side and smiled at them as well.

I’m friendly. And I can do anything. she thought to herself, smile on her face as Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau started speaking to them all. As weird as Midterm had been, she was both glad it happened and that it was over now. The Wedding wasn’t a complete travesty. After all, the most important part of it was that her sister was happy and her new husband was treating her right. Their father didn’t show up, which was a VERY good thing, and if the only issue they had was the wedding cake slightly melting over to the point where it was jokingly called the leaning tower of cake, then everything was fine!

The Headmistress spoke on about the Midsummer Fair and Bri kept her attention on the words that were said and nodded when it was mentioned that a sheet would go up for a list of booths shortly. They were released to their food and friends and Bri smiled at Waverly again, “Have a good rest of midterm?” she asked.

0 Aubrielle Thornton But glad to be back! 0 Aubrielle Thornton 0 5

Addison Thornton

August 01, 2013 1:59 AM

Uhm... sand? by Addison Thornton

The fact that the year was flying by was very scary to Addison. That meant that her RATs exams were getting closer than ever, and even with her sister getting married over the break and the whole family basically camping out in London throughout all of it, Addi still managed to find time to study. Though she was one of the people to collect both Josephine (whom she was THRILLED could come to her sister’s wedding!) and Rory to go to England, as well as to drop both off (the latter with Ana) on the way back, she still found time to put her nose in a book.

Addi was determined to get good marks and make her Mother proud, but she was terrified that she’d mess up on something that was so important that she’d end up in a worse meltdown than she had during the CAT’s in her fifth year. She knew that Josephine understood how she was feeling, so she took solace in the fact that her best friend was right there with her.

Coming back to Sonora after winter break was going to take Addi right back into sticking her nose in a book as many hours in the day as she could. Her eyes were starting to hurt already, but she took it as the fact that she was probably just really tired (which she was), so she didn’t do anything about it. Walking into Cascade Hall with the others, she spotted Josephine and waved to her best friend before going to sit at Teppenpaw’s table. She spotted a seat open next to Michael, so she took it. She didn’t know him very well (in fact, the only one she knew well was Josephine- apart from her family), but she knew that he was a year younger than she was.

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau started speaking to them and once all the announcements had finished she turned back towards Michael again. She’d decided that she wasn’t going to be involved in any of the booths at the fair, that she would use all of her time where she needed to, in study.

Having turned to Michael, she noticed that he had put some beef on his plate, but before she could ask if it was good, he mumbled something that didn’t sound like it was a happy thing. Addi looked at him, worriedly, but still asked, “I’m sorry? But I couldn’t help but hear that you don’t sound so happy… Is there anything I can do?”

0 Addison Thornton Uhm... sand? 190 Addison Thornton 0 5

Amira Thornton

August 01, 2013 11:29 AM

Me too! Let's do this! by Amira Thornton

Amira had taken a lot of passion out of Teppenpaw’s win against Crotalus. Teppenpaw had always been the underdogs, and though she wished that the team could have won every now and again, it hadn’t really happened. Bri had managed to catch the Snitch, and they had won. The underdog had won the first game of the year, and it was that which spurred Amira’s desire to win the second game for Pecari. As hard as it would be for her to play a Beater against Brielle, (if they won) she’d do it and she’d play fair.

Arista’s wedding was over the break and the family (with a few friends) celebrated the happy day between Christmas and New Years. There were also a few days in England before and after the occasion. Mir, however, used it to come up with tricks to use for her team against Aladren for Game Two of the year. She knew that Andri was actually playing first string, but she was Keeper, so it could be good or bad. That had yet to be decided.

But, the term was now starting again and her planning hadn’t stopped due to getting back onto the Wagons to school. Mir kept to herself in the corner and kept jotting down notes in her notebook even as the Wagon pulled back up to school. The sixth year put her book away and joined her sisters and cousins as they all walked into Cascade Hall.

Amira sat down next to Rupert, her friend and teammate and wanted to say hello to him straight off, but Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau welcomed them and spoke about the Midsummer’s Event, the Fair. Amira didn’t really have any desire to work on a booth as of yet, but she listened to the rules regarding them anyway. It would do her no good to not pay attention if by chance she came up with an idea.

When the Headmistress let them at it, she turned back to Rupert. She liked the boy, he had worked well with her in the past and she knew that he would do the same again this year. The food appeared in front of them and she watched as he put some ham and cranberry sauce on his plate. He asked her if she had a good holiday and she nodded. “Sure did. My oldest sister got married over in England and I came up with some really good plans for our team. We can win, I know we can.” she said to him. She knew that Rupert wanted a win as much as she did and if both Beaters were involved and wanted the same thing they would have an easy time to convince the others of the fact that they could win.

When Rupert asked her if she wanted some ham, she smiled at him and politely nodded her head. “That sounds wonderful! Thank you!” she paused to see that there were some mashed potatoes nearby her, and she added that to her plate too. “Would you like some potatoes?” she asked him, in return.

0 Amira Thornton Me too! Let's do this! 208 Amira Thornton 0 5

Abigail Thornton

August 01, 2013 11:31 AM

Will you pass the corn and mashed potatoes? by Abigail Thornton

Abigail knew that her oldest sister getting married was important to the family, and as much as it should have been important to her, it really wasn’t. She’d have much rather spent all of her time with the horses, or with Anders. But she had no choice but to go to the Wedding. At least Wendy would be there with her family, so it couldn’t be all bad, could it?

Abi couldn’t wait to show Wendy all the horses on the Manor grounds, and the library and everything, so she was glad at least her best friend would be coming! When Wendy and the others all joined them there, she stole her best friend and they went walking all over the grounds. Abi told her what each of the horses were named and things about them, plus any other animals as well. The Crotalus hoped that she didn’t bore her best friend, but she preferred the animals over her family any day. Especially wherever her brother Alexander and sister Ariel involved…

But, thankfully, now the Wedding was over and it was time to go back to school. Abi spent the Wagon ride in a corner, by herself, with a book about horses her grandparents had gotten her for Christmas. She couldn’t wait to show it to Jade and the others! She’d also had an idea for a fundraising thing for the Horse Club and couldn’t wait to talk to Jade about it.

Abi knew that Jade and Mira never got along, but she wasn’t Mira. She was herself and they did have their love of horses in common.

Walking into Cascade Hall with the others, she made her way to sit at Crotalus’ table, unsure if she cared if anyone sat near her or not. Part of her wanted Jade to, but the older girl wouldn’t want anything to do with the younger Crotalus by her own thoughts. If someone sits next to me, they sit next to me. she thought to herself, wondering if perhaps Wendy would risk it and come sit with her. She hadn’t really noticed who sat down there, because just as someone slipped into the seat, Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau started speaking.

Within the welcome she mentioned the Fair and Abi smiled at the thought for an idea for raising funds for the Horse Club. The Headmistress set them all free and Abi took that moment to see what food was there around her and who had actually sat next to her.

Spotting the bowl of creamed corn and another of mashed potatoes on the other side of her neighbor, she turned to them and asked, “Do you mind passing the corn and the mashed potatoes?”

0 Abigail Thornton Will you pass the corn and mashed potatoes? 242 Abigail Thornton 0 5

Waverly

August 01, 2013 9:34 PM

And hang out with friends! by Waverly

When Waverly saw Bri, she gave her a hug. "Hi! The rest of my midterm was pretty great. Relaxing, I guess. We spent Christmas Eve touring around the shopping district in London and then Christmas Day packing." She laughed a little. "And then we went back home for New Year's. How was the rest of yours? Did you get to see Marius? Ooh, and how's the formation of the Drama Club going?" She had heard only bits of her best friend's desire for the Drama Club and she thought it would be such an awesome addition to the number of clubs that already existed. She had wanted to join, but with all the other commitments she had she didn't think she could stretch herself any thinner.

"Do you think you'll be able to be VP for the Baking Club okay and lead the Drama Club too?" she asked, worried that Bri might stretch herself thin too. It was the sort of lifestyle that Waverly thrived in, this perpetual state of sleeplessness and lots of strong tea in the morning, but she wasn't sure if everyone would do as well.

"Are you going to join the Baking Club booth too?" she continued. "Wow, I feel like I didn't see you at all during the midterm." She laughed. It was always nice catching up and she missed talking to her friends. At least Bri had a phone she could use. Letters sometimes felt like they took forever no matter how romantic it felt sometimes.

There was another yawn creeping up and she couldn't suppress it. "Sorry," she said, blinking her eyes wide so the water that had gathered could dissipate again. "I stayed up really late last night so the wagon ride made me more tired than usual." She could last another hour, hopefully, and then curl up in bed. Waverly suddenly gasped. "Oh my gosh, I forgot to congratulate you on your Quidditch win! That was your first snitch, right?"

0 Waverly And hang out with friends! 0 Waverly 0 5

Wendy

August 01, 2013 10:06 PM

There's always a lot to tell by Wendy

In the process of making the wand holder, it had never occurred to Wendy that Carter wouldn't know what it was. She had simply guessed magical people would use such things, but knowing he didn't made the present seem even more special. Wendy had thought of it all on her own and she felt a little proud of herself. "It's a wand holder, of course!" she said with a smile. "I love fudge too, so I wanted to share that with you. It's so good." Now that he had opened his present, her excitement slowly ebbed away. She hoped he really liked it and wasn't just acting like he did. "Merry late Christmas!"

Wendy had been so preoccupied with giving her gift she hadn't even thought of him giving her a gift in return, but it was a nice surprise. Her hazel eyes were still bright as she received it and she gave him a big smile and a hug. "Thanks!" she replied to both the gift and the compliment. The yellow dress was slowly making its way up to her favorite outfits. "My sister was making fun of me for it because it was so bright, but I like it." She smoothed it out and looked at him, amused at his blush. She didn't want to embarrass him even more so she pretended not to notice and went to work unwrapping the present.

It was a bracelet. A really cute, Irish-looking bracelet. "Aw, that's so nice of you! Thank you!" She beamed at him before looking back at the bracelet. "Where did you get it?" she asked as she examined it. The knot looked really pretty and she wanted to know what it meant. "Do you know what this symbol means?" she added, pointing at the knot. Celtic symbols had meanings behind them, that was for sure, and Wendy, now that she possessed such a symbol, wanted to know everything about it. "Can you put it on me?" she asked once he had answered her question. She couldn't wait to show it off.

Now it was food time and she put chicken alfredo pasta on her plate and poured herself some lemonade as well. As great as her parents' cooking was, she had missed food at Sonora too. Prairie elves were amazing cooks, though Wendy did sometimes think it was kind of weird how she had never really seen one or talked to one before. Magical creatures interested Wendy like no other. "What did you do over the break?" she asked once things had settled down again and the excitement had ebbed away once more.

0 Wendy There's always a lot to tell 0 Wendy 0 5

Rupert

August 02, 2013 1:20 PM

Some strategic planning is called for. by Rupert

Rupert had seen a bit of the last match, but it was almost too painful to watch. Crotalus had been struggling throughout the entire game and towards the end Rup had finally just left. Though his admiration for his older brother had died down some, he still didn't want to see him lose so terribly. Rup had, however, gotten a good feel for Teppenpaw's strategies, or amazing bit of luck, and was going to focus on Pecari's win this year as much as possible.

Amira had joined him and he thought it would be a good time to catch up. He enjoyed the older Pecari's company and he thought she made a good coach, though sometimes he did not like being forced out of his beloved position for the sake of trying new ones. He was a good Beater and he wanted to train as one. But his cousin was learning a lot about the different positions no doubt, so at least there was some good coming out of it.

A sibling's wedding sounded foreign to Rupert's ears though he knew he and his brothers would be subject to that one day. He was not looking forward to it, but he hardly ever thought about it. He wasn't pressured to marry now, really, like his brother. "She was married in England?" he asked with a smile. "Did she marry an English chap?" To his knowledge the Thorntons were American. He could see no other reason as to why Amira's sister, one of the many, would marry in a foreign country. Foreign to them, anyway.

Amira's passion for Quidditch worked well with his own and he grinned. "You've got that right. We can win no problem." Even if luck wasn't on their side, their hard work and dedication would bring them to the finish in first, though for Cepheus that hadn't worked out so well. Rup forked over a couple slices of ham onto her plate as he replied, "Yes, please," to her potato question. Rup seemed to have an insatiable hunger lately that had seemed to come out of nowhere. He put some green beans on his plate as well, happy to have good food once more after such long travels. "What sort of plans did you come up with? For strategies or training?" He could talk Quidditch all day long.

0 Rupert Some strategic planning is called for. 0 Rupert 0 5

Carter

August 02, 2013 3:05 PM

So tell me all about it by Carter

Carter gave Wendy a curious look when she told him what the knitted item was. “A wand holder?” he asked, glancing at it curiously. “Huh…I never would have guessed that one. Thank you,” he told her. He grinned as he looked it over. He had never had a wand holder before let alone heard of one, but he liked the idea that she thought of making one for him. He was touched that she would go through that much trouble for him. “I really do like it,” he assured her. “It’s by far the coolest thing I’ve ever owned. And I appreciate you saving the fudge for me. It looks like awesome fudge.” He put the fudge aside and waited for her to open his gift. He was happy to see that she seemed delighted to have gotten a gift in return. He was about to tell her “You’re welcome” when she hugged him. He was soo caught off guard by the hug that he forgot what he was going to say. He simply hugged her back and remained silent as she tore open her present. He could feel his cheeks still burning slightly, but tried to ignore it. He smiled when she thanked him for the bracelet. He had hoped she would like it. “You’re welcome,” he finally managed to say once she was examining her gift.

He coughed slightly in an attempt to clear his throat. “I found it in a small shop in Dublin,” he answered when she asked where he had gotten it. “I was in Ireland visiting my grandparents for the break and I found this in town while shopping with my mum.” He glanced at the knot again when she asked what it meant. He shrugged slightly. “I dunno really,” he replied honestly. “I think the girl in the shop said it meant friendship, but I can’t really remember. I was more worried about whether or not you would like it than I was what it meant. Sorry,” he answered sheepishly. He began to slightly blush again when she asked him if he would put it on her. He nodded, taking the silver bracelet from her. “Sure…no problem,“ he told her as he undid the clasp and wrapped it gently around her wrist. He redid the clasp and let it fall gently into place. He looked at it for a second, admiring how it looked on her. He had to admit it looked good on her wrist. “It looks nice on you,” he told her trying to turn his attention back to his dinner plate to avoid any more embarrassment. He watched her fill her plate with Alfredo and grinned. He had just taken a bite from his own plate when she asked what he did for the break. He chewed up and swallowed what was in his mouth before he tried talking.

“Well…Lets see,” he began. “Got home for break and was informed that my family was going to Ireland to spend it with my mum’s family. We did Christmas last year with my dad’s family so ya know…it was only fair we did mum’s this time. Umm…we decorated the tree, my little sister tried eating the ornaments first then the candy canes. By the time my mum got to her she had managed to eat about half of a candy cane and was sticky from head to toe. Steamed mum up pretty good because we were supposed to take family pictures right after decorating. We had to wait until after mum cleaned up my sister before we could do it. Mum’s real schedule crazy so if you flub it up in any way she gets kind-of heated. We went to Mass with my grandparents Christmas morning (joy of joys) and then opened presents once we got back. I went shopping in town with my mum the day after Christmas and found your gift. Got to spend time with my sister Payton, pulling her around in her new wagon. Spent time with my cousins, although I didn’t get to see my cousin Kinley much. Guess she was doing her own thing or something.” He shrugged when he mentioned that part. “Other than that I really didn’t do much,” he told her. He took another bite from his plate and chewed it up. “Did you do anything interesting for the break?” he asked, hoping she had more fun with hers than he had with his.

0 Carter So tell me all about it 0 Carter 0 5

Brianna

August 02, 2013 7:27 PM

I don't think you'll be terribly sad. by Brianna

He seemed relatively surprised by the sight of her gift. She couldn’t really blame him for that; it wasn’t as though they were accustomed to giving one another gifts. Brianna hadn’t really ever given anyone much of anything before. She was rather proud that she was able to do it now. One day, Brianna would be able to afford anything when she became a notorious lawyer who threw the book at those who did evil. And when that time came, giving gifts would be just another thing that she did for the people she cared about. “It’s alright.” She commented. “We never exchanged gifts before, so I didn’t expect you to have one. But this is your last year here and I wanted to give you something special. Especially with everything to come for you.”

She was glad that he seemed happy to have received a gift at all. But she really just wanted him to like her gift and use it. She knew what thoughts he had running through his mind to get away from his family. She also knew that he might feel it best to walk out of her life and never see her again. Some silly idea that it was for her best and what not would have probably been his reasoning. He didn’t seem to comprehend that she functioned better when he was around. She needed him and trusted him the most. Him graduating at the end of this term was already upsetting to her. To not have him around at all would be devastating. They had an awkward friendship, but she felt that it was strong and one of trust.

“It was a nice look on you.” Brianna commented lightly. “You seemed grown up with it.” She thought looking grown up was a compliment, but she wasn’t really sure how he would take it. It wasn’t like he looked like a little boy without facial hair. He just, didn’t seem like a 17 year old with it.

She listened as he spoke of his travels. She hadn’t realized that he left the school. Normally, he stayed over midterm at Sonora, which Brianna thought couldn’t be nearly as boring as her stay in her apartment, so it came as a surprise to learn he had left on his own. She frowned at the thought of him going to the place of his parents death, but he had every right to know where they might have been happy and where he spent his last moments with them.

“Boring.” She said flatly. “Jonah says my leg is getting better. I tried walking without the crutch, but the limp was too strong and I lost my balance more times than I care to remember.” Brianna told him, feeling disappointed in herself for not being stronger. “Mother said we came into some money. I think the residents felt guilty again and gave my parents nice tips. So, the one good thing that came was that I was able to go shopping. That was really fun and I enjoyed spending it with my mom.” Brianna smiled at the memory. She felt like a real mother and daughter when they were shopping. Normal, despite the crutch she walked with.

“How was the town? Quaint and beautiful? Everything you pictured?” She asked him, hoping she wasn’t over stepping herself.

6 Brianna I don't think you'll be terribly sad. 0 Brianna 0 5

Ava Fletcher

August 03, 2013 6:55 PM

They say a good friend is hard to find by Ava Fletcher

Ava nodded when Dimitri explained his reasoning behind sitting at the Aladren table. "That makes sense," she replied. "I was just going to find one of the older Teppenpaws and have them tell you to meet me in the library after dinner. She thought about it for a minute. "Actually, do you still want to meet me there? After we unpack our bags and stuff?" She was hoping he wouldn't ask why as she desperately wanted his present to be a surprise. She also didn't want to tell him about it in case he hadn't gotten one for her and she didn't want him to feel too bad about it.

"Ooh, a wedding! That's neat-o! I've never been to a wedding," she made a face. "I probably wouldn't like it, but all the pictures of them that I've seen have been really pretty so at the same time I think I'd really like it too." She smiled as he talked about his cousin Clara, "your family does arranged marriages?" She asked incredulously. She didn't know of anyone in the U.S. who did that, she thought that was in the past and in other countries and it just seemed wrong. She couldn't imagine her grandfather trying to tell her mother to allow something like that. Although, Ava supposed, it would probably be the other way around as Papa was around more than her mother was.

"A caricature booth would be really cool!" She exclaimed. "I'd like that, or we could do it for an actual cause like clean drinking water!" Her other ideas for places to donate money were ones that could be hard to get someone on board with. She didn't know how Dimitri felt about sharks and many people didn't realize that coral was a living organism that needed just as much protection as turtles or dolphins- two other causes that might be a nice idea. Besides, from the stories her mother told about traveling around and healing people, a lot of sickness came from not having clean enough drinking water. "If that's okay with you that is," she said. "It was your idea after all."

"Oh, thanks! Of course it's okay!" Ava felt as though she was about to explode with happiness. Not only had she made a friend who liked drawing but this friend apparently liked her enough to get her a Christmas present. "I probably will like it." She opened the gifts, the t-shirt made her smile a bit, and she thought the caricature was funny. "A blooming t-shirt is a good enough present for me!" She exclaimed. "And I really like this drawing too, it's just like me, I'll put it on my nightstand." She thought a minute, she felt really bad that she hadn't brought his gifts down to dinner now, but shook her head, how was she to know? She asked herself again. "I'm sorry," she felt compelled to say, "but I left your present in my trunk, how about I give it to you after dinner? It's not great like yours is but I hope you'll still like it."

10 Ava Fletcher They say a good friend is hard to find 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Megan Brownbriar

August 03, 2013 7:51 PM

Focusing by Megan Brownbriar

Megan didn’t get to see Cepheus at all over the midterm break, which thankfully was just what the fifth year wanted. What she wanted to focus on was not how he was going to tiptoe around the ‘relationship’ he seemed to be having behind her back, but instead, she wanted to study and see what she could do to score even higher on her CATs than her older siblings had at Hogwarts. Even though her family had sent the Princeton’s presents with all their names attached, she had decided that she was going to be nice and not only send presents that way, but she was going to send both Cepheus and Rupert presents privately, as well.

She only wanted to send something to Cepheus because she felt that her father would have expected it from her, but Rupert, she actually gave some thought to. To Ceph, she sent a convenient present, one he would use and one that would remind him (hopefully) that even though they didn’t care about each other, they were still betrothed. She’d sent him a small package with a few handkerchiefs that had his initials on them. Also in the small box was a wooden wand holder to hold his wand from getting broken as he slept. It would be able to be set on a small side table, just in case. For Rupert, however, she’d sent out for a leatherbound book with many things about muggles inside, and knowing that Rupert was a Beater for his house team, she’d bought him a new Beater’s Bat which she got his name engraved in. Sure, she’d spent more money on Rupert, but Cepheus’ little brother had spent more time (positively) with her, and that was appreciated more than his older brother’s coldness. In Rupert’s holiday package, she hadn’t put a return address and asked him in a letter not to tell anyone any of it was from her. It was imperative that nobody from either family found out she’d bought Rup more than Ceph, and she knew (from experience) that the younger of the older Princeton boys wouldn’t say anything.

Now that the Midterm was over, however, it was back to the grindstone and she couldn’t wait for the next Muggle Studies class to see if Rupert liked his present! She really didn’t care what Cepheus thought, though she knew that her father wanted her to sit with him at the Returning Feast, since they were supposed to be betrothed, and she wasn’t going to go against her father. She’d learned her lesson about that one… As much as she loved her little stunt a few years back, it held a very bad outcome and had lost her father’s trust in her altogether. She was sure (now) that if she hadn’t done what she had in the concert that she may have possibly had a say in not marrying Cepheus Princeton, but now she knew she had no say. It was all up to her father. It was moments like this that she wished her mother was still alive, but alas she wasn’t.

Her mother’s picture was still always on her person, and her locket always around her neck. And as much as her mother was with her (this she knew), she really wasn’t there in person to talk to, to get advice from. Sure, she knew that she could talk to her Aunt, Gareth and Enion’s mother, but she couldn’t say a lot of what was going on in her mind to her Aunt. Then surely her father would find out and there would be hell to pay. With a sigh, she got off the wagon and walked into Cascade Hall. She spotted Rupert first and gave him a little wave. A part of her wished there was an empty seat next to him, but as she saw him, the last seat near him was taken by Amira Thornton, the Captain of his Quidditch Team. She shrugged it off and finally found Cepheus. Begrudgingly, she walked towards him and sat down. “Thank you for the presents from your family. It was very nice of you.” she said, sort of in a sulking fashion as he hadn’t sent her anything specific as she had done for him. (Unless, of course, his mother had told him he had to hand it to her in person, but she personally doubted that!) She wasn’t sure if he would take her phrase as sarcasm, but she didn’t have time to find that out because just as she finished, Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau welcomed them back and started the announcements.

Meg really wasn’t interested in starting any booths, but if Rup decided on doing one and he’d asked, she wouldn’t tell him no. Still, she listened to what the Headmistress had to say, knowing she’d rather hear from her than her betrothed.

When the Headmistress was finished talking, however, there was no way around listening to whatever Cepheus had to say. Meggie guessed that he’d be sore at her solely because she was a Teppenpaw and her house beat his in Quidditch, thanks to a new Seeker, right off the bench, who was younger than they were. She saw the game and even though the Bludgers had seemingly been favoring going after Teppenpaw’s players, they still won the game. By the sour look on Ceph’s face, she guessed that he still hadn’t gotten over it and she wasn’t sure that he ever would.

Cepheus reached for food, and to Meggie’s confusion, instead of picking up the slice of turkey he’d been seemingly reaching for, he picked up a slice of cherry pie. She glanced at him and said, “Craving sweets, are you?” she turned away briefly, just to pick up some of the turkey off the plate between them before she looked back for his answer.

0 Megan Brownbriar Focusing 0 Megan Brownbriar 0 5

Mir

August 04, 2013 12:18 AM

And a lot of focus... by Mir

Amira thought that Rupert was not only a good player, both team wise, but also in Quidditch as a whole. If it were up to her solely, he would have been her Assistant Captain. But Coach was right, the team needed someone slightly older to take up the reins when she graduated. To her, it made sense, but she’d much rather have worked with Rupert rather than Jade. It was clear that the two girls wouldn’t ever truly be friends, or even get along (for that matter) on or off the Pitch. But that didn’t mean that since Rup wasn’t her Assistant she couldn’t talk to him too. Jade had passion, she did have that going for her, though sometimes she pulled it from the wrong spots in her life, and Amira wondered if maybe the girl did have leadership inside of her somewhere that wasn’t all about her.

Mir hoped so, with all her heart.

The Pecari Captain wasn’t sure if her fellow Beater had seen the Teppenpaw/Crotalus game, but she would have bet that he had, due to both of his brothers being on the Crotalus Team. She wanted to ask him, but when Rup asked first if she‘d had a good holiday, she answered him with talking about her oldest sister’s wedding.

When Rupert smiled at her about the Wedding being in England, she nodded. “Well, Caius is actually of Spanish descent, and his family lives in Spain. But my Mom’s Parents are British, and they paid for everything and decided that the Wedding would be there, in England, at their Manor House and everything.” She waited to see if anything else would come of the Wedding talk, and then mentioned that she had planned some things for their win against Aladren (when it seemed like Wedding chatter was over).

Rup grinned, and it caught on in Mira too. Her smile broadened when he added. “I know we can. We’ve trained hard the first half of the year, and our training will be just as important, if not moreso now. The game will be the coldest one of the year, so our heated win will help warm us all up, don’t you think?” she asked him. Rup asked if she wanted any ham, and when she said yes, he’d put some in her plate for her. “What a gentleman! A woman would be lucky to get you for a husband!” she said, giving him a wink as she asked him if he wanted any potatoes. He said he wanted some and she spooned some onto his plate as he put some green beans on his plate too.

“Well, as for plans and strategies, I really like that we were doing all the positions the first half of the year, because even Clara can play everything on the team if we needed her to. But between now and our game we will be focusing solely on our own jobs. Our next practice we’re going to spend time on what each person needs to do and everyone will watch and give pointers at first. Then we’ll all, yes, even me, take suggestions from the others to see what works the best for us. You and me, we’re the ground force here. If we’re paying close attention to the others, NOBODY on Pecari’s team will be attacked like Teppenpaw was by the Bludgers.” she paused here, to be sure that he was on the same page as she was.

“Does that sound like something that would be a good idea? I figured that way the whole team has impact on our win. And as sure as I’m the Captain, I can’t win the game by myself. The TEAM does that together.”

0 Mir And a lot of focus... 0 Mir 0 5

McKinley Andrews

August 04, 2013 1:52 AM

In MY house?! by McKinley Andrews

McKinley Andrews was glad to go home for Christmas. She was prepared to be loved on and treated as the Princess that she always was. However, this time… This time it was very different. Firstly, her mother, Elisabeth, wasn’t the one to pick her up at the Wagon on the way home as she had become accustomed. Her Aunt, Sarah Beth had come for her. Aunt Anita and Uncle Andrew had come for Carter, with Payton and Kinley went right for Aunt Sarah Beth. “Why are you here…” she’d remembered asking with the only answer her aunt would give her was, “You’ll see”. Kinley hated not getting her way, and her Aunt not answering her to that made her mad. She had grumbled the whole ride back home and when they walked into the house, her mother half waddled down the hallway. It was only a half waddle and not a full waddle, but any waddle at all was upsetting and angering to McKinley. That told her everything she needed to know. “Are you kidding me? You’re going to have one of those icky things that are dirty… IN… MY… HOUSE?!” Adams, her father, came out behind her mother and spoke, “It’s not just one baby in there darling, there’s twins! Aren’t you excited?!” He grinned at her and McKinley remembered wanting to just push her mother down the stairs or something. She didn’t need any icky, screaming babies at her own house! Her little cousin’s icky fingers were enough for her! In fact, they were too much! And here her parents were trying to replace her with two new babies they didn’t need. It made her mad! Really mad! She didn’t even have Carter there to calm her down, he’d apparently gone off to Wales or Ireland or wherever he’d gone, with his family, leaving her there.

Alone.

That’s just what I’ll be… she thought to herself as she ran passed both of her parents and out the back door. She barely came back the whole break. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, see anyone. Nothing. In fact, even on the way to the Wagon she didn’t say a word to her father who kept gushing about the twins and how if they were both girls it would be splendid, and if it was two boys he’d have more sons to teach how to be real men, and how if it was one of each they’d have a full family even with the others away. With Jefferson having graduated Hogwarts, he’d chosen to stay in London full time, to work with the Ministry and Grant had been staying with him until school started again so it was literally just her and her parents, while she was home. Until the twins from hell are born she thought, as her father gushed on and on. She even wanted to open the car door and walk rather than hear any more. The car stopped and Kinley rushed out, no hug for her Dad, nothing, and lugged her trunk back to the Wagon and got in. She didn’t say she loved him, she didn’t even say goodbye.

She didn’t care.

The Wagon got her back to school and Kinley sat down in the closest seat she could, not caring what table it was at, though she gathered as Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau was talking, that it was Crotalus’ table. She didn’t care who had sat next to her, nor did she want to know what was being said. None of it mattered.

None of it.

Announcements finished and still she stared at her empty plate. Mom and dad are replacing me… she thought, still seriously angered about the fact that her mother was due to have twins apparently just before she came back from school. Great… So when I get home again I’ll have two screaming, icky messes to deal with… I hate my life… she thought as she grumbled to herself. If someone heard her, she didn’t know, not until they tapped her on the shoulder.

0 McKinley Andrews In MY house?! 0 McKinley Andrews 0 5

Bri

August 04, 2013 1:53 AM

And learn and grow! by Bri

Aubrielle was glad to see her best friend too, and wanted to hug her more than anything, but she didn’t want to be too overboard there in the Hall. When Waverly hugged her first, she happily added to the hug and smiled at her. “Isn’t London great! I wish we could have seen a show or done like the Jack the Ripper walk or something, but maybe over the summer we can? Who knows, right?” she said with a shrug. She’d loved the Jack the Ripper walk the last time she’d been there, but it wasn’t on the list of things to see while they were there for the Wedding. “I didn’t really get to see Marius too much, honestly, I think something’s going on that he’s not telling me… I dunno what it is though… He’s being so distant, and even though I’m sad that he’s not really magical, I think he’s even more sad about it than I am…”

Bri had been thinking about that, but it wasn’t the top thought in her mind. The wedding sort of was, and then she spent her time working on more Seeking and stuff for Drama Club, so she didn’t really have much time for anything else. “Drama Club has been okayed as a new club and I’m really excited about it. I just hope people come and join up!” Bri really hoped that it would take off quickly and maybe they could actually do a show next year, but she was worried. Really worried in fact…

When Waverly asked her if she thought she’d still be okay with being VP of Baking Club while heading up Drama Club, Bri nodded. “Absolutely. I’m used to doing a lot of things at once. I can’t keep still, you know that… In fact… I think it would be cool if we did some things together, you know? Like if Drama Club can do a show, Baking Club can be in charge of intermission and stuff, you know. And it could be helpful for funds too that either club may need…” she added, looking hopefully at her best friend. She knew that Waverly was already busy, but she had hoped at least her own best friend could at least join her club too. She didn’t have to do much if she couldn’t do it, but to know that her best friend was there for her would be the best news to hear.

“I wouldn’t miss your Baking Club booth! I’m looking forward to it! Maybe there could be one that we can make side by side even so we can do both at once?” Bri had been trying to think of a booth that would work with a Drama Club type thing, but couldn’t think of one. Maybe Waverly can come up with something? she thought to herself, looking hopefully at her best friend as Waverly mentioned it felt like she didn’t see her at all over the break.

“It does sort of feel that way, doesn’t it…” she added, thinking. Sure, she saw her for the Wedding, but that was really it. Waverly yawned and then apologized for it. Bri giggled. “You’re fine. I know the feeling… I’m still jetlagged, I think…” she added her own yawn into the mix and giggled herself once more when Waverly gasped suddenly.

“Thanks! And yea, it was. Didn’t think I was gonna get it there for a minute, my foot hurt so bad, I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me or something. I wanted to throw up, that’s how much it hurt…” she said, shivering slightly at the memory and smiling at it at the same time. “It was really cool to catch it though… Really cool… Made me feel sort of like a celebrity, it was weird… I mean, Ris even had a cake for me, Rina and Mitri for winning the game the night before the Wedding. She made us our own party and everything…” Bri thought back at them all camping out on the floor downstairs in the Manor House because the carpets had just been done special for the Wedding in the rooms upstairs. Bri smiled at Waverly and wondered if she’d be able to do it again if she had to play Aladren or Pecari. She shivered visibly. “What if Aladren wins this next one? What if Pecari does? I have sisters on both teams… What if Mir hits a bludger right at me?” her eyes widened as she stared at Waverly, worried now, more than ever before.

0 Bri And learn and grow! 0 Bri 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

August 04, 2013 12:46 PM

Tea is a great source of bonding by Charlie B-F-R

Julian seemed to take a bit of time choosing her words. What were probably mere seconds weighed heavily as Charlie weighted for the response. He wasn't really used to feeling sad – his emotional reactions were usually acute; extreme, but short lived. This new kind of sadness, the kind that hung around and stuck to him, seemed to make everything take longer. Time moved slowly, and he moved slowly through it. Her words, however, were well worth the wait.

“Thanks,” he said, giving her a small smile. Resting his head on her shoulder, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a grateful squeeze. “You're the best.” She liked him. And she backed it up with reasons, and it all seemed so believable. That made all the difference in the world to him. Plus she overall seemed to think such discrimination was wrong, which was good to know. Julian was just generally a super nice, good person. He felt bad for ever doubting her, as she had never given him any evidence to the contrary. It didn't solve the problem between him and Grandfather, and it didn't mean its existence didn't hurt him. But he did feel like he might be able to put it to one side. Like it might not have to consume every waking second.

“Very okay,” he nodded, taking a spoonful of soup. It was rich and tomatoey and warming right down to the toes. “How are you? How was your Christmas?” he asked.

13 Charlie B-F-R Tea is a great source of bonding 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

August 04, 2013 2:01 PM

Sand is kinda fun... by Michael Grosvenor

Michael glanced up just in time to catch the girl next to him's mouth moving. He refrained from sighing. He wasn't a fan of the Cascade Hall in general, and usually ate his meals at off-peak times or took his food outside. He hated it when the whole school was forced to eat together, as the general clamour usually drowned out the person sitting next to him. Hearing aids were not foolproof and not nearly as selective as the human ear, and the sound on which one was trying to focus could easily be drowned out by the background noise. He usually chose his seat for these occasions very carefully, or left the person to talk to their other neighbour and kept to himself. However, he seemed to have attracted Addison's attention and that meant that there was only one thing for it; fudging his way through the conversation with the various strategies he'd developed over a lifetime.

Okay, first thing was to work out roughly what topic she was on. There were a couple of likely contenders. However, as one was 'How was your holiday?' and the other was 'Can you pass such and such a food?' you looked pretty crazy if you guessed wrong. 'Fine thanks' is not a great response to someone wanting mashed potatoes. Shoving a casserole at someone is a bit of a weird way of expressing your feelings about Christmas. Luckily the look on Addison's face was pretty clear. She seemed worried. He guessed he'd been frowning pretty hard at his plate...

“Fine thanks,” he bluffed. At least that made sense to both 'Are you ok?' and 'How were your holidays?' He just had to hope she hadn't been experiencing worry over whether he would or would not be able to pass the peas. “Just a bit tired out from the journey, and not relishing getting back into homework again,” he continued giving her a slightly weary smile. “Still, you're a seventh year, right?” he added. It was much easier to talk than to listen and so, having given her just enough time to confirm that, he forged on, “So I probably can't complain to you – you've got a lot more going on than me. I think I've seen you in some of my classes... You take Potions, right?” he added, “What did you think of the essay we had over Christmas?” he asked. He tried to keep an eye on Addison's face as she replied. Homework usually received pretty clear reactions, so – even if he had no idea what she'd said – he'd probably get how she felt. He took the opportunity, whilst he was giving her a word in edgeways, to take a few bites of his dinner.

13 Michael Grosvenor Sand is kinda fun... 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Henry Carey

August 04, 2013 6:19 PM

Sure by Henry Carey

The first night back was always one of the worst. The Headmistress spoke to them all, a thing which made him uneasy, and the others were always louder even than usual, or maybe he was just so used to coming to meals very early or very late, when most of the people were gone, that it only seemed that way to him. Either way, Henry didn’t like the first nights after holidays.

With all that in mind, he ducked into a bathroom rather than going into the Hall right away, to let the crowd thin out a little before he walked through it. Henry could never decide whether he hated crowds worse than noise, if the two could even be separated, but he didn't like either of them. Avoiding them was a skill he had figured out quickly, in first year, that he needed to learn.

Finally, though, he had to go in, taking a seat and fixing his eyes on the grain of the wood of the table instead of on another person. You could tell, he thought, things about furniture by the grain of the wood. How valuable it was, what kind it was. That kind of thing. He didn’t know how to do it himself, but it could be done. His father had told him. That was how Father was: he told them things, taught them things, when he was around, because like most people, he didn’t know how to be quiet. If he was with someone, he felt he had to say something, and with the six of them – Henry would not count the new one until he began to talk; Peter could not learn, and so their father had nothing to say to him yet – he said what things were, or how to do things. Jay had never been much for it, but Henry and Theresa had learned about fishing and hunting that way, though Henry had never been much good; his only interest in the activities had been that they were ones he could engage in with other people without having to talk. He could talk at home whenever he wanted, without the words getting stuck the way they did sometimes here, but sometimes he still didn’t want to, without necessarily wanting to be alone.

Peter, the new brother, was all right for now, but Henry felt sorry for him, and for Cecilia, in a way. Henry felt as though he were always standing slightly apart from the other seven, looking at them rather than being really part of the group even when he was talking to someone, but Peter and Cecilia were too much younger to be even that close to their siblings and cousins. By the time they were old enough to do anything, everyone else would be gone, so if they were like him, though he was pretty sure Cecilia, at least, was not, then there would be nowhere they could talk well at all….

A moment of blessed quiet descended before the Headmistress began to talk about the end of the year, a subject Henry did not find very interesting, since the alternative to disinterest was most likely just frustration, which he had quite enough of, thank you, and then the food appeared and everyone started talking again. Henry had just gotten his silverware straight enough to suit him when Thornton asked if he minded giving her items she couldn't reach.

“No,” he said, pushing them in her direction, sliding them over instead of picking them up. He didn’t like picking up full dishes; too much opportunity for mess. Halfway along, he began to feel that the two weren’t coordinating well, so he switched to only moving one. "Welcome back," he added, since she was in his year and it was customary to acknowledge people who had that in common with him. Really, he had no idea if it was a good thing that she'd come back to Sonora or not, no matter whose good was considered, but even he knew some words were completely divorced from what they were supposed to mean.

0 Henry Carey Sure 239 Henry Carey 0 5

Wendy

August 05, 2013 12:44 AM

I will! With umph! by Wendy

"It's totally awesome fudge," she gushed. "And I'm really glad you liked it! When you put it around your arm it fits to your size and doesn't fall off!" She was really proud of her work even though the wrapping itself was not very, well, good. "That's really cool," she said as she watched him put the bracelet on her. The fact that she now owned something from Ireland made it extra special. "Thank you!" she replied to his compliment, glad that their exchange of presents hadn't been awkward.

Carter's little sister sounded really cute even if she drooled and seemed to like eating inedible or sticky objects. Babies were just naturally super cute. It sounded like Carter's family had a good break and she was happy for them. It was kind of cool his parents were from different countries. It was hard enough with her two sets of grandparents being in different states!

He asked her about her break when she had put in a mouthful of pasta so she had to wait a bit to chew and swallow before launching into her tale. She loved telling stories which had sometimes gotten her in trouble for exaggerating, but she couldn't really see a way to exaggerate her time in England.

"I got to go to England over the break for Abi's sister's wedding. It was a lot of fun being with the Thorntons, but I kind of wanted to wander around by myself too. If I had that many siblings I think I'd go crazy! But, I mean, the Thornton sisters are fun to hang out with. You're from England, right? Or...Ireland? It's a really cool country. We got to visit some of my dad's relatives that I've never met before. It was my first time in another country ever so that made it pretty fun. Usually my parents can't find a spare moment to take any real vacations." Her dad was an automotive engineer and her mom ran a bakery full-time. Her dad was either working on a project that made him go on lots of business trips or her mom had huge orders on the holidays that made her super busy. It was a little unfortunate, but Wendy and her sister didn't really mind. They made being home fun for themselves.

There wasn't much else to add to that story since it was simply what she had done over the break, so she left it at that. Both of their breaks sounded fun with all that travel. Wendy liked traveling enough, but she liked seeing airplanes in the sky better than being on one herself.

0 Wendy I will! With umph! 0 Wendy 0 5

Waverly

August 05, 2013 1:00 AM

And watch Quidditch matches! by Waverly

London was really great and Waverly had liked being there, but nothing could beat home. Still, she had wished she had done some more sight-seeing with her family. She had mostly spent her time visiting relatives and attending the wedding. Hearing Bri talk about Marius brought a cold reminder of her own non-magical boyfriend and she made a sympathetic face. She really hoped it worked out for Bri, though she wasn't sure how a relationship between a muggle and a magical person could seriously work. From her experience, it didn't last in the end. Magical and non-magical were two huge differences that Waverly still couldn't see a way around.

She was, however, shocked that Bri had told her boyfriend. "You told him you were magical?" she asked, eyes wide. "If I had ever told Brandon that, he never would've believed me." Not that he had believed her even when she had alluded to it. "What about the statute of wizarding secrecy?" That law had kept her from sharing all about her magic with her few friends back home and it was part of the reason, she was sure among more, that she wasn't allowed to do magic at home. Well, at least if Waverly couldn't tell she was glad Bri was able to tell. Maybe it would save her relationship with Marius. Time would only tell and she wished them the best.

"That would be cool," she said with a smile. One thing Bri and Waverly had in common was their busybody mentality. She really did wish she could join Bri's club, but Waverly was not an actress by any means and she was already committed to two other clubs besides her own. She was especially glad to hear that Bri wouldn't miss the Baking Club booth. "We could sign up for different shifts or something," she said with a smile. "I want to give other people a chance to stand at the booth and see the fair for myself."

Bri continued on and responded to Waverly's compliment to her Quidditch win. "That sounds so awesome. I seriously don't know how anyone can play like that. I was the Chaser for one year and I was scared out of my wits the entire time. I like watching Quidditch way better." Waverly had never known what it would be like to have a sibling on the other team. She didn't think she'd ever be able to hit a bludger at her little sister. Secretly she was biased towards Pecari, but she could see why Bri was afraid.

"I'm sure it'll be okay! Maybe your sisters will ask someone else to hit bludgers at...um, you." That didn't sound very encouraging so she smiled. "But that was just your first one. I don't think it'll happen again that bad. Just ask one of your Teppenpaw beaters to protect you." That was simple enough, right? Maybe Waverly didn't know enough about Quidditch still. "I'm still pretty excited for the match! I can't wait for Pecari to win. Er, not that I'm biased or anything." She smiled teasingly and ate some more of the food on her plate. "I can't wait to get to bed," she sighed.

0 Waverly And watch Quidditch matches! 0 Waverly 0 5

Effie Arbon

August 05, 2013 2:17 PM

Good food and hoping for good company by Effie Arbon

Effie was always a little sad to leave her sisters and return to Sonora. At least no society events had interrupted their Christmas this time, and she'd been able to spend it with the people to whom she was closest. Delphine and Araceli had been delighted with the handkerchiefs which she had embroidered for them. They had all carried a monogram and Delphine's had shown the flower delphinium, whilst Araceli's had various celestial features, as her name had the meaning of 'sky altar.' She had done seven different colours, one for each day of the week, for each sister. She was never sure whether to include Ignatius in these gifts. She did not really want to, as she liked having something that was just between her and her sisters – they were secondary to him in everything else and she enjoyed making them feel special. However, she knew that was just the order of things, rather than his fault, and she felt a little mean leaving him out. She got him a gift, of course, but not one she had made herself.

The rest of the break had passed pleasantly enough. The snow scuppered her and her sisters' usual activity of walking. However, they had had a jolly time sledging and making snow paintings. This they did by drawing out a pattern in the snow, then using colour changing charms on different sections in order to 'paint' it. She and Delphine had both covered the charm in their respective lessons. Araceli had tried it a couple of times under her tutors without a lot of success. However, under the gentle encouragement of her sisters, she had managed to make some pale shades across the snow. She had looked rather crest-fallen at this, for all that Effie had reassured her that it was really very good, for her age.

Effie stretched as she climbed off the wagon, using her wand to smooth out any disarray caused by travelling. She had worn a set of robes which were not prone to wrinkling and had styled her hair practically in a low bun, so the amendments were minimal. The hall was busy and the people fast moving. She headed for that which was nominally the Crotalus table, as she felt that was a logical place for people to congregate, although she rather hoped people such as Amity, Alan and Anthony might take advantage of the fact that the returning feast did not necessitate sitting at a particular table.

She listened to the headmistress' speech. She could not envisage hosting a booth, unless someone made a proper suggestion. As she could not imagine what such a thing would be, she did not think it a likely course of events. As the food appeared, she helped herself to some wholesome looking leek and potato soup. It was just the right, warming sort of thing after a long journey. Toast was, logically enough, within easy reach, magically still warm and fresh.

“Is there any pâté near you?” she queried the person whom she was next to. A balanced meal needed protein, after all.

13 Effie Arbon Good food and hoping for good company 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Cepheus

August 05, 2013 2:38 PM

Sulking. by Cepheus

It was at first with surprise, then with anger that Cepheus considered Megan as she sat down beside him. He really did not know what could have possibly driven her to sit next to him at this moment, being who she was. They weren’t friends in the slightest. She had sent him a gift over the holiday, a personal one, and Cepheus hadn’t opened it until the very last day of his holiday. When his mum saw the package, she had immediately told him he had to carry such a nice handkerchief around with him everywhere as a respectable wizard ought. One was in his robe pocket now, but that still didn’t mean anything. Honestly; didn’t she have any friends?

Cepheus sighed as he realised the purpose of her visit to his table with her next remark. It wasn’t to mock him, it was to torture him and remind him once again of his irrevocable duty to his family. He’d had enough of that at home and he did not want any reminders of it at school. It was unfortunate, very unfortunate, that his betrothed had ended up being one uninteresting, yellow reminder. He nodded, trying his hardest to be civil as he sulked. “Thank you for the handkerchiefs. It was very thoughtful,” he dead-panned. They were nice, really, but he was not in the mood to think about his lack of a gift for her or any of the other ways he had failed right now.

He turned his head away from her, the sharp reminder of her house making him sulk even more. Why was she even daring to sit at this table anyway? He wished then for one of his house-mates to come save him and shoo her away, but he couldn’t muster up enough dignity to make eye-contact with any of them to silently plead. Princetons didn’t plead, anyhow. Where was Alicia? This was a moment to add to his list of complaints to vent out to Alicia in exchange for her frustrated rants about the incompetent people she came into contact with. There were times Ceph was glad his betrothal had been made public. He felt less ashamed of complaining to his friends about the unfairness of it all. The little deal he and Alicia had made last term seemed to have a bright future.

Megan’s comment sparked a surge of anger at her, but he swallowed down his sharp retorts. He had neither the time nor the patience for sarcastic, criticizing comments from people like her. He got it enough at home from people who wanted him to grow into his role as a patriarch in the future. “That’s right,” he replied briskly without looking at her. “I haven’t had cherry pie in ages.” She had caught him at a bad time and though he did not want to make her hate him completely, perhaps his naturally sulky demeanour would cause her to run back to Daddy and beg him to break off their betrothal. Then he wouldn’t even have to act like an insolent little git towards her. Merlin knew neither of them wanted to be here now together with the impending threat of marriage to bind them together for the rest of this lifetime. Cepheus continued sulking. There were so many reasons to do so and so few reasons to stop.

0 Cepheus Sulking. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Darina Porter

August 05, 2013 7:15 PM

I felt pretty! by Darina Porter

Darina had actually been asked by her oldest cousin to be a part of her wedding and she was sort of excited about it. She got to dress up as a Bridesmaid, and though she’d sort of hoped that Charlie would be able to at least see how pretty she looked while she was there! She’d begged for pictures to take back to school with her to show Charlie that at the very least. They were Muggle photos, so she was sure someone at school could even make them into magical ones that she could keep! Imagine it! Me, twirling around in my dress, looking all pretty! she thought as she walked up to the Wagon with her brother at the end of Midterm. Of course their dad had to help them with it all, since much of their extra fencing gear was coming back with them for the use of the Fencing Club (which Rina was also excited about!). Rina and Mitri hugged their parents and Cas before getting onto the Wagon and starting the trip back to school. Thankfully it wasn’t as long as some of the others had, but it was still a trip nonetheless.

During the ride she remembered how pretty she looked at the Wedding and felt like it was happening right now, even though at the moment, she only wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had the sign for the London Tube on the front and a map of it on the back. It was one of the things she’d bought herself as a present when they’d been in England. Her robes were slung on the seat behind her for her to put on when they got closer to school. The first year couldn’t stop talking about how she, Mitri and Bri had helped Teppenpaw win their game the last half term, how Ris had a cake and a party all planned the night before her Wedding for them all, how she looked so pretty in her dress and more. She was almost sure that people were getting tired of hearing about all of it, but she couldn’t help it! The eleven year old was only excited, and that wasn’t a bad thing, is it? she asked herself, stopping her chatter long enough to decide that it wasn’t bad that she wanted to talk about her Midterm. If anyone didn’t want to hear her go on about it, they didn’t have to listen. She could tell that her brother, for one, had lost interest in what she had to say. Of course he had, he was there… she thought, not really caring what anyone thought about that. She still couldn’t wait to show Nox and Charlie the pictures!

She’d actually also bought a few friends some things back from England and she couldn’t wait to give them to her friends! For Nox, she found a teddy bear that was dressed like one of the Queens Guards, the big furry black hat and all and she also bought her a t-shirt that said, ‘My friend went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!’ She’d gotten one of those shirts for Charlie too, but she also got him something else too. She found him a snow globe with Buckingham Palace inside, but it wasn’t just the fact that she liked snow globes that made her want to get it for him. The fact that the place was of a Royal nature and the conversation they’d had at the pool party made her think of him very highly. She cared about his opinion almost as much as she cared about Mitri’s (and that was saying something for the Teppenpaw). She had both friend’s presents packed into her trunk and she couldn’t wait to find the time to give them their gifts! She LOVED giving presents, always had! Rina even preferred giving presents to getting them.

The Wagon had arrived now, and she and Mitri got out of it. He followed her up to Cascade Hall and went off to find someone, if she had her guesses he’d gone after finding his friend Ava. She smiled and nodded when she saw that he’d found her, and went on hunting for either Nox or Charlie. Mitri sat down next to Ava and she went and found her own seat, between two empty ones since she didn‘t see Nox and when she had spotted Charlie he was talking to someone else already. I’ll make a new friend. she thought to herself as she smiled to the person next to her. “Welcome back! How was your Midterm?” was all she managed to get out though, before Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau started speaking.

The Fair booths were spoken about and Rina thought hard about something that she may do, but couldn’t decide in the affirmative. She figured that she had time to decide anyway, at least a few days to be sure. She’d talk to Mitri and the others and maybe they could come up with something to do? She shrugged, but paid attention anyway, just in case, as things were explained.

The Headmistress finished speaking and set them free. The food appeared in front of them and Rina squealed softly at all the goodies that were in front of her. As good as the food was at the Wedding and over in England, it wasn’t Sonora food, that was for sure!

She turned back to her neighbor, “I’m sorry we sort of got interrupted, what were you saying?”

0 Darina Porter I felt pretty! 0 Darina Porter 0 5

Abi

August 05, 2013 7:16 PM

Thank you! by Abi

There was something about creamed corn and mashed potatoes that was sort of like a comfort food for the Crotalus girl. She wasn’t sure exactly why, but she did guess that it was because of the fact that they were warm and comforting. Abigail decided that perhaps she should owl her mother or Aunt Charlotte about why, but thought that she’d end up forgetting to do so anyway. It’s not really that important… she thought to herself as she asked the boy next to her to pass the bowls to her.

Henry slid them over to her one by one and she smiled to him. “Thank you. Did you want some too?” She asked him as she put some of each on her plate. “I can serve you some if you’d like, now that they’re closer to me…” Abi wasn’t generally talkative, not even to her sisters or cousins. Even Wendy she was rarely talkative to, and she was her best friend!

When Henry welcomed her back, she turned back to him and smiled with a nod. “Thank you, you too! Did you have a good Midterm?” she asked. Sure, he was in her year, but she really hadn’t gotten much chance to talk to him. She did know, that he didn’t get along too well with her roommate, McKinley. Abi knew that McKinley wasn’t easy to get along with and at first all she wanted to do was put snakes and bugs and other gross things in her bed for her to find. She didn’t do anything of the sort, but oh did she want to!

Maybe it’s time to get to know other people… Even when I become an Animal Healer or whatever, I’ll need to know how to talk to people too… she thought, as she waited for Henry to answer her question.

0 Abi Thank you! 0 Abi 0 5

Carter

August 05, 2013 7:18 PM

Thats some umph you got there by Carter

Carter listened as Wendy explained how the holder she made him worked. He nodded his approval. “Very cool,” he said. “I could still take it off if I wanted to right? It would feel kind-of weird trying to take a shower with it on.” He chuckled as he thought about it. He listened as she told him about her break and nodded appropriately. “Sounds like your friend’s sister had a nice wedding. You did say the Thornton family right? Don’t they have like some outrageously wild number of kids in their family or something? How many sisters does your friend have?” He asked curiously. He and his parents had their hands full with just one sibling for him let alone however many her friend’s family had. He found himself nodding in agreement at her statement of going nuts with that many siblings. “No joke,” he commented lightly. “My little sister is enough of a hand full. I don’t know what my parents would do with however many children your friend’s family has. I don’t know how your friend puts up with them all.” He chuckled again. “Your friend must have nerves of steel.” He grinned as she talked about her visit with her dad’s family that she’s never met before over in England. He grinned bigger when she asked if he was English or Irish. She didn’t seem to know which it was.

“I was born in Sussex in England. My dad’s family was all born there as well. Me mum’s family is all from Dublin,” he told her in a way answering her question of his origin. “Its too bad that you couldn’t see more of London. I think you would have found Buckingham Palace especially beautiful. I particularly like Big Ben myself,” he told her. “Maybe your parents will let you come with me and my family over the summer when we go back to visit. Maybe then my mum and I can show you all the neat stuff you missed on your last trip there. It couldn’t hurt to ask right?” He had a feeling that it was pretty likely that her parents would probably say no since they didn’t really know his family at all, but maybe they would say yes. He really had no way to know unless they asked. “Have you thought at all about the whole fair thing?” he asked her. “I was thinking about just going and enjoying myself mostly,” he admitted. “How about you?” He took a couple more bites from his plate as he waited for her reply.

0 Carter Thats some umph you got there 0 Carter 0 5

Addi

August 05, 2013 7:18 PM

Yeah, I guess it can be... by Addi

Addison didn’t know Michael too well, but what she did know about him was that he was generally a nice, kind person who kept to himself. She was sure someone had told her once why he did that, but she couldn’t remember either the reason or who had told it to her. With a slight shrug, she’d asked worriedly if there was anything she could do for him. He didn’t look happy and it was odd to see him not so happy. When he responded by saying Fine thanks she looked at him and suddenly remembered what it was that someone had told her about him!

He couldn’t hear without hearing aids, so she’d need to speak slow (which was good, she was happier that way anyway!) because there was so much noise around them. That was why she didn’t really see him much in here around when other people were here. Then again, she didn’t really like to be in here around a lot of other people either, so she completely felt that pain too being in Cascade Hall for seven Opening Feasts and this being her seventh Returning Feast.

He went on to say that he was just tired from the journey and going on about homework and asked if she was a seventh year. Addi nodded to him and he forged on in talking. “Yes” she nodded, “I take potions, everything really.” she added sort of slowly, shivering when he asked about their essay. “I’m not a big fan of essays, never have been, really.” she started, biting her bottom lip nervously. “I just hope it will be graded okay…” she added, “What did you think about it?” she asked him, as she took a moment to put some pasta and meatballs into her plate as she waited for him to say something next.

0 Addi Yeah, I guess it can be... 0 Addi 0 5

Dimitri

August 05, 2013 7:20 PM

Indeed they are...glad I've already found one by Dimitri

Dimitri grinned at Ava’s excitement over the gifts that he brought back for her. He was glad that she seemed to like the t-shirt and picture he drew. “I’m glad you like the shirt,” he said. “I’m also glad you like the picture I drew. I’m sure its not better than anything you’ve ever drawn. Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure your drawings are great,” he told her. He was a little surprised by her question about the betrothal thing. He found himself nodding in response. “Yeah we do. Kind-of stinks, but yeah,” he told her. He was glad when they started talking about the booth idea. He was really glad that she liked his idea about the booth for the fair. “I was hoping you would like the idea,” he replied. He found himself giving her idea on what to do with the money some serious thought. He had to admit it was a good idea. Not one he had ever really worried about before, but a good idea. He was pretty sure that they would have to take that part up with the headmistress, but it was a good idea none the less. “I don’t think we should charge them for the pictures, but donating any tips we might make to your clean water idea sounds really good. Besides, its not like we couldn’t get new supplies and stuff for the Art club from the school if we asked the Headmistress about it. And anyway its not just my booth anymore. You agreed to do it with me so its now our booth, not just mine.” He smiled at her to encourage her. Dimitri smiled a bit as she told him she was just going to have one of the other Tepps let him know that she was going to be in the library after dinner. He wasn’t sure what that would have been about, but he probably would have gone anyway. He was about to ask what she wanted to meet him for when she beat him to the punch.

He was a little surprised that she had gotten him a Christmas present, but he was also delighted that she had gone to the trouble. So when she asked him herself if he would mind meeting her in the Library anyway after dinner to give him his gift he readily agreed. “Not at all,” he assured her. “That sounds good. It shouldn’t take me long to unpack and stuff after dinner.” He was sort-of glad that between the two of them she seemed to be excited about the wedding he had gone to. “It was okay.” He shrugged about it. He was just glad he wouldn’t have to dress up in a monkey suit again anytime soon. His thoughts drifted back towards their booth as he thought about what he would like their booth to look like. He wanted to ask her about her thoughts on the matter as well. “We have to register our booth idea soon and I was wondering if you had any ideas on what it should look like,” he said to her. “I may have a couple of ideas, but I wanted to see if you had any ideas you wanted to share.” He took a couple of more bites from his plate while he waited for her reply. “If you want we can discuss it more in the Library after dinner,” he suggested.

OOC: If you want, we can continue this conversation in the Library. You can post your reply there and I’ll follow suit.

0 Dimitri Indeed they are...glad I've already found one 0 Dimitri 0 5

Josh

August 05, 2013 10:56 PM

The future isn't exactly the brightest by Josh

It was good to have a friend and he smiled a little as he put the gift away in his pocket. She was thoughtful and seemed to understand and he appreciated it more than anything. She was one of the very few people he trusted and that trust spoke volumes of what he thought of her. His trust in people did not come easily. "Thank you," he repeated. "It really...means a lot." It really did.

Brianna's comment that he had looked more grown up was appreciated, though on any other occasion he wouldn't have liked it. The older look was exactly what Josh had been going for; that and completely unrecognizable once he had his gear on. At least Brianna thought it looked nice. Josh personally hadn't been very fond of it. "Thanks." It would be weird growing a beard again. He would keep it clean until he graduated and, from that moment on, let it grow out. He would be executing his carefully formulated plan and hopefully, by the end of it all, he would simply have to don on a cap and glasses and disappear. And then he would be someone else completely.

The hardships Brianna was facing with her leg was still a work in process and Josh wanted nothing more than to help her. "At least you're making progress," he said seriously. "That's important." He could imagine her not feeling her best after failing to walk without a crutch after nearly a year, but at least she was trying. "We can practice if you'd like. You can lean on me at first and then slowly try it on your own." He wasn't really sure how to help and he sometimes felt awkward offering it, but she couldn't just stop her therapy when she came back to school. He had helped her before and he wanted to see her progress further.

He hadn't expected her to mention the money, but it was a nice confirmation that she had received it. He had to shut down his emotions to keep himself from giving himself away with a pleased smile. Even so, he still had to bite the inside of his cheek from smiling at her smile. It felt good doing something nice for someone else and seeing how much they appreciated it even if it had been anonymous on his part. "I'm glad you had fun shopping with your mom. I can imagine you don't do it often." He knew how much her parents worked and it was because they didn't make very much that this had been allowed to happen to her. He was just glad that Brianna had bigger dreams now to get out of that horrible place and live happy.

"The town was nice. There were mountains and hills all around and lots of snow. It really was a quaint and beautiful place." He had imagined his parents in that town so many times it had become almost second nature. He had seen his parents walking hand in hand, unknown to the other pedestrians, in this muggle town, happy and alive. He had imagined seeing his parents looking into window shops, stopping for a bite to eat in a cafe, going into a magical bank to convert their galleons and sickles. Though he had never been there before and could not remember ever seeing his parents physically there, every single aspect of the town held a memory of his parents.

Josh had come to terms with his parents' deaths a very long time ago. Even when he had discovered how they died, it had only taken a few days before he was fine again. To his knowledge, he had never had parents and so there was no feeling of loss. As a young boy, he had at times seen others with their moms and dads and had felt lonely, but it had faded with age. Going to that town had been something he had promised himself to do and now that it was done, he felt like he could move on. His parents were gone and now it was his turn to do something he wanted with his life. He wasn't going to let himself be stopped by the McLachlans.

Now was the time to wrack his brain for something to say. Brianna was a much better conversationalist than he, but a thought came into his mind. Normally he wouldn't even approach such a topic, but Brianna seemed to be the exception to everything. "Are you and Linus officially dating now?" He felt stupid for asking it like that, but he wanted to know. He was her friend; they ought to share these sorts of things with each other, right?

0 Josh The future isn't exactly the brightest 0 Josh 0 5

Henry

August 07, 2013 12:53 AM

You're welcome by Henry

Henry considered the dishes he had just moved. “No,” he said, then, a beat late, “thank you.”

Perhaps potatoes would have been all right – he did not like corn – but the idea of being served food by someone else was not appealing. At home, it was every man for himself after he was old enough to manipulate a spoon. The last time Henry had been served food instead of having to get his own off a big table, he had been at Uncle Anthony and Aunt Lorraine’s, and also being given about fifteen different kinds of potion, so he hadn’t been really in focus enough to think much about it. Or anything, really. That had been pleasant. Now, though, he was not on a lot of drugs, so the idea made him feel vaguely insulted, though he realized she most likely did not intend to do so.

Still. Being helped meant there was something wrong with you. He knew this; he’d heard more than one person in the family wonder what was wrong with his parents, that they always needed people to clean up their messes. Was there a best at serving mashed potatoes? He guessed so. It was not the same as being not good in the ways his parents were not, but it happened.

He mirrored her nod when she asked about his holiday. “Yes,” he said. It had not been bad. He had spent most of his time reading; the others left him alone even when he was in the room with them, most of the time, so he at least knew more theory than he had before. Eventually, he had been assured again and again, so long as he practiced all the time while he was at school, too, this would translate into better wandwork. No more wild swings between being unable to make anything happen and having things blow up, no more Melting Potted Plant Incidents, passed CATS, not being ‘poor Henry’ when people thought he couldn’t hear anymore….

Poor Henry. Good old Arnold. Silly Theresa. Brandon! Diana, dear. Eccentric Arthur. Only Jay and Anthony are just them.

He began to move green beans onto his plate. Squash casserole. Meatloaf. Plain, filling food. Where did they get beans and squash at this time of year, he wondered? Mother froze them with magic at home, in the ice room in the cellar, so they could have it in winter, but this tasted fresher than that did when it was heated up. Perhaps Mother was merely not very good at freezing and thawing. He wondered if there were enough things to make a tomato sandwich. “Did you?” he remembered to ask back, repeating her question. This Thornton was not, so far, too difficult to talk to, giving him things he could easily give pressed-out responses to and repeat the questions without having to think of any himself, but he was not optimistic about this state of affairs lasting if she continued the conversation. It never lasted long.

0 Henry You're welcome 0 Henry 0 5

Ava Fletcher

August 07, 2013 2:36 AM

Okay! ***OOC: I'll probably post tomorrow (nm) by Ava Fletcher

10 Ava Fletcher Okay! ***OOC: I'll probably post tomorrow (nm) 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Lucian

August 07, 2013 10:03 PM

It's getting better. by Lucian

“It’s alright,” Lucian began as he handed Clara the shakers, “Food tends to be a distraction for me as well.”

After handing her the journal of pictures he drew, Lucian sat back and watched Clara’s facial expression. Based on the reddening of her cheeks, a gasp she let out, and the look on her face when she was flipping through the pages, the present was a success. He nodded at her thanking him, and laughed at her comment about stinking at some of the things he drew her doing. “Well, think of it as motivation then,” he said with a shrug, and then added jokingly, “but just be prepared… because next time there is a ball, I will be asking you to dance.”

Lucian took the present that Clara handed him and shook it by his ear. “Nothing fragile, hopefully,” he said smiling, and then laughed at the wrapping paper. “Clever wrapping paper.” He paused for a moment and sized up the present, then ripped open the wrapping paper like a little kid on Christmas morning. Once he had the present open, he unfolded the blue t-shirt and held it up to read what was on it, and then flipped it around to see what was on the back. “I love it,” he said smiling at her, “I will definitely wear this at the next Fencing Club meeting. It looks like the right size…unless I get huge arm muscles from Quidditch.” He flexed his arms out and then laughed. “Hopefully you don’t mind me joking so much. I spent most of my break around uppity girls. It is nice to be around someone with a sense of humor.”

Lucian reached across the table to get a large chicken drumstick and mashed potatoes to put on a nearby plate he grabbed. He looked over at Clara and watched for a moment as she picked at her food while vaguely explaining that things did not go anywhere with Dean. Lucian was relieved that he didn’t need to worry about Clara’s betrothal for now, since he had enough to worry about with his own, but he wondered what would happen eventually if she did find someone that she liked. He decided to push that aside for the time being, and took a big bite out of the drumstick. As he chewed, he tried to formulate answers to her questions about their non-public dating.

He found himself laughing a bit after she finished, and then turned towards her after he swallowed his food. “I’m sorry,” he began, “I am just usually the one who is overthinking everything. I think for now, we should keep things relatively quiet. It isn’t that I care what people will say, aside from the whole people causing an issue about betrothals thing, but I don’t know. There’s something kind of…exciting about secretly dating. Do you know what I mean? We can meet secretly for now.” He hoped that she didn’t take what he said the wrong way. Lucian was enjoying the peace and quiet, and not hearing his sister complain constantly about Clara. Though, he had to admit that he wondered why she was being so quiet. He turned to glance towards the Crotalus table, but didn’t see anyone paying much attention to them for the moment.

Lucian turned his attention back to Clara, and thought about the Booths for the fair. “I want to at least participate in one,” he said, “I am just not sure what I would do for fencing. Maybe fake props that won’t harm anyone? I wouldn’t want to just have an informative booth. That would probably seem boring. I thought about drawing, but I will have to see. It would be nice to work on the same booth with you, but fashion is out for me.” He laughed a little, and then continued, “I don’t know that it will be all that bad. What you wear now is fine with me, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you looking all girly. You looked nice at the ball.” He smiled, and then put his hand on her knee under the table, and then used his other hand to pick up a spoon and get a glob of mashed potatoes.

0 Lucian It's getting better. 0 Lucian 0 5

Brianna

August 07, 2013 10:38 PM

You're always the optimist. by Brianna

“It’s not a problem. I’m glad you’re happy with receiving a gift.” Brianna stated with a smile. “Hopefully, you like the actual gift just as much.” She really didn’t know if he would or not. To her, it made sense. Josh had that habit of wanting to isolate himself and forget about the people who care about him. Even if those people was just herself. She did care and she didn’t want him disappearing from her life. The gift, to her, meant to remind him that he was never alone. All he needed to do was find her and those items did exactly that. It was pricey, but worth it in her opinion.

“Yeah, I know.” Brianna said, although not sounding too happy about it. Jonah and her parents kept telling her that it would take time. All she had to do was keep at it, keep trying, keep making progress. But she didn’t feel like she was making any at all. The crutch made her a target. The crutch was a reminder of how weak she was. She didn’t want to have it anymore. She wanted to be normal again. She gave him a small smile at his offer. “That’s nice of you to offer, but it’s your RATS year, I don’t want to take you away from your studies by doing extra therapy with me. I just have to keep strengthening my leg and hope for the best.” Really, she just didn’t want to embarrass herself around him because she knew she’d eventually have a meltdown about not being able to do it like she had a million times over with Jonah and her parents. She just lost her patience and confidence after so many failures.

Brianna gave an affirmative nod. “We never go shopping. If my mom does make some decent money on tips, she’ll go to the good will store on her own to buy things.” Brianna commented. “I mean, that’s completely fine to do that, she knows what I like and what I look okay in. She won’t let me go though. It’s not in the best neighborhood. But this time, we were able to go where all the great shops are. It was really fun. My mom seemed really happy too.” Smiles came with a price in their family. It had been a long time since they had smiled. Or laughed. And they had done both on that trip. It was a nice escape from reality.

She listened quietly as Josh described the town. She had to admit, it sounded every bit like Colorado as she had always pictured. Someday, she would see it. Someday, she would see a lot of things, but she definitely wanted to check out Colorado for the mountains and Montana for the National Parks, Florida for the sandy beaches, etc. There were just so many places to go and see. She’d make time for it all, someday. “Sounds wonderful.” She commented with genuine interest.

The sudden question regarding her love life made Brianna a little uncomfortable. She never really talked much about Linus to Josh feeling as though that would make Josh uncomfortable, but she assumed he would just... know, anyway. “Er…yes? I think so.” She answered as truthfully as she could. He asked her to be his girlfriend, so she assumed that meant they were official. “Is that okay?” She wasn’t sure why she was asking him that, but it came out before she had a chance to think it over.

6 Brianna You're always the optimist. 0 Brianna 0 5

Clara

August 08, 2013 8:06 PM

I certainly hope so :) by Clara

Clara smiled as Lucian seemed to be quicker with the joke wrapping paper than she had been. She was glad that he got it. She was very glad that he loved the t-shirt she got him and shook her head slightly at his comment on getting bigger arms playing Quidditch. She had no doubt his arms might get a little bigger playing Quidditch thanks to his beater position. She squeezed his muscle slightly and giggled as he flexed it. “Definitely possible,” she agreed. “I heard beating definitely does your arms a heck of a workout.” She gave him a playful smile at his comment about wearing the shirt she gave him for the next fencing meeting. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she teased him lightly. “I will be at the next fencing meeting so you better have it on,” she continued to tease him. She frowned/ pouted slightly at his comment of being stuck with uppity girls over the break. “I’m sorry you got stuck with people who were no fun,” she apologized to him. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she couldn’t help feeling bad for him. She blushed slightly when he promised that the next ball they went to they would actually be dancing at. The past ball they went together, but ended up going outside to talk to one another about their feelings towards one another. While she would have liked to dance with him then she was glad they had talked. She had been bursting at the seams to say to him what she had said that night. It had felt good to have that out in the open even if his sister was being a pain about it.

Clara glanced at him curiously when he mentioned that they should keep their dating a secret. She quite sure how she should feel about that and decided that she wasn’t going to worry about it. She was fairly certain that he hadn’t meant it as something negative. It was probably more just to keep his sister out of their hair. She had to admit she did kind of like the idea of being able to keep him all to herself. “I know what you mean,” she replied when he asked if she understood. She began to laugh with him when he joked about him being the one to over think stuff and she nodded. “Yeah, that’s usually true, but you have to admit it makes for a nice change of pace, doesn’t it?” she joked. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We’ll figure it out.” She smiled at him and took a couple of bites of her own food as he mentioned a possible booth for the fair. She was glad he liked the idea of working with her on one and giggled when he said that fashion was out for him. “I’m glad you don’t think I’ll do too badly with the fashion booth,” she told him gratefully. She raised a brow at his comment about her dressing more girly sometimes. She blushed and smiled when he mentioned her dress for the ball. “I guess it wouldn’t be soo bad to dress more girly sometimes,” she reluctantly agreed, rolling her eyes slightly grinning at him. “Believe it or not I do own a few skirts and one dress.” She grinned playfully at him.

She began formulating where their next meeting should be and what they should do for it when an awesome idea struck her. She was about to tell him about it when she felt his hand on her knee. She glanced down briefly grinning to herself. She reached her free hand under the table and placed her hand over his. She leaned forward slightly to try and mask that they were essentially holding hands under the table. She lowered her voice slightly so that only he could hear her and told him (sort-of) about her idea for their next meeting. “What do you say to meeting me in the MARS water room sometime after our Quidditch match? We could have a picnic and go fishing,” she whispered, leaning back up slightly towards her plate. She had actually contemplated wearing one of her skirts with leggings for their outing, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. She wanted to save at least one surprise for him.

0 Clara I certainly hope so :) 232 Clara 0 5

Abi

August 10, 2013 11:32 PM

Do you need anything? by Abi

Abigail wasn’t really one for being very talkative, in fact, she spoke to animals more than people on a normal basis. This wasn’t a worry to her family, they all knew of her love for animals and her desire to be with them more than humans. But people at school by now (as it was her third year) were probably curious as to why they barely had spoken to her. A part of her figured they chalked it up to her being one of those ‘weird Thornton girls’ that she’d overheard people say about her sisters. Sure, Abi loved each of them for who they are, but the Crotalus girl wouldn’t call any of them her friends… If Abi had to be with a family member, she’d choose Clara over all because of her horses. But nobody would ever make her choose and she knew it.

As she put some of each dish she’d asked Henry for into her plate, she offered to serve him some too, if he wanted. She had been trying to be nice and all as it was now closer to her. He said no, then a beat later said thank you. She wondered if it was because he didn’t like potatoes and corn, but then wondered why anyone wouldn’t like them. They were calming and something she looked forward to, but didn’t say anything of it. “Oh alright. Well, if there’s something I can pass you, just let me know then, okay?” she said as she shrugged it off, not thinking anything of any of it. He’d passed her what she wanted and that was good. If he didn’t want to eat any of it, who was she to make him? He could eat whatever it was he wanted. She wasn’t his mother after all and had no authority over him, nor did she want any. She was her own person and so was he, right?

She asked about his holiday and with his answer he asked her about hers. “It was different, but it was a midterm just the same. Wedding, family stuff, you know. Did you do anything fun?” she asked. She wasn’t one to just talk, she’d rather be the listener in most cases. She waited to see if he’d have anything to say or add to what she’d said.

0 Abi Do you need anything? 0 Abi 0 5

Meggie

August 10, 2013 11:35 PM

Wishing... by Meggie

When she’d thanked him for the presents from his family, he answered thank you for hers with such a clear negative thought behind it that she was taken aback slightly. When he turned his head away from her again, she wondered why in the world she’d followed what her father wanted for her at the Returning Feast. She didn’t want to sit with him any more than he wanted to be sitting with her. That was painfully clear. The Teppenpaw wasn’t sitting at her own house table with people that would at least treat her better than her own betrothed was doing over here because of her father and her hope to gain his trust back. But now she almost didn’t even want to. Meggie almost wanted to get right up again and go sit closer to Rupert or back at her own house table, but that wouldn’t have helped her case with her father later on. The more people that saw how he treated her, the better. Meg glanced around the room to see if Gareth or Enion were around. If they saw what was happening (and seeing her trying with him, of course) perhaps they would say something to their parents who in turn would talk to her father.

At least she hoped.

Megan wanted nothing to do with spending the rest of her life with this Crotalus boy, especially if he kept up all this mess. It was moments like this when Megan wished beyond all words that their betrothal wasn’t made public already so that she didn’t have to be anywhere near him. But, alas, it wasn’t so. She just needed to stick it out and hope that her father wouldn’t let this happen.

If he did, she’d have to deal, but she really hoped that he too, in time, would see what she did…

Meg hadn’t said anything wrong, at least in her own mind, when she’d asked if he was craving sweets, but the way Cepheus had answered her made her feel like perhaps she had. She thought back on how she’d said it and thought that maybe it could have come out entirely not how she wanted it to. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way… I really just thought it may be a little bit healthier for you if you ate real food too… Not that you couldn’t have the pie, just that perhaps some turkey or something as well…” she trailed off, wishing that she hadn’t even gotten out of bed that morning on top of going to sit with him.

I wish I hadn’t listened to Father… she thought to herself as she sighed a heavy sigh and looked down at her plate, wishing that it wouldn’t look bad on her part to play with her food. A part of her wished that she didn’t have to stay in the room any longer, suddenly she wasn’t even hungry anymore.

0 Meggie Wishing... 0 Meggie 0 5

Bri

August 10, 2013 11:40 PM

And bake cookies and cakes! by Bri

When Bri mentioned Marius and magic in the same sentence, Waverly looked really confused. “Well, do you remember last summer when I told you that we found out that Marius was magical? Well, it all came out then only for us to find out it wasn’t him that was making all those things happen. It was his dad. I thought it was weird that it hadn’t really shown up before in the years that I’ve known him, but I didn’t think anything of it till then. When it came out to my Mom that it was his Dad that was doing the things around him to make him think that he was magical, like him and like me it all went down hill.” Waverly mentioned the statute of Wizarding Secrecy and Bri nodded to her.

“Well, at the time we thought he was magical too and that was an okay thing if he was. Now, now I just don’t know anymore…” she said with a long sigh. “I just wish it was different, you know? I mean, if he was magical, like we thought, things would be so different…” Bri was sad and mad about the whole thing even still, and she worried mostly that their relationship was going nowhere. She’d called him when they got home for break, but he never answered her calls. She’d written him too, to no avail. “I’m just scared that something’s going to happen that won’t be good…” she added to Waverly, knowing that she would understand her sentiment and perhaps even where she was going with that statement. “He didn’t answer any of my calls or letters or anything for months…”

The conversation (once Waverly was finished responding) moved on to Bri being okay with VP for Baking Club as well as running her own Drama Club. Bri affirmed that she couldn’t keep still and smiled as best as she could to her best friend. She had the feeling though that her Drama Club wasn’t going to get off the ground fast enough or that nobody would show up to it or something. The fact that she was a Thornton probably didn’t help things much, as many of her sisters weren’t liked by many people. The fact that she caught the Snitch against Crotalus would almost surely mean that none of the Crotalus Team would join and she sighed heavily, again. “Oh, I’d like to see the Fair too, maybe we can sit at your booth at the same time then let the shift go to the next people?” she suggested, feeling odd if she wasn’t walking around with her best friend.

When the chat changed topics again to the Teppenpaw Win, Waverly was talking about how it had scared her and that she liked watching Quidditch better. Bri nodded in understanding. “At first, I really was scared, but then I figured it was just like opening night jitters on stage. When I got to that point I was okay, well, relatively anyway, until I got hit with the Bludger, then I wasn’t sure what to think anymore, but I focused on the important point. Finding the Golden Snitch.” When Bri expressed her worry about what happened if Teppenpaw ended up playing Aladren in the Final, and then what could happen if they had to face Pecari (and Amira). “I’m not sure that Mira would… She plays to win, regardless…” Bri added, biting her bottom lip, hard as she turned her face towards her plate in front of her. “I can hope that all won’t happen again, but it can’t be guaranteed… You know that… I know they will, but Beaters aren’t perfect either… Nobody is.” she added.

“It’s not that I don’t want Pecari to win, Mira and Clara are on the team. But Andri and Lucian are on Aladren and it just doesn’t seem fair for me to want either side to win over the other. You know?” she said, entirely conflicted in her desires. This game would tell who they’d be playing in the Finals, and either way didn’t seem like it would be too pretty for her…

“Me too… All this travel and wedding stuff and all wore me out… I just want to sleep through till the end of the year…” she added with a huge yawn.

0 Bri And bake cookies and cakes! 0 Bri 0 5

Henry

August 11, 2013 1:16 AM

Therapy? by Henry

“I will. Thank you,” Henry said, remembering to add the second part quicker this time, even though she had not actually rendered him a service yet. This, he remembered from lessons, was polite, to regard it as a service that people said they were willing to render him a service, even though he was also always supposed to assume that they were lying and that he should not actually ask for their aid, whether it was something he could honorably need help with or not. When he had first learned that, the complicatedness had almost been amusing, in a way, like a mystery; now, he thought it was sort of stupid, but even the only one of their etiquette teachers he or any of his siblings had liked had admitted that what was polite was not always what made actual sense.

Life isn’t polite, but we have to be. Except when we aren’t. No consistency.

He wondered if there was any chamomile tea. He liked that; it was calming, even if not as much as the things in the bottles in Mother’s special drawer, and something about the taste of it reminded him of when Mother did the laundry, how their cotton shirts smelled when they came off the clothesline she put them on because she had too much to do to stand there and use her wand on every piece of clothing worn in a family of nine. A bit of lemon, starch, the sun in them. Like that. And Aunt Lorraine said it was good for him. He didn’t see anything that looked promising near him, though, so he resigned himself to water.

She spoke in oxymorons about her holidays – if something was different from usual, then by definition, it was not the same midterm. The day the Incident had happened, that had started out like any other time when they were all left at Grandmother and Grandfather’s and exiled immediately to the garden, because Grandmother hated having children in her house and only tolerated it because it would look bad for a grandmother to never see her grandchildren except at formal dinners, but it had not ultimately just been another visit. Normal visits didn’t end with Father – or so Henry had heard; he would have given his last galleon to have seen it himself, but he had still been out of it then – taking a swing at Grandfather.

“No,” he said honestly when asked if he had done anything fun over midterm. “But I liked it, except when the baby was noisy.” He poked his green beans with his fork. “He was born in the fall,” he offered, since he interpreted her previous remarks as indicating that a low level of detail was appropriate. “Another brother. Three brothers, three sisters now.”

He did not know if this one was actually just another one or if Mother and Father were trying to preemptively replace him. He had not asked. He did not want to know. It didn’t matter if it was – nothing he could do about it, nothing Peter could, either - but he didn't want to know.

0 Henry Therapy? 0 Henry 0 5

Josh

August 12, 2013 6:02 PM

Do I detect sarcasm? by Josh

The fact that it was his RATS year was really not on the forefront of Josh's mind. In a year, it wouldn't matter what Maximilian McLachlan had gotten on his CATS and RATS. He knew it shouldn't matter, but he was studying all the same. He didn't want Maximilian McLachlan to be remembered as an academic failure. But he didn't want that exam to keep him from helping his friend. "If you need any help, just let me know," he said seriously. He didn't want her to try asking someone else just because she didn't want to bother him. She should know by now that really nothing bothered him when it came to her.

As Brianna told him about her shopping trip, Josh felt some pride at being able to help. That was what he wanted most, to help her, and it seemed that it had resulted in a pleasant experience for her. Josh let a little smile slip through before giving his undivided attention to his plate. "I'm really glad." And he was. He wanted nothing more than for Brianna to be happy.

"It's worth a trip out there sometime," he told her. When she became rich and successful, she could take trips anywhere she wanted and he was sure that it would happen for her. With her determination, she could do anything, most of all get out of the complex she was living in now.

Josh's question was met with some uncertainty, but he guessed it was because neither of them were used to talking about...dating. Josh certainly didn't have anyone and he didn't think Brianna would share that sort of information very openly unless he asked. He felt slightly embarrassed, but he didn't let it show. Her next question caught him off guard and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Of course," he said, wondering what had brought that question on. If Linus hadn't been a nice guy and if he had treated Brianna like crap, Josh would definitely have tried to stop her. But, from what Josh knew, Linus was genuinely interested in Brianna and he wanted the best for his friend. "Linus seems like a nice guy and I...I just want you to be happy." Saying that made Josh feel embarrassed again, so he didn't say anything else lest he made both of them even more uncomfortable.

0 Josh Do I detect sarcasm? 0 Josh 0 5

Wendy

August 12, 2013 7:05 PM

Would you expect anything less? by Wendy

Wendy laughed. "Yeah, of course!" Carter started asking about the Thorntons and, Wendy realized, she had never really asked Abi how many sisters she had. "I really don't know. I've never asked." Wendy had just never cared to know, it seemed. She liked Abi and her sister was friends with one of the Thorntons too, but siblings seemed to be separate from friends for some reason. Until she met every single one of them, that is. "I don't even know if I met them all at the wedding," she giggled. "But their house must be fun. It's fun enough with just me and my sister." She couldn't imagine, like, seventeen babies or something at once!

So Carter was both English and Irish. That was kind of cool. Wendy was so mixed up that all she could really be sure of was her American heritage. Her great-grandfather on her dad's side had moved from England for work, so by the time her dad was born, they were full-fledged Americans. And her mom could trace her family history all the way back to the Civil War and her mom came from a family with Southern belles and all. It was cool learning about where Wendy came from, but if she was being honest, she wasn't all that sure. She was just an American with family all over the US and, apparently, some in England.

There had been some site-seeing, but not much. "We went and saw the outside of Buckingham Palace," she told him. "And we also went and saw Big Ben and that one Ferris Wheel. It's called the London Eye or something? But that's about it. We mostly just took taxis around." It had been fun anyway and she and Waverly got to go to the magical part of London which had been the most fun in Wendy's mind. "My parents would probably say no," she said, somewhat dejectedly. "But it's okay. We can write each other letters and you can send me pictures!"

Wendy had given the fair some thought and had wanted to help out her sister, but it seemed like Waverly had enough help without her. "That would be fun," she said. She liked the idea of just relaxing and enjoying the booths. "I'll probably do that too. We should go together and see all the different booths people think up. I know my sister's doing a Baking Club booth. Are you a part of that club?" Wendy wasn't part of it so she didn't know who was and who wasn't.

0 Wendy Would you expect anything less? 0 Wendy 0 5

Carter

August 15, 2013 11:04 PM

From you? Never...lol by Carter

Carter nodded appreciatively as Wendy named off all the things that she and her sister got to see while they were over in England. Made him a little bummed to know that she had already seen most of the things he could have shown her, but luckily for him there was still Ireland that she hadn’t seen yet. He was a little more bummed out when she pretty much quashed his idea about her spending any time with him and his family over the summer. He shrugged a bit over it. As much as he would have liked to show it to her personally, she was right in the fact that he could always send her letters and pictures as she suggested. He would have preferred to see her face when she saw it first hand, but there was nothing he could do about it if her parents said no. He was glad that she had attempted to answer his question about it though. He and her both seemed to be in the same boat when it came to knowing how many Thorntons there actually were. He hadn’t really asked Arista when she was still at school and he didn’t really know any of the others well enough to ask them. He supposed he could always ask Brielle, she was a Thornton as well wasn’t she? “I suppose if we really were curious enough we could always ask your sister’s friend Brielle. She’s from that family…isn’t she?” he asked curiously. He grinned when he heard her say that her sister was doing a baking booth. Since Waverly was the president of the baking club it made sense that she would be doing one. He shook his head when she asked if he belonged to that club. “I really didn’t sign up for any of the clubs this year to be honest,” he replied.

He was a little stunned when she suggested the idea of the two of them going to the fair together and enjoying themselves. He had thought of that very thing himself, but had wondered if he would have been able to ask her and not have her feel like he was asking her on a date. Not that he would mind asking her for one mind you. He really had no idea how she would feel about that. He almost figured that she might be okay with the idea since she had asked him to the ball and she had asked him this time as well. He was a little confused as to how to treat the situation so he just went with it. He liked the idea of just enjoying himself with her. He nodded in a agreement. “I would like that a lot,” he told her casually, trying not to sound too eager. “So…should I pick you up for our second date or are you going to pick me up?” he teased her gently. He laughed slightly at his own teasing and hoped that she saw the humor in it as well and that it didn’t make her feel weird around him.

0 Carter From you? Never...lol 0 Carter 0 5

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Returning Feast by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Charlie B-F-R

I'm not really hungry (tag Julian U) by Charlie B-F-R

Julian Umland

*Offers cup of tea instead, then.* by Julian Umland

Clara Abernathy

Actually happy to be back to school by Clara Abernathy

Charlie B-F-R

Have you been speaking to my Father? by Charlie B-F-R

Michael Grosvenor

What's under rock bottom? by Michael Grosvenor

Cepheus Princeton

Wallowing. by Cepheus Princeton

Rupert Princeton

I'm hooome! by Rupert Princeton

Adam Spencer

Ham, anyone? by Adam Spencer

Julian U.

He and my mom must agree about some stuff. by Julian U.

Dimitri Porter

Return dinner with a friend (tag Ava) by Dimitri Porter

Derry Four

Out with a flash (Reggie) by Derry Four

Maximilian J. McLachlan

My swan song by Maximilian J. McLachlan

Brianna Japos

It'll be sad without you here. by Brianna Japos

Regina Parker

Like a bat out of hell! by Regina Parker

Ava Fletcher

It feels so nice to have one. by Ava Fletcher

Lucian D'Alesandro

Mostly happy to be back at school. by Lucian D'Alesandro

Josh McLachlan

I'll be sad away from here. by Josh McLachlan

Waverly Canterbury

Just so...tired... by Waverly Canterbury

Wendy Canterbury

So much to share! [tag Carter] by Wendy Canterbury

Clara

Only mostly? I'm sorry dude by Clara

Dimitri

Indeed it does by Dimitri

Carter

Can't wait to hear about it by Carter

Jude Butler

Comfort Food is the BEST by Jude Butler

Aubrielle Thornton

But glad to be back! by Aubrielle Thornton

Addison Thornton

Uhm... sand? by Addison Thornton

Amira Thornton

Me too! Let's do this! by Amira Thornton

Abigail Thornton

Will you pass the corn and mashed potatoes? by Abigail Thornton

Waverly

And hang out with friends! by Waverly

Wendy

There's always a lot to tell by Wendy

Rupert

Some strategic planning is called for. by Rupert

Carter

So tell me all about it by Carter

Brianna

I don't think you'll be terribly sad. by Brianna

Ava Fletcher

They say a good friend is hard to find by Ava Fletcher

Megan Brownbriar

Focusing by Megan Brownbriar

Mir

And a lot of focus... by Mir

McKinley Andrews

In MY house?! by McKinley Andrews

Bri

And learn and grow! by Bri

Charlie B-F-R

Tea is a great source of bonding by Charlie B-F-R

Michael Grosvenor

Sand is kinda fun... by Michael Grosvenor

Offers cup of tea instead, then. by Julian Umland