On entirely the wrong track here... on Cascade Hall

Anonymous

June 14, 2015 5:56 AM

A secret revealed by Anonymous

A few weeks of the term had passed. The chances were they had not been trouble free, especially in the minds of the teenagers who walked the halls of Sonora - bubbling full of thoughts and worries, of who liked who, of where they fit into the world, and a few more salacious things in a small number of cases. But on the surface, the school was calm. There hadn’t been any major incidents.

That was set to change. When a secret was kept, it was a little creature that gnawed away inside a person. When it was set free, it was a monster, hissing around as everyone whispered about everyone else. And that was far more fun. It was time to set tongues wagging.

The staff, no doubt, would remove the message promptly, not least because of the defacement that had occurred to school property. But the chances were, a few people would see it before they could manage that. And that was enough. Great fires were started by tiny sparks. As they came down to breakfast that morning, the students would find, carved into the door of the Cascade Hall, a question - but more than that, they would find an invitation to speculate, to whisper, to accuse…

“Guess who likes girls?”

Subthreads:

On entirely the wrong track here... by Clark Dill with Shinohara Uzume

Gossipmongering is what us gays do best! by Charlie B-F-R with Ava Fletcher, Ava

I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. [tag Alistair] by Liac Reinhardt with Alistair Johnson

*muffled screaming* by Jake Manger

13 Anonymous A secret revealed 0 Anonymous 1 5

Clark Dill

June 15, 2015 8:33 AM

On entirely the wrong track here... by Clark Dill

Clark enjoyed mornings. He generally crashed early - though not as badly or suddenly now as when he was younger - and then woke early. He'd always considered himself a bit of a morning person and hitting fourteen hadn't changed that, though on weekends he tended to stay in bed an extra hour that he'd never needed before. Today, though, he was up at his standard weekday hour and arriving at the Cascade Hall in time for the start of the breakfast time period.

He stopped short when he saw the words written into the Cascade Hall door. It was perhaps due to the book on Sphinxes he was currently three quarters of the way through reading, or maybe it was just the way his mind worked, but Clark's first interpretation of the carved words was that they were some kind of riddle.

He considered it for a long moment but then got frustrated. Turning to a random other student who happened to be standing too close to escape, Clark gestured up to the words in irritation and vented, "What kind of riddle is that? The wording is entirely too vague, and there are not nearly enough clues to reach a conclusion! Plus, it's ambiguous! What kind of 'liking' are we talking about here? Is it romantic liking? Is it likes-as-friends-liking? Or is it even a more general 'I approve of the existence of girls' liking? Are there specific girls that the person in question likes? Or does it mean girls in general? Or is it referring to girls as a theoretical concept? You can't conclude anything from that!"

He gestured toward himself now, and continued, "I mean, I like girls. Is it talking about me?" His hand moved to indicate his companion, "I assume you like girls, in at least some capacity. I mean, who doesn't like girls? Girls are awesome people." An answer to his rhetorical question occurred to him, so he answered it himself without giving his companion an opening to say a word, "Okay, maybe there are some grumpy people who don't like anybody, or some chauvinists who don't know how to respect women, but that doesn't eliminate nearly enough people to 'guess who' the riddle is referring to."

His eyes widened in sudden insight, "Oh! Oh! I got it! It's only one of a bunch of clues, that are probably scattered around the school. Those will probably give this one some kind of context and provide clues of their own. It's like another scavenger hunt!" More realizations fell into place, and suddenly it all made a lot more sense, and now he was excited instead of annoyed, "Oh! I know! This is the staff's way of getting us excited about the concert! Do you think they hired a famous group to play for us this year instead of making us perform? And this is a contest to see who can figure out who they're bringing in!"

He turned back to the words on the Cascade Hall door, "I bet that's a line of lyrics in one of their more obscure songs and it's our first teaser clue! I don't recognize it. Do you? Who do you think it's going to be?"

1 Clark Dill On entirely the wrong track here... 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Shinohara Uzume

June 15, 2015 6:19 PM

But I'm enjoying the ride. by Shinohara Uzume

Uzume, fresh faced after a post-dance lesson shower, moved wistfully through the hallway in her yukata. She figured since the weather was still fairly warm that it would be still appropriate to wear, hinging on the fact that her ignorant classmates wouldn’t know the difference between her casual attire and a kimono. She was in the middle of deciding between grits and a fried egg when Clark Dill, her Seeking rival and intermediate classmate, turned to her effectively interrupting her thoughts with his crazed babbling about some type of writing on the door to the hall.

Uzume was a little taken aback by his sudden outburst. However her face remained still, the only indication of her surprise being her tentative step back. Following his hand she looked at the words on the door. “How preposterous,” she thought to herself, but as she was on the brink of her own conclusion, Dill-san continued.

Uzume’s still face now moved into a grimace. No she did NOT like girls in any meaning of the word. They were annoying, shameful, shallow sub-people. She was once a boy, so she figured she was in a sense grandfathered into a higher rank. She wanted to reprimand him for making assumptions of people, yet he seemed like he was on a role and she was feeling quite generous with her time today.

While he carried on, she listened with one ear and examined the door herself. Touching the mark on the door she saw that it was carved into it, not just written. Although it piqued her interest a little, she wasn’t nearly as invested as her company, not outwardly anyways.

It was strange having Dill-san talk at her. She saw him on the field plenty, but being so close that she could reach out and hit him with a good spell without anywhere for him to run was a new feeling for her. He was… louder than she imagined the Aladren to be.

“I think you talk to much,” Uzume said bluntly with a grin. “Honestly, I thought you were going to turn blue at a few moments there. As for the ‘clue’” she said turning to the door. “I think it sounds more like some first year hazing to me. I mean if the teachers wanted to make a scavenger hunt wouldn’t they be more likely to put it on pieces of parchment rather than destroying school property?” Honestly, she thought Aladrens were supposed to be smart. Not smarter than herself of course, but at least on her level. “This sounds a lot more like bullying than lyrics don’t you think?” she asked, assuming that Dill-san would be no stranger to bullying.

“Now, I’m famished so if you would excuse me I would like to get something to eat before the faculty make believe that I am the vandal,” taking another good look at the words she walked past Dill-san.

“You are more than welcome to join me,” she said as an afterthought, turning to back to him. “I forgot my book in the common room and am in need of intellectual stimulation anyways, Merlin knows I wont get any during class,” she said with a half grin. He was annoying and talked a lot, but breakfast with him might be interesting. Besides, there was no harm in getting to know how the opposing Seeker thinks.

0 Shinohara Uzume But I'm enjoying the ride. 0 Shinohara Uzume 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

June 18, 2015 9:12 AM

Gossipmongering is what us gays do best! by Charlie B-F-R

Making out with Neeka had seemed like such a good idea last term. It was going to get girls out his system for good. Only now he’d had a taste, he wanted more, and the only available option was now several states away… He’d been forced to come to some harsh conclusions by his continuing lust for Neeka, and anyone else with breasts - he liked girls. Growing up, he had liked show tunes, fashion and the eighties. Everything that went with being gay. Except, apparently, when he’d hit puberty, his body had decided to renege on one key element of that whole identity. He had practised saying it, very quietly but still out loud, in places like his room or the Labyrinth Gardens.. I like girls. I. Like. Girls. He wasn’t really ready to say it to other people though. He wasn’t sure how the girls of Sonora - whose hair he’d brushed, whose dresses he’d approved, with whom he had always been tactile and friendly - were going to take it that none of that closeness and touching was an innocent as it might have seemed. It was something he was working on though. He would get ready. He would come clean - come out - by the end of the year.

It was therefore a bit of a shock when, one morning early into the term, someone seemed to have done it for him, by carving the confession into the doors of the Cascade Hall - or rather, an invitation to guess at it. Charlie did a double take, his face stricken with shock. Luckily, he suspected the sheer nerve of whoever it was in vandalising school property was enough to make that a common reaction, and not something that would mark him out.

He entered the Cascade Hall, trying to look nonchalant and then wondering whether he should be looking excited by the juicy gossip… His brain didn’t have room for that dilemma though. It was too busy turning over how this was possible and how to weasel out of it. How could anyone know? Neeka wasn’t one to talk, and she was gone now, and he most certainly hadn’t told anyone. She did have an odd sense of humour, so maybe she had told, kind of like a prank on him… But surely he would have had the come back from that before she left. Had someone followed them and spied on them? What if it was Julian? What if he’d been too distant and she’d got curious about where he kept going, or jealous - in a possessive friend way, he was quite sure she was still convinced he was gay. In fact, his disguise had been rather easy to renew this year - with the arrival of the Valois heir, the majority of his conversation had revolved around French fashion, how unfair it was that he wasn’t in one of the younger year groups and whether there were any reasonable ways of him approaching Louis Valois without seeming like an immensely creepy stalker. No one could suspect he was anything other than gay. Though clearly, someone did.

Still, all he had to do was deflect it. The most likely interpretation of the message was surely going to be that a girl liked other girls. He just had to find another target. There were the Quidditch players, obviously, and he was sure they would receive their fair share of suspicion but he wasn’t going to contribute to it. The idea that playing rough sports could make people gay was just insulting, and he knew that Father and Dad would be appalled at him for fuelling a fire that was everything their family stood against. He felt bad enough that he was going to stick the rumour to some random girl. Dad had talked a little bit about his own school days, what it had been like to be suspected, labelled, bullied. His own experiences at Sonora weren’t like that, in spite of what everyone undoubtedly assumed about his sexuality, so he could only hope he wasn’t going to devastate anyone’s life. So long as he didn’t say it about a Pureblood, things would probably work out ok for… whoever. That almost made it seem acceptable that he was going to start a baseless rumour, and once you factored in the self-preservation element, he was sold.

He remembered something he’d overheard in the Teppenpaw Common Room one night. It was a good suggestion - far more credible, in fact, than the idea that someone knew about the handful of MARS room make-outs between him and Neeka. Maybe he wasn’t really going to be lying at all. Maybe it wasn’t about him and he was just about to blow this whole thing wide open.

“I heard the advanced defence class were doing legilimency,” he whispered to his neighbour at the breakfast table, “Do you think one of them found out something about someone?”

This was better too, because he wasn’t naming and shaming anyone specific. He was just suggesting something about an unspecified someone… Or so he thought. Not taking Defence, he was unaware that there was only one girl in the group…

OOC - given the nature of gossip (and Charlie) I am happy for other authors to claim to have heard his suggestion as a rumour, even if they do not interact directly with him

13 Charlie B-F-R Gossipmongering is what us gays do best! 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Ava Fletcher

June 18, 2015 9:19 PM

That is...not my thing. by Ava Fletcher

There was a message carved into the doors of Cascade Hall, a graffiti that would likely make the students of Sonora start worrying about who they told their secrets to and the professors frustrated that someone was desecrating school property. And it was in plain sight too, so that anyone who walked through those doors for breakfast (even lunch and dinner if it wasn't able to be sanded out by then) was likely to notice it and wonder what it said.

Ava, being Ava, however had walked down to breakfast with her nose in a Healing book, completely not paying attention at all to anything around her. She was incredibly tired after having spent all afternoon yesterday finishing off her homework and then studying for the daily Defense quiz before spending the rest of the night huddled over charcoals and a sketchpad.

So, when one of Teppenpaws, Charlie Boxy-something or other, leaned over to her, she was startled enough to sort of jump a little and then cast him an overly confused look. What was he talking about? She frowned and put her book down to the side of her breakfast and took another bite of her cereal--not splashing milk on the table for once since before she had been paying too much attention to her book to realize that there was milk getting everywhere.

Gossip wasn't really Ava's forte, so instead of responding immediately she looked back to her book, longing to be able to pick it up again and disappear into the fascinating world of Theobrum and his uncanny yet insightful theories about wizarding medicine. However, a more curious part of her brain, the part that wanted to know everything, begged for her to ask the seventh-year what he was talking about and so instead of picking her book up again, she moved it out of the way of her cereal bowl so that she could eat without worrying about ruining the book and turned towards him.

"What makes you say that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side so she could look at her shirt. She had only just realized the milk on the table and was now glancing over herself to see if perhaps some of it had gotten on the blouse she had decided on that day. Luckily for her, it was one of those sheer white ones that she had put a white camisole under, so if there was milk it would not only be nearly invisible to her classmates but also be rather easy to get out and then dry in the girl's bathroom between classes.

After finding a spot, she picked up her napkin and rubbed at it, flicking her long hair over a shoulder as she did so, glad that at least nothing had gotten in that--milk in hair wasn't something she liked and she was certain that over the years her hair had suffered enough abuse at the hands of her various oil paints that she didn't think it needed any more abuse. "This is starting to get ridiculous," she muttered to herself. "I don't understand why I can't just keep my clothes clean. Is it really that hard?" She made a face and put her napkin down, ready to turn back to her cereal--or listen to whatever else it was Charles Boxy was going to say.

10 Ava Fletcher That is...not my thing. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Liac Reinhardt

June 20, 2015 3:18 AM

I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. [tag Alistair] by Liac Reinhardt

Liac walked down to Cascade Hall, idly chattering with Tobi about their problem. Specifically, the fact that Teppenpaw was once again likely to be short on players. He hadn't seen the Crotalus try outs but he guessed that unless all the Crotalus first years had suddenly become interest in Quidditch they were in the same kind of a jam. Liac had been meaning to talk to Alistair for a couple days now, but being an intermediate meant that he hadn't been able to have as much one on one quality time with his favorite Teppalus co-captain.

That morning, he planned on changing it though despite Tobi's grumbling that he didn't want to eat breakfast with the second year Crotalus. As they approached the dining hall, however, they noticed that someone apparently really liked girls as it had been scratched into the door for the whole school to see. He turned to Tobi with a leering grin. "Dude, same," he said, nodding to the carved message.

Tobi responded with a goodnatured eye-roll and offered to go find seats while Liac goggled at the graffitted message. "Maybe you can get a wing-man," he said sardonically with a grin and pushed his way into the hall.

"What? Does that mean you are trying to quit already? Not even a two-weeks notice?! You are so cruel!" he shouted after him, as he scanned the room for a certain second year. Once he spotted Alistair, he sidled up, linking an arm with his co-captain and dragging him away from whatever it was he had previously been doing. "Walk with me," he said, stopping only when he found the spots Tobi had saved. Liac took a seat and served himself a large helping of pancakes.

"I have a proposition for you," he said doing his best Godfather imitation. He had watched the movie over the past summer with his dad and despite the fact that he wasn't Sicilian, Liac had really liked the Sicilian mob's style. They looked so cool! "As it stands neither of us will be able to play without each other, how do you feel about rejoining the old Teppalus team again, huh?" He threw in a wink and a charming smile for extra measure. "Pancake?" he offered Alistair the piece of pancake that was on the end of his fork.

Given the circumstances, Liac didn't have to worry about being too formal or brown-nosey to get Alistair to work with him since they both needed each other. Alistair would either have to suck up his pride and work with him or forfeit playing Quidditch for that year. And although Liac didn't like asking AListair for a favor, he was willing to suck up his pride for Arne.

OOC: Tobi's parts written by his author.

0 Liac Reinhardt I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. [tag Alistair] 288 Liac Reinhardt 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

June 20, 2015 6:45 AM

We're also pretty good at being bitchy by Charlie B-F-R

Charlie didn’t like to stereotype. He had heard many examples of how it had caused hurt or was wrong. His own sister had been an Aladren, so he definitely didn’t like to tar them with one particular brush but really? This girl had been so absorbed in her book that she hadn’t even paid basic attention to her surroundings? Anyone walking past the door should have picked up on the vibe - he was sure most people must be stopping, staring, whispering. At the very least, had she not had to take care to avoid bumping into anyone as some were stopped in their tracks by the message? Potentially the most exciting thing that had happened in his entire time at this school was going on, and she hadn’t even noticed! He wondered how people like her survived day to day life. They were smart, sure, but oblivious.

“The incredibly salacious gossip carved in foot high letters to the door of this room,” he informed her incredulously. Ok, the size part was probably a bit of an exaggeration but they weren’t exactly subtle. “They pretty much out someone as a lesbian,” he explained for her benefit. If she couldn’t be bothered to check the source material herself, then at least he could plant his interpretation.

The girl still seemed incredibly distracted, by examining her own clothes and trying to rid them of the milk she hadn’t taken much care with. He had noticed Ava’s dress sense before, for two reasons. Mostly, it impressed him. He had liked her ball outfit, which rebelled against the traditional attire but suited her down to the ground. However, regardless of how nicely she dressed, she always appeared to be a state - paint, food or ink-stains covering her clothes. Again, she seemed about as unaware of these as she did everything else.

“Not very,” he replied slightly acidly, to what had probably been a rhetorical question, about how difficult could it be to keep clean. Although the prairie elves were wonderful creatures, he had taken it upon himself to learn every piece of sartorial magic he could muster. He’d had a range of cleaning, folding and de-creasing (not to be confused with ‘decreasing’ which had nearly led to a nasty accident befalling one of his favourite shirts, luckily enough of Henny and Father had rubbed off on him that he read reasonably thoroughly rather than rushing in) charms and potions down before he’d left beginners. After that, he had moved on to alterations. “The Charms are really very simple, if one is inclined to bother learning them. A simply ‘scourgify’ will even do it for most stains, so long as they’re not tough ones or it’s not a delicate fabric,” he preached rather haughtily, “It’ll do for milk but you might need something a little more specialist for paint,” he advised her, in much the same tone.

Charlie generally liked most people. He didn’t dislike Ava in any way. However, her inattention to gossip, and to the state of her clothes, were not exactly endearing to him, and were faults in a person that tended to bring out his bitchy side.

13 Charlie B-F-R We're also pretty good at being bitchy 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Alistair Johnson

June 20, 2015 1:41 PM

I think you've got me there. by Alistair Johnson

Alistair had noticed the graffiti on the doors to Cascade Hall but paid little attention to it, despite the number of students gawking and gossiping. So what if someone liked girls; he knew that he did. It was a silly act of vandalism that he wasn’t about to take as a serious mystery. He could only hope that one of the professors would erase it soon enough.

The second year was in the process of sitting down at the Crotalus table for breakfast when he felt his arm grabbed by some Teppenpaw hooligan, whom he quickly registered with no surprise to be Liac Reinhardt, and had to extract himself from his seat in a hurry before his ex-co-captain made him fall over.

His initial thought was that Liac had gone crazy or was just trying to annoy him (in which case he was succeeding) or something, but then the third year requested that Alistair walk with him - commanded rather than requested, actually. Alistair shook the third year’s arm from his own, irritated by the informalities and invasion of personal space, a scowl shadowing his youthful face. It was only because he considered whatever Liac had to say was likely important (seeing as it would undoubtedly be on the subject of Quidditch) that he sat down, not because he wanted to anymore time than he had too in the company of Liac Reinhardt, or Tobi for that matter.

He hadn’t liked the way the Teppenpaw had approached him and he most certainly detested the way the older boy addressed him. Was it mocking? Or was it simply undignified? The irritating wink and the irritating smile… Alistair took a while mulling over Liac’s “proposition”, eyeing the Reinhardt cousins with obvious distaste.

The Crotalus captain didn’t have enough players. The try-outs had been a disappointment in regards to numbers and there was little he could do about it from now until he had to have his team roster announced. He knew that he couldn’t force Crotalus students to join his team. But still he didn’t want to accept defeat. He had begun the year feeling so confident about his chances of forming a full Crotalus team but those plans had quickly fallen through.

“OK,” Alistair finally spoke, knowing that his situation was no secret and he needed Liac’s team as much as Liac need his - there really was no use pretending otherwise and playing hard to get. Refusing would have been a stupid move that would likely have ended in him not getting to play Quidditch at all. He removed the scowl from his face and replaced it with his natural cold, plotting sort of look, trying not to act like someone who had just accepted defeat. He had had a goal and he hadn’t reached it; for Alistair admitting that kind of thing was about as hard as things got. It was a blow to his pride.

“I will agree to joining Teppalus on one condition...” he wanted to do things on his own terms, not Liac’s, “...that I get to decide the final team roster.” Last year Teppalus had been mainly Teppenpaw but this time Alistair wanted to have the best team possible and he knew that he would be the better judge of that.

“And no thank you,” Alistair said in response to the pancake offer, giving it a suspicious look and helping himself to a healthy bowl of porridge instead.

8 Alistair Johnson I think you've got me there. 306 Alistair Johnson 0 5

Ava

June 20, 2015 5:21 PM

Also not my area of expertise... by Ava

Salacious, that was a good word. It was delicious to think about, to say. Ava grinned, it was such a good word! "Really?" she asked, her head turning rather quickly to the doorway as though she would be able to see what had been written there. "What does that have to do with the Advanced Defense class though?" She was genuinely confused and she knew it showed in her voice and facial expressions. She was the only girl in that class and she definitely hadn't been thinking about her sexual orientation throughout their legilimency and occulumency lessons. In fact, sexual orientation was the last thing on her mind at the moment because to Ava kissing was a horrible, disgusting, unwanted assault. The worst thing a person could do to another human being.

"I'm the only girl in that class," she continued. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not a lesbian." Sure she had thought her friend, Chloe, was rather pretty, and Ava disliked the idea of her being with anyone like that, but then again she felt the same way about Emery. It was a friend thing, she was sure. The idea of her friends liking someone more than they liked her was unnerving, something that likely stemmed from her mother constantly choosing work over her. Ava was almost positive she would have felt the same way about Emrys except that from the beginning everyone knew that Charlotte came first in his life--after his little sister, of course.

The snide comments on keeping clean went by unnoticed in that Ava didn't quite pick up on the tone. If she had, she likely would have looked at Charlie with a rather hurt expression and comment that "that wasn't very nice." However, she was too distracted by both the spot and now the information that apparently there was a lesbian at Sonora, she didn't quite notice. "Right, right," she said with a laugh. "I grew up in a Muggle household so I still kind of resort to my grandfather's cleaning methods before anything else." She took out her wand and quickly scourgified the spill away. "I suppose I could try tergeo on the paint stains," she continued. "That certainly works for blood which honestly is not as hard to get out of things the Muggle way as one might think! However, I feel like the paint stains are somewhat of a testament to my hard work, as silly as that sounds." She grinned, and turned back to her breakfast.

The message supposedly carved on the doors now held her attention, however, and she couldn't help but wonder who it was alluding to. "About that message though," she said thinking hard. "If it wasn't talking about me, who was it talking about then?" The idea that someone in the school had found out a secret about someone else and then decided to write that secret up for the whole school to see was a horrid one! She frowned in thought. "We didn't really learn legilimens anyway," she continued. "Though, Pye's father taught him it when he still lived at home with him, I asked. So maybe it's not even someone in the Advanced class! Maybe there's someone else in the school going around stealing secrets!"

She peered around the hall. She had been raised to not participate in gossip--goodness knew she had been a victim of some rather crude gossip back when she had been in elementary school and she didn't really want to contribute to someone else being on the receiving end of potentially hurtful rumors now that she actually had friends. Ava personally didn't think that being gay was anything to be ashamed of, but she also knew that some of her fellow students came from rather conservative families and she worried that perhaps the secret keeper was someone from such a family, someone who could loose everything because of the rumor.

10 Ava Also not my area of expertise... 0 Ava 0 5

Clark Dill

June 23, 2015 4:16 PM

Then stop trying to derail me by Clark Dill

Clark gave her a put-out look when Uzume told him he talked too much. He couldn't exactly argue that she was wrong, exactly, particularly under the current circumstances as he'd mostly been thinking out loud in her general direction rather than trying to hold a normal conversation, but he still thought it was rude to say as much, even if she tried to soften it with a grin.

Then as she offered her alternative theory, his expression turned crest-fallen as she rejected his conclusions. Still, he considered her words thoughtfully himself before shaking his head, still preferring his explanation to hers. Granted, he'd only been at the school a year longer than she had, but his first year - the year she had missed - had been a particularly noteworthy one that he thought showed the true character of the school and its denizens. If there were people here likely to bully someone else bad enough to deface the door to one of the most commonly used rooms in the entire school, he didn't think his first year, which had lacked any kind of adult presence to keep the order, would have gone half as well or organized or lacking in bloodshed as it had. Therefore, the teachers did it.

"Wood's not that hard to repair," he dismissed her concern about the property damage, "especially with magic. Dad's fixed way worse gouges on our furniture than that. They probably just wanted to make an, ah," he paused a moment to make sure it was understood that this pun was entirely intentional, "impression on us. And some lyrics can be quite bullying or gossipy." Though, to be fair, it was entirely possible she hadn't heard any muggle American pop music lately, and he wasn't especially familiar with what most wizards listened to. And while it did stand to reason that Sonora wouldn't host a muggle group, he was pretty sure songs had been spreading gossip for longer than wizarding and muggle society had been split apart. Hadn't that been the entire point of the minstrel profession, to spread news and tales?

He tried not to look surprised when Uzume strode passed him into the Hall and offered an invitation to sit with her for breakfast, but he had been kind of under the illusion she didn't like him much, possibly because he talked too much, possibly because he'd nicked the snitch before her in their last game, or possibly even because he was a half-blood and she cared about that kind of thing. So he looked surprised. "Um, okay," he said, following her, and not entirely sure why he did. He was normally very good about avoiding contact with people who didn't like him. But then, she had invited him along, so maybe there was a chance to change that, and he couldn't in good conscience throw away a chance to mend fences with someone he had no real quarrel with.

Sitting down near where she did, he quickly filled a plate with waffles and fruit, and asked, since she wanted 'intellectual stimulation', "Are you taking any independent studies now that you're an intermediate, or just focusing on the core classes Sonora offers?" The question was motivated mostly out of mild curiosity to see what other people were interested in, but he was also kind of looking for some Astronomy study partners for his own independent research.

1 Clark Dill Then stop trying to derail me 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

June 24, 2015 4:19 AM

Would you care to learn? by Charlie B-F-R

Charlie blinked, surprised that anyone over the age of five, let alone an Aladren, was asking him to spell out the connection between people practising freaking mind reading and a person’s deepest, darkest secret being spilt. Sure, technically, it probably wasn’t anything to do with the Defence class, seeing as it was his secret and he wasn’t in it, but Ava didn’t know that. Unless she was secretly mind reading him right now, but he didn’t think legilimency was something you could do without another person noticing and she seemed too preoccupied by her own little world to be a threat in any way other than accidentally bumping into people or spilling things on them.

However, the reason for her confusion was soon explained, as she revealed herself to be the only girl in the class, and not really into girls that way. Charlie blushed, awkward at having been caught trying to start a rumour about the very person he was talking to.

“Sorry,” he said, “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with it, obviously - my parents are gay. It just seemed like the most likely way that someone would know something personal about someone else,” he explained, “I had no idea who took the class. And I wouldn’t be surprised if other people jump to the same conclusion,” he warned her. Not least because he certainly didn’t plan to stop voicing the suggestion to other people - preferably next time those who weren’t in Defence, so wouldn’t know any better, which Ava had just conveniently identified as all other sixth and seventh year girls. At least, he would until he came up with a better alternative.

“I think I read something about removing paint stains… I could double check it for you,” he offered. He hadn’t had much use for such things himself but he thought he knew which book it would be in, and he was determined to assist the clothes of Sonora as much as he was able. “Dare I ask how you know about removing blood stains?” he asked, “It’s not from murdering people who start rumours about the Defence class, right?” he joked.

“Which Pye?” he asked, when she sought to expand on the rumour, glad that she’d given him a direction to go with other than speculating on who it might be, even if she had simultaneously punched another hole in his perfect alibi. “Big Pye or Little Pye?” He was fairly sure that she had to be talking about the teacher. Little Pye was very little to have been taught advanced dark magic. But it was equally unlikely that a teacher was spreading gossip...

13 Charlie B-F-R Would you care to learn? 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Ava

June 25, 2015 12:29 AM

I feel the pull of the darkside. by Ava

When Charlie blushed, Ava felt a little bad. But she supposed it did make sense if he were the sort of person who didn't like being wrong. Though, she supposed, his blush could have also come from warning her that there were students at the school who liked to engage in...salacious gossip as Charlie had termed it earlier. "Oh," she laughed off his warning. "I don't really mind, I've learned how to tune people out if they're babbling nonsense. Besides, if they want to talk, let them talk, I don't mind. It's not like it's a terribly vicious rumor. I don't mind."

She did mind, in actuality. So far Sonora had been a safe place for her, she had her friends, and she had her quiet areas, and for five and some years she hadn't needed to deal with rumors of being a necromancer who lived with the ghost of the mother she'd killed. Really, she thought to herself dryly, the minds of young girls could be quiet vicious.

Ava shrugged. "If you like," she replied. "Like I said, I don't mind the paint. It happens nearly every day anyway." She took another bite of cereal, chewing thoughtfully. Charlie's joke was almost... But she put the thought out of her head. It was ridiculous to even think about that. "Murder, perhaps not," she deadpanned. "I don't want to end up in Azkaban after all, but years of falling out of trees and pushing people off roofs is enough to have to learn some tricks if I don't want to get caught."

In truth, she had only ever pushed one person off a roof and that had been retaliation after he had pushed her out a tree, resulting in a broken arm.

"Big Pye," she clarified, realizing it was necessary to differentiate between her housemate and head of house. "So, I figure, if he could have learned at home, why not someone else?" She leaned into Charlie, her voice hushed. It was standard secret telling formation or so she figured since that's how people on t.v. always told their secrets. "It could be any student with at least one magical parent."

Ava honestly didn't think it could be the head of house Pye, he was too aloof and uncaring to actually take the time to put together such a devious plan. She frowned, trying to think who it could be. "Maybe we're over thinking things. What did the message say word for word?" Ava's full attention was on Charlie now, her breakfast, book, and everything her grandfather had ever told her about gossiping forgotten. There was a mystery afoot and she wanted to be involved in the solving of it.

"You know, it could have been discovered the Muggle way, through word of mouth. I'm not really up on the whole gossip thing. Or perhaps the person themselves wrote it, wanting to come out of the closet but being too afraid to." Though Ava oftentimes appeared ditsy, when she put her mind to something she could be quite logical, and the broader the range of potential vandals, the less likely only one person could be pinned for something they probably didn't want other people to know.

10 Ava I feel the pull of the darkside. 0 Ava 0 5

Charlie

June 26, 2015 6:46 AM

Come over to the dark side. We have cookies. by Charlie

Charlie was glad that Ava didn’t seem mad at him. In fact, she seemed fairly unperturbed by the idea of people gossiping about her at all.

“That’s very mature of you,” he noted sincerely, when she said she’d just brush off what other people said. Most things slid easily off Charlie’s back - he wasn’t one to stay angry or in a bad mood for long, but what other people thought of him bothered him. If he didn’t care about the subject in question, he’d probably get over it quite quickly, but for the things that mattered to him - his appearance, his taste - he would have been bothered by negative comments. He guessed most people would feel the same, which meant sexuality was just something where Ava didn’t mind what people thought of her, but that was still worthy of admiration. Or was possibly woefully naive - if his parents’ stories were anything to go by, it was something people would go to great lengths to make you miserable over. But then, in both their cases, it had been true. Maybe for someone like Ava, people would get bored when it didn’t seem to matter to her.

The conversation with Ava was picking up as she showed more and more interest in the gossip (if still a limited willingness to be corrected in the care of her clothes). He was still fairly sure that legilimency wasn’t something you could just go around doing to people without them noticing it, and that you’d have to be at least an advanced student to master it, even if your warped Pureblood parents tried to teach you from a young age. Still, he wasn’t going to refute any theories. The more people focussed on how someone had done it rather than who it was about, the better. And the more theories there were to argue over, the more likely they were to do that.

“‘Guess who likes girls?’” he repeated, managing to sound casual although he wasn’t sure he wanted Ava’s overly analytical, think-of-every option brain dissecting that. It seemed like she’d been placed in Aladren for a reason after all. Still, she was curious now, so bound to check, and it was safer to get her chewing over it now, surely, where he could refute her suggestions, try to push her onto another track if she got too close. “I mean, it’s not really gossip unless it means like… in a gay way. I’m sure most people here like at least one girl as a friend,” he added, trying to keep her on his way of thinking.

13 Charlie Come over to the dark side. We have cookies. 252 Charlie 0 5

Jake Manger

June 26, 2015 3:09 PM

muffled screaming by Jake Manger

When piercing blue eyes fell upon harsh carved wood, a single thought like lightning cracked through Jake’s mind: WHY?!

As he had feared, his behavior had only depreciated since the Feast. There were too many girls around! He couldn’t help it! They were all so lovely, with curves in different places and of different sizes, each girl a unique and beautiful gem. He didn’t mean to stare, and in fact he tried incredibly hard not to. It wasn’t right to stare at them. That was creepy, and Jake wasn’t like that.

But maybe he had stared too long, and someone must have seen him. The only problem was who? It must have been a girl he had offended with his stupid wandering eyes, or else her jealous boyfriend (was anybody dating around here?) whom she had told about the gross weirdo looking at her. Yes, most assuredly, he had brought this vandalized wrathful outing down upon himself. It was the only explanation.

Beyond that, he could think of nothing as even if Jake was being a bit impolite with his looks, who would do something like this? He had no enemies to his knowledge, and quite honestly could imagine no way for him to have made any. He did nothing but treat people with the utmost kindness and respect. The motive was so unclear, hence this burning mental inquiry, still ringing in his head, over and over and over. WHY?!

There was a crowd gathered, and as he turned to leave, Jake found himself in what seemed like the middle, a bit trapped by other curious or nervous students. Unable to make a quiet escape, all Jake could do was face forward and try not to look too terribly guilty.

12 Jake Manger *muffled screaming* 280 Jake Manger 0 5