Partner? on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

September 18, 2007 7:02 PM

Lesson 1 for First and Second Years by Professor Kijewski

Kiva finished cleaning off the area with a sweep of her wand. Usually she did the cleaning the muggle way, but since the beginning of the school year things had been a bit hectic and Kiva had a lot to catch up on. Which meant, she was later coming to the clearing as usual and didn't have time to do the normal clearing out the space with a regular old broom. She conjured up a table and set the cat carrier down.

Almost immediately after, the students began to make an appearance. The first years always seemed a bit wary of this class (especially the muggleborns), so Kiva tried to make a good impression by giving them a fun and inviting lesson. Although, the last time she had introduced this creature, a giant dust storm had hit. Kiva hoped this creature didn't bring on another one four years later. “Good morning.” She greeted them with a smile, standing in front of the cat carrier so that those closest to her couldn't give away the creature she was to be teaching that day.

As it was the first lesson with the first years, Kiva decided to look more business casual than she normally would have. She sported burgundy cordoroids with black flats and a polo shirt. She was void of robes because it made her job easier that way. Her brown hair was longer than normal, having no time to really do much for it, so she clipped it back and out of her face. She couldn’t wait until she no longer needed to make a first impression so that she could return to her normal look of capris and sandals.

Once everyone was settled into the grass or chose to stand around, Kiva began, “For those of you who do not know, I am Professor Kijewski. Most call me Professor K. If you ever need me, my office is near the library, but I'm usually out here with my creatures.” Kiva explained. The school was rather large despite the small class sizes and Kiva was only all too familiar with how difficult it could sometimes be trying to locate someone in a hurry. “Alright, I'm going to explain some of the rules for my class. These are important, so I expect you to adhere to them." Kiva glanced out at the students, her face pleasant, but firm with her words.

"There will be no talking when I give directions. These animals do have the capabilities to be dangerous and I may give you advise on how to avoid getting hurt. If you're talking, well, the consequences are your own. There will be no talking when someone is else is addressing the class, whether that be for asking a question or giving a report." Kiva's gaze landed on a couple of students whispering and a frown appeared on her young face. "I expect everyone to do the work I assign. Especially if you plan on passing any future exams, not excluding C.A.T.S. and R.A.T.S. Aside from all that, you may discard your robes and talk amongst yourselves while in groups." Kiva finally smiled at them. "I'm not an evil teacher. I believe learning should be fun, but in order to learn, you have to listen. So, we'll do lectures in the beginning and then move onto group work so that you can all relax a bit."

Finally deciding it was time to actually get on with the lesson, Kiva clasped her hands together and stood up straighter. “Today we will be studying these,” Kiva opened the carrier and gently pulled out what looked to be a cat, except that it had spotted fur, rather large ears, and a lion’s tail. “Everyone please pull out some parchement in ink so that you may all take some proper notes.” Kiva told her class before continuing on with the lesson.

“This is a Kneazle. Kneazles are very intelligent creatures who can detect suspicious or unsavory persons very well and will react badly to them. Which means, trust a kneazles instincts. However, if a kneazle were to take a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes for an excellent pet.” Kiva placed the kneazle on the ground directly in front of her. “As you can see, a kneazle looks much like a regular house cat, with only a few minor details. Come have a look, feel free to pet her, she’s well-trained. Now, as you examine her, can anyone tell me the differences between a kneazle and a cat?”

OOC: Okay, you all know the drill. Three paragraphs per post, 3 to 5 sentences to each paragraph. Use as much detail as you can and have lots of fun with the kneazle.

Subthreads:

How cute! by Lucie Dupree with Ronen Cooper

There may yet be hope for the school by Holly Greer with Cecily Smythe, Cecily

Here kittie, kittie, kittie by Talitha Cumni with Irene Liddowe, Talitha

No robes? by Talen Dupree with Laurie Cider, Talen

A Kasneezle? by Rilla White with Thomas Fitzgerald

*is picturing Garfield* by Rorrie Hudson with Josh Warren, Rorrie

Partner? by Renaye Warren with Oliver Abbott, Raye, Renaye

Daydreaming (WotW) by Zane Cooper

Kitty! by Hyana Kamiya with Lydia Krotchet, Hyana

Not a favorite of mine... by Chelsea Brockert

I Have One of Those by Anabel McIntosh

CLASS CLOSED (nm) by Professor K

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 1 for First and Second Years 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Lucie Dupree

September 18, 2007 11:00 PM

How cute! by Lucie Dupree

Lucie was rather excited about taking Care of Magical Creatures. She hoped they would have something really adorable to learn about, like maybe a Crup. Not to mention that a class that was held outside in the fresh air and sunshine had to be awesome. There was just nothing else that it could be. The only terrible thing about it was the annoyance of robes, because it made one a bit warmer.

Arriving at the class with some of the other students, Lucie quickly settled onto the grass, regardless of the possibility of grass stains. Her blonde head tilted curiously at the professor. Why wasn’t she wearing robes? The other professors wore robes. Weren’t they supposed to? She didn’t think it was very fair that she had to while the professor didn’t.

Though, once she began speaking, she told them to call her Professor K, which was just cool. She hadn’t met many professors with nicknames. Of course, that thought ended with the idea of rules. If she wasn’t only eleven, she might have seen some wisdom to having rules, but at the moment, it was just about being told what to do, which was nothing new. People her age were always being lectured. Oh, well.

The first rule was no talking when the professor was. She had the urge to giggle, but didn’t since she wanted to avoid trouble. That was the rule in every class. Maybe they should just tell them at the welcoming feast. That way, they only had to hear it once rather than six or so times in very short record. The next thing made her perk up and really listen. Getting hurt? She didn’t want to get hurt. She never even had a broken bone in her entire life! The most was just cuts and scraps that were no fun. No fun, indeed. She didn’t want to think about that and knew from then on, she would be paying very close attention to Professor K.

Exams? Lucie wrinkled her nose at the thought. Her parents gave them regular exams growing up to make sure they were learning the things they needed to before standard school. She always did well enough, not a genius by any means, but bright nonetheless. Still, she preferred to learn for the purpose of learning rather than to pass something later.

Of course, after that, Professor K said the magic words to have Lucie forgive her anything, including icky tests. They could take their robes off, something she didn’t need to be told twice. Quickly, Lucie rejected them in favor of what she was wearing underneath, which consisted of a pair of purple shorts and a pale yellow t-shirt with a few matching purple butterflies. She was glad that her blonde curls were already tied back in a ponytail flowing down her back.

With that, the real lesson began. The professor put a carrier down and opened it. Out came a cat! She nearly exclaimed, “Aw, how cute!” but quickly covered her mouth before interrupting the professor. However, she couldn’t help being googly eyed over the creature. It was adorable! Forcing her eyes away, she pawed around in her bag looking for some parchment and a pen. Her parents had given her fancy quills to use, but she had quickly abandoned them in favor of the pen that she had discovered from one of her roommates. This one was a lovely shade of dark green. Clicking the pen, parchment in her lap, she was ready to take notes.

Kneazle, not a cat
intelligent
can detect bad/dark people: will react
trust them

Getting up with others, Lucie was thrilled to be able to pet the Kneazle. She had heard of them having grown up in the wizarding world, but because her mother didn’t like animals, Lucie had never actually seen one. She gazed longingly at the animal, wishing she could have one. It really was adorable. Reaching out a hand, she petted the soft fur.

“What’s her name?” Lucie asked the professor. And then remembering the lesson, “Oh, and her tail is different.”

0 Lucie Dupree How cute! 114 Lucie Dupree 0 5

Holly Greer

September 19, 2007 3:05 PM

There may yet be hope for the school by Holly Greer

Holly's schedule of classes had a few strange ones. The idea of "Potions" made her think of that old song about the guy kissing the cop on 34th and Vine. "Charms" was most likely not about the things hanging off her bracelet but what else it could be, she had no idea. Smiling cutely? "Transfiguration" was obviously all magicky. "Defense against the Dark Arts" might be an art class, but that was probably wishful thinking. It sounded too scary to be about art. Astronomy was a science class, though not the one she could have taken back home. History was almost normal.

It was the one called "Care of Magical Creatures" that filled her with the most hope and anticipation. It hadn't yet been a full day since she'd had to say good-bye to Wendy but Holly was already starting to miss the beautiful white equine. She'd been told in no uncertain terms that Sonora had no horses, but maybe . . . maybe the teacher of this class could provide some kind of magical alternative.

She might have been frightened by the dire warning about paying attention, but she knew from caring for Wendy that animals could be particular and you needed to treat them with respect and care. Even when you did everything right, there was still no guarantees that something unrelated might startle her and she could throw you off which was why Holly always always always brought a cell phone whenever she went riding by herself.

She was slightly disappointed, though, when it was just a cat that was brought out a few minutes later. Well, she was until Ms. Kijoy-Kidjou- Ms. K started talking about the furry gal. Holly took down a few sporadic notes but mostly, she was watching the magical kitty. Neezle, looks like a cat, smart, recognizes bad guys, good pet, some differences from a normal cat like:

She stopped there to see what her classmates had to say and whether or not Ms. K agreed. Though when another girl said something about the tail, Holly saw that it did look kinda funny and she almost wrote that without waiting for confirmation. She decided she'd get it down later. For now, though, she put aside her book and pencil and moved closer to the cat.

She wasn't really into either cats or dogs but, between them, she liked cats better. She squeezed between two other students and reached her hand out to gently stroke the oddly patterned fur of the magic cat.

Suddenly curious, she raised her hand and observed, "I thought witches like black cats. This one is spotty."

1 Holly Greer There may yet be hope for the school 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Talitha Cumni

September 19, 2007 4:15 PM

Here kittie, kittie, kittie by Talitha Cumni

Tiffany have listened to Professor K’s rules. The opening day lectures were pretty much the same, listen to all instructions, be respectful, no talking when the professor is speaking, pretty much the same. She was glad that Professor Kay was back. Her substitute left a lot to be desired and at least the whole class could participate this time. Pulling out her parchment and quill, she rapidly took some notes. Kneazles: Very smart, can tell good people from bad, trustworthy, makes a good pet if they like you.

Lecture done, she gratefully stripped off her robes. The Arizona sun was hot in spite of the weather charms. Much more comfortable in her jeans shorts and red tee, she made her way up to wait her turn to get a closer look. She’d never seen a Kneazle before and wondered why there were none in her community. Lots of her neighbors had cats for pets or familiars, but they didn’t look anything like the feline in front of her.

When it was her turn, she plopped down on the grass, feet (in their new red Crocs) up in the air, ankles crossed. She’d plucked a foxtail with a long stem and full seed head which she dangled to see if it would play. The bobbing fuzzy cone of seeds caught the Kneazle’s eye and it moved over to investigate. The pupils of its eyes widened and its ears flicked forward in interest. A flick of its tufted tail echoed its excitement. It was really a pretty creature.

Watching the Kneazles extend its nose to sniff at the fox tail, Talitha looked it over closely. Some one already mentioned the difference in the tail, so she looked for other anomalies. It did look very smart. She wondered if a Kneazle was smart enough to know not to pester an owl. Most regular cats weren’t.

“Its ears are quite a bit bigger, aren’t they?” Talitha commented to Professor K., still wondering why there weren’t any where she came from. “Are they very rare?”
\n

0 Talitha Cumni Here kittie, kittie, kittie 102 Talitha Cumni 0 5

Talen Dupree

September 19, 2007 11:20 PM

No robes? by Talen Dupree

Another year meant another year of classes, which was not a joy on Talen’s part. He would have preferred being home schooled to being here. It wasn’t that he hated the classes, so much as it was dull when he didn’t talk to any of his classmates. He had yet to click with any, male or female.

With a sigh, he made his way to Care of Magical Creatures, which had not been a good experience the first time. There had been a substitute professor who brought in an unicorn, which was a completely useless creature to a boy. He couldn’t pet it or study it. So, instead he had sat on the grass in a completely crowded class, hoping not to be stepped on by one of the older years. As such, he wasn’t looking forward to the class.

Arriving, he sat on the grass; not caring if his robes got grass stains. If they did, he would just owl home for his parents to buy him new ones. However, on the plus side, the real professor was there, though, not really in an outfit he would deem appropriate. And worse, was the fact that she wanted them to call her Professor K. That might have been the same as last year, but he didn’t really remember. Just the same, he gave a small shudder. He much preferred a formalized structure – proper desks, proper names, and proper attire.

When Professor Kijewski mentioned C.A.T.s and R.A.T.s, Talen appeared slightly alarmed. He certainly hoped they wouldn’t be conducted in the same manner as this class. It would be rather shameful. Of course, the next statement brought him back to the situation he was currently in. She had just said they could discard robes? He must not have heard her right. He quickly glanced around and sure enough, others were doing so. He would just stay in his. It was the required dress of the school.

This was not happening. This was not happening. That was all there was to it. He would pretend everyone was still in their robes and then he could concentrate on the lesson, which seemed to work, because when the professor brought out the carrier, he looked on with interest. Out came a kneazle. He knew what it was, because there was a nearby store, which had one that belonged to the shopkeeper and she just let it roam around. It didn’t seem to like his father very much.

Before he could answer the professor’s question, some of the girls, one being his cousin, had already gone up and pointed out the things he would have said. With a shrug, he went up to pet the animal. He rather liked cats and would have liked one that was as intelligent as Kneazles were.
\r\n\r\n

0 Talen Dupree No robes? 105 Talen Dupree 0 5

Rilla White

September 20, 2007 5:26 PM

A Kasneezle? by Rilla White

Rilla had been excited for her first class in Care of Magical Creatures. Animals were something she usually liked alright and they were at least interesting. Also, how difficult could learning the qualities of different creatures be? Hopefully it would be one of her better classes, she figured she had to be good at atleast some subjects. She glanced at the professor who was appeared very laid back.

This was odd, Rilla's teachers had always been kind of overly strict and the no nonsense types. Of course this meant Rilla was always in trouble. Having a good sense of humor, and being both naturally curious and naturally klutzy had a way of getting one into spills. She thought hopefully maybe this one would be good humored. Rilla felt she might be able to be successful in a class with a good humored professor even if it was difficult.

With these thoughts Rilla looked at the Kneazle. Sounded like the professor had said Kasneezle, Rilla tried to surpress a giggle but laughed anyways. At 11 she was far from good at keeping her thoughts to herself. Unfortunately she seemed to have outspoken thoughts and random ones, neither did teachers seem amused by. Trying to control herself she noted the differences between it and a cat. Rilla had never seen a cat up close, nor had she ever seen a kneazle.

Rilla whispered to someone near by assuming the professor wouldn't like her questions. "Umm, do you happen to know where I could look at a cat? Hard to compare without both here... It looks just like the cat pictures I've seen."

0 Rilla White A Kasneezle? 116 Rilla White 0 5

Irene Liddowe

September 21, 2007 3:10 PM

I like Goldfish. They smile back! (WotW) by Irene Liddowe

OOC: Hello! Opening sentance... Did you mean Talitha? Or am I confused?

Irene ran towards her CoMC class, running late. Again. She wasn't suer what was up with her recently. Nothing was wrong, but she just wasn't focused. When she finally arrived at the area where the class had gathered, Irene took a seat on the grass. She was so gald to have Prof. K back. It wasn't fun listening to the substitute yammer on and on and on about this and that and... Well, she didn't exactly remember. She remembered talking with Ebony and seeing the unicorns... Before and after that all she remembered was this dull buzzing sound.

Irene pulled out a pen and started taking notes as she was instructed.
Kneazle
-very intelligent
-can detect suspicious or unsavory persons very well and will react badly to them.
-trust a kneazles instincts.
-makes for an excellent pet.

Irene noticed, as Professor K told them moments later, that the Kneazle looked pretty much like a cat. It was an orange-ish sort of brown color, but there were spots around it too. The ears were rather bigger though. Irene went to raise her hand, but a girl near her spoke up,

“Its ears are quite a bit bigger, aren’t they?”

Irene put her haf-raised hand down. With a small grin she turned to the girl next to her, saying,

"You stole mine."

0 Irene Liddowe I like Goldfish. They smile back! (WotW) 106 Irene Liddowe 0 5

Rorrie Hudson

September 21, 2007 3:55 PM

is picturing Garfield by Rorrie Hudson

Rorrie joined her calssmates at the CoMC class... area? It wasn't really a classroom, but more of a Designated Learning Ground. She took a spot on the grass, not all too sure how she was going to like this class. It seemed nice enough, but if she just wasn't good with animals she wasn't sure how that effect her grade. She had her dog at home, but she was an ordinary house pet, not a dragon or a unicorn. Rorrie brushed her brown hair behind her hairm what they were going to learn about.

Rorrie took careful notes of what Professor K (as she introduced herself) told them about the "Kneazle." She blinked her green eyes. It looked like a cat, but... not. She turned to the person next to her and said,

"Is it me, or is that a cat?"

Rorrie really hoped that this person didn't mind talking. She didn't like working in silence. It made it boring and boring made it difficult.

0 Rorrie Hudson *is picturing Garfield* 0 Rorrie Hudson 0 5

Ronen Cooper

September 22, 2007 12:08 AM

It is pretty cool, isn't it? by Ronen Cooper

Ronen walked to Care of Magical Creatures with his cousins, same as he did for most of his classes. It was nice to talk to them, and it made him a little less homesick to know that he hadn’t totally left his family behind. Even though the Coopers were spread out across the States, family was a big thing for them, and with the help of magical transportation, they held at least two family reunions every year.

Giving his cousins a farewell salute, he took a seat near the center of the mob of people on the grass. He always liked to put himself in the middle of things, it kept life interesting. Besides, he had barely spoken to anyone other than his family since he was here! Not cool – if he was going to spend the next seven years of his life here, he was going to have to make friends, and lots of them.

Ronen drooped as Professor K went over her spiel about rules. Ever since he had gone to school, all classes had started this way, and it was unbearably boring. Couldn’t the teachers just give them a memo and skip ahead to the good stuff?

The olive-skinned boy perked up when she mentioned the lack of robe requirement. Excellent. It was kind of uncomfortably anyway. Aside from that, he was sure his mother wouldn’t be too pleased, were he to come home with grass-stained robes. He stuffed his school robes into his school bag, revealing a red and black horizontal-striped t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. Basically, he had just picked up whichever articles of clothing on top of the mound of clothes that was already forming in his dormitory. He hoped his roommates didn’t mind his messiness; the brown-eyed boy didn’t want to start any trouble with them.

Aside from the whole rules thing, Professor K seemed pretty cool. People might even consider it acceptable in this class for him to show off his knowledge, without deeming Ronen a nerd. For in Ronen’s eyes, that was the worst insult possible, and one that he had heard too frequently, especially in his earlier days of school.

“Awesome,” he whispered, as the professor displayed the Kneazle. He knew some general information about the magical cat, most of which Professor K eventually covered in her lecture. There was no reason to bother with taking notes, not when he knew most of this stuff already. He grinned, magic school might be as much of a breeze as Muggle school was – meaning he’d have more time to figure out fun stuff to do.

Meandering his way through the sea of students, he somehow made his way up front, standing next to some girl who was petting the kneazle.

“The ears are bigger than a cat’s too,” Ronen added, the only other difference he could name besides the one that the girl had already mentioned.

“Profesor K?” he asked, following up on the girl’s question, “If the kneazle doesn’t have a name, can we name it?” He was grinning again, his mind already coming up with a list of bizarre names.

0 Ronen Cooper It is pretty cool, isn't it? 124 Ronen Cooper 0 5

Laurie Cider

September 22, 2007 12:48 AM

Stripping's not in my repertoire. by Laurie Cider

Laurie had used her day planner to neatly tabulate her classes, study sessions, and projected extracurriculars into concise, orderly squares that filled her weeks out in easily managed intervals. Once properly organized, she next set to estimate the amount of time each class's homework might take in addition. Astronomy, she gave an hour, imagining it would need book and field work. For Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, she blocked off a combined two hour segment. For History of Magic and Potions, she gave them each 45 minutes. The only thing she hadn't managed to work out was what to give Care of Magical Creatures. As excited as she was about that class, she didn't have anything to compare it to in terms of time.

Laurie liked to be prepared; she liked to know what to expect. Everything in her universe had its place and time, and spontaneity was something she avoided as a general rule. While some of her childhood friends had viewed this slowly developing trait as a ‘downer,’ Laurie was always quick to remind them that she never got in trouble at school for forgetting her homework nor was she ever surprised by a test. As it was, birthdays and Christmases were easy affairs for her friends- they need only get Laurie a new planner, a spiffy calendar, or fine point sharpies to mark everything down with.

The only unpredictable thing about Laurie’s life was her family- and its many pets. There was her brother Tim’s African Gray, Socrates; the cul-de-sac’s collective and yet somehow only lived in their house mancoon, Butch; her parents’ seven goldfish, and, of course, her two very own French lops, Cotton and Fudge, who she both missed very much. She had spent her last summer training them to use the litter box, and her dad had made this great pen for them to run around in outside. She missed their company, the knowledge that even when she was reading in her room, the rest of the house busy elsewhere, that their little bodies were moving about on the floor nearby. It was, perhaps, a silly comfort, but it was there nonetheless.

When Professor Kijewski, or Professor K as she introduced herself, brought out that box, Laurie found herself straining to gain a better view form her perch on the ground. She recognized the animal right away- or she thought she had, until it’s features came in better focus.

“As you can see, a kneazle looks much like a regular house cat, with only a few minor details. Come have a look, feel free to pet her, she’s well-trained. Now, as you examine her, can anyone tell me the differences between a kneazle and a cat?”

Laurie readied a some of the parchment that was commonly used by the other students and a plain old ink pen. The differences were rather obvious: there was the patches of excess hair, the unusually made tail, the- she stumbled past a nearby body, and quickly said an apology. She gave the body a closer look though once it seemed he hadn’t noticed her loss of balance. Unlike most of the students, he still had his robes on, and somehow, this struck her as interesting.

Especially seeing as she hadn’t shrugged out of hers either.

Deciding this was a sign, she tapped his shoulder, “Hey, want to work on this together?” As an additional enticement, she offered, “I’m good with animals.”
\r\n\r\n

0 Laurie Cider Stripping's not in my repertoire. 0 Laurie Cider 0 5

Thomas Fitzgerald

September 22, 2007 12:54 AM

Er...close enough. by Thomas Fitzgerald

Thomas approached his first Care of Magical Creatures class with a fair amount of caution. His prior education had been focused on the things his mother was best with, which meant he could read both books and music, do figures in his head, and at least look interested during discussions of American magical literature and the history of Chicago. Other, less-frequently-seen, relatives had taught him other stuff, like how a bills became laws in the Muggle world. Not one member of his family, however, had ever bothered to teach him much about science, unless Aunt Linda's unintentional lessons on which flowers were hardest to kill counted.

Somehow, Thomas doubted they did. He also doubted that his good relations with his father's owl and mother's cat were good indicators of how he would do in this class.

He listened politely as his Head of House gave a speech to start off the class. As he had never actually attended any formal lessons with real teachers before, he had no way of knowing that such speeches were standard, but he did think it was a bit odd that they were allowed to remove parts of their uniforms. It kind of defeated the purpose of wearing uniforms, didn't it? He left his on so he wouldn't have to turn up for his other classes with dirt on them. It wasn't that hot out.

Thomas took notes as quickly and neatly as possible, as his book was balanced precariously on his left forearm and he'd never had the best handwriting to start with. The logic for having this class outdoors was flawless - even someone with as little knowledge as he about magizoology could see why a majority of specimens and the great indoors were not likely to mix well - but it was still irksome to discover the lack of proper work stations. He did not rush forward to see the kneazle in closer quarters, figuring there was still plenty of time left in the class period.

He was listening to what the kids closer to the front were saying and watching the kneazle when a girl - not one from his own House, he noted - whispered a question about cats. For a moment, he thought she was saying she'd lost her cat and needed help finding it, irrelevant as that was to what they were supposed to be doing. Once he processed the real question, he blinked and privately wondered what books she had been looking at. "I expect there's lots of them around the Houses," he said, just as quietly. "People's pets." He paused, then added, "That doesn't look much like Mom's cat to me."

0 Thomas Fitzgerald Er...close enough. 109 Thomas Fitzgerald 0 5

Josh Warren

September 22, 2007 10:37 AM

I guess that makes me Odie? by Josh Warren

Black hair did not make the Arizona weather any easier. Josh felt like the sun was beating down on the top of his head. He really wanted to just run back into the nice wonderful shade of Sonora. Care of Magical Creatures could be cool, he guessed. He wasn't sure how animals would react to him. He didn't really have any real pets. Ever. The only pet he'd ever had was Goldy the Goldfish. He was four.

Professor K was holding this thing that he was pretty sure was a Kneazle. It's ears were too big to be a cat. He soon found out he was right. It was a Kneazle. And he was suppose to take notes on it. Great... He pulled out a piece of paper and took some random quick notes. Kneazle didn't seem that hard to remember. He had a pretty good memory anyway. Like that girl next to him, she was the one who had called him "Andy" at the feast. He forgave her for that, though. She was actually really pretty. He was grateful that Renaye had decided to go and do her own thing. She always, always, decided to embarrass him in front of cute girls. So when she spoke, he was glad Raye wasn't there to mess something up.

"Is it me, or is that a cat?"

"I think it's you," he said with a small smile, so she would know he was joking. "So you're in Aladren, right?"

He thought he had seen her at the Aladren table, only then she had been compltetely blue. And he had been completely red. Either way, he was just trying to start a convorsation. He really didn't normally talk a lot, but he'd make an expception...

0 Josh Warren I guess that makes me Odie? 0 Josh Warren 0 5

Renaye Warren

September 22, 2007 12:51 PM

Partner? by Renaye Warren

As Renaye got to the CoMC class she turned and told Josh she wanted to do her own thing. Which she did. They may be twins, but they weren't Siamese. He didn't seem to care and she knew he didn't. Maybe he just hadn't heard. He had been looking over at the Andy-girl from the feast. She resisted the urge to ruffle his hair and say loudly, "Aww! Joshie had a girlfriend!". But no. That would be mean. Funny. But only for her. Poor Josh would probably evaporate. Instead, Renaye took a seat at a random spot of grass.

Their Professor was holding a cat with huge ears. Poor guy. The other cats probably made fun of him for his poor giant ears... Raye took notes about the Kneazle (oh yeah... That's what those were called!). Professor K asked them, Now, as you examine her, can anyone tell me the differences between a kneazle and a cat?”

They were also allowed to go and pet the ca--neazle. She stood up and made her way to the place where the Kneazle sat.

"Their ears look bigger than a cat's. And the tail is a little different too." Not the most refined answer, admitedly, but she did answer. She turned to go back to her seat, but in doing so, smacked right into the person behind her. She yelped in surprise and a little bit of pain.

"So sorry!" She said, her hand over the spot on her head where she had hit the person. "Are you okay?"

0 Renaye Warren Partner? 0 Renaye Warren 0 5

Talen

September 22, 2007 1:35 PM

Mine either by Talen

Talen gave a slight jump of surprise when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he looked curiously at a girl who if he had heard right wanted to work with him. Though, he supposed the added being good with animals helped. He didn’t really know if he was or not, as he never really had before, even though he was a second year and should have last year.

“Sure,” he answered slowly, as he silently accessed her. She was wearing robes just like he was, which immediately left a good impression on him. He held out his hand in proper manner, as he had been trained, “My name is Talen Dupree.”

He left out the part of from, because it was all rather complicated. He was the only child of the third son and lived in France, where the family was from. However, the current patriarch lived in New York and the second son was in Quebec. It really didn’t matter in his view anyhow, because it would only be in rare occurrence that he would become head one day. His cousins, Chris and Devian, would have to be disowned first. It was a possible proposition for Chris, as he had never quite fit into the family, but it would take an army for Devian to be.

On the whole, Talen was rather grateful over it. He had no interest in being in charge of the family not that he had a desire to stray from the Pureblood ways. It was more that he didn’t care for the messiness of it all preferring his little life of order. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had a sibling that reeked of chaos. He was rather thankful that it was only him.

After introductions were made, he asked the obvious, “Why are you good with animals?”

It might have been seen as rude from most other people, but the tone of his voice indicated a non-judgement and a genuine curiosity.

0 Talen Mine either 0 Talen 0 5

Oliver Abbott

September 22, 2007 2:08 PM

Yeah, if you promise not to knock me out by Oliver Abbott

Care of magical creatures was by far Oliver’s worst lesson. First off he usually couldn’t care less about the creatures they studied. It wasn’t that he liked animals – in fact, Oliver would say he found magical creatures fascinating – it was just that the classes so far had been about really lame animals. The puffskeins were sort of sweet in a too-fluffy kind of way, but what use were they? They didn’t even do anything cool. The unicorns had been slightly more interesting, but Oliver had been told not to participate in that lesson because it was for girls only. So basically the first years hadn’t studied anything even vaguely interesting.

The second issue was that the class was held outside. Although Oliver enjoyed the outdoors, his skin did not. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the professor made them wear robes, but of course she always said they could take them off. That meant that not only did Oliver had to stand out in his stupid sunhat and tinted glasses, but he had to wear a long-sleeved shirt under his robes the whole day, too. The weather at Sonora was always warm (he’s learned this was because of an assortment of charms placed around the school) and so Oliver usually got too hot in his uniform in the rest of the classes each day he had CoMC. It was frustrating.

This led to Oliver not being in an especially good mood for the start of the lesson, and it didn’t improve much when he learned they would be studying what was basically a cat. Nevertheless, he took a seat near the front (or by the professor, anyway, seeing as the ‘front’ was a little hard to determine in an outdoor lesson) and dutifully made notes on the kneazle. He was just attempting a sketch of the animal when several more students started to crowd round, blocking it from Oliver’s view. Sighing in frustration he stood up to get a better view, and his head collided rather sharply with something equally as solid, knocking his hat onto the floor.

He turned to glare at the person with whom he’d collided, even as they apologised. He recognised the face though, and quickly bit back the angry retort that would otherwise have been soon in coming. “No worries,” he muttered instead, raising his hand to rub the sore spot on his temple. He worked to try and put a name to the face. “It’s Renaye, right? I’m Oliver – we played Quidditch together over summer,” he said, in case she couldn’t remember him. There had been a lot of people there, after all. He reached down and picked up his green hat, and dusted it off before putting it back on, hiding his white blond hair once more.

0 Oliver Abbott Yeah, if you promise not to knock me out 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5

Laurie

September 22, 2007 4:21 PM

Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. by Laurie

"Laurie Cider," she returned after Talen's introduction. "Thanks."

The absence of his mentioning of any geographic designation along with last name was not lost on Laurie. She had noticed this strange tendency and even stranger lack of surprise when received. Her roommates in Crotalus were a perfect example of this- Renaye seemed like her only ally in normalcy. It seemed that in the Magic World, certain families delineated some kind of status in the caste system. She had picked up on hints of this from Thanksgiving dinners with the extended Cider family, but everything was always told with laughter, and she couldn't help but think it was exaggerated.

She bent to give the Kneazle a scratch under its chin. It gave a growling purr in response that so reminded her of mancoon that she was more than willing to answer Talen's question. "My family's big on pets. We have an African Grey named Socrates, our cat Butch, the goldfish, and then there are my french lops- Fudge and Cotton. Even though the pets all belong to someone, I seem to always be the one to take of them. . ."

Her voice trailed off as she considered for the first time how her pets were faring without her. Her mouth fell from its normal curves and wilted into something less contented. She'd thought that her parents might have written her by now, or sent some kind of care package. She could have emailed them, or even chatted online had the school been a normal sort with a computer lab on hand. The intermittent waves of homesickness that she'd felt since arriving, decided to rise again, and willfully, she swallowed down the sickly feeling and summoned up some residual pluck.

"I guess Kneazles are the wizarding equivalent of hound dogs. I wonder, do you think they can sniff out the badness, since they're magical beasts, or is it some kind of extra-sensory ability?"

0 Laurie Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. 0 Laurie 0 5

Zane Cooper

September 22, 2007 6:24 PM

Daydreaming (WotW) by Zane Cooper

The sky was really blue today.

Zane leaned back in the grass, so that he was laying flat on his back and looking up towards the sky, using his unopened backpack as a pillow. Sitting in the back of the class, he found it unlikely that the professor would call on the boy in the navy New York Skyscrapers replica Quidditch jersey. The brown-eyed boy found it equally unlikely that he would find himself actually paying attention to the list of generic rules, or whatever the professor had chosen to yammer on about. Don't get him wrong, this was his favorite class so far - not because of the subject matter, but because it took place outside. Outside was always better than some stuffy classroom, no matter the weather.

He bit down on his lip as his eyes looked back up towards the sky. It was beautiful - perfect flying conditions. His hands twitched at the thought of being back on a broom, his body practically aching to be up in the air. On the ground, he was just a stout little kid with a mess of brown curls atop his head. But when he was up in the air, well then, he was something special. And everything cool about life just seemed to grow stronger, while all the bad things seemed to be left behind on the ground. If Zane could have his way, he would never come down. Not for sleep, not for boring old school, not for anything.

He felt someone nudge his leg, and his mind came crashing down to reality. Zane was back in class, where everyone had started to make their way up front for who knows what reason. Sitting up to rest his forearms on his knees, he didn't notice the blades of grass that had somehow managed to get stuck in his curls.

"Hey," he said, looking up at the stranger with a quiet smile, "What's up?"

0 Zane Cooper Daydreaming (WotW) 0 Zane Cooper 0 5

Raye

September 22, 2007 9:41 PM

I guess I can make an exception for you... by Raye

Renaye knew this boy looked familiar... Face, name? She looked at him, feeling like she knew him from Quidditch related things... Thank God she was saved the trouble when he said, “It’s Renaye, right? I’m Oliver – we played Quidditch together over summer,”

That was it! She grinned back at him and said, "Oh yeah! Sorry about running into you. But, yeah, Quidditch was fun, huh?"

It must have been loads of fun for the others there. The Warrens and Irene, though, were a bit distacted. No one knew, of course, but whenever summer was brought up, all she could think about was how much she wanted to take a bat to Uncle Damon's face... Which was an emotion she would have to control. It was a good thing that guy lived in Kentucky.

"So what else did you do this summer? Anything death-defying?"

0 Raye I guess I can make an exception for you... 0 Raye 0 5

Rorrie

September 22, 2007 11:27 PM

Or Jon, whichever. by Rorrie

Rorrie almost jumped when she realized who she was talking to. She felt herself blush. This was the boy she had thought was Andy...

"I think it's you," he said. Rorrie gave a small laugh. At least he didn't hate her. He was talking to her, so at least she didn't completely mess up.

"Well that's flattering," she said, with the same joking smile. Josh seemed like a nice guy. She hoped that they could get past the "Andy" thing... "I'm not sure if I've ever introducwed myself. I'm Rorrie Hudson and I will definitely remember your name correctly forever now."

"So you're in Aladren, right?"

Rorrie nodded. "Yep. But I swear I'm not a nerd. And you're Crotalus, right?"

Rorrie didn't like judging people by their houses. Just because someone was in Crotalus didn't make them a pureblood snob. Just becasue she was in Aladren didn't make her a super genius. They just fit there best because of teir characteristics. Rorrie liked to think that she was smart. She studied and set high goals for herself. Aladren was also for independence. Well, living with a family like hers, you need independence. She can't be around them for too long with exploding or being exploded at! It drove her up a wall...

0 Rorrie Or Jon, whichever. 0 Rorrie 0 5

Hyana Kamiya

September 23, 2007 12:15 PM

Kitty! by Hyana Kamiya

Care of Magical Creatures was one of her favorite classes. Hyana couldn’t hide the grin that was on her face as she walked outside. It was outdoors, which meant there was plenty of space. She was so glad that Professor K was back. She didn’t like the other lady. She made so many people gather at once! It was a surprise to her that she hadn’t collapsed. Or ran.

Approaching the class, she couldn’t find Caedence, Elly, or Echo. There were a bunch of unrecognizable faces around too. Nervously looking around, she spotted Irene’s cousins. So it was first and second years. That made Hyana feel a little more nervous. That meant Alexis would be here. Best to stay away from her.

Soon Professor K began to speak, and Hyana tried to listen. She was just explaining the rules and such. She had heard all of this last year. It really was the same with all of the Professors. They had to explain it to the first years. That made perfect sense. She sometimes wished, though, that the first years could have separate classes, so the returning students wouldn’t have to hear everything all over again.

But the speech was over as quickly as it came, so Hyana didn’t complain. They were told to take out some parchment and ink, which she already had out. She figured that they would be told to do something like that. When she looked up from her paper, she noticed that Professor K was holding a cat. Hyana shook her head as she looked at it closer. That was…a kneazle?

Professor K repeated her thoughts out loud, and Hyana took notes. She liked the kneazle already. She gave a quiet laugh. Even if she lived in a house full of wizards, it would be impossible for her to have one, wouldn’t it? After she had taken all the notes she could, she stood behind some people wanting to pet the kneazle. Soon it was her turn, and she bent down to its level.

“Ummm…” she tried to think of something to say as she scratched her behind her rather large ears. “She has bigger ears than a normal house cat, and her tail looks different too…” Embarrassed that she couldn’t come up with anything else to say, she left the line and wandered over to another student, who seemed to be standing alone. Probably a first year.

“Have you seen the kneazle yet?” she asked quietly. “She’s really a nice animal.”

0 Hyana Kamiya Kitty! 0 Hyana Kamiya 0 5

Talen

September 23, 2007 1:23 PM

Re: Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. by Talen

'Laurie Cinder,' Talen repeated in his head, committing the face to the name. It wasn't that he had a poor memory, but he always found it rude to forget someone's name. Besides, as he noticed through his parents, if one remembered a name, even if having only met the person once, it made them feel special and more obliging.

Much like the Kneazle seemed to be, as Laurie petted her. He gave an amused grin over the loud rumbles of purring, something he would later add to his notes. Taken her lead, Talen mimicked what she had just done, enjoying the fact that he elicited the same response. He wondered how much argument it would take for his parents to give in to his request of a pet.

Talen blinked in shock at the sheer number of pets that Laurie had. His parents would never in a million years allow that to occur. Not that he could blame them. So many pets had to create a disorganized structure, but he did have to admit that the French lops were of intrigue. Of course, given the name, there was a heavy possibility that the rabbit developed in France, his home area, which just heightened the curiosity, but had never bothered to do the research on such a creature.

He wanted to ask more about them, but her demeanor had taken on a certain sadness. Based on where her voice had trailed off, the conclusion was that she was worried. He gave her a sympathetic smile, "I'm sure they're okay. Maybe you can show me pictures sometime? But yeah, I guess Kneazles are. I would guess the latter since all animals seem to have some ability on knowing who to trust."

0 Talen Re: Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. 0 Talen 0 5

Talitha

September 23, 2007 9:32 PM

And they come in rainbow colors! by Talitha

OOC: Sorry *blushes* wrong charrie. That’s what I get for “power posting”

The kneazle got bored with the foxtail and sauntered off to let somebody else admire its wonderfulness. Talitha reached out to stroke its ever so soft fur as it passed her. She had never felt a coat that luxurious on any ordinary cat. Yep, Talitha made a mental note to herself, she was definitely going to ask her parents for a kneazle.

A girl next to her said in a friendly, teasing voice, "You stole mine." Talitha recognized the brunette girl with blue, green eyes as Irene- somebody. The last name slipped her mind for the moment. Talitha always thought she was nice even though they’d never really had a chance to talk to her. She grinned back at her.

“Sorry,” she grinned apologetically. “Isn’t it awesome. I’d love to have one of those is they wouldn’t upset my owl.” She rolled over on her back and began chewing thoughtfully on the end of the foxtail stem. “Don’t you wish every class was held outside on a day like today?”

\n

0 Talitha And they come in rainbow colors! 0 Talitha 0 5

Laurie

September 23, 2007 10:53 PM

You broke the subject chain. Shame, shame. by Laurie

Most people, when told of, or after meeting, her family's near menagerie asked why there was no dog in the bunch. It seemed odd that a family as big on animals would be missing man's designated best friend. The answer's message never changed, despite the different words used to explain it. Their pets were like family members, if one died, you didn't just go out and get another one. And while Laurie had only been four when the accident happened, she remembered it much like a storyboard: five rectangular cut-outs, with saddened faces and speechless mouths.

The first frame shows a pint-sized tow headed girl wandering out into the street, away from the swing-set that sat in their front lawn. A car approaches in the background, and from behind the little girl, you see a medium sized dog, breed unknown due to its floppy ears, boxed face, and stubby tail: a mutt; the dog strains against a rope that is attached to a lead that runs parallel to the swing-set. The second shows the car far closer, and the girl's back is to it, her interest and attention focused on something minute on the road. The dog has broken free from the rope and is but a few feet from the girl, barking futilely. The third has the car almost on the girl, but the dog is closer, and his head has knocked into the girl's back, pushing her roughly forward. The fourth shows the car stopped, skid marks stretching behind it; the dog is still and unmoving, and the little girl is cradling a bleeding knee, crying loudly in plaintive tones. The fifth shows only a small mound of freshly cleared dirt, an unsophisticated stone decorated with a single name; the little girl sits beside the stone, unsmiling.

Her family never adopted another dog after that, and Laurie wasn't allowed to play by herself for several years afterward. The small grave still sat in the backyard, beneath a middle-aged oak tree that was good for little else other than shade and protection from the rain. Despite the dog having been her oldest brother's, it was she who missed him the most, and still tended to the gravestone. She stopped holding anniversary days when she was nine; she'd forgotten in her excitement over receiving two pets of her own, her rabbits. As it was, the whole experience had left a large print on her young, easy to bleed heart, and nothing could draw her tears more easily than to hear of cruelty to an animal, or even worse, witness it herself.

It was a given, as well, that if someone showed an interest in her pets, then that someone was a friend, no questions asked.

Laurie smiled warmly, and nodded in easy agreement. "Sure, I love to show you something! They won't move, though," she warned. "All the pictures I have are regular old Kodak's."

She considered the kneazle's stout, up-turned face, and wondered whether, being magical beasts, they ate different foods then ordinary house cats. "I bet they're carnivores like regular cats. . .but are there magical equivalents for tuna and salmon, that they prefer more? Do they give birth to full litters?"

Her last question, spoken aloud, made her wonder even more things, her brain having latched onto a sudden line of thought that she quickly voiced to share with Talen. "Hey, are magical beasts like the kneazles similar to witches in wizards in that their children might not carry on the same traits? I mean," she slowed down, seeking to organize her thoughts better. "What I mean is, since Kneazles are very much like cats, except in regards to some physical changes and their magical abilities, maybe it's like Muggles and Wizards. Not every witch and wizard will have a child that can do magic. Just like not every Muggle couple will give birth to a nonmagical child. Does that happen with magical beasts as well?"

She asked her questions, not really expecting direct answers, but more wanting a bouncing board to reflect upon. As it was with any question she had, her curiosity being almost uncontrollable at times, she often fell more in love with the wonderings about it, than the actual answer. "Talen, what do you think?"

0 Laurie You broke the subject chain. Shame, shame. 0 Laurie 0 5

Oliver

September 24, 2007 12:40 PM

Great. I feel so special. by Oliver

Oliver guessed by the slightly delayed response that Renaye had, indeed, forgotten him. He tried not to be too abashed by not standing out in a crowd. He waved away her repeated apology, because, judging by how she was rubbing her head, too, she hadn’t mean to knock into him, and had even injured herself in the process. So no hard feelings. “Quidditch was fun, huh?” the first year said.

“Yeah, it was cool,” Oliver agreed loosely, making an odd movement somewhere between nodding and shrugging.

“So what else did you do this summer? Anything death-defying?” asked Renaye.

Oliver looked at her with an amused expression, one eyebrow raised behind his black-rimmed glasses. How often did people spend their summer accomplishing death-defying feats? Really? “Um, no, nothing exciting,” he said in reply. “I hung out with my brother’s mates a bit, sports and stuff,” he shrugged. He’d had a fair number of music lessons, too, and talked to his sister a lot about magic, and been to visit his Uncle, but he didn’t mention any of these things. He guessed that she didn’t really care about his summer – he certainly didn’t care about hers – but it was the done thing to make polite conversation.

“You enjoying Sonora so far?” he asked instead, because he might actually care about what she said in response to that.

0 Oliver Great. I feel so special. 0 Oliver 0 5

Cecily Smythe

September 24, 2007 1:09 PM

You mean the furry animals? by Cecily Smythe

Cecily had already decided that care of magical creatures was going to be her best class, before she had even arrived at Sonora. Her cousin Lucas had told her all about it, and Cecily couldn’t wait to go to class and study a whole load of animals.

The fact that the lesson was held outside only deterred her a little bit – the weather was good so Cecily didn’t mind on this occasion, but if it was raining there was no way she was going to stand outside, even for her best class.

The teacher was okay – she smiled a lot, but some of the stuff she said was a bit creepy, like the bit about exams. Cecily wasn’t going to be taking those exams for years, so she didn’t see the point of mentioning them now. She did say, however, that the students could work without their robes on. Cecily didn’t mind wither way, as she usually wore robes anyway. The uniform robes were designed to go over other clothes, though, so Cecily had gotten a whole new wardrobe before coming to Sonora, so she had something suitable to wear underneath. Cecily took off her robe and carefully laid it flat on the grass. She felt a little more comfortable in her sleeveless yellow summer dress, which was made of silk with a shimmery chiffon overlay.

Eventually the professor got round to introducing the lesson, and it was a kneazle. Cecily barely withheld her squeal of delight – kneazles were the cutest things ever! She had mentioned liking them to her mother once, but was told that they shed all over clothes and furniture, so having one inside the house probably wasn’t the best idea. Cynthia agreed – she didn’t want all her best robes ruined by animal hair, no matter how cute the animal was.

Cecily wasted no time in squeezing her way through the other students (which was fairly easy because she was so small for her age) to get to the kneazle. As she reached out a hand to stroke it, another girl pushed in next to her and said something very odd about witches and black cats. Cecily paused with her hand partway to the animals and gave the other girl an odd look.

“Witches like all sorts of cats,” she said, thinking that that was blatantly obvious. The only reason the girl would have silly ideas about witches would be because she didn’t know about magic – that’s what her Daddy said. “Spotty ones, too,” Cecily said, eventually allowing her fingers to come into contact with the soft fur of the beautiful creature before her. “Of course some witches don’t even like cats,” she added, just in case the other girl was still confused.

0 Cecily Smythe You mean the furry animals? 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5

Holly

September 24, 2007 1:47 PM

Yes, of course. by Holly

One of the people likewise crowded around the kneazle gave Holly a very strange look and proceeded to tell her that witch's tastes in cats varied as much as anybody's. Holly supposed that made sense, but why then were there so many superstitions about black cats, specifically?

Holly petted the soft fur of the feline thoughtfully as she pondered this baffling turn of events. After a few more strokes, she moved away to allow someone else a chance to pet the kneazle, but she stayed close to the girl who had corrected her.

"My parents and grandparents are all muggles," she prefaced her coming question, so that the girl would know she had no magical background, as well as establish that she was a pureblood muggleborn. Chelsea had explained that was very important here.

Holly's brows drew closer together in puzzled confusion as she tried to explain why she had made the comment she had, "In all the stories about witches that muggles tell, they always have a black cat. Why do you suppose that is?" Witches also usually had warts, pointy hats, and broomsticks, but Holly decided not to mention these features as they were obviously false. She supposed the black cat description could be just as wrong, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

1 Holly Yes, of course. 123 Holly 0 5

Renaye

September 24, 2007 4:15 PM

Glad I could help! by Renaye

“Um, no, nothing exciting,” he said in reply. “I hung out with my brother’s mates a bit, sports and stuff,”

Raye felt the same about her summer. She mostly hung out with Irene's friends. Actually, it sounded as if they had almost identical summers. Hanging with a relative's friends and playing sports. Well... There was that one thing with her Uncle, but no one talked about that, especially when Irene was around. Renaye had asked her about it after everyone had left but Irene had just gone into her room. Raye was really worried about her. Sure, Irene was though. She had grown up with Merlin-knows-what in Kentucky, so there was little someone could do to really shake her. But Irene got very... secluded for the rest of the summer. It wasn't until they were almost ready to head back to Sonora when she started cheering up. She still wasn't exactly in her head. She kept putting her hair in her face to hide the spot where that bruise had been. Renaye wasn't realy sure how to handle it...

Raye nodded. "Yeah," she said, "Pretty much the same for me too."

“You enjoying Sonora so far?”

"That," she said, "Is a good question. I'm not so sure... I have about six other roommates. I've only met four of them, but we're not exactly on good terms. They don't understand why I would want to play Quidditch." She rolled her green eyes. "It should be an interesting year..."

He probably didn't need to hear all that, but Raye had said it anyway. The more she said, the more likely a convorsation would keep going, right? More to build off.

"I may just go insane."

0 Renaye Glad I could help! 0 Renaye 0 5

Josh

September 24, 2007 4:49 PM

That would make me your master! by Josh

Josh noticed that the girl looked surprised when he actually spoke. She probably didn't know it was him and was still embarrassed about the Andy thing, or so he assumed when a blush crept up her cheeks.

"Well that's flattering,"

Josh laughed. "It was suppose to be," he said.

"I'm not sure if I've ever introduced myself. I'm Rorrie Hudson and I will definitely remember your name correctly forever now."

Josh grinned. She was funny too! "Thanks Rorrie. I'll do my best to remember your's too," he said. He was sure he'd remember it anyway. Rorrie confirmed his guess that she was in Aladren.

"Yep. But I swear I'm not a nerd. And you're Crotalus, right?"

"That I am," he said. The sun was getting really warm... Josh gazed up at the blue sky, the color reflecting in his bright blue eyes. Professor K siad they could take their robes off, right? That sounded like a good idea. Josh pulled his forest green robes over his head, revealing an old navy blue t-shirt with "The Traverse City Tigers" imprinted in yellow on the front. WARREN was evinced over a large number 2 on the back. He had stupidly worn jeans, forgetting about the outdoor class, with his lace up tennis shoes.

"Sorry," he said, casting his robes to his side. "Black hair doesn't make it easy out here. But anyway, where are you from?"

0 Josh That would make me your master! 0 Josh 0 5

Irene

September 24, 2007 5:03 PM

Don't forget flavor balsted! by Irene

Irene let her hand pass over the Kneazle's head as it walked away. She had to admit, this class was pretty cool. It would be awesome to have a Kneazle. They would be able to tell her who to trust and whatnot. They would be very useful, and not to mention oh-so-cuddely!

“Isn’t it awesome. I’d love to have one of those is they wouldn’t upset my owl.”

Irene nodded. "I have a cat, Gatita, but I had to leave her at home. She didn't take to Sonora all too well last year..."

The girl lay back on the grass, chewing on the end of something. She looked really relaxed, and Irene couldn't blame her. On a day like this? Irene was itching to be up in the air playing some Quidditch. As if the girl had read her thoughts, she said,

“Don’t you wish every class was held outside on a day like today?”

Irene sighed and joined her, laying her back upon the grass. "Yeah. It's awesome out here. I may have to ask the other Professors if we can take a field trip," she said with a grin. Sitting up so that she was propped up, her elbows on the ground behind her, Irene introduced herself.

"I'm Irene, by the way."

0 Irene Don't forget flavor balsted! 0 Irene 0 5

Rilla White

September 26, 2007 8:26 AM

Yep! by Rilla White

Rilla had been watching the others examining the kneazle. She jotted down a few notes of her own about what the creature looked like. Her notes were a mess so she hoped they were not being collected. Spotted she noted. Odd looking tail with a puff at the end. Long ears that looked kind of doggish to her. Rilla waited to see if it made any sounds. She knew cats meowed, so far she hadn't heard any.

As she was starting to space off a boy approached her and seemed to be looking at her oddly as he explained people here had cats for pets. Rilla wasn't really that aware that pets were allowed here. All other schools she knew of didn't allow pets except maybe on a show and tell day. She was delighted. "Do you think anyone has brought one to class? I'd very much like to see one up close. Do you know if kneazles make any sounds. This one seems shy, it's not making any."

Rilla waited patiently behind the others. Then she reached around the other students when it seemed not completely rude, as others were petting it, and scooped the creature up. She examined it's belly, which appeared spotted also, she looked at its little feet. She even went as far to examine it's tail up close and to look inside it's ears. It had a pink ear inside, she added that to her notes. She also added that the fur was soft but the tail fur was a little more like a dogs fur. Kind of rough. Then she tried to coax the creature into sticking out its tongue.

Rilla remembered something about cats tongues being rough and she was very curious to see if this kneazle had a rough tongue. Rilla didn't worry if anyone was watching her and thinking her strange. Being a naturally curious person, she just had to investigate to the best of her abilities. Who knew the next time she'd get to hold a real kneazle. She was pretty fond of animals but never got to really see them.

0 Rilla White Yep! 116 Rilla White 0 5

Talen

September 26, 2007 7:11 PM

Bad me. :P by Talen

Kodak? What was a Kodak? Talen thought about the sentence, as he ran a hand through his dark brown curls that were slightly on the feminine side. Pictures she had were Kodaks. Logical conclusion, therefore, was that kodaks were muggle pictures since he’d never heard of the word and he knew quite well what wizard pictures were. It also meant that she was most likely a halfblood or muggleborn, which were not spoken of in pleasant terms by his family. He supposed he would just never write home about her, not that he wrote much anyhow.

He blinked. Magical equivalents of tuna and salmon? Litters? Magical traits? She asked some rather odd questions, but he tried to answer each one that he could patiently, “Tuna and salmon are just what they are and I suppose they like them just fine, but I would say that some probably wouldn’t, just as some people do and don’t like fish. Um, I’m not sure about litters, but I’ve heard of half kneazle/half cat breeds, so I would venture that they do. I could be wrong, though.”

He had to put a little more thought into the last question, before answering, “Purebloods that are considered from the upper families like to try and keep the line, because it’s really rare for a Pureblood family to have someone that can’t do magic, or a squib. So, if kneazles can have babies without the magical traits, it would probably be really rare, if not impossible. But maybe when they breed with cats that can happen. Like, when a pureblood mixes with a non-pureblood.” All of which was stated in a matter of fact tone voice.

0 Talen Bad me. :P 0 Talen 0 5

Talitha

September 27, 2007 1:36 PM

Mmmmm...Cheesey by Talitha

“I know, we were in classes together last year.” Talitha rolled over and propped her chin on her hands. “I’m sorry I never introduced myself before. I’m Talitha. I’m sorry about Gatita. You must miss having her here.”

Irene’s idea of a field trip was exciting. It would be great to get off campus and do something different. The best part was because they were out in the middle of nowhere, even with a portkey it would probably have to be an all day adventure. Perhaps the History Professor could take them to see the Petrified Forest or the hieroglyphics at Newspaper Rock. Both of those sites weren’t very far from Sonora. The Transfiguration Professor could take them to a magical candy factory, now that would be really fun, especially if they gave out samples. The Potions Master could escort them to an Apothecary. They could go camping like the upper classmen did with Professor McFarlan last year. The possibilities were endless.

“I wonder if there are any Magical Creatures Preserves that Professor Kiva could take us to.” Talitha mused. “That could be wicked fun.”
\n

0 Talitha Mmmmm...Cheesey 0 Talitha 0 5

Cecily

September 27, 2007 4:04 PM

They are a bonus. by Cecily

Cecily rather liked stroking the kneazle. Stroking it reminder her of Garnet, her puffskein. It was the same sort of length and texture, not like Dodger’s fur, which was coarser and not so soft. After a short while, Cecily retracted her arm from amongst the crowd, and pulled back a little to talk to the strange girl who thought all cats were black. She said that Muggles always portrayed witches’ cats as being black.

“Why do you suppose that is?” she asked.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Cecily replied. “Muggles have some funny ideas, sometimes,” she mused as an afterthought. This statement was not supposed to be scathing, but merely a reflection of a widespread truth. Take those strange heated metal things Muggles sometimes used to curl their hair. Why put something hot by your head when you could just apply a bit of Silky’s Styling Serum and be done with it?

“I can’t imagine having Muggle relatives,” Cecily said, not nastily, but pensively, because it wasn’t something she’d ever though about before. She was curious how this girl had survived using all those silly Muggle appliances she’d read about in storybooks. “Didn’t you feel terribly out of place living with people who don’t know magic?”

0 Cecily They are a bonus. 0 Cecily 0 5

Irene

September 30, 2007 3:36 PM

Mmmmm... Fishy by Irene

OOC: Sorry about the delay!

IC:
Irene smiled a little as the girl said she knew her because of classes last year. Of course, Irene had seen her, but she wasn't the best with names.

“I’m sorry I never introduced myself before. I’m Talitha. I’m sorry about Gatita. You must miss having her here.”

"Hi Talitha. Thanks about Gati. I miss her, but my cousin is taking care of her and now I have two of my cousins going here too."

Talking about field trips was making the wheels in her head turn. How awesome would it be to get away? Sure there was Tumbleweed, but that was too close to be considered a real trip. How cool would it be to portkey somewhere? There were so many possibilities and Irene wanted to test them all out. Even if just one of them worked and they got to go, that was still one more trip than they thought they would have!

“I wonder if there are any Magical Creatures Preserves that Professor Kiva could take us to.” Talitha mused. “That could be wicked fun.”

Irene grinned and nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "It woud be awesome. I don't know of any places, but I think it could be cool to go to a muggle zoo or something. Learn the similarities and differences in creatures..."

0 Irene Mmmmm... Fishy 0 Irene 0 5

Rorrie

October 01, 2007 2:59 PM

I sort of walked into that one, huh? by Rorrie

Rorrie was glad that Josh was talking to her. She hated getting a bad start off to a new year. She was always The New Girl at her other schools, now she was new, just like everyone else. Sure, she was muggleborn, but so were a bunch of other people. She felt included.

"Thanks Rorrie. I'll do my best to remember your's too,"

She smiled. "Thanks."

They began to talk about their houses. Josh was in Crotalus. From what she'd hear, the Crotali weren't exactly the "friendly" bunch. The ones that were outgoing and energetic seemed to be the Pecaris. Josh seemed nice enough though. She wasn't going to make judgements without knowing him, but honestly, she had to be a little suspicious. So she thought she would pry a bit,

"Why do you think you were put into Crotalus?" She asked, observing the Kneazle and writing down some random things like "speckled fur" and "different tail."

0 Rorrie I sort of walked into that one, huh? 0 Rorrie 0 5

Laurie

October 01, 2007 9:12 PM

Delays, I know! I have no excuse. by Laurie

Laurie listened, absorbing the information and stamping it down on her internal catalog of Things that are Different in the Magical World. Her list had grown, since arriving at Sonora, to include such things as medieval gender roles (They still had arranged marriages! How ancient was that)?), the lack of technology (Who had ever heard of a school without computers? In this day and age?), and now, with yet more information added onto it, the idea of Pureblood and its deviations. From what she had gathered, she fell within the Halfblood designation. Her father came from a long line of Pureblood families that with the past two generations had broken tradition and married those of a lesser blood status. Not that you could tell the difference by looking a person. Laurie had tried to see if there was some kind of sign that marked a person who was supposedly a Pureblood, but unless being incredibly close-minded counted, she had yet to find one.

Thank goodness for the Warren twins. If it wasn't for them and a few others, Laurie might have eventually believed that all Purebloods were diseased with the arrogance virus. And, if she was not mistaken, the newly met Talen was also a Pureblood, and he didn't seem at all bad. She nodded as he finished his explanation.

"That's totally my family," she offered, tapping one of the Kneazle's whiskers and grinning as she swatted at Laurie's fingers. "My dad's from a, well, it's pretty much a Pureblood family, and my mom, she's a former sorority girl and currently bank teller. Completely Muggle. Neither of my brothers can do magic."

She set aside her notebook entirely, and gave both of her hands to scratching the Kneazle's softly furred stomach. "My dad's always joking that I'm his charm, what with me being the third child born. You know that saying? Third time's the charm."

0 Laurie Delays, I know! I have no excuse. 0 Laurie 0 5

Chelsea Brockert

October 01, 2007 10:42 PM

Not a favorite of mine... by Chelsea Brockert

Care of Magical Creatures was not a class Chelsea had much enthusiasm for. She didn't mind cute fluffy animals like bunnies, so long as they didn't mess up her clothing and unicorns were beautiful creatures but in general they weren't a huge interest or favorite of hers. Plus, it was outside where it was dirty and bug infested. Chelsea couldn't stand bugs at all. They were nasty. She would certainly leave her school robe on so as not to ruin her better clothes.

She also had no real desire to face anything dangerous until she knew the proper spell to put it in its place. Not that any teacher with any sort of sense would have them do anything that dangerous as first years. She expected puffskiens which were stupid and simple. (Although Chelsea probably wouldn't have had an issue with puffskiens if Adam didn't have one. However, since he did, she saw it as the ideal pet for him, a completely useless creature just like he was.)

When Chelsea saw that they would be learning about kneazles, she groaned inwardly and backed up. While she didn't mind regular cats, she wasn't fond of kneazles. Her grandpa and grandma had one at their ranch and it didn't seem to really like Chelsea too much. Of course it adored Kaylie and Adam. The only person that it seemed to hate more than Chelsea was Uncle Liam, who it had apparently seen as a scratching post and the fact that her uncle kicked it didn't probably help the creature like him any more.

She didn't mind taking notes about the kneazle but there was no way she was getting up close and personal with it. Chelsea knew better. Even if it didn't hiss at her, or scratch her, it could still get her dirty.

11 Chelsea Brockert Not a favorite of mine... 108 Chelsea Brockert 0 5

Lydia Krotchet

October 02, 2007 1:08 PM

No, kneazle! by Lydia Krotchet

Lydia practically bounced all the way to her class and arrived a little out of breath, she smiled to herself, pushing her hair behind her shoulders. This class seemed to have a lot of people, she thought to herself. The professor began speaking, so she wriggled through the crowd a bit to hear the speech.

The professor had something - A kneazle, apparently.

Lydia tilted her head to one side and pouted a little in thought - no matter how they tried to wrap it up, that thing was a cat. She shrugged, and somehow got left behind as others came past her to go and see the animal. Maybe she should follow them? It was very cute... but then again there were a lot of people all wanting to see the creature at the same time, and Lydia had never really been one for being grouped together tightly.

As she stood there pondering, a girl wandered over. Lydia smiled brightly as the girl spoke to her about the kneazle.

"No, not yet." Lydia replied with a sweet smile. "I think there's too many people over there, maybe I'll take a peek in a bit." She paused, pouting a little again. "So what's your name?" She asked the other girl, "I'm Lydia!"

She smiled to herself, this could be her chance to make her first friend! She certainly hoped so.

0 Lydia Krotchet No, kneazle! 0 Lydia Krotchet 0 5

Talitha

October 02, 2007 5:56 PM

Mmmmm... Chrunchy by Talitha

“Really? Who are your cousins? Are they first years or in the upper classes?” Talitha asked.

The more she thought about fields trips and stuff, the more ideas popped into her head. It seemed that aside from a few clubs and Quidditch, there wasn’t a lot to do. Oh, she had plenty of fun on her own with her friends, but it would be great to do something that was halfway organized that screamed Different. It was always an adventure to do something out of the ordinary routine. A field trip would be really cool or a party or a carnival or a …

“Hey, what if we had an all school slumber party? I mean just the girls. We could camp out in the gardens or in Cascade Hall.” Talitha sat up, excited by the idea. “There could be ghost stories and popcorn and loads of stuff to eat and drink that would overdose us on sugar. We could have the biggest pillow fight in the history of Sonora. That would be super awesome!”
\n

0 Talitha Mmmmm... Chrunchy 0 Talitha 0 5

Oliver

October 03, 2007 5:47 PM

... you weren't really helping by Oliver

It turns out that Oliver had been right; he was a little more interested in Renaye’s impressions of Sonora than how she’d occupied herself over the summer. He couldn’t sympathise with her about her vast number of roommates at all – Oliver had the dormitory all to himself, being the only boy in his year in Crotalus. He wondered whether that would make Renaye feel better about her own circumstances, and decided to tell her just in case.

“You’re lucky to have someone to share a room with,” he said, “even if it is six scary Crotalus girls.” He knew from much experience that Crotalus girls, more often than not, were scary. “I have my room all to myself. No other boys in Crotalus in second year,” he said shrugging. “It’s cool to have my own room and stuff, but I wouldn’t mind someone to hang out with occasionally, you know?” That was probably the reason Oliver spent a lot of his time hanging around with a group of Pecaris he didn’t know very well or Lutece, who was obviously crazy. Talitha and Gwyneth were his only normal friends, but they were both girls, and both were certainly a little unusual themselves. Luckily, Oliver was quite accustomed to being an oddball.

“If you go insane you’ll fit right in with the rest of Crotalus,” Oliver replied, smirking a little. “Bunch of lunatics if ever I saw one.” Well maybe he was generalising a little from Lutece and that Gwen girl (who seemed quite normal really, but Jordanna had told Oliver that Gwen was crazy, and she was a prefect now, so he had no reason not to believe her), but Renaye, not having been at Sonora for very long, probably wouldn’t realise that.

“And don’t worry about the Quidditch,” he said, shrugging his shoulders but feeling very wise imparting advise, despite his breezy countenance. “The other girls will either come round or they won’t. Nothing you can say will change their minds.”

0 Oliver ... you weren't really helping 0 Oliver 0 5

Holly

October 04, 2007 10:27 AM

Yes indeed by Holly

Holly had already opened her mouth to say that no, of course she hadn't felt out of place, when she reconsidered her answer. While it was true that a muggle life was all she had known for her first ten years of life, she hadn't quite fit in. She'd been seeing a therapist since she was seven. That was by no means normal.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was always a little different from everybody else, but I just assumed that was because I was stressed. That's what my therapist always told my father, but neither of them knew magic was real. They thought I was imagining things. This past summer was particularly bad. I thought I was going crazy until a witch finally explained what was really happening."

"Though, in all honesty, I feel just as strange here because everything is so very different what I'm used to. They don't even have horses. What kind of self-respecting boarding school doesn't have horses?"

1 Holly Yes indeed 123 Holly 0 5

Talen

October 05, 2007 8:43 PM

Eh, we all have them by Talen

When Laurie said that was her family, it confirmed Talen’s suspicions, but it hardly mattered. Pureblood values came second on his list, as other matters were more important, such as the value of rules. Of course, by following the rules, he expected quick and effective results, which is probably part of the reason he was a Pecari rather than a Crotalus.

While he had let the turn Kodak go, he had to ask, as she insisted on using all these odd words, “What’s a sorority girl?” The only thing he could derive that it had something to do with being female. Muggles really were an oddity to him.

He gave a chuckle over the third time’s a charm. His cousin, Lucie, completely fell into that category. Then, he explained his own family, “I’m an only child. My parents are both pureblood, arranged marriage.” All said as though it were the most normal thing in the world. “I have some cousins that go here too. I’m the second to youngest. Lucie is in the first year.”

0 Talen Eh, we all have them 0 Talen 0 5

Laurie

October 06, 2007 4:28 PM

Thanks! by Laurie

Laurie thought for a moment, trying to think of the proper way to explain it. "In Muggle universities, there are select organizations, generally made up of either all males or all females. The male ones are called fraternities, and the female ones are sororities. I'm pretty sure my mom's was Alpha Delta Pi- they're almost always named after Greek letters for whatever reason. It's normally difficult to get into one, you have to spend a lot of time following certain rules and sometimes go through an initiation."

Her eyes narrowed at the mentioning of an arranged marriage. The first time someone had mentioned this to her, she could hardly control her shock. Arranged marriages were cultural relics! She was only thankful that her parents were normal- well, she qualified, as normal as most families get anyway. She nodded at the mention of cousins. "Lucky. I'm still fighting homesickness. Never thought I'd miss having my brothers around, as annoying as they can be, but still..." Her voice trailed off, and mentally, she picked herself up, and spun on a smile.

"Next year though, I have two cousins coming here. Or at least, hopefully, they will. One of them keeps threatening to go to the Salem Institute instead, but I think he's just trying to be difficult." Laurie lifted her eyes and scanned between the student bodies to locate her professor. "Does Professor Kijewski want us to turn in our notes?"

0 Laurie Thanks! 0 Laurie 0 5

Talen

October 08, 2007 10:27 PM

No worries by Talen

Talen listened while Laurie explained about fraternities and sororities. It all sounded rather complicated, which only lead to the conclusion that muggles were such. Though, he supposed following rules wasn’t that detrimental, unless of course, one was a rule breaker, which he wasn’t. So, perhaps, if he had been unfortunate enough to been born a muggle, he could have joined one of these so-called fraternities.

His eyebrows raised in surprise when she called him lucky. He never considered himself as such. It wasn’t like he was that close to his cousins. They hadn’t grown up together. If anything, the fact that they were at the same school had been their parents’ idea so that they would be able to form bonds. It was especially important given what would follow them after graduating from Sonora. He didn’t know all the details yet. He wouldn’t know for a couple, or even a few, more years.

If he had to say he was close to anyone, it would probably be Lucie, just because they were the youngest. Not to mention, she was one of those people that just made others want to smile. Laurie was kind of like that too, in a different way. He couldn’t really explain what it was, but it was there. Feeling light-hearted for the moment, he gave the younger student a grin for no real reason than to do so. It was nice to have someone to talk to, if only for a moment.

His eyes followed to where hers went, which was the professor. He shook his head in answer to her question. “No, only when we do in-class essays or homework.” Then, almost shyly, as this was all new to him, he asked, “So, uh, what else do you like to do for fun? The library has a lot of interesting books, if you like to read.”

0 Talen No worries 0 Talen 0 5

Laurie

October 09, 2007 1:29 PM

I have this urge to watch the Lion King now. by Laurie

The smile tugged on her lips, pulling them into a natural expression. Laurie cradled her notebook to her chest, arms crossed protectively over it. She was struck suddenly by a memory from the previous summer. Her oldest brother, Bryce, had received his driver's license a month prior, and offered to drive the three of them out to Indian Rocks beach- a big tourist spot, but still a gorgeous swimming beach. Bryce had been his typical irresponsible self, letting Laurie and Tim play with the radio, open the windows, and rough house in the back seat. At one point though in the hour long drive, Tim had accidentally smashed her fingers in the window, and she had cried, convinced that he had broken something, and terrified because her hand just hurt all over. Bryce had pulled the car over, jerking across three lanes of traffic, horns honking after him angrily, and ever so gently checked over her hand. Laurie had always known that her brother loved her- they were family after all- but the care with which he inspected her fingers left her feeling protected. Later on when Tim bought her an otter pop from a beach stand, she accepted his apology. And things were right again.

That experience was how she defined family. The easy love, and easy forgiveness- it was the only kind of family feeling she knew. Being away from home, though, was opening her eyes to something she had missed before. Laurie hadn't noticed how lonely people were. Because of that cocoon of comfort she had at home, she never realized that that stiffness some children carried, that brittle kind of plastic expression some tried to pass off as grins- that was loneliness. Her young mind didn't have the proper words for it yet, just a vague kind of feeling. Talen was giving her that feeling, and his smile reminded her strangely of her brothers.

"So, uh, what else do you like to do for fun? The library has a lot of interesting books, if you like to read."

Her eyes widened in consideration. "For fun? You know, that's hard to specify. I like making up things, you know, ideas and stories and such. I love mysteries, though. I'm addicted to mystery series; for my seventh birthday, my parents gave me the first volume set for Nancy Drew, and I've been hooked ever since." She grinned, her cheeks lifting impishly. "Yeah, I know, they're cheesy, but they're comfort reads."

She squinted skywards, her nose wrinkling slightly at the glare. "I guess I tend to stay busy; it's going to be weird not having all my after school things. I did swimming, tennis, and softball. . .however, I think I'm starting to get why everyone here has the Quidditch fever. It's a pretty neat sport, and flying. . ." Her voice trailed off, her thoughts remembering that exhilirating feeling of being weightless and boundless. "Well, flying's not bad."

"But what about you, Talen?" Laurie turned on him, giving him her full attention. "You're a second year, right? What do you do to get away from things?"

0 Laurie I have this urge to watch the Lion King now. 0 Laurie 0 5

Cecily

October 11, 2007 5:17 PM

Now about those horses by Cecily

Cecily listened with interest as Holly talked about stress and therapists and going crazy. All in all this girl sounded a little unbalanced, and Cecily wasn’t at all sure she wanted to be making friends with people who were unbalanced. In fact, she was just considering making her excuses and bee-lining in the opposite direction, when the Muggle girl said something to make Cecily stay her heels.

“They don’t even have horses. What kind of self-respecting boarding school doesn’t have horses?”

Cecily paused. She’d had those same thoughts herself about Sonora. Why teach Care of Magical Creatures and not even allow students to bring more than one pet? It was unfair. It wasn’t like horses were difficult to look after, either; if there was only a stable somewhere then Cecily could have brought Heidi with her.

Making her mind up about the Muggle girl in an instant, Cecily smiled at her, and put out her hand for the other girl to take.

“I am Cecily Smythe,” she said, once again neglecting the more traditional yet, to Cecily, unfamiliar introduction. “At home I have a white pony called Heidi, and she was terribly sad when I told her I wouldn’t be able to bring her to school with me.” Having identified a common ground with a potential new friend, Cecily was careful not to veer off topic. “Do you have your own horse?” she asked.

0 Cecily Now about those horses 0 Cecily 0 5

Hyana

October 13, 2007 6:19 PM

They look alike! by Hyana

Hyana could definitely agree with Lydia. There were a lot of people near the kneazle. She was pretty shocked with herself for being able to be in a crowd that big. Sure, it was only the first two years at Sonora in the class. But it was still a big crowd.

"Yeah, there's a lot of people." she agreed out loud this time. "Last year, though, Professor K had to leave and our substitute had all five years in one class." she shuddered with a laugh. "That was just way too many people."

She smiled at Lydia when she introduced herself. "I'm Hyana Kamiya." she introduced herself. "I'm a second year in Aladren. Let me guess your house."

Hyana studied the girl, chewing lightly on her bottom lip. "You seem very nice...happy...bouncy...are you in Teppenpaw?" Her friend Josiah was in Tepp, and he had similar qualities that Lydia had, except for the flirty aspect. Hyana glanced over at the group around the kneazle. It seemed to be thinning a little. She decided to use an Elly tactic.

"Do you want to go wait with the group now? It seems a little smaller." she laughed. "I'm not too good with crowds either. Maybe some small talk can pass the time."

0 Hyana They look alike! 0 Hyana 0 5

Holly

October 16, 2007 5:13 PM

Yes, let us speak of horses by Holly

Holly took the offered hand and shook, smiling as she realized she'd found, if not a kindred spirit, then at least a person who wouldn't think she was crazy whenever she went on about Wendy. She put Cecily's name in her memory alongside Anabel's and Chelsea's based solely on the fact that she had a pony.

"I am Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles," Holly introduced herself, liking high class sound of how Anabel and Chelsea had introduced themselves so much that she'd immediately adopted the formula for herself. It didn't matter in the slightest to her that the magical family of Hollywood Thistles consisted only of herself.

"My horse is a white mare named Wendy. I was on the equestrian team at my previous school and I've won ribbons for both dressage and jumping. Have you done any competitions?"

1 Holly Yes, let us speak of horses 123 Holly 0 5

Cecily

October 21, 2007 2:08 PM

What a marvellous topic by Cecily

The other girl introduced herself as Holly Thistle, which Cecily thought was a very pretty name indeed. Holly then said that she did have her own horse, and that she was called Wendy. Convinced she had found a friend, Cecily took hold of Holly’s hand and pulled her gently over to where she’d abandoned her book bag and uniform robes earlier. Smoothing out her pale yellow dress, Cecily sat herself neatly down, using her robes as a blanket, and invited Holly to join her.

“No I haven’t done any competitions,” Cecily said, a little sadly, in response to Holly’s question. “Daddy won’t let me enter any competitions. He says that Heidi wouldn’t do very well, but I’m not sure that’s true. She’s quite a small pony, so I can ride her fine,” (Cecily didn’t think she needed to mention that the was small, as it would be obvious to the other girl, as they’d been speaking for several minutes already) “but she’s not very good at jumping. She’s very well behaved, though,” Cecily explained, “and I’m sure we could win dressage ribbons, too, if Daddy would let us.”

Heaving a sigh that spoke of many denied requests, Cecily blinked her brown eyes before continuing in her rapid chatter. “My sister Amelia is supposed to be looking after my Heidi while I’m here,” she said, “but she’s not very good with animals. She’s looking after my other rat, too. I have Ulysses with me, but the mean Headmaster said I could only bring one pet so I had to leave Hercules at home. They’re brothers!” she exclaimed, her voice filled with the anguish the poor separated creatures must be suffering.

0 Cecily What a marvellous topic 0 Cecily 0 5

Renaye

October 28, 2007 1:54 AM

... oh. Does a 'Sorry' help? by Renaye

OOC: *headdesk* *a thousand apologies*

“I have my room all to myself. No other boys in Crotalus in second year. It’s cool to have my own room and stuff, but I wouldn’t mind someone to hang out with occasionally, you know?”

Renaye nodded. She understood that. She knew people who were an only child. They loved being independent and having the extra bit of attention, but they wouldn't mind sharing a bit. Renaye's family was different though. Elaina and Josh may drive her to the brink of insanity, but she would never wish that she was an only child. She and Josh were closer than a lot of people that she knew. Laine, however annoying she may be at times, was a real sweetheart when she wanted to be. She was way to close to her family to even think about wishing they didn't exist.

"My brother, Josh," she pointed out the head of black hair talking to the girl from Cascade, "is in Crotalus too. He only had one roommate. They're both Quidditch fanatics and they seem to get along fantastically!"

Raye was happy for Josh, but couldn't help but be a little jealous... She had Laurie to room with, which was great, but she couldn't help but wish that the others got off to a better start. They had only argued over one subject. No matter how important the subject was to her, it was still only one thing. Maybe she could recconcile later...

“If you go insane you’ll fit right in with the rest of Crotalus,”

Renaye laughed. "Seems like it!" she said with a grin. "Everyone is so centered on blood and being proper! I couldn't stand living like that..." She said, thinking of a childhood without Quidditch. She wouldn't be the same person... and she probably wouldn't like it one bit.

“And don’t worry about the Quidditch. The other girls will either come round or they won’t. Nothing you can say will change their minds.”

Renaye thought about this for a moment. If someone came up to her and tried to change her mind about Quidditch, would she? Of course not. It was probably the same thing around for them. It would be impossible for her to change their minds. Her best hope was flying lessons. Her first time on a broom had hooked her to anything in the air and on a broom.

"That's true," she said. "I think it's sad that first years can't play... My brother and I were some killer beaters for our neighborhood travel team. We've grown up on Quidditch. Of course, with Karma being my best friend, first years can't try out the year we get here." She let out a sigh. "I miss my Beater's bat... That's what I do when I'm stressed. Or just for fun."

0 Renaye ... oh. Does a 'Sorry' help? 0 Renaye 0 5

Oliver

October 29, 2007 12:56 PM

It helps a bit by Oliver

Oliver couldn’t help but grin in response to the firstie’s lament at not being able to play Quidditch. “Ah, first year will pass quickly enough,” he said, in what was probably a patronizing manner, but he wasn’t prepared to listen to whining girls who just wanted to hit bludgers to vent their frustration; there were already far too many of those at Sonora. “And you can spend the rest of your life aiming bludgers, so don’t worry about it,” he added.

A small clearing had opened around the kneazle, and Oliver thought they probably couldn’t avoid going near the creature for the entire lesson. Getting it over with, he reached over and picked the kitty up off its box. It didn’t squirm much, which gave Oliver the impression it was used to being handled by unruly students such as himself. He passed the creature over to Renaye, in the hope that she’d want to hold and pet the kneazle like most of the other girls seem to have been doing.

“I suppose he’s not bad for a cat,” Oliver admitted, admiring the cool markings on the creature’s fur. He readjusted his glasses and sniffed a bit. “Not very interesting though, are they? I mean, what exciting stuff can you do with a kneazle?”

0 Oliver It helps a bit 0 Oliver 0 5

Anabel McIntosh

November 02, 2007 1:35 PM

I Have One of Those by Anabel McIntosh

It was strange really. Anabel had always taken a liking to animals. She had had numerous pets: owls, rats, cats, dogs. She had always held a great deal of excitement for them for the first few weeks, but then- as with most things- something more exciting had caught her eye and she had begun to ignore the creature. Her puppies had turned into dogs and the cute cuddliness had disappeared. Dogs weren't as fun as puppies. Cats were the same way, though a bit better. Rats, though, well they were just plain boring period. All they did was stay in their cage and run in that little wheel. She had taken hers out to play with it once and the evil little thing had run away.

That was when Daddy had bought her Comet. Comet was the most perfect pet ever. Although he was a bit grumpy at times, he liked Anabel and he didn't mind so much when she became enraptured with her newest gift. The fact that Comet hadn't run away during the first year had really solidified their relationship, however. Comet was loyal to Anabel and so Anabel had determined that she was quite fond of Comet too. It also didn't hurt that he was a kneazle. Having a magical animal was more than cool.

This Care of Magical Creatures class didn't seem quite as cool though. While animals such as crups and kneazles, and unicorns and phoenixes, were exciting, there were still others that weren't. Most could be kept at an arm's length and she would have been more than pleased. This class, however, forced those animals to the front of her mind and she had a feeling that she would be facing quite a few that she just didn't like.

Refusing to sit on the ground, Anabel took a spot not quite in the front of the group, but most assuredly not in the back, listening as the professor introduce herself. Professor K, she said her name was, was most definitely not wearing robes. It seemed strange to Anabel that a professor in a wizarding institution such as Sonora would rather sport Muggle gear than the traditional robes. It was hardly professional. What would her parents think?

The lecture continued on as the professor grazed over the rules. No talking while she's talking. It seemed rather obvious but for some students- those who had not been brought up correctly- Anabel was certain it would be difficult. The lecture on rules was quickly over and soon it was time for the daily lesson.

Anabel frowned as Professor K turned and reached into some sort of cage to retrieve the animal. When the animal turned out to be a kneazle, however, Anbel barely contained the urge to roll her eyes. A kneazle? While they were magical, they were somewhat common and easily mistaken for a cat. Why wouldn't the first lesson be with some sort of spectacular creature that would keep their interest for the rest of the year?

Upon instruction to retrieve a quill and parchment, Anabel reached into her bag and pulled out her re-inking quill (ink bottles were really quite passé) and a couple pieces of parchment and diligently began to take notes.

Kneazles: she wrote. Lion's tail, big ears, spotted fur. They don't like suspicious persons.

When it became time for the students to move forward and meet the kneazle, Anabel decided to stay back. She had her own and while there would be differences between the male and female of the species, Anabel doubted they would be that much. Finally, close to the end, Anabel moved forward and stooped down in order to pet the cat-like creature. Comet had been angry when she had chosen to take an owl instead of him to school but it had been for the best. Dropping her hand to the side, she finally decided to give her answer on how they were different. "Kneazles are much more intelligent that cats. They are also very protective of their owners, kind of like a dog."

0 Anabel McIntosh I Have One of Those 120 Anabel McIntosh 0 5

Renaye

November 04, 2007 2:07 PM

Okay, good. by Renaye

“Ah, first year will pass quickly enough. And you can spend the rest of your life aiming bludgers, so don’t worry about it,”

Renaye shrugged. She guessed that was true, but that didn't stop her desire to clamber onto a broom, legal or not. "A year is still a very long time. You know when you have that urge to just go and play Quidditch? That's been going on since I started packing for this place and put my gloves into my trunk," she said with a small grin.

Oliver reached over and picked up the Kneazle. Renaye observed it for a moment, taking in it's large ears and funny-looking tail. Oliver didn't seem to interested, for he passed on the thing to her next. Raye wasn't much of a cat person, she preffered owls. Cats usually carried an attitude with them, a sort of "I think I'm so above you" air... She took the Kneazle and stroked its soft fur for a moment before putting it back on the ground.

“I suppose he’s not bad for a cat. Not very interesting though, are they? I mean, what exciting stuff can you do with a kneazle?”

"I know what you mean," she said. "But they are soft, I just wouldn't want to keep one... Owls are nice though. They're really helpful. I wish I could get one."

0 Renaye Okay, good. 0 Renaye 0 5

Professor K

November 27, 2007 12:16 PM

CLASS CLOSED (nm) by Professor K

0 Professor K CLASS CLOSED (nm) 0 Professor K 0 5

Professor Kijewski

Lesson 1 for First and Second Years by Professor Kijewski

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How cute! by Lucie Dupree

Holly Greer

There may yet be hope for the school by Holly Greer

Talitha Cumni

Here kittie, kittie, kittie by Talitha Cumni

Talen Dupree

No robes? by Talen Dupree

Rilla White

A Kasneezle? by Rilla White

Irene Liddowe

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Rorrie Hudson

*is picturing Garfield* by Rorrie Hudson

Ronen Cooper

It <i> is </i> pretty cool, isn't it? by Ronen Cooper

Laurie Cider

Stripping's not in my repertoire. by Laurie Cider

Thomas Fitzgerald

Er...close enough. by Thomas Fitzgerald

Josh Warren

I guess that makes me Odie? by Josh Warren

Renaye Warren

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Talen

Mine either by Talen

Oliver Abbott

Yeah, if you promise not to knock me out by Oliver Abbott

Laurie

Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. by Laurie

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Raye

I <i>guess</i> I can make an exception for you... by Raye

Rorrie

Or Jon, whichever. by Rorrie

Hyana Kamiya

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Talen

Re: Phew. I was worried. Gotta keep things PG. by Talen

Talitha

And they come in rainbow colors! by Talitha

Laurie

You broke the subject chain. Shame, shame. by Laurie

Oliver

Great. I feel so special. by Oliver

Cecily Smythe

You mean the furry animals? by Cecily Smythe

Holly

Yes, of course. by Holly

Renaye

Glad I could help! by Renaye

Josh

That would make me your master! by Josh

Irene

Don't forget flavor balsted! by Irene

Rilla White

Yep! by Rilla White

Talen

Bad me. :P by Talen

Talitha

Mmmmm...Cheesey by Talitha

Cecily

They are a bonus. by Cecily

Irene

Mmmmm... Fishy by Irene

Rorrie

I sort of walked into that one, huh? by Rorrie

Laurie

Delays, I know! I have no excuse. by Laurie

Chelsea Brockert

Not a favorite of mine... by Chelsea Brockert

Lydia Krotchet

No, kneazle! by Lydia Krotchet

Talitha

Mmmmm... Chrunchy by Talitha

Oliver

... you weren't really helping by Oliver

is picturing Garfield by Rorrie Hudson