Let's brighten things up. on Charms

Professor Neal Davison

January 16, 2015 10:37 AM

Intermediate Charms by Professor Neal Davison

Neal waited patiently for the students to arrive, badly wanting to take out his yo-yo to pass the time. However, he didn't want his students to see him playing around. He had to look professional, dreary as that was. If he wasn't, he'd likely never sub at Sonora again. Neal knew full well that Mortimer Brockert was not going let him come back if he was a total goofball. He wasn't entirely sure the old man was happy with presence now, even though he was fully qualified. The Headmaster had impressed upon him that he was only a sub. At least Neal had being from a respectable family going for him,though. He rather figured that was why Headmaster Brockert was putting up with his being here at all.

Besides, a classroom full of Intermediate students wouldn't respect him if they caught him acting even remotely childish. They were hitting that age where they wanted to be little adults...until the world caught up with them and they realized being an adult was highly overrated.

Once the students had assembled, Neal faced them. "Hello, class. My name is Professor Neal Davison" A piece of chalk scribbled this down on the board, writing it more clearly than his own messy handwriting. To his credit though, he did not introduce himself as Neal Davison of the Wyoming Davisons. That was the way to introduce himself in society but not as a professor. " And I'll be subbing for Professor Olivers today. Now, it looks like we'll be doing Cheering Charms." A rather wonderful spell, really. If he'd been the regular professor he might have given extra credit to anyone who successfully cast it on the Headmaster. On the other hand, said student might get in deep trouble when it wore off and Neal wouldn't want that.

"The incantation is hilaro . That's pronounced 'ee-LAH-ro' with emphasis on the second syllable. Don't draw it out too long though or pronounce the h at the beginning. That prevents it from working. Also, be careful, an overdone charm can leave someone in a fit of hysterical laughter." Which was not as pleasant as one might think. "There's no counter curse. Please partner up and attempt to use this charm on each other. If you need me, I'll be over at the desk." With that, Neal let them loose and took his seat. There was just the matter of finding something to keep him occupied in the meantime.

OOC-Posts will be graded on creativity, length and realism.

Subthreads:

Something funny's going on by Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren with Jake Manger [Teppenpaw]

Could have been worse. by Chloe Jareau, Pecari with Ava Fletcher, Aladren, Chloe Jareau, Ava Fletcher

Two Pecaries are better than one. by Liliana Bannister and Atlas Primred [Pecari]

An alliance between the universe and the green-eyed monster by Ji-Eun Park, Pecari with Emrys Lucan, Aladren

I guess it could be worse. by Isaac Douglas, Crotalus

Let's brighten things up. by Lionel Layne, Pecari with Charlotte Spencer, Crotalus, Charlotte Spencer

11 Professor Neal Davison Intermediate Charms 0 Professor Neal Davison 1 5

Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren

January 18, 2015 7:39 AM

Something funny's going on by Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren

Theodore took his usual seat in Charms. He liked the front row, so that he could see clearly and not have to watch everyone in the intervening rows fiddle and faff, but he prefered to sit off to one side. It was apparent that they would not be having Professor Olivers today but that was no reason to deviate from his usual routine. In fact, it was all the more reason to stick to it. Some of his classmates, especially the third years, might be tempted to play up. He neither wished to witness their antics nor be suspected of being involved. The only thing he had to worry about was an increased likelihood of paper balls to the back of the head and such like.

The man didn’t give them much to go off, apart from the fact that he seemed to be tackling an age-appropriate topic with them, but Theodore had faith that the school would seek out competent substitutes.

The spell interested him, theoretically. Some people probably thought it was terrily complex and fascinating that one could toy with emotions in such away, regarding their feelings as inherent and constantly justified. But people could manage anger, control the urge to cry, and play their cards close to their chests in all kinds of ways without even needing magic. Feelings were not something like illness, that swept through your body without permission, they were things one invited in. That magic was a further way to control one’s emotions was not remarkable, though it was interesting. However, that didn’t mean he wanted to be a guinea pig for it. He prided himself on demonstrating the aforementioned self-control (with one rather glaring and recent exception) without any aid from spells or potions, and he did not want to at the mercy of someone else’s tampering, especially if there was the potential for them to mess it up and cause him hysterics - a most undignified reaction.

He wasn’t sure whether he was safer with a younger student, who was likely to be weaker and under-do things by default, or with an older student, whom he could expect to have greater control of the strength of their spells. The matter was taken out of his hands, however, for whilst he was still pondering it, someone approached him...

13 Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren Something funny's going on 270 Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren 0 5

Jake Manger [Teppenpaw]

January 19, 2015 6:22 PM

I haven't noticed anything unusual by Jake Manger [Teppenpaw]

Jake was not the most powerful wizard. He did, however, have a lot of potential, given the strengths of his parents and the apparent genetic factor in play when it came to magic. He also had a lot of hope. It was actually one of his signature emotions. So he figured between the hope and potential, he had a good shot at growing up to become a more powerful being.

Right now, at thirteen years old, though, the Teppenpaw was not quite there yet. He did sufficiently in most of his classes, and of course whenever he truly found something difficult he could acquire help from his brother Arnold, but the charm presented by Professor Neal Davison seemed right up his alley. A Cheering Charm? To make people happy? That was Jake’s specialty! He loved when people were happy!

Bright blue eyes glanced around for a partner. At first he thought he might ask Diana, but then he realized, as he had a couple times before this occasion, that he was no longer in class with her. Suddenly being an Intermediate certainly was weird. Jake supposed he could ask his brother, since Arnold was at the top of the Intermediate category--the only year that the Manger boys would be in class together--but he didn’t want to be clingy. Arnold had to do his own thing. And anyway, he’d probably want to partner up with Ji-Eun or maybe one of his roommates.

So instead, Jake just looked round until he found somebody who didn’t immediately have a partner. Eventually he noticed a boy he was pretty sure was named Theodore something, one of Arnold’s Housemates, and decided to approach him. “Hey, want to be partners?” he asked with a genuine smile, the only kind Jake ever really had. “Uh, I’d say I’m already pretty Cheery, so do you mind if I try it on you first?” He realized he hadn’t really provided time for a negative response to the first question, but he figured if the boy vehemently protested he would just say so now. And if he did, Jake could understand why; having a third year toying around with your emotions didn’t exactly sound ideal, especially one with whom you were just now having a conversation.

12 Jake Manger [Teppenpaw] I haven't noticed anything unusual 280 Jake Manger [Teppenpaw] 0 5

Chloe Jareau, Pecari

January 20, 2015 10:07 PM

Could have been worse. by Chloe Jareau, Pecari

Chloe’s summer had been rather trying, but also very good. At least, for herself. Angel wasn’t doing very well and so she worried for her brother, but their parents told them to just keep going forward as there was little else they could do but support him. Chloe was glad that their mother was a stay at home mom now even though she missed her here at school every day. Aside from Angel’s condition, Chloe and her family had gone on a stay-cation around Albuquerque. It had been so much fun to be able to sight-see in their own home town and even participate in some Muggle touristy things. Even though they went home every night after their day around the city, it still felt like they had went on a great adventure.

On top of their vacation, Chloe had randomly received a letter from her biological mother half way through her summer. At first, her parents hadn’t wanted her to read it without them reading it first, but Chloe had gotten upset at the very principle of that invasion of privacy. She had no idea what her mother wanted with her now after 15 years of never having spoken to each other, but Chloe felt that she had the right to determine whether or not to read it rather than someone else.

The first letter had been simply her mother explaining why she had left her with her father all those years ago and apologizes for any pain that Chloe endured as a result. She asked for forgiveness and hoped to hear from Chloe soon. Chloe hadn’t answered that letter. She thought it was such a random letter to receive. Her mother suddenly was getting help for her addiction and decided to now pop back into her life? Chloe ignored the first letter after she had finished reading it. She felt that the woman felt guilty and needed to feel better about herself. It was the third letter that Chloe responded too. She asked why, after all this time, did the woman feel the need to make contact? And it was then that the correspondence began.

It was a strange experience to be owling her biological mother, but Chloe had a desire to know about who she was. She supposed most people who either lost a parent or were adopted felt that way. Chloe was both of these things. Although she confided in Ayita, Chloe did not talk about it with anyone else. It just wasn’t something she wanted to be judged on.

But now she was at school and she didn’t have to worry about disappointing her parents when it came to those letters. She only had to worry about disappointing them with her school work. As she predicted, Ji-Eun got the badge. Chloe didn’t mind at all though. She was glad she didn’t have the responsibility and Ji-Eun was perfect for it. Chloe was sad that her brother didn’t get the Aladren badge. He had been hoping it for so long. She could tell he was upset about it, but he refused to talk about it with her. Chloe would let him have his time.

Sitting in Charms class, Chloe stared at the substitute wondering where Professor Olivers was. Not that she minded a change in structure and from the sound of the lesson, it was going to be a fun one. Chloe didn’t necessarily need to be cheered and the idea of it being forced wasn’t really all that ‘cheerful’ but at least it was better than being hexed. Being dismissed, Chloe turned towards the person nearest her and gave a smile, “Want to be my partner?” She asked.

6 Chloe Jareau, Pecari Could have been worse. 0 Chloe Jareau, Pecari 0 5

Ava Fletcher, Aladren

January 21, 2015 12:24 AM

I like to look on the bright side myself by Ava Fletcher, Aladren

On her way out of the Defense classroom, Ava had dropped her bag after absentmindedly walking into the door frame. She’d been thinking about what she wanted to do that night after dinner and hadn’t realized that she’d been veering a little more left than she normally did when leaving the classroom. When she bent to pick it up, her loose hair got in her face and caused her to step on the bag. A horrible squelching sound let Ava know that she hadn’t completely emptied her bag from her late night trip to paint in the MARS room the night before and she cringed when she opened her bag to see the purple and orange paint that had coated the inside of her bag. She threw her bag down in frustration and thought back to the different spells they had been taught. While she was sure the school probably had some sort of rule that prevented students from deliberately trying to harm each other with magic, Ava had never been in serious trouble before and doubted that using tergeo or scourgify to clean spilled paint really counted as misuse of magic and if it did then at least she wouldn’t be late to class. After sucessfully cleaning her bag, Ava tied her brown hair back with a fuchsia ribbon and ran down the hallway to make it to class on time, pausing outside the Charms door to collect her breath.

When she arrived in Charms class, sliding in just at the last moment, Ava found herself sitting next to Chloe Jareau. Going to the Midsummer’s Ball in a group with Chloe was what Ava believed had cemented their friendship, but she still didn’t know the girl in question very well and had decided that it was about time she get a girl friend with whom she could be silly with or whatever else those magazines she had ordered last year recommended a girl friend for. So, when the substitute professor set them loose to choose their own partners, Ava immediately decided she would ask Chloe. However, Chloe asked her first! Ava blushed ever so slightly, she felt like a first year, getting giddy over being asked to partner up with someone but she did like Chloe and thought her fun company. Ava returned the other girl’s smile. “Of course!” she said, pushing her notes away and grabbing her wand from where it rested on her desk. “Would you like to go first or shall I?”

“Oh, wait,” she said before they could begin. “Would you mind lending me your Defense notes after this class? I spilled paint all over mine just now and I tergeoed it as best I could and it did get all the paint off—” as absent minded as she could be, one couldn’t really say Ava made bad marks nor performed poorly in class. “But the paint did make the words smear quite a bit before I could clean it all.” She frowned kind of sadly as the notes for that class had contained some doodles that she’d been rather proud of.

10 Ava Fletcher, Aladren I like to look on the bright side myself 0 Ava Fletcher, Aladren 0 5

Theodore Wolseithcrafte

January 24, 2015 4:13 AM

But you're new to this class, how would you know? by Theodore Wolseithcrafte

The boy who had gone to the ball with Diana Carey bobbed up. Theodore was annoyed with himself for knowin that about him, as he really had tried to care as little as possible about all the whom had asked whom drivel and gossip. He was called John or Jack or one of those non-descript but perennially popular boys names beginning with J. Perhaps it was something a little more out there, like Josh. Theodore didn’t really think the boy was anyone, and the fact he had gone to the ball with a Carey didn’t count for much as the rules for school events seemed somewhat flexible on that front, especially for the younger years. After socialising with John Umland so openly (and bizarrely) at the dance, he thought he might need to be a bit selective this year to avoid landing a reputation as some sort of oddball. But, class partners was an area where some lenience seemed permitted, so it would probably be fine, and ruder to refuse.

“Yes, we can partner,” he nodded. “And you may begin, though I would recommend just practising the incantation and the movement separately a few times first,” he added, a little guardedly. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure the boy had been listening to all the advice and had his tongue wrapped around the pronunciation before letting him direct it at a real target. “I’m Theodore, by the way,” he added. It was a small school but everyone had blind spots, especially in situations such as this, where one was joining a new class, full of students who, heretofore, had been fairly irrelevant to one’s existence.

“Hilario” he intoned, leading by example, also keeping an ear out for the other boy’s efforts, ready to offer any constructive criticism he could think of in order to refine the spell that was about to be cast on him. When he was satisfied that the other boy could at least say it correctly and wave his wand in more or less the right way, he nodded.

“Alright then. Off we go…”

OOC - feel free to elaborate/specify the feedback Jake is given.

13 Theodore Wolseithcrafte But you're new to this class, how would you know? 270 Theodore Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Liliana Bannister and Atlas Primred [Pecari]

January 27, 2015 7:58 AM

Two Pecaries are better than one. by Liliana Bannister and Atlas Primred [Pecari]

While the substitute Charms teacher babbled on about whatever they would be doing in class that day, Liliana sat, one hand under her chin, the other hand tapping it’s fingers on the table while she stared at Atlas. He was hiding something from her. He had been weird during the Opening Feast and the following days and she was going to figure out what was bothering him if it was the last thing she did. She knew that whatever it was he was hiding had not affected him until after her Bat Mitzvah as he had acted perfectly normal while there.

Atlas was in love. She was funny, strong, confident, voluptuous, down to earth, the all around perfect girl, and she was his girlfriend. He smiled to himself as he stared, lovey-dovey eyes at the board, unable to concentrate on the lesson at hand. He sighed as he tried to hide his smile. He didn’t want to seem like a complete doofus in class, he just wanted to keep daydreaming about summer when they were still together every day. Sure, he liked Sonora, but this was Ann-Marie! She was just so… Atlas let out another sigh as the professor released them to begin practicing- whatever thing he had been talking about during class.

When Atlas turned to her, Liliana let out an exasperated sigh. There was something about his face—she couldn’t place her finger on it, but there was something about it that just looked wrong and out of place for Atlas. It was a girly kind of look, not one a boy should ever wear and it was annoying her. What she wanted to do more than anything in the world was reach out and slap the look right off his face but she restrained herself. “So,” she said, eyes wide and barely blinking as she let her lips purse. It was a face she had seen many times on her mother, aunts, and grandmother when she and her cousins had done something awful. “Anything you have to tell me before we get on with the lesson?”

With a start, Liliana’s sudden words brought him back to the real world. Atlas looked at her for a moment as he tried to process what she had just said, his mind still in the fog of love. “Uhh…” he replied blankly, “Oh yeah. Umm… what was the sub talking about? I’m not really in it today,” he admitted with a bit of hesitance. In truth, he hadn’t really been ‘in it’ since returning to Sonora, and his grades were a clear reflection of that. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in school, it was just that thoughts of ‘home’ always popped back into his head at the most inconvenient times, especially at night when he was trying to study.

Liliana arched an eyebrow. Really? Really? That was what he was going to go with? She pierced him with her most fearsome glare. “I don’t know,” she replied haughtily. “I wasn’t paying attention either.” She turned her head slightly, not wanting to seem like she needed to look at the board but realizing all the same that if she was going to ever find out what their lesson was she would need to look at it eventually. “Laughing charms,” she said once she had fully processed the substitute’s writing. “The spell is hilario.” Her French training kicked in, dropping the ‘H’ and allowing for near perfect pronunciation when combined with her English accent. “We’re to practice it on each other, but before we start I’d like you to get whatever it is on your mind off your mind. I don’t really feel like being hexed by you because you can’t concentrate.”

“So you noticed?” he said with a grin, his face reddening by the minute, “I didn’t want to bring it up on my own, because I’m secretly really proud of myself, but… I got a girlfriend.” His hand tussled through his auburn locks as he tried to brush off his embarrassment. It felt odd admitting such things, especially to Liliana given their….history, but it was more than that. Something in him just didn’t want to tell her about it. He reasoned that maybe it was because Ann-Marie was a Muggle, or that he was embarrassed, or maybe it was because… He took a deep sigh, shaking his head to return his brain to the conversation. Regardless of the reason, he was finally ready to get the news off his chest. “So….I guess she has just been on my mind,” he added, the corners of his mouth forming into a grin at the mere thought of Ann-Marie.

Liliana raised an eyebrow again. She had noticed in the past few weeks his, for lack of better terms, poor academic performance and could not believe that a girl had been the cause of it all. Frankly, it was a little bit disgusting. Probably more because her summer romance had not effected her in such a humiliating manner. But, she reasoned, Atlas looked happy and so the part of her that was disturbed by the idea of her best friend getting moony eyed over a Muggle girl was crushed by the larger part that was glad he was happy. “And does this girlfriend have a name?” she asked, hiding the smile that wanted to form. Atlas already knew everything about Vétil and now, she thought gleefully, it was her turn to interrogate.

For some reason Liliana’s lack of reaction made him uncomfortable. “Ann-Marie,” he said wondering if Liliana was upset with him for not telling her at the Opening Feast. “She’s half French too!” he added hoping this little piece of information would please Liliana. “But she can’t speak French as fluently as you can,” he exaggerated. Actually she had only been learning French for two years and wasn’t all that great, but he wanted her to seem impressive to Liliana.

Somehow Liliana doubted that was true. There was no way an American Muggle could speak French on any level at all in any sort of comparison to the level Liliana herself was at—after growing up speaking half English half French at home and spending her summers at her grandmother’s home in France, Liliana was completely bilingual. Instead of raising her eyebrow for what was probably a record number of times in any given conversation, she smiled prettily. “That’s nice,” she said before stating the obvious. “I’m guessing she’s a Muggle then, right? What sorts of things do Muggles get up to anyway?” Even though in her head the phrase was full of disdain, a part of her was genuinely curious to know what Muggle teenagers got up to in their spare time. She and Vétil had gotten up to a few magic-less activities but at the same time they had fun candies and games to play with—all of which incorporated magic. She was certain that Muggles had their own versions of these things but she couldn’t comprehend how Muggle fun could ever match up!

“Get up to?” he repeated softly to himself, his face burning red at the memories of his summer. They ‘were up to’ a lot of things, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Liliana all the details. “Um… you know, just the stereotypical Muggle activities. Movies, going downtown to get smoothies, the board walk, the beach…” he said trailing off when his mind came to a rather awkward memory. “But enough about my summer,” he said pulling his gaze away from hers and to the board. He had to change the subject or he might really die of embarrassment. “Let’s get down to this lesson, you said it’s hilario right?” he asked trying to pronounce it the best he could. Although he could think about Ann-Marie all day, he had to try concentrating on the spell, both for the sake of his ever reddening face and Liliana’s wellbeing.

Liliana wanted to press him for further details. Even though she couldn’t think up a reason for why Atlas would lie to her, he still seemed…weird. While Charms was a class she did better than him in, it still wasn’t his worst subject so his shaky pronunciation and hesitant attitude made her suspicious. He was hiding something from her and she was going to figure it out—hopefully with the use of the day’s lesson too. “Just pretend you’re Ann-Marie when you say it,” she replied. “The ‘h’ is pronounced like French,” (in actuality there were a few pronounced ‘h’s in French but not in the stereotypical French that many Americans liked to mimic in their accents, a stereotypical French that she was sure Ann-Marie used). “Hilario,” she enunciated carefully for his benefit. Once he had perfected it they moved on. “I’ll go first,” she said. “Care to make this into a game? One with a wager?”

Atlas’ eyes flickered at her offer. Wagers and Liliana were a potent mix, and although he wondered what said ‘wager’ would be, as they had played many similar games in the past he knew he had to proceed with caution. “Maybe, it depends on the wager. You’re not going to hustle me are you,” he asked in a half-joking manner.

“Hustle you?” Liliana asked, making her eyes go wide, an action which created a rather waif-like, innocent look on her face. “When have I ever hustled you?” She let her eyelashes flutter open and shut a few times before dropping the façade and giving him a wide grin. “Whoever performs the spell perfectly a total of five times in a row gets to ask three questions, any three questions, on whatever subject they like to the other who absolutely has to answer them truthfully. If the loser makes three perfect spells in a row they get to ask two questions.” She had given him all the details of her summer, and offering one question difference could really get Atlas to open up. Especially if she started off the questioning round—she had nothing to hide so if he bit, regardless of whether she won or lost she’d still get two questions. She sat back and waited to see if Atlas would take the bait.

“Hmm…” he said with a little smile while trying hide just how interested he was in the wager. Regardless of the situation it was a win-win, but the actual winner of the competition would get that one extra game changing question. Although Liliana had allegedly told him everything about her summer, he wondered if, like him, she had purposefully left details out. She was the more outgoing one out of the two of them, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in the unrevealed details of her summer abroad—two teenagers alone more or less at a beach house? “Okay,” he said, ready to take on the challenge. They were fourteen now, and Liliana was his best friend, they should be able to talk about things like their relationships. It’s not like I like-like Liliana, we’re just friends... Besides, I have Ann-Marie… he thought, trying to reassure himself.

OOC: jointly written by the two authors. We may or may not add onto it if we find the time.

10 Liliana Bannister and Atlas Primred [Pecari] Two Pecaries are better than one. 274 Liliana Bannister and Atlas Primred [Pecari] 0 5

Chloe Jareau

February 02, 2015 3:33 PM

That's a good outlook to have. by Chloe Jareau

Out of everyone that Chloe could have been partners with, she was glad to see it was Ava. The more she spent with the other girl, the more Chloe could understand why Emery seemed to like her so much. Ava seemed to have this unbreakable spirit about her that was contagious. Although Chloe had only been around her during good times, she found it hard pressed to imagine her having a bad day. Chloe was quite aware that Ava probably did have bad days, everyone did, Chloe had just never witnessed such days. Some people might also think the same of Chloe if they only knew her on a superficial way, but those who have been with her over that last couple of years would know otherwise. Chloe was often filled with worry over her older brother, but there were only moments where she might have shown it on her face. Chloe usually buried the worry down and put on a smile instead.

Chloe gave a small laugh when Ava asked to borrow her defense notes. “You can if you’d like, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” Chloe warned. “I’m rubbish at keeping my notes proper.” This was very true. Most of the time, Chloe could barely keep her attention long enough to write proper notes. Usually it was just short of hand of random information that managed to get through. Emery would always fill in the gaps for her and what she couldn’t figure out from him, she would read in the book. “If you really want decent notes, you should ask to borrow Emery’s. He’s meticulous about everything.” And because of that, he maintained one of the highest scores of their class as far as Chloe could tell.

“But, if you insist on using mine, you are more than welcome to them. Just don’t blame me if you can’t figure out what lesson the notes were for.” Chloe joked. Now that that was settled, they could move on to the lesson at hand. “I’m already in a fairly good mood, so I’m not sure if this lesson will be much of a challenge to you. Well, assuming that my current mood affects how you can cast the spell. Anyway, I’ll let you try it first.” Chloe stood up and faced Ava. She knew it would be a weird sensation, but that was always the case when they were the guinea pigs for their classmates’ spells.

6 Chloe Jareau That's a good outlook to have. 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Ji-Eun Park, Pecari

February 03, 2015 8:21 AM

An alliance between the universe and the green-eyed monster by Ji-Eun Park, Pecari

Ji-Eun had spent the whole summer waiting for lightning to strike, or the wrath of her mother. She half expected her to Just Know, to see the guilt written all over Ji-Eun and, when she didn’t, she expected the universe to deal out some kind of cosmic punishment. For all she had just gone to the ball with Arnold as friends, she knew that her mother wouldn’t like it and that she had done something she wasn’t supposed to. But her summer had been normal and pleasant, apart from Ji-Won being more of a little brat than usual. He loved her having a secret - her having been the naughty one. She knew he wouldn’t really tell - she had covered for him so many times, and he would always need her as an ally in translating report cards creatively - but he lorded it over her, teased her in English within their mother’s earshot, so much show that she was sure his manner would be noticed even if the content wasn’t understood. However, his behaviour apparently hadn’t seemed out of the ordinary to anyone else (which, she thought, said a lot in itself).

Not only had her summer passed without retribution, maternal or divine, but when she had returned to Sonora she had been awarded the prefect’s badge. She was deeply honoured, and knew her mother would be happy and proud. Best of all, Chloe hadn’t been upset or jealous about it all. Ji-Eun had misbehaved, stepped out of line, and not only were the fates not punishing her, they were actively smiling down on her. The only thing wrong with this year so far was that Ji-Won would joining her class, and would probably see her being prefect as double the reason to cause her aggravation, but that would have been coming her way regardless.

She grinned at the subject of their Charms class, thinking that she didn’t need much cheering. She turned to look for Chloe, happy to spread the good vibes, and found that she was working with Ava already. Which was ok. Totally ok. It was really nice that Ava and that whole crowd were being nice and including Chloe. There was nothing wrong with people being nice or including others - it was great. Super. It was just…. they were such a big group already, and one she’d never really known how to talk to. Chloe fitted, she was related, so there was obviously room for one more… But there might not be for two. Especially someone who was only a connection of a connection, rather than actually liked by one of the inner circle. If Chloe started running with that group instead then she would be left out. Not that Chloe shouldn’t have other friends. Ji-Eun had Arnold, and it was her going to the ball with him that had made Chloe need to hang out with Ava’s group in the first place (and which Chloe hadn’t been mean or jealous about at all, so it was stupid and unfair for her to get that way now…). But Arnold was just Arnold, he wasn’t a whole clique that might absorb her. Maybe the universe was just catching up now… Rather than having her mother go ballistic at her, or her lose out on prefect (which was utterly unrelated, as the school didn’t care who she dated, or went on friend-dates with) it was going to let the punishment fit the crime.

“Cheer me up?” she asked of her neighbour, finding herself rather more in need of it than she had been before, as she battled with both her jealous thoughts and how guilty she felt for having them, in the face of Chloe having been so nice about all her own good fortune.

OOC - Chloe’s author mentioned her reaction to the prefect situation in Chatzy

13 Ji-Eun Park, Pecari An alliance between the universe and the green-eyed monster 268 Ji-Eun Park, Pecari 0 5

Emrys Lucan, Aladren

February 06, 2015 4:18 PM

Perhaps we can help each other out. by Emrys Lucan, Aladren

Emrys felt a bit guilty. He really hadn’t meant to get the prefect badge, especially when it was something he wasn’t even sure he deserved. And seeing Emery around the school and in their dorm just made him feel even worse. In fact, Emrys had decided not to talk about it with his best friend, lest it upset him, and had tried to continue on with his daily life as normal, not neglecting his prefect duties, but not talking about them all the same. Besides, in addition to the prefect issue, there were other things on Emrys’ mind. Two things to be exact. The first being the stress of the upcoming CATS. The second being his ever growing attraction and feelings for his other best friend, Charlotte. His cheeks grew slightly pink just thinking of her and he quickly tried to distract himself with carefully setting out all his note paper and ink so that no one who might know even a tiny bit of legilimency could read his mind and be disgusted with his daydreams of Charlotte which were, in reality, fairly innocent.

The lesson for the day didn’t seem like it would be too difficult and Emrys was looking forward to learning it. Lamenting the fact that he hadn’t already known it during his period of slight depression the previous year following the death of his grandfather. This incident, perhaps more than anything, had changed Emrys. He was more focused now because despite his rocky relationship with the patriarchal Lucan, Emrys had always wanted to please him. Even though now he was gone, like gone, gone and probably (chances were, though Emrys wasn’t too sure what that old man was capable of even in death) would stay that way, Emrys still felt that compulsion to be good and perform well as though a dishonor to the memory of his grandfather was worse than being a slight airhead while he was still alive.

When Ji-Eun asked him to cheer her up, Emrys turned towards her a little unsure if he had heard her right. He liked Ji-Eun well enough and she was good friends with Chloe so he knew she was a nice person—not to mention their brief attempt at Korean lessons in their first year, so he was glad it was someone he knew he could get along with. Besides, since they were both prefects now Emrys thought that to partner with her might be a good idea. “I can try,” he said with a small smile. “But I don’t know how good I’ll be at it since I’m not in that great of a mood either. Would you like to go first or shall I?”

The question, as stupid and repetitive as it was, seemed to be rather necessary in Emrys’ opinion. Using ones’ classmates as test subjects while learning spells was kind of a sketchy grey area, and though it was good practical use for the future consent was the key. He’d never want to force any one to do anything they didn’t want to do and even though they all eventually got charms cast on them eventually, Emrys always liked to let his partners decide who went first that was he wasn’t making anyone uncomfortable.

“So Korean lessons first year was kind of a fail,” he said conversationally after they had sorted out who would be casting the spell first. Like the whole consent thing, Emrys thought talking about nonsense while experimenting on each other made the process less painful and awkward. “I feel as though that might be my fault, so I’m sorry for that because it would have been fun to learn another language.”

OOC: Emrys' natural guilt of thinking is the what is causing him to skirt around the issue with Emery since from from Emery's reactions in chatzy/other posts I can't tell how obvious it is to Emrys that Emery is upset.

10 Emrys Lucan, Aladren Perhaps we can help each other out. 260 Emrys Lucan, Aladren 0 5

Ava Fletcher

February 06, 2015 5:00 PM

I pride myself on my good outlook. by Ava Fletcher

Ava liked Chloe’s suggestion about asking Emery for notes and nodded. “Cool, alright, I’ll ask him in the common room later tonight. Thanks!” She had noticed that her friend was a good student and more than likely would have asked either him or one of the other Aladrens in their year that night in the common room anyway if she hadn’t asked Chloe but since her ruining of her Defense notes had taken place only a few moments before she saw Chloe, asking the next person she talked to only seemed like the reasonable thing to do.

Ava stood up and prepared herself for the spell. “Hilario,” she cast, aiming carefully and enunciating each syllable as best she could. She really didn’t want to hurt Chloe as she liked the other girl but sometimes the first time she ever attempted a spell something small could go wrong. At least she wasn’t like that fourth year Pecari girl who always made a mess of her transfiguration work, Ava thought privately to herself, glad that she didn’t have issues focusing and producing good quality work when it came to her classes. Besides, even if she didn’t get the hang of the spell by the end of the class period she was certain she would by the end of the night as she always set aside an hour after dinner to practice the spells or memorize the potions ingredients that she had learned during the course of that day.

“Can you believe this is our last year of Intermediates?” she asked incredulously. “Next year we’ll be starting Advanced which means we can drop classes but I don’t think I’d be able to do that. I like learning all the subjects too much!” Ava was certain her opinion was a very Aladren thing to say but she found that she didn’t quite care, part of growing up was accepting who she was and Ava had never really been a person to shy away from expressing herself—from her paint covered clothes to the ratty suitcase she used instead of a proper one, she knew she didn’t fit into the idea of normalcy but she found that she didn’t quite care. She was quite happy making art, studying to become a Healer, and reading every book she could get her hands on, but she did realize that not everyone liked to talk about school all the time. Ava gave a laugh. “Sorry to bring up a super nerdy conversation during class. What’s up in your life?”

10 Ava Fletcher I pride myself on my good outlook. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Ji-Eun

February 07, 2015 5:19 AM

How are your monster fighting skills? by Ji-Eun

ind… Why don’t you try first?” she suggested, seeing as by fifth year she’d learnt the former opinion led to a lot of back and forthing, dancing around politely trying to work out whether anyone really minded. She wasn’t sure whether the mood of the caster affected the ability to cast the spell. She sort of hoped not because if the first person succeeded, then surely an artificially cheered person might be more likely to overdo things and give their partner hysterics, which seemed rather unfair. Still, she didn’t want to voice this thought or dwell on the things that were bothering them. She felt a little bad for not asking Emrys what was on his mind but she didn’t really feel like sharing what was on hers, as she was sure petty jealousy was endearing to no one, and especially not someone whose close friend was the subject…..

She felt a little sting of guilt as he mentioned her failure to teach him Korean, although the personal edge was taken off the comment by him supposing it to be his fault.

“Oh, no, I don’t think it was. I didn’t really know what I should teach you,” she confessed - she had been content to tell Emrys anything he wanted to know but she didn’t know how to decide what was important, or how to teach a language that she had simply grown up with. Perhaps it was something in his personality or actions, or perhaps her lack of confidence in her own skills, or maybe the truth really lay somewhere between the two. Either way, it had turned into one of those things that people say would be nice but don’t really follow through on, at least in her mind. Perhaps though, if she had made a bit more effort, thought harder about how she could teach him - or even just taken Emrys’ request a bit more seriously - maybe she and Chloe would have been part of that group all along and she wouldn’t have this problem now. Maybe she would never have met Arnold and gone to the ball with him and then she wouldn’t be feeling guilty now… Though she also didn’t want to have not met Arnold. It was all so complicated, even just being friends with people. She was almost glad of her mother’s rules, keeping her from getting into even more of a tangled mess.

“Anyway, let’s put it behind us and get back to being happy.”

13 Ji-Eun How are your monster fighting skills? 268 Ji-Eun 0 5

Isaac Douglas, Crotalus

February 11, 2015 3:02 PM

I guess it could be worse. by Isaac Douglas, Crotalus

Isaac looked blankly for a second at what looked like a man in the front of the Charms room, wondering if Professor Olivers had taken her eccentricity and habit of dramatic dress to new and frankly disturbing heights or if the spell of the day was going to be the kind of thing he, personally, thought no person should ever publicly admit to knowing. What people did on their own time, behind closed and hopefully triple-locked and magically reinforced doors, was entirely their own business, of course, but the classroom was not the proper place to learn how.

Overall, though, he thought it was more likely that Olivers had either quit or gotten too sick to come to class and that the sight of some of his classmates at the end of class was no more likely than usual to make him want to jam his cloak pin into his eyes or run a hook up his nose and stir his brain into soup. This theory was confirmed a minute later when the man introduced himself. ‘Davison’ sounded a bit familiar, but since professors were one of the very few classes of people for whom blood didn’t matter, he chose to ignore it, deciding to focus instead on the spell they were learning today.

Cheering Charms. It wasn’t as bad as learning how to effectively disguise himself as a woman for no adequately-explainable reason, but nor was a Cheering Charm something Isaac particularly relished the thought of having cast on him. Not only did he find excessive cheeriness annoying, he thought he usually had his moods for pretty good reasons and that only errors in judgment could result from tampering with them. It was one thing for people who honestly had something wrong with them - his step-grandmother had, from what he’d heard, been all messed up with depression when he was younger, and now she was doing much better - but Isaac thought his brain worked just fine. It did not need Cheering Charms to work properly, and if it ever started needing Cheering Charms to work properly, he could afford better than someone between the ages of thirteen and sixteen to cast them. He did not fancy ending up in fits of laughter for a few hours if someone botched it. It was not dignified.

It was, however, the assignment, so he looked for someone reasonably steady-looking, who he had not observed making any spectacular errors recently, and asked, “would you like to work together?”

16 Isaac Douglas, Crotalus I guess it could be worse. 273 Isaac Douglas, Crotalus 0 5

Lionel Layne, Pecari

February 11, 2015 3:34 PM

Let's brighten things up. by Lionel Layne, Pecari

Lionel frowned slightly when he realized someone else was standing where Professor Olivers usually did in the front of the class. Subs were pretty rare at Sonora, he thought, at least for teachers who were proper teachers and not long-term subs, and so he hoped Professor Olivers was okay first and that she was okay and coming back second. He didn’t think his education had suffered too much for having nothing but substitutes in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was still nice to know for sure that the person leading the class was the person who was going to keep leading the class.

The sub’s wording - ‘today’ - implied, he thought, that Professor Olivers was coming back soon enough, though, and so Lionel relaxed. Everyone needed a day off sometime, he guessed, including teachers, and Professor Davison was surely competent. The first half of his first year had been weird, but he didn’t think anyone who truly had no idea what he or she was doing had ever taught him, and especially not anyone approved by the Headmaster. Headmaster Brockert did not seem like someone Lionel would want to have over for tea and cookies, or spend any other social time with, but he was the head of the school and so presumably knew enough to tell people who could teach from people who could not. Competence and a personality worth speaking of did not necessarily go together.

He mouthed the incantation of the Cheering Charm after Professor Davison when they were told it and then wrote it down just to be safe, underlining the ‘do not say h’ part. He wished the professor hadn’t even told them there was an ‘h’ on it, as now it was going to be harder not to say it, but since ‘hilarity’ started with an h and an h sound in English, he guessed he might have run into that complication anyway. Foreign languages, living or dead, were not something Lionel had ever studied in his pre-school life, something which was sometimes, he thought, a blessing and sometimes a curse now that he was at school and learning spells which were only occasionally...English-y, or whatever the real word for that would be.

When the professor was done warning them about the dangers of ending up in a fit of hysterical laughter and having no counter-curse, Lionel smiled at a nearby person. “I could use some cheering up after that last part,” he said. Warnings at the end could lend an ominous feel to lessons, even though laughing hysterically for a while was far from the worst thing they’d ever been warned could happen to them if they weren’t careful in classes. “What about you?”

16 Lionel Layne, Pecari Let's brighten things up. 283 Lionel Layne, Pecari 0 5

Charlotte Spencer, Crotalus

February 13, 2015 4:03 AM

I like that idea. by Charlotte Spencer, Crotalus

This year Charlotte was a fifth year. That meant CATS and anxiety attacks and her little brother joining the Sonoran ranks. She hadn't expected to be Prefect, and she was happy that her room-mate had received the coveted title. Eleanor would do much better than Charlotte ever would. Of the two of them, Eleanor seemed more ambitious whilst Charlotte only looked to live in a comfortable home once she graduated from school.

Charms was a pleasant past-time in Charlotte’s opinion, and she enjoyed spending hours practising her spells. It was practical and very useful in so many situations. Professor Olivers at times scared Charlotte, but she imagined the witch to be very nice and animated outside of the classroom. The same, however, couldn’t be said of her professor’s daily ensemble. Charlotte was more conservative in her clothing choices, and today she wore a simple navy blue sun dress underneath her uniform with a gold necklace. She had a thin headband nestled in her golden hair, today left uncurled and loose. As she entered the classroom expecting some sort of eye-sore, she was surprised to see a wizard standing at the front instead of their usually punctual professor. Had something terrible happened to her? Charlotte took her seat a bit timidly; when the normal was disturbed, Charlotte felt out of place and unsure of herself.

Luckily this professor was only a substitute, though subs in Charms were a rarity. Cheering Charms were simple enough, but it wasn’t pleasant when the charm had to be practised on another. There was no counter-curse, which was disturbing; with practising new spells, accidents were possible and Charlotte didn’t like it when she was given a task with no way of undoing it. At least with Charms, she felt a bit more secure in her spells and hadn’t mucked them up terribly in the past.

Nevertheless, feeling slightly troubled, she turned to the person next to her, a younger wizard. “I agree,” she said, returning his smile with an uncertain one of her own. “No counter-curse puts more pressure on us to do the spell perfectly.” After a pause, she asked, “Would you like to be partners?” Her incredible shyness and fear of people and rejection had improved drastically over her years at Sonora. Much of that had to be credited to Emrys, who had been patient enough to help her out of her shell. Just two years ago, she wouldn’t have said so many sentences to a stranger despite their age difference.

She would have liked to work with someone more experienced, but none of them were perfect in their wand-work. She took a deep breath and smiled, trying to prepare herself for the worst. “You can go first if you’d like.”

0 Charlotte Spencer, Crotalus I like that idea. 0 Charlotte Spencer, Crotalus 0 5

Lionel Layne

February 16, 2015 9:13 PM

Shall we proceed, then? by Lionel Layne

The girl - a Crotalus; Lionel hadn’t been in the class long enough to be sure of all the names - did not look hugely certain about allowing Lionel to cast mood-changing charms on her. He didn’t take offense. He was certain she was older than him and she almost certainly recognized (if only through not recognizing him by name any more than he did her, as they hadn’t overlapped at Sonora before) him as a third year. Third years were not known for being the best spell-casters in the Intermediate class.

She still asked if he wanted to be partners, though, and he smiled, hoping he looked competent and self-assured and other good things like that. They were not expressions he was all that practiced with, any more than he was with mood-altering charms, but since he did think he was a good enough wizard to at least not do harm even if he couldn’t quite pull it off right, so he wasn’t afraid of casting the charm.

“Sure,” he said. “I’m Lionel, by the way. Lionel Layne.” He took care to enunciate both names instead of letting them run together, as all the ‘ls’ had a tendency to.

She even offered to let him go first. “If you want me to, that’s fine,” he said. “I’m pretty good at Charms,” he added for additional reassurance, for whatever that was worth, as he lifted his wand.

It felt weird, pointing his wand at another person. In Beginners, where they were all more or less still learning control, they virtually never did so, and it didn’t seem common in Intermediates, either. They worked on inanimate objects, not even generally the animals that now sometimes turned up in Transfiguration. He could tell he was holding back a little even as he said the incantation; he doubted the spell would do more than make her smile a little more easily if it worked, maybe giggle at most, but he had to wait and see as he finished the wand movement.

16 Lionel Layne Shall we proceed, then? 283 Lionel Layne 0 5

Charlotte Spencer

February 25, 2015 12:30 PM

With some trepidation. by Charlotte Spencer

Though her partner was young, quite young, in fact, Charlotte didn’t think she would be in too much trouble. At least, so she hoped. He was friendly, however, and they were off to a pleasant start with introductions. “Charlotte Spencer,” said the Brit. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She didn’t recognise him from her previous classes, so he had to be a third year. His inexperience was a bit worrisome, but as Charlotte had yet to see anyone blow up in this class she didn’t think Lionel’s charm would go terribly wrong. Cheering Charms had to be difficult to muck up, despite the lack of counter-curse and such. She just tried not to think about that bit.

Lionel claimed to be good at Charms, so Charlotte nodded for him to go ahead and stood her ground, bracing herself for whatever might hit her. She could feel the charm when the magic lifted her blonde hair slightly, but otherwise she didn’t feel much else. A bit cheerier, she supposed, and things looked a little rosier, but that was about the extent.

“I feel the slightest bit cheerier,” she told him though she wasn’t quite certain if it was because of the charm or because she’d survived unscathed. She wasn’t very good at giving tips, but she did have some things to share about casting a good spell as a fifth year. “You might want to add a bit more power to it on your next go,” she said, a bit timidly. “Just a suggestion. You did well for your first try.” She smiled at him, feeling a bit more at ease. “Do you mind if I go?” she asked.

Once he had agreed, Charlotte pointed her wand at Lionel. The thought of casting the wrong charm and cursing him to eternal laughter frightened her briefly, but she quickly cast the thought away, determined to let herself be happy and pass on that happiness to her younger classmate. Whilst Charlotte enjoyed Charms, she was not a fan of Professor Olivers. It wasn’t just her ensemble, but her unethical lessons which had led to one or two embarrassing mishaps for her students. Charlotte did not enjoy these classes as much as she did Transfiguration as a result, and pointing her wand at a fellow student to practise Cheering Charms seemed to fall under the unethical category. Nevertheless, Charlotte was confident in her abilities, being a fifth year, and cast the Cheering Charm with ease.

After she’d cast the spell, she waited a moment for it to sink in. “How do you feel?” she asked.

OOC: Took some liberty in assuming Lionel would allow Charlotte to cast the spell on him. Feel free to assume the same for Charlotte.

40 Charlotte Spencer With some trepidation. 265 Charlotte Spencer 0 5