Professor Levy
February 03, 2011 5:07 PM
Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I by Professor Levy
Erika watched from behind her massive mahogany desk to see the reactions from her students as they walked into the classroom and saw a panther circling the room. Of course, this wasn’t an actual panther since it was fairly translucent and glowing, but it was still impressive if she did say so herself. Though, anyone that was an Auror, like some of her friends that had come to her wedding over the summer, wouldn’t have been quite so awed. Being able to cast a patronus was a requirement for being an Auror for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons. Many of which she would be discussing today.Once everyone had taken their seats, Erika moved from behind her desk to sit on it. “As probably all of you know, the panther stalking around the room is a patronus, my patronus and as many of you have probably guessed, that’s what we’re going to begin discussing and working on. Anyone that has hopes of becoming an Auror must be able to master this spell,” she warned those that had aspirations of such a dangerous career. She had once been an Auror, one of the best and youngest, and quite often she missed the excitement of the field. Sometimes she considered going back and maybe she wouldn’t be able to be out in the field anymore, but maybe working in the Investigations unit.
“In terms of protection, the patronus is most effective against dementors and lethifolds. In fact, this is the only spell that truly works. Just for review, dementors and lethifolds are both dark creatures. Dementors will drain every last bit of hope and happiness from a person and the worst thing they do is the Dementor’s Kiss where they suck the very soul out of a person and leave nothing left, but an empty shell. As for lethifolds, I suppose they’re a bit better than dementors since they won’t leave a person a living without a soul. The lethifold looks like a thick black cloak, about half-inch thick. It will attack a sleeping person in their bed, smother them, and digest them. They leave absolutely no trace at all so if someone suddenly disappears that might be what happened.”
She paused for a moment. Her gray eyes glanced around the darkened atmosphere of the room. “Of course, this is assuming the person was visiting the tropics since this is the only place they’re found and are still pretty rare.” Erika brushed her dark hair back out of her face. Admittedly, she wanted to scare them, make them realize how important it was to learn these lessons. Not only for their exams, but for just their safety in the world. It wasn’t just the magical one either, because how often did people – wizards and muggles alike – just disappear without a trace? Not to mention all the other things that could occur. At the same time, she needed them to stay focused on the lesson. If they couldn’t perform the lesson in a safe environment, they weren’t going to have any hope if they were in real danger.
So, it was on to the other point. “The patronus is not only good for protection, it’s also good for delivering messages. If you wanted to warn someone or if you needed help, sending a patronus is very effective. They are able to deliver a message and the patronus will take on your voice or you can use it to lead a person to where you are or even a particular spot.” At this point, she demonstrated just what she meant. Some might have already seen a deliverance of one, but some might not have and there was nothing better than showing. One the other side of the room, her panther seemingly spoke, “Very effective.”
Erika drew their attention back to her. “Today, we’ll start with casting the patronus spell. Keep in mind that your patronus is a reflection of yourself and can transform with extraordinary emotional change. To perform the spell, simply point your wand like so,” she brandished her wand, “and say Expecto Patronum. Once everyone has a handle on the patronus charm, we will move on to working with pogrebins, because they produce feelings similar to a dementor, but on a lower scale. If anyone finishes early, you may try passing messages back and forth with someone. I’ll be around if you have any questions or need help. You may begin.”
OOC: Normal posting rules apply! Minimum of ten sentences with no major grammatical or spelling errors. Remember, the more lengthy and creative the post, the more points earned. Enjoy!
Subthreads: That can't be what I think that is. by Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) with Jethro Smythe, Jethro
Oh feathered friend, appear! by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) with Dana Smythe, Adelita, Lita
Virtual camping, anyone? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari with Andew Duell, Jose Hernandez, Andrew Duell
Here, kitty by Charlotte Abbott with Marissa Stephenson, Charlotte, Charlie
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Professor Levy
Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I
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Professor Levy
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
February 05, 2011 11:18 PM
Oh feathered friend, appear! by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
Adelita walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and nearly died from a heart attack when she saw the panther. She knew that there were dark creatures that they would be studying, but she hadn’t expected to see one right in her face. After the moment of shock vanished, Lita realized that the panther wasn’t real. She didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t real and that made her feel immensely better.Taking a seat, Lita pulled out her book, parchment, ink, and wand. She set this up in all of her classes. Rarely did they ever actually use their books in any class other than Potions, but Lita always prepared herself anyway. She looked around the room, eyes glancing occasionally at the panther, but not necessarily pausing. This was her sixth year here and really, nothing had changed. Sure there were new professors or whatever, but the routine was the same. But, Lita had heard news about one of her professors over the summer. Professor Levy had married her long time partner.
It had been in the paper that her parents read. The life section had all the marriages or engagement announcements in it and Lita had been surprised to find that her professor had been one of the announcements. Actually, it was really the first time Adelita had even considered the fact that her professors had a life outside of the school. She didn’t think about the fact that they could have families back home, wherever that was. Until she saw the announcement and saw Professor Levy’s wife standing beside her.
The picture shocked her because they both looked so happy, it wasn’t a normal look on her DADA Professor. At least, not to Lita. But it had made her take a second look at all her professors and pretty much everyone else. It also made her realize how empty she was in her own happiness when it came to love. Actually, it was a little amusing to the fact that Charlie was almost in the same boat and Charlie could have whoever she wanted. If Charlie was having issues, how would Lita ever get anywhere with her problems?
Her dark eyes slid over to a particular blonde she had only just recently admitted to liking, they lingered for a moment on him, but the Professor began to speak and her eyes moved away to focus on the lesson. She picked up her quill and began to write notes. The lesson was definitely interesting. She had never seen a patronus before, but she had always wondered how they worked. Her Tia Julia always said the producing a patronus was very difficult. She said that even adults had a hard time producing one, but if they could do it, the patronus was the best asset a Witch or Wizard could have.
Picking up her wand, Adelita focused on happy memories, family memories were always the best. Memories of the ocean, memories of her recitals. When the smile naturally came to her from her thoughts, Lita mimicked the wand movement and spoke “Expecto Patronum” A wisp and nothing more, but the fact that she had a wisp was awesome! She continued to try, finding more and more happier thoughts as she did so, but none seemed enough to create a full on body of her patronus.
“I think that one had feathers!” She exclaimed on her last try, but she was a little winded and needed a moment to regain her footing. “This is way hard.” She commented to no one in particular.
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
Oh feathered friend, appear!
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
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5
Dana Smythe
February 09, 2011 11:33 AM
Birds of a feather by Dana Smythe
She wasn't supposed to be taking Defense classes, Dana knew, but here she was anyway. She had signed up as a last minute decision, having done well enough on her CATS that she could keep the class if she wanted. Turns out she did want to, after all. She hadn't originally intended to keep the subject, but she had found it interesting, afterall, and the dare devil she kept well supressed inside her liked to come out and play from time to time. besides, all the other subjects the Pecari was taking came very easily to her, so it only seemed fair she picked a class she had to work at, too. She didn't need to take any sibjects, of course, and her father would no doubt be disappointed that she'd kept up with DADA, but she couldn't let them rule her life completely. She was willing to do most of what they said, but if she didn't rebel from time to time she might go crazy, as many had done before her. So she took DADA.Coming into the class, Dana noticed the patronus almost immediately, but didn't let it concern her in the slightest; she'd been around that sort of magic often enough before to know that it was there for protection, not to harm her. It also made her quite excited about the class, because this was a definite indicator that they would be studying how to produce a patronus. That was definitely very cool, and the sort of thing that had drawn Dana to this subject in the first place. Taking good notes from the introductory lecture, Dana allocated part of her brain to thinking of a happy memory that would be sufficient to produce a good patronus. She thought a lot of the times she'd spent with her Mom might do the trick; the mother and daughter had always been good friends and now they got on especially well in the holidays when Dana was back home from Sonora. Yes, maybe the time over summer when they'd made some seriously spicy Mexican food together would work - they'd laughed for hours.
As the class began, Dana took a deep breath and summoned the memories to mind - they brought a smile to her face just thinking about them. "Expecto Patronum," she cast, and got a fluffy silver haze that glowed prettily but didn't do anything else. Well it was better than nothing. Focusing that bit harder, she raised her wand and incanted the spell a second time. This time her patronus had some sort of shape - it was long a thin, maybe like an eel or snake, except it seemed to have ... no, it was gone. She couldn't be sure, as the shape had faded almost instantly.
"I think that one had feathers," said a voice near her. Dana knew Adelita from their classes together, but didn't know her at all, really.
"I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but I think mine had fins," she replied. She nodded at Adelita's comment about the spell being hard. "It is," Dana agreed. "We're probably doing okay to be making idetifiable feathers and fins already," she surmised.
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Dana Smythe
Birds of a feather
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Dana Smythe
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Adelita
February 12, 2011 2:35 PM
Flock together... sometimes. by Adelita
“Oh, fins?! Like a dolphin?” Adelita exclaimed, losing her focus and turning to the person beside her who ended up being Dana Smythe. Adelita knew nothing about Dana except that she was somehow related to the other Smythes of the school (there were so many that Adelita didn’t know who were sisters/brothers and who were cousins of who). Dana had gone away for awhile and when she returned, they had the transfers too and Lita had been already established in friendships that it never really came about for the two of them to get to know one another.Adelita wasn’t really sure why that was. It was probably partly because she hung out with her usual crowd, it was easier that way. But she also thought it might be because Dana and Alison really didn’t seem to open up or chat to anyone. At least, as far as Lita could see. It was a shame really, their class was small, there was no reason why they all shouldn’t be somewhat friends. Thinking about it now, Lita had just assumed that Dana and Alison were best friends. Perhaps it was because they were roommates or that they did the concert together, Lita wasn’t sure. But that was what she thought. She was probably completely wrong. She was pretty sure that the Aladren boys were not at all friends, so just making that assumption about Dana and Alison wasn’t right.
“Hi Dana.” Lita greeted, smiling. Her eyes caught glimpses of some of the other students’ work. Daniel had some muggle thing – Lita couldn’t think of the correct term at the moment – someone else seemed to have a dragon. She had always thought that patronuses were designed by the witch/wizard’s inner consciousness to what they felt safe with or felt a connection to. She wasn’t really sure what sort of connection Daniel or anyone else had with some of their patronuses, but it was amusing to watch. Although, she was rather good with her wand, so the fact that they all were able to manage making a full patronus really put her off.
She closed her eyes again and thought back to happier moments in her life. Of her parents. Her grandparents. Her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Summers on the beach. Her dance recitals. She thought of her friendships. Of Juri. She felt the bubbly feeling of happiness well up in the pit of her stomach. Without opening her eyes, Adelita repeated the spell with gusto, not caring if she was loud enough to call attention to herself.
Opening her eyes, there she saw it in all it’s silvery glory. A swan. The most beautiful bird that Adelita knew. She loved swans. They represented femininity and beauty in the dance world. “Ooooh.” Adelita breathed, her delight as clear as fine crystal on her face. “She is beautiful.” Lita commented, looking away from her Patronus to Dana. “You try!”
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Adelita
Flock together... sometimes.
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Adelita
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Dana
February 13, 2011 5:40 AM
Sometimes they flock apart by Dana
"Smaller than a dolphin, I think," Dana replied. She did like dolphins - they were somehow cute and elegant at the same time, not to mention intelligent - but she didn't think that's what her patronus had been. Then again, it hadn't been around long enough for her to really be sure. "Hi," she returned Adelita's greeting with a smile of her own. She hadn't talked much to the other girl, but then Dana hadn't talked to many other people at all. If given the option to work alone in class then usually she took it. She hadn't been able to play Quidditch while her cousins were around so school activities weren't on her agenda until this year. Despite being in Pecari, she wasn't really the outgoing sort one expected from her House. She got along fine with Alison, and she spent a fair amount of time checking up on Jethro (somebody had to), and she'd gotten to know some of the younger students while they rehearsed for the concert last year. That was plenty of interaction for Dana; she was perfectly content to talk to other people but she'd never been the sort to spend lots of time with anyone outside her family.Trying the spell again without much luck this time, Dana was then distracted by Adelita's 'Ooh' of delight, and she turned to see the glowing swan that had been produced. "Wow," she voiced her own thoughts on Adelita's patronus. "She is beautiful," the Pecari agreed. Dana couldn't actually tell if the swan was male or female, but Adelita had called it a 'she' and as she'd made the patronus then she probably knew best.
Encouraged by her classmate's success, Dana tried the spell again for herself. She closed her eyes - it seemed sensible to block out visual distractions to make it easier to concentrate - and worked hard to pull up some emotional memories. She thought of her mother again, of her brother Lucas - but then he had the tendency to annoy her. She thought instead of her bedroom at home, of spending midterm there tucked up against the winter chill. She thought of the roaring fires blazing downstairs, festive music playing on the wireless in the kitchen, the smell of meat roasting ... mmmm. "Expecto Patronum," Dana cast, then opened her eyes. It still wasn't as fully formed as Adelita's swan, but there was definitely a glowing fish of some sort gliding through the air in front of her as if it were in water. The elongated spike extending from the fish's face made it at once identifiable, even as it faded into mist. "It's a swordfish," she commented, sounding neither impressed nor disappointed - she didn't know much about the creatures. "Interesting."
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Dana
Sometimes they flock apart
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Dana
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Lita
February 18, 2011 10:44 PM
They can't swim in a school like fish by Lita
Okay, so it wasn’t going to be a dolphin, that was okay. As wonderful as dolphins were, Lita had been snorkeling so many times while in Mexico that Adelita had seen many many sea life to know just how magnificent it all truly was. If Dana had any sort of fish, so long as it was tropical, Adelita would be quite impressed.Thus far, Lita was finding it somewhat comfortable to be around Dana. For whatever reason (probably because of her last name), Adelita had assume that the girl would be a little distant and possibly snobby. Lita was, by all definitions of the term, a pureblood, but her family was quite different. They were accepted in Mexico and in Spain because after generations and hard work, their status was earned and respected. In America, it seemed more political and old blood instead of discipline and respect. The Santoro name and by extension, the Garcia name had little depth in this country so Lita assumed the old blood looked down on their family.
“Wow!” Adelita commented as she looked at the swordfish. Her excitement at seeing Dana’s patronus only seemed to make her own patronus stronger. The swan flapped her large wings as though irritated that Adelita’s attention was on another’s patronus and not on her own. But Lita had only ever seen swordfish in the aquarium, so it was very cool that one was now floating right in front of her. “Do you love the water or something?” Adelita asked Dana. It was clear to Lita why her patronus was a swan. Adelita was a dancer. It was who she was and what she always wanted to be. She had never thought of being anything else since she was four years old. And a swan was every representation of that thought and desire. There was no surprise and really, anyone who knew anything about ballet and Lita, probably should have guessed that this would be her patronus.
So, looking around again, Adelita was curious to know what connections her classmates had to the animals or objects that they produced. Lita could probably guess why the professor had a panther. They were strong but beautiful creatures. They were clever and they were hunters. Considering Professor Levi was an ex-Auror, it seemed to make sense to Lita. “How do we make them talk?” Lita asked, getting distracted when she realized that others were getting their own to talk. Adelita never liked it when their lesson simply said the basics. Although Levi usually gave great descriptions and lectures regarding the lessons, sometimes it just wasn’t enough.
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Lita
They can't swim in a school like fish
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Lita
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Dana
February 20, 2011 10:47 AM
This fish can swim in a school on its own by Dana
Adelita seemed nice. Not that Dana had ever suspected otherwise, but it was pleasing to make the discovery first hand. Part of the reason she'd kept to herself so much at Sonora, more than anywhere else, was that Dana was afraid people might judge her before they talked to her. She couldn't blame them; it was simply unfortunate that her family was associated with a number of values that could make any number of people back off. On more than one occasion she had wished that Salem had stayed open, because then at least she'd only have had her own brother to contend with. Lucas could be odd, yes, but he was generally a nice person, even to people he didn't like very much. Her cousins, on the other hand, were only nice when it suited them (and in Cynthia's case it never seemed to suit her). Admittedly even if she hadn't followed her family through the school then Dana would have been tied to her surname, but there were still people out there, she was sure, who tied the Smythe name to respectability, not bigotry. Cecily had done her utmost in the past seven years to make sure that none of those people were at Sonora. It was was much harder to be a Smythe when Cecily was around. Luckily, Adelita either didn't care, or was prepared to give Dana the benefit of the doubt anyway. Or there was the slight off-chance that she agreed with the bigotry, but then she was best friends with the Crotalus Quidditch captain so it seemed unlikely."Do you love the water or something?" Adelita asked, no doubt prompted by Dana's fish creation.
"Um, I guess so," Dana replied. She didn't have the opportunity to spend a great deal of time in the water while at school, so it hadn't really occured to her, but now that Adelita had mentioned it, the Pecari thought about all the time she spent in the pools back home, and that any time her family went on vacation she always encouraged them to go somewhere close to the ocean. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but I think I do." She smiled; it was odd to have an almost total stranger identify your own likes better than you had done yourself, but not altogether unpleasant. "I like floating," she added as an after-thought.
Now that she'd gotten the shape of her patronus in mind, Dana cast the spell again, finding much easier this time to force it to take corporeal form. She liked how it was graceful in the way it moved, but looked like it could defend itself with that sword-like weapon held out in front of it at all times, almost like it was expecting an attack at any moment. She encouraged her swordfish to swim in circles round Adelita's swan. It suddenly didn't feel much like they were working, but much more like they were just having fun. When Adelita asked how to make them talk, Dana was almost disappointed to be drawn back to the lesson. "I don't think there's a spell involved," she said, "I think you just have to sort of, want it to?" She didn't sound sure of herself, but then she hadn't ever made a patronus before so she was hardly an expert. "Maybe just try giving it a go, and see what happens," she suggested.
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Dana
This fish can swim in a school on its own
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Dana
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Lita
February 23, 2011 9:30 PM
Your fish sure is talented. by Lita
Adelita grew tired for a moment and her patronus took the effect of it. First by flickering as though it was being disrupted by static but it eventually faded away while Adelita’s mind was preoccupied by both Dana’s swordfish and the thought of how to get her patronus to speak. She didn’t like things being so open when it came to spells. Transfiguration seemed much much to open for some of the things that they are taught. Most of it is ‘use your imagination and it’ll happen!’ And although Lita wasn’t a fan of potions (hence why she dropped it after her CATS), she still liked the fact that it was very straightforward. Maybe that was why she had stuck to Ballet for so long. It was rigid and strict. Of course, she had long since sprinted off to try other, more liberating, dance techniques, but the design of ballet would always be there. She needed more structure for certain things. Magic spells being one of them.Dana’s semi-hesitant reply had Lita curious. She didn’t know a person wouldn’t know if they loved the water or not. Water was a must in her family. Considering her mother’s family was from Mexico and Spain where water was all around, she didn’t know a life without it. It was probably why her Grandpapa settled in Los Angeles considering how close it was to the water. Adelita didn’t know life without water, or at least, hadn’t until she spent ten months out of the year in a desert. But now they had that special room with all those bodies of water and Lita no longer had to miss out on swimming. Thinking about the water made Adelita smile, so she cast another patronus and happily watched her swan.
“Floating?” Adelita asked, looking curiously at Dana. “Like just floating on your back in the water? Or do you like floating in general. As in, floating in the air too?” Lita always enjoyed learning new things about people. Of course, anything that Dana told her would be new since she didn’t know her, but that didn’t make it any less interesting.
She watched their patroni play together as she thought about what Dana said. Lita had to ‘will’ it to do her talking. She tried to focus really hard and think words for the patronus to spout, but after awhile of doing that, she only ended up with a headache. “Boo.” Lita said, looking somewhat grumpy (which was entirely a rare look to have for her) and frustrated. “I suppose I should just be happy to have my patronus at all. I’ll have to figure out this voice thing as I go on.” Lita sighed with a shrug. She knew she had limitations, maybe for her patronus, this was hers.
“Anyway…” Adelita focused on Dana for a moment. “How’s life in the Pecari world, Dana?”
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Lita
Your fish sure is talented.
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Lita
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Dana
February 28, 2011 12:06 PM
It takes after me by Dana
"Floating?" Adelita repeated, and Dana nodded in affirmation."Floating on your back in water is the best," she considered, "but any sort of floating is good. That's why I still fly from time to time." She wasn't fanatical about flying like the rest of the Pecari team, but then she was only a reserve and would be perfectly content if she never had to play in a real game. She did have fun at the practises, though. "It's sort of freeing," she explained to Adelita. "Like you can stop thinking for a moment and just... be. Just float." She wondered whether her yearmate thought she was crazy, and decided she didn't care. A little bit of crazy never hurt anyone.
Adelita didn't seem to be having any success in getting her swan to talk, which didn't encourage Dana to try. Perhaps she would spend a little more time becoming familiar with her patronus before she got it to start doing tricks. "Anyway," Adelita said. "How’s life in the Pecari world, Dana?"
"Oh, it's okay," Dana replied non-committally. Honestly, she wasn't fussed either way about being in Pecari. She doubted she'd be any more or less bothered by any other House, either, so she really ought not to complain. "Alison and I get on okay," which was all she really wanted in a roomate. "The younger years are a bit... well, sometimes the commonroom is loud," she said with a smile. If Adelita had ever run into any Pecari underclassmen she would probably understand what Dana meant. "But, you know, it's okay." That was about all she could manage. "What's it like in Crotalus?" she asked, thinking it was lucky for Lita she managed to land in a year that wasn't governed by her cousins. Dana and Lucas were in fact the only Smythes to have not been sorted into Crotalus, in the past generationas well as this one. It was sort of refreshing to stand out, but sometimes she wondered whether she'd be a different person, perhaps fit in a bit better, if she'd been sorted into her family's House.
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Dana
It takes after me
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Dana
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Lita
March 03, 2011 8:29 PM
Is that a fact? by Lita
“Hm…” Adelita mumbled as she thought about all the times she had been in the water in the last couple of years. She was pretty sure that she had never just floated in the water before. Then again, she was in Acapulco and the beaches were usually packed with people that it was hard to just lay back and relax. She probably could have if they ever used their own swimming pool, but they were hardly home in the summer for her to really experience that. Jorge used it all the time, but he was home all year except when they went on family vacations. It just made her want to have a pool party even more. Now that she knew Dana, it wouldn’t be weird to invite her either… or Alison really, reach out to her fellow sixth years.“I can’t say that I’ve ever really just floated before. Usually I’m being thrown about by my relatives.” Adelita commented with a grin. It didn’t matter if she was just laying in the sand or swimming, she always ended up being plucked up by either her father or her Tios and then tossed into the water. It was a mean game of theirs simply because she was just so small. “The down side of having lots of males in the family.” Lita explained with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. If nothing else, they kept her from getting too serious.
She laughed a little when Dana commented on her common room. “Dulce says the people in her year who are in Pecari tend to be …a handful.” Adelita replied, using a nicer phrase than her sister had. Dulce didn’t mind all of them, but there were one or two whom her younger sister felt needed to be knocked in the head a couple of times just to get them to be quiet every so often.
“Crotalus has it’s moments.” Lita commented looking amused. “Not so much now that ‘The Ladies’-“ Lita did the quotation marks in the air when she used their tag name, “have graduated. There was so much hostility in that dorm room. But, otherwise, I think we’re just sort of calm and quiet.” Lita said after a moment. “Although, I did hear rumor of some tension going on with the younger years, but that doesn’t concern me too much as it would Charlie being as she’s Head Girl and the Prefect. I think we’re probably far more boring then most of the other houses considering we’re supposed to be all ‘prim and proper’”
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Lita
Is that a fact?
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Lita
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Dana
March 07, 2011 12:07 PM
Not as such - I can't prove it. by Dana
"I can’t say that I’ve ever really just floated before. Usually I’m being thrown about by my relatives." Adelita said. "The down side of having lots of males in the family."Dana couldn't hide her surprise. She didn't really remember the Santoros who'd been through the school before her, who were possibly the relatives to which Adelita was referring, but she couldn't imagine her own family being that rambunctious. Lucas didn't even go near the water, Dana would probably die if she had the shock of seeing her father or uncles in swimwear, and Jethro wasn't allowed near the water because nobody was sure if he could swim. Anthony, one of her younger second cousins, could sometimes be rambunctious, and her older cousin Peter probably wouldn't think twice about throwing someone into a pool, but he had been away traveling then studying then traveling some more, so Dana rarely saw him, and it was usually at at occasions that required more formal attire than a bathing suit. "I think my family are..." was there a word for either her family or Adelita's that wouldn't sound offensive to either of them? "... more sedate."
Then again, perhaps her family made its presence known in other ways - Dana winced when Adelita mention The Ladies. She sort of wanted to apologise on cecily and Amelia's behalf, but she didn't honestly believe that her cousins were sorry at all, not even for the way Dana had to remain at school hoping the damage they had caused didn't inflict itself on her. She nodded as Adelita explained about the tension in younger years not really being her problem - the loud younger years in Pecari weren't really Dana's problem, either - but disagreed with the conclusion that Crotalus was a boring House; surely more went on in that commonroom than people were really letting on. There just had to be quarrels about families and betrothals and all sorts of things that just wouldn't be of consequence in the other Houses. "I guess every House has its ups and downs," she said, "but I don't think you're boring, if that helps," she said to Adelita. "Or especially prim, for that matter." She couldn't really tell how 'proper' Adelita was from this short conversation, nor could she be sure whether her assessment would be taken as a compliment or insult, so it was safest to leave that comment well alone.
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Dana
Not as such - I can't prove it.
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Dana
0
5