Grayson Wright
May 01, 2020 12:04 PM
Welcome to Orientation, New Students! by Grayson Wright
Professor Grayson Wright was, as he stood near where the wagons would land at any moment, not an entirely carefree wizard. Despite it being the first day of term, he had a great deal of work waiting for him in his rooms - for Sonora was not, unbeknownst he thought to his colleagues, his only source of income, though it was currently still the one he couldn't quite do without - and between him and that stood showing the new first years around, keeping them in a reasonable degree of order until they were Sorted, and then showing the new Aladrens around some more, after which he'd need to double-check his first lesson plans of the year and then go to bed so he could be reasonably alert when the first of those lessons was due to be taught. He was also somewhat anxious about one of his older students, who he would most likely not get much of a view of until it was also tomorrow, and...He had never, he reflected, been one of those people who had to look very hard to find something to worry about. Things occurred to him all the time of their own free will. As the specks in the sky began to draw close enough that it was quite impossible to mistake them for vultures or whatever sort of bird managed to live in Arizona naturally, though, he put all these concerns as much aside as he could in favor of fixing a pleasant expression onto his face behind his glasses, and beneath the brim of a plain dark blue wizard's hat - not an item he expected the students would see again for many a day, but it did help with the sun in his eyes.
"Hello everyone," he said in teacher voice, projected just so, as students began to disembark from the wagons. "Hello there - good to see you again - First years! First years gather here, please! Everyone leave your luggage with the wagons - first years!"
He had mastered the trick, more or less, of making himself broadly heard over chattering crowds without damaging anyone's eardrums, but he still had a large banner over the entrance to the Labyrinth Gardens reading '1st Years Here' in tall letters, with the words 'Welcome to Sonora' beneath it in slightly smaller, if also over-large, letters. He briefly considered the application of Summoning charms to get the first years all together as more practical than this - human beings were a bit tricky, as Summoning Charms traditionally made their objects fly and human beings could not be charmed to fly, but their robes would pull them along without too much fuss, he reckoned - but stuck to approved methods, and thought he succeeded in getting them all, with the help of a few prefects.
"Hello, again, everyone," he said once the majority of the student body had moved away from the site, leaving him with the first years. "And welcome to Sonora Academy. My name is Professor Wright, and I will - among other things - guide you through Orientation today. Just through here, please, thank you..."
Beneath the banner was a gap between two dense hedges, both taller than most grown men who lacked giantish ancestry. A neatly gravelled path lay between them, and a short way along, it opened onto a hedge-walled courtyard, in which there was a central fountain and some stone benches which were permanent fixtures of the area and a few long tables which were not. On one of these tables, there were a number of dark green folders, equal in number to the students present. On another, there was a sort of finger-and-snack-food buffet, with lightweight plates and paper napkins available so the students could gather a few refreshments in one trip if they wished. On the third, there were several large apparatuses, each topped with a clear (and unbreakable) glass bulb which showed the color of the drink within, though they were also distinguished by written labels on their sides above the spigots which, when turned, would dispense the contents into glasses: pumpkin juice, apple juice, grape juice, iced tea, and plain water. There was also a box of ice with a scoop in it (charmed not to melt, a handy touch, if he, the Charms master at this school, did say so himself) and a number of clear cups.
"Come in, everyone, and please, everyone take one folder," he instructed them. "I'm sure many of you will want some refreshments after your journey, but if you can give me your attention for a few minutes first..."
Once everyone had a folder and was more or less still and quiet, he began near-reciting the same introductory remarks he had given to each new set of first years for several years running now.
"Welcome to Sonora," he repeated. "As I said before, I am Professor Wright. I'll be one of your teachers for at least the next five years, and possibly the next seven. Sonora is a seven-year school where you will receive a thorough education in magical theory and practice. Starting tomorrow, you will each take seven classes - Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and flying lessons. I'll be your Charms teacher. You can drop flying lessons in your second year and begin taking additional classes in your third year, if you wish. In your fifth year, you’ll take your first set of major exams, the Critical Assessment of Talents and Skills, or CATS. After that, you will be allowed to drop some subjects if you want to, so you can better focus on your strengths and the requirements for careers you're interested in, though you’ll need at least two classes to graduate and three if you want to pursue your education in the magical arts further after you leave Sonora.
“In the meantime, we know that you may all have had different educations before you arrived here today,” he said, because this was true. Some might have gone to Muggle elementary schools while others might have had one tutor, a series of tutors, been taught by a parent, or even very little formal education at all. “Your professors all have office hours when we can give you extra help in our subjects if you need it, and Professor Skies, our Deputy Headmistress and your Transfiguration teacher, runs special sessions for anyone who needs help with reading and writing English, or needs other academic support. You can see times for those sessions in the schedules in your green folders.
“Outside of classes, you have options about how you spend your time. We have some student-run clubs and sports here, and you’ll see notices about meetings posted around the schools when they’re ready to start up for the year. Last year, a student started an Art Club, which proved pretty popular, and you'll have an opportunity to join the school Quidditch team and play against other magical schools. Breakfast is from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m, lunch is from 11:00 to one, and supper is five till seven, but you can find snacks and drinks there between those times as well. Curfew is at ten p.m., and at that time, you’ll need to be inside your Houses – those are parts of the building where your dorms are. They're all attached to common room you share with all the students, from years one to seven, who were Sorted into the same group as you . Sonora has four Houses, and tonight, at the Welcoming Feast, you’ll be Sorted into one of them by dipping the blank badges you have now into a cauldron. If your badge turns blue, you’re an Aladren – the House that values learning and problem-solving.” He might have sounded a little proud there; he was a former Aladren as well as Head of the House. “If it turns red, you belong in Crotalus, the House for people who like to be well-prepared for everything. Yellow means you’re in Teppenpaw, the House for our diplomats. And last but not least, if your badge turns brown, that means you’re a Pecari, the House for people who always land on their feet and are always willing to take a chance. All the Houses have other traits, though, so don’t worry if you don’t think any of those things sounds exactly like you – there’s a place for everyone here at Sonora.
“Your House will have prefects, who are older students who have been granted some authority because of merit shown in their earlier years, and a Head of House, who is an adult and a staff member – I’m the Head of Aladren, for instance. They’ll all look after you while you’re here. Your House can earn points based on things you do – excelling in class or in sports, or showing responsibility, or somehow helping the school community and showing leadership. The House with the most points at the end of the year earns the House Cup, and sometimes other privileges – Teppenpaw House has hosted the Cup for a good while now, but ties and upsets can happen at any time, so anyone can win.
“If no-one has any questions about all of that, you can mingle and get to know your classmates for a while and have some snacks until we begin our tour of the mansion. If you do have any questions, feel free to come see me – and welcome again to Sonora.”
OOC (Out of Character) Note: Welcome first years to Sonora! You can post a reply here to ask staff questions or meet your new classmates. This thread is intended for first year students to have a chance to try out posting and get acclimated to the site before we throw you into the big Opening Feast, which is open to the entire school population and can be a bit overwhelming.
Now, go forth, new first years of Sonora! Post, enjoy, have fun! Everyone here is happy to help out, so if you've got a question, put it on the OOC board or try to catch somebody in the Chatzy and we'll try to get you an answer as quick as we can. Have fun and we’re glad you could join us!
[Credit to Nathan Xavier's author for the content of this OOC notice]
Subthreads: Looking smart. by Quincy Wright with Janis Rosemary Silver
People! by Valentine Duell with Bonabelle Row
That finally means me! by Philippe Delachene with Wally O'Malley
Oh my, this is all so exciting! by Aelia Astley with Lavender Brockert
I don't mingle by Bertie Jackson with Stanley O'Malley
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Grayson Wright
Welcome to Orientation, New Students!
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Quincy Wright
May 01, 2020 12:36 PM
Looking smart. by Quincy Wright
Quincy was fairly well-accustomed to most forms of magic travel - he'd done side-along Apparation with his parents, he'd traveled by Floo, and he'd used a portkey before - so it was a bit surprising to find that his first trip to Sonora involved a method he'd never used before. Flying wagons, as it turned out, were just one of the many things his mother had been particularly hush hush about in an effort to make his experience as exciting as possible. Heidi Wright hadn't gone to Sonora herself, but she knew enough of the students who had, most likely including some of Quincy's classmates, that she was familiar with the process. Whatever she knew, she'd kept to herself though, and Quincy sort of hated her for it when they landed and he was more than a little motion sick.He knew that motion sickness was just an inner ear disturbance caused by the motion he'd just experienced, but he didn't have any remedies readily available and was feeling a bit green when the professor - hey, another Wright! - began his speech. On the whole, the man seemed nice enough, and certainly straightforward enough. He looked smart, both in the sense of academia and well-dressed. Quincy was prone to forgetting that clothes were meant to look decent and generally wore atrociously mismatched items. Of course, being largely colorblind didn't help with that. Perhaps he'd change his mind and try out some of the easier colors, like the blues the professor was wearing. Or probably wearing. He thought he could probably rule out pink on principle, but couldn't be sure.
The speech went on a bit and Quincy reasoned that most of it would be covered in their packets anyway, so he tried to look about as surreptitiously as possible. Whatever the temperature charms were that were at work here had been done very well. It was interesting to think that a temperature charm was sufficient to completely change the flora of an area. Or perhaps there was more to it? Some plants required fauna as well; had they chromed that need away? Or imported the appropriate creatures and bugs for this environment?
But then the speech was done and this didn't seem like the appropriate time to start taking samples, as they'd probably be too smushed up or dried out by the time he was able to get his microscope out anyway, so Quincy made his way to the food table. He'd pick up his packet last, so he had two free hands. As it turned out, he wasn't the only student to head that way because . . . well, where else would they go? That was a bit annoying because there were just too many people, even in this small group, but that was fine. They'd probably all pair off and he would be able to think more about the plants and eat a sandwich and it would be fine. He should've knocked on wood, because another student approached him just as he turned away from the food table with a plate of snacks and a cup of grape juice.
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Quincy Wright
Looking smart.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 01, 2020 1:50 PM
Smart... Smart... Smart Alec? by Janis Rosemary Silver
As Janis sat on the wagon to get to school she kicked her feet and pouted. She wasn’t missing her parents by any stretch of the imagination. No she just didn’t like the rich folk who were now surrounding her and going to this high falutin magic school. They all thought they were so much better, but they couldn’t save themselves if the stars counted on them.She’d fought with her parents again two nights ago. She didn’t want to go. The same routine since they’d first brought up the idea six months previously. She wanted to be like her older cousins. Trained on the circuit. She didn’t need the flash of this school, nor did her parents need to spend money for it. Her father had tried to patiently explain to her that it was for the best. That she would probably one day take over his now legal business, and he needed to know she was able to do that and talk with people she would meet at the school. Janis thought it was more just a reason for daddy to show that he now had money and could send his daughter to this school. It was just unfair.
Still the name rattled around in her head. The one her father had used to coax her in the first place and saying that she wasn’t allowed to bowl her half-siblings over. They didn’t know they had a half-sibling, statute and all that. Well, turtle shell to that. They were now Wizards and Witches, why should the statute of secrecy matter?
She didn’t know if it was a nick, first or last name. Fitzgerald could very well be any of those things. But she was excited to find out and become best friends with her siblings. That’s what siblings did right? They were best friends?
As she got off the wagon she looked around at all the students. One of these was her sibling. Was it that guy with the sad eyes but nicely dressed robs? Ooohh was it the beautiful girl with the scarred arm? That would be so cool! She hoped it wasn’t the one that was so… pink.
She followed the other first years. Judging them as they walked. All these little rich kids. And she had to spend the next 7 years with them? What if none of them were interesting? What if none of them liked solving puzzles or finding good places to hide oneself and things? What if they wanted her to wear a ball gown? Gag.
The teacher guy once again stood in front of them and began droning on. This guy was their Charms teacher? That wasn’t going to be a helpful, Janis thought. She hoped her other teachers were… more homelike. When he mentioned the houses, Janis’s mind went off. She was confused. Everyone was separated, but how did they decide? Was this based on something the teachers observed? Was this based on just randomness? Each house had traits, but how did one determine that? Janis knew it was probably magic, but she was someone who was prepared. Always. She also liked solving problems and landed on her feet. Those things seemed… intertwined. How could they determine such things. Was it like a terrible mood ring?
Janis had been lost in thought and hadn’t realized that the Professor had finished talking till the other students started moving around. Janis looked around momentarily to figure out what the last thing he said was. All she could figure out was others were getting some food, so Janis walked up to the table. She scouted, holding a plate with just a few grapes on it, looking for the nicest looking person and walked straight up to them. The nice one’s wouldn’t make fun of her or judge her for her cowboy boots or her scar if he could see it with her hair pulled back.
“Hey, umm… I didn’t hear the end, what exactly are we supposed to be doing right now? You know, besides eating?” She said, popping a grape in her mouth.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
Smart... Smart... Smart Alec?
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Quincy Wright
May 01, 2020 5:22 PM
What is me? by Quincy Wright
"Grapes are a good choice," he told her matter-of-factly, gesturing at her plate with his cup. "I think we're supposed to mingle, and get those packets at some point." He nodded at the table with the yellowish folders, one for each of them. "And he said there are older students in all the Houses that are prefects and are gonna help us if we want help during the year."He rocked up on the balls of his feet, not sure how to continue - or end - this conversation. "I'm Quincy," he added. "Normally I'd shake your hand . . ." He shrugged, not feeling terribly bad about it. Shaking hands was such an odd thing to do anyway, why did people need to spread germs to be considered polite? They were all sharing one big table full of fingerfoods, so they were already spreading a lot of germs and bacteria and things. Quincy wondered whether germ theory had taken off in the magic world. He knew about it, so his family knew about it, but he wasn't one to question his parents' knowledge of science. That seemed like a rude thing to do and being grounded for arguing would only waste time he could otherwise be spending actually studying those germs. "Where are you from?" he asked flatly. That was what people were supposed to ask, right?
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Quincy Wright
What is me?
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 01, 2020 8:26 PM
What is you? Are you not a person? by Janis Rosemary Silver
“Mmmm..” Janis said as she was slowly chewing the grape. She was hoping he’d offer up more than an observation about food they could eat. She’d already judged that bit from the mass of students who’d surged to the tables.When he nodded to the table behind them, she turned her head to look. Got it, pick up yellow folders. Probably much of the information would be in those. Helpful. Then he let go a good piece of information. Older students could help us if we want help. Maybe one of them could help her find this Fitzgerald.
“Hmmm…” she said, still chewing her grape and nodding. She was now using the grape to see how much he’d tell her. Quincy. How much Quincy would tell her. She smiled at him while she finished chewing.
“No need Quincy. Thank you for the run down though. Oh here,” she raised her plat towards his and cheersed it. Tapping the side of her plate with his.
She was a bit shocked by his forwardness in asking her where she was from, and for a moment thought he might have alternative motives. Then she remembered that she’d gone to him, not the other way around. He looked more like he was going to go pick up the dirt or something when she walked over to him. Not that she’d hold it against him. Dirt could be fascinating, but maybe not the best time to do it.
“Janis,” she said, bringing her plate to her chest to indicate herself, “I’m from the Lost Coast in California. What about you?”
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Janis Rosemary Silver
What is you? Are you not a person?
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Quincy Wright
May 01, 2020 11:27 PM
Oh, I thought we were doing a Jeopardy thing. by Quincy Wright
"I should warn you," Quincy said seriously when his new classmate looked over her shoulder to find the table with the folders. "They may not actually be yellow. Colorblind." He shrugged, a simple, contented smile on his face.He accepted her cheers, although it was a bit confusing because they didn't really have anything to cheers yet. They were about to have a big meal and do big things, and that seemed like a much more appropriate time. He supposed this was akin to pre-gaming though, so sure, why the heck not?
When the girl - Janice? - said her name, Quincy did his best to commit it to memory. He generally had a pretty good memory, but he rarely used any of it on things like people's names. The exception of course when was half of the name was the same of his, and the other half was just a title. "Professor Wright" would be easy to remember. "Good to meet you," he said. "I'm not from too far away from there. Well, relative to the whole thing where there's people here from all over the world. I'm from Corvallis, Oregon." He raised a fist his glass as if to make another cheer, this one more sarcastic. "Go Beavs," he said, not at all interested in whatever Oregon State University's teams were doing. The school itself was world renowned for their agriculture and forestry science programs, their wave pool, the invention of the marionberry, and a bunch of other super cool stuff. Whatever he thought of their sports teams - and he didn't think very much about them - he did hope that he'd be able to go there after Sonora.
There was, of course, some concern that his mom knew this girl. If Janis was from California, she very well could be within his mom's work area. That was the benefit and the drawback to being a social worker and also a witch. There were, on the whole, fewer magical families than non-magical ones, and traveling between them was easier. His mom generally worked up and down the west coast, and he was pretty sure it was impossible that none of his classmates had ever needed a social worker's intervention. That didn't mean any of his fellow first years had, though, so he tried to keep that in mind and just be chill. Chill.
"Are you near CSUN?" he asked, not sure about the geography of most of California, let alone coastal areas other than maybe Venice. "They've got a great kinesiology program."
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Quincy Wright
Oh, I thought we were doing a Jeopardy thing.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 02, 2020 3:24 PM
Jeopardy?? You mean a danger of loss or harm? That doesn't sound like a fun game. by Janis Rosemary Silver
Color blind? “Umm no, they are green but I knew what you were talking about though,” she said matter of factly, no judgement in her voice. “Like the robes the Professor was wearing. Like umm…” she pointed to a giant bush near them. “Like the leaves of that bush.” This place had such a huge garden. It was a bit overwhelming. It was nicer than the farms her father had out in the forests. Cleaner too.“People from all over the world? Didn’t know that, huh.” Janis hadn’t really thought about who all was coming here besides rich kids. She’d already been made fun of by some of her cousins that were closer to her age, but she promised she’d still join them on the circuit in the summer. Janis knew this was a nice school, but from all over? Did royalty send their kids here? Ohhh could she sell her parents products to future kings and queens? Was there anything against that here? She forgot where the jurisdiction of marajuana sales stopped. Though she imagined that it would not be looked highly upon.
Then he mentioned he was from Corvallis, Oregon. She’d been there often. The Ren Faire in Shrewsbury was part of the circuit, and she’d once gone and seen her cousins perform at the Corvallis Fall Faire. She hadn’t realized there were a lot of other Wizards around there.
“Oh ya! I’ve been there. It’s part of the circuit. The Shrewsburg Ren Faire is a place I’d go with my family every summer,” she said with a big smile. This kid was alright. She didn’t fully understand the whole colorblind thing, but she could look past that. Shrewsburg was always fun. The Muggles were always a hoot, and some weren’t even marks or her parents' clients.
“I never spent much time on the campus there, but I’ve met some of the students,” she thought back to doing runners for her father. Carrying bags to big houses with lots of Muggle students who were usually entertained that a girl had run up to deliver.
CSUN… Janis thought through the places she’d been. She didn’t know that. She knew the CSU Muggle schools. There were lots throughout California.
“I... “ Janis weighed whether she should lie. Quince sounded like he enjoyed the school, though she didn’t know what kinesiology was, nor could she pronounce it again without him saying so. But he’d been nice. The best way to work people was to build trust. The best way to build trust was to be truthful when it didn’t matter, so you could lie when it did.
“I don’t know CSUN. The only Muggle university near me I think is Humboldt. I dunno what people go there to study. I just know the campus is beautiful. So many trees amongst the buildings,” Janis thought that Quince might be a Muggle born, so she thought of the best way to bond with this boy who seemed to have a lot of information at his fingertips. Or at least paid attention. Both were valuable skills. “It’s like that space movie with the teddy bears in the forest. I saw it once at my cousin’s house who lives near where it was filmed.”
She felt it prudent to omit that she was at her cousin’s house because another dealer was threatening her dad so much that Janis had to be in hiding. Quince seemed nice and didn’t need to know. The key to successful manipulation was giving just enough information without giving anything of real value.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
Jeopardy?? You mean a danger of loss or harm? That doesn't sound like a fun game.
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Quincy Wright
May 02, 2020 4:00 PM
I was thinking a game of show off and make money. by Quincy Wright
Quincy thought it was very funny when people tried to explain to him what color he was looking at by referring to other things that also looked exactly like the color he was looking at in the first place. He supposed it was helpful as a reference point; if someone said "green as grass," he would know that it also meant "green as the professor's robes and the folders." He just couldn't think of a time when he would ever need to know that."Yeah, it's got a good reputation," he shrugged, not sure what else to say about the school's student population.
He was surprised to find that Janis had been to Corvallis though. Really, it shouldn't have been very surprising. It was only home to the biggest university in Oregon, and considering how far away either the University of Washington or Washington State University were, OSU had most of the upper west coast well within its sphere of influence. He didn't know where Shrewsbury was or what exactly a Ren Faire was, but he was glad that Janis seemed excited. "That's fun," he smiled, happy to just listen.
"California State University Northridge," he told her, realizing he probably should have clarified that the first time. "Humboldt sounds really pretty," he agreed. He had heard of the school but didn't know their programs off the top of his head. But of course, a school's programs weren't the only reason to attend. Take Sonora for example. He was a little surprised that Janis referred to Humboldt as a Muggle university though. There weren't that many magical universities, relative to the number of Muggle ones, and lots of universities had programs for both or either. More than that though, he just wondered whether that meant she grew up around Muggles or not. Probably yes, right? Most people grew up at least a bit around Muggles.
"I don't know that movie," he grimaced. "Sorry. The area I'm in in Corvallis is just for magic folk, so there's not any cable or anything. I haven't seen many movies." He was quiet for a moment. Sometimes he forgot that conversations only were conversations if both parties kept it going. It was much easier to just listen and learn about stuff, or to just tell people about stuff, than it was to go back and forth. Then he had to come up with questions, and he didn't know what to ask about; that's why it was easier to just be told stuff and then he could ask about that stuff. "I've been to the theatre though," he added. He couldn't for the life of him remember what he'd seen, but he did remember the experience of going to the theatre and the smell of popcorn and all the lights. It was a lot of fun to do stuff like that with his mom and dad, even though they didn't get to very often. "Do you have a favorite movie?" It was a stupid question because it wasn't going to get them anywhere if he'd never seen it, but at least it passed the baton back to her for a moment.
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Quincy Wright
I was thinking a game of show off and make money.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 04, 2020 2:01 PM
Make money? You have my attention by Janis Rosemary Silver
CSU Northridge… Janis thought hard about that one. It sounded familiar. Didn’t one of her cousins talk about an earthquake there at some point? No, that was just the town. Oh! Janis realized where Quince was talking about.“Northridge is in Southern California. Long way down. I don’t think I’ve been there. I think it is near Los Angeles. That is...” Janis did the math “like a six or seven hour broom ride from Humboldt.” She figured if Quince was muggle this might equate to car distances, if he wasn’t muggle, than it didn’t really matter cause he’d probably floo there or apparate if his parents had a license.
His next comment though cemented where he was in that binary, Wizard background. He didn’t seem too snooty though. Janis popped another grape in her mouth and chewed, trying to see what he would say next. He didn’t know the movie that happened in space and yet he was asking about favorite movies. Janis wondered for a moment if he was perhaps a bit slow. The more she chewed her grape the more she realized he just wasn’t good with socializing. She smiled. Not to worry new mar… friend, she could socialize as well for the both of them.
“Movies are ok. I enjoy watching them, but I like being outside better, maybe listening to the wireless when it is raining. But I love exploring the forest around my house and looking at the plants. Like here,” Janis took a step past the boy and pointed to some flowers growing at the edge of the hedge near them, “the fact that there are moondew flowers growing in a desert is just amazing don’t you think?” She bent down and picked it. She saw there was a bit of water on it and stuck out her tongue carefully licking it off.
Nothing happened, as usual. Then she looked up at Quincy. Oh, Merlin’s ghost in a bottle.
“Sorry. Old superstition I know, but who doesn’t want to fly without a broom huh?” she said tossing the flower back onto the ground.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
Make money? You have my attention
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Quincy Wright
May 04, 2020 2:11 PM
I don't know what your deal is, but you have mine. by Quincy Wright
Quincy nodded, not surprised that CSUN was too far away for Janis to know much about. He supposed not everyone had their sights on college already and California was huge so there was that. He couldn't imagine riding a broom for six or seven hours, though. That would be so uncomfortable!He nodded some more when she talked about preferring to be outside because that was something he could totally get behind. She moved past him and pointed out a flower, which Quincy also thought was amazing, and then she licked it, which Quincy thought was real weird. But it wasn't the weirdest thing. For most of history, scientists got by by imbibing things or tasting them, and what was superstition if not the center of a magic-science Venn diagram?
"Don't apologise," he smiled. "Isn't it just so interesting to think about the history of that stuff? And then if you look real close or get it under a microscope, you can start to see how it might have started or where that all came from or why it works or doesn't. It's not like there aren't magic plants that don't do stuff that seems impossible, so who's to say that there aren't any Muggle ones either, or some that we just don't understand yet? I brought a sample of dirt from my mom's garden and I wanna compare it to the dirt here to see if there's any difference from having the weather charm up here." He looked up at the sky as if he might be able to see some sort of bubble wrap protection around them. "How'd you learn that about moondew?" he asked, terribly curious about oral tradition in science.
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Quincy Wright
I don't know what your deal is, but you have mine.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 04, 2020 6:46 PM
My deal is... secret. by Janis Rosemary Silver
He didn’t make fun of her. He didn’t seem to turn his back in disgust. If anything he became more interested. He let loose more words in a row than he had up until that point and it almost made Janis silent in response. Almost. Some of it was about microscopes, which was Muggle. Then he started talking about magic plants like he knew them. He was confusing. She couldn’t figure out what his ask was or if he was actually playing her for a mark. And he brought his own dirt? He was a curious kid. He didn’t seem like a spoiled rich kid.A different bell went off in her head as he talked more about dirt. Her father had said that he hoped she’d make friends to help her as she took over his business when she got older. And now, right in front of her, was a boy who was into seeing how dirt affected plants.
“Do you really think the charms could affect the soil in a way that changes the plant life?” She asked. This was something she could possibly write to her dad about, give him a few ideas to help grow better plants. Maybe this going to Sonora wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Moondew? Don’t most witches and wizards learn about it? I mean, I guess I learned about it from my mom who put it in pro…” Almost told too much. “Um Potions. She also told me the old wives tale her mother used to say that if you lick the water off the petals and leaves, you can fly by night as well as by day. ” Janis paused as a thought occurred to her, “though that may have been only on full moons.” Her mom was sometimes on her own products when telling Janis stories, so Janis couldn’t be certain that the stories were an accurate retelling.
“Still, always gotta try. You never know when she might be correct right?” Janis went to reach for another grape and found that she had eaten them all. She hadn’t moved too far from the table, so she merely peaked to the side.
“Oh, cheese,” she said as her hand dashed out to grab a few slices and some more grapes. She quickly came back to stand in front of Quincy. “Do you think they have cows here?” she said holding up a piece of white cheese, “I mean, this weather charm is working pretty well. Painted Desert Cows. HA! I could see the labels now.”
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Janis Rosemary Silver
My deal is... secret.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
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Quincy Wright
May 04, 2020 11:59 PM
Like spies and Aurors? by Quincy Wright
Quincy hadn't meant to say so much, but he was excited when it turned out that Janis wasn't put off by it. Deidre didn't like talking about dirt at all, so this was a way better experience even just after a few minutes with this girl. Maybe his sister wasn't representative of the entire female species. Which was good because that would be . . . oof."I think it's possible," he agreed, bending down to examine the dirt a little more closely. "Think about it. If it's only a weather charm, then these plants wouldn't be able to grow here unless they were imported. But I can't imagine they tore up the whole desert to match the plants, so if the composition of this dirt is different - say there's different levels of clay, sand, stuff like that - then that might change how the plants grow compared to their native environments where they would have the right weather and the right dirt. But they do still grow here, so either it's magical, or they had a great landscaper." He was regretting now that he'd left his sample pot in his trunk, because scooping up some dirt right now would definitely mean contaminating it before he could check it out. It would be better to wait and come get some when he could do so more carefully. Control the variables and what not.
Quincy stood up again, brushing his hands off on the front of his robes. "Sure," he agreed about moondew. "But it's different if you learned it from your mom, or your tutors, or your older siblings, or a book. Changes the way you think about things. Like the weather charm," he grinned. "You'll think about it differently because you talked about it with me than if you and Professor Wright over there had talked but it, right?"
Janis' idea that you should try stuff because the people who believed in it might be right was actually a super cool way to think about stuff. Obviously if there was a lot of evidence supporting one view over another, that should be taken into account, but no one could be sure about anything, right? 'Prove it' isn't part of the scientific method and wizards were generally not up to snuff on such things anyway. "Right," he agreed.
It was nice to feel like he wasn't being laughed at. Janis really seemed interested and, more than that, she seemed smart. Like she was actually thinking about their conversation and applying it to other ideas. That was pretty cool. "I hope they have cows here," he told her. "Care of Magical Creatures will be way easier if we're milking a cow instead of a dragon. Painted Cow Milk does sound like a good brand name. There we are! We'll have to go into business after we graduate."
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Quincy Wright
Like spies and Aurors?
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0
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 05, 2020 1:51 PM
Yep. Call me Agent Silver... by Janis Rosemary Silver
This Quincy kid was alright. She was finding that she rather liked him and though she knew he might be trying to pull a twist or a dupe con, but he seemed genuinely interested and was giving her great information. He was talking about the soil and the changes to the soil. She almost wanted to take notes so she could send it back to her father. He’d only ever spliced plants together, he’d never thought to combine magical weather charms to make the plants take on characteristics of different areas. Maybe they could start in the inside grow houses?Learning better from one person than another was not something she’d thought about. If she had, she would have used that in her arguments about not wanting to come here. How could a boring Professor compete with mama or dad? Still, she couldn’t deny that she was learning something from Quincy.
“It could be that you are less boring than the Professor,” she said meaningfully, “or that you can talk to me normally cause you are my age.” Either option could be true Janis thought. It was probably more true that she’d made a leap in her brain.
Either way, she decided she needed to protect this smart brain in front of her. He’d already given her a lot of good information, she didn’t want him to get hurt. He seemed naive in a way, plus, she might be able to figure out if he was conning her or had some other ask in the process.
Then he mentioned dragons and derailed her concentration entirely. She hadn’t thought about the fact that they might actually deal with dragons. She kind of remembered her dad talking about Care of Magical Creatures, but she just assumed stupid animals like ... well cows.
“Wait, do we deal with dragons? I’ve never seen one before. That would be so cool… I thought Care would be more dealing with like cows I guess. You know, boring animals. But dragons? Have you seen one Quincy?” She got so excited she almost dropped her plate but caught the edge of it with her other hand and righted it.
Ok, this school was growing on her a bit. She wouldn’t tell her parents that, but there was at least one cool person she could talk to, and they might deal with dragons.
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Janis Rosemary Silver
Yep. Call me Agent Silver...
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Janis Rosemary Silver
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Quincy Wright
May 05, 2020 2:04 PM
I'll be . . . SpyKid! by Quincy Wright
Quincy grinned. No one had ever thought he was less boring than a professor before. Of course, he liked class and listening to professors and teachers and things, and that wasn't a thing that came up in conversation a lot, but still. If he didn't think the professors were boring and he was even less boring, than he was doing pretty good. Also, no one had ever said that his particular brand of social interaction was "normal," so really, things were going much better than he'd had reason to expect they would. It begged the question of whether she was the weird one, but she was a girl and most of them seemed pretty weird so far.The question about dragons required a bit more thinking. "I don't think so," he ultimately decided. "They're illegal, right? So I bet they don't have any. But we probably learn about them still." He hadn't considered whether the class would have animals like cows though. It was Care of Magical Creatures after all. But Magical Care of Creatures or Care of Normal Creatures were stupid names for a class. "Maybe gryphons or something? Do newts count as magical since they're used for magic stuff?"
It brought him back to a concept he'd been pondering for a while and he was momentarily lost in wondering whether magic was really anything different than just science. Considering the genetic piece, it seemed like it must be. But there was something to be said for the way that magic and science came together for potions and things. Perhaps there was a bit of each? Or perhaps it was all science, but magic was an element all its own. It would be odd that, because it wasn't like only some humans could study hydrogen or something.
He was brought back to the conversation by the sound of his name and he realized Janis had asked him a question about whether he'd seen dragons. It was odd hearing his name from someone when they weren't trying to get his attention or tell him he was in trouble. Deidre called him Q, so he didn't hear his name a lot otherwise. "Nah," he said, waving a hand. "My dad works in a book shop and he swears he's seen people come in with dragon eggs, but I don't believe it. They're so rare."
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Quincy Wright
I'll be . . . SpyKid!
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Janis Rosemary Silver
May 08, 2020 11:07 AM
SpyKid huh? Do you have nifty gadgets? by Janis Rosemary Silver
Quincy brought up a good point. Dragons were illegal ergo they would probably not learn about them here. Where if she were at home they might. Just more proof that if it was fun it was probably illegal in some way. Janis let out a huff. Well shoot, there goes that idea. She nodded that they would probably still learn about them, but where was the fun in learning about something if you couldn’t actually put your hands on it. Gryphons could be fun.“I mean, newts are used in potions, so ya. A bit more boring though than Gryphons. We could also work on salamanders. There are the firey magic kind and the boring wet Muggle kind so we could work with those maybe. Still, it would be fun to work with dragons.”
She picked up a yellow cheese with some sort of flecks in it and popped it into her mouth. A mild look of surprise spread across her face. Spicy cheese? Probably should be a sign about that. Janis looked at the table, and there it was. And she nodded at it. Yep. She just didn’t see it. Her attention was diverted back to Quincy just as quickly though.
“Dragon eggs? Hrmm… ya,” Janis thought about the likelihood of Dragon eggs being in a random book store in Corvallis. That did seem improbable. It was more likely a scam of some sort that was being played on Quincy’s father. “Probably a Pig in a poke or some other gold brick scam,” she said out loud, not thinking about her surroundings. She popped another spicey cheese square in her mouth as she thought about how one would actually pull off a... what would it be called? Dragon in the Flagon? A Hatchel in a satchel? She liked Hatchel in a satchel. “That’s sad though. Maybe one day we will get to see one. That would also be cool”
Janis’ thoughts ran forward, made a sharp turn back towards the previous points in the conversations, and then made an abrupt stop, “I wonder if the soil that dragon eggs rest in affects them like the plants. Maybe you could microscope that!”
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Janis Rosemary Silver
SpyKid huh? Do you have nifty gadgets?
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Janis Rosemary Silver
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Quincy Wright
May 08, 2020 1:37 PM
Unfortunately I left my SpyWatch at home. by Quincy Wright
Quincy considered Janis' words with some care. Most of his education thus far had been in Muggle schooling, with only supplemental information from his parents. But his mom was gone a lot and his dad had a pretty "normal" job as magic jobs went, and neither was prone to discussing the overlap between magic and science. He remembered learning about animal and plant taxonomy in third grade and it had been fascinating to him to think that there could be certain traits which were so unique to a subset of creatures or plants that it defined them as not a different subset. So what made boring wet salamanders and fiery salamanders the same thing? What was fundamentally the same about them? Of course, a lot of muggle information came from lore that had been passed down, unbeknownst to them, from magical sources. So perhaps they just thought the drawings in some ancient potions book looked kinda similar and that that's what Mr. Medieval Wizard was talking about. He was beginning to think that he would be hard pressed to choose a favorite class at Sonora.While he was thinking, Janis ate some cheese. He liked that she didn't seem to mind him taking his time to think about stuff, even if it meant he was quiet at weird times. Lots of kids at school hadn't been so okay with that, and it was nice to get to share part of his knowledge with her and then learn about stuff she knew.
"Yeah... " He agreed. "Actually no. I have no idea what that means. I mean. I know what 'scam' means - and it probably was a scam - but what did you say about pigs and bricks?" It would be fun to see one, wouldn't it? He thought that Janis probably meant 'we' as in 'the student body at Sonora' but it was kind of nice to think that maybe she maybe meant him in some way. That he could be included. Particularly if seeing dragon eggs were part of that. He wondered what Sonora's study abroad programs looked like. Could they spend a summer someplace with dragons? Or intern with dragon keepers someplace? That would be fun.
Quincy grinned when Janis mentioned dragon eggs in soil. "I like you," he said matter-of-factly; facts were easy to deal with, so why shouldn't he say them? "I wonder if it goes the other way, too. Like if dragon eggs are put in soil that's pretty decent, is it more sulfuric or something afterwards? It might help plants grow there that are important for healthy dragons after they're born. Sort of... not self-propagating but kinda." He cocked his head and looked at his new friend curiously. "If we're not in the same House, I'll bring my microscope to the library sometime or something if you want to see. Have you ever used one before?"
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Quincy Wright
Unfortunately I left my SpyWatch at home.
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