This is fine. Everything is just fine. on Quidditch Pitch

Selina Skies

August 07, 2021 9:08 AM

Bonfire - Let's Get Cooking by Selina Skies

“Good evening,” Selina addressed the students. The relatively simple set up behind her of tents, an as yet unlit fire, and food, belied the thought and effort that had gone into this year’s event. The bonfire should have been one of the easier events in the rotation. After all, it was ‘stick a bunch of tents on the pitch, light some wood on fire.’ Even the main issue of making sure no one got hurt should have been relatively self-managing with eleven to eighteen year olds, though they had put a barrier charm around the fire just to be on the safe side.

That element of ‘health and safety’ had not been the primary concern this time around. Again, it was eleven to eighteen year olds they were dealing with…

“We will launch our celebration and our evening activity, which will be a camp cook out, shortly. Before that, some logistics… Tents are divided based on gender, as per your dorm assignments.” She was fairly sure that wording both accurately assigned the trans and non-binary student populations to their correct tents. “As a reminder, there is no maximum occupancy on tents, but there is a minimum occupancy of three.” This year, given the number of openly same-sex relationships occurring between students, the tent-sharing policy had needed to be revisted. Or rather, the existing tent rule would be firmly reinforced, and they would have to hope that a solid portion of gooseberries put a damper on anything more than hand-holding. “Beds are single occupancy, and similar charms to the dorm room corridors are in place to enforce this.” In this case, the spell related to the number of occupants, which was strictly capped at one. This only applied to people getting into the bed between the covers, so groups could still sit on the beds to chat, paint nails or—if they realised this loophole—make out and do inappropriate things. There was no such thing as a perfect system, but it was the best they had been able to come up with. She had debated whether or not to specify the bed rule, as she thought it was more likely to get people thinking about it than deter them, but had erred on the side of not wanting anyone to get a nasty shock—after all, she could envision a perfectly innocent scenario where someone was having a bad dream and wanted the comfort of a close friend; the last thing they needed was dumping abruptly onto the floor.

The other pause for thought was how to make the bonfire ‘interesting.’ Selina wasn’t sure why having a large fire and a camp out wasn’t a change enough from the normal routine by itself, but it seemed like they had to work out how to make every iteration of the event unique. She wasn’t fully convinced that was what the founders had had in mind when they had decided to celebrate summer with a rotation of four simple events, but apparently that was the expectation. Luckily, everyone had been happy with the suggestion of a simple cook-out.

Well, all the staff had been. She wasn’t sure how some of the students would respond to the suggestion that they prepare their own food. She thought it would be rather good for all of them, though she wasn’t going to force anyone.

“As stated, for the bonfire, we will be having a camp cookout. As well as the main firepit, there are several smaller pits laid. Once you have taken a seat by them, they are charmed to respond to ‘fire please’ and will ignite themselves. There are several food types on different trays with instructions, which you are welcome to take back to your fire and cook.” These ranged from simple things like hot dogs which basically needed reheating, to more complex things like chilli—although the complexity level had still been taken down a good few notches with most of the slicing done, meaning the only real thing the students would need to do would be combine it in a pot and supervise it. The food fell into the categories of things that could be wrapped in foil and shoved in a fire, put on a stick, or combined in a single pot. “Prairie elves and teachers can help if you’re not sure what to do, and there will also be some pre-prepared supper items to compliment your meals, or for those of you who don’t want to cook. The elves are only here to help guide you, not to do it for you,” she pointed out, though given their tendency to want to serve she thought that keeping them from doing the work might be a struggle even for those students who did have good intentions and only wanted a little guidance.

“I hope you will enjoy your evening. I declare the bonfire...open.” With a wave of her wand, the main pile lit itself.

Subthreads:

Oooh chili! by Bridget Ferguson with Hilda Hexenmeister

This has certainly been a year. by Valentine Duell

Finding my fellows (tag: beginner male) by Hansel Hexenmeister with Xavier Lundstrom

On patrol for troublemakers [Staff member] by Osvaldo Alamilla

Hey, boyfriend by Philippe Delachene with Freddie Zauberhexen

Well, it's about time by Iris Cobb

Yo, what's wrong with you? [Stanley] by Bonabelle Row

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! by Topaz Brockert with Billy Cobb

This is the best by Sophia Priory with Ellie Alperton

Waiting for someone by Sadie-Lake Chalmers with Dathan Fischer

This is fine. Everything is just fine. by Giselle Duell with Katerina Vorontsov

An opportunity worth missing. [Oz] by Henry Spellman with Oz Spellman

13 Selina Skies Bonfire - Let's Get Cooking 26 1 5

Bridget Ferguson

August 07, 2021 5:48 PM

Oooh chili! by Bridget Ferguson

Bridget could not wait to go home tomorrow. She was really looking forward to spending time with her parents this summer, especially her mother. Mama had gotten sick between midterm and the present-the Teppenpaw would have been more surprised if she hadn't- but she was better again now.

And yes, she did know it was unusual for a seventeen year old to want to spend time with their parents. Sophia didn't seem very inclined to spend time with hers, for example. However, in Bridget's case, there were extenuating circumstances. It was different for her, given her mother's illnesses, she treasured every moment she got to spend with her. Most people had healthy normal parents, she did not. She wished more than anything that she did,but that wasn't the case. Of course, if Bridget had, she might not appreciate them because she wouldn't know any better.

Besides, at this point in her life, her dad was actually fun. Granted, he had been when the sixth year was little too, but in a different way. Now, they spent time together drinking and hanging out and that was a total blast.

Also, she knew that things could be so much worse and that in some ways, Bridget actually had it pretty good. She remembered last year, at the concert, where she had talked with Lorena and found herself to be completely disgusted by the Aladren's parents. Her own parents had had good reason to not come, but the younger girl's had not . People who had a problem with their child being magical, the way Lorena's mother did, really pissed her off. Especially, since the woman had married a wizard! Even if she hadn't known at first, why did they stay together once she found out the truth? And what did she expect, having children with said wizard? If at least one of the parents was magical, the children usually were too! That was the norm. Also, her father should have come anyway. Especially as Lorena, unlike Bridget herself, had been actually performing!

Not to mention all that her own father had been through at the hands of his father. The Teppenpaw loathed her grandfather for it. She resented both of her biological grandfathers for an awful lot but at least her maternal grandfather was kind to her and her mother. Not that Grandfather Ferguson was mean to her, exactly, as Bridget hadn't actually spent any time with him, nor did she want to given what spending time with him had done to her father and grandmother.

Her attention was fortunately diverted from these thoughts when Deputy Headmistress Skies began to speak, discussing logistics for the night. The sixth year was sure that Sophia would share with the other German speaking girls again but that was fine with her. She planned to share with Jezebel once more and she was sure that there was a third person around somewhere.

Actually Bridget was more intrigued by the concept of cooking her own food. As a wealthy pureblood who had several house-elves who usually did that, she'd never actually tried it before-indeed, the only person she knew who cooked was Connor's fiance, Peyton-but figured the principal was similar to cocktail crafting and potions.

Also, she was hungry.

The Teppenpaw made her way over to the chilli ingredients once the deputy headmistress was done talking. "Hi." She greeted the person next to her. "Are you planning to make your own chili too?" Bridget asked.

11 Bridget Ferguson Oooh chili! 1448 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

August 07, 2021 9:40 PM

This is bean soup? by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hilda's favorite of the midsummer events was the bonfire. This was not so much because of the fire itself, which was fine but not terribly interesting, but because the last one was where she made real genuine friends beyond just Johana Leonie. Johana Leonie was still her rock and closest friend, but the other German Tent Girls had moved from tolerable acquaintances to people she genuinely liked four years ago, and she was hoping tonight would be another such bonding experience.

First though, there was food. More interestingly, it was food they needed to cook themselves. Uncle Karl was not so well off that he had a house elf, and neither had there been one at her parents' home before everything went wrong (though she was reasonably sure they could have afforded one), and now that she was responsible enough, Uncle Karl had taught her some basics on how to make food edible without burning the house down.

Uncle Karl, however, was not what one would call a versatile cook, and there were about six meals they cycled through. He could cook those six meals quite well, but they were all he would cook. There was far far more variety at Sonora, so while many of the food on offer tonight looked vaguely familiar, even in their uncooked state, she didn't necessarily have names for most of them.

There was one thing that looked like a skinny bratwurst, which was on Karl's six meal list (the bratwurst, not the skinny American version) and - good, they had actual bratwurst, too - and she was sure she could handle making those at least, but she kept walking around to see what else was on offer.

As she got to one of the other tables, Bridget greeted and spoke to her. "Hello," she returned, careful of the vowel in the word, and gave her year mate a smile. There was not really anybody at the school that Hilda disliked, but Bridget was friends with Sophia and that gave her a boost up on some of the others. "I yet decide not," she admitted when asked if she was going to eat the chili. "Chili is the bean soup, yes?" she questioned. "Has spice?" she added, because there were other kinds of bean soups, too, that were blander than the one she was thinking of. Hilda preferred a fair bit of flavor in her food, though not too much, and chili - if it was what she thought it was - could sometimes have a bit too much heat, or it could be wonderful.

1 Hilda Hexenmeister This is bean soup? 1433 0 5

Valentine Duell

August 07, 2021 9:53 PM

This has certainly been a year. by Valentine Duell

Valentine sat before her unlit fire pit, roasting stick in hand with an uncooked hot dog skewered upon it. She had been excited for the event, and had spent most of the time until now flitting about the various groups chatting. The year was practically over and then she wouldn't see her friends again until next year. Her excitement had gotten the better of her and she'd neglected the minor detail of actually eating anything while everyone else was cooking up their food and eating it. Now her stomach was complaining, and she thought that maybe just a bit of quiet might be nice for a moment or so.

She'd grabbed the closest things she could get from the shrinking piles of food options and found herself a deserted fire pit. "Fire please," she asked from the pit politely and the flames began to obligingly dance from it for her. "Thank-you." she responded automatically. Val watched the tongues of fire writhe about the pit for a few moments fascinated by their movement. Aunt Giselle hadn't been wrong when she had talked about Fire Omens, there was something enticing and fascinating about just watching a fire burn.

Breaking from her reverie, her stomach reminded her that she still had a job to do. So she lowered the hot dog into the heat. As she watched the slow progress of her hot dog turn into something edible, her mind wandered over the events of the year. It had not started off pleasant, but had plenty of 'ups' and 'downs'. Stanley had left her, Aunt Giselle had taught her, lots of school work, 'Dating' Bonabelle, not 'dating' Bonabelle, inheriting the gaming club, needing to abandon other clubs... it had been an exhausting year. She would need a better plan for next year. Well, she would need a plan for next year, suggesting that she had had one this year was a ridiculous thought. Unfortunately, she wasn't a Crotalus. Mama was though.

She would need to talk to Mama about a few things once she was home again. As much as she loved it here at school, home was starting to sound very good again. She continued to turn her hot dog as it absorbed the heat of the fire and slowly cooked. She wondered what this summer and next year would bring. Hopefully it would be good.

OOC: Feel free to mention Val swinging by any other post to say 'hi' or whatever if it seems appropriate. Also, she is always up for company, even if the post doesn't demand it here.

2 Valentine Duell This has certainly been a year. 1490 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

August 08, 2021 12:27 PM

Finding my fellows (tag: beginner male) by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel looked around the bonfire. He'd already cooked and eaten a sausage and tried a hot dog, so he was quite full now and thinking about the rest of the night. He supposed he could just pick a tent and see who joined him entirely by random chance, but he decided he would rather share with people he at least knew from class, or maybe Freddie, but Freddie had other friends, and probably didn't want to share with a first year, so Hansel decided first to see who among his own age might be willing to tent with him.

He needed to find at least two to make the minimum three people to a tent that Professor Skies had mentioned, and the two that came most readily to mind were Alexei and Xavier, who were both roommates with each other, so unless they hated each other and needed a break from each others' presence (neither seemed the hating type, and Hansel hadn't noticed any signs of discord in class either), they should be okay with tenting together.

His second thought were the second year Teppenpaws, Ian and Tommy, who he didn't know particularly well, but was familiar with by frequent proximity, being in the same House and beginner classes as him. Tommy probably wanted to be with Wally and Stanley though. Hansel saw them sitting together pretty often for meals. Maybe Ian though?

Winston Randall and Henry Spellman were his third thoughts, being the other two beginner boys who, like Hansel, did not have any roommates to default to as tent mates. Henry was a twin though, so maybe he wanted to be with his brother. Or maybe he didn't. Hansel had picked up on some signs of discord between those two.

Billy, Gus, and Oz were later afterthoughts, as they seemed pretty tight and he didn't want to be the stranger they let in out of pity, but they were beginner boys, too, so Hansel did not entirely eliminate them as possibilities, especially if they weren't grouping up together.

He brushed a hand over his forearm, and was quietly distressed to remember that Cori was alone in their room rather than present to offer him reassurance and confidence to approach someone. Cori had been a bit anxious when Hansel had explained he'd be away all night, and Hansel wasn't entirely sure if it was because Hansel would not be there to look after Cori, or because Hansel wouldn't be there for Cori to look after him. Right now, Hansel was missing the later.

He wasn't normally shy. He had no trouble asking people to work with him in class, and most of these boys he had worked with at least once over the course of the year, as the school seemed to be a big proponent of having its students work together, but it seemed so much bigger to ask someone to sleep in the same tent, and he hesitated to approach anyone.

Finally, though, he spotted one of his targets who was not already deep in conversation with somebody else, and he made himself approach. "Hi," he said, and wished he didn't sound so nervous. It was just camping out for one night. This was not a marriage proposal. He forced the words out: "Did you have plans yet for who you're camping with tonight?"

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Finding my fellows (tag: beginner male) 1524 0 5

Osvaldo Alamilla

August 08, 2021 1:43 PM

On patrol for troublemakers [Staff member] by Osvaldo Alamilla

It was late and the children had taken to their tents for the evening. Now it was up to him and the other staff to make sure nothing happened. Osvaldo grumbled, mostly to himself, that this would a lot easier and probably not even necessary if they had gone with the simple plan of single occupancy tents. It would have saved mountains of charm work and preparation as well. Oh well, authority higher than his had decreed otherwise. So here he was, on patrol making sure the children didn't attempt to make any more children tonight. Wonderful.

Scanning the area around them, he didn't notice anything out of sorts. There was naturally muffled conversations coming from the tents they passed, but nothing that sounded like something they needed to deal with. Osvaldo was on the fence on that issue. He really hoped the night would pass uneventfully and he wouldn't actually need to interact with the children any more... especially if they were involved in some sort of situation that deemed his involvement. However, it would be a bit gratifying to have some incident that would prove his point about the tents. Then maybe next time they would listen to him.

Osvaldo turned to the staff member he'd been paired up with for this patrol shift. He ordinarily didn't go out of his way to make small talk, but if they were going to be stuck together for a while if may not be a bad idea to get an idea of their thoughts on the situation. "Do you think we'll run into any trouble tonight?"

2 Osvaldo Alamilla On patrol for troublemakers [Staff member] 1503 0 5

Philippe Delachene

August 08, 2021 2:55 PM

Hey, boyfriend by Philippe Delachene

Philippe was pretty excited about the bonfire. It was his first one, but Jasmine and Anya had both told him about earlier ones, so it felt familiar rather than strange and novel. The tenting especially sounded awesome, most particularly because with Philippe could share one with Freddie, which gave him a little bit of a forbidden thrill.

He didn't think they'd do anything his parents wouldn't approve of - Mom and Dad had done midsummer bonfires as well and were well aware of the tenting arrangements, so Philippe had gotten a long letter from them a week ago which he really really hoped would mean he had avoided The Talk being in person (and he'd been really glad Jasper hadn't been around when he read it, what with all of the blushing and mortified OMGs he'd shouted at the parchment) - but he was probably way too excited about being able to watch Freddie's face in the cot next to his as they fell asleep together.

When Professor Skies started explaining logistics, though, Philippe felt his face reddening again, especially when Anya elbowed him in the arm and grinned at him, and gleefully whispered, "That's aimed at you, probably," when then rules of minimum three per tent and max of one per bed were announced. "They didn't say that last time."

"Oh my G-" Philippe covered his face with his hands, muffling the last word, and Anya just laughed.

When the deputy headmistress finished talking, Philippe had gotten his blood distribution sorted out evenly throughout his body again, but Anya was still grinning at him, so Philippe spoke before she could. "I hate you. I'm going to find other people to eat with."

She just laughed again, not believing him, which was fair, because he couldn't hate Anya, but he really was going to find other people to eat with so he stuck his tongue out at her and fled.

It didn't take too long to find Freddie, and he slid his hand into the older boy's with the ease of having done so quite frequently over the last couple of months. "Hi, boyfriend," he beamed cheerfully. "Dinner together?" he asked, more or less rhetorically. He did not expect Freddie would turn him away, but it was polite to ask. "With friends is fine if you already have plans with Ellie. I told Jasper we'd do s'mores together later. Speaking of Jasper, did we want to combine the third and fifth year Teppenpaw boys rooms for our tent tonight?" That would put them over the minimum three requirement, hopefully without making Dathan or Jasper feel like a chaperone or third wheel. "Or did you have other ideas for tents tonight?"

OOC: Anya is mine too, so all comments from her are not god-modded.

1 Philippe Delachene Hey, boyfriend 1489 0 5

Iris Cobb

August 08, 2021 3:19 PM

Well, it's about time by Iris Cobb

Iris assembled with everyone else for the end of school event, a bonfire. This was finally something she knew about. Bonfires and cookouts were common enough back home that she felt back in her element once again. The part about sleeping in tents seemed a little different, she hadn't done that before, but it was fine. She was going to need two other girls to sleep with though, her first thoughts were of Amethyst and Lydia, and she resolved to ask them when she saw them. Professor Skies said a lot about the sleeping arrangements, but it didn't sound like much of that applied to her.

The cooking portion of the speech sounded more important, she really hoped she would be able to handle this on her own though without any help. She'd done cooking plenty before. Making her way over to the food area, she perused the items and some of the instructions. There were a couple of different types of tube shaped meat which you stabbed and held over the fire. They didn't quite appeal to her. She wanted... ah! There was a section with pots and ingredients. Excellent! Iris selected one of the bigger pots and began tossing in ingredients while humming happily to herself.

2 Iris Cobb Well, it's about time 1526 0 5

Bridget Ferguson

August 08, 2021 6:53 PM

That is one way to look at it. by Bridget Ferguson

Bridget returned Hilda's smile. The Pecari was more Sophia's friend than her own, but she liked the other girl okay. Actually, come to think of it, there wasn't really anyone she really disliked at Sonora. There was at least one person's mother she disliked, despite having not actually met the woman but no other actual students. Although she supposed there were a few people that she was wary of, but still, she didn't actively dislike them.

She supposed that she was so...conscious of the serious issues in her own life that she didn't have the energy to waste on disliking people unless there was a really good reason. Like, Bridget felt that she had a good reason to dislike Grandfather Ferguson and a good reason to dislike Lorena's mother. She did not have good reasons to dislike her fellow students and supposed that she was probably genuinely more accepting and non-judgemental in some ways than others were. That was probably why she was in Teppenpaw.

Of course, the sixth year also wasn't especially close to anyone other than Jezebel and Sophia and that was probably also because her focus tended to be worrying about her mother. Unfortunately, it was probably too late to change that now, which in all honesty, made her a bit sad. Bridget would have liked to have been closer to more people but it just hadn't happened for her. The fault of her upbringing and background all over again. It was not just the worries about her mother, it was all the other stuff too. It was the fact that she just wasn't normal and didn't have a normal family. In her own head, she was an Other, and it had kept her from getting close to most people for fear that they would judge her for it.

It was simply another thing to blame her grandfathers for. Bridget hated Grandfather Ferguson outright and this was just another reason to do so. Her feelings about Grandfather Culhane were a tad more complicated because he was good to her and actually acted like a grandpa was supposed to, but he deserved a share of the blame.

Honestly, Bridget did worry for her future marriage prospects too because of it all. And honestly, Grandma Cora deserved some blame too. She had gotten disowned and married a Muggle though thinking that way did make the sixth year feel guilty because Grandpa Clayton was the best grandpa of all. He was warm and loving and-unlike certain other Muggles who married magical people that she could think of-accepted all of his magical family members.

However, that was still going to hurt her marriage prospects-and Bridget genuinely did want to get married some day. Maybe she'd get lucky and someone would actually like her, an idea that she found borderline ridiculous and hysterical. Still, there were probably other scandalous types or newer purebloods that would like the Brockert connection.

Anyway, none of it was relevant in the moment and preventing her from having a nice conversation with her classmate-although her lack of German language skills might. Still, Hilda had to have decent English by now"Well, that's one way to think of it." Bridget replied. "You can make it without beans too. I tend to like mine with black olives. Both my aunt and our house-elves make it that way." Aunt Patience basically used canned chilli and put shredded cheese, black olives, a type of Muggle-made chips called Fritos and sometimes sour cream in it. Their house-elves used an old secret recipe which also involved black olives. Bridget was unsure if the black olives were an original part of the house-elf recipe or if they just put them in because the Teppenpaw and her father both liked it that way after having the kind Aunt Patience made.

"I see there are brautwursts too." She added. "I get those when I visit Sophia and her family. They're like, a staple in Wisconsin because of all the people there with German ancestry." Bridget had picked up at least that much. After all, that was why her cousin had chosen to study German as opposed to a different language.

11 Bridget Ferguson That is one way to look at it. 1448 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

August 09, 2021 12:04 AM

That's me! by Freddie Zauberhexen

The year was coming to an end, or rather it had done so already, and it was time for the bonfire. Freddie had been rather looking forward to this, not least because it came with the distinct likelihood of sharing a tent with his boyfriend. When he and Hana had been talking about the bonfire over breakfast the previous week, she'd realized this possibility very suddenly in the middle of her bacon strip and nearly dropped the rest of it, only catching it as she caught herself with a quick 'make good choices' in German, the language choice belying her anxiety. Freddie was more than a bit bummed that the third person in the tent - now that he knew they needed one - couldn't be Anya or Ellie but he was pretty sure Philippe wouldn't exactly want it to be Anya anyway, so that was just as well. He accepted his boyfriend's hand with a grin and a squeeze, pulling him in a little closer for a walking snuggle before they took up a more reasonable distance for handholding.

"Ja, dinner together," he agreed. He hadn't already made plans with Ellie but mostly because he wasn't the sort of person to do things like that. He just sort of figured that the people he liked and who liked him would make time for each other, and that if they didn't want to be around each other (such as Philippe and Anya), then that time would be spent individually. It was a bit odd, he suspected, that he was dating one of his best friend's brothers, but so far it had been fine. He was happy and they seemed to each be as well, so that was good. "We can do looking for Ellie," he suggested. "Also we can do looking for hotdog," he added. It was the sort of food that he thought was absolutely hilarious and thus wanted to eat basically all the time. It had the shape and basic flavor profile of some of the sausages and brats he was familiar with at home but with all of the horrible Americanization that he loved. He had lofty ambitions of attending a baseball game someday and eating a hotdog in the bleachers. What wonderful words!

"Roommates is good for tenting," he agreed, appreciating Philippe's thought process there, although he a slightly more sly grin found its way to his face all the same. "Although, perhaps we find a tent and then find them after?" he asked, bringing their shared hands up to his mouth to leave a kiss on the back of Philippe's.

OOC: Neither I, nor Freddie, knew whether the tents could be set up with two people but had to have 3+ for the overnight portion of the evening, etc.

22 Freddie Zauberhexen That's me! 1452 0 5

Bonabelle Row

August 09, 2021 12:31 AM

Yo, what's wrong with you? [Stanley] by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle was going to share a tent with Val probably. It was what they both would want and it was probably what neither of them wanted. Nothing made sense anymore and Bonabelle was feeling destructive about the whole thing. When things hadn't worked out at home (her first home, back with her dad), they gave up. They moved. They got out of debt by pretending they'd never had any, they got out of bills by moving away from wherever they owed the bills. It rarely worked - owls had a way of knowing where to deliver the mail even when alias had been used - but it helped for a little while. Long enough to figure out a new plan or a new job and make it work until they had to do it again. And that was fine! It was perfectly friggin' fine. So why was nothing fine now and why couldn't Bonabelle just . . . move on?

She was anxious about sharing a tent with Val, enough that she'd almost decided to just stay in her dorm for the night before accepting that she'd regret that sort of decision and resigning herself to a difficult time emotionally. Emotions were stupid and she hated them still. They were messy. They were painful. They were carrying her swiftly toward a night that was going to make her feel feelings just to avoid feeling other feelings later. At that particular moment, when she spotted Stanley sitting alone at a fire, they were carrying her swiftly across the grass to sit with him. When she opened her mouth to speak, it came out sharper than she meant it.

"What's wrong with you, huh?" she demanded, not having properly asked before. Well, she was done with playing games and beating around the bush. Her voice wasn't coming out nearly as strong as she wanted it to, instead landing on sharp, sad, bitter, and defeated. "You could have made Valentine happy. You're a boy! Why did you break up with her, huh? The prince charming crown sit too heavily on your fat head or something?" Then, all she felt was deflated.

22 Bonabelle Row Yo, what's wrong with you? [Stanley] 1488 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

August 09, 2021 8:28 AM

Oh hey, that's me by Xavier Lundstrom

Camping was something Xavier could get behind. He did it with his family pretty often. As he glanced along the food, he couldn't quite help but feel that the wizard version of camping was a little bit tame. Or maybe it was the fact it was school camping. He had been surprised enough to see the tents already set up for them, and also a little disappointed. Now the food was basically done for them too. He took a chilli kit. It would go well with a baked potato, but the one thing he remembered from camping was that you had to put those on approximately forever before you were hungry, and he was hungry now. He stuck a hotdog onto a stick as an appetiser.

It felt deeply weird to start a fire by asking it nicely, but he’d been raised to be polite, so he did just that. It was sort of cool seeing it spring instantly to life with nothing but the power of his own voice. Well, and probably a lot of pre-charming by the teachers, but whatever. When you were thinking how remote controls did things with the click of a button, you didn’t have to credit ‘and the years of scientific research and manufacture that went into this moment’ – you just revelled at your own power. So, Xavier spoke, and commanded fire, and revelled. Even if he did also enjoy doing it the non-magical way, gathering all the parts himself…

He had eaten his hotdog, and was following the recipe for the chilli, which involved ‘lightly’ cooking all his ingredients before dumping some sauce ingredients on top and then letting it all simmer. So far, cooking things over a fire did not seem to go well with cooking ‘lightly’ and most of his dry ingredients were looking a little black and crispy around the edges whilst possibly still being raw in the middle (the onions, especially, looked both black and white rather than neatly brown – the meat was too small to tell). He dumped the sauce ingredients in, and set it to cook for a little longer, hoping for the best. He had been on Scout camp and knew that most anything that they let kids be in charge of wasn’t a high risk for food poisoning, and that almost anything could be salvaged with enough ketchup.

He was just pulling his chilli off the fire and dipping a piece of bread into it experimentally when Hansel approached. He sounded a little hesitant as he said ‘hi’ though Xavier wasn’t sure if that was really more than usual, as Hans seemed kind of quiet on the whole. He followed up with asking about tents.

“Not really,” he admitted. “I mean, I’ve got Alexei, if he wants. I get on okay with Oz, but then I dunno if he’s sharing with his roommates or his brother.” Or whether he wanted to be as far away from them as possible. Or whether he did, but they didn’t expect that, and Xavier was gonna be the one disrupting the group if he pulled Oz away. Or whether Oz would even want to share with someone a whole year younger or whether that was as ‘gay’ as wearing safety pads. Honestly, that group was a lot of drama. “You looking for a group?” he asked, assuming that was why Hansel had brought it up, and not wanting him to worry that he wouldn’t be welcome. “I’d be happy to share if you want. I just don’t know who all I come with—might be no one, might be like five other people.”

13 Xavier Lundstrom Oh hey, that's me 1529 0 5

Topaz Brockert

August 09, 2021 11:28 PM

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! by Topaz Brockert

OOC: CW-*sighs* Straight privilege/homophobia, minor victim blaming, and just the general awfulness of Topaz being herself BIC:

Topaz couldn't believe it, it was over, it was finally over! She was finally free of Snotti-Ness once and for all and she could not be happier! In fact, she could not remember the last time that she had been so delighted. She was sure that it had been before she'd met that vile, despicable creature that she had been forced to share a room with for the past seven years.

That little twit had really put a damper on things for Topaz. In addition to not being able to do the things that she really wanted to do to her, Snotti-Ness was practically the definition of what it meant to be a wet blanket. The other Aladren couldn't have been more of a wet blanket than if she'd been a soaked quilt. She was so uptight. Like, always thinking about her causes and forcing her beliefs on people instead of just forgetting about things and enjoying herself.

And her ego! Snotti-Ness had to be the most arrogant narcissistic person that Topaz had ever met. She was possibly worse than even Uncle Eustace. Actually, the two of them weren't all that different, now that she thought about it. Both of were misogynists-which was odd considering how both of them were attracted to women-both of them were annoyingly entitled, both of them expected everyone to worship them for no good reason and, Topaz was certain, both would absolutely hate the comparison as much as the seventh year hated both of them.

Okay, so Topaz also thought incredibly highly of herself but then, she actually deserved to. She was magically talented, from pretty much the closest thing to pureblood royalty that America had, wasn't too bad looking, and most importantly, was mostly likely a genius.

It also confused her very much how Snotti-Ness had gotten someone to go along with it. To worship her. Partially because Topaz had never gotten anyone to do so to her when she was actually deserving of being worshiped. Okay, there were a few silly boys at balls who seemed attracted to her, but that wasn't actual worship. She often got people to do what she wanted them to do, but that was based primarily on fear. The seventh year sort of did understand how her uncle had found a wife, because Aunt Helena or her family, most likely wanted a connection to the Brockerts and/or the a***** found a way to come across charming to her aunt who seemed the weak and spineless type anyway, sort of like Allegra.

Snotti-Ness didn't have even that. She wasn't charming at all not even as an act-Topaz would know, having been unfortunate enough to live with her-and her family was a disgrace.

Of course, Topaz's best explanation was that Clown Lips was a grade A moron that probably had the intellect and judgement skills of your average canine. Or of a really stupid one. She was no more than Snotti-Ness's well fed pet. How that idiot had ever been elected Head Girl was something else that baffled even Topaz's great intellect though of course, she did have her theories, which had she been capable of empathizing with another human being, would have made her feel very sorry for Heinrich Hexenmeister.

Still, it didn't matter now because the Aladren was free ! Completely and utterly, wonderfully free ! This had to be how people felt when they were released from prison! Probably better unless someone actually had a cell mate like Snotti-Ness. Which was absolutely a far worse punishment that prison itself.

Professor Skies started to speak and Topaz was glad to hear that they were enforcing the three person minimum. Why give gay people another extra privilege when they were already getting a boost towards prefect? They weren't the super specialist ever people like her thankfully soon to be former roommate seemed to insist they were. They weren't somehow superior human beings just because they were attracted to those who were the same gender as they were.

As for cooking, Topaz was going to do no such thing. Cooking was beneath just as much as cleaning was. She got one of the pre-made sandwiches, making sure it included meat just as one final way of sticking it to Snotti-Ness.

11 Topaz Brockert I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! 1427 0 5

Sophia Priory

August 10, 2021 4:43 PM

This is the best by Sophia Priory

Sophia had to admit that the bonfire was one of her favorite midsummer events. With the fair, it depended on what they were doing for it. Like two years ago, it had been the only fair that she would get to be at Sonora for, and they did a charity fair, which was...okay. It felt good to raise money for various good causes and people did try their best to make it fun, for the most part. (Her cousin, Beau had complained that one booth hadn't tried hard enough but at least that booth had cupcakes, so arguably, it at least qualified as a refreshment booth. Which was what Sophia had pointed out to the Pecari alum.)

On the other hand, the charity fair had been sort of depressing , what with all the talk about child abuse and violent crime. Things that made people feel bad and while Beau had come from the view point of selfish hedonism, he hadn't been totally wrong that it should have been a happy fun event. Not to mention that it had given people a chance to act all sanctimonious and imply that one or another cause was superior or that certain groups of people were bad. Granted, some types of people were bad such as child abusers and violent criminals, but usually there was also an implication by some that people like Sophia (as in purebloods) were also inherently terrible people.

Not to mention the work involved putting it together, which was a large problem with the concert too. And with the concert, if you weren't participating, sometimes it wasn't all that interesting, though the one from last year wasn't too bad because watching plays was more interesting than say, watching your classmates sing or play musical instruments or whatever.

However, regarding the fair, her brother Connor, his fiance Peyton, and Beau had all said that the fair before the charity fair, had been the magical state fair and that sounded like fun to the Aladren, largely because of the food aspect which included nachos, her personal favorite. Plus, all the rides and like, different competitions which she probably wouldn't have participated in, but would have enjoyed viewing or tasting. Peyton had made gingerbread people and had had a funny story to tell, though certainly the former Crotalus had not thought so at the time and it had took some strong encouragement to ever make gingerbread people again.

As for the ball, well, that was hardly fun if you didn't have a date or friends or if your friends all had dates. And she was prefect so she had to find someone to do the first dance with. So yeah, Sophia was not looking forward to that. She didn't have a lot of options and still remembered that story about Aunt Nina being in a similar situation and just grabbing the first guy she saw. Or maybe she and her friends could dance as a group since Hilda and Jessica were prefects too or she could possibly put up with Jeremy Mordue for one dance. The other sixth year was not her favorite person, but he'd never done anything to her personally. Although it was possible that Felipe's sister could end up as prefect and then Jeremy might get pressured to dance with her instead.

And everyone else was taken too, or related to her or really young.

Anyway, the bonfire was generally a low pressure, low stress event. Students never really had to do any work for it. Although Sophia supposed socially it could be hard if you didn't have friends to tent with, which was basically why there was no maximum on tents now, so nobody felt left out. Except that some people still didn't have friends and ended up getting stuck wherever there was space. So an older student who had nobody could end up stuck with a pair of first years who didn't have a third friend or vice versa and that was really awkward.

So, she guessed no event was problem free for everyone, but for her personally the bonfire was the best one. Sophia was pretty excited for what she was sure would be German Tent Part Two.

Although, she was admittedly unsure about this cooking for herself thing. The Aladren had only ever tried during the Challenges and her team had finished dead last. Aside from that, she had always had house elves-or on a few occasions, Peyton-to cook for her.

She stepped over to the food area, unsure about what to do next. Sophia turned to the person next to her and asked. "Have you ever cooked before? I really only tried once and I'm not sure if I want to do it again or just get something pre-made."

11 Sophia Priory This is the best 1447 0 5

Sadie-Lake Chalmers

August 10, 2021 7:40 PM

Waiting for someone by Sadie-Lake Chalmers

Sadie had never been camping in her life. Even a weekend get away in a pre-pitched yurt or ‘glamping’ in a van had nearly resulted in murders (though totes cute pics, ofc, and anyone who had followed the trip on Insta would have been thoroughly convinced it was a #GreatAdventure with #ChillVibes and constituted #LivingOurBestLife, even though her mother had hated every second that she wasn’t obsessively snapping pictures. Admittedly, her mom could fill a lot of time that way, but she'd still found enough time to look up from her screen and be bored, or frustrated with the cramped shower facilities, lack of entertainment and spotty cell coverage. The only hashtag Sadie thought might have been accurate was #OnceInALifeTime because there was no way on earth they would be doing anything similar again).

She was pretty sure a school camp out shouldn’t get super wild, but with wizards, you never knew. Of course, magic could make it all easier, but equally they seemed to have a much lower bar for what was considered ‘wild’ or ‘unsafe.’ Still, seeing the pre-pitched tents and hearing Professor Skies’ explanations did a lot to put her mind at ease. She wasn't sure she would be any great shakes at camp cooking, but it didn't sound like she would be left to starve even if she wasn't. She could probably handle making smores.

In fact, her ideal picture of this very evening had involved smores. She could picture herself laughing with Dathan about how this was the perfect opportunity for them to spread a key part of non-magical culture to the wizarding world, although she wasn't sure she really wanted them to do anything more than spend the evening with each other... Of course, whilst she could crack such jokes in her head, it would probably be up to him in real life. It would probably just come out as an awkward tangle of nonsense if she tried. She was pretty sure that having a role in life as the laugher-at of Dathan's jokes would suit her anyway. Maybe this was what they meant by opposites attracting? That seemed a much more harmonious combination in a relationship than two people who wanted to be the centre of attention, or two who were too shy to say or do anything.

Spekaing of which, she was currently hovering on the edge of the festivities. In the picture in her mind, this evening had definitely involved Dathan coming up to her. She had deliberately not started getting stuck into an activity because she didn't want to look too busy, or get drawn into small talk with someone as they clustered around the food table. Hopefully the fact that it was busy seemed like a valid reason for her to be standing off to the side. She didn't want to seem like she was being an awkward loner, even if she probably was.

Luckily, before the feeding frenzy could thin too much for her to stop having an excuse, someone approached her...

OOC: I am open to anyone replying, in spite of Sadie's preferences

13 Sadie-Lake Chalmers Waiting for someone 1480 0 5

Giselle Duell

August 10, 2021 8:57 PM

This is fine. Everything is just fine. by Giselle Duell

It was time for the bonfire, and Giselle wasn't sure if that was good or bad. The year was essentially over and nothing dark, or bad seems to have happened. Everything was still fine, or tonight was going to be an absolute nightmare of terror. She hoped everything would be fine, it sounded better than the other option. She sighed to herself as she stood aloof from the tents and the cooking fires. Best prepare for a nightmare of terror. Honestly, she had pretty much given up on deciphering the prophesy, sometimes there just was no point in it. What would happen, would happen and it was more about being as prepared for it as possible. Not that she was.

The end of the term had distracted her from any more research she could have done about it. It really was only now that she was standing here with the darkness of night supposedly descending down around her (not that she could see it), that the prophesy actually entered her mind again. In her discussion at the beginning of the term, Professor Skies hadn't though it had anything to do with the bonfire, and Giselle really hoped at this moment that she was right.

The divinations professor, strolled around the perimeter of the festivities, trying to sense anything out of place. Her hands shuffled her tarot cards more out of nervous habit than anything else, between wand waves to watch her progress. Nothing seemed out of place though... perhaps back in the school? Was it good that everyone was out here? She turned her head, as if orienting her face in the school's direction would allow her to detect anything strange going on at that distance.

That was the instant it happened. Giselle was just a bit off balance, her head turned as she was swapping from cards to wand when her foot still striding forward caught on an uneven patch of ground. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her head as she toppled forward, wand and cards flying every direction. She hit the ground with a soft thud, cursing her own ineptitude. Maybe, hopefully, no one saw that. Unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case, she could hear footsteps approaching as she pushed herself up to a kneeling position.

2 Giselle Duell This is fine. Everything is just fine. 1517 0 5

Henry Spellman

August 10, 2021 11:59 PM

An opportunity worth missing. [Oz] by Henry Spellman

OOC: CW: Mention of adult activities in passing. BIC:

Soon, they'd be back home. Home, where he and Oz shared a room (and a bed sometimes). Home, where dinner was guaranteed to happen but never guaranteed to be enough. Home, where mom was better off without them and they needed her. Where they had to lie to all their old friends (the ones they could still manage to keep interested in them after being gone all the time). They'd be together all the time at home because they had each other's backs there. They had to. Even now that they were both viciously armed with a stick (not at home of course but still), they were the weak ones in a big scary world and all they had to get through it was each other and mom. Still, Henry couldn't help feeling a little executed at the fact that this may be a chance to get to hang out. Like really hang out.

The bonfire brought camping (which was one of those weird things rich people did where they slept outside for fun instead of because they had to but Whatever) and Henry was reasonably excited to go camping, even though it wasn't real. He was also reasonably excited that he might get to share with Oz, even though he didn't dare get his hopes up that Oz would want to share with him. The truth was, Henry didn't have anyone else he'd want to share with. Oz would probably share with his roommates or Xavier or something and Henry would probably go back up to the school and sleep in his own room when it all boiled down to that, although maybe he could find some people who just needed a third person. It would be weird if he and Oz shared with just them and one other person anyway so maybe it wasn't a good idea.

Still, his feet kept him planted firmly by Oz' side as Professor Skies gave her little intro lecture, including the ever popular topic among adults of don't do intercourse which Henry thought was a pretty reasonable ask. He was a big fan of his classmates not doing that anywhere near where he had to be aware that it was happening.

When she finished, Henry turned to Oz, trying to avoid those hopes that kept threatening to plant themselves in his brain. "Got plans?" he asked softly. "I don't."

22 Henry Spellman An opportunity worth missing. [Oz] 1513 0 5

Ellie Alperton

August 12, 2021 4:11 AM

It works well for this year by Ellie Alperton

The bonfire was a little strange for Ellie. It had been her first event at Sonora, so in some ways, it felt like things coming full cycle. That did make a neat little end to this chapter, which - given that she had just sat her CATS - felt like a significant moment. But she also wasn't done here. She would end part way through the next cycle of events, never experiencing a repetition of the concert. She was quite happy with how the events had fallen out for her. She couldn't imagine taking on prepping for the concert and her CATS in the same year. Her only experience of the fair had also been pretty labour intensive, and the ball would have carried with it the stress of finding a date and the distraction of finding a dress. The bonfire was very low effort for students. Of the remaining events, she supposed the concert was the one she could most live without repeating. It felt very unfair that some people only got one ball!

The bonfire also held happy-at-the-time, then slightly complicated, but overall in-the-past-now memories. Anya had tented with her, and at the time she had been pretty sure it had been as a favour to Jasmine. That part hadn't bothered her, she had thought it was sweet of Jasmine to look out for her. It was only later, when she had found out that Jasmine had felt it was necessary to out her as part of that process that she had felt a line had been crossed. But Ellie had added very informative posters about not outing people to the fair booth and then drawn a line under it. It was exciting to think of sharing a tent with Anya this year as genuine friends rather than just because Anya's sister had asked them to.

Ellie was keen to find her friend, and to work out plans for their third person. It was a shame it couldn't be Freddie, even though he was far less likely to get up to anything with either of them than he was sharing a tent with his boyfriend. Not that she thought he and Philippe were going to get up to much, they seemed to be more at the 'being cute' stage, but really, if the staff were concerned...

She went to investigate the food options, fairly convinced she could handle making most things if she wanted to. The real question was whether she actually did want to... Half of her naturally screamed to take on the hardest task, just to prove that she could, whilst the other half felt that it was reasonable to give herself a break, post-CATS. She noticed Sophia at the table. Whilst Ellie was really looking for her friends, Sophia was her fellow prefect, so it made sense to be on good terms. Sophia seemed like she wasn't feeling super decisive about the food, which was something Ellie could relate to, though in Sophia's case, it seemed like inexperience was a big part of it.

"Yes," she answered Sophia's question. "I like baking, which I guess it a bit different..." She wouldn't have said it was a frequent enough occurrence to count as a hobby but she had done it often enough to know that cupcakes were tricksy and opening the oven door was perillous. "Sometimes I'll do small jobs to help my parents out, or make easy things." She had had a kids' cookbook and gone through a phase of making things from it. As with any new, shiny item, it had been high interest for a while, and then given way to the next new thing. "I think I'll probably try some actual cooking."

13 Ellie Alperton It works well for this year 1456 0 5

Sophia Priory

August 12, 2021 7:40 PM

I'd say every year, but that might get boring by Sophia Priory

Sophia smiled at her fellow Aladren prefect. They weren't close by any means, but she had nothing against the fifth year and even though Ellie had gotten prefect by default, she wasn't undeserving of the honor. Sophia didn't really mind working with her at all and she couldn't say that about everyone else who had received the title.

She nodded. "That's cool. My brother's fiance loves baking and cooking and she's really excellent at it. She's even going to a culinary school." Okay, so Peyton really had no intention of ever being a professional chef and attending was more or less something she was doing while Connor was in his pre-healer program, but she genuinely did love it and wanted to learn more advanced recipes that she could make later for her family. Peyton would probably not use house-elves for cooking though she might well serve them what she made since the former Crotalus also believed in treating house-elves like they were members of the family and Connor seemed to agree with that.

Which figured. Honestly, her brother was...really very much a nice guy humanitarian helping others sort of person. A real one, who actually honestly wanted everyone to have rights. And Sophia herself, wasn't generally against that either. She agreed with treating everyone well. Although there were some people (such as Lydia) and some types of people (such as entitled brats who thought they could do whatever they wanted, who, by the way, were not always purebloods though of course they sometimes were but they were often the typical Pecari jock types who thought themselves cool and special) got on her nerves and she wasn't always nice to them, she still thought they deserved rights, just not special treatment. Also, some people went about it the wrong way or went too far by villainizing people like the sixth year.

Sophia continued, "My one attempt at cooking didn't go all that well. It was part of the Challenges and we didn't set anything on fire or give anyone food poisoning but we were also completely last so obviously we weren't that impressive either." What did people expect from a team made up of white upper-class pureblood people who had gotten Chinese New Year as their occasion and required them to cook when they were all likely to have grown up with house-elves for that? As far as the Aladren was concerned, they'd been set up for failure in that respect. Of course, there were other parts to the Challenges that didn't play particularily to the strengths of proper pureblood girls either and Sylvia Mordue and Katerina Vorontsov who had been Sophia's teammates were very proper types.

"Of course, I don't think sticking a hot dog over a fire would be all that difficult and I'm not especially trying to impress anyone with my cooking skills tonight." She added. Most of the time, the sixth year felt that way, that she had nothing to prove. Although she tried her best most of the time, she never unnecessarily taxed herself beyond her limits at the expense of her own health and well-being.

Not that Sophia looked down on those who did-unless they were doing it to feel superior to those around them, people who did that were total jerks. Instead, she felt bad for them, especially if their parents were forcing them, which was abuse. Even if it wasn't the parents and they were doing it to themselves, it could cause major issues, just look at Autumn.

Still, cooking a hot dog over an open flame was not pushing one's self to their limits and risking one's own health. Although there was always the threat of burning yourself or getting food poisoning, which Sophia had managed to avoid in her other cooking attempt with a more complicated dish.

11 Sophia Priory I'd say every year, but that might get boring 1447 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

August 12, 2021 9:05 PM

Mine English tries best. by Hilda Hexenmeister

'Bean soup with spice' was not necessarily the way she thought about chili, but it was the best she could put it into simple English words that she knew off the top of her head, so it was going to have to suffice. Anyway, it did seem like they were talking about the same foodstuff, so that made it good enough of a description for her, and she made a kind of bobbing motion with her head that was not quite agreement and not quite disagreement that this was at least how she could talk about it if not how she thought about it.

She made an educated guess that an ah-liv and an Olive were the same thing, as it didn't seem like a completely ridiculous thing to throw into chili and they sounded similar (and English was very prone to ignoring the final Es in their words and pretending they weren't there when spoken, which seemed quite rude really), though she'd never had chili with olives in it before. Not that she'd had a lot of chilis in her life for comparison.

"Mine Uncle makes not chili," she admitted her lack of experience with the dish. "I eat it only here. Every week, he makes Bratwurst." It occurred to her she was about to return to Utah and a very very limited menu. Bratwurst was abruptly entirely unappetizing, even though she usually liked it very much. "Today, I eat different food."

Even if it was too spicy, chili at least wasn't something she was going to be eating every six days for the next three months. She picked up a bowl and began to collect ingredients.

"Wisconsin?" she verified again, the state with many other Germans. "Maybe I live there when I graduate." She had no intention of living the rest of her life on a snake ranch, but she wasn't sure if quite enough time had passed to make returning to Germany a safe option. "Some speak Deutsch - nein, German?" she asked hopefully.

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Mine English tries best. 1433 0 5

Billy Cobb

August 12, 2021 9:14 PM

I can afford that! What services can you render? by Billy Cobb

Wooo! Bonfire! Billy hadn't been to a proper bonfire since... well, when he was home last summer. It was something that happened fairly regularly back home on the mountain, but apparently didn't much 'round here. The 'camping out' bit wasn't really a thing back home neither, but it'd be fun to mix things up a bit. He figgured he'd find a tent with Gus an' Oz, but... maybe not? He always slept in the same place with them at school here. Maybe he should find some other folk to hang out with tonight. He wasn't sure who, but that was a problem for later, the immediate problem now was to find some food!

He strolled towards the food and past the big, main fire. His normal practice at home was to toss whatever sticks or twigs he could find lying around into the fire. Unfortunately, there wasn't any such loose wood strewn about the quidditch pitch. His wand was the only thing on hand that was close, and he thought that throwing it into the fire probably wasn't the best idea in the world. So he sighed, grumbled to himself and continued walking.

Reaching the food area, he saw all sorts of different things along with instructions of how to prepare them. Not bothering to read any of the instructions, he assumed that the idea was to put the food items on one of the sticks and cook it over the smaller fires. That seemed easy enough. He grabbed a stick and began moving along the food table, skewering whatever he happened to find along the way. A hotdog, some sort of sausage, a piece of bread, a potato all went onto the stick with varying amounts of difficulty. Billy spotted Iris throwing things into a pot and detoured around her. She apparently had no idea how this worked, and he didn't want to have to explain it to her.

At another table he saw sandwiches. Interesting. There was one of the old students there as well, she seemed confused as to how this worked just like Iris. Welp, she weren't his sister, so he should be polite and nice and help her out. "Hiya!" he grinned cheerfully at her. He had no idea who she was, so thought it best to introduce himself. "I'm Billy Cobb of the Kentucky Cobbs," he rattled off as had become his custom. "Pleasure ta meet ya Ma'am." It was always good to be polite.

He then gestured back the way he'd come, "They got sticks down at the other end," he continued helpfully as he picked up one of the sandwiches and jammed it on the end of his own stick, next to the bacon strips he'd found, to show her how this was supposed to work. He gave her a knowing wink, "This way you can cook it without gettin' to close to the fire." Billy then inspected his fully loaded cooking stick with a satisfied smile. "Now to go find a fire. Once yer ready, you can let me know if'n you need any help with that part. I been doin' this as long as I can rememb'r." Then he turned to see about where them cooking fires were.

2 Billy Cobb I can afford that! What services can you render? 1519 0 5

Ellie Alperton

August 13, 2021 8:24 AM

Then there would be no balls! by Ellie Alperton

“Oh. Well, there were lots of different elements to those. And other people doing better doesn’t mean you necessarily did a bad job,” Ellie offered, going slightly red as she stumbled through those explanations. Her team had placed third, which had been amazing to her, though she wasn’t sure she’d had a lot to do with personally, as she’d only been a first year. She wasn’t sure if Sophia remembered that fact, and whether it was going to seem like she was either bragging or being insincere in her comments. Not that she was, and not that she could really see how it would come across that way, but it was clearly a sensitive topic for Sophia and the fact that Ellie had done well probably made it all the more sensitive, which made her feel awkward.

“Me neither,” Ellie stated, regarding not trying to impress anyone. That was perhaps not strictly speaking true, as her default desire was to be at least somewhat impressive, or to take on a challenging task just to prove that she could, but the way Sophia said it made it sound person-specific and there was no one like that for Ellie. She wanted to make something edible and enjoyable, and the risk of failure was certainly embarrassing, which made the desire to do well more to do with avoiding that than anything else.

“I kind of figure that if I can handle potion CATS, I can handle anything they’ve deemed cookable by first years. Assuming I did handle potion CATS. I mean, I think I handled it? But…” she crossed her fingers and tapped the wood of the table. No telling until the results came in.

“Single pot mac and cheese sounds like it would go well with hot dogs,” she suggested, scanning the recipe. The basic principle seemed to be to add enough liquid to cook the pasta in, and then some cornflour to thicken and a whole bunch of cheese. “If you want to cook together that is. I’m sure I can handle hotdogs too if you don’t, or just chop them straight into the pot.”

13 Ellie Alperton Then there would be no balls! 1456 0 5

Topaz Brockert

August 13, 2021 6:30 PM

Awful to The End by Topaz Brockert

OOC: CW-Anti-vegetarianism BIC:

Topaz turned to go sit down and eat her sandwich. Her delicious meaty sandwich. There was something about having a vegetarian for a mortal enemy just made meat taste all the better. Honestly, the fact that Snotti-Ness was a vegetarian-while making meat taste better-was rather irksome. First of all, vegetarianism was stupid anyway and just a tad obnoxious when there were people out there who didn't have the luxury of eating anything they wanted. Like, her cousin Miles for example who was allergic to pretty much everything and basically would probably starve to death if people like Snotti-Ness had their way.

Not that Topaz really cared about her cousin all that much, but she hated her soon to be former roommate more and would use any excuse to point out why people had to be able to eat meat. Or any of the many other things that Snotti-Ness was wrong about.

What really got her though about the other Aladren being a vegetarian was that she thought even animals were more important and deserving of rights than purebloods were. Okay, arguably, Topaz thought the same about them being more important than Snotti-Ness, but that wasn't based on blood status or any of those other things that people claimed were discriminated against unfairly. It was based simply on the fact that she absolutely despised the other seventh year, so therefore, every single creature on the planet whether it be a pig, a worm or one of her siblings, ranked ahead of Snotti-Ness. Topaz was still going to eat meat and do taxidermy. Animals at least gave her that, the other Aladren was more inclined to want to take things away from not just her personally-which would be a mutual desire,since she'd happily take away everything from Snotti-Ness that made the other seventh year even remotely happy- but from every straight pureblood person in the world, while claiming to be in favor of equal rights.

And true, Snotti-Ness didn't whine about people eating meat as much as she did about every other thing on the planet, even though she'd taken offense to Topaz's taxidermy before Topaz had ever done anything to her. However, whether she liked it or not-and she didn't-Topaz had been around that vile creature enough, to somewhat understand how she thought. And, she thought that if you didn't think exactly like her, you were wrong and evil. Therefore, that implied that she didn't think anyone should eat meat either.

Anyway, before Topaz could walk away and sit down to eat her yummy, meat filled sandwich, some child came and introduced himself to her. Kentucky Cobbs? She didn't think she'd ever heard of them. She didn't think such a pureblood family existed although it was possible that she could be wrong on that. However, even if that was the case, he could not have been anyone of consequence or she would have remembered the name. Besides, she knew there weren't any pureblood boys this age at Sonora that she wasn't related to other than Katerina's brother, because Amethyst had been whining about that.

And now the child was yammering on about sticks and how to cook over a fire. The whole reason she was eating a sandwich rather than sausage or hot dogs or bacon-although there was bacon on her sandwich-was because she didn't want to cook. Topaz gave him a look that clearly portrayed her annoyance. "What are you talking about? You don't put a sandwich on a stick and roast it over the fire. And why are you talking to me anyway?"

11 Topaz Brockert Awful to The End 1427 0 5

Sophia Priory

August 14, 2021 7:11 PM

I get enough of those, really by Sophia Priory

Sophia nodded. "That's true." It wasn't really any big deal to the older Aladren, regardless of what it might have sounded like. She had not been exactly enthusiastic about any of the events, and felt they had been overall sort of unfair, between the pandering to the athletes and the fact that on the one event that didn't seem designed to mock pureblood girl and instead, play to their supposed strengths, they'd had to cook their own food which unless someone had cooking as a hobby, like Peyton did,and her team had been given a holiday that none of them celebrated and most Americans (and Russians) didn't generally celebrate either, making it seem all rather like a sick joke, probably getting people's hopes up because they were planning a party, very pureblood female task, rather than being forced into something athletic, a very distinctly not pureblood female task, only to have to cook their own food and in the case of her team, who obviously weren't doing well going into the last task, plan a party for a holiday that they were unfamiliar with.

And if nothing else, Sophia largely believed in fairness. That was what got her, not the last place finish. She did hope that on the next go around of the Challenges they didn't set Lydia or her cousin Gwendolyn up to fail. The way her parents coddled her sister might have driven her crazy, but that didn't mean that deep down Sophia didn't care about her. And she knew that the first year would probably have a full on panic attack if she had to do a survival challenge. Nor did the sixth year want either of them to be subjected to unfair circumstances. Although Gwendolyn actually did know about Chinese New Year. She was more interested in her Chinese heritage than Aunt Serenity seemed to be.

Anyway, it was over and done with and she was really only thinking about it now because she was faced with a choice of potentially cooking again as that was the only time that the sixth year had previously tried that. "That's a very good point." She told Ellie regarding the younger girl's comment about CATS. Sophia had done well enough on hers to continue with the subject and had pretty consistently good grades in Advanced Potions. So, she probably could handle cooking something that was easy enough for first years.

"Do you think they went okay for you?" Sophia asked, as a way of showing interest in what was going on in the life of one of her fellow students. "I know they can be hard." She added. Of course, Ellie was an Aladren, like Sophia was, so maybe they weren't all that difficult for her either. They hadn't been excessively hard for the sixth year though they were reasonably challenging. Nothing that had really freaked her out though. Still, she felt it was nice to ask since Ellie had just done them. "I mean, overall."

Sophia smiled. "Sure, that sounds great." They could both always meet up with friends later. For now, she was content to spend time with her fellow prefect.

11 Sophia Priory I get enough of those, really 1447 0 5

Bridget Ferguson

August 15, 2021 7:25 PM

You're doing just fine. by Bridget Ferguson

OOC: cw-*sighs* Abuse (child, spousal, house-elf) and neglect alluded to, and alcoholism. It's Bridget, so while she's not being awful like Topaz, the usual CWs apply. BIC:

Bridget nodded. "Yeah, that is one of the nice things about Sonora, you get to eat food here that you don't get to eat at home." Okay, so, she did get a wide and varied menu at home. They had lots of house-elves who had been in their family for years and that knew how to cook a lot of different things.

Which was a good thing too, since otherwise she probably would have starved to death a long time ago. Dad did not cook at all. He had never been very good at Potion-alright,in fact he was absolutely utterly abysmal at it- so he certainly didn't try to attempt something that used similar skills when he didn't really have those skills in the first place! That was a huge part of the reason that even as a small child, Bridget was making her dad drinks out of the cocktail crafting books that her cousin Nora had given him. Which given his crappy abilities in Potions, was something of a ridiculous gift, but to be fair, had probably contributed to the Teppenpaw developing said skills herself.

And her dad's lack of cooking/potions/drink making skills wasn't even taking into account his level of impairment due to being pretty much constantly drunk.

As for Mama, obviously impairment of a different kind was a huge factor even though she could, if she was well-which she often wasn't, of course-make a few simple things. So, therefore, Bridget's situation being what it was, she would never have survived without house-elves to cook for her. Now she might be able to make her own food, but as a child? It would not have happened.

So, basically, anyone who complained about her family having house-elves, or not doing things for themselves could basically shove off with their sanctimonious crap. Not only would she not have survived-or possibly would have been taken away from her parents due to neglect, a thought that legitimately made her sick to her stomach-Bridget had genuinely bonded with their family's elves, who also, being house-elves, enjoyed serving wizards and witches as long as they were treated humanely. And they were. Obviously, she couldn't speak for every elf owned by a family member-as she was certain Grandfather Ferguson must mistreat his elves as he'd mistreated his wife and son, so yeah,it was a logical inference to make-but the ones in her household were.

Bridget nodded."Yeah, a lot of people in Wisconsin have German ancestry, though a lot of it's probably from far back, like relatives who came here like, over a hundred years ago. There might be some who speak German, like Sophia. That's where she lives." Which Hilda likely knew, as she and Sophia were friends.

11 Bridget Ferguson You're doing just fine. 1448 0 5

Oz Spellman

August 18, 2021 7:40 AM

Or worth squeezing between graham crackers by Oz Spellman

OOC: Casual homophobia and misogyny BIC:

This was probably the closest Oz was ever gonna get to going on Scout camp. Not that he wanted to anyway, because no one around their way could really afford to do Scouts, and therefore it was so gay. The uniform looked stupid and who needed to light a fire with sticks when lighters existed and it wasn't proper actual survival seeing as they let girls do it. Except, of course, girls could do anything boys could do cos his mom was kick-butt awesome, and 'gay' was when you liked other boys and there wasn't anything wrong with it. Those were just things people said, and he definitely knew that most of what people said was a bunch of crap. It was just hard not to end up saying it too. But, given how wrong they were about everything else, maybe Scouts would have been fun too. He wasn't quite sure what the argument that it was fake survival was meant to prove. Real survival was hard enough day to day that if he signed up for a leisure activity he would rather it was just pretend. It would be a welcome break from reality.

He'd heard they could share with whoever, so obviously he planned on sharing with Henry. There were a few factors at play there. Firstly, Henry didn't have roommates, and Oz didn't think he particularly had any friends. Sleeping alone in a tent sounded like a great way to get lit on fire or something. Not that Sonora kids were that bad, and not that Oz would necessarily have been a sufficient line of defence had they done this at home. But the point stood that he couldn't just leave Henry on his own. Oz also wasn't really sure where things stood with his own roommates. Part of him worried about cementing the growing divide there, but it was a much smaller part than the bit that wanted to keep Henry away from Billy. If it resulted in increased hostility to Oz... Well, he'd just suck it up for Henry's sake. It wouldn't be the first time...

There was also, maybe, somewhere so deep down that he could avoid looking directly at it, a part of him that just wanted to share with Henry, out of comfort and familiarity. He was deeply relieved when Henry came up to his side, as if nothing was wrong between them. He got it, even if certain other pig-headed people thought they needed to stick their snouts in.

"We could make s'mores!" Oz grinned with obvious delight when Henry asked about his plans. They weren't going to talk about what had happened. Oz wanted to say it was because there was no need except the increasingly big ball of guilt and pain and stomach aches said that maybe it was because he didn't know how. He did what he did with all the things he didn't want to think about, and swallowed down hard until he could pretend not to feel it any more. He would be blow hot until it was time to blow cold again. He would be warm and overcompensate, reach out and pull at Henry because he could never quite bear to let him all the way go, right up until he got so close to the dumpster fire that was Oz and his life that he might get burned, and then he would push him away again. But right now, it was upswing. "C'mon. We could have hotdogs too!"

13 Oz Spellman Or worth squeezing between graham crackers 1514 0 5

Dathan Fischer

August 19, 2021 10:45 PM

Catching up by Dathan Fischer

Dathan had been camping before, a few times, though not in the most vigorous sense of the term. On those occasions, they had rented an RV for a day or two and had mostly lived on potato chips, captain's wafers, and other such processed goodness for the very few meals necessary between eating breakfast at home before leaving home and usually hitting a fast food joint on the way back home.

Dathan was fond of those memories, but he couldn't deny that they weren't exactly a stellar preparation for real camping out. He was therefore really, really hoping that he could avoid making a fool of himself at the Midsummer event through sheer luck alone, as he lacked skills. Wizards had some neat things that weren't possible at home, but they had other places where they were still kind of...old school. Or a lot old school, even. He had no idea what to expect from wizard camping.

Luckily, it sounded from what Professor Skies said that this was one of the areas where wizards were at least on an even footing with his people. The context was painfully awkward, but Professor Skies had mentioned beds. There were also processed foods, and if they decided to attempt cooking, there were instructions. That was all good (though now he did have to wonder if saying 'done, thank you' would extinguish the fires activated by 'fire, please,' and also why they couldn't just ask things to do what they wanted all the time instead of learning all these complicated incantations they had to know...). It was in a cheery mood that he went looking for a fire to settle on after they were turned loose, and then spotted Sadie sort of...hovering, off to the side of everyone else.

"Hey, Sadie!" he greeted her. "Want to come see how much I can mess up cooking?"

16 Dathan Fischer Catching up 1457 0 5

Katerina Vorontsov

August 19, 2021 11:08 PM

Yes. Nothing wrong at all. by Katerina Vorontsov

It was done.

It was strange to think of, somehow. Katya could remember life before Sonora, and knew intellectually that it had really taken up more of her time on earth than school ever had, but it still felt as though school was a solid pillar of her existence, as much as practicing her languages or arguing with Tatya about stupid things. It didn't seem quite real yet to think that after tomorrow, it was entirely possible she'd never set foot here again.

She had thought of asking some of the other Advanced girls to make Ivan Kupala wreaths with her, but she had realized the trees here, such as they were, were all wrong for that. She could have gotten the correct branches sent to her from somewhere, of course, or could have Transfigured them, but that had felt like cheating somehow. Reasoning, then, that she had the rest of her life to be Russian, she had resolved to be as American as possible this one last night in the south.

Even considering that resolution, though, she was surprised by the hesitancy with which she greeted the idea of cooking for herself. It made no sense, she thought irritably, to feel that way. She was a perfectly competent potioneer, after all, and all the lists of directions she could see had far fewer steps and components and moving parts than even the simplest Beginner potion. It wasn't as if she was particularly afraid of fire, either. She had been taught to respect fire since she was a tiny girl, of course, but also that as long as she respected it, it was mostly a good thing, putting off heat and light, sustaining them all through the winter. All very curious...

She had just about settled on a recipe to try when she heard a sound behind her and turned to see that someone had fallen. Going over - she was still a Head Girl for a few more hours, after all - she was dismayed to recognize Professor Duell. What in the world was she doing out here? Of course the staff supervised them, but given the circumstances....

"Professor? Are you all right?" she asked. "Do you need help now?"

16 Katerina Vorontsov Yes. Nothing wrong at all. 1418 0 5

Giselle Duell

August 21, 2021 3:43 PM

Absolutely, good things all around by Giselle Duell

Katerina, it was Katerina. Giselle sighed a quiet sigh of relief, that was probably the best she could have hoped for. She was graduating and wouldn't have much opportunity to spread the tale of her teacher's incompetence at walking. A younger student or another staff member would have been terrible. She wasn't sure if Val would have been better or much worse. Speculation along those lines was useless though, she did have Katerina to deal with.

"I am fine, thank-you." She replied to the graduating girl in a resigned, and what she hoped was a casual tone. Trying to convey that the situation was 'no big deal' without implying that it was a common occurrence was tricky. "Accio wand", she called with her hand outstretched. It obediently flew into her hand. That was one skill she had made sure she had learned as young as she'd been able to do it… perhaps for situations like this. A reflexive motion of the wand brought the scene into focus again for her.

"I'm sorry if I worried you, I was just a bit distracted and found a small uneven bit of ground." She waved her wand again to begin collecting her scattered cards. She needed to refocus this conversation. Leaving this like this may make Katerina prone to talk about it, her best bet was to distract her with another topic and hope the girl forgot about what brought her over here in the first place.

"How go your plans for the future? Do they align with anything you have predicted in class?"

2 Giselle Duell Absolutely, good things all around 1517 0 5

Sadie-Lake Chalmers

August 24, 2021 7:15 PM

Still falling behind by Sadie-Lake Chalmers

Luck was on her side. Her sideline hovering had produced the very person she wanted to see. She smiled broadly at Dathan, already looking forward to this evening, though also running through an extensive mental list of the ways in which she could screw up and horribly embarrass herself. Apparently, she wasn't the only one thinking about that, though as usual Dathan was able to laugh off making mistakes as if they didn't matter.

"I'd like that a lot," she smiled. "I'm sure you'll do fine-they said it was easy." Oh. Wow. That definitely had sounded more reassuring and less like a massive insult in her head. "I-I mean..." She could feel her face flushing, and she crossed an arm over her chest. "Not that you'd only be good at... I just meant um... I mean, it's just for fun?"

If she had been anything like Dathan, there would have been a joke in there about seeing how badly she could mess up talking. She wasn't as good at laughing off her mistakes though.

"I'm sure you'll do better than me. I've never even roasted a marshmallow properly," she admitted, hoping that self-effacement could save her where constructing any kind of reasonable sentence had failed.

13 Sadie-Lake Chalmers Still falling behind 1480 0 5