Mortimer Brockert
August 11, 2023 6:23 PM
Returning Feast by Mortimer Brockert
OOC: CW-Eustace BIC:
The holidays had passed as they usually did. Parties sucked, Eustace sucked. Although Mortimer had gotten to spend some time with his new great-grandson, Orion, so that was kind of nice. Of course, he would enjoy him more once Orion got past that toddler stage, when he became more of a…person. Mortimer loved and cared about him because Orion was his great-grandson, but babies were sort of like weird little aliens to him. They ate, slept, pooped and cried and generally weren’t that interesting. And toddlers got into everything.
Although Honora didn’t, really. But Mortimer was pretty sure that was because of her father. Oh, if she was the boy that Eustace wanted, he probably would have actively encouraged that, as well putting her on a broom the minute she could sit on one-though Mortimer would so not put it past him to start trying way before that and being angry when she couldn’t-but as she was a girl, she was mostly subjected to her father’s angry disappointment. Mortimer would probably have to characterize her as withdrawn more than just well-behaved.
And, to be fair, he had to say that Helena’s treatment of her daughter was probably a factor. The two were pretty much joined at the hip. He really believed that this was partially because Helena was probably trying to protect the little girl from Eustace but was also probably because she finally had the child that she had wanted and tried for so long. Still, Mortimer believed that there was no way that Honora was going to grow up to be a well-adjusted human being. Of course, with Eustace as a father, he would be happy to see her grow up as a human being at all.
Anyway, now he was glad to be back at Sonora, mostly because it got him out of going to parties-and admittedly, he didn’t have to put up with Eustace. It might be an awful thing to think about one’s child, but…Mortimer did not especially enjoy spending time with him. Even if he hadn’t been an admittedly horrible person, they really had little in common. Mortimer could at least have reasonably intelligent conversation with his other sons, but Eustace was neither reasonable nor intelligent. He knew it was important to accept your children for who they were, having seen how it affected Liesl-and would likely affect Honora too-not to, but…there were limits.
Once the students had all arrived, Mortimer stood, placed the Sonorus charm on himself and said. “Welcome back. I hope you had a nice break.” As usual, there were no announcements for the Returning Feast. They did not need to be reminded of the Ball. They were likely well aware of it. Similar to how fifth and seventh years were well aware of their exams as these were things that he was sure came up as topics on a regular basis. Mortimer sat back down, removed the charm and began to eat.
Subthreads:Crotalus
Wishing and hoping by Verdillia Scurlock with Christopher Brockert
Aladren
There goes everything. by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Teppenpaw
Back now? Sorta? by Edu Alamilla with Leo Lyons
Pecari
Determination. by Fortune Ardovini
Staff
11
Mortimer Brockert
Returning Feast
6
1
5
Edu Alamilla
August 14, 2023 9:06 PM
Back now? Sorta? by Edu Alamilla
Edu thought he perhaps had an odd perspective on the returning feast. This is mainly because he never left. His first ever term as a student had wrapped up somewhat anti-climatically, in that nothing major had happened. Then pretty much everyone left. He moved back in with Madre and Padre, and things were like how they had been before school had started. That was probably how everyone else felt as well, but they at least had a change of scenery. Returning feast wasn't so much as him returning to school, or the new term starting up again, but everyone returning back to him.He did also get to return back to the Teppenpaw dorm as well. He wondered about the students that stayed at the school over break, and if he did it as well, if he could stay in his dorm. Not that he had anything against home, but he had gotten used to his dorm room, and moving back and forth seemed like an odd hassle. Maybe he'd talk to Madre about it, and then Professor Xavier. In the meantime he found a seat at the Teppenpaw table and reveled a little once more in being a student and getting to participate finally.
Headmaster Brockert gave one of his famously short welcoming speeches and then the food appeared. Edu's face lit up at all of the options laid out before him. Feasts were fun, and an excellent time to try some different foods. He looked about and spotted something he hadn't seen before, "Excuse me," He said to one of his housemates nearby, "Could you pass me that dish over there please? The one with the odd looking stuff on it."
OOC: Whomever responds to this post is free to pick whatever sort of strange or exotic food Edu may have indicated. Have fun!
2
Edu Alamilla
Back now? Sorta?
1579
0
5
Fortune Ardovini
August 15, 2023 9:16 PM
Determination. by Fortune Ardovini
If he was completely honest with himself, Fortune was starting to worry. He sat at the Pecari table and watched everyone around him mingle. He had as well a bit, but that bit had started him worrying. One of tge topics of conversation going around was of course about the ball, and he hadn't figured out what he was doing about it yet. Time was beginning to run short.Early last term he had a thought about asking Yarielis to go, but they'd gotten a bit caught up in their task for the day and it had slipped his mind to actually ask. Oh, who was he kidding, he'd chickened out pure and simple. It seemed so simple of a thing at the beginning, but when the time came, he'd just let her walk away. He'd chickened out the whole term. Now where was he?
He had noticed Yarielis hanging out with Cole more, they were probably already planning on going together. Maybe he should ask Cole first? Then he wouldn't have to make himself look like a fool to her.
Fortune chewed on some of the food he'd put on his plate after the Headmaster's 'speech', and looked around the room. Was there another girl he could ask? Were any of them unattached at this point? His eyes kept drifting back to Yarielis though. They'd had some fun times. Alright, he was going to do it. Not now naturally, but the first chance he got. Class tomorrow perhaps. Maybe he could catch her in the library. He was definitely going to do it though.
2
Fortune Ardovini
Determination.
1549
0
5
Verdillia Scurlock
August 17, 2023 8:34 AM
Wishing and hoping by Verdillia Scurlock
In terms of external validation from peers and teachers, Verdillia was having an excellent year. She had the prefect badge, the leadership of the visual arts club (which was going very well), and she’d had two trip buddies to spend time with in Tumbleweed. She didn’t think it was big-headed to assume she was the cementing factor in that scenario—Lydia and Claire didn’t seem to be friends in their own right, but they had both wanted to hang out with her.It was frustrating that those achievements, which on paper were the things she wanted, were feeling small and insignificant because of the looming spectre of the ball, to which she was still dateless. Even worse, she was a dateless prefect.
It was possible Christopher was waiting until nearer the time to ask her. Maybe that was how it was done, or it didn’t seem that important to him because he went to lots of balls, or maybe he’d wanted to get the Midterm balls out of the way in case they interfered somehow.
Or maybe he just didn’t like her like that.
Perhaps she wasn’t good enough—the fact that she couldn’t make a real guess at whether he was following the usual protocol and timelines spoke to the fact that maybe her education in all matters society hadn’t been enough to truly make her into one of them. Perhaps he was upset that she had got prefect instead of him. She wanted to be proud of herself, but perhaps it wasn’t proper…
Why was this so hard? It wasn’t like she wanted universal adoration and appreciation—she knew that was unrealistic. One couldn’t please all of the people all of the time. But she just wanted it from all the ones that mattered. Surely one could please all of the important people all of the time, and then just forgo the ones whose good opinions weren’t worth much in order to fulfil one’s quota of not pleasing ‘everyone?’
As the feast began, she helped herself to some minestrone soup, hoping that all the dresses she’d tried on over Midterm weren’t going to be for nothing.
13
Verdillia Scurlock
Wishing and hoping
1541
0
5
Leo Lyons
August 22, 2023 12:39 AM
It's like we never left. Literally, in your case. by Leo Lyons
Christmas back home had been fine. Donovan's family had gone to Connecticut to see Mrs. Peters' sister or mom or somebody, so Leo's dad hadn't had the chance to bore them all with talk about the weather again. That was fine with Leo, since all Donovan could find to talk about lately was Misty, anyway. Overall, it was a happy holiday spent at home with his parents.Leo was glad to be back at school; his grades had been excellent for the first half, and he was ready to smash it again in the second half. He'd asked for and received fancy parchment and a peacock quill for Christmas, and he had saved them to try out until he'd returned.
Edu was the groundkeeper's kid, a nice guy and pretty knowledgeable about both the plants and the critters that roamed the grounds. Leo gladly passed him the plate of what appeared to be snails in the shell. They smelled garlicky, and Leo was half tempted to try one, but looking at the antennas weirded him out.
"Here you are," he said, handing over the snails, "I'll trade you for those carrots, if you don't mind. Did you have a good holiday?"
64
Leo Lyons
It's like we never left. Literally, in your case.
1568
0
5
Christopher Brockert
September 02, 2023 11:21 AM
Granting a wish by Christopher Brockert
As usual, Christopher was more than happy to come back from midterm. School was his safe place, his Uncle Eustace-free zone. Although his uncle wasn’t banned from the property, like he was from Uncle Elmer and Aunt Madeleine’s house, he had no reason to be here. It would be years before Honora entered school, and Chris would be long graduated by the time she was. Also, he honestly could not imagine Uncle Eustace coming to his daughter’s school concerts since he seemed generally disinterested in her at best.And she’d be better off for it. Christopher very much wished his uncle had been disinterested in him . That’s why he preferred school. Jasper had felt no differently.
Actually, the fact that he only had two and half years left at Sonora terrified him more than the CATS at the end of the year. Which was confusing. The Crotalus very much expected to be utterly panicked about them. He panicked about most stressful things and he did need to do well and continue specific classes in order for his future career, but he was only a little worried and only really about DADA.
Christopher supposed if he could be considered confident about anything, it was academic matters. Like, as he had always done well in his classes-for the most part, flying had obviously not…been a strength and there were some DADA lessons where he had not exactly excelled, things like dueling-so logically he could deduce that he would not flunk out of school or anything.
So, no, academic ability itself was not something that Christopher worried about. Although, he did worry that it was not okay for him to be that good at school, because his uncle would mock him as a nerd if he was too smart. Although the fifth year had to wonder if that was because Uncle Eustace wasn’t that bright himself, so he had to run down those who were.
However it wasn’t as if Chris had a cavalier attitude about them like Topaz had, he was still studying, just not panicking.
The social aspect of life, however, was much more anxiety inducing. In addition to putting up with his uncle, the fifth year had started attending balls over the holidays. Which were not that…much fun. Like, in that they were stressful. Christopher didn’t know the people at them all that well except for his cousins so it was the same old thing about not knowing who was safe to approach. Who would judge him for his lack of athleticism and traditional masculine behavior and interests the way that Uncle Eustace did.
Whether or not girls would find him attractive when he lacked those things. Others might say Christopher had a lot to offer, he was smart, kind, artistic, not bad looking and a Brockert, which might not mean much to people at school but was a big thing in pureblood circles. The problem was that, thanks to his uncle, he was worried that all but the last two things were bad qualities that made him nerdy, effeminate and all around unattractive and undesirable to the opposite sex. Even though literally nobody but Uncle Eustace had ever actually implied those things-there were other people that Chris feared felt that way,but his uncle was the only one he knew for a fact thought that way.
School though was a safe place for him. A place where the Crotalus was…probably as comfortable as he was ever going to feel. Having to mostly start all over at society balls just made him appreciate it more. There were actually people here that he was comfortable with that he wasn’t related to and very few people he felt he needed to avoid whose radar Christopher didn’t seem to be on anyway.
And speaking of people he was comfortable with and balls, well, the situation of being in the latter without the former had made him decide to show how much he appreciated someone that he was comfortable with and ask Verdillia to the ball. Truth be told, he’d really had to work up the nerve to do such a thing. The other Crotalus was a good friend, but that didn’t mean she’d want to do..that. Like, Verdillia seemed very traditional and proper and of course, Christopher worried that she’d prefer someone more traditionally masculine, like one of the Quidditch players, though he didn’t know who exactly since they were either too young, too old, spoken for or female, or some combination of such other than Cole.
Still, she needed someone to do the opening dance with, unless they were doing a group thing like last time, and well, Christopher admittedly did not want to stand around all night with nobody to talk to like some of his family did last time. And spending time with someone he did know and like and knew liked him was preferable to making awkward conversation with someone who did not fit in those categories.
That did not mean that he was not nervous. So, once Grandfather welcomed everyone back-that was not a speech- it was with great trepidation and with butterflies beating away in his stomach that Chris turned to Verdillia and blurted out “Will you go to the ball with me?” Okay, maybe it wasn’t the…smoothest way to ask and maybe he should have like, worked up to it, asked about her break or to pass the mashed potatoes or something, but there it was. It was asked.
11
Christopher Brockert
Granting a wish
1539
0
5
Verdillia Scurlock
September 04, 2023 8:43 AM
Excellent by Verdillia Scurlock
Was Christopher Brockert mildly telepathic? It was not the most logical conclusion, but given the speed and immediacy of his delivery upon her thinking about it, it was the first that came into Verdillia’s head. After all, he was a gentleman, well practised at asking people to stately affairs, and Verdillia was his friend. Therefore she couldn’t attribute any kind of rush to nerves—only to the ludicrous idea that she had somehow beamed the thought into his head and he’d stumbled over spitting it out as fast as possible.“Yes!” she said, just as fast. Even if caught a little off guard, there was no thinking over needed to such an invitation. And whatever it lacked in romance or sense of ceremony, it made up for in resolving her need to wonder about it any more. “I’d be honoured,” she added, because it seemed a little blunt otherwise, and because she really, truly was.
She ducked her head, not doing a completely effective job of hiding the beaming smile that was threatening to take over her face completely. Not that she minded if he knew she was pleased—he ought to—she just didn’t want to seem like she was being giddy or silly over it. Perhaps she oughtn’t have said ‘yes’ quite so fast? But oh well, there was no taking it back now.
13
Verdillia Scurlock
Excellent
1541
0
5
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
September 10, 2023 11:59 AM
There goes everything. by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
It had been a disappointing midterm for Lazarus, all things considered. He had thought by now - by the time he got home again - that things would be different, but they just… they just weren’t. Everything was as it had been in September. The house remained blissfully over-cluttered yet mostly organized. His room was still the light grey paint he had chosen when they repainted a couple years ago. Mom and Dad were still… Mom and Dad.And his little brother could not do magic.
That was the part that he was upset about, obviously. Atticus turned eleven in November, but thus far, nothing. No accidental outbursts or displays. Nada. Lazlo had not prepared himself for that, but now he was forced to face the terrible realization that his little brother was a Squib.
His brother seemed to be handling it pretty well. Much like Lazarus himself, Atticus tended to be fairly even-keeled and well-adjusted. (A surprise based on, well, everything about their childhood, really.) it was Laz himself who was not handling it well. Despite the not insignificant age gap, he had been very much looking forward to having his brother at Sonora with him. Someone to make him feel not so alone all the time. And now, it was just him. Forever.
He listened vaguely to the Headmaster talking, but the man never really had anything of interest to say when it was so obvious he also wanted to be done talking as quickly as possible. Laz eyeballed the food before him but found himself not particularly hungry. He heard what he thought was a neighbor asking for him to pass them a dish when he was done with it, but he sent it along without taking anything from it at all.
12
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
There goes everything.
1548
0
5
Christopher Brockert
October 15, 2023 3:21 PM
Fantasitic by Christopher Brockert
Even though Verdillia actually replied pretty quickly, the time seemed to stretch to an eternity. Christopher had no real reason to think she would reject him, as they were friends and she needed someone to do the opening dance with, but at the same time, that didn’t mean that she would want to go to the ball with him as his date . For all he knew, Verdillia would prefer someone a bit more…manly.Although she’d never given Christopher that sort of impression. And he knew that there weren’t that many options overall, let alone that fit that description. After all, Hans was going with Liesl, Xavier didn’t like girls, and Phil and Eben were absolute geeks. Which Chris did not mean as an insult as he obviously was not a fan of hyper-masculine jocks. The point was, that aside from perhaps Alexei, who at least fit the description better than the three fifth year boys, Verdillia wasn’t going to find that even if she wanted it.
The thing was though, he still worried. He always worried about this and he was probably always going to because of Uncle Eustace. And made Christopher sort of mad, both at his uncle and at himself, the former for obvious reasons and himself for not…being able to push it to the side. To ignore it, like Olaf could. Maybe it was true that his cousin hadn’t been traumatized the same way as him and Jasper or maybe the third year was just somehow wired differently, in a way that meant that he didn’t care what others thought.
Unfortunately for Christopher, he didn’t have the same gift. He did care what others thought, he did worry about it. A lot. Even when he logically shouldn’t but then those whose opinions he logically shouldn’t care about were the ones he most worried about. Because he worried that they’d make fun of him for the same things that his uncle did. Even though nobody at Sonora ever had thankfully.
Still,it was always a factor to Christopher. Not to mention the way he’d asked the question had been extremely awkward and not terribly romantic so he breathed a huge sigh of relief when Verdillia said yes. “Great!” He replied, turning slightly pink when she said she’d be honored. “So, um, do you have your dress yet?”Chris asked. Not that he was into fashion. Nor did he want her to think he was. He had enough problems with not appearing masculine enough. “I mean, if I want to order you a corsage, I want it to match your dress.” He doubted that she would be very happy if it clashed, after all and he did want to do things right. Christopher really did want Verdillia to have a nice time, not to mention continue to like him and be his friend.
11
Christopher Brockert
Fantasitic
1539
0
5