Mortimer Brockert
February 18, 2024 3:28 AM
Returning Feast by Mortimer Brockert
Whomever had decided that holidays were more relaxing than the school year was quite frankly wrong. And insane. Maybe the summer break, but Midterm was anything but, it was a bunch of boring parties and socializing. Mortimer had no idea why anyone would prefer that to learning and studying. Even if you weren’t even that into learning and studying-and being an Aladren, he very much had been as basically when he’d been a teenager, he’d been exactly like Olaf-it had to be the lesser evil. Education had value, and aside from some expensive bourbon, he found little of that at society balls.Interestingly though-and it was interesting more due to the contradiction than actually being interesting as a subject-nothing happened at all. Like, there were too many parties and events, both familial and societal, but nothing…of note happened at them. Society parties were people distilling themselves down to the most inane, banal surface facets of themselves, talking about topics that also fit those parameters. Of course some people really were that dull. Most of them probably were or at least better at faking it than Isla or Liesl. Hence why Mortimer, like Olaf, always had preferred books.
Honestly, he could see the inherent flaws in this system. You couldn’t talk about anything interesting or deep for fear that it would reflect poorly on you or your family so it became this dreary chore. Not that Mortimer really cared what people thought about him anyway. Which he had made abundantly clear both at parties and regarding life in general.
As for family events…Eustace was obnoxious and obviously missed the memo about not being yourself. True, that was for society balls, where he absolutely acted like himself too. Fortunately for him, he had his cronies. Which was unfortunate for everyone else since that meant there were more people out there who shared at least some traits with the man.
Of course, Mortimer also supposed that being a Brockert was a factor and that was why both he and his son got away with behaving in ways that would be unacceptable from others.
Anyway, as the standards for family events were a bit lower, that meant that Eustace acted like himself there too and everyone sincerely wished that he would stop. However, terrible as Eustace was, it wasn’t really as if anything new or different happened. It was the same old crap and never ever changed. Which was why the holidays were both very eventful and completely not eventful at all.
Fortunately, now the holidays were over and school was back in session. Arguably, this was Mortimer’s favorite time of year because it was the longest amount of time before it was Midterm again and he had to put up with so many parties crammed into a short amount of time and also, before everything got all saccharine again.
The students entered and took seats at their house tables. Or at least, he assumed they did. They tended to be less strict about that than at the Opening Feast and obviously he really didn’t care where anyone sat. For example, hypothetically speaking, if Amethyst wanted to sit with Alexei, instead of sitting at her house table feeling bad because of what happened with her roommate-which obviously Mortimer did not know the details of because he was not…a person who discussed emotional teenage girl things, even with his granddaughters who he actually cared about-why shouldn’t she? That said, he absolutely did not see Amethyst sitting at the Pecari table. Being friends with Alexei was one thing, eating at a table full of them was probably a step too far for the prim and proper Crotalus girl.
Once everyone seemed to be in attendance, Mortimer stood and put the Sonorus charm on himself. “Welcome back everyone, I trust you have had a nice break.” At least, the ones who didn’t have crappy families or have to attend a bunch of parties anyway. “Before we eat, I have an announcement. As you all know, this year’s Midsummer Event will be the Fair. This year, we are doing passion projects. Essentially, this means you will pick a magical topic or practical project and showcase it. You may work alone, in pairs or in groups. More details will follow. “ Mortimer sat down and removed the charms as food appeared on the table.
Subthreads:Aladren
Did someone say research project? by Alexander Pierce with Quillan Arcadius, Nicholas Pierce, Desmond Brockert
Interesting by Phil Carson with Gwendolyn Brockert
Teppenpaw
Hm, yeah no by Lydia Priory
Crotalus
I'm meant to be passionate about something? by Wesley Wu
Pecari
Passion is my middle name! by Misty Brockert with Xarryn Bavol
Staff
11
Mortimer Brockert
Returning Feast
6
1
5
I'm meant to be passionate about something? by Wesley Wu
Wesley had had an enjoyable enough winter break. His family made a token nod towards Christmas, in that it was the dominant cultural tradition and an excuse for presents, and so as young children, he and his sister had been able to gently peer pressure their parents into some celebration of it. Given that his parents remembered growing up as the odd ones out amongst their classmates, this had been easy enough to do. They had a tree. They swapped small gifts. It was something that was nice but without the years of ritual and meaning that other families had baked into the fabric of their celebrations. He sometimes wasn’t sure whether he got twice as many holidays as other people or half. His family would also celebrate Lunar New Year, and as there was a decent-sized Chinese-American community where they lived, that actually meant some level of visible celebration—in China town, there were lion and dragon dances and decorations and the shops sold overly packaged gift boxes of oranges. At home, his grandma would make dumplings, and now, thanks to streaming sites and Youtube rips, it was easy for them to find at least highlights of the New Year Gala to watch (which he found boring/weird/cringey by turns, but it was a grandma thing, and on holidays you did the same stupid stuff your family had always done). But it wasn’t like they got time off school or his parents got time off work—they had to fit in their celebrations around everyone’s schedule. So, he was never sure if he got double holidays or two halves that didn’t quite equal one whole. And this year he wouldn’t even have that.He took his seat at the Crotalus table, trying not to feel short-changed or lonely, but it was a little hard. Learning magic was fun, but being home for Christmas had reminded him how much he missed his family, and he didn’t have any specific friends or strong relationships here yet that he was excited to get back to.
Apparently, what he had to look forward to was doing a ‘passion project’ which sounded more intimidating than anything else. He’d known he was a wizard for less than five months. He barely knew what existed in this world. Now he was expected to be ‘passionate’ about some part of it? He supposed he liked the paintings. Painting had always been his biggest interest, and the paintings here were very interesting… He wasn’t sure how complicated a piece of magic it was to create a magical painting, but they’d said research projects were an option. He could probably produce a little trifold board on magical painting, and might even have fun doing it.
“Happy New Year,” he said to his neighbour. “Any ideas for this passion project thing?”
13
Wesley Wu
I'm meant to be passionate about something?
1592
0
5
Alexander Pierce
February 25, 2024 8:39 PM
Did someone say research project? by Alexander Pierce
Returning feasts did not require strict adherence to the House Table system, which meant Alexander had opted to enjoy his at the Aladren table. By now, he had mostly gotten over not getting sorted into his brother's and parents' House (though he'd equally sympathized and been baffled by the Collindale girl's upset at the Opening Feast this year as Aladren had been the one he'd wanted and hadn't gotten), but most of his friends and especially Nicholas were here, so unless he came in with Ida, or was hoping to spend time with her, he usually ended up at the Aladren table anyway.Ida got Opening Feasts, though, so Returning Feasts were with Nicholas and the Guys, and this year especially, he wanted to run an idea by that group, so it was Nicholas, Quillan, and Desmond he was sitting with when he learned the bent of this year's Midsummer Fair.
It meshed very well with what he planned to talk to them about anyway.
"Listen," he said as soon as the food appeared, "I've been thinking of expanding our informal chess matches into an actual school club with tournaments and ranked games, but maybe we can also incorporate a research project into how the chess pieces actually work and have a booth teaching about those enchantments, and have demo games to see the charms in action for those who are less familiar with Wizards' Chess. It can also be used a recruiting tool for the club for next year. What to do you guys think? Is that something you would all be interested in doing?"
1
Alexander Pierce
Did someone say research project?
1566
0
5
Phil Carson
February 25, 2024 9:06 PM
Interesting by Phil Carson
It was his second to last Returning Feast. Phil loved the challenge and depth of this year's coursework, but being in Advanced classes just seemed to put a spotlight on the fact that he was Almost Done here at Sonora and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure it would have been so noticeable if he'd been at a normal high school and wasn't sharing lessons with the graduating class every day, but every time the teachers mentioned RATS or college or Life Beyond School, he was hit with the understanding that such remarks would be aimed at him in just one year's time and that didn't seem so far away anymore. Last year, he'd had to cope with becoming the Gaming Club Elder, and now he was an Advanced Student, and time just seemed to have sped up absurdly fast all of a sudden.At least Headmaster Brockert gave him a distraction. The Fair would be 'passion projects' which almost sounded like . . . the magical equivalent of a science fair? He hadn't said whether or not it was mandatory, but even if it wasn't, Phil doubted something like this was something an Aladren could opt out of without losing a few points of House Cred.
He tried to think of something he might want to do a project about, but while a few ideas occurred to him, none of them really stood out as a particular 'passion' of his.
He turned to the person sitting beside him curiously, and was glad this gave him a more interesting starting question than 'how was your break?' "Passion projects, huh? Anything leap to mind for you right off the bat?"
1
Phil Carson
Interesting
1536
0
5
Quillan Arcadius
March 01, 2024 9:04 PM
Yes they did by Quillan Arcadius
Passion project. On the surface of it, it sounded interesting. Quillan would get to research something of his choosing and share it with others, both of which he enjoyed doing, and maybe even make something interesting. However, as Alexander pitched his idea, Quillan started realising the pitfalls. If they had to make some kind of presentation, that probably included writing up their ideas. Doing it as a group might have meant other people to help him through the rough bits if he was willing to admit they existed, but as he wasn’t it meant joint research sessions and showing his notes to other people. Suddenly, rather than listening to books on his preferred subject and making something cool and practical to show off to people (and getting Ursula to check anything written carefully and secretly for him) he was getting engaged to read and write in front of others.“Sounds great!” He beamed, not letting any of his fears show on the surface. After all, he couldn’t exactly turn this down without seeming rude. And he did want to work with his friends and forming a chess club sounded like a great idea… He just wished he could take all the nice parts of that without the potential vulnerability and exposure. “If they allow groups this big,” he added, silently praying that they wouldn’t, and that he could then nobly step aside, which would make him The Good Guy who did something for the benefit of others. Even if he would feel sort of left out.
13
Quillan Arcadius
Yes they did
1570
0
5
Nicholas Pierce
March 04, 2024 6:57 PMNicholas Pierce
StudentHouse: Aladren
Year: 4
Written by: Grayson Wright
Age in Post: 13
Birthday: August
It could be interesting. by Nicholas Pierce
Alexander had a plan. In other news, water was wet. Nicholas was a bit surprised that Alexander had already figured out how to use the Fair to advance one of his own projects this fast, considering how they had just heard of it, but not at all that Alexander had had an idea anyway. This year – well, the first half of it, anyway – had been one thing, while they’d been getting used to their new nine-class schedules and more difficult coursework, but now it was time to start building outside the lines. Nicholas half-smiled fondly as his brother outlined his idea and how to tie it into a school event, even though he saw a potential issue right away.Quillan, however, saw another one, one that he hadn’t thought of. “’Group’ is pretty vague, so they really should have said something if they were going to set a limit,” he said, hoping to prevent his friend from worrying about that. “And – four? – isn’t that big of a group anyway.”
He hesitated, just slightly, over the word ‘four,’ but if Alexander had meant to include Ida in the conversation, he assumed his brother would have brought her along to the Aladren table. Plus, this was hardly the conversation where all plans would be finalized. He took a drink of water and continued.
“I think the enchantments are pretty complex, so that’ll look really good when we pull it off.” He managed not to hesitate on the ‘when.’ He expected it would be difficult, but that, of course was the point. Besides, Mom fussed all the time about how the school didn’t push them hard enough, about how the teachers and the people who set the educational standards underestimated how much they could really do. Here was their chance to prove it…maybe. “If those enchantments aren’t, you know, a trade secret or something,” he added. It was true that most businesses in their world operated because it was more convenient to let other people do either the tricky or tedious bits of magic for them, but also that some charms were patented. “Chess is older than the patent office, though, so there’s probably something we can work with, if we dig around long enough.”
16
Nicholas Pierce
It could be interesting.
1565
0
5
Misty Brockert
March 04, 2024 9:19 PM
Passion is my middle name! by Misty Brockert
While Misty was definitely already paying attention - at least, as much as Misty ever really paid attention when boring adults were talking - she snapped to focus at the phrase “passion projects” uttered by the Headmaster. Misty was nothing if not passionate. She was deeply caring and emotionally connected, and she loved everything. But more than anything, she loved ice skating. She did register that the idea was to showcase a “magical topic or practical project,” and depending on the definition of practical - a word she often avoided - her passion potentially did not qualify, but she could be stubborn if she had to be, and she would fight tooth and nail to get her way! Maybe she would even have Daddy talk to the Headmaster. A Brockert had pull, especially her dad. He was the heir, and his princess got what she wanted.The third year was absolutely beaming as the food appeared on the table. She wasn’t very hungry, but she took some food anyway because she knew she’d wake up absolutely starving in the middle of the night if she didn’t eat now, and while she fortunately had no roommate to annoy with her whining, she personally preferred not to live that way.
She was too eager to eat right away, though, and first turned to a neighbor. “Hi!” she grinned. “How was your break?”
12
Misty Brockert
Passion is my middle name!
1567
0
5
Xarryn Bavol
March 04, 2024 9:59 PM
Oh, that's weird! Mine too! by Xarryn Bavol
Xarryn wasn't quite sure what a 'passion project' was, but from context, he was getting that it was a fair thing about something you really liked. Maybe kind of like those projects from the last challenge where his team had designed a petting zoo and then had to build part of it to show off to the other groups, but maybe not as complex because they weren't working in groups of approximately seven people varying in age from eleven to eighteen.And there was one topic that he was more passionate about than any other. He looked across the room to the Teppenpaw table, hoping to catch Levi's eye and see if she was up for doing something pirate-y with him again.
Before he could spot her though, he noticed Misty - who was sitting much closer - beaming happily and he couldn't help but beam right back.
"My break was good!" he said cheerfully. "Stayed with my mom. Dad was out on a New Years' cruise for most of it, and the ship didn't come back to port in time for getting me on the wagon back to Sonora, so I couldn't go," he pulled a face of disappointment, "but I got to see him before he launched, and spent the first night in my usual bunk. And staying with Mom the rest of the time was pretty cool, too. I don't get to do that too much, and she took the whole time off work so we could hang out and do stuff together and that was awesome! How was yours?"
1
Xarryn Bavol
Oh, that's weird! Mine too!
1560
0
5
Lydia Priory
March 17, 2024 10:29 PM
Hm, yeah no by Lydia Priory
Lydia could not believe that this would be her last time returning to Sonora. As a student anyway, she’d likely come back when she had children-assuming she wasn’t too fragile to give birth, though frailer people than her had done it, given that Bridget existed and so did Ian Priory, so she was going to be optimistic about it-for their Concerts.And she was sort of terrified. First of all, because of RATS. Yes, Lydia had passed her CATS just fine after having a breakdown in front of her examiner and she knew what the testing process was like now. Gwendolyn thought that should have made the Teppenpaw less worried but it really didn’t. Nor did the fact that she “didn’t need” certain grades since she wasn’t going to college or planning to have a career. Professors hyped RATS up to be life or death even for people who weren’t planning to have a career where that would be the case, like your life would be ruined if you didn’t do well.
Now, someone like Sophia or Gwendolyn would have argued that things should not be one size fits all and that some people didn’t need a ton of high RATS scores to be happy and fulfilled in life. That the stressing that as the only path to success put a ton of unnecessary pressure on people like Lydia who had no logical reason to freak out-which sounded like an oxymoron, but the seventh year firmly believed there were such things as logical reasons to freak out, like when the meanest girl in school was your Challenge Team captain or when professors implied that if you didn’t do well on a test, your life would be ruined. They’d also argue that the whole thing where professors made it sound like you had to do well on RATS (so you could have career options) or you would live in poverty-which didn’t apply to Lydia personally-society would shun you and you might as well be a Muggle, was a huge value judgment that implied that having a career made you morally superior to someone without one. A value judgment that was often aimed at society pureblood girls that often didn’t have them.
And it was all well and good for girls like her sister and cousin to make those arguments. Super smart, confident Aladren girls who would never need to worry about grades since that was, like, what Aladrens did. Plus, the whole “career-ist” thing didn’t even apply to Gwendolyn who wanted to get a degree in criminal psychology–why anyone would want to deal with criminals was beyond Lydia, it sounded terrifying- and actually use it. So, yeah, if they wanted to come up with reasons why she shouldn’t worry and why it was all unfair and wrong, well, it wasn’t as if they really understood what it was like. Even if that did mean Sophia was on her side for once.
However, yes, she was still worried! Obviously. Even though Lydia had no plans for a career, her RATS scores could still affect her future. While the sort of person who would judge a potential spouse by how well they did on academic tests-Liesl seemed to think her brother was that sort-was not the sort of person that Lydia would want to marry-not that she would be marrying a distant cousin four years younger than herself, but she didn’t want to marry someone who was judgmental and mean-if she failed miserably, then people would think she was stupid or incompetent or that something was “wrong with” her and most of the time people didn’t want to marry people who had something “wrong with” them.
Although, to be honest, Lydia did have relatives who had things “wrong with” them….but were happily married. Though in both the case of her own parents and that of Bridget’s, the seventh year knew that both members of the couple had something “wrong with” them. In Mom’s case, it was a documented medical issue, which made the “wrong with” seem less ominous somehow but still technically was something that was actually wrong with her.
So, maybe it wouldn’t be that nobody would marry her, maybe someone else who had something “wrong with” them would. Which would be fine, depending on what exactly was “wrong with” them. Like, Lydia would not want to marry someone who had the same thing wrong with them that was wrong with Bridget’s dad! Or worse. She shuddered, thinking of Gwendolyn's criminals. The Teppenpaw didn’t want that . She had a hard enough time with having a first cousin who wanted to work with them as she was worried that somehow they might decide to hurt Gwendolyn-or her family, which obviously included Lydia! However, she could totally be okay with someone who had a bad back or other chronic health issue,
Nor did it matter that Mr. Barba had told both her last time and Gwendolyn recently that CATS were partially about Sonora meeting educational standards. That was CATS . Lydia was taking RATS . He didn’t say anything about those!
The other thing was that last time, she’d had a panic attack and since she was feeling terribly anxious about the whole thing, she didn’t consider it out of the realm of possibility that it would happen again. She had been lucky last time since she got a nice examiner. What if she got one of the mean ones this time? Lydia knew that they existed. She just knew it. Maybe Mr. Barba became a test examiner because he cared about education or was good at the job or something, but the Teppenpaw didn’t doubt that some of them were sadists who went into the job to torture students. Or they weren’t inherent sadists, but nerds who were bullied for being such and wanted revenge or something. Granted, they would likely torture the sort of people who had bullied them which was not Lydia, but sometimes people disliked pureblood girls or purebloods in general. What if she had a breakdown and they failed her for it or wouldn’t let her take it after, so she failed and had to make it up over the summer which meant having to deal with the anxiety over it even longer?
Or what if she couldn’t take it and people found out and viewed her as “too fragile” and nobody wanted to marry her?
That was another big thing she was worried about. Being a member of her social class meant going to society balls and while Lydia loved dressing up for them and looking like a princess…they were also terrifying. Like, she had to do her best to impress people and be a credit to both the Priorys and the Brockerts-and there was a lot more importance on the latter of course. Lydia was terrified that she’d mess up and embarrass herself and her family. And of course, that she’d get a reputation for being weak and fragile, and never find a husband because of it.
Honestly, she wished more than anything that she could have gotten lucky like Connor-or Hans and Liesl, who might not be a couple right now, but it seemed fairly inevitable-and found her special person at Sonora. Because that was what Lydia truly wanted, a soulmate. Someone who she could truly bond with, that would love her and care about her, no matter what. Someone who maybe even saw how weak she was-she was, after all, she just didn’t want it to be an obstacle to what she truly wanted in life-and wanted to take care of her. That was probably what she actually needed.
And Lydia wanted to believe it would happen for her. She believed in true love, like her parents or brother and Peyton or her distant cousin and classmate had. She wanted it for herself but she just…didn’t think she was good enough. Like, if she was a social disaster who failed RATS-or had a breakdown and wasn’t allowed to continue-nobody but her family would love her and in some cases-Sophia-even that was questionable.
Headmaster Brockert started the Returning Feast. Lydia was surprised when he actually made an announcement. This never happened! It looked like they were finally getting around to telling everyone what the Fair was about this year. Which might be interesting to look around at but she had no desire to participate. For one thing, she had to get ready for RATS and for another…well, she just didn’t want to put herself out there like that even if she was a seventh year and largely not going to see most of the people here ever again. Still, Lydia was afraid that she’d mess up that-especially with studying for RATS-or worse, that people would judge her for what she was passionate about.
So, no, while attending the Fair itself sounded like it might be fun, doing her own project was out of the question.
Still, once food had appeared and she served herself, she faced the person across from her and asked. “So, are you planning on doing a project for the Fair?” Because Lydia was genuinely curious about what sort of things that other people would be doing
11
Lydia Priory
Hm, yeah no
1533
0
5
Desmond Brockert
March 21, 2024 8:11 PM
Very by Desmond Brockert
Midterm had not exactly been fun for Desmond. Oh sure, he was happy enough to see his family, in particular his parents and he supposed Krisalyn. As for his extended family, first cousins and whatnot, on Father’s side, he really didn’t fit in so well. For one thing, most of them were so…little. Like, the closest cousin to his age was Jason and he was sort of a pain. Desmond had been unpleasantly surprised when the first year was Sorted into Aladren. Not that Jason was stupid or anything but the older Aladren had been sure that his cousin would be in Teppenpaw. He was too nice and way way too interested in Desmond’s personal development. Now the third year was a fan of personal development, but he and his cousin differed in what they thought that looked like. Also, Jason was way too Team Liesl.And that was another problem he had with Father’s immediate family. Grandma Imogen and Grandpa Ichabod-he did not call him Icky or Grandpa Icky like other people did,that was improper and disrespectful, plus Desmond didn’t care for nicknames in general-were warm and loving grandparents-to all their grandchildren. Which meant that while they treated Desmond good, they also thought Liesl was fine the way she was.
Then there were his uncles, Uncle Toby was a total loser and Uncle Cory was even worse. Like, he had a better job than Uncle Toby-in fact, Desmond wasn’t entirely sure Uncle Toby even had a job-but selling wands was still…like he was basically in the service industry then even if it was for a family member. Making wands, like Adam did, was respectable, selling them because the person who made them was either too shy or too misanthropic or both-Desmond had heard it was both-to deal with people was…not.
However, the bigger issue with Uncle Cory was that he was even more Team Liesl than his son or their grandparents. Aunt Amy and his other two kids were just as bad. Plus, Sam, Jason’s younger brother, was super annoying in a way that meant that he’d likely end up in Pecari. Uncle Cory was a problem in that he tended to try to subvert Mother in order to encourage Liesl in ways she shouldn’t be encouraged. The problems there were twofold, in that he shouldn’t be interfering with what a parent did with their own child, and that Liesl’s behavior was unacceptable, and she needed to be reigned in. Uncle Cory was preventing that, seemingly deliberately undermining Mother.
His mother’s family was, of course, better. They acted like proper human beings and while Desmond didn’t exactly have cousins close to his age, he enjoyed talking to the adults-most people his own age were super immature anyway, and he was lucky to have found people at school who were not-who he was pretty sure liked him more than his older sister of whom they seemed appropriately disdainful. She was weird and they didn’t get her anymore than Desmond himself did.
And, of course, that was the real issue. Liesl’s behavior. Nothing had changed . She still was acting like a spoiled brat about society balls and what to wear at them. Did she not get that it was the best thing for her? That Mother was doing this because she cared about what was best for them? That Liesl was lucky to be born into this station in life, and not be poor or a Muggleborn or something? Desmond had actually heard Mother mention to Grandmother Dumont that she was considering sending Liesl to an etiquette camp that turned…girls like his sister into proper young ladies. Which the third year felt was a good idea. Not that they hadn’t all had those lessons since they were toddlers but clearly the Teppenpaw needed the extra help. After all, it was good for her personal development.
Anyway, he was glad to be back at school. In addition to his love of learning and the fact that he was brilliant and excelled at academics, it was also nice to be around his friends again. People who got him. People his own age who were mature and intelligent. Also, truth be told, Desmond was glad to get away from the conflict between Mother and Liesl, which he totally blamed all on his sister. Although Uncle Cory fighting with Mother was somewhat worse. After all,the sixth year was an immature teenage girl who acted like a spoiled brat, but Uncle Cory was an adult who should know better. Actually, Liesl was technically an adult too, but there was still a difference. Yes, she needed to grow up too, but there was still a difference between a seventeen year old and someone who was fifty-four.
Desmond joined his friends. The Returning Feast was always nice because Alexander joined them and sometimes, he felt that the Crotalus was the one he had the most in common with since he was so ambitious. This was something that he admired in people as he generally admired qualities in people that he himself possessed.
Uncle Mortimer started the Feast and the Aladren was surprised to find that he was actually making an announcement, something that pretty much never happened at the RF, usually Uncle Mortimer just welcomed them back, and then sat down. As it turned out, they were finally announcing what the Fair would be, something that they sure took their time on. They probably just thought of something to do.
At least though, they picked something educational and interesting. However, before Desmond could think of which topics he was most interested in and come up with ideas, Alexander spoke up with his idea. “That’s a great idea. And I agree with Nicholas, four is not too many. I think this is a very involved project where we can all find things to do.” Was Quillan trying to get out of working with them? Why? Did he want to work with Charlotte instead? Desmond personally wanted to do this with the four of them, even Ida was seemingly not going to be involved at this point.
11
Desmond Brockert
Very
1572
0
5
Gwendolyn Brockert
March 24, 2024 6:44 PM
I suppose it depends on the project but it's an interesting Fair concept. by Gwendolyn Brockert
So it was the second half of Gwendolyn’s fifth year at Sonora. Which meant CATS. Truthfully, though, she wasn’t that worried about them. Academics were one of her strengths and even though she did need specific grades in specific classes so she could be a criminal psychologist, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be an issue.Lydia, of course, was having issues with RATS. Gwendolyn didn’t quite understand why. She knew her cousin had inherited Uncle Ian’s anxiety issues and had been sort of…babied, which seemed to have had a negative affect on her confidence. Still, realistically, the Teppenpaw had literally nothing to worry about, at least regarding the exams since she wasn’t going to have a career-Gwendolyn was more the exception than the rule for girls in her family, most of them had no career plans, and she probably wouldn’t have them either except that she’d found something that interested her enough-and had actually had never had an academic issue other than freaking out during some practical lessons in DADA, though Lydia was apparently very good at remembering everything they learned in the class that scared her, and doing make-up work when she was sick. And Lydia was just fine in terms of magical skill.
Of course, professors did have a tendency to make CATS and RATS sound like life or death, much to the apparent chagrin of one of the test examiners. Her dad was sort of friends with the head examiner, Raúl, who had done his very best to counteract the…level of anxiety-inducing pressure their teachers made people feel. The thing was though that Gwendolyn wasn’t all that worried to begin with, but she was still going with what he said rather than her teachers. After all, the man was a bonafide examiner, an insider to the exams.Not that he’d give her the answers or anything, as he was way too ethical but he probably knew more about what he was talking about.
And it was not that the tests weren’t important at all-Raúl had said that he had to believe that or his existence was sort of pointless-but they weren’t the doom and gloom you’ll be relegated to manual labor or on the streets if you fail sort of thing that was sometimes the impression Gwendolyn got from her professors given how much they stressed CATS prep. Even if it wasn’t explicitly said. She especially felt for Misty and the other third years who were in class with them and had to hear about CATS review two years before they’d have the exams. Of course, those boys in that class-with the exception of Misty’s friend Donovan and his friend Leo-had probably been prepping for all things academic including CATS and RATS since birth. Gwendolyn was unsure about Quillan Arcadius, but Desmond fancied himself a genius and from what she knew of the Pierce twins’ mother-Cory’s first cousin once removed, Emerald had married one of the New Hampshire Pierces so this was how Gwendolyn knew this, plus the twins’ parents were classmates of Uncle Evan’s and their dad had been his roommate and good friend-really stressed academic achievement and Alexander seemed especially ambitious from what she had observed in class.
Personally, though, Gwendolyn was happy to have the parents that she did have, ones who encouraged rather than pushed. Like, if she wanted to be a criminal psychologist and Misty wanted to pursue figure-skating, their parents were supportive but they weren’t going to get mad if, for example, Misty didn’t win. It was much more likely that they’d comfort her if she was disappointed than yell at or punish her. And Gwendolyn wasn’t pushed to excel academically, she just did.
Of course, that did not mean Mrs. Pierce actually was completely unreasonable and pushy-Uncle Evan generally had nice things to say about the twins’ parents so they both were probably nice people-, it was just that there were parents out there that were and Gwendolyn was glad that hers weren’t.
She took a seat across from Phil and Headmaster Brockert began the Returning Feast. The fifth year was surprised when he said more than he usually did at the RF. The Opening Feast had the Sorting and prefect and Head Student announcements, the RF usually was much less eventful.
However, she was glad to finally know what they’d be doing at the Fair, and it sounded awesome! “I’m thinking of something with criminal psychology, since that’s what I’m passionate about.” Gwendolyn answered her friend’s question. “I’m not sure exactly what yet, maybe a profile of a famous dark wizard or something. Are you planning to do anything?” She returned the question, genuinely interested in Phil’s response.
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Gwendolyn Brockert
I suppose it depends on the project but it's an interesting Fair concept.
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Alexander Pierce
April 21, 2024 1:37 PM
Wonderful! by Alexander Pierce
Alexander smiled as his friends agreed immediately to his idea. There was a minor debate about the allowed size of a fair group, which four surely wouldn't hit any such limit, but if they made it a whole chess club thing, as Alexander had sort of implied (and Quillan, at least, seemed to have heard it as much since he was the one doubtful about size limits), that might start pushing boundaries, assuming the club got to be larger than the four of them.Nicholas seemed to think they'd be actually building a chess set from scratch and doing their own enchantments, rather than just demonstrating how a commercial set worked, and that sounded interesting enough that Alexander nodded along like that had been his plan the whole time and he totally wasn't stealing the idea from his twin. It sounded difficult and challenging but they were three brilliant Aladrens and an equally brilliant Crotalus who'd been raised by overachieving Aladrens his whole life, so he was sure they could overcome any barriers they faced together.
"Great! So we'll plan on doing that. For a larger group, they'd probably just want more information packed into our project, so we can talk about what the enchantments do, reproduce them, demonstrate how the game is played, and maybe look into the history of the game. Do we want to divvy that up into chunks for each of us to work on in our own time, or plan to meet up and do our researching together? And did we want to do it just the four of us, or open it up to the chess club as a whole once we get that going? Obviously, we'd have to have that be optional since there might be group size limits once we involve a whole club, or people might have other passions they want to do a project on, or plans with other friends, or just not want to be a part of a fair project." Why anyone wouldn't, Alexander couldn't imagine, as it was an opportunity to impress teachers and peers and make a good impression on how clever they all were, but some people were shy or didn't like advocating for themselves or just weren't clever to begin with, he guessed.
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Alexander Pierce
Wonderful!
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