Mortimer Brockert
October 11, 2013 11:27 PM
Flying Lessons by Mortimer Brockert
Mortimer couldn't believe that of all the things he had to do in his transition to Headmaster, that he had to teach Flying Lessons. The man hadn't been flying in years. Not on a broom anyway. If Mortimer wanted to fly, he just turned himself into a raven, his animagus form, and did so. He was a Brockert and that meant Transfiguration talent, among other things, things a bit vulgar and classless to mention but yet everyone but Muggleborns knew they had them. And if they attended Sonora, they would know too. His appointment as Headmaster as Sonora would only increase the family's image.Right now though, he had to teach them how to fly. Not with wings, but with a broom. Not that Mortimer expected the lot of them to become animagi, maybe not even the ones related to him. He'd noticed two Brockerts on the student list, but for the life of him, he couldn't place Duncan or Serena Brockert and had no idea which of his cousins they belonged to. He didn't think they were twins though. There was a set in the family, he knew but he was pretty sure they were both girls. It wasn't his job to know but that of the family patriarch and he was far from that job. Though he'd bet his niece Alessa would know too, the girl made genealogy a hobby. Mortimer was rather fond of the girl, she was intelligent and not fond of socializing and rather awkward and stiff when she attempted it. In short, she was a lot like him.
He'd noticed two Bennetts on the list as well, though the second "t" had somehow been left off the girl's name. Mortimer took this to be a typo. He noticed a lot of respectable names on the list as well as some unfamiliar ones. Like most classes at Sonora, it looked to be a good group comprised of mostly purebloods.
The sun shown down on them. He had always personally found this to be a good time to take a nap if you were going to take one, though usually Mortimer preferred to spend his down time, reading something educational, learning new things, like the Aladren that he was. Truly, Aladrens and Crotali were far more respectable than their counterparts in Teppenpaw and Pecari. Pecaris were wild and lacked general deportment for the most part and Teppenpaws were weak.
He stood in front of the group of first years. "Hello, and welcome to Flying Lessons" It was a comforting thought that this was the only time that he'd ever had to do this. "I am Mortimer Brockert, for this year, you will all refer to me as Mr. Brockert." The emphasis on all was aimed at his own kin, who were not about to get any special favors. He did have to at least make a show of impartiality, no matter how he felt inside. That included no special treatment for relatives, purebloods, Crotali, Aladrens, or those who he somehow felt were especially gifted whom he'd otherwise be tempted to favor. Not that being gifted in flying mattered one bit to him. All this was to him was something the current Headmistres had instructed him to do for some reason and Mortimer had to do what he had to do. Next year, his time would come.
The future and apparently sometimes current Headmaster called role, starting with Lilliana Bannister and ending with Theodore Wolseithcrafte. He felt for that boy, not for the unpopular political views of his family but for what a mouthful of a last name he had-and unfortunately for Mortimer, if he had to directly deal with him, he'd have to use Mr. Wolseithcrafte's name all over again as he simply couldn't call a student by their first name at this point. He'd feel too odd doing so, like it broke some sort of boundary of familiarity that he did not have with his students, he believed in professionalism. Of course, he wasn't sure how well that would work out when his eldest granddaughter Emerald came to school but he'd deal with that when it happened in seven year's time.
"Those of you who do not have your own broom, please go to the storage shed and pick one out from the schools. When you have selected your broom, line up, put your hand over the broom and firmly say 'up' in a commanding voice, like you would order around a servant, for that's what your broom is, your servant. It does what you want it to do." He figured with a good portion of them being from the right sort of family, they would understand the comparison.
For the most part, due to his general lack of interest in the subject, beyond a small part of him that appreciated the brutality of Quidditch, he was going to stick with-well he couldn't call that woman his predecessor, mostly on the grounds of her honestly having a different job than he really had so he'd call her the previous instructor-the previous instructor's way of doing things, despite his general distaste for the woman. She should have been fired way back when she'd hexed that student, whether the student was acting up or not. There were other, more civilized ways of punishment.
"Now, I know quite well that some of you do not want to fly whether it be for family reason or due to a general lack of athleticism. Unfortunately for you all, it is part of the school curriculum for first years. All you have to do is make it through the year and you'll never have to sit on a broom again being that there are far more practical ways to travel." Okay, so Mortimer flew in his animagus form at times rather than floo or portkey or apparition. Because he could . "For those of you who are experienced flyers, you are allowed to play as you wish as in previous years, however, if I see safety protocols not being followed you will be back on the ground, sitting in the stands and have to write me a five foot essay on safety in Quidditch, due the next class period. You may be released to do as you wish, within reason."
He turned back to less experienced flyers who he expected were muggleborns and pureblood girls. "For those of you not comfortable with the idea of flying due to reasons of it being thought unladylike," Really, Mortimer couldn't see any reason why a girl shouldn't play Quidditch if she wished, there was little to no academic evidence of it making them lesbians, and if they wished to risk life and limb for a trivial matter, that was their business just as it was for a boy, "You are welcome to ride side saddle if you feel more comfortable with that. If you to not ride at all, or attempt to get your broom up, you will write a five foot essay on flying and its history due by the next class period. If you attempt to leave class, it will be a ten foot essay and detention for a month." With that, Mortimer dismissed them to do whatever it was they planned on doing while he kept an eye on them from the stands.
Subthreads: Already done. by Sasha Sinclair, Crotalus with Atlas Primred, Pecari, Sasha Sinclair
Making the required show. by Isaac Douglas, Crotalus with Theodore Wolseithcrafte
Great...now I'm a flying freak as well by Ariel Thornton, Crotalus with Brandon Carey, Pecari, Ariel Thornton, Brandon Carey
Finally: something I'm good at! by Morgana Bennet with Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau
An odd surprise. by Liliana Bannister with Morgana Bennet, Crotalus
Flying away by Leonidas Bennett, Aladren with Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw, Duncan
I don't like this, by Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
11
Mortimer Brockert
Flying Lessons
6
Mortimer Brockert
1
5
Leonidas Bennett, Aladren
October 24, 2013 11:28 PM
Flying away by Leonidas Bennett, Aladren
To fidget was, Leo knew, the height of indignity. It was not befitting of his stature, either the one he had now or the one he assumed he would take up someday, both at this school and in the wider world, as a matter of natural right. Not fidgeting should have been so much a part of his nature that he should not have even had to think about it, much less think very hard to restrain himself from doing it.He flattened his hair again, then straightened his glasses. Again. He did, though, successfully avoid looking sideways at the future headmaster again. It was…not a victory, because it was no victory to not do something he was too good to do anyway, but at least a step in the right direction?
Why, oh why, did it have to be the future headmaster in charge of their flying lessons? Why couldn’t he have taken Charms, or Potions, or Transfiguration, or…anything but this? Here was one of the most important people in the school, one of the people Leo would seriously consider selling at least a fragment of his soul to impress, and he was presiding over…flying lessons. On one hand, it made him a lot less intimidating, since the subject was so very pedestrian, but on the other hand, this was not a class where Leo was going to get to do anything which would mark him out as a boy to keep an eye on, someone who was going to do great things. Here, he didn’t think he could really hope to be anything more than…average.
Leo was a middle child and a second son. His family had never caused him to have as much of a complex about it as some people in similar positions he had met, since there was every chance he could be as or more important than his older brother someday, but average was still a word which just didn’t sit well with him. He did not want to be average at all, but especially not in front of an important person. He couldn’t see any way out of it, though, so he fidgeted in his discomfort, tried to stop, became more uncomfortable, stopped again, became more uncomfortable still, started again….
He jumped a little when Brockert finally said, ” Hello, and welcome to Flying Lessons," and straightened his glasses again, but this time his main feeling was one of relief. At least the waiting was over.
He managed not to flinch at all as Brockert proceeded to demonstrate, in no uncertain terms, that he was not a pushover in any way, then debated, silently and furiously, with himself for a moment when it turned out that those who already knew how to fly need not stay for the basic lesson. On one hand, it would not be a good thing to look incompetent in front of everyone, but on the other, staying might make him look like he was striving to make sure he did everything according to school standard, as well as keeping him in the headmasterly presence. But that, in its turn, might be too obvious a form of sucking up. But if he didn’t….
Feeling like his head was going to explode and thinking that this was not at all a good omen for the year, Leo kicked off and flew away.
He expected anxiety and the certainty that he had done the wrong thing to settle in at once, but instead, he felt freer once he was away from the headmaster, who was clearly none too fond of reciting the expected lines, and far more comfortable. He had no idea, though, if that meant he had done the right thing or the wrong thing, or even if the feeling had anything to do with the thing at all. Flying around had, after all, always been one of the ways Leo depressurized, or at least it had for as long as he could remember. It was possible he should have been feeling stress and normally would have, but that the action causing it was also curing it, which he thought was pretty strange-sounding and probably a reason to stop thinking about it and just fly.
0
Leonidas Bennett, Aladren
Flying away
269
Leonidas Bennett, Aladren
0
5
Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
November 10, 2013 4:35 PM
Joining you. by Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
Duncan had, of course, been on a broom before. In fact, he rather liked flying because then he could float along with the myriad of ghosts that inhabited his house. Though, his mother really didn't like him to fly inside. She was always saying he'd break something and truthfully, he really didn't understand. Whether she meant his bones-which was unlikely, given she seemed okay with Duncan flying outside and his sister got into more scrapes with the horses and her general love of the outdoors-or antiques, which was far more likely, either could be easily mended.He was not that keen on Quidditch though. His uncle Frederick, who had been the brother of Duncan's great-great-great-great-great grandfather Adam Sawyer, had died during a game when a bludger got him in the head. His whole face was smashed in, which was how his ghost appeared now. It was quite a disconcerting sight when one was eating breakfast. Though now, he was a bit used to it.
In fact, most of his childhood had been spent around more dead people than living ones. All the cousins Duncan had close to his age were distant and they didn't really live near anyone. As far as his parents, especially his mother, were concerned he hadn't come to Sonora a moment too soon. They feared him being socially maladjusted, even though the first year personally thought his social skills were just fine. His manners were just as good as anyone else of his social status. According to Mother though, it wasn't healthy for a young boy to spend so much time among the dead. She thought he needed living companions his own age. Duncan wasn't opposed to that, but he wanted his ghostly companions too. He was going to have to investigate the school in order to find some.
Really, that would be a better use of his time than flying lessons as he knew how to fly already and it wasn't all that important of a subject anyway. He could learn much more from a ghost than he could in this class. Not that Duncan thought of his distant relative as incompetent, it was just that it would be new knowledge. This wasn't and thus he wasn't learning anything-which was why one went to school in the first place. Mother had stressed the social aspects of Sonora though. Perhaps she just wasn't that worried about his grades. Duncan had always done well in lessons prior to Sonora.
Still, he had to stay here. Leaving class would be out of the question even if Mr. Brockert-so weird to refer to anyone that way but the man had made it quite clear-had not spelled out the punishments for them. He really didn't have any desire to write a ten foot essay. Best to leave the ghost hunting until later. It wasn't as if the Teppenpaw had any issues flying for a little while anyway.
He mounted his broom and took off into the air once given permission, noticing that most of the others took off into the air aside from Serena and another boy, probably the one whose name Duncan didn't recognize who was likely Muggleborn. There were probably pureblood boys who didn't know how to fly, but it was more likely that a Muggleborn wouldn't at all. He felt sorry for Serena though, especially once that boy took off into the air. His cousin seemed on the sensitive side and he didn't think she'd like feeling different and standing out. She looked a bit lost.
Duncan spotted a boy who was flying around by himself. He figured that was as good a place to start as any if his mother really wanted him to make friends with living people. The Teppenpaw flew up to the other boy. "Hello, I'm Duncan Brockert of the Colorado Brockerts." He introduced himself.
11
Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
Joining you.
271
Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
0
5
Leonidas Bennett
November 10, 2013 9:52 PM
You're welcome to do so by Leonidas Bennett
Leo slowed his flight when another boy approached him, not interested in causing offense by crashing into him, and made a very shallow bow when the other introduced himself, assuming this would not be taken as a sign of disrespect since they were precariously perched on thin strips of wood far above the very firm ground. Typical American social conventions had not really, Leo thought, in a major oversight on their part, been developed with broom-side interactions in mind.“Good afternoon,” he said. “I am Leonidas Bennett, of the California Bennetts.”
Using his full name was becoming slightly less strange as the days went on, though he still got a bit of a start when someone called him that. Especially since Gemma, defying all conventional wisdom about how to deal with younger siblings at school, still insisted on walking with him somewhere in the halls at least once a day, babbling away contentedly without the least concern for either of their reputations and still calling him ‘Leo.’ His worst nightmare, at this point, was the idea of her ever taking the general idea so far as to sit by him at lunch. If she did that, he thought he might just duck under the table, and then, having been seen doing that, too, die. Those two things in that order would be the only logical response.
“And now Aladren,” he added helpfully, since House could tell you a lot about a person right up front, he thought. Or at least give you a hint about what they might not be. He wouldn’t suggest going mountain climbing to a Crotalus – not unless he had a reason to think they would like it, anyway, which went outside of the House reasons not to – but a Pecari might be more amenable to that kind of thing. Or so he was informed. The official literature said people in different Houses were certain kinds of people, but…well, Leo had a lot of respect for received learning, but he had three older siblings in two Houses, and had observed them a lot, even if Gem was the only one of the three who really noticed his existence in return. Gemma in particular really did not meet the standards of what he thought was the best her House could be.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Leo soldiered on. “Are you enjoying being at Sonora so far?"
0
Leonidas Bennett
You're welcome to do so
269
Leonidas Bennett
0
5
Duncan
November 25, 2013 3:17 AM
Excellent! by Duncan
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Bennett." Duncan replied, as he had yet to get permission to use the boy's first name. "I'd bow, but that's extremely awkward on a broom. Oh, and I'm in Teppenpaw." It really wasn't such a bad house. People there were nice by definition. He personally probably could have handled otherwise, but he thought it was a good thing that Serena had been Sorted there. There was something about his distant cousin that seemed to make her need looking after and he really didn't want any mean people in other houses attacking her, she needed that safe haven. Though his though limited of impression of Arabella was that she'd look out for her sister at all costs.Of course, he wasn't sure that Tepp had the best reputation, they were possibly seen as pushovers. They rarely won the Quidditch cup or House cup and Duncan felt it was rather sad that people cared more about winning and achieving than being a good person. It was pretty much an example of nice guys finishing last. Not that people in other houses couldn't be good people or nice people, it was just they were more likely to be competitive and cutthroat. Still, he liked his house.
"Actually, I'm rather liking Sonora so far." Duncan replied. The only thing he didn't like was an apparent lack of ghosts. At home they were everywhere and here he had yet to see a single one. To a certain extent, he was suffering from a bit of withdrawal, but missing his lack of ghostly companions was something he'd been specifically forbidden by his mother from mentioning. Which was rather difficult, since it had been such a big part of his life before. "Of course, I haven't been here that long and really haven't met too many people." Even living ones. "I don't have a roommate though. I'm not sure whether or not that's a good thing. I mean, on the one hand, I don't have that instant person to get to know, but on the other hand, I'm not used to sharing a room either. Plus, if I had a roommate I might not get on with them."
Still, he was pretty sure everyone else had one. Part of him worried that that his classmates might become best friends with theirs and he'd be the odd one out. That would be counter productive to his father wanting to make connections and his mother not wanting him to be socially maladjusted. Still, a Bennett was not a terrible connection, as long as he was pleasant to be around, the latter of which was more of a concern to Duncan than the former.
"So how are you liking it here?" The Teppenpaw asked returning the question in kind. "How's Aladren?" He assumed Leonidas was rather intelligent to get sorted there. Or at least it was his main characteristic, whereas kindness was Duncan's. The first year was far from stupid and was much more studious than his younger sister was.
0
Duncan
Excellent!
0
Duncan
0
5