First Year Entrance
Action: On Boat 2 | Greeting Boatmates
Interacting: @Della Barfield | @ Geoffrey Donovan | @Seren Yong
Mentioning: @Avery Chen
English | Mandarin | French | Quotes
As always, his rambunctious Chinese friend had bulled ahead of the crowd and had somehow managed to put himself on the boat with the caretaker. For a moment, Hui Ming had been tempted to follow, and to deal with the consequences as they happened. But in that moment of destination, he spotted Schneider getting onto the same boat, and the bespectacled boy quickly changed course and got on another, emptier boat.
No point in tempting fate getting into close quarters with that one again.
Getting on the boat itself was a challenge, the rickety structure swaying with every step he took. Deciding that he should make as little a spectacle of himself he hurried to the bow of the boat, taking a knee to stabilize himself and not fall over.
It was a beautiful sight, he would admit. The massive, imposing structure on the castle against the backdrop of the lake. A part of him would not have minded just staying in that position, taking in the movement of the waves; but another part was excited for what was to come: access to the library. Finally! He would be able to get information about the regular insanities of the world without having to reply on kindly seniors like Miss Decipio. And perhaps, if he was particularly lucky, he would learn how to make it through the year without someone or the other deciding to blow up his things.
Preoccupied as he was by his thoughts, Hui Ming barely noted that he was joined by newcomers to the boat. Decorum demanded that he acknowledge them if not approach them, but he dared not do so. Perhaps he feared that he would fall over the moment the boats set out, perhaps he was just leery of new people in general, perhaps he was just a little too lost in his own thoughts.
Perhaps it was a little of all of the above.
Thus, the bespectacled Chinese boy remained in his spot as the newcomers began to speak. The voices were unfamiliar; so maybe these students were not part of the Summer Camp. Given how little he had mingled amidst the loud, overbearing monstrosities that passed as magical students though, he could easily be wrong and these could easily be the King and Queens of Summer Camp.
At least, he seemed to have lucked out in one aspect – none of his boat-mates were the kind of loud, rude people that taxed him with their mere presence. I fact, some of these seemed outright reasonable, given the way they were introducing themselves to each other.
How delightfully unexpected!
As the boat set off, though, Ming realized that he had overestimated how bad the swaying movements of the boat would be. It was bad still, and this was hardly an experience he would want to relive. But he was not quite in imminent danger of being thrown overboard.
Slowly and uncertainly, the Chinese boy stood and turned to face the others on wobbly feet. It was hardly graceful, but he tried to make his movements as dignified as possible, all things considered.
Looking over the others on his boat, his initial suspicions were confirmed. He had not seen any of these people around in the Summer Camp. Which made them either magicals who had no need to adjust themselves to the challenges of basically stepping into a whole new world, or children of some quite irresponsible parents, who had decided to throw them into the deep end, forcing them to juggle the rigors of school with the adjustment to entirely new social norms and expectations.
“I…uhm.” Ming started awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say given his abhorrent manners. “Apologies, I was rather distracted by the view.”
He quickly looked over the three boat-mates. The boy looked completely unremarkable to him, one of the girls had eye-catching light hair. The final girl, the Asian, seemed to hold herself with some dignity, straight backed and proper. Her, Hui Ming approved of whole-heartedly. At least the other two were well-mannered.
“I am Hui Ming,” he said finally, formally. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Reducio
OOC: Are you happy @Kit Paine, I've joined this thread now
The curtains fell. And the silence was deafening
First Year Entrance
He greeted Hildegard with a small wave as she got onto the boat with a bit of a struggle. It was nice that she had decided to join him, though a flash of guilt creeped up as he realized he had accidentally ditched Ming in his effort to get onto the boat with Kit the Caretaker. He watched as another girl with wavy brown hair joined them. Oops. His boat was now full and Ming wasn't on it.
He saw his bespectacled friend look at his boat but scuffle away quickly as he laid eyes on Hildegard. Alright, well, his friend didn't like Hildegard anyway, so perhaps he was glad he had to get on another boat.
However, his worries about Ming quickly subsided as he gazed across the lake and spurted a string of questions to Kit. When Kit said it was his first time taking students over the lake, Avery's eyes widened. He supposed that hearing that Kit had done it a bajillion times with no accidents would've steeled his nerves, but... "Well...I guess that also means that no one's flipped overboard on your watch, at least," he responded. "And that makes two of us, then," he said as Kit confided that he didn't like getting wet either. Yeahh... Avery didn't feel like taking a dip to visit the Giant Squid tonight in these definitely frigid waters.
Soon enough, they started moving. "Be careful to keep your balance and don't rock too much. We've had kids fall in before," Kit warned, and Avery held still, not really daring to move. It was difficult, though, since now that they were moving, the rocking of the waves only seemed to increase. He held his stomach a little, feeling just the slightest bit queasy.
"I'm Avery Chen," he said, introducing himself to Kit and Dancelos, mostly, since Hildegard already knew him from the train. "Is it normal to feel a bit queasy? I've never really been on an enchanted boat on a large lake before," he admitted, turning a little green.
Before he could stop himself, he felt a sudden rush in his chest and throat, and he hurled loudly onto the floor of the boat, very possibly soiling some shoes and legs, and possibly loud enough to be heard from other boats. He had no idea it would be coming, and didn't even have the time to lean over the edge of the boat. He sputtered and coughed as he held his stomach and leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees, feeling like he just lost all of his insides.
Aboard Boat #1
Open to more interactions
@Kit Paine @Hildegard Schneider @Dancelos Grey
Last edited by Avery Chen on 11 Sep 2021, 15:27, edited 2 times in total.
First Year Entrance
BOARDING BOAT #4
It was Grace’s first time to lay eyes on the stunning Great Lake; she was loving Hogwarts so far. The edge of the water was lined with boats, most filled with other starry eyed first years. Grace did not attend the summer camp like most other incoming first years, so she knew it would be a bit harder for her to meet others. They would most likely have made friend groups and cliques already and Grace was scared that being new would make her come in with a disadvantage.
The little boats in the dark, deep water intrigued Grace. Most other boats had filled up and Grace did not want to intrude on their ongoing conversations and greetings. She chose the closest empty boat and decided that is where she would load. Her short legs stretched over and into the wooden boards. Grace’s face was filled with determination as she tried her hardest to fully get into the boat. An unintended bite to the lip left her with an irony taste in her mouth, but it was not noticeable to the outside eye. After Grace successfully maneuvered herself into the boat, she sat down on a bench at the front of the boat. The stars filled the sky with a beautiful glow.
Grace wondered if anyone else would board her little boat.
It was Grace’s first time to lay eyes on the stunning Great Lake; she was loving Hogwarts so far. The edge of the water was lined with boats, most filled with other starry eyed first years. Grace did not attend the summer camp like most other incoming first years, so she knew it would be a bit harder for her to meet others. They would most likely have made friend groups and cliques already and Grace was scared that being new would make her come in with a disadvantage.
The little boats in the dark, deep water intrigued Grace. Most other boats had filled up and Grace did not want to intrude on their ongoing conversations and greetings. She chose the closest empty boat and decided that is where she would load. Her short legs stretched over and into the wooden boards. Grace’s face was filled with determination as she tried her hardest to fully get into the boat. An unintended bite to the lip left her with an irony taste in her mouth, but it was not noticeable to the outside eye. After Grace successfully maneuvered herself into the boat, she sat down on a bench at the front of the boat. The stars filled the sky with a beautiful glow.
Grace wondered if anyone else would board her little boat.
First Year Entrance
Tristan was told that the boat was enchanted by Maggie, his eyes glancing from the boat to the school proper, his luggage left behind on the docks at that point.
And they were well and truly off at that point.
Only then does he go back to the point at hand. “Well, they’re enchanted to move,” he says, as they start to putt away. “But I guess some people can fall in,” he says, bringing his hand up to push his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the caretaker.
He does listen, however, to Maggie as she talks, content at the moment to listen to her. The constant talking didn’t quite seem to be bothering him, although his attention was drifting from her from time to time as something else caught his eye.
“Are you muggleborn?” he asks, kinda openly at that. “I mean… it’s fine if you are, I just haven’t met anyone that hasn’t, you know, lived in the wizarding world before,” he says. The boat rocks, and he shifts just so, his eyes going from his conversation partner to the glassy water, as if hoping to catch sight of the squid.
Mermaids aside, the crux of the matter – and the young boy’s nervousness, is touched on. Her mom was in Ravenclaw – guess she couldn’t be muggleborn – or could she?
“I hope to be Gryffindor,” he says, “”Because my whole family is, and I’d be ridiculed forever if I didn’t end up there, he says. “But I think…” he begins to say, although he lets that thought drift away. Bringing up his hand, he begins counting on his fingers. “There’s four houses, though, and there’s a lot of, uhm. Stereotypes about them all, I guess. Gryffindor the bold, Ravenclaw the studious, Hufflepuff the loyal, and Slytherin the ambitious,” he says.
“I don’t think there’s bad houses, but uhm,” he begins. “Slytherin tends to have a worse reputation than others, among some groups, I guess,” he says, with a shrug of his shoulders. He was from a Gryffindor heavy family, after all. So he might be entering with a few preconceptions.
And they were well and truly off at that point.
Only then does he go back to the point at hand. “Well, they’re enchanted to move,” he says, as they start to putt away. “But I guess some people can fall in,” he says, bringing his hand up to push his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the caretaker.
He does listen, however, to Maggie as she talks, content at the moment to listen to her. The constant talking didn’t quite seem to be bothering him, although his attention was drifting from her from time to time as something else caught his eye.
“Are you muggleborn?” he asks, kinda openly at that. “I mean… it’s fine if you are, I just haven’t met anyone that hasn’t, you know, lived in the wizarding world before,” he says. The boat rocks, and he shifts just so, his eyes going from his conversation partner to the glassy water, as if hoping to catch sight of the squid.
Mermaids aside, the crux of the matter – and the young boy’s nervousness, is touched on. Her mom was in Ravenclaw – guess she couldn’t be muggleborn – or could she?
“I hope to be Gryffindor,” he says, “”Because my whole family is, and I’d be ridiculed forever if I didn’t end up there, he says. “But I think…” he begins to say, although he lets that thought drift away. Bringing up his hand, he begins counting on his fingers. “There’s four houses, though, and there’s a lot of, uhm. Stereotypes about them all, I guess. Gryffindor the bold, Ravenclaw the studious, Hufflepuff the loyal, and Slytherin the ambitious,” he says.
“I don’t think there’s bad houses, but uhm,” he begins. “Slytherin tends to have a worse reputation than others, among some groups, I guess,” he says, with a shrug of his shoulders. He was from a Gryffindor heavy family, after all. So he might be entering with a few preconceptions.
Reducio
ABOARD BOAT #3
@Maggie Hawkins@Aurora Crystal
First Year Entrance
Permission given by Avery to do what I did to him in the post
Interacting with :@Avery Chen | @Dancelos Grey | @Kit Paine
Green : talking
Purple : thinking
The future Slytherin was cold and still scared and anxious about the giant squid even with what the caretaker had just told them, she tried as much as she could to heat herself up a bit, but she was trembling.
-I have to learn a charm that will heat me someday. She thought
As coward as she was decided to push up her chance of survival by sitting closer to Kit. The girl also decided to ask him a question :
- Mister how much time will it take to get to the other side ?
As she sat closer and looked at the people that was abroad with her, she introduced herself to those that she did not meet in the Hogwarts Express.
-Hello there, I'm Hildegard Schneider, sorry I might be a bother during the ride, because I got a leg problem. She said trying not to talk too much about it.
The girl was still cold, but at a moment, she felt the cold disappear, at least around her lower body level. For just a few millisecond she was feeling good, she finally had some heat.
But she looked down and everything changed, Avery was... on bending on her lap. She noticed that the heat she was so happy about was in fact, vomit.
The face sudently was filled with immense disgust :
-YUUUUCKKKK!!!
The disgusted witch pushed Avery away with as much strength as she could making him fall into the lake, tried to remove the vomit with her hand before realizing that she was touching vomit, stopped right away to wet her hand with the lake's water, all that making a big fuss and moving the boat they were in.
It's disgusting ! Holy heck ! There was a lake to vomit in you retard ! she almost screamed angrily at him.
Stamina: 4 Evasion: 0 Strength: 4 Wisdom: 10
Arcane Power: 10 Accuracy: 7 Prodigal charm learner
First Year Entrance
Before the boy could answer Della, another girl named Seren entered the boat. She had long black hair—much longer than Della's—and bright blue eyes. She also looked nervous but was able to introduce herself. Seren's introduction seemed to propel the boy forward, and Della learned his name was Geoffrey, but he liked being called Rhys.Boat #2 | @Hui Ming | @Seren Yong | @Geoffrey Donovan
Della began to form another greeting to both of them when another boy spoke. Had he been on the boat this whole time? She hadn't noticed him? Odd. The sound of his greeting startled Della a bit, but she was able to keep composure, and hopefully, no one noticed. She did not want to rock the boat, literally or figuratively.
The fourth member of their crew was named Hui Ming. The bespectacled boy was . . . well-mannered. Or maybe posh? He reminded Della of kids she had met when she moved to Paddington, but not any of the kids she went to school with in Stoke-on-Trent. She sat up a little straighter and tried to compose her face to a more neutral expression. Della didn't want him to think negatively of her. She hoped she could pull it off.
Thinking back to the textbooks she had read over the summer, she tried an icebreaker question—this was probably a group that needed one. "What house do you think you'll be sorted in? I guess I'm interested in the raven one."
Just as she finished her sentence, she heard a commotion from the caretaker's boat. By the looks of it, a student had fallen in the lake. It looked like another girl was yelling angrily at the student. The caretaker's boat was sending waves through the water, rocking Della's group's boat gently. She instantly forgot her composure and looked over the edge of her boat, wondering if the boy needed help and if there was anything she could do.
sta 8 - eva 16 - str 5 - wis 11 - arc 5 - accuracy 13 |||| Parselmouth - Evasive Maneuvers - Beast Master
also Ruckus Weems | Quentin Gagné
First Year Entrance
Seren's eyes traveled from person to person amongst her boat companions, trying to pin the names to the faces. It might take her some time to get them memorized, but she was going to try to do it anyways. She had learned, over the years, that it was a sign of disrespect to refuse to call someone by their given name... Or chosen name, as the case might be, for the boy who preferred to be called Rhys.
As she looked at everyone, she softly murmured their names, under her breath, to try to help her remember. "Della, Hui, Rhys... Della, Hui, Rhys..." She whispered a few times, then she smiled a bit... Nothing too bright, trying to keep from seeming overly eager or anything, but enough that she hoped she looked friendly, at least.
"It is lovely to meet all of you, and I do hope we can be friends."
There, that should express interest, but not sound begging, or like an idiot, she hoped. She glanced back at Della, at her question, and gave a slight shrug. "I think I would be happy with any house save the one my parents had been in. Ravenclaw does sound lovely, though."
She very specifically omitted naming the house her parents had been in, because she did not want the others to feel she might dislike them if they ended up in that house. She did not notice that when she spoke of her parents, however, that her voice had wobbled, betraying unhappiness.
She might have continued but a loud splash and someone yelling utterly distracted that. She turned towards the Caretaker's boat, blue eyes huge with surprise, and stared at the sight of the boy in the water. Should she do something? COULD she do something? She did not know any spells, and she wasn't the best swimmer in the world...
@Geoffrey Donovan@Hui Ming@Della Barfield
Lovely Creature | Metamorphmagus | Sta: 2 | Ev: 9 | Str: 1 | Wis: 10 | Arc: 8 | Acc: 5
First Year Entrance
Avery never knew he would be sea lake sick. Sure, he had thrown up on roller coaster rides in the past, but didn't everybody? He felt quite bad for the people on the ride behind him, but there's nothing he could have done in that situation, especially when the twists and turns were upon you, and when your mouth was automatically opened wide in a scream.
The feeling seemed a little unfamiliar, though, when he hurled on Hilda's lap. It was so easy. Avery hadn't seen it coming at all, until the sour taste erupted from his insides. He didn't even register what color it was, just that it was a little chunky.
"YUUUUCKKKK!!!" the pale girl screamed, shoving him away by both shoulders with a strength that he couldn't imagine coming from a slender girl. However, her strength and utter disgust seemed quite palpable at that second, sending Avery and his woozy head and weak husk of a body over the ledge of the boat.
His body followed a natural arc after that, as he toppled into the lake with a splash.
He floundered in the water and its frigid cold until his small head erupted from the surface, sputtering and coughing, robes billowing around him and dragging him down.
"It's disgusting ! Holy heck ! There was a lake to vomit in you retard !" she yelled at him, definitely furious. Okay, mental note made. Never upset Hildegard Schneider, even if you were ever friendly with her. Weakly, he grabbed onto the ledge of a passing boat, which happened to be Boat #2, and decided to hang on so that he wouldn't drift away. Hopefully, the additional weight wouldn't slow the boat down.
"Wh-what in the w-world, Hilda!" he yelled back at her, but it only came out as a stutter, since he was quite cold already. "Y-you c-crazy witch!" Once he got back on land and was dry and comfy, he would give her a right and true thrashing, he thought.
In his current state, he was quite pitiful and useless.
Action: Falling into the Lake and clinging to Boat #2
@Hildegard Schneider @Kit Paine @Geoffrey Donovan @Hui Ming @Della Barfield @Seren Yong
First Year Entrance
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Della, Seren, Hui.
Rhys did his best to put names to faces but the dim lighting wasn't really helping with that. Neither did knowing their names help quell his nerves. It was always like this for him when it came to meeting new people, including his best friends. And it took some time afterwards as well to warm up enough that he could speak a little more openly and for his body to not be so stiff because of his nerves. His parents and grandparents told him it was normal to be nervous, and he clung to their words in times like this.
"It's nice to meet you all," he chimed in finally, his smile easing just a bit as he looked over at Della to answer her question. He hadn't done any reading up before leaving home because he wanted to spend as much time with his family and friends as possible, which...maybe was a mistake? But not one he'd go back and change if given the chance. The time with them felt a little more limited now—winter and summer holidays only, he imagined—so it was well worth it to him. He'd learn all about Hogwarts now that he was here.
"I'm not really sure, actually. I-"
SPLASH
The sound of someone going overboard interrupted him. The brunette hadn't been paying attention to the other boats around them until now. He snapped his head in the direction of the sound and noticed someone bobbing in the water and someone—probably the one that did the pushing—was yelling at him. Something about vomiting and the lake. Rhys couldn't help the way his lip curled in slight disgust at the idea of someone blowing chunks all over him, but as gross as it was throwing the guilty party overboard seemed a bit much.
By the time the other student made it to their boat he had taken his cloak off, and he offered him a hand up once he started clinging on. Sure, Kit said only four to a boat but this seemed like it could be a special circumstance. Anyway, he didn't imagine it'd be more advisable to leave him in the water while another boat with space could make its way over for a rescue. These things weren't exactly speed boats.
"That's some bad luck," he said, offering the other boy a sympathetic smile. "C'mon. You can yell some more once you're at least in a boat."
Boat #2
@Hui Ming@Seren Yong@Della Barfield@Avery Chen
Last edited by Geoffrey Donovan on 19 Sep 2021, 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
Sta · 7 | Eva · 7 | Str · 5 | Wis · 5 | Arc · 5 | Acc · 6
Blindvision
Blindvision
First Year Entrance
In the Water
"Well...I guess that also means that no one's flipped overboard on your watch, at least. And that makes two of us, then."
The caretaker beamed at the positive boy's optimism. "Very true. And very clever," he answered, musing.
"I'm Avery Chen," the boy stated. "Is it normal to feel a bit queasy? I've never really been on an enchanted boat on a large lake before."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chen," Kit told him amicably. "And I find that the smaller a boat is, the more it moves, so the easier it is to feel a little nauseous. Don't worry, though; we should be reaching the far shore soon enough."
"Mister, how much time will it take to get to the other side?" one of the girls asked.
"Not long now," Kit assured her as she scooted closer to him. He could tell she was cold and he didn't blame her. After all, he was from a desert, so he was pretty close to freezing himself in this climate, especially while they were on the water.
"Hello there, I'm Hildegard Schneider, sorry I might be a bother during the ride, because I got a leg problem," Hildegard disclosed.
The caretaker's brow furrowed with concern. "A leg problem?" he repeated. "Mind me asking what sort?"
In a sudden turn of events, however, the boy who had introduced himself as Avery suddenly threw up the contents of his stomach onto the boat and its other occupants. Kit's eyes widened, startled, but Hildegard reacted first. With a loud cry of disgust, she shoved the ill boy away from her, knocking him over the edge of the boat and into the water. The caretaker sat up straighter and froze, trying to peer into the dark lake for poor Avery.
"Mr. Chen?!"
Soon after, Avery surfaced a little ways away, closer to the second boat than the one he had been thrown from.
"Mr. Chen, please don't move! I'll get you back over here in a minute. Just...try not to splash around too much or you might tip that other boat over as well," he advised, calling in a loud, clear, but as calm a voice as he could manage. It worried him somewhat to notice a boy from the second boat (Geoffrey "Rhys" Donovan) was trying to pull Avery in. In all likelihood, his attempt to do so could have doomed him and his own boatmates as well. If they were lucky, though, the kids would be smarter than to try to fit five in their small little boat before Kit could fetch Avery.
Getting out his wand, Kit steered the boat toward the boy in the water while eyeing the mess of vomit that had splattered across Hildegard's lap and beyond. "Scourgify," he said, casting the Scouring Charm to clean it up. Immediately, all the vomit vanished as if it had never been.
Meanwhile, underneath the surface of the lake, a rubbery tendril of a limb began to curl around one of Avery's ankles, tightening its hold on the kid.
Reducio
This list is for tagging purposes. Only the list in the first post will be regularly updated. Assume all boats are full, as any newcomers will be acting as if they have been there from the beginning.
Boat 1: Kit Paine, @Avery Chen, @Hildegard Schneider, @Dancelos Grey
Boat 2: @Della Barfield, @Geoffrey Donovan, @Seren Yong, @Hui Ming
Boat 3: @Maggie Hawkins, @Tristan Wolfe, @Aurora Crystal
Boat 4: @Grace Swan
When you think you're alone - that no one cares and you don't matter, please remember: You matter to me.