The Thunderbirds Meeting #1 Closed

@Gem Stuart @James McMurtrie @Cormac McCarthy @Timothy 'Tim' Blaine @Kerry Byrne @Emerly Pine

“Oh yeah? The Thunderbirds is a pretty cool name. Better than ‘Acid Pop’. I mean, who are they kidding?” Kerry told them with a laugh. Rafa let a little grin slip at this comment. He was glad someone thought so, in the least. Kerry went on to make a comment regarding their meeting in the lavatory. Rafa was having a hard time putting his reasons into words – they were all jumbled in his head.

Thankfully, someone came to his rescue. “Man, that's club-rivalry 101,” Cormac told Kerry, his face split into a massive grin. “We've got to meet where the girls can't get us.” Rafa let out a breath of relief – Cormac really hit the nail on the head, with Kerry’s bathroom-related question. “It's kind of tearing apart, but Gem here is wicked good at repairing spells.”

All of the above was true. Rafa was confident in the fact that they could make their environment more desirable – at least while they used it. Gem could definitely give them a hand in helping with that. However, there was another reason they were exiled to the lavatory. Truth be told, Rafa didn’t really know his way around the school so well. “Yeah, Cormac… well, you're absolutely right,” he said, an air to humor to his voice. “I couldn’t think of a lot of places to meet that were safe from the girls. No public places that are indoors are really safe – too many blind spots. Outside could work, because it’s open. Only thing is, it’s raining today. And I’m not exactly sure where the Room of Requirement is – the school is still a bit unfamiliar.”

It then occurred to them that James made a comment about a changing room. He hadn’t explored the entire bathroom, so it was definitely a possibility. “Uhm, there might be a changing room in here. I haven’t had a chance to check in the back yet – it’s definitely worth a look.”

Then, he heard Cormac make a rather profound statement regarding their upcoming prank war. He mentioned a prank idea, something from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Those were rather ingenious. “Yeah, that sounds like what we’re looking for,” he noted aloud. “No damage done. And, all prank ideas are welcome – actually, the more the merrier. We’ll probably need to work together if we have any chance of coming out on top.” He knew Jo – the women were pretty crafty. Rafa had faith enough to know that it wouldn’t be an easy war.

The Gem asked a question that completely took Rafa off-guard. "Wh- why are we assumin' Jo Morgan's comin' for us, though? Wos I just not payin' attention?" he said, just a little shyly. "It would be funny, to joost... go for a random group ov people fer the shits ov it, but... ergh, what's the deal wiv them? Joost cos they're a rival club?"

Now, that was a tough question. Jo and him had a – a tricky relationship, to say the least. She hadn’t liked him from the start, and neither did he like her. He didn’t really feel up to telling the others about their history just yet. “Me and Jo… we aren’t exactly friends,” he finally decided to say, after a bit. “We’ve just disagreed too many times. She wasn’t too happy about the fact that I made a club – said I copied her, or whatever.” He shrugged. “She just wants to know who the better club is. I’m sure she doesn’t want to hurt anyone or anything.” He hoped that would do for an explanation. He offered Gem a kind of reluctant smile, hoping he sort-of got his point across.

Hearing his name being mentioned, the Slytherin turned around. A Ravenclaw, James, was greeting him, and realizing they'd have to shake hands, Emerly meekly returned the gesture, scrunching up his shoulders. He regretted every time thus far he hadn't shaken hands upon first meeting someone, and though Emerly probably looked odd for how shy he was, at least it was a step up from outright rejecting such a greeting or only doing so after he was told how rude he was acting.
He peered up and smiled, a fleeting flicker of recognition, "Nice to meet you, James!" As he listened to the others talk he gradually realized that mostly everyone didn't intend to hurt anyone. As a matter of fact, another Ravenclaw who had introduced himself as Cormac suggested they try sneaking in a drink that would mess with their opponents' taste buds. Pretty tame, unless one of the girls was really hungry and hated brussels sprouts.
“Me and Jo… we aren’t exactly friends,” Raf explained the situation, and Emerly shifted his weight, "How about randomly helping them out? Do nice things for them, but secretly, so none of them know it's us? Like, fight fire with water? I wonder if outright pranks might make her dislike you even more, but I suppose it's alright so long as they can still eat and are willing to laugh at it." he trailed off. Maybe he was just a stick in the mud, but to be honest he was very wary of one of their pranks going accidentally awry and getting them expelled. "Also, will any of them know all of us a part of this club, or do we keep that a secret too?"

Kerry smiled as he saw that he’d made Rafa smile. It was his plan to make people smile as much as he could this year instead of putting people down. He knew how hard it was for some of them, being away from their parents for the first time.

Kerry chuckled as he heard about the club rivalry. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It’s actually a good location, now that I think about it. And it’s a good thing Gem’s good at fixing spells… I saw what he did to that mirror,” he grinned, looking over at the other boy. “Outside would be far too easy for the girls to send in spies and listen in to what we’re doing, and that wouldn’t be good at all. But I know what you mean about the school being unfamiliar. I’m still trying to find my way around this place! A changing room might be more comfortable though… at least there are benches in there!”

He nodded as they talked about the prank war. He was more than willing to have a little fun as long as no one got hurt. He listened about the relationship between Rafa and Jo and frowned, nodding to the boy. “Well, it’s your right to make whatever club you want. If the girls can have a club, so can we!”

“That taste buds trick sounds a lot of fun though,” he agreed. “It’s harmless, but it would get the point across for sure!” He then listened to Emerly’s suggestion and smiled. “Now that’s a good idea… Fight fire with kindness. They’d never know what hit ‘em. Though I never thought a Slytherin would suggest it… no offence,” he smirked at the boy.

@Gem Stuart @Cormac McCarthy @James McMurtrie @Kerry Byrne @Timothy 'Tim' Blaine @Emerly Pine

Emerly’s comment brought about a new train of thought in Rafa’s brain, and he allowed himself to ponder this a bit more, biting his lip in thought. It was definitely a possibility; perhaps that would be a good way to even the playing field. While Jo and him weren’t really friends, they weren’t really enemies either. And he really didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. Or any of them. “That’s definitely an idea,” he said aloud. “I’m definitely interested. If you guys would be up to helping the girls in secret, we could totally do that.” He let out a bit of a grin, though it looked more thoughtful than mischievous. He heard Emerly's next question, too. “Oh, that's a good point." He shrugged. "Whether others know you’re in our club, is completely up to you. I’m not keeping it a secret, and I don’t want any of you to feel that way either. But if you feel like keeping quiet, then by all means."

He heard Kerry make a comment about the 'making a club if you want to'. He happily agreed. “Yeah, man. Don’t know what the woman is going on about. I think I’ll just chalk it up to females.” Yeah, the girls were strange creatures. Rafa shook his head, a little smile on his face. Those girls were absolutely crazy. But damn him if he weren’t highly entertained by them.

"We're not all bad, are we?" He replied to Kerry's note, peering up at the ceiling and crossing his arms and a foot over his ankle. A bit of autumn wind blew in from the window. What time was it? He squinted, and looked back at them all for a fleeting moment, averting his eyes, shy again as Rafael enthused over the idea. Emerly was glad it was a possibility. "How often do we meet? And, like, when usually? Do we get code names? A secret handshake? Studying, pranks, doing good deeds... Hopefully. I mean, there has to be one overly-concerned person in this group, I'd be willing to take the position-" he was cut off by a banging noise. Alert, he turned his head to look in the direction in came from. One of the stalls?

His countenance grew icy, and he looked like a little mountain lion averted by movement in the brush before another bang sounded. He widened his eyes.
He looked at Gem with a pained, dismayed expression and back at the the source of the noise.
"...um..." his voice wavered, "Is it... I mean... it is, safe in here?" he scanned the motley group of Ravenclaws, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuffs, and lowered his voice to a whisper, "What was that?"

@Emerly Pine, @Cormac McCarthy, @Rafael D'Spacito, @Timothy 'Tim' Blaine, @James McMurtrie & @Kerry Byrne

Gem had been halfheartedly listening to the back-and-forths all of his comrades had been shooting out at each other. He usually followed pretty well, but he'd been a bit too preoccupied with tending to Basil's noisy self, his meowing and obnoxiously loud purring. He sniffed, his head turning over to look at Emerly, smiling fondly at him-- ah, a voice of reason.

And then that 'voice of reason' was cut off by a loud bang. What the hell? He squinted at it, taking a short step back. Both he and Emerly exchanged glances, Gem's eyes trailing back up at the noisy stall. Another bang, and then some scratchy noises. He wasn't really known for being a very brave person, but his cat seemed like he had some other ideas. Hopping off of Gem's shoulders, he went zipping past the crowd of boys, ducking under the stall.

"Basil- wait, no-!" The young Ravenclaw'd reached out to snatch his cat up, but it was all in vain, it seemed like. He stood still, tense, exchanging another short, concerned expression with the Slytherin nearby him. "Oh sweet Merli-" He was interrupted, the sound of Basil's hissing and scratching around... almost as if he were playing?

Hesitantly, Gem squatted down, making little 'pspsps' noises to beckon his cat over. A momentary silence, and the orange tub of lard was hopping out from under the stall with an abnormally large rat locked between his jaws. He dropped the carcass at Gem's shoes, a close-eyed exhale leaving his lips.

"False... alarm, lads." He breathed, staring at Basil, who rubbed against his pant leg, and then moved on to Emerly. "You're the worst thing I've ever had to love, Basil Hallward-Stuart."

He only got an upbeat meow in response.

OOC: i have no idea bro, i would think separate threads but just keepin this one going for separate meetings would work?? idk it's kind of up to rafa lol

@Gem Stuart @James McMurtrie @Timothy 'Tim' Blaine @Cormac McCarthy @Kerry Byrne @Emerly Pine

Rafa was surprised to hear some of Emerly’s questions. He seemed to have put a lot of thought into the club – way more than Rafa had, anyhow. In a way, it was heavily appreciated. Rafa offered the Slytherin a kindhearted grin. He was just about to answer all of his questions, when a rattle went through the room. He jolted a bit – jump scares always got to him a little.

Drawing his wand, he stood up a bit to investigate, but was surprised to see Gem’s cat – Basil, he believed – zip past them and run right towards the place of origin. Brave cat, Rafa though with an ounce of dread. Gem seemed quite upset – that was enough to make Rafa upset, too. He was just about to act, when the sounds of hissing filled the room. Basil walked out of the stall with a fat mouse in his jaws. The cat dropped the carcass right in front of Gem. The Ravenclaw released a massive sigh. "False... alarm, lads," his crush said with relief, before saying something to the cat that Rafa couldn’t make out all that well.

Rafa grinned. “Hell, Gem, your cat is badass,” he joked, sending the cat an admiring look. Then, he turned towards Emerly – the Slytherin had some questions for him to answer, he believed. “Erm, since all of us have the weekends off, we should probably meet then,” he said thoughtfully. “Three o’clock in the afternoon, we’ll say?”

“As for your other questions, I suppose code-names should be fun,” he added. The idea of nicknames reminded him of the tales of the first James Potter, and his merry group of friends. Those stories always put a smile on his face. “And, as far as secret handshakes go, I suppose we can do that, too, if you all feel up to it.” He smiled ever brighter. These matters were really up to the rest of the group, really – the whole club thing was rather democratic. He trusted them in making their voices heard.

OOC: Yeah, man! I think we can just finish this thread, and then I’ll start a new one – that’s what Jo Morgan’s doing, anyway. It might be useful if we ever agree to move locations in the future, too..

[font=Segoe Print]@Gem Stuart @James McMurtrie @Cormac McCarthy @Timothy 'Tim' Blaine @Kerry Byrne @Emerly Pine

OOC: This thread is officially considered closed. The next meeting will be out shortly. If you're no longer interested in participating in this club, send me an owl so I can leave you out of the tagging. Happy New Year![/font]