The Pack First Meeting Club

Interacting with @Aurélie Nimco, @Henry Knight, @Scarlet Salvatore and @Rayna Jangnan

Miranda turned her attention from her study of the room to the others at the sound of a voice, and found herself facing Henry and the girl named Aurélie. A smile instantly appeared on her face, and she nodded in acknowledgement to the girl's words. "It's truly nice to have you here, Aurélie," the Ravenclaw replied. "And don't worry about the newness. We've all felt that way, so you're not alone. And that's what this meeting is for, isn't it? Getting everyone used to how things work here at Hogwarts."

A side glance at the door showed that no one new had arrived, and although Miranda knew there were several more people yet to come, she was beginning to wonder whether they'd actually arrive. Although, it probably too much to hope that all of the invited people would show up - not after how much time she'd spent worrying that even one would show. But when her original worries had been proved unneeded, she'd begun to hope...ah well, there was no point in that. It looked like all the people who were coming were here, unless the others had gotten lost or some other thing like that. Miranda really couldn't manage to get rid of that stubborn positive streak.

After a few moments more of talking and continuing to wait, she finally cleared her throat and glanced around the room at the assembled students. "Alright, I think it's time to start," Miranda announced. "If everyone can take a seat...." She trailed off, then moved to sit down once everyone else had first. "Okay, so welcome to the Pack. The main purpose of this club is to help everyone present become a part of a community, but also to have fun and enjoy yourselves, which means that in future meetings we'll be playing games and having competitions. For that reason, we've given you all groups that are generally just to help should teams be necessary." The Ravenclaw proceeded to pull a piece of parchment from her pocket and unfolded it, revealing a list of names and teams. Miranda set it on the table for everyone to see, hoping there wouldn't be any problems with the way things had gone.

Tagging: @Nessa Spriggin @Paisley Brown @Altair Cometnova @Ashlyn Winters

Interacting with everyone

Miranda's words sounded reassuring to Aurélie. The young Gryffindor felt more at ease after talking to the leader of this pack and was ready to meet the others. It seemed perfectly timed because after Miranda spoke to Aurélie she announced the meeting would start. Henry let go of Aurélie and found his way to the chairs. Aurélie did the same and sat down on the seat she had taken before.

After the slytherin boy was done introducing himself as co president of the pack, Aurélie decided to take the first leap and tell the others about herself. She smiled at Henry and said "I'll go." After clearing her throat she spoke to the whole group; "Hi everyone. My name is Aurélie, I'm new at Hogwarts and well.. new to magic in general. I'm a Gryffindor." She paused a second to think about what to say next and in a kind voice added; "I haven't been a werewolf long, It's only been a year since I got.. attacked. For most of that year I felt ashamed and like a freak really. Until I met Henry at the summer camp and he helped me to realise that I'm not alone and I'm not a freak at all. Well, perhaps just a little." Aurélie joked and then continued; "He told me about his story and about this group. I'm very grateful he did because I feel more confident knowing I can come to you all." Aurélie glanced at Henry when she was done speaking, he nodded as a thank you and looked around the room to see who wanted to go next. Meanwhile, Aurélie grabbed a chocolate cookie from the plate and silently munched on it while listening to the other's stories.

OOC note; Aurélie will listen closely to the others without disrupting, unless spoken to.

Interacting with everyone

When the introductions seemed to have all been made and the other members of the club had all sat down, Miranda brought the meeting to an official start. She then pulled out some parchment from her pocket, Scarlet edged closer to the table where it had been put down to see her name scribbled down under the group 'NightHawks.' She noted that the girl from earlier, Aurélie, as well as another girl, Nessa, were to be her teammates.

After it looked as though the other girls had finished looking over the team list, Henry spoke up suggesting an icebreaker to get to know each other. Although slightly nervous about finally opening up to people of her own age about being a werewolf, she listened as Henry, followed by Aurélie, seemed to easily talk about their feelings and experiences, putting her at ease.

Once the Gryffindor had finished, Henry looked out to the rest of the group, waiting for the next volunteer, and when his eyes glanced over in her direction she decided to jump in. "Hi, my name is Scarlet, I'm a first year too and I'm in Slytherin." With a deep breath, Scarlet allowed herself to think back to the night that she was bitten. "I've been a werewolf for a couple of years now, I was nine when I was attacked..." considering whether to omit the next detail, she continued all the same, "...by my uncle, it was an accident of course - some mishap with the wolfsbane I think. Anyway, I was just in shock at first and just tried to imagine nothing had changed, my uncle helped me to come to terms with it all though. I guess he owed me that much." She paused, giving a smile to the group. "I eventually got used to the company of another werewolf, which just made me more worried about starting Hogwarts... the thought of having to go through it alone I guess. But I'm starting to feel better already!" On finishing, Scarlet felt immediately better, and looked round at the others left to speak, looking forward to hearing more about the others.

Interacting with all

Miranda waited a beat after Scarlet finished to see whether the final member of their meeting felt like speaking up, but when the girl didn't say anything immediately, the Ravenclaw shrugged and proceeded to tell the others about herself.

"Well, I'm Miranda, the other co-leader of the Pack. I'm from Ravenclaw, if you haven't already guessed from my robes-" she gestured at the blue collar, then at the insignia of an eagle on the front of her robe. "-and in second year."

"I was...turned into a werewolf when I was seven. I don't even know the person who changed me, actually. They were just someone that needed shelter for the night, and wanted to use one of the cages on our property to protect themselves. That...didn't really work out all that well." Miranda sighed, but quickly fixed her expression into something more agreeable. After all the time she spent thinking back to that night, she wasn't affected by the memories as badly anymore. "Anyways, ever since I've lived as a werewolf, so I'm pretty used to it. Although, for me being in the Shrieking Shack is much more enjoyable than what I had before, mostly because I wasn't lucky enough to have company on full moons." While her words seemed sad or at least regretful, her expression was still mostly cheerful, which would probably keep most people from pitying her story if they were so inclined.

She then gave the last girl (@Rayna Jangnan) an expectant look, and whether or not the Gryffindor spoke up, Miranda waited a moment, then shrugged and continued with other things.

"So, now that we more or less know each other, I thought it might be nice to make sure everyone knows what being at Hogwarts entails." Miranda paused, worrying whether it might not be the best time to bring the subject up, but then decided that the sooner the others knew how things worked, the better. They could always move onto more cheerful topics after the basic concepts had been covered. "Since all of you should have already gone through at least transformation at the Shrieking Shack, you're probably familiar with how that works - basically, just make sure you're ready when the professor's come to collect you, or else there could be consequences. Other than that, though, you're pretty much in the clear as long as you make sure to drink the Wolfsbane and don't do anything foolish during the night."

Miranda figured that the majority of the things she talked about were a given, but it wouldn't hurt to go over them again. then they could hopefully move on to lighter topics.

@Henry Knight @Scarlet Salvatore @Aurélie Nimco @Altair Cometnova @Ashlyn Winters @Nessa Spriggin @Paisley Brown

She was late. A flighty lick of her lips left them even more parched. What a waste of time, her thoughts were going to spiral again if she wasn't careful. Nessa split her lower lip from a scab right in the middle, right as she opened the door to the classroom and walked in.

She'd arrived right as @Henry Knight finished his little introduction. She wandered the room for a few minutes and then glancing around nervously before looking over at the cookie bowl. Hell yeah cookies! She thought, smiling and cantering over to pick up two.

Putting one in her mouth, she took a bite. Upon checking the cookies once more, she realized they had peanut butter balls in them. Oh shiitake mushrooms, she'd not even realized they were peanut butter! They were good. Like, really good.

She stared at the bowl, wondering if she was allowed to take anymore, but decided against it.

Her social anxiety definitely wasn't something that was benefiting from the social interactions, but she would endure it fore this was indeed what she'd signed up to do. Why she'd done it? She hadn't a clue.

Sinking back against the wall and opting to just watch sounded like a good idea to her. Hopefully no one would say anything.

mentioning @Henry Knight @Miranda Everest @Scarlet Salvatore and interacting with @Nessa Spriggin

Nessa was listening to @Henry Knight’s speech intently, cookie still being gnawed on and eaten. When he stopped mid-sentence, her heart beat a little faster, making eye contact with Henry and her hand going to shove the entire cookie in her mouth before he could ask her anything. She was hoping that it would somehow deter him from approaching her, but apparently she was wrong.

She was contemplating saying something but decided against it, opting to shake his hand and offer a small smile as she swallowed the remaining pieces of peanut butter cookie.

When someone approached her, she wasn't rightly prepared. She noticed the cookie in her hand and pointed at it. "Cookies too?" She asked, voice slightly hushed but taking the other cookie from her pocket and holding it up. "Cookies." She said, knowing she looked weird but. They were cookies. Cookies and food were literally the best things. Like, ever.

Nessie was slightly disappointed to not see any familiar faces. She'd seen Henry and @Miranda Everest from time to time on her way down to Potions, but never spoken to them beyond the owls she'd received before arriving at Hogwarts. Apparently they'd been informed beforehand, and had already set up a club. Perhaps they had it set up from the previous year as well, although she couldn't say for sure.

Nessa took a pen from the pocket of her hoodie which she'd worn under her robes that day. The pen was around three inches long, with a smoky, almost black black but not quite ink. It'd been her grandmothers. Bad memories, not something to be thinking about at a club meeting of this sort.

Her hand started doing strokes of its own accord on her palm, a mandala soon taking shape. It wasn't her best work, but it would do for now.

Miranda had been preoccupied listening to @Henry Knight , so she didn't notice at first as another person (@Nessa Spriggin) entered the room. By the time she did realize, Henry had already stopped to talk to her, leaving no reason for the Ravenclaw student to point it out to their whole group. Especially since the newcomer seemed a bit nervous (although maybe Miranda was just imagining that).

She tried to hide a smile - and failed - at the sight of @Aurélie Nimco attempting to speak with the girl. It was nice to see everyone getting along, even after all of her, well, numerous days spent fretting over the first meeting.

Miranda internally sighed at the direction her thoughts had taken. Again, she might add. Really, nothing seemed to be going wrong, so why did she insist on wondering over possibilities and past problems?

In a bid to take her mind off of it, Miranda decided to finish what Henry had been saying. Hopefully she'd get it right. Otherwise, he would have to correct her.

"As you can probably see, most of you are first years, with the exception of Henry and I. That should make most of the teams fair in order of experience, although perhaps not in numbers. So until all of the teams get evened out, we may have to make people temporarily switch teams for individual challenges for fairness's sake."