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A Moment of OOC:
Please refer to this thread for RP info, to post character sheets, and other questions/concerns. Standard rules apply here, as with any rp.
Now, on to the magic!
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The planes carrying the incoming Torbaen students arrived just as they had for decades- one right after the other, each stopping within inches of the next. There had been no stewards on board any flights, though there was a charmed lunch cart that served everyone on it's own. It was an hour before sunset when the planes began their descent, and the hills of the dry Nevada landscape came into view. Sequoia cacti studded the hills, as did several variety of desert wildflowers. The wildflowers, in fact, were charmed to alert the school authorities as to any wandering muggles. They did not react to wizards, of course, so the planes' passage onto the school grounds went quite smoothly.

As the steps from the planes lowered, Groundskeeper Ash Jefferson and Caretaker Laura Bernette awaited the students. Bernette, as usual, charmed the tumbleweeds into carriages to carry the students off to the school and their Welcome Feast, and tried to enforce a silence between First Year students and any older students, as it was her belief that the mystery of Torbaen should always be upheld. Of course, most of the older students liked to watch the awe on the First Years' faces or had more sociallizing to do with their friends and older students any how, and could care less.

The first of the Tumbleweed Carriages, able to hold up to four students apiece, was ready to depart immediately. Bernette was already working on a second, when Ash started calling for the new students.

"Can I have all of the First Years join me, please? First Years or transfers, over here?" Ash's height helped, of course, being almost 6 foot tall herself, but honestly, she had a voice that could carry, too. She seemed like an amazon woman, especially among the youngest and therefore shortest students. She motioned for the students to join her further back from the Tumbleweed Carriages, so that she could explain the ground rules for the evening, and allow the others to set up in the Hall before their own arrival.

Laura smiled and opened her mouth to reply to n** before she realized that the flamboyant witch was already on her way. She had half a mind to remind her that there would be no running in the school, but she shut her mouth quite quickly. After all, the last thing she needed to do was scold a teacher in front of other students. She made a mental note to talk to her after the ceremony this evening. She continued to charm Tumbleweed carriages, and went back to being thankful that the students all seemed to be suffering from mild jet-lag, and were not being impatient.

Rosie laughed at the pile-up that Ryu had caused. Her groupies also giggled, before they all moved on. After all, in her opinion, Rosie's approval of Ryu's prank was the best thing that was going to happen to him this school year- unless he got really, really lucky. She didn't glance behind her as she and her other Paytah friends quickly moved to the head of the quickly forming line for tumbleweed carriages, and boarded and left.

Martin sighed. And he wasn't sure it was from relief to be away from his older sister, or to be off the plane. He had heard the name Malfoy mentioned as he was descending the steps, and he had almost wanted to go back home after all. But his family... this was his best chance at escaping them, after all. So Martin quietly walked toward the tall dark lady calling for the new students, and waited.

Manuel got off the plane and had a look around. He had missed this place. Oh, so much. He smiled, and looked around to see if anyone needed any help. So far, Ash had a small group of first years slowly gathering around her, and the other students were making their way to the carriages. He wanted to be helpful, so he lingered a bit.

Eric waited until the plane was almost empty. After all, he really didn't want Bart to get overexcited, and Bart's travel cage was, as usual, his carry-on. Eric pulled open the compartment above and slowly pulled out the cage. It was a circular box, only about 10 inches deep with a two foot diameter, brown with five holes in the top. If one were to place their hand on the top, the holes would most likely match with the fingertips, and, also, let Bart out of his travel cage. Bart had a larger cage amongst Eric's belongings- a five foot tall, two and a half foot deep, four foot wide monstrosity that Eric had (thankfully) learned a wonderful charm for last year that allowed him to shrink it's size by over 90%. The cage was a gift from his Aunt, and the charm was something Professor Shepherd and he had worked out last year after the Care of Magical Creatures teacher and he had had a long talk about Bart.

Still, Eric was uneasy leaving the plane with a cage so small being the only thing between his over-excited pet and a slew of first year students. He exited the plane quickly... which was rather a mistake, as he tripped and fell and Bart's cage came sliding to a stop near some other students, the lid ajar by at least an inch.

Ell got off her plane, which was still quite full of loud students and quite a lot of hustle and bustle, and she made her way over to the loud black witch and practically planted herself by her side. She tried not to look worried, but who here wasn't? She smiled to some of the other unfamiliar faces, hoping their reciprocal smiles would ease her anxiety. She noticed an interesting woman turn into a tiger and run away, and wished she could summon the courage to ask about that. Instead, she gawked. What an awesome animagus!

Chase whistled as he plopped his wizard hat onto his head and left the air conditioned plane. What a mistake that was! It was hot as... well, a desert out here! He pulled the silly thing off in disgust. What the heck was this, anyways, a joke? Actual, magical people who just managed to dress enough like witches and wizards from old stories so that wearing the costumes would make them look like more like some cosplay rejects than functioning sorcerers? What a lark!

Chase heard someone mutter "Jackass", and turned around quickly. Seriously? Was that an acclimated wizard, or someone like him- totally out of his element? He was starting to realize that unless a lot of slang and hobbies and such crossed over from non-magical to magical, he was going to feel quite lost. For now, he ignored the lady calling for noobs. He went over towards the girl who had said Jackass, but seeing as she was being flocked by a whole bunch of guys, he kind of stood back for the moment.

Katherine yawned and stretched, realizing most everyone was off the plane already, and all of them first years. She sighed, and reached up for her carry-on; which was cage. Inside, a loud, whiny meow emitted as Squiggles woke up. He had been noisy throughout most of the flight until he had curled up and gone to sleep. She carried him off the plane before opening the cage to let him scramble out onto her shoulder, where he perched carefully. As usual, his head whipped around, wary of all the first years he didn't know. Kitty collapsed the box the same way one would with a cardboard box, and began folding it up. The enchantment made it stay the same thickness as she folded it as easily as a piece of paper. Finally, she slipped the small square into the pouch sewn into the inside of her robe. Ahead, someone tripped. Was that- well, she recognized him, but she had forgotten his name. She approached, and noticed a lack of spider. She only knew the boy because no one could forget a spider like Bart.

"Where's...oh," she said, following his gaze to the stranger holding his little cage. She tried to recognize her, though she was terrible at remembering people. Who had Bart?

Glancing around at Eric, Angie looked at her twin and issued a series of chirps followed by a wolf whistle, it was part of their secret twin language. Returning the wolf whistle followed by a slightly different series of chirps, Andie nodded. The two looked at Eric and grinned.

Handing Eric the opened box, Angie said, "A very interesting friend you have there, pal. My sister and I would love to discuss...a proposition...later about his capabilities with you."

"Yes," Andie said. "The two old crones sound like they're getting angry. And I don't want to quite miss dinner."

Together, the twins said to Bart, "Goodbye, little one! Maybe we'll see you later!" before hurrying over to Ash. With as much flourish in their bow as n** had shown earlier, they said in unison, "Andie and Angie, reporting for duty, ma'am!"

Glancing up at the twins, Wulfric cracked a grin. Those two were funny.

"I know that voice, why do I know that voice?" Rhi said.

"Manuel was the first one," Steven said. "A first year was the second one."

"Oh. ... OH!" Rhi said, her face going red. "Steven's allergic to my owl and I had been holding him for most of the flight and Steven may pick up on the dander and get sick and have to go see the nurse and I don't want that to happen because of me--

"You're rambling," Steven said, chuckling. Glancing at Ash and Bernette as they made their announcements, he looked at Chase and said, "Nice to meet you. You should probably get going. It's bad enough that Mrs. Bernette's getting angry already but let's not make Ms. Jefferson angry too."

Trying lamely to hide her furious blush behind her hair by keeping her head down, Rhi said as she was led to the carriages, "Th-thank you Manuel..."

"Indeed," Steven said. "Enjoy the last leg of the trip." Turning, he followed along behind Manuel and Rhi.

----

Slowing to a trot, n** transformed into her human form. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that the students--

"Merlin's beard!" Austin exclaimed as he came around the corner in time to see n** transform. "What an Animagus form!"

Turning to look to see who was talking, n** grinned. Hugging him, she said, "Shephard! It's good to see you again, old friend!"

In a rough laugh that was more bark than actual laughter, Austin said, "Aye and you as well! I am very glad Eugene thought to write to you."

"Yes," n** said as the two turned to go inside. "Although I expect I'll be answering more questions than asking them for the first few weeks."

"And I'll be doing some of that m'self," Austin grinned as they entered the castle. "Though I won't bother you about it. You well know my door's always open--perhaps we can have a firewhiskey while you tell me all about England when you feel up to it."

"You remind me of a teacher and friend I made," n** said, deflecting the invention for the moment. "The two of you would get along smashingly."

When the plane was mostly empty, Morgan got to her feet and walked to the exit--all while reading a book explaining the history of NARM. As she had always been a bookworm--more so since finding out she was a witch (and how the other kids teased her by calling her Morgan la Fay when they found THAT out), she exited the plane and managed to traverse her way over to the tall woman yelling for first years despite having the book in her face.

"That is some AWESOME hair," Angie exclaimed as Morgan approached.

"How do you get it to do that?" Andie asked.

Looking over the top of her book, Morgan said, "I've always been able to do it."

Stowing the book under her arm, Morgan carefully sat down on one of the seats in the carriage.

"T-thank you," Rhi said as Manuel helped her into the carriage.

"See you guys at the castle," Steven said, getting into another carriage.

----

Reaching the great hall, n** and Austin broke off to take their respective seats. To n**'s delight, she was going to be sitting next to an old friend of hers. Hurrying over, n** said, "Still talking to yourself old friend?"

Twitching her mouth, Kyra, "Are YOU still getting into trouble?"

"Define trouble," n** grinned.

"Look in a dictionary, it has your picture next to it," Kyra replied, laughing. "So how are you enjoying being back?"

"Quite well," n** said. "Truth be told it's only my second day back in the States."

Headmaster McArnold gave a nod to n** as she entered the Hall and sat down among the staff. He had faith that she would do well this year, despite how passingly he actually knew her. But now, except for the staff escorting the students and Professor Belakhdar, the Staff was all present. He tapped his wand on the table once, and glasses of Apple Scider appeared in front of all the Staff.

"Here's to another brilliant year!" he said, raising his glass in a toast. He usually toasted the staff sometime between their arrival and the arrival of the students. He knew toasting them in front of the students only ever produced a groan loud enough to spill everyone's Scider.

Sally Miller smiled at the toast, still happy to be working here, and even happier that she wasn't the newest staff member. The infamous Niphaphone Keophonthepha was here, too. Sally was in awe of the presence of this one woman, and was seriously considering trying to become her best friend.

((ooc: sorry, headachy and cant think what else to post. will try for more tomorrow.))

Kitty grinned a bit too widely at having someone actually knowing her. It was wonderful to talk to people sometimes.

"Oh, don't worry, he's not likely to leave his spot until I drop him off in the dorm," she said, putting her kitten under the chin. Her purred, and headbutted her, before returning to staring at everyone else in the carriage.