"Kai said I'd be popular bringing my carpet, but its like a friend and I couldn't leave it. But don't worry, you'll have a turn, I promise." River listened intently. "You must have a lot of owls then. Ooh stygians are so gorgeous. You're really lucky. He sounds great, even with the intimating part."

Terry smiles. "Yes, for instance I prefer some meat in my food. Yes the veggies are good and all but I can't imagine my life without meat. How you do it Merlin?"

"I may have to request more dishes, I have a great appetite and need more options." Merlin grins. "You see Terry, I have never eaten any meat so I can't miss what I don't eat. I have never wanted it, even as a baby mom said I would spit it. I suppose my body is not meant for it, besides...I can't eat my friends and animals are my friends and family."

"When I arrived to Hogwarts the first time I had no idea why a hat decided the fate of the students but found it funny. I didn't wear the hat for more than three seconds, it quickly said RAVENCLAW!" Terry said proudly.

"I want to try all those desserts, I hope we get lots of good ones here, this is America after all - hopefully we'll get donuts."

Terry rolled her eyes when Merlin talked about donuts. "Seriously there are tons of better desserts than donuts, but well each to their own. I like creme brulee, raspberry cheesecake, truffles, and strawberry short cake to name a few."

"I like lemon cake the most, then dognuts." Merlin grins. "Chocolate cake too and well anything with chocolate is love."

"Yes, my owls are not just that. I have another owl, an Australian masked owl, I use for post services but she is also my friend. Now Spellz is my baby, he can carry notes but I rather keep him close."

(OOC; ; Okay, thank you c: )

"Are you from a non-wizard family?", Corvus asked Terry(), "I'm just wondering because you had no idea about the hat." Even though he mostly didn't care how he sounded, he didn't want to sound like a pureblood-supremacist. "It must be really cool to get sorted so quickly. What happens if the hat can't decide? When I got sorted here, the carving over there-", he pointed to a place in the centre of the entrance hall - "it's a Gordian Knot, well, the crystals on the head of the Horned Serpent were glowing, but the wings of the Thunderbird flapped as well....I wasn't sure for a moment, but chose the serpent then." He chuckled a bit. "Totally not a coincidence, though."

Eva ran in, stumbling over her two feet I cannot believe I lost track of time she thought to herself as she made her way to the Great Hall. Eva had been exploring the mountains surrounding Ilvermorny for a day -- she was trying to find different types of herbs to catalogue them, which she often did, but she was not the best at being on time for things.

She looked around at the food, and grabbed something small along with a drink. Gosh, I'm really going to have to try and greet everyone thats still left in the hall she thought with a slight pang of guilt, still in disbelief that she missed the arrival of the students from Hogwarts and The Alexandrian Academy for the Arcane Arts.

Zala woke up several hours later in the mostly empty dorm. Many of the pets lay sleeping on the beds and the bags were on the floors. Some had been opened she noticed, but most students had claimed a bed and quickly left. Their bags were untouched for now. Zala flopped down and stared at the ceiling trying to fall asleep again and failing. The tournament wouldn't start properly for another few days and she wanted to get well adjusted to the different time zone before that happened. She groaned as she realized it wasn't going to happen today. Looking back at the empty dorm she figured she had some time left before curfew and got up. In one of her big sweaters she walked out of the dorm and started walking in a random direction, or at least not going to the few places she had already seen. She walked past the Great Hall where she still heard plenty of noise coming from and continued down a hallway.

After quite some time she had found the entrance to the library and smiled brightly. "Finally!" she exclaimed. In reality it had only been about half an hour and she had already found plenty of empty classrooms, the main entrance, or exit, to the castle and a number of bathrooms. She entered the library and walked down the large room. When she entered she hadn't seen a librarian and wondered if the school would lock the library doors. If so she wouldn't have much time left or she'd have to spend the night here. Luckily for her the bookcases seemed to be well labeled and soon she had found a book about the Ilvermorny history and began reading about it's founding. She shuffled to one of the plush couches she had spotted earlier and sat down with the book.

((anyone looking for Zala can find her in the library for now))

(we are pretending my picture of River is in her a4 stuff lmao))

"I hope so too. I've heard America has some really good desserts," River said. "Ooh those all sound yummy." River noted down Merlin's lemon cake preference.

[img align=right]https://i.imgur.com/3B75nXq.png[/img]She'd heard Corvus and turned. "Wait...a hat decides your house?" The girl's eyes were stunned. How could a hat know? "I how does Hogwarts do it then?" She'd not listened to the entire conversation and gotten confused.

River noticed a newcomer Ilvermorny. She waved, unsure if the girl saw her. River's golden robes glistened in the light of the Great Hall.

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/172169.png[/img] "Thanks, he is wonderful" Lenore smiles then purses her lips, "Um, I don't mean to be rude but...how can you be friends with a carpet?"

Lenore's face about melts when Merlin mentions Spellz carrying notes. Owls are one of the few things she gets truly emotional about. "That has to be the cutest thing. And I bet it helps him to feel accomplished too. Owls love knowing that they're doing their job, it's one of their ways of showing affection."

Lenore listened in fascination as a dark-haired boy she hadn't met described the sorting at Ilvermorny. Getting a choice about your house? That sounded strange but kind of helpful too. Though she would never admit it, she had had doubts, albeit small ones, about getting into Slytherin. Knowing that she could have given some input would have been nice.

"Well," River replied, "You can't really... but well it goes with me all over the place and sometimes it just... I don't know feels like it likes me. Like how your wand can feel like its part of yourself. Okay...er, I don't have a lot of friends..."

Lenore notices that River looks uncomfortable again. The girl seems to lose confidence quickly. "That sounds like how I feel about my books," Lenore says. "I've always felt that books held a life of their own but there are others who would just see them as objects."

Lenore isn't really sure what to say about River's stating that she doesn't have many friends. Lenore has very few friends but only because she's preferred it that way and it never occurred to her as being a bad thing. "...er...I'm sorry that you feel lonely. Maybe you can make some new friends during the Tournament. The people I've met have been friendly." Lenore doesn't add that her first conversation of the trip had ended poorly and that she had only managed to upset another student. ()

(if you wanna press her into telling what's really bothering her, press about families ;) )

"Oh I've known people that feel that way about books. I was worried you'd think I was crazy for thinking that of my carpet. I named him too." River shrugged. "It's not your fault. We'll see. I feel welcomed that's for sure." She smiled.

Good to know ;) )

"Believe me, I'd be the last person to think someone is crazy." Lenore laughed and shook her head. "I'm not exactly normal and if people want to call me crazy that's fine with me. I just do my own thing anyway." She looks slightly proud of herself as she says this last part, as though she's a bit better than 'normal' people.

"So, what did you name your carpet?" she asks as she refills her coffee and pulls a box out of her bag. It's filled with chocolate cauldrons.

River giggled. "Well I march to the beat of my own tune as well." She blushed. "I named him Carl. Carl the carpet. We've had some wild rides together. The jungle was interesting because of all the trees. I thought I was gonna crash. Actually I have crashed landed a few times, but so far Carl's held up well."

Lenore chuckles at the name. "Well I'm going to have to meet Carl the Carpet" she says. "I've had a couple of bad landing myself, though I fly a broom. And they were during storms." Her eyes light up a bit at the memory. "Once it starts storming it's like something is pulling me outside. I have to be in the air at the heart of it." She picks up a chocolate cauldron and bites it in half then adds. "I always have my owl, Pallas, with me though. He can fly home for help if something bad happens. Mum would have a heart attack if I went out without him." she shrugs. "Cauldron?" she asks, gesturing at the chocolates on the table.

((Chocolate cauldrons are filled with fire whiskey. Not sure if River will like that or not :) ))

Sebakhin hadn’t wanted anyone to feel sorry for him. It was his own stupid mistake that got him in trouble. The pitty made him sort of angry. Not sort of angry, very angry. So he took Bran’s advice and went for a jog toward the suggested grotto to clear his mind.

Not wasting any time finding the place Seb slid to a halt and doubled over, his hands pressing into his thighs while heaving the air into his burning lungs. Thanks to the altitude the jog up the mountainside had proven a bit more difficult than he had anticipated.

So what if he wasn’t allowed to be champion. This moment wasn’t going to be the thing that defined him. At least he hoped not. But he could hear his uncle’s nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him he was missing out on an amazing opportunity. To better ignore the voice and the discomfort in his chest, Seb peeled his shirt from his back and dove into the water to cool off.

He didn’t return until well after the other students had been sent to bed. Quietly so as not to get himself into anymore trouble, Seb snuck into the dormitory, changed into his sleeping clothes, and slid under the blankets of his assigned bed. He was still much too fired up to catch any sleep, but instead stared up at the dark ceiling and tried to imagine himself grown up and far away from the feeling he was harboring in his stomach.

((I'm not quite sure where everyone else is at, and I may not have time to get back into this before we go camping this weekend. But this is just a little blerb to keep Seb current. n.n))

Teresa nods to Corvus. "Yes I'm muggle born, so I didn't know anything about the wizard ways or their school. In fact my parents were not going to send me to Hogwarts but since my magic powers were causing problems for my lack of control they decided to send me in order for me to learn." She blushed with embarrassment. "I sort of keep making things I didn't like disappear and everything was fine until I made my dad's car keys disappear. I didn't wanted him to go to work, he is a fireman and I always got scared when he left to work." Terry nods. "Yes sometimes you can do well in more than one house but after some thinking from the hat and sometimes even your own desire can help the hat decide where to put you. I'm sure the hat made a mistake putting Merlin in the Slytherin house, he is too cute and pure to be there."

Merlin looked at her confused. "What do you know? I have my dark side." He smirks.

"I don't buy it, you are like a unicorn." Terry then realized she called him cute.

"I'm a dragon, grrr." Merlin rolled his eyes. "I know why I'm in Slytherin, my mom was, and she says all the family was so that's probably a reason. Also I am ambitious, and that's the winning point over the other qualities."

After Corvus pointed to where the house was decided she wondered. "Can we test which house we would get into if we study here or does it only works for students?"

Terry rolled her eyes when River asked about the hat since she already explained it. "Yes a hat chooses the house each student will go to, it was enchanted by the founders so students will be placed in the right houses with the qualities they admired most in students. Its been passed down from headmaster to headmaster for centuries."

Merlin nods. "Yes I used to send him with all my letters in the past, of course all my letters were very short but I felt as my heart was split every time he left. Now I mostly let him send notes around the village or to close areas. Flight can handle the harder work, she is strong and loves flying far."

Merlin looks at the box with chocolate cauldrons and his eyes turn into hearts. "Can I have one please? If its ok to ask, I love them."

Lenore laughed as Terry teased Merlin. She would probably think of him as 'Merlin the Unicorn' from now on. When Terry asked Corvus () about being 'tested' by the Ilvermorny statues Lenore snapped to attention. Where would she be placed? She imagined herself stepping onto the Gordian Knot in the middle of the night, unwatched and waiting for one (or more?) of the statues to come to life.

When Merlin asked about the chocolates Lenore was still lost in her daydream. "Huh? ...oh, yeah of course." She pushed the box closer to the boy. "Anyone can have some. I brought loads since I wasn't sure if I could get them here." Her eyes glinted for a second. "I even snuck some of my mum's private homemade stash."

((Edited after realizing that Terry and Merlin aren't siblings. facepalm))

"I think you'll like him," the girl replied with a smile. "Ooh I love flying in storms. Its very exciting isn't it? Does he like the storms?" River took the offered cauldron and bit into it contentedly. "Thank you, very yummy."

"That's really weird to have a hat choose you're house," the girl remarked as she took another cauldron cake.

((ooc: have fun camping XD))

((LOL They are not siblings, they go to Hogwarts and are in different houses. Slytheirn and Ravenclaw. Its cute you think they were XD ))

"Oh thank you!" Merlin took one and stuff it his mouth quickly. "Deicius." He said with full mouth, after he swallows adds. "I brought lemon cookies and cake too since I can't live without it." He took out a bag with a few cookies. "If you want to try, I hope I can sneak into the kitchen and make some in case I run out of them."

Terry nods. "I thought so too but now I'm used to it and can't imagine another things. Its so much fun to watch the hat sing and pick the new students house. I actually love it."

"I've heard and read so.", Corvus replied while looking at River(), "regarding the hat at Hogwarts. It actually feels kind of weird, especially that it...speaks and even sings." He turned to Teresa and Merlin(). "Atleast that's what I know...so, does the hat really sing? That sounds like it has some kind of brain or consciousness." Looking at the chocolate cauldrons Lenore() placed on the table, Corvus chuckled a bit. "Are these actually filled with fire whiskey? I've always wanted to know how they taste, so, thank you.", he said amused and emptied his cup of tea, pondering whether to get a new one or not. Meanwhile, he listened to Terry's words. "That sounds very amusing. I bet your parents were really confused with things disppearing.", he said, then fell silent for a moment. "Can the hat actually make the wrong decision?", he asked surprised and saved another question for later. His eyes fell to Merlin. "Still waters run deep.", he said, with a dry, but amused tone, "and maybe he just tries to deceive people by his looks." He straightened his shoulders a bit and poured himself a new cup of tea. "Merlin, correct? Do you know Elizabeth by any chance?", Corvus asked and put some milk into the tea, then stirred it with a spoon. Regarding the temperature, the tea was already drinkable and he took a sip to think for a moment. "Mhm...I don't know it works for foreign students - or people older than twelve - but maybe you could give it a try around midnight. Just be sure to not get caught. Though I should say that I don't know what happens when anyone of you would step on the Gordian Knot.", he explained.

"But you can probably sort yourself to an extent. Wampus, which is the house with the big cat, favours warriors. Then we have Horned Serpent for scholars, Thunderbird likes adventurers and finally, Pukwudgie favours healers.", he said, while pointing at the different banners on the walls.

He took a deep breath after explaining and faced Terry again. "I still have one question though....well, what exactly is a fireman?", he asked after a short break. He was clearly a bit ashamed about the question, but he knew little about the non-magical world. To distract from his lack of knowledge, he took one of the chocolate cauldrons from the little box and started unwrapping it.

"It's exhilarating!" she says then adds thoughtfully, "He seems to, which is good because most of my owls don't like the big storms. But Pallas is bigger and heavier than most so the winds don't throw him off so much."

((The two of them interact like siblings lol. They're fun to listen to.))

"I'm down for it." Lenore answers. "Do you know where the kitchens are here?"

Lenore nods at Corvus. "They are. These are from a shop so they're pretty mild. My mum makes better ones but she doesn't like for me to have them" She looks contemplative and adds quietly, "It might be worth a try. The Gordian Knot I mean."