Okay, portkeys were horrible. The pulling feeling and all the spinning. Ugh, this was much worse than the one other time he had portkeyed. This one was longer, and much more intense. Luckily, he managed not to get sick all over the Groundskeeper's feet. That would have been bad.

And it was dark, and there were people. Digging out the flashlight that was in his backpack, he re-shouldered the thing, and flashed the light on those around him. Good, good. Girlfriend was good, and so was Huxley. Or well, not so good. Miks was nearly being killed by bugspray. And Huxley really did look like she was going to be sick all over them. “Er, you guys okay there?” he asked.

Groups, that was a good idea. “Yes, Ma'am.” Kaiden said looking around at their group. Good thing Amelia made him join her group. They had a good group though, yep. No one should be getting lost or anything. And it was time to hike. This was going to be great.

Jasmine had been so momentarily queasy that she had not paid proper attention to the person she almost knocked over. That was until he spoke. Looking up, she found herself staring into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He looked strangely familiar, but Jasmine was sure she had never met him before.

"I'm fine", she replied. "Are you OK? I didn't hurt you, did I?". Listening to him talk, Jasmine laughed when he apologized for his accent. She reached out to shake his outstretched hand and introduced herself. "Hi Cris. It's nice to meet you. I'm Jasmine and I'm a sixth year transfer too. I like your accent and I don't think you sound anything like Arnold Schwarzenegger." Alex was happy to meet another transfer student. She now knew that there were at least three of them this term.

As Jasmine looked around, she responded to Cris's question. "No, I haven't been to Peru before. Have you been here before? I 'm sure it will be beautiful. I can't wait to see the sunrise."

Noise. HUMAN noise. In the middle of the jungle. At...

Lolita checked her watch.

"Cuatro. Ay."

The brunette took out her wand. If those idiots woke anything up out here, she wasn't going down with them. Creeping closer to the source, closer, closer... Bug repellant? Tourists. She counted a large group of around twenty, clearly not locals by their features and their clothing. And their accents.

And then she froze. Had she just heard the word Portkey? Were these wizards making this much racket? Didn't they know they were in Vipertooth country? Her suspicions were definitely growing by the minute, AND her annoyance at their stupidity.

With a lit wand, she burst forth from the underbrush and clearly said "¡Hola, amigos! What brings such a large group of wizards here to Vipertooth country in such a loud fashion?"

Of Course Nigel would get sprayed with bug repellent. This stuff smelled hideous and Flamsteed got some in his hair. Not Cool Man. Not Cool. Should have picked group earmuffs. But he was blinded by the awesome suit. He had not even needed it anyway. Since he sprayed some on himself before they port-keyed over. The only thing he could focus on right now was how humid it was. Merlin maybe he should have stayed home and relaxed on the beach.

Nigel pulled back his hair and using a hair tie put it in a ponytail. Now what where they meant to do now. He was staying with his group of course. But was that it. Right when he thought that a stranger comes right of nowhere speaking spanish.

"Just great. Not just any dragon. But a Venomous one."

He was seriously Mister Optimistic today. Maybe it was the bug spray in the hair. Definitely .Still they were in Vipertooth territory. Which should not have surprised him. Since they were in Peru.

Still Fun.

Turning around to walk backwards, cause students were being slooooooow with following, she tried to seek out the student who asked the question, but....darkness. Kinda killed the eyesight, y'know? "Not yeeeet, no." she answered back, stepping over a tree root-

O, gospodi!

Stiff as a tree trunk and hand on her concealed wand, she squinted at the person!intruder. Wizards? Vipertooth territory? That...was no muggle. "Loud fashion?" she asked, shielding her eyes momentarily from the light until she adjusted to it. "I could ask you the same?"

OoooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooh.

This was getting good. Anastasia, of course, had nonverbally refused Airhead's offer of a bug spray-down because no, and was just about to wonder aloud if WEST shouldn't be their proper destination, because the cliffs were to the WEST, when lo. and. behold.

Señorita Fashionista had to just WANDER onto their merry trail. She wasn't the only one who could point at people with her wand lit! Annie did just the same in the OVERLY PRETTY woman's face.... area... really, she could use a wand-brow-wax.

"Are you really an amigo?"

Kirby had just finished downing one of his milk cartons and tossing it back into his bag. When he heard Medea tell them all to stay the the same port key groups they traveled in. The Groundskeeper did a quick head count from his side and eyed some of the queasy looking kids. "New Goal. We'll get you lot all rock hard abs so you can stomach the travel back." How bout that yeah? Plenty of ways to get Ab workouts even on a Hike.

Next thing he knew Someone (Kaiden) was waving a Flashlight all over the place occasionally blinding him since stood so close to the Kid. "Quit wavin that around. Why do you even have that on you!?!?" He placed a hand on top of Mister Kaiden's hair patting it gently. "You can put that away..."

...Actually no a voice!! The Groundskeeper shifted the kid he now was holding by the top of his head in the direction of the Mystery Newcomer. Letting Kaiden's light land on her....

...Wow...was this that funny stomach feeling the Kids felt on landing. It was all knotted.

Bay almost screamed, very much so when someone came out of the tree lines. He instantly thought that they were all caught by a muggle but that wasn't the case. Since he was with team Earmuffs with Mr.Kirby he quietly moved behind the very large, muscular man because he would protect them right…. RIGHT!!!!

He whispered to man "Sir…. whats going on?" it seemed that no one else was expecting a visitor. GULP glancing over at Cris he gave a weird smile.. hoping that his friend was holding it together more than he was.

Cris doing what he always did....multitasking. While he was keeping a watchout for the sun to rise, he was trying to introduce himself to the girl who had held on to him for support the moment they had portkeyed here.

It was only when she took his hand and spoke, did he give her his full attention and the moment he saw whom he was talking to, he did what he always did....blush and go all tongue tied...in the presence of a beautiful girl...and Jasmine was beautiful.

Cris never knew why he always acted that way. It wasn't like he went all ga-ga over every girl he met. In Durmstrang, there were beautiful girls there, many of them part or full Veela, but he never seem to have this reaction with them.

Feeling awkward, Cris took her hand and kept shaking....and shaking...and shaking it. "Um....hi...Jas...Jasmine. It is nice to greet...I mean meet you. No no you didn't hurt me at all," Cris stammered out his reply.

Was it getting really hot out here? Cris began to loosen the collar of his shirt.

"The sunrise? Yes it is really bountiful...I mean beautiful. You should see how it is when it comes down...I mean sets...the sunsets...they are just as awesome too," Cris quickly corrected himself, belatedly realizing that he was still shaking Jasmine's hand. He quickly released and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Heck if she didn't think he sounded like Arnold earlier, she most surely did now. Even he couldn't understand what he was saying.

Get it together, Cris...

Cris smiled sheepishly at her before turning to look as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

....and it was then he heard someone approaching them.



"Hola señorita. Buenos días," Cris automatically replied before belatedly realizing that he should have allowed the staff to address the local. He did however notice that the woman was upset with them...and she seemed to know that they were wizards.

Vipertooth? As in Peruvian Vipertooth? Cris' ears immediately perked up. His favorite magical creatures were Dragons and he hoped one day to be a dragonologist.

But were there any lurking around right now? Cris immediately placed his hand on his wand and stepped in front of Jasmine.

.....Yes you'll have to get through me first Mr. Vipertooth....



Cris watched as staff came forward and approached the woman. It was then he realized that he heard Bay's whispered question. He turned to Bay and shrugged before turning back to look at the woman.

Declan peered into the darkness. One of them had what he recognized as a flashlight, but it was just a mere dot of light in the dark void. By Merlin, it's like walking blind around here and the professor being in a camouflage suit wasn't really helping with the fact. He held out his arms in the darkness, searching for the professor's back to at least be in a safe distance close to him. Poke. There he is. Just as soon as he was chilling out, this sudden voice appeared in the black abyss. He nearly jumped onto the professor's back. Who was that??

Oh, it was a lady! Mujer bonita, si. Wait...what was a pretty lady doing in the middle of nothing?! ABORT! ABORT! RED FLAG! Vipertooth? Vipertooth? I REPEAT, ABORT!

Jasmine smiled as Cris shook her hand and shook her hand some more. For some reason he suddenly seemed to be nervous while he was talking to her. Jasmine couldn't imagine that she could make anyone feel nervous. At the same time, she couldn't help but stare at Cris. Those eyes.......were so intense and so.......blue. "OK Jasmine, you need to focus", she thought to herself.

While Cris tried to find his words, Jasmine tried not to stare at him. She had not realized that he was still shaking holding her hand until he released it suddenly. Jasmine giggled and then thought, "Really Jasmine....giggling?". That was very unlike her. She was not a giggly kind of girl, but for some reason, she couldn't help herself.

Trying to make both of them feel more comfortable, she started to talk. "I like sunrises, but I love sunsets more. There's nothing like watching the sunset over the ocean. That's something I used to love to do......when I lived in California. I'm from there, but I transferred here from Beauxbatons because I moved, obviously".... Realizing that she was totally rambling, Jamine directed a question at Cris. "So where are you from Cris? "

When a local witch appeared out of nowhere and approached their group, Jasmine was momentarily startled. When the woman said the word Vipertooth, she had Jasmine's complete attention. It did not escape her notice that Cris had stepped in front of her, wand at the ready. Awww, was he protecting her? How gallant. Jasmine waited to hear what the Professors had to say. It appeared that this was going to be an interesting trip already

Alert and vigilant, Cris kept one eye on the Peruvian woman, while at the same time a ear out for any monstrous sounds of a dragon approaching them. As for his other eye and ear, they were attuned to what Jasmine was saying to him.

....well he was a multi-tasker....

Jasmine was giggling. Was there something on his nose? Cris raised his hand to comb it through his hair and as he lowered it, surreptitiously wiped his nose. Okay nose was now clean.

He nodded in agreement. "Oh yes I love those sunsets over the ocean or even a lake. I live near a big lake, and whenever my brother and I go hiking, we deliberately set off an hour before dawn, so that we get to see the sunrise," Cris smiled as he recalled all those beautiful days.

"Beauxbaton? I believe my brother's girlfriend, used to attend Beauxbaton. Both my sisters attend Durmstrang, like I used to. My family home is in Bergen, Norway. Have you been there before? I have pictures of where I live somewhere in my backpack. Maybe when we get the chance, I'll show them to you," Cris asked Jasmine.

It was then Cris realized. He was no longer stammering. Did that mean that he now felt comfortable talking to her? One thing was for sure, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

......Come on Sun! I want to see her more clearly.

It seemed like they’d been transported back in time, although Lily hadn’t really been thrown by the time change as much as she imagined the rest of the students who weren’t from places other than England or those areas were. But then, she’d been distracted by Alexa sort of stumbling into her before using Professor Romanos’ arm to steady herself as well to really notice how dark it was. People had apparently chosen to pull out flashlights and such by then anyway, and she busied herself scooping her hair up off her shoulders with one hand as she’d swung her backpack around to dig inside for a hair tie. There was way too much humidity in the rainforest to have her hair down, yet she hadn’t thought of that before they’d left. It was easily fixed, though, and after a few seconds, she’d twisted her hair up on her head and secured it. Then she applied herself to seeing what else was around, noting Mo trying to take pictures before she’d heard Professor Flamsteed’s suggestion they trek east to try and catch the sunrise.

Speeding up so she didn’t lose her group, she pulled up behind Professor Romanos and the headmistress shortly before everyone had been interrupted by another voice and a lit wand. Instinctively, at the mention of Vipertooth territory, she’d taken her wand out as well, but didn’t light it. Between Kaiden’s flashlight over by the groundskeeper and the headmistress’ wandlight, plus the new likely local woman given the Hispanic accent’s wandlight, she could see well enough. She was more concerned about dragons that might now decide to investigate than adding more light to the situation. For all she knew they’d been headed straight for wherever the dragons slept, so she wanted to be ready. Until she found that out, she peered around the adults to look at the woman. Answers now please.

Suniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise sunset sunriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise sunset

Which was a song whose theme really had nothing to do with the current situation whatsoever, but it was the first one that included the word sunrise in it that he could think of. Only real problem was that it was quite the downer and with it being so dark outside it was a song that was sure to make some of the students fall asleep. And he sure was not going to carry anyone or waste the focus needed to levitate them along side him.

OH! He knew a much better song to sing under these circumstances. Softly, of course, since they were supposed to sort of keep a low profile at the moment.

"Look out new world here we coooome...brave, intrepid and then soOOOoome...Pioneers of maximum audacity whose resumes..." he sung softly as his steps matched the beats of the music. "Show that we are just the team to live where others merely dream....Building up a head of steam...On the trail we blaaaaaaaaaaaaze.....WOAH!"

His wand already out, he instinctively flicked it towards the woman who wildly appeared from the jungle like some earth element Pokemon. Hey, she had her wand out, it was only fair. "Loud fashion?" he repeated, eyebrow raised. "You wouldn't be talking about my suit, would you?" He always dressed loud. Suits spoke for themselves, ya know?

And yes, thank you Mr. Barrington for pointing out that little tidbit about the dragons. Just don't go trying to collect any of that for potions or whatever. Although Airey wouldn't mind running into a dragon. Would be quite the adventure AND, perhaps the best part, they were a creature without any fur!

What little Spanish Airey knew, which wasn't much at all, was enough to know what amigo meant - so at least he wasn't staring at the new comer with whatever googly eyed expression the Groundskeeper was doing. Airey leaned over just a bit to snap his fingers in front of the bloke's face. You know, just to wake him up a little. Then his eyes were back on the newcomer. "And what business, pray tell, do you have out here at this hour?"

Suspicious? Oooooooh yes.

And could they possibly keep this conversation brief? THEY WERE GOING TO MISS THE GLORIOUS SUNRISE!

She was gonna apologize for bumping into people but then nudging by Cassia was happening then they were walking again. Ugh. Right. That thing involving the movement of one foot then the next in a repetitive fashion in order to move from one place to the next. Peru was wearing off real quick. She wanted to see something happen, anything that would wake her up.

With the logic prevailing and them staying in their groups, Lex was happy to stick close to Professor Romanos--not that close though. Couldn't get anything done when you were attached to someone else.

Through the walking and trying to keep her eyes closed she noticed everyone stopping. What? What happened? Campsite? Smores? Sugar?

Lex peered around the kid standing before her to spot a lady, kinda fancy looking for the Amazon, no? But that wasn't the important part. She was talking about Vipertooth stuff. "Neat. You give those out as souvenirs? Can I have one freshly hatched? Easier to gain loyalty, you understand." Dragons? They were getting dragons? Eeep!! Her first. LOOK CASSIA, MENTIONS OF DRAGONS!!

She. Was. AWAKE.

Benjy had just been following along for the moment, taking everything in. He was on an adventure, and though he'd come with friends, he didn't feel the need to share everything. He was too busy absorbing stuff. And also wondering if (when?) it might be appropriate to pull out his skateboard. Scenery like this should be taken in on wheels, y'know.

...and also far away from the insect repellent that was threatening to make him sneeze. BLECH.

He continued quietly kicking along well away from suit!man, when he heard mention of 'Vipertooth country'. A grin soon spread across his face. "Awesome!" he exclaimed, speeding up to get to the front of the queue. "Can we ride them?" He TOTALLY wanted to ride one.

Oh yes, she had been correct. Definitely tourists with how completely jumpy they were. And a singularly suspicious lot, these ones, what with half of the people in the group pointing their wands at her and asking what she was up to. "I think we can all lower our wands from my heart, por favor." IF they even knew what that meant. "Means please," she said with a tilt of her head and raaaaiiiise of an eyebrow. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it already." Because she had been hidden in the bushes without any of their knowledge. In the dark.

She rolled her eyes. Was it any of their business what she was doing? No. Did she care if they knew? No. Best to just patronize them then. "Before an entire 10 kilometre radius was alerted to a foreign presence, I had been hoping to collect some dung samples this morning. But clearly nothing is going to venture around anymore." Pity. "Now I might ask you the same question."

Lower their...what, why? Who?

Raising an eyebrow, she glanced to her colleagues, noting the...oh. Wands. Ahem. Though, the grip she had on her still holstered wand hadn't loosened, 'cause...why?...plus, constant vigilance and all that. More importantly, Miss Cambridge, Mister Barton, shuuuuuuush shush! Oh dear. "Mister Barton, please..." No no. No angering the foreign lady any more than needed.

"Forgive us. Had ve known somevon vos using this area for study purposes, ve'd haff requested different coordinates. Ve only vish to pass through." Quickly. Plus, they'd requested a SAFE area to land. What kind of creatures was she getting samples from?

Bay had no idea what was going on, who's this strange woman, what were the creatures they were talking about.. wait did someone say dragons! "WHAT KIND OF FEILD TRIP IS THIS!" he yelled in his head, if he didn't survive this the school wouldn't hear the end of it from his parents. Sticking with his group he thought it was best for the adults to talk and not to say anything, he started to pace a little but trying not to make much noise.

so what were they going to do now.. GULP right now he just wanted to be safe and for some reason this reminded him of his bed. yup, he wanted to be warm and safe in his bed. "gross" he said quietly, did the lady just say she was trying to pick up dung.. ewwwwwww why on earth would anyone want to do that. Trying his best not to throw up he started to think of football to keep his mind of the thing he had just heard.

Lolita shiiiiiiffted her gaze over to the Translyvanian-sounding woman. Or Bulgarian.. or Romanian? She wasn't good with European accents. Give her African or South American accents all day.

"Forgiveness granted. However, I don't think much of those who assigned this landing spot." She looked down her nose as she gazed around the group that was ever so slooowwly becoming easier to see in the grey morning light. "For reasons of privacy, security, academic integrity, and curiosity, might I ask why such.." how to put it... "an interesting group is wandering around the jungle in the middle of a known dragon habitat?"

And disrupting her beauty sleep!

Okay, time for the Headmistress to be Headmistressy. She'd heard enough from this sassy Latina.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lolita Domingo

Lolita shiiiiiiffted her gaze over to the Translyvanian-sounding woman. Or Bulgarian.. or Romanian? She wasn't good with European accents. Give her African or South American accents all day.

"Forgiveness granted. However, I don't think much of those who assigned this landing spot." She looked down her nose as she gazed around the group that was ever so slooowwly becoming easier to see in the grey morning light. "For reasons of privacy, security, academic integrity, and curiosity, might I ask why such.." how to put it... "an interesting group is wandering around the jungle in the middle of a known dragon habitat?"

And disrupting her beauty sleep!

"Listen here, lady," she stepped forward, though she did at least lower her wand to use it more like a flashlight than a weapon in the semi-darkness. "We didn't PLAN to land in the middle of your dragon habitat. We're just a school expedition, a field trip, from the U.K. That's ALL you need to know." You could never be too careful of strangers anymore. Just look at de Talone and whatever.

One hand on her hip, Annie continued. "Now you can either be helpful and point us toward the best spot to view the sunrise, since you know this jungle so well, or you can get out of our way. What's it going to be?"

Really, who had invited her to interrupt them anyway? Annie was hoping she'd just go along with the latter. It was too early for this nonsense.

........

Someone new. A new lady. And that accent. Schuyler found it very entertaining, just the way she talked and carried herself. It almost distracted her from the fact that this woman said something about Vipertooth country.

Almost.

The Gryffindor's eyes scanned around them, despite the fact that it still wasn't all that easy to see in this light. No sign of Vipertooths yet. But if one just so happened to appear that would add a little excitement early on and Schuyler wasn't opposed to that. After all, all that had happened SO far was a bunch of talking. Not exactly hiding her slight impatience, Schuyler siiiiighed and shifted her weight to her other leg.

That is............ until Headmistress Truebridge got ALL up in this lady's face. Oh, okay. This was starting to get pretty good here. Her eyes flickered between them curiously.

You know what was exciting? The promise of a first sunrise from a cliff in Peru. Walking through the jungle in half light and wondering if that sound was your classmate briefing through asthmatic nasal passages or something more sinister stalking them from the foliage. Pictures... of anything. Of everything. Vipertooth dragons.

You know what wasn't exciting? Arguing with a local about who had the right to be there, when clearly they all did. It didn't seem to be the dramatic situation it was being made out to be.

And Skylark. She was going on the exciting list. Mo gave her a gentle dig with his elbows and then tried to communicate with her solely via his telepathic eyebrows. Can you believe this nonsense? I want to GO. Did she understand telepathic eyebrow language?

"Are we on a dragon reserve, Professor...s?" He looked around for anyone who might know the answer. "Are we still going to make the sunrise? Maybe we should run. I can run."

Cat-Fight....Is there going to be a Cat Fight?

Nobody should break it up if it happens. Nigel would pay good money/galleons to see this new woman fight the Headmistress. Even this early in the morning or whatever time is was.Too bad he forgot to pack his easy to make popcorn. And if Benjy wanted to ride the dragon. Nigel would want to try after him. To be sure he lives and everything.

Soo....yeah. Nigel just stood back, watched and hoped.

So no one was answering about the souvenirs and Benjy had come up with the epic idea of riding dragons but that was silently shot down too so the Gryffindor simply stood there wondering what they COULD do in this semi-darkness. She didn't leave her bed to be brought back by a few hours--right back to prime sleeping time mind you--only to be stopped without the promise of something epic.

The Professors lowering their wands told her this woman couldn't have been a threat, see she even called them interesting! Yes, very interesting, like you have no idea. Her face lit up at the mention of this being dragon habitat.

"We can't run yet, Mo, we haven't seen anything interesting yet! Don't you wanna be near roasted first??" By a Vipertooth if she was listening correctly. Yes please. "If you run, who will take the pictures as we end up running for our lives. You shouldn't be so selfish Branxton." Work with her here.

She turned to see the Headmistress laying down the law for the Mystery woman and nearly facepalmed. Lex.....didn't trust Headmistress Truebridge to get them out of things. On the contrary, she counted on her to get them IN, like the damn broach she stole way back when and how she let the school get robbed and now she was talking to strange people and the Gryffindor was starting to think they should expect a dragon attack come start of the term.

Mhm. She was officially waiting on it. Thanks in advance Headmistress. Gosh--though how cool would it be to have dragons at Hogwarts????