Lesson 2 for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures on Mirage Chamber

Professor Kijewski

August 17, 2009 11:09 PM

Lesson 2 for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures by Professor Kijewski

Once all of the students were inside the chamber, Kiva faced them again. The chamber itself was much like it would be if they were in Africa. The land was golden with a few trees cropping up every now and again. Had they not been in the chamber, the air would have been dry and unbearably hot to those who were not used to such climate.

In the background, the students would be able to see a herd of what looked to be leopards. Only they weren’t leopards. As terrifying as a leopard could be for a muggle and magical being, these creatures were far far more terrifying. Kiva really enjoyed the chamber for many reasons, but mainly because she didn’t have the same racing heart, adrenaline rush, fear for her life that she had always had when she had been working in the field. She and her students were safe here, even with the most brutal of creatures. Plus, it gave her an opportunity to have a variety of creatures for the students to learn with a visual and not just with a textbook.

“So, if some of you have read ahead in your books, you would know exactly what we are learning today.” Kiva stated while her eyes roamed over the students. “Behind me you will see a pack of what appears to be leopards, but those are not leopards.”

She glanced back at the pack for a moment, watching them lounge beneath the shade of a tree. “Those are Nundus. One of the most dangerous creatures in the world. As beautiful as they are, they are also incredibly powerful.” Kiva informed them while she watched them before returning her stare onto her students.

“They aren’t vicious in the sense that they could tear you apart like a Chimaera. They aren’t strong in the way that Dragons are with tough hides. Nundus have a very unique ‘gift’.” Kiva put up quotation marks with her fingers when she said the word ‘gift’. “Nundus carries disease and ultimately death. They have wiped out full villages just by breathing.” She took a breath, waiting for those who were actually taking notes to finish before she started again.

“Not only do they have the breath of death, but they are so unbelievably strong that it has to take up to a hundred wizards and/or witches to stun one nundu. Now, compare that to a dragon who can be subdued by a handful of wizards and/or witches.” She let this sink in for the students since she was fairly certain most kids believed dragons were the most powerful of all magical creatures.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

OOC: You all know the rules by now. Have fun with the lesson.

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 2 for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Amber Carey

August 21, 2009 4:36 PM

And here I thought I was done with cats... by Amber Carey

It was, Amber thought, very good that she wasn't remotely a Crotalus, because this semester was just changing things up one after another. It hadn't been enough to announce that a visiting school (Amber had not even really been aware that, since Salem had closed, there were other schools for magic in America) would be participating in the Midsummer's Bonfire, but now Professor Kijewski, who Amber suspected to be the most senior teacher the school had, was leaving.

She couldn't say she much liked that. All of Sonora's many professors seemed more remote than her primary school ones had, but losing Professor Kijewski was even worse than the departure of Headmaster Bulla, since she'd never had Bulla as a teacher. Maybe she wasn't a Crotalus, but she did, at least, like for some things to be familiar. Plus, a new teacher in her RATS year was the last thing she wanted or needed. There was a reason Transfiguration was a very small, elite class by reputation - only a genius or a person with a natural gift for it could keep up after five or six professor changes.

Her mind was taken off the matter by the current setting of the Mirage Chamber. Though the temperature was still school-like, the room could have been a set for a (most likely ill-advised) live-action version of The Lion King. After that thought, Amber couldn't help but wonder if there was a talking lion in real life. It wouldn't be the weirdest idea she'd heard at Sonora, and it fit in well with Jarveys and, though she'd only read about these, things like Acromantula colonies and Sphinxes.

Talking lions, however, did not seem to be on the agenda of the day. Instead, they had pestilential leopards. Literally speaking. Amber resisted the impulse to put a bit more room between her and the mirages; they were far away already and didn't actually exist anyway.

When they were asked for questions, she put up her hand and was called on. "Er, yeah," she said. "Do, uh, nundus go out of their way to spread plagues, or is it just sort of - " a broad gesture accompanied a pause she used to try to figure out how to say what she was saying - "whatever they walk up to gets sick and it's kind of random?"

0 Amber Carey And here I thought I was done with cats... 84 Amber Carey 0 5

Elly Eriksson

August 22, 2009 7:38 AM

Here, kitty. by Elly Eriksson

Potions was Elly's favourite subject, true enough, but she thought Care of Magical Creatures might be her favourite class. It was a fine distinction, but an important one to make. Besides, today they had to meet in the Cascade Hall, which could only mean they were going to the Mirage Chamber, and that was always good news.

But first there was some bad news to process: Professor Kijewski was leaving? But - but she'd always been there. And since Professor Connell had left, Prof K had taken up the spot of Elly's favourite teacher. Would Care of Magical Creatures even be the same without her? Though Elly could understand. Kijewski had a kid now, and going on to bigger and better things sounded as though it could be fascinating. Besides, Sonora staff moved on all the time; Elly knew she would get along just fine. She made a mental note to wish Professor K all the best, too.

Of course all mental notes may have been in danger of being lost forever once Elly got into the chamber itself. In some ways seeing the creatures like this was better than seeing the real thing - Elly knew for sure she'd never want to come face-to-face with a real nundu. She'd read the chapter already (she was getting better at this swotting up stuff) and she already had some questions about these amazing beasts.

She wasn't the only one; once Amber's question had been answered, Elly raised her hand to ask one of her own. "How come nundus are so rare?" Her texbook hadn't said they were at the point of extinction or anything, but they were in a chapter otherwise entitled 'rare beasts'. "I mean, if it takes so many witches and wizards to bring one down, why haven't they taken over Africa by now?"

0 Elly Eriksson Here, kitty. 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Geoffrey Layne

August 31, 2009 8:24 PM

Not sure how wise calling this kitty is, but okay. by Geoffrey Layne

From the first time he had ever been in it, Geoff had been fascinated by the Mirage Chamber. Last year, when he'd had some free time, he'd even checked a few books dealing with Sonora out of the library to see if he could find out how, exactly, it worked. It seemed obvious that there was a lot of very complex charmwork involved, but it didn't seem out of the question that Transfiguration was a component, too, and that was just the straight mechanics of the thing. The place only got more interesting once theory came into it.

Today, though, most of Geoff's attention was on his teacher instead of her fantastical classroom. The disparity between the temperature of the room and that of the location it was reflecting was interesting, and he filed it away for later, more extensive evaluation, but it was kind of hard to focus on ancient enchantments when his teacher had just announced that she'd quit.

It wouldn't really affect him, of course - after June, he'd probably go for years at a time without darkening the doors of Sonora Academy - but he still found the issue a thing to think about. Her wording had left room for her to come back at some point, and...She had seriously just told a group of students that she could no longer blackmail them. If every kid in the school chose to smart off at her every day for the remainder of her term, the only power she still had was the ability to put them in detention; once they found a new professor, or even if Fawcett had to take the course as indefinitely as Kijewski was going to be gone, her power to ruin their academic lives by holding a grudge was over. Did she not realize that?

He was still mulling that over, wondering how many of his fellow students would realize it, as the lesson began. It was one of those lessons that reminded him, strongly, why he was a Potions geek. In Potions, his studies could only kill him if he was stupid. A nundu had no such qualms; he probably looked a lot like lunch.

Wishing the room could provide chairs and writing surfaces on command (which, in theory, it could, but he thought the only way it would was if it was set to do so, which he suspected it wasn't), he awkwardly took notes about the lecture and the on the questions Amber and Elly had. After Elly got her answer, he raised his right hand, in which he still had his quill. Good thing he'd never really denied a certain amount of Aladren-ness. After he was called on, he said, "Does the nundu have any magical properties besides, er, spreading plague? Does it serve a purpose besides just thinning its prey populations?"

16 Geoffrey Layne Not sure how wise calling this kitty is, but okay. 72 Geoffrey Layne 0 5

Alexandra St. Martin

August 31, 2009 8:28 PM

Just so long as everyone remembered their germ-proof masks. by Alexandra St. Martin

Aside from the...unpleasantness with Lila, midterm had been a pleasant break from the pressures of RATS and just day-to-day school life; Allie was already missing it. She only had a few more months, though, before she would be done with it all for good, which was comforting. As much as she wanted a few good RATS, she didn't exactly need them, and she found that comforting, too.

It was especially comforting in light of the announcements that started off the term. Aside from visitors - which she had already been treated to her sister's complaints about; though Lila was being less vociferous than usual, it still wasn't a pleasant experience - coming to join them all for the Bonfire and some sort of interscholastic competitions, Professor Kijewski was going to be joining Allie's year in leaving for good in May. She thought she would have been a lot more upset if she'd had another year left, but it came as a bit of a shock just the same. Professor Kijewski was, as far as she could remember, the only remaining professor who predated Allie's own time at the school.

She was pleased to see they were going to have the class in the Mirage Chamber. Lessons in there tended to be much more interesting than those outside of it could be, since it was a matter of safety that had driven them into the place. The experience of some of the actual creatures they had studied might have been enriching, but the insurance liability that would have resulted from it would have been absurd.

Today was a prime case in point. Even if they had all been highly qualified witches and wizards, there was no way the class could have gotten within a hundred feet of a nundu - not without dying, anyway. Allie had taken some time while she was at home to read ahead. She knew these things.

Once she'd finished her lecture, Professor Kijewski opened the floor for questions. The class, of course, obliged. It took Allie a moment of quick thinking to come up with one, but she thought it would do. She wouldn't come out looking too foolish. After Geoff's question, Allie raised her hand and waited to be called on.

"Um, yes," she said. "Does the nundu's ability to spread disease have any negative effects on it or others of its kind?"

16 Alexandra St. Martin Just so long as everyone remembered their germ-proof masks. 76 Alexandra St. Martin 0 5