Philosophizing. on Labyrinth Gardens

Professor Skies

April 07, 2019 12:32 AM

Intermediates - Environmental Issues by Professor Skies

“Good morning,” Selina greeted the intermediate class. Today was clearly set to be an unusual lesson, as she had asked them to bring outdoor clothes, although they were meeting inside the Transfiguration classroom. This was for two reasons - it was going to be easier to teach the background to this class inside where there was a blackboard and people were not distracted by the novelty of being outdoors, and secondly it was still cold out there. Even with cloaks, even with warming charms, the grey January sky did not look welcoming and Selina was not keen to spend more time than necessary outside, although she was hopeful that a stretch outside the classroom would catch her students’ interest. As they arrived, she checked they had all remembered to bring their outdoor clothes, ready to summon any that had got left behind.

“As ever, I would like to tie the work we are doing in class to the wider uses and limits of Transfiguration, both in how it relates to problem solving and potential careers. As we are working on many organic and plant-based Transfigurations in this unit, we’re also going to be looking at ecology, and therefore the role of the ecologist. Ecologists are people who study and preserve the environment,” she added, aware that several of the non-native speakers were currently in intermediate grade. The chalk helpfully wrote this on the board behind her.

“Several of the hedges outside have been damaged by winter storms. We’ll be going out shortly to look at repairing them. You will be using the elicio spell and creating bay laurel - Latin name Laurus nobilis,,” they should have been familiar enough with creating plants by now to put that information together and know it meant that the spell would be eclicio laurus nobilis. “You will be using twigs as a base material. You will all be working with the same materials today, as we don’t want to introduce materials other than twigs into the gardens, and the main point of today’s lesson is to get you thinking about the wider issues in working with a natural environment.

“I have copied a chapter from Transfiguring Your Garden for you to read for homework, and there are some attached questions to get you thinking about the benefits and limitations of what you have done today. Essentially, the question you will need to answer is whether you have done more than apply a simple cosmetic fix - the hedges will look better, back to their usual selves - after our work, but is there any environmental benefit to the leaves you have introduced? Do they have the functionality of the originals, or are they merely copies? We will continue to probe questions such as these throughout this unit, in order to see how magical people can aid the construction and preservation of the environment, as well as the limitations in attempting to replace what nature gives us with magic.

“Right, cloaks on and let’s get going. If any of you need extra warming charms on your garments, come and see me.”

With that, she led them outside, and towards the side that was nearest the school building, but the more distant end of it - it was the edge of the labyrinth’s hedge that was most vulnerable to the worst of the weather, and had taken a bit of beating during a storm over the holidays, leaving it with holes and tattered edges.

“Take some twigs,” she indicated a basket that she had rested on a low stone bench, “And spread out. Find yourself a hole and do your best to patch it.”

OOC - although the majority of the lesson is set inside, I thought it made most sense to post it out here. Usual class rules apply. 200 words minimum, with points for length, creativity and relevance. You may make up things your character has read about the subject or things they think might be true and speculate freely about the questions asked.

Subthreads:

Philosophizing. by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw with Beau Tate, Pecari

I have linguistic issues. by Tatiana Vorontsova, Pecari with Connor Priory,Crotalus

I have issues all right by Ivy Brockert,Teppenpaw

13 Professor Skies Intermediates - Environmental Issues 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

April 07, 2019 10:27 PM

Philosophizing. by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

Nathaniel had been surprised by the instructions to bring his outdoor things to Transfiguration, but he had obeyed without any further question, assuming it was relevant to the lesson in some fashion. Perhaps they would learn to Transfigure their winter cloaks to lighter spring ones. Spring sounded far away, far into the future, but perhaps the assignment was to remind them that spring would come eventually, along with fitting in as a Transfiguration lesson. A spring cloak could become a winter cloak, he supposed, with just a warming charm, but making a cloak lighter probably ran more toward Transfiguration, or at least he thought that sounded reasonable.

He was halfway through third year now, which meant that just as he might have begun to feel he had his feet under him in Intermediate classes, he had to start thinking about his exams. He was sure the essay questions would be on hard topics, like the Transfiguration and Charms difference, plus being asked to perform difficult transfigurations as well as the fifth years did. He could not say he was looking forward to it.

Since it was inevitable, though, he had to study hard, and follow all directions. Accordingly, he arrived in Transfiguration with his winter cloak, his lined gloves, his thick scarf, and his outdoor hat. Almost immediately, he figured out that these items were not going to be used in the lesson directly. Instead, they were going to create plants.

Twigs to bay laurel. Nathaniel bit his lip for a moment before he caught himself, thinking furiously. Would this count as inanimate to inanimate, or inanimate to animate? Branches didn't really move much, but they were alive, unlike twigs cut from them. Also, were they going to try to graft the new branches they were creating into existing plants? He knew that gardeners sometimes grafted plants - his mother liked to have a beautiful garden outside her boudoir's window, even though she wasn't always up to opening her eyes to see it, when her headaches were particularly bad - and knew that gardeners could make roses bloom in winter, with magic, if they were so inclined, but he didn't know how to do any of that, or if it would make their task easier or harder if they were supposed to do that.

As they walked away from the classroom, he thought about the questions they were supposed to be set for homework. He also knew it was possible to make exact copies with Transfiguration, at least of objects, but said copies were essentially worthless even if they held together very long. He did not expect any of his own Transfigurations to hold together for any length of time before the strength put into the spell fell apart - something that still irked him, when he thought about it, though he knew that no-one in third year was as skilled or strong in magic as they would be by the time they left school. Maybe; he had read one thing, once, that said a witch or wizard was as powerfully magical as they were ever going to be from the day the spark first manifested itself in them, it was just a matter of practicing enough to gain control of their powers, so they could be used at will, rather than at random in the face of threats. He preferred the idea that his talent would increase as his physical strength and maturity did, because he did not think he was nearly powerful enough right now.

How, he wondered, did one find out that one could go no further, or simply would never have the talent to perform particular spells correctly? Did it have anything to do with one's parents? When he thought of his parents, he thought of everything about them except their magical skill; that, he realized, he knew very little about. Simon did not strike him as a particularly brilliant wizard generally, though who knew what went on in the cloistered, rarified world of the Advanced classes? Perhaps Simon's placid, complacent manner happened because Simon actually had the ability to crush them all like ants if he wanted to. Nathaniel didn't think his cousin did have that much ability, but if he did...what would that feel like? To feel like he could do whatever he wanted?

He walked outside, and the cold air on his face reminded him of reality. In reality, winter clothes didn't keep off all of the cold, and in reality, no-one could truly do whatever he or she wanted. That was just how things were, and worthy birth conveyed even more responsibilities than it did privileges, which meant Nathaniel in some ways could do even less of what he liked than the likes of the Fitzgeralds could, no matter how they stacked up against each other magically. On the other hand, he would also have more power in many ways than they ever would, even if they could somehow crush him like an ant. There was more than one kind of power, and it was everyone's good or bad luck, almost at random, how much of any kind he or she had. Reality kind of sucked that way. He grabbed a few twigs and went to examine a gap, where he started placing twigs experimentally, thinking it would be easier to get them in their proper places if they started out already close to the living, non-Transfigured plants they were meant to fill in.

16 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw Philosophizing. 1412 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova, Pecari

April 14, 2019 4:40 PM

I have linguistic issues. by Tatiana Vorontsova, Pecari

Tatiana had been excited by the request to bring outside clothes to Transfiguration, deducing - correctly, as it turned out - that they were going to go outside. The sky was grey and the weather less than ideal, but after spending most of winter indoors one way or another, plus almost all of midterm indoors, she was eager for any occasion to go out and having Professor Skies' blessing upon the expedition was a cherry on top of that particular cake.

Her English was not quite up to every word the professor used even now, but luckily, the unfamiliar words were close enough to their Russian equivalents that she could puzzle out the idea. Ecology, ekologiya; ecologist, ekolog. 'Environment' did not translate, but she knew that one and so passed it over. She was less sure why she was studying ecologists in Transfiguration class, but passed that over too as one of the things she would put together as she went along, or else ask one of her friends about after class.

Elicio was not the easiest spell for her, but neither was it the hardest. Laurus might be more difficult; this 'u' in English, sometimes it sounded like ю, but sometimes it was closer to в. Today, she thought it was almost between the two, which was not her favorite sound to try to get her mouth around, so she did not expect this spell to go particularly well for her, at least not the first fifteen times she attempted it. This was doubly unfortunate when she was working near plants which were in no small part composed of wooden stems, placing dry twigs among them. She should probably, she thought, take her time, and not work too close to other people.

Consequently, she found a spot and then looked at someone who took up a post near it. "You must know," she said, her fairly high, mellow voice contrasting with the comparative harshness and number of low tones which a Russian accent placed on the English words. "I may cause - not what I want. Spell is hard, and this spell has hard word in it." She said it as matter-of-factly as possible and hoped that any flush in her pale cheeks would be taken as flushing from the cold. It still embarrassed her when sounds tripped her up like this, however much she had improved in that area over the years, but she tried not to show it. "But you may stay, if you wish," she added, not wanting to seem unsociable or as if she wanted to be alone too much. She did not particularly want to, but she thought it was fair to give the warning, just in case anyone hadn't noticed over the years that she and pronunciation could, on some days, have a fraught relationship that sometimes resulted in undesired results. Sometimes it just turned something blue, sometimes there was fire. So it went.

16 Tatiana Vorontsova, Pecari I have linguistic issues. 1396 Tatiana Vorontsova, Pecari 0 5

Beau Tate, Pecari

April 17, 2019 12:14 AM

Yeah, not me by Beau Tate, Pecari

It was never easy to come back to school after midterm. While the time off wasn't exactly restful, it was much more enjoyable. Well, okay, Beau wasn't that crazy about dressing up to go to balls but he did like socializing with people especially girls. There were pretty limited options for him here at Sonora-which wasn't supposed to happen, traditionally and still more often, there were more girls than boys-as his class only had two girls in it and of the three girls in the second year class that were of his social class, two were distant cousins. So that narrowed it down to Caitlin, Sylvia, or Katerina.

More to the point, when Beau was at school, he had to study and attend classes. Of course, he did the bare minimum of the former. Which obviously meant he wasn't exactly at the top of his class. However, he did fairly good on practicals especially in Transfig. The problem was that a lot of the professors were really into theory. And theory was boring .

Today they were going to be outside for Transfig, apparently. Normally this would be something that made the Pecari relatively happy as at least it would be a change, but it was cold out. And Beau had grown up in Jamaica. He wasn't really used to cold. Or discomfort in general come to think of it.

However, even if it had been nice out, he still wouldn't have been thrilled. In and of themselves, plant transfiguration didn't sound too terrible. However, they were putting the students to work again and Beau Did Not Work . Okay, he was probably expected to some day and he was so not looking forward to it but he did not do menial jobs. Didn't the professors understand who his family was? Not just him, but the Mordues and Caitlin Pierce too.

All right, Beau did understand that plant-based Transfiguration was something he had to master to become a successful wizard albeit not for any sort of practical reasons since he was pretty sure he wasn't going into ecology, which was beyond boring. However, nobody wanted to be a second-rate wizard or worse. It was just that....teachers could find a different way that didn't involve putting students to work.

And the homework sounded borderline painful.

He got his twig and spotted Nathaniel Mordue at a hedge. Thinking that maybe fixing hedges might go better with multiple people working together, Beau joined him. "It's ridiculous how often they put us to work." The Pecari stated. "For free no less!" He was not the sort who believed in being paid in educational experiences. If he was going to work-and he'd strongly prefer not to-money-or nice things of monetary value-was the only way to go.

11 Beau Tate, Pecari Yeah, not me 1416 Beau Tate, Pecari 0 5

Nathaniel

April 21, 2019 9:33 PM

It can be fun or disturbing. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel looked up, startled, when Beauregard Tate suddenly began speaking to him - or rather, speaking at him. For one thing, he was surprised that someone would complain so openly about things. For another, he was also slightly surprised that Tate was speaking to him, specifically. They were not close - indeed, he wasn't sure Tate had any close friends.

Of course, Nathaniel was not really in a position to judge. He never felt alone, as he had arrived at school with his best friend built in and by his side, but he was the fellow who had somehow managed to make enemies of half of Teppenpaw, of all places. The closest thing to amiability he got with another Teppenpaw were his various encounters with Kir McLeod, of all people, in his first year, and that hardly counted. Perhaps it made sense that Tate would speak to him, then - as a Teppenpaw, really, it should have been Nathaniel who spoke first.

"It's efficient, anyway," he said. "We have to show we can do this, and they need the hedges fixed." He frowned slightly at his twig. "Though our work probably won't work - unless it works better because we're fixing it into the living plants?"

That sounded unlikely to him, though. It was a firm principle of magic that things which were dead could not be brought back to life. Did that only apply to animals, though? Because they did inanimate to animate sometimes, and twigs had once been alive, in a way. So were they bringing them back to life by doing this - and if that was the case, why did it not work on animals, including people?

16 Nathaniel It can be fun or disturbing. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Beau

May 03, 2019 3:19 PM

I'll take your word for it by Beau

Beau was a little bit surprised that Nathaniel didn't have more open objections to doing things that a groundskeeper or house elves should be doing but maybe that was the way Teppenpaws were. Always seeing the best in everyone and everything and every situation. Not that Beau was a suspicious type per se. Well, unless it involved Arianna and then he assumed the absolute worst.

Still Nathaniel was above this. Surely, he wasn't planning on doing menial tasks for the rest of his life.

However,it wasn't as if Beau was going to do anything about being put to work in this manner. That would require more fuss than he really wanted to make. Not because he didn't believe in rocking the boat if he disliked something but more because well, that was too much work for him. He'd have to be a more...motivated person to do such a thing and that was one thing Beau was not.

In all honesty, he only brought it up to make conversation. One thing he was supposed to do here was "make connections" and truth be told, he really hadn't done so much, when it wasn't really something that took a lot of effort. True friendship might, but a superficial connection, not so much. Furthermore, it would make the class go faster if he spent it talking to someone else.

"Well, you can't bring things back from the dead, so this is only a cosmetic fix" Beau replied. "Which I mean, if it doesn't even work for us to this, then why are we?"

11 Beau I'll take your word for it 1416 Beau 0 5

Nathaniel

May 15, 2019 8:08 PM

My word is good and may be trusted. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel thought for a moment before he answered Beau's question, trying to figure out if there was another good explanation which was appropriate for a proper young man to say. When he concluded there was not, then, he was also forced to conclude that he might as well tell the truth.

"Because Professor Skies says so," he said matter-of-factly.

This, after all, was the real reason they did anything in class, wasn't it? Yes, there was the need to learn to control their powers and do the things they were most likely to need to know how to do with them - but there was also the need to please Professor Skies, or Professor Wright, or Professor Hawthorne, Professor Brooding, Professor Xavier...whoever. The teachers were in charge, and if one did not obey instructions, one got a bad report sent home. Since Mama did not need that kind of stress in her life, Nathaniel made sure to always follow instructions, and had just assumed everyone else did the same, even if their mamas were less delicate than his own - Aunt Avery was only outwardly delicate, for instance, but Simon and Sylvia showed no reluctance to please her, either.

"Plus, a cosmetic fix is better than no fix at all," he added more diplomatically. Pretending Mama was a widow without actually having her dress in black, for instance - Mama wore a lot of mauve in public instead, as though she were in perpetual half-mourning, and that was a nice cosmetic fix to the problem. Nobody had to acknowledge what his father was or pretend his father was something he wasn't - it was just understood that something was amiss and that Mama should be treated with respect and consideration all at once. "Wouldn't you say?"

16 Nathaniel My word is good and may be trusted. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Beau

May 17, 2019 9:20 PM

That is genuinely admirable by Beau

Beau paused, considering what Nathaniel had said. They were doing it because Professor Skies said so. He was right. That was what it boiled down to. The thing was, the Pecari sort of had an aversion to doing things because someone said so. He was not accustomed to taking orders, that wasn't his station in life. Plus, he had an extremely bossy older sister so that contributed to his aversion to doing what others told him to do.

However, it wasn't as if Beau would do things like refuse to do an assignment since he did care just enough to pass his classes to prove that he was not as stupid as his sister thought he was. Plus, whatever it was that he had to do, he had to do to be a successful wizard.

And truth be told, getting in trouble didn't really appeal to him that much. Beau hadn't really had consequences for much in his life but he knew full well that if he didn't obey his professors, he could end up with detention and Merlin only knew what punishment would be doled out. The Pecari had even heard rumors that the Headmaster kept torture instruments in his office! That in itself was enough to keep him in line.

Besides, if he was going to make trouble, like his mother and her friends had done, he was going to make it over something worthwhile, like they had. "Good point."

Beau continued. "I suppose so, but if the original founders of Sonora wanted the weather of their homeland, wouldn't it make sense to just...allow things to stay like they would be after a winter storm, damage and all?"

11 Beau That is genuinely admirable 1416 Beau 0 5

Connor Priory,Crotalus

May 22, 2019 11:38 PM

Do you need help? by Connor Priory,Crotalus

Connor had been so happy to go home for midterm, as he'd been pretty concerned about his parents and Lydia now that neither he nor Sophia nor even Bridget had been around. However, things were fine for the most part-Mom was always going to have back pain, Dad was always going to be anxious and Lydia was always going to be delicate-but nothing catastrophic had happened.

So now he was back at school and in the near constant presence of Miss Peyton O'Malley. He'd seen her over midterm at parties and very much had enjoyed dancing with her but at Sonora, they did so many things together. They were both in Crotalus, the same classes and orchestra as well as both participating in the concert.

Connor didn't know how those whose significant others were at other schools did it. Not that Peyton was his significant other but he...wanted her to be. And if he didn't tell her how he felt, Beau or Sophia might.

The fifth year entered Transfiguration, prepared to meet the elements outdoors. Connor's curiosity was piqued by bringing winter clothes along. Generally, he enjoyed his classes and Transfiguration was fascinating. He listened as Professor Skies told them what they were going to be doing today.

Connor got his cloak and followed the others outside. Unlike others, he wasn't that bothered by the cold since he was from Wisconsin. He grabbed some twigs and found a place at one of the hedges. " Elicio laures nobilus " He said, making the appropriate wand movements, resulting in a few leaves.

He looked up from his work when he heard Tatiana Vorontosov speak to him. "That's perfectly understandable." Connor replied, unsure of why she was letting him know this. "Have you considered asking Professor Skies if you can use the Russian spells for this?"

11 Connor Priory,Crotalus Do you need help? 395 Connor Priory,Crotalus 0 5

Nathaniel

May 30, 2019 3:08 PM

Thank you, I appreciate that. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel considered Beau's argument. "Good point," he agreed, "but we have rough weather in Oregon, too, and Mother would never hear of leaving her gardens like this." The gardens were Mama's pride and joy; she worked in them herself sometimes, when she felt well enough, and always enjoyed looking down on them from her chaise lounge on all but her worst days, when the headaches were so intense she could not bear to have the drapes opened. She had picked every flower and tree in the garden below her boudoir herself, some back when she was just a girl, before she had married.

"So there's liking the weather, and liking what the weather does," he summarized. "Besides, there's what people see to think about."

This was important, and something Nathaniel thought about a great deal - the fine line between reality and appearances. Looking through his camera lenses, he was fascinated by the differences his subjects showed when they knew they were observed versus not, when they presented themselves to people versus when they presented themselves to a camera, and so forth. He thought that his photography helped him remember to comport himself Just So at all times - not to assume that he could ever let his guard down, except when he was quite sure he was very alone with Sylvia. With Sylvia, he could do that. With Sylvia, it was safe.

"It's best if we can touch things up ourselves, when we're out in the world," he added sensibly.

16 Nathaniel Thank you, I appreciate that. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Tatiana

May 30, 2019 3:22 PM

I think I can manage. by Tatiana

Tatiana started to grimace and tried to make the expression into an American smile. "I do not come here to use Russian," she said, sounding momentarily more like Katya than herself. She had quickly abandoned any intention of speaking only English at school, but this admittedly was partially because she had friends who had been willing to learn some Russian, with her learning some French and Chinese in return, until they were probably incomprehensible to most outsiders when they were talking together.

"I can do English spell," she added, pushed by pride at the assumption she couldn't manage. "I do all my classes four years. But some sounds, sometimes there is flames, when I have new spell." This was matter-of-fact again, stating an undeniable fact, however unpalatable it was to her. "And I have not Russian spell for this," she added as an afterthought. "I have to read more to find it." She looked at the Crotalus boy with mild curiosity. "You know spells in other language?" she asked.

16 Tatiana I think I can manage. 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Connor

May 30, 2019 5:42 PM

Okay, just trying to help by Connor

It that seemed sort of unfair that Miss Vorontsov had sent to a school that wasn't in a language that she usually didn't speak. Connor knew that in potions, there were labels in all sorts of different languages to accomodate the foreign students so why should other subjects be different?

However, her response made him think he was stepping on her toes a bit. "I apologize, Miss Vorontsov. I was just trying to help." The fifth year's natural instinct was to fix things and he was more used to Lydia, who was not at all an independent type. His sister was the sort who needed others to take care of her and not just because she was only seven years old. It just seemed to be a part of her personality type. The Crotalus knew that some people looked down on people like that but really, they should accept that not everyone was the strong bold type and it would be boring if everyone was. He understood that Sophia got annoyed with Lydia sometimes but the first year didn't object to the sort in general, she just didn't want to have to always be taking care of them.

"I mean, all spells are in Latin really, not English." Connor replied to her next question "So, I guess technically I do but no, I don't know the Russian one either." He continued. "I don't really speak any other languages. " Unless one considered the language of music as a language that qualified "My sister Sophia, she's a first year, in Aladren, is learning German though."

"You know," Connor stated. "Even native English speakers have to worry about getting the pronounciations just right. Why don't you practice the words before doing the spell? It really does help."

11 Connor Okay, just trying to help 395 Connor 0 5

Tatiana

May 30, 2019 8:03 PM

Thank you. by Tatiana

"Vorontsova," corrected Tatiana automatically, but bit her tongue before she added what she would have if one of her friends had messed up a noun: or do I look like boy today?

Truthfully, she would not have minded if her body had, but it did not. Her robes were loose enough to hide what the hated undergarments did to make her look more like a girl, even with a belt at her waist, but her soft facial features, long lashes, and long, wavy brown hair were all very conventionally feminine in both of their cultures. Her jewelry did nothing, either, to detract from this; there were occasions when her father might wear a somewhat ornamented robe or belt or hat, but not a gold necklace with a pendant-brooch shaped like a flower made of iridescent petal-shaped pearls on it, or her diamond earrings, or her three gold chain bracelets.

"It does," she agreed about practice. "And I do. But there are mistakes sometimes anyway." Just a fact. Nothing to do about it. "Your sister learn German? It is good language. My mama, my sister, they also learn it. I learn English and some French, some Chinese." She had learned some of the French at home, but probably at least as much from Dorian, along with all her Chinese from Dorian. However, explaining all of that would involve a lot of talking in English and possibly being expected to invite someone she did not even know to Club of Tongues. She was not averse to gaining new friends and adding them to Club of Tongues, but she did want to meet them first.

16 Tatiana Thank you. 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Beau

June 02, 2019 5:15 PM

You're welcome by Beau

Beau had to concede this point. "Neither would mine actually." Mother was not as bad as Arianna but she wouldn't dream of letting either the grounds nor the inside of their house looking anything less than magazine-perfect. If it weren't for the fact that they had house-elves to do the cleaning, his own room would had have been a major point of contention. He had better things to do with his time than clean. He generally found it beneath himself to do his own chores. That was his station in life not to and it was a good one.

Then again,Beau was from Jamaica, so he was from a place where plants were supposed to be in bloom all year round. Of course, there were storms there too, but as their house and grounds were protected from hurricanes, storm damage was a minor problem at best. And to be fixed by garden elves.

A chilly wind blew up just then. "Right now, I'm not all that fond of either." Beau admitted, as he was unaccustomed to cold weather. "But if they like the weather and didn't like what it did, then why not put charms to prevent storm damage to plants and what not?"

Beau continued. "And why is it up to us to fix things like this when we see them? If I spot a storm damaged plant in my day to day living, I'm going to probably ignore it or get a house elf to fix it, depending on whether or not it's in my own garden. We have responsibilities" which Beau would personally rather ignore "but not when it comes to actually performing spells to fix random acts of nature. We have to do this assignment because Professor Skies said so and it's important for us to know this kind of transfiguration for our development as wizards" Even Beau had a certain need to uphold the Brockert reputation for being good at Transfiguration "But if we come across storm damage on our own, it's not our problem"

In fact, his uncle Evan would probably say that they should allow nature to take it's course, that it was wrong to not let things be as they were supposed to be. The Pecari decided against mentioning this to Nathaniel though, so the other third year wouldn't think Beau had strange relatives. A bitchy control-freak sister was bad enough.

11 Beau You're welcome 1416 Beau 0 5

Nathaniel

June 03, 2019 3:31 PM

So, moving along...my Issues, let me tap into them. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel nodded automatically at the mention of responsibilities. He knew about responsibilities - he had known more than he cared to about responsibilities since his father had left. His mother needed him to be good, and to take care of her and his brother. This was, in the grand scheme of things, more important than repairing damage to the gardens.

However, maintaining appearances was an important part of taking care of his family. He needed others to see that they were perfectly okay even without Father. He had to prove he was up to the role of being the man in the family. Damage in the garden was a small thing, but...no flaws were acceptable. Everything had to be perfect.

"If we were having a party - " admittedly not something that he anticipated them doing very often or any time soon; he supposed that when he married, they would have to do those things again, but that wouldn't happen for years and years more - "then it would be quicker just to do it myself than to spend time calling an elf, or having a guest maybe seeing an elf outside," he pointed out reasonably. "It's more discreet. It's not good to rely on anyone or anything for everything," he added, a touch more vehemently, speaking from bitter experience. "I wouldn't want to think I had to rely even on the elves to make sure nobody thought poorly of our house. It's good to have help, but I'd rather always know how to help myself." A father was, after all, supposed to be as reliable as a house elf, and he'd seen how well that could go. He could trust himself far more than anything else, save only Sylvia.

16 Nathaniel So, moving along...my Issues, let me tap into them. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Beau

June 04, 2019 12:06 AM

All right by Beau

Beau considered Nathaniel's next words. " In the case of a party, you might actually have a point. It would be quicker. Of course, I can't see my mother trusting me to do it either, especially considering I can't do magic outside of school."

He continued. "And it's important to have a staff that you can trust to do things right. Otherwise, there's not much in them being on your staff. And that's especially true about elves who are loyal to a particular family and take being let go as an even bigger failure than a human servant would."

"Also, my mother,"The Pecari stated. "would also make sure every last inch of the grounds was nothing less than beautiful and perfect before a single person outside our immediate family set foot on them. Anyway, I was more assuming that by out in the world, you meant if we saw it in an area that wasn't on our own grounds, an area we absolutely have no responsibility over, like in a park or along the street or something." Of course, Beau could certainly imagine either Mother or Arianna writing a letter to complain about the shoddy gardening of those responsible, whether that meant firing some poor person in charge of landscaping a public place or enforcing some agreed upon standard-or at least agreed upon by people with power, people like them, who could afford help-of how things should look.

And in those cases, Beau would say they needed to find something better to do with their time.

Anyway Nathaniel was getting awfully...heated on this line of conversation. The Pecari held up his hands. "Hey, sorry. I didn't meant to offend you." He wasn't sure what he'd said that was wrong, exactly, but he knew from having Arianna as a sister, that it was sometimes just to give in. Father always said that was the case with strong women like Beau's mother and sister. Obviously, the Teppenpaw wasn't a strong woman but still, he really didn't want to offend the other fourth year.

11 Beau All right 1416 Beau 0 5

Connor

June 10, 2019 4:02 PM

You're welcome by Connor

"Oh, I'm sorry." Connor apologized. He knew absolutely nothing about Russian culture or naming conventions so he figured he might have just heard her name wrong. He could have sworn at some point the Pecari's name had been read off on role call as Tatiana Vorontsov. And he'd usually paid attention to role call so he could learn people's names. Connor generally felt that that was the least he could do, especially by this point in his Sonora tenure. It wasn't as if it were a large school and he felt that to not know everyone's name was disrespectful to them. True, he didn't know the names of some of the younger students but if he couldn't be bothered to learn the names of people he actually had class with, then that would make him incredibly self-absorbed.

"Yeah, we're from Wisconsin so a lot of people there have German heritage, so that's why Sophia picked it. Plus, everyone usually learns French or Spanish, so she wanted something different. She' s not really fluent at all though." replied Connor.

"Wow, that's impressive." Tatiana sure seemed to know an awful lot of languages. "That must be a real challenge. I mean, my sister is only learning the one. " To learn three languages in addition to the one you'd spoken growing up and to go to school in a language that wasn't your original one must have been really difficult. Connor couldn't imagine doing so, but then he didn't know any language other than English himself. German was Sophia's hobby while his was playing the trombone.

11 Connor You're welcome 395 Connor 0 5

Tatiana

June 10, 2019 5:41 PM

So, what now? by Tatiana

“Is okay,” said Tatiana, pacified by Connor’s willingness to apologize for his error with her name, “You are Amerikanets, yes? Girls, boys, family name is all same for you, yes? Not so for Russkii, Ruskaya.”

Which seemed strange to her still, even after all these years, though the more she thought about it the more the American (And French) way made sense to her. They were, after all, one family, and had their patronymics and first names to clearly show the difference between girls and boys, so why have two last names too? It didn’t seem wholly necessary, even if it was traditional.

Of course, the Americans also seemed to manage without patronymics, but that was irrelevant. There were limits to how far Tatiana was prepared to even acknowledge the logic of things. The Americans had their traditions, too, and she would not lightly renounce hers, like Katya always seemed so prepared to do.

Tatiana’s American geography was not up to placing Wisconsin, but she understood enough words to understand most of her classmate’s point. “At home, most know French, German, both,” she offered. “Not much Spanish though - we speak not much Spanish at home.”

She half-shrugged at the comment about learning her languages being a challenge. “I start when small,” she said. “Girls normally not learn English, but I not so good for German, and I want to learn with my brother Grigori, so Papa lets me. My sister Katerina, though, she is better - English, German, French, all good,” she said proudly.

16 Tatiana So, what now? 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Connor

June 13, 2019 7:18 PM

Um...doing the lesson? by Connor

"Oh." Connor replied. "That's interesting." In all honesty, he wasn't sure he would ever want to do that. Then he wouldn't have the same last names as his mother and sisters and future wife and daughters. He wasn' t sure he would like that but he wasn't going to insult another culture, especially to someone who was from said culture. However, he felt like he might as well ask. "So, do you just add an A for girls? Like would my sisters' last name be Priorya?" That really would sound strange to his ears. And Bridget's would be even stranger as would Peyton's.

The Crotalus nodded. " We only speak English and learning other languages is sort of an...extra thing. My family tended to focus on academics as well as the classes we need to be proper young ladies and gentlemen. They wouldn't want to force anything extra on us unless we wanted to." Though Quidditch had been specifically discouraged based on his mom's injury. "So I decided to take up the trombone and Sophia decided to take up German. I've been doing it since I was young but she's only been learning German for about a year."

"That's really neat. " said Connor, impressed. "So how old is your brother? Is he coming here soon?" He didn't know of any other Vorontsovs (or Vortontsovas) that were in school besides the sister she mentioned whom he knew to be a second year. It did not occur to him that siblings would go to different schools and that Tatiana's brother might be older than she was. He also wondered why girls wouldn't learn English if they had decided to come to school in America-that seemed to be setting them up to fail- and why what languages one learned was based on gender rather than choice but those seemed like really rude questions to ask.

11 Connor Um...doing the lesson? 395 Connor 0 5

Ivy Brockert,Teppenpaw

June 15, 2019 7:45 PM

I have issues all right by Ivy Brockert,Teppenpaw

When Ivy heard that they would be going outside for Transfiguration today, she was sort of excited. She figured it probably had to do with plant based transfiguration, which she loved. She'd always loved plants and gardening and Transfiguration was one of her favorite subjects.

Okay, Ivy supposed everything was her favorite class. She really did love studying and learning and in all honesty, probably could have been sorted into Aladren. This year she sort of wished she had been because there were no Aladrens in her class now and then she would have been prefect. Except then Ivy wouldn't be sure if it was because they liked her and thought she deserved it or because she was the only one.

As it was, the fifth year was worried about pleasing her teachers. Except the new Care of Magical Creatures professor, she was rather concerned that they all hated her. Even though Peyton had tried her best to assure Ivy that they did not, that they just liked Eden better because "everyone did".

Still, that didn't stop the Teppenpaw from enjoying her classes, well not much. In fact, she was trying even harder to impress them though she didn't really know what more that she could since she already got good grades and participated in school activities. And Ivy never really got up to mischief either that would put the staff off her.

As it was, Ivy was not sure what she wanted to keep after CATS other than Transfiguration and Herbology. It was so hard to pick but she didn't want to be overloaded. Or look like a show-off.

Professor Skies gave the instructions. Ivy got her twigs and settled at hole that needed patching.

OOC-Peyton is also mine.

11 Ivy Brockert,Teppenpaw I have issues all right 394 Ivy Brockert,Teppenpaw 0 5