The first attempt on Sandbox

DH Skies

January 11, 2018 1:06 PM

Tutorial - Class basics by DH Skies

This is some out of character information, guiding you through the basics of posting in class. The post below is an in character example of a class. If you would like to practise your class posting, please respond to the next post down. If you have any questions, ask here.

The Class Basics

How do classes work?
Classes are posted by professors and the students write responses in which their character attempts the assignment that has been set. The basic class rules are that your posts must be well-written, 200 words minimum and realistic. You are awarded house points for your efforts in class, and these are given based on HOW WELL WRITTEN the post is, not what the character has done. That is, a character who completes the assignment perfectly but in a post that is short or unrealistic will receive fewer points than a well-written, detailed post about the character struggling or making mistakes.

How much time should my post cover?
This is a tricky one, as it's very variable. You certainly do not have to cover the entire lesson in one post, and people very rarely do this. A good rule of thumb is 'how long would it be before someone else became involved in this interaction?' Your character might try the spell
a few times then see how their neighbour is doing, for example. If you write the entire lesson
in one post, someone may try to backtrack a bit and say they started a conversation with you
part way through but it becomes harder for them to do so.

Accidents and emergencies
This ties in well with the above point. Some of us have a streak that is amused by the thought of landing our characters in the hospital wing. Whilst that might be fun, it has to be done realistically. There is a teacher on hand in all classes, and they would not let the situation get out of hand. For example, compare the two following examples:

'Joe Bloggs took a deep breath, preparing to cast the charm.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” he cried. However, he must not have pronounced it quite right, or perhaps he had flicked then swished, rather than swishing and flicking. Either way, a large bang sounded and clouds of purple smoke erupted from his wand. Within minutes, the smoke had spread, obscuring everything in the room. Joe coughed. He wanted to get out but he could no longer see the door. He stumbled in what he thought was the right direction but his foot caught on a stool which had been left sticking out and he fell and banged his head painfully.'

'Joe Bloggs took a deep breath, preparing to cast the charm.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” he cried. However, he must not have pronounced it quite right, or perhaps he had flicked then swished, rather than swishing and flicking. Either way, a large bang sounded and clouds of purple smoke erupted from his wand.
“Uh-oh,” he breathed, hoping he wouldn't be in trouble.'

The second example gives the teacher time to react to the situation. In the first, her classroom has become an unrecognisable sea of fog by the time the post breaks off and allows her to respond. It becomes very difficult for the teacher responding, who has to try to explain or justify how the situation got that bad before they noticed. And, if you really want to smack your character's head of the desk, you can always end the second example with him being so surprised he jumps and trips over...

Tagging
If your character calls on another specific character, or does something that would attract the teacher's notice, it is a good idea to tag them. This simply means writing [Tag so-and-so] in the subject line. That way, they know that they specifically are expected to respond. Posts are open for anyone to reply to unless a) someone is tagged in the subject line b) the character narrows it down within the post (e.g. 'Joe sat down, being sure to grab a seat next to someone he recognised from his house.')

If you have any questions about these points, or anything else in relation to posting in class, please respond to this post. You may write your questions out of character.

I will be putting a class post below this, which you can respond to in character. You may reply to each other, and I will offer feedback if it is needed. The original class is available here, if you would like to read some examples of how other people responded. However, please ensure that you put your replies on the copy on this, the OOC page.

Please note, this is just a tutorial. Therefore, when you start Sonora, none of this will really have happened; you will not have met the people you post with, or tried the spell in this class.

13 DH Skies Tutorial - Class basics 26 DH Skies 1 5

DH Skies

January 11, 2018 1:06 PM

Beginners Class I by DH Skies

Selina had returned to full time teaching originally as a temporary measure. The school had needed staff, and with her daughters grown and gone from home, it made sense to take on the demands of a boarding school again, which hadn’t been particularly compatible with life as a parent. She should have known that she’d end up taking on too much - it just wasn’t in nature to say ‘no’ when she could see things needed doing. And so, gradually, she had accumulated the positions of Crotalus Head of House, academic support tutor and, eventually, deputy headmistress. For all those grand accolades, she remained generally friendly and approachable, or at least she liked to think so. ‘Strict but fair’ was also an apt description - she was kind and gentle in general, but not a pushover, and not someone students with any sense would step out of line with.

“Good morning,” she greeted the assembled first and second years. “I am Professor Skies,” although they already had been introduced to her as the deputy headmistress, she didn’t insist on them using that title in class, “and I will be taking you for Transfiguration. We will be focussing on non-animate to non-animate Transfigurations– that is objects into other objects as this is the simplest branch of Transfiguration. That said, it can still be very difficult, and you must not get disheartened if you do not get big results immediately,” she felt that it was easy for her subject to slip down students' lists as they enjoyed the big flashy results of beginner Charms. Even making mistakes in other subjects tended to have dramatic consequences, whereas in Tranfiguration you just tended to not fully achieve what you had wanted. “Today will be pebbles into buttons,” she informed them, “Take one and pass it on,” she instructed, handing a box of pebbles to the student on the end of the front row, Each was smooth and shiny and relatively flat, although they varied a little in size and colour.

“I also have a handout for you. It is a template for a Transfiguration Table. I would like all of the first years to take one. Second years, I would prefer you to try to do your table from scratch but if you are unfamiliar with this teaching method, please help yourself to a handout, although there are plenty of notes to help you in the textbook,” the sheet that was being passed around was a simple table of common object characteristics, such as size, shape and function with an empty box next to each one. “The table is designed to help you focus on the similarities and differences between your current object and the target object. This is a process that you will learn to internalise as you become more experienced but it is helpful to actively work through it when the subject is new to you. Every two objects, however different they seem, have something in common. Even if it's the tiniest little thing it is useful for you. Changing everything about an object is a monumental task and usually one that it's difficult to wrap your head around. By focussing only on those things which you need to change, you can channel your energy more effectively, and hopefully make bigger changes where they are needed.

“When you are ready to move onto the spell, the incantation is Pangolus and you will want to make a single circle with your wand,” the chalk behind her scribbled key pieces of information onto the board as she spoke, “For those of you who are righthanded, the circle should be clockwise. For those of you who are left handed, a counter-clockwise circle also works on this spell. It is generally less effective but it is likely to be more effective if it feels more comfortable or natural for you.

“If you are stuck, chapter 2 of the textbook has a section on writing Transfiguration Tables, whilst chapter 3 introduces inanimate transfigurations. You may also discuss your problems quietly with your neighbours, or call on me if you require any assistance. You may begin.” Selina hoped to enjoy at least a good few minutes of nothing more than quills scratching on parchment before the casting began. Transfiguration was usually a safe profession. It was very difficult to produce results and therefore definitely difficult to overdo things. Of course, that didn't prevent utterly unrelated catastrophes but she definitely felt she sent students to the hospital wing less often than her Charms colleagues, and far, far less often than those in Defence.

13 DH Skies Beginners Class I 26 DH Skies 0 5

Masha Adin

January 11, 2018 1:55 PM

The first attempt by Masha Adin

Masha took the sheet, still clenching the pebble in her other hand. Staring at the sheet in front of her she could feel the smooth surface of the pebble. It was round and somehow shooting. Her hand was trembling slightly, the rush of blood in her ears muffled the sound of Professor's voice. Doing her best not to frown, Masha, tried to focus on what Professor was saying.

Finally, Professor stopped talking so Masha took a quill and scribed:
Similar: round, smooth to the touch
Different: button has 4 holes in the middle, button is lighter

Placing the pebble on the table she took and opened the book to read through the chapters. She did read them before, a couple of times, but once more couldn’t hurt. Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself. It didn’t boot well with her that she felt uncertain to try the spell. Glancing under the eye around her she wondered how the other students were doing. From the behind, Masha could hear soft whispering, but she wasn’t sure if anyone would talk to her. Shay as she is, Masha didn’t quite manage to make any friends yet or get to know anyone well enough to start talking.

After half of the chapter 3 Masha sighed, she knew the theory. Taking her wand in shaky hand she took a deep breath and mumbled the incantation making the circular clockwise motion...nothing happened.

0 Masha Adin The first attempt 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Jane Doe

January 11, 2018 2:19 PM

It's a good one by Jane Doe

Jane couldn’t honestly say she was super excited for Transfiguration. Her mother had repeatedly told her how difficult it was, and that it might take her a long time to start succeeding with the spells. She had grown up seeing magic from her mother, seeing it working and doing such cool stuff, and she just wanted to be able to do that too. She had waited eleven years to get her hands on a wand and get to start trying, so being told that she’d probably get no results at first was really disheartening.

Professor Skies didn’t do much to lift her mood, reiterating what her mother had said about how it would be slow going. She also wanted them to write out some ideas first, whereas Jane’s approach would have just been to cast the spell again and again. She tried to look on the brightside, and to think of what Professor Skies was getting them to do as kind of a shortcut - she was talking about focussing their energy just on a few important bits after all.

Jane scribbled the first thing that came into her head in each box. Size - it flashed through her head that buttons could be any size at all but normally were smaller than the pebble, but rather than write all this out, she simply wrote smaller. Colour was simply given the word Whatever. Once she had filled out the boxes, she sort of supposed she could imagine the whole thing a bit better. It needed to shrink and become… well, a button-shape. Of any colour. She could picture that a lot better than she could put it into words, and she was keen to have a go.

Pangolus she cast. It still felt a bit funny trying to move her wand in such precise shapes. She tried to think of it like drawing, but you never really drew with such a long pencil, and with gripping it only at the top, and she thought it would take a while for her to get the movements feeling natural. Sadly, her pebble seemed to agree, as it hadn’t changed a bit. She tried again. And again. And again.

With a sigh, she looked over at her neighbour, but the girl seemed to be very into reading lots and lots of the book before working. Jane tried adding a bit to her table, and doodling some midway pebble-buttons, alternating with trying the spell again.
When her neighbour tried the spell, Jane watched out of the corner of her eye. It didn’t seem like the reading had really paid off.

“You too, huh?” she asked, nodding at the girl’s pebble. “This is really hard… I think I’ll like Charms a lot more. I’m Jane, by the way,” she added, “What’s your name?”

OOC - good job. Your post followed all the rules. Often characters will include something at the end of their post as a ‘hook’ to another poster, e.g. the person turning to ask their neighbour for help. However, if your character is shy and would not do this, it’s not mandatory - just an idea. Keep practising, and maybe read some posts on the original class for inspiration.

13 Jane Doe It's a good one 0 Jane Doe 0 5

Masha Adin

January 11, 2018 3:40 PM

Is she talking to me? by Masha Adin

Masha blinked. Was that girl talking to her? Raising her head to look at the girl properly she felt sort of thorn in two. She wanted to squeal with joy and at the same time to run away and hide. She swiftly glanced at the girl's pebble. That made her heart beating a bit slower. Raising her eyes to the girl’s again Masha frowned. Realising what she is doing she tried to smile and stop frowning. She was afraid that if she continues Jane might think she is frowning at her. But her smiling attempt wasn’t any better than her attempt to stop frowning. Somehow she failed at both. She was still frowning and now her mouth did the mad exercises instead of smiling. Her face felt odd. Her heart resumed mad drumming, her hands started to shake lightly.

Finally, after few attempts, she managed just to smile without frowning. Her face felt hot, so she was probably blushing. Masha was sure that by now Jane must think of her as some sort of lunatic. She nodded, trying to keep Jane’s attention.

“Gla...glad to meet you. I’m Masha.” she took a deep breath “Yes, this is not working at all. I don’t know what am I doing wrong. I learned lessons from the books. I did all that I supposed to do. Concentrated really hard. And nothing.” she looked at her pebble “Not even a single hole. When dad is doing stuff like this it looks so easy. Now I’m not so sure I’ll be good at charms too. But I can’t wait for potions.” she stopped talking, afraid that she is talking too much “Ummm, sorry. Do you know what we...ummm...I’m doing wrong?”

OOC - Thank you! I'll read the link at once.

0 Masha Adin Is she talking to me? 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Jane Doe

January 12, 2018 7:29 AM

Yup, so talk back! by Jane Doe

Jane was a bit surprised by the girl’s reaction, as she seemed to be frowning at her. Or at something, anyway. Maybe she wasn’t frowning at her, but at her pebble. Jane definitely felt like frowning at hers over its stupid refusal to shift into anything more button shaped. Jane was a chirpy, friendly person, and found it much easier to assume that a person was frowning at their frustrating schoolwork than at her, especially when she hadn’t said anything particularly controversial. After a moment, the girl seemed to shift whatever was on her mind and manage a smile.

“Not being grown ups yet?” Jane shrugged with a smile, when Masha asked whether she knew what they were doing wrong. “My mother’s always saying that Transfiguration takes ages to get the hang of. I guess we just have to keep trying,” she sighed, the idea obviously not filling her with enthusiasm. “It doesn’t mean that you’ll be bad at Charms though,” she reassured Masha. “Not all wandwork classes are the same, and this is definitely supposed to be the hardest. I’m really looking forward to Charms, because I think I might be able to actually do them. And Care of Magical Creatures because it will be fun to play with all the animals,” she smiled. “I don’t know how well I’ll do at Potions. It seems like you have to be really precise. But they do a lot of cool stuff, so it’ll be good to learn them,” she added, trying to find the positives, because Masha seemed kind of shy and she didn’t want to close off the subject she seemed most interested in.

“So, your dad’s magical then?” she asked. “How about your mom? My mom is but my dad isn’t,” she added, in case Masha was worried that her asking meant that she was one of those people who cared about that sort of thing. She could only hope the other girl wasn’t. But, if she was, it was better to know before she put in too much effort in making a friend.

OOC - so, now we keep going! We might have a couple of conversation topics running at one time, just assume the questions and responses follow a logical order. You can also have your character have another go at the spell, or do more to further their schoolwork.

13 Jane Doe Yup, so talk back! 0 Jane Doe 0 5

Masha Adin

January 12, 2018 8:29 AM

Not quite a button by Masha Adin

Masha breathed out slowly, she wasn’t aware that she held her breath.
'Good, so Jane at least don’t think I’m insane.'

She smiled at the Jane more openly and, thankfully, without frowning this time.

“My mother is a Muggle. We lived among the Muggles, so I know about magic what my dad told me. Or when he did magic, which wasn’t an awful lot. There is no much privacy if you live in a tent.” she paused briefly 'Great, now I put my foot in my mouth' “I mean, we did live in houses as well but mostly in tenths or if there is a village nearby we would get a Shack. My mother is an archaeologist, so we travelled a lot and lived near the digs. Sorry, I’m bothering you with useless things you probably don’t want to know. I… I really don’t know… the only magical person I ever talked with is my father, so I don’t know how to…”

She stopped again, blinking at Jane and trying to see how her words affected Jane. Masha liked Jane, she wouldn’t call her a friend yet but she could talk to her and it was nice.

“Anyway. I like potions, but it is the only thing in magic I ever see how it is done. My dad made all our potions and he let me watch, even cut on occasion. But I am familiar with some Magical Creatures, we saw some on our travels and my father talked about them. Magical plants too. You have to know those two if you want to be good at potions. And I’ll take your word for Charms. I have to.” she added quietly and shook her head “So let’s try again, maybe we’ll have more luck this time! Maybe we should think like grown-ups do?”

With that, she turned to her pebble. She focused on what she wanted to change, said the incantation and made the motion. Nothing happened. But as Masha went through the motions she noticed one thing - she was concentrating more on the word than to the meaning of the word. Maybe that is the reason why she failed, English wasn’t her language. She turned to Jane

“I think I have an idea. Give just one more moment to try something.” She focused on the pebble again mumbling “Right. Кнопка. Легче. Четыре отверстия. Pangolus.”

She took care to start a circular motion at the first letter of incantation and close the circle with the final letter, focusing at the same time on the meaning of words she mumbled in Russian. Few sparks flew out of her wand… Masha glanced down. In front of her was, well, not exactly the button but it was something. It looked like someone adjusted the pebble to look like a button. Ok, it was pebble with four holes, and it could be used as a button if you didn’t have a button at hand.

She raised her head and looked at Jane with a huge grin on her face.

“I know what we were doing wrong, or at least what was my problem. Is English what you speak at home?”

OOC - I don't know how to make letters italic but 'words' quoted like this should be her thoughts. I also don't know if it is allowed to insert words in character's native language - so this is just the testing of the waters.

0 Masha Adin Not quite a button 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Jane

January 12, 2018 1:13 PM

Still excellent progress by Jane

“I totally want to know!” Jane said enthusiastically. She had been a little bit confused at first when Masha had started to talk about living in tents and shacks - she wondered whether they were like… superduper poor or something awkward like that. But luckily it turned out to be something really cool. “That’s so amazing. I’ve never even been out of the USA. It must be amazing to see the world. What’s your favourite country? What’s the coolest thing your mom ever dug up? Was any of it curse- oh, no wait, I guess she works on Muggle sites. My mom said the wizarding tombs in ancient Egypt are super dangerous cos they put loads of curses on them.”

In spite of the very easily distracting topic of all of Masha’s extraordinary adventures, the other girl pulled their attention back to their schoolwork. That was probably a good thing… Jane didn’t want to make a bad impression on Professor Skies right on their first day, but talking about Masha’s life was definitely far more interesting than waving her wand pointlessly at a pebble that didn’t want to change.

“I’m not sure I know how…” she stated, as Masha suggested they think like adults. Luckily, Masha had another idea. She seemed to say some extra spell words and they actually worked this time.Jane waited to see if Masha explained what the words were… Her question sort of did.

“Yeah, it is….” she sighed, when the girl asked if they spoke English at home, “Wow, my family is so boring compared to yours. What language were you speaking? What were you saying to it? Not that it will work for me, of course…”

OOC - for italics use html tags, for example < i > this writing will be italic < / i > (you will need to take out the spaces for it to work). Writing small pieces other languages is allowed - sometimes authors provide glossaries in the OOC notes, but not always, there is not a strict rule on it.

13 Jane Still excellent progress 0 Jane 0 5

Masha Adin

January 13, 2018 4:17 AM

Let's try again by Masha Adin

Masha looked at Jane blinking, everything Jane said during her mad dash of words coming back to her slowly. The stupid grin still lingering, even if it wasn’t quite the button she managed to make.

She felt thorn again. For one part Jane wanted to know more about her life, and that was good, but if they start talking about it now - they are in trouble. But there was always time after class. Living in one place whole life sounded interesting to her, Masha made a mental note to ask Jane about that. It must be different to live in one place whole life if it’s not a village in the middle of the jungle or a desert.

Suddenly, she realised - she was doing it again! Staring and not answering. And Jane bombarded her with a bunch of questions, but the most important thing, at least for this class, was that Jane didn’t think on other language like she did.

She frowned then smiled again. Maybe, just maybe Jane was making the same mistake as she did even if she thought in English.

“Ummm, we can talk about our families later, after class if you want to.” offered Masha hoping that she didn’t overstep some cultural boundary “But for now let’s stick to class, I don’t want to get in trouble with Professor. Russian, I was talking in Russian. We speak Russian at home and I’m used to think in Russian before I say something in another language. So I just said what is written here: button, lighter, four holes.” she stopped wondering if Jane will be insulted if she suggests...maybe if she make example of herself…”Ummm, you see I was focusing on the word and not what word means in English.”

Masha grabbed the quill and scribed “button”

“I was thinking about letters, how to say it and not… well, the button itself.” she grabbed the button on the hem of her sleeve and pulled it hard enough that she nearly ripped it off. Masha frowned at that briefly and continued “So when I was talking in Russian, sorry about that - it meant to be in my head not out loud, I was thinking about the button. And it sort of...worked.” she smiled uncertainty “Maybe you are doing the same thing, I mean focusing on the word not the meaning of the word, even if English is your language. We could try again, both of us and see… Oh! I almost forgot! The book says that the wand movement and incantation should be synchronised, so I took care to start the circle with the first letter and end it with the last. I don’t know if that did anything tho, I changed so many things at once. So, shall we try again and see what happens?”

OOC - Thank you. Could we try in the next go to "include" other students? Just to see how it goes? I know that for that we need at least one more person but I really need just an example. Thank you so much for your help :)

0 Masha Adin Let's try again 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Jane

January 14, 2018 2:43 PM

But... it's hard. And talking is fun. by Jane

“Yeah… you’re probably right,” Jane nodded, when Masha said they should save the chit-chat for when they weren’t in class. It was a sensible plan, but it was so hard when she was bursting with questions about Masha’s life.

“That makes sense,” she nodded, when Masha explained that she’d been using Russian, which they spoke at home to help make her thoughts clearer - making sure she was focussing on buttony thoughts and not distracted by the words themselves. At least, she thought that was the point the other girl was making. She also gave her some tips about synchronising. Jane gave it a couple of practises, trying to check whether her speech and movements were synchronised… She thought they pretty much were… Did it need to be like… split-second accurate though? She felt like she might be in danger of thinking more of whether she was in synch with herself than about the button though, so she decided to just go with it.

“Pangolus,” she cast, just trying to let the pictures run through her thoughts. “Is it my imagination, or is my pebble a bit flatter, and dipping in the middle?” she asked, holding it up close to her face so she could examine it. She honestly couldn’t tell, but decided to assume that it was better than before because the alternative was really depressing.

“Maybe we should ask for some help…” she reached forward, nudging the student in front of them, who she didn’t think had been at orientation. The advantage of having classes with second years was that they surely knew more about what to do.

“Excuse me,” she asked. “How many goes did it take you to get something to happen? The first time you tried, I mean. We’re not getting very far.”

OOC - Can do. Most threads are just 2 people, so it’s not something you have to worry about much. When there are multiple people in a thread, we keep it going in the same order, so that one person doesn’t get left behind if they’re asleep when everyone else is awake or something. There are exceptions to this, such as Quidditch, but those are usually pointed out/explained.

13 Jane But... it's hard. And talking is fun. 0 Jane 0 5

Dorian Montoir

January 14, 2018 2:44 PM

Slow and steady by Dorian Montoir

Dorian took a seat in Transfiguration, listening carefully to Professor Skies. Even though he was a second year, and it was already somewhat familiar, he was sure he occasionally missed details due to not speaking English as his first language. It was sort of good that they got to do a lot of the classes a second time round, as he was sure that his language skills had improved a lot over the course of his first year, although he was currently feeling a little rusty after not using it so much at home during the summer.

He was a bit anxious when Professor Skies asked second years to do their tables from scratch in case he couldn’t remember the words in English, but they had done them so much last year that a lot of them were solidly drilled in. Plus, he’d realised last year that these notes were mostly for his own benefit, so he allowed himself to occasionally lapse into French or Chinese if he really couldn’t think of the English word. He also used drawing when that conveyed his message better.

He had a couple of goes - as he was a second year, he could make a basic button fairly easily, but he was trying to challenge himself by making it as different as possible than his pebble, for example by adding a pattern, or making it as small as possible. Technically, the button could be pebble sized and the same colour but that wasn’t very impressive for a second year. He was about to try for a very small, shell-patterned button when someone tapped him from behind.

“Hmm,” he said, pondering the first year’s question, “I don’t remember number of times exactly.” He glanced over both girls’ work. “You do good,” he added to the one who hadn’t spoken to him as he saw her progress.
“Maybe you just choose one thing for at first? Like…. There are many different buttons. Can be big, can be small. Can be brown, or grey or red or purple. But some things are more like the rock, and somethings not so much… The small purple button is very more different than the big brown button, yes? So, maybe because it is the first time, you try to make the less big change and then it become easier. Sorry… I am not so good at explain… My English, sometimes…” he trailed off with an apologetic shrug figuring the heavy Quebecois accent and poor grammar made the rest of that sentence self-evident.

OOC - so, now it’s Masha’s go again, and you should react to the things from both posts. The order will go Masha, Jane, Dorian.

13 Dorian Montoir Slow and steady 1401 Dorian Montoir 0 5

Evelyn Stones (pending!)

July 13, 2018 8:58 PM

Ugh. Wand Magic. by Evelyn Stones (pending!)

Evelyn stared at the box of pebbles as it was passed to the students in front of her and eventually into her own hand. For the span of a heartbeat, she considered passing it on without taking one, but didn't want to start out by being disruptive, and tentatively accepted a stone. She laughed at the relation to her own name and then stopped when the feeling made her want to cry instead.

The paper on the desk in front of her depicted a table she'd never seen before and she wasn't exactly sure how to fill it in. Again, a heartbeat went by as she considered her options. The thought of asking for help wasn't a terrible one, unless Professor Skies stayed to see how she worked, in which case the whole class would see what a lousy witch she was.

Breathing in softly, she reached for her quill and decided to make the best of a bad situation. She liked to consider herself detail-oriented when faced with a problem like this, and perhaps she could run out time in the classroom by filling in the table with as much information as possible.

They are both hard, she wrote, hoping that wasn't stupid. The student on her right nudged her gently and she turned to see who it was.

22 Evelyn Stones (pending!) Ugh. Wand Magic. 1422 Evelyn Stones (pending!) 0 5

Katerina Vorontsov

July 18, 2018 2:03 PM

Ugh, Latin alphabet. by Katerina Vorontsov

Katya sat quietly, her hands in her lap, back straight, just as Mama had always taught her, but her dark blue-grey eyes were huge in her small face as she tried to study the woman at the front of the room. Professor Skies, her sister Tatiana had told her, was like the matushka here - but they all were going to see her every day, and Tatya and Katya had to see her even more than the others for the English lessons. Katya’s exposure to the most important witch in her village in Alaska was largely limited to bowing and receiving a gift of candied fruits and nuts once a year. Now she would have to see the most important witch at Sonora every day.

Right now, at least, it wasn’t Katya specifically she was addressing. On the other hand, though, she had noticed that people spoke English more slowly to her than to groups of English-speakers. She had to listen carefully.

This was a challenge, but Katya had been preparing for it for almost five years. She did not become truly intimidated until the chart landed.

She knew what it was because Tatiana had told her. Tatiana, though, didn’t seem to think as much about Professor Skies’ position. This had to be perfect.

She began writing carefully, trying to remember everything Anton Petrovich, her tutor at home, had ever taught her about the correct movements to make to write English letters while also running through her mental lexicon of English words, selecting from them, and remembering to write them. In all this concentration she neglected her elbows, and one nudged her neighbor.

“I sorry - am,” said Katya. “That - is not what I want to do.”

16 Katerina Vorontsov Ugh, Latin alphabet. 1418 Katerina Vorontsov 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 18, 2018 3:15 PM

At least I'm not alone by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn didn't quite smile, she was too nervous for that, but somehow the girl's clumsy bump put her at ease a little bit and she felt herself relax. She couldn't help noticing that the girl hadn't filled in much of her chart yet, either, and her face had the familiar look of severe concentration.

"I don't mind," Evelyn replied, noting the girl's accent and speaking clearly. "I mean that, it's okay."

She sat quietly for a moment, not sure if she should keep talking or not. Professor Skies hadn't said they could work together, but she hadn't said they couldn't and if the whole point of this stupid thing was to learn something, then she'd probably learn more working with someone else.

She took a steadying breath and turned to the girl again. "I'm Evelyn," she said. "And I'm really super confused and a little nervous. Do you want to work together on this thing?" She held up her chart and waited with bated breath for an answer.

OOC- I totally don't think this is stupid at all! I'm trying to write in character and it makes me feel bad when my character is being a grump so I just wanted to throw it out there that y'all are doing some amazing stuff. <3

22 Evelyn Stones At least I'm not alone 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Katerina Vorontsov

July 19, 2018 12:13 AM

Yes, that is good. by Katerina Vorontsov

Super confused. This, Katya assumed, was an idiom, because otherwise it was an oxymoron - ‘super,’ she had learned, was short for superlative, and Anton Petrovich said Americans used it to mean ‘good.’ One could not really be good confused, though, not in a literal sense, and so logically she thought she could assume it meant something non-literal.

“I, they call Katerina,” said Katya. Anton Petrovich had taught her that introducing herself in English was to be done my name is Katerina Andreyevna Vorontsova, but Tatya said that Americans did not use their patronymics, and unless Evelyn had a very, very short name, she had definitely not used one just then.

“Yes, please,” said Katya. “It is table,” she added, remembering when Evelyn referred to the chart as ‘this thing.’ That was eto vesh’ - perhaps Evelyn did not know the word. Tatiana had taught Katya the word, after all, from filled in versions of this very chart. Katya was still confused about why it was called that, even after looking it up in the dictionary, since ‘table’ was also the English word for stol - the thing one put one’s plate and glass on while one ate a meal. “What is super confusing?” she asked, since she wasn’t confused, just trying to think in two languages at once and write in only one.

OOC: Understood! Glad you're enjoying the site.

16 Katerina Vorontsov Yes, that is good. 1418 Katerina Vorontsov 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 19, 2018 7:50 PM

People are hard by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn frowned, just a little bit. She had hoped to find a classmate who felt as overwhelmed as she did, as scared as she did, and as confused as she did, so she wouldn't have to figure all this out by herself. Now, she was wondering if she'd made a mistake in revealing so much to this girl. She was practically a stranger after all.

It seemed clear that Katerina wasn't totally comfortable with English, and Evelyn wasn't sure whether it would be more appropriate to try to offer help in the language or to just accept the efforts for what they were worth. Her experiences growing up in a largely isolated part of the wizarding world, among those who looked like her and sounded like her, hadn't prepared her for these sorts of encounters.

"Yes," Evelyn said. "It's a table. I don't have much filled in, yet." She stifled another frown.

So far, everything was just...difficult. She already knew magic was difficult, but now talking to people seemed difficult, too, and she didn't want to admit these feelings to herself, let alone anybody else.

"I can work alone if you don't want me to bother you..." Her voice trailed off and she looked up at Katerina, hoping for reassurance. "I just don't really know what I'm doing. What sort of differences and similarities can you think of?"

22 Evelyn Stones People are hard 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5