Professor Kijewski
December 30, 2005 1:24 AM
Year 2, Lesson 2 by Professor Kijewski
Kiva had just sent off the last of the students from her previous lesson and had placed the creature back into it’s appropriate carrier before setting up the lesson for her second years. She washed down her desk and set up a large box and a smaller box beside that. Next to those boxes, Kiva set a stack of pre-made assignment sheets down and then leaned against her desk to await he arrival of her students. She had been able to charm the classroom as she saw fit. The ground was a mimic to the grounds outside, with an occasional flower or tree littered the classroom, but the resemblance to the clearing outside was remarkable.Once everyone was there, she had the student closest to the door close it before starting the lesson. “Good Afternoon everyone, I’m so glad to see you were all able to find the classroom without much difficulty. We should be in this room until the weather can be sorted out.” Kiva informed them with a pleasant grin on her face. Now, if only she knew when exactly that would be. “Today we will be discussing bow-truckles.” She indicated the large box. “Everyone come gather round and have a good look at them.” Kiva said, stepping behind her desk and opening up the top of the box to show a bunch of small tree-dwellers with two long sharp fingers on each hand, brown eyes, and a flat faced little stickman made of bark and twigs.
Kiva opened up the smaller box that seemed to be filled with moving rice. “This is wood lice and are what Bow-truckles feed off of.” Kiva told them and then tossed in a handful of wood lice for the creatures to eat. “They also enjoy fairy eggs. These creatures are found mainly in western England, southern Germany, and Scandinavia. They serve as tree-guardians for the tree their home is located, which often happen to be wood used for wands.” Kiva spoke to them while tossing in another handful of lice. “As you can see, their fingers are like that to make digging into the wood much easier for them while they search for food, but they are also used as sufficient weapons to keep intruders at bay. Bow-truckles are usually peaceful creatures, but will attacked if provoked. A witch or wizard seeking to take leaves or wood from a bow-truckle inhabited tree should offer wood lice or fairy eggs to the creature to distract it first.” Kiva said before giving a breath.
“I would like for all of you to work in pairs. Yes, yes, I know the dreaded partners..” Kiva said as she heard some people protest. “If there is an odd number, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Once you have a partner, I want you to come grab one of these assignments for each of you,” Kiva held up one of the assignments. The parchment had a wonderfully drawn picture of a bow-truckle on it. “and one bow-truckle between the two of you. Make sure to take plenty of wood lice. I want you and your partner to label each part of the bow-truckle. Feel free to use your books for any help that you need. If you have any questions, raise your hand.”
OOC: Alright, you guys know the drill. Three paragraphs per post, 3 to 5 sentences to each paragraph. Use as much detail as you can and have lots of fun with the labeling and the group work with the bow-truckle.
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Subthreads: Luckily we come in twos by The Craven Twins with Kaylie Brockert
In need of a partner by Tally Adams with Mia, Tally
Lesson by Dillon and Zoey Welsh
Looking for another half by Jennifer with Jake
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Professor Kijewski
Year 2, Lesson 2
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Professor Kijewski
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The Craven Twins
January 01, 2006 1:48 PM
Luckily we come in twos by The Craven Twins
Care of Magical Creatures inside seemed like a total drag, although both twins would have rathered it than being caught in any more disasters. Sorrel was fidgetty. She wanted to get outside, and had thought Care of Magical Creatures would give her that opportunity; it would legitimise it, and prove it was safe. This did the opposite, and confirmed her suspicion that she should be keeping herself a prisoner.Although she and Ash had several friends whom they sometimes partnered with for variety, right now they were feeling far too apathetic to make the effort, and were glad of the fallback that having a twin provided. In unspoken agreement, they ambled to the front. Ash peered into the box, wondering the best way to pick one up. Sticks on legs didn't look too dangerous, but - in the wizarding world - you learnt not to judge like that. Even in the Muggle world there were examples; gun powder didn't exactly look lethal. Not until you put a match to it, anyway. Sheilding his hand with his robes sleeve, he dropped it into the box, seizing a bow-truckle around the middle. Kiva had said they used the spikey bits to keep intruders at bay, so - if he didn't grab it too hard - hopefully he wouldn't count as an intruder. It wasn't like its fingers were long enough for it to get at anything except his hand if he'd misjudged.
With only a few scratches, he got it back to the desk, where Sorrel scattered some woodlice in front of it, dropping the rest (which she'd picked up unsqueamishly with her hand) into a small glass jar. Then they both stared at the bow-truckle for a few moments before Sorrel voiced what they were both thinking.
"It has parts?" she asked.
"I know... It looks like one big twig to me."
"What did she say the pointy scraper bits were called?"
"I thought she said fingers, but they don't look much like them to me."
Shrugging, and not caring if there was a proper, more technical term detailed in the book, Sorrel noted 'fingers' down on their diagram.
"I guess it's got eyes..." said Ash, scattering some more woodlice to distract it while he tried to get a better look at its face. "And a mouth..." he added, snatching the quill from Sorrel. "Can you remember all the bits of a bugs body?" he asked, the two having been quite into insects when they'd been younger, and had more time to dig around in the mud. "There was that big book we had when were about nine..."
"What books did Alfie have?" It wasn't the most smooth and natural link, but she wanted to talk to Ash about him, and it was as good an opening as she was likely to get. It was difficult to talk about with other people, because her emotions ran very close to the surface when she did.
"What?"
"We had our insect book when we were nine. I can list you ten things he's afraid of, or can't stand to hear about, but what does he like? Does he like anything?"
"Of course he does," said Ash, uncomfortably. "He just didn't feel like talking about them."
"He didn't feel like talking about much."
"He was shy. He's always been a quiet kid," said Ash, rather weakly. Sorrel wasn't the only one who'd been dwelling on the Christmas break. He wasn't sure he believed what he was saying. Alfie was so withdrawn. He almost wanted to shake him, just to see if he'd react, but it felt like you had to act like he was made of glass. Ash didn't know how to deal with him, so tried not to, and then felt bad for it.
The bow-truckle, without any woodlice to keep it occupied, and able to see and smell more around the room, slipped off the desk, unnoticed by either twin.
"You know it's different to that though. It's like-" But what it was like, Sorrel never got a chance to finish. There was a cry of alarm from the row in front of them which cut her off, no doubt caused by a bow-truckle running up someone's leg...
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The Craven Twins
Luckily we come in twos
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The Craven Twins
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Tally Adams
January 02, 2006 1:51 AM
In need of a partner by Tally Adams
Tally had been rather surprised by the news that they were to have their Care of Magical Creatures lesson indoors. She couldn't see the harm in having the lessons outside. It was only a bit of snow. It actually reminded her of New York winters where her and her dad and her brother would play out in the snow. They would go sledding together, build snowmen, or have a snowball war. It was the perfect weather for it. Sure, the wind was cold and the ice was bothersome and they certainly couldn't stay out there for too long, but still...they could certainly have a lesson out there occassionally.Tally marched across the school as fast as her legs would take her. She had grown a bit, she had discovered. She now stood at 5'1. She was rather impressed by this. Not that anyone could really tell, of course. But she felt taller as she allowed her feet to take longer strides than she normally did.
Soon she came into the classroom, blinking rapidly as she would do if Kaylie were talking to her, because of the sight before her. It was like being in the clearing. It was marvelous. Tally sauntered down into a spot and pulled out the necessary materials to start the lesson.
As instructed, Tally walked to Professor Kijewski's desk and looked into the box. They were rather strange sort of creatures. Like a stick she would pick up off the ground to give a good toss of. The only way she could tell they weren't sticks was when the Professor dropped some of the rice into the box and the creatures moved to grab the rice. Only it wasn't rice. Where they maggots? They looked sort of like maggots. Oh, wood lice. Well, Tally still thought they looked like maggots.
At the prospect of a partner, Tally gave an inward groan remember the charms lesson where no one wanted to pair up with her. She hated this. It was like back in gym class where they had to choose teams. Only, at her muggle school, she was friends with all the boys and was often one of the first to be chosen because of that.
She sighed and grabbed a couple of assignment sheets before standing off to the side to wait and see if anyone decided to be her partner. Maybe it'll be different since they didn't have to worry about first years.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Tally Adams
In need of a partner
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Tally Adams
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Mia
January 02, 2006 3:02 PM
Hope you don't mind working together again. by Mia
Mia hurried through the building to get to the new room where the Care of Magical Creatures class would be taking place. She wouldn't have been rushing had she been paying more attention. Back in her dorm room, her mind wasn't clear as it hadn't been since returning to school, and she grabbed the wrong book. Luckily for her and unluckily at the same time, she had checked her bag on the way to class to make sure she had something to write with and only then noticed she had the wrong text book. She was already about half way to class. Mia had to run back through Connell's office since the blizzard made the regular entrance too hard to use, and get the right book before running back. It was a good thing she had decided to leave a little early.Thankfully it didn't seem like Professor K noticed. Mia slipped into the room and took a seat along the first row closest to the door, since she didn’t want to draw attention to herself being only barely on time. She ended up being closest to the door so when asked to close it, she did. At least the professor didn’t seem upset. Mia wasn’t late. She was just barely on time.
Mia stood with the other students around the teacher’s desk when she called them over. Mia saw inside the box what they would be learning about. Apparently they’d be observing moving tree bark. The second box was opened and Mia raised an eyebrow. Those creatures were introduced as wood lice.
‘Well this’ll be interesting. Moving bark and living rice.’ Mia thought with a quiet laugh to herself even though the idea of working with the lice was less than appealing.
Mia didn’t outwardly protest to partners, she just quickly looked around for someone she knew…which really wasn’t many people when she thought about it. At least not many people she was really friendly with. She decided to grab what she needed so she could put it down at her desk and then look for a partner. She took an assignment sheet before reaching into the bow truckle’s box and lightly taking one around the middle. It didn’t scratch her much and she was unaffected by the small scratches. She received them sometimes from Silk when the cat got too playful or annoyed with her. She forced herself to take a bunch of wood lice from the other box and put them in her open palm with the bow truckle. Mia felt them wriggle around in her palm and wished the bow truckle would eat them quickly. Then she noticed one of her friends over to the side standing alone. Mia backed away from the desk to make room for those who still needed to take their creatures and headed over.
“Hey Tals,” Mia called as she got closer, holding up her loosely cupped palm with the nibbling bark creature. “Need a partner?”\n\n
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Mia
Hope you don't mind working together again.
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Mia
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Kaylie Brockert
January 03, 2006 1:10 AM
The creature doesn't feel so lucky. by Kaylie Brockert
Kaylie was pleased with herself. She'd actually made it to class on time for once. Care of Magical Creatures was a fairly fun class even if they weren't going outside. She liked how it was mostly hands on.She half listened as Professor
Kaylie looked around. Her roommate, Tally was already paired off. She turned to the person next to her and asked "Wanna work with me?" She hoped the person had paid attention.
Suddenly, she felt something run up her leg. Kaylie shrieked and shook it off. It flew off her and on to the floor, she put her foot back on the ground and-
Squash!
Kaylie lifted her foot to see one of the stick-like bowl-truckers moving its fingers weakly. "Oh Merlin, I've killed it!" She yelled. It looked like it was severely injured and probably dying.\n\n
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Kaylie Brockert
The creature doesn't feel so lucky.
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Kaylie Brockert
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Dillon and Zoey Welsh
January 03, 2006 4:29 PM
Lesson by Dillon and Zoey Welsh
Zoey waited for Dillon outside of Cascade Hall. They usually always ended up going to class together, which was just fine with Zoey as she hardly knew anyone to begin with. Though, she was leaning towards the fact that Dillon was growing impatient with having her tag along all the time with him. Not that he ever said anything.Dillon came around the corner and spotted his sister waiting for him. He gave her a wave over and waited a few seconds until she grew level with him. "We're in a classroom, there was a notice on the bullentin board." Dillon said, his voice sounding slightly down. Zoey nodded and they moved off for the classroom together.
When they arrived to the class, Dillon and Zoey both walked into the classroom with their jaws touching their knees. It was like they were outside! Even the trees seemed real. They had never seen such a thing before. Dillon grinned widely, "Now this is wicked." Zoey had to nod in agreement.
They sat themselves down and listened as Professor K. greeted them. They were discussing bowtruckles...which meant absolutely nothing to the two of them. Zoey raised an eyebrow to Dillon as the two of them stood and made their way over to the desk. Dillon had read about these creatures, but the picture in their text book wasn't nearly descriptive enough. These things were brilliant looking.
"We're studying sticks?" Zoey asked him in a hushed tone. Dillon shushed her and listened as the Professor explained the bowtruckles. Zoey looked on as the moving (gross, she wasn't going to be touching those) rice was fed to the now moving sticks. Why were magical creatures so strange? Honestly, she couldn't see why they couldn't have normal creatures like cats, no, they had to have kneazles or crups or moving sticks that eat moving rice.
Zoey sighed once the assignments were given out and grabbed two sheets of parchment while Dillon (who had read all about these sorts of things with his bizzarre love for animals in general) grabbed a handful of lice and gently picked up a bowtruckle. Once they had what they needed, the two of them sat off to the side and put their heads together.
"Well, this things got a head, is it called something special?" Zoey asked her brother.
"No, just a head. And these are arms with two sharp fingers for protection." Dillon added, his small sribbles appeared on his assignment. They continued to add onto their assignment, often using their books for reference until they could no longer think of anything else to label. Once they were finished, they took to staring at the creature with interest (Zoey only mildly). "These things are amazing. Ever wonder why we've never seen one before now?"
"Maybe because they frequent over in Europe and not in the small villages of Vermont?" Zoey guessed sarcastically.
"But if you think about it, just because they frequent there doesn't mean that aren't around here." Dillon argued.
"Fine, Dill, fine." Zoey said with a roll of her eyes, which only caused Dillon to frown at her. There attention returned to the bowtruckle and stayed there until they heard a scream on the other side of the room. Zoey didn't know the girl, but Dillon knew she was in his house.
"Poor guy." Dillon said quietly about the bowtruckle.
"Poor girl." Zoey said, indicating Kaylie.\n\n
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Dillon and Zoey Welsh
Lesson
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Dillon and Zoey Welsh
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Tally
January 04, 2006 6:18 PM
Not at all by Tally
Tally was frowning noticeably as she surveyed those around her. Honestly, she never thought it would be this hard to get a partner. It was definitely not something she was used to, nor something she enjoyed at all. She vowed to make friends with more people. She was a Teppenpaw, after all.Tally was about to give up completely on the partner thing and drag herself into an already made group when she heard someone call out to her. She turned her head around until she spotted Mia walking in her direction. Immediately her face lit up as Mia questioned her on her partner status. "Actually, I still do need a partner and I'd love to be yours." Tally commented, grateful that she didn't have to look like a friendly dweeb after all.
"Here, we can sit over here." Tally said, indicating a batch of fake (or seemingly fake) grass. "I don't really know anything about bowtruckles. So...unless you do, we'll probably be guessing a lot." She joked as she plopped down in the grass.\n\n
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Tally
Not at all
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Tally
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Mia
January 07, 2006 9:28 AM
That's a relief by Mia
Mia was glad to have found a partner so quickly. She nodded and followed Tally to where she had suggested they could sit in the not so ordinary looking classroom. Mia must've really been out of it that day to have not noticed the decor of the room. It looked a lot like the outdoors...or at least what the outdoors should look like here in Arizona. When Tally said that she didn't know anything on bow-truckles, Mia shrugged."I can't say I know much about these little guys either except that I question their food choices." Mia grinned, putting the bow-truckle on the grass along with the few remaining wood lice. She was more than glad to have them out of her hand, but she kept a close watch to make sure the bow-truckle didn't get away. Mia made sure to sit closely across from Tally to form some what of a closed in space between the two girls. That way they could both keep the bow-truckle in check.
"Looks like we're down to guessing then. I suppose we could write the obvious stuff, like its head and feet—ow!” Mia exclaimed mostly from shock. If it had really hurt, then she would’ve been louder than she was (which wasn’t very loud at all.)
She slid back a little on the grass after the bow-truckle, obviously looking for some more food, took a fair sized slice from the knee of her jeans. “—and those claws.” she finished with an annoyed look toward the wandering bark creature. She examined the oblong rip and was glad to not see any blood. It was like a scratch from Silk. Nothing to worry about.
“Maybe I should get some more of those lice things it likes so much.” She reluctantly offered, slowly standing up and brushing off her pants. “You can start labeling. I’ll be right back.”
Mia started to the teacher’s desk for more wood lice.
‘Ugh.’ She thought, imagining putting her hand back in that second box.\n\n
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Mia
That's a relief
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Mia
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Jennifer
January 07, 2006 8:28 PM
Looking for another half by Jennifer
Jennifer had wondered since she got back to school what exactly was going to happen in care of magical creatures, since the idea of class being held outside was completely preposterous at present. Professor K.’s class did seem to be having all the horrible luck as far as weather went. First the dust storm in the middle of class, and now the absurdly cold weather making the regular outdoor classes impossible.But the class just wouldn’t have seemed right if they were held like most of the others, students sitting at desks while the professor lectured. Part of the fun of COMC was the informal way it was taught, and Jennifer hadn’t wanted the charm of one of her favorite classes to be diminished just because of the abnormal weather.
Walking into the new classroom, though, Jennifer realized she shouldn’t have worried. While at one point it was probably a regular classroom just like all the others, it had been converted into a replica of what the grounds normally looked like. Her worries properly assuaged, she settled in the back of the room to watch the proceedings.
The bow-truckles were…interesting. While they looked as though they were begging someone to draw a caricature of them, they also did just look like a piece of wood if one wasn’t looking too carefully. First crups, and now this. She wondered if one of their next lessons was to be on puffskeins, so they could get the complete set of dog, stick, and ball.
When Professor K. mentioned parterns, Jennifer was not one of the ones groaning, although she would have preferred to merely sit and continue to watch the things. However, being the good Crotalus and consequently rule-follower that she was, she stood up and began to scan the classroom for potential partners.
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Jennifer
Looking for another half
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Jennifer
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Jake
January 15, 2006 11:15 PM
I'm your other half *grins* by Jake
Jake sauntered down the hall in his usual happy-go-lucky way that he seemed to flaunt. The weather was still going crazy and he was still just as cold than he had ever been since stepping off the carriage. He honestly hoped that whatever was effecting the school would be fixed soon before his hands fell off.But none of that mattered at the moment. He was bundled up fairly well and was on his way to class. Of course, he had to pause a moment and give a look around the classroom. He was surprised that it looked like outside, outside when it was nice out, not like it was right now. He gave the professor well deserved kudos. For some reason, Jake had always assumed that when a professor taught a certain subject, it was because they were terrible at all the others. Professor Kijewski threw that theory right out the window. Unless, of course, she wasn't the one who had done it.
He listened during the lecture part of the class, watching with an amused grin as the bowtruckles fed themselves to the woodlice. Bowtruckles were fun creatures, he wouldn't mind having one for a pet. He took one in his hand (ignoring the small hiss that escaped him when one tried to claw him) and a handful of woodlice. Once he got these, his eyes swept the crowd of students until they landed on a familiar face. With a large grin, Jake made his way over to Jennifer.
"Hey Jennifer, do me a favor and grab a couple of assignment sheets and be my partner."\n\n
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Jake
I'm your other half *grins*
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Jake
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Jennifer
January 17, 2006 10:43 AM
Well, I <i>suppose</i> you'll do by Jennifer
Jennifer grinned at Jake as he came over with a bowtruckle. Not bothering to reply to his request (because, really, it wasn't like she would actually say no, which Jake knew very well) she went to the front of the classroom to get the necessary assignment sheets.Once she had retrieved those, and headed back to her original spot, she sat down again and began to search through her textbook to find some kind of diagram of the creature Jake was holding.
"So, do you know anything about bowtruckles?" She asked, head still in the text. "And would you mind doing the whole woodlice feeding? Woodlice and I generally don't get along well." She shuddered unconsciously, thinking back to when she was much younger, only around three or four, and some kid had decided that she was the perfect target for a new prank. She knew better now, but she still disliked the lice strongly.
Finally finding the page with the proper diagram, she began to hastily write in the names, and then looked back up at her partner. "And how have you been doing, Jake?" she asked. "It seems like we haven't spoken since before Christmas, at the least. How were your holidays?"\n\n
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Jennifer
Well, I <i>suppose</i> you'll do
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Jennifer
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Jake
January 20, 2006 12:34 AM
You <i>know</i> you want me by Jake
Jake sat down across from Jennifer and set the bowtruckle in between them. Occassionally he would throw in a bit of lice down for the creature to nibble on as he studied it. "No, not really. I mean, I know they live in trees and those are the trees where wands come from, but other than that. I've got no idea." Jake admitted, his eyes flickering up when she asked him to handle the woodlice. A large smirk grew on his face, "Why? Afraid of a little bug?" He teased her, holding his and full of the lice closer to her. "Yeah, I can do the woodlice, no problem."Jake leaned over so that he had a better view of her book. With his right hand, he began to scribble down the necessary body parts of a bowtruckle. They seemed like such simple creatures, but they had more to them then Jake gave them credit for. Weird what he could learn if he actually bothered too.
"Hm...?" Jake sounded when she spoke to him again. He was concentrating on writing a strange body part and keeping his eye on the bowtruckle that it took him a moment to understand her, "Oh, I'm good. This weather's horrible, but other than that, I can't complain. And my holidays went rather well considering. We spent it at our house and the whole lot of our family came. It was...rather cramped, to say the least." Jake said, but his tone was pure amusement.
"I heard you spent your Holidays in Europe with Lizzie. That must have been fun."\n\n
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Jake
You <i>know</i> you want me
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Jake
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Tally
January 20, 2006 12:59 AM
Besides, we're mates. by Tally
Tally laughed. She had to agree. The woodlice was a bit on the disgusting side, especially since she thought they looked like maggots. And who would honestly like to eat maggots and think they taste good? Well, it didn't matter. Tally didn't have time to reply to her about the obvious things when Mia cried out suddenly."Oh, here, let me fix that." Tally said, charms was her thing, after all, and pulled out her wand. With a quick wave and a mutter of 'jeans reparo', Mia's jeans were back to how they had been originally. Tally pocketed her wand and continued on as if nothing had been wrong. "Yeah, the obvious things are easy enough...wait." Tally leaned out a bit, struggling to reach something for a moment before sitting straight back up again with her bookbag in her hand. "I've brought my book." She said with a grin.
Tally flipped through the book until she found the chapter she was looking for. Mia had gone off for more lice things when Tally started to jot things down, her mind not even on the bowtruckle. However, when she glanced up to look at a particular body part, teh bowtruckle was no longer there.
She frowned and looked around for a moment, unable to figure out where the creature had gone off to. There was rucus at the other side of the room where Kaylie was sitting, but Tally paid it no mind because she spotted her bowtruckle some feet away in the opposite direction. "There you are, you little bugger." Tally stood and swooped down and clapped her hands around it. Much as she regretted as the thing took to biting her.
"OUCH!" She cried out, dropping the thing back on the ground. It took her all her might just to not take a good hard step onto it. "Stupid thing."\n\n
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Tally
Besides, we're mates.
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Tally
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