Professor Kijewski

September 18, 2007 7:02 PM
Kiva finished cleaning off the area with a sweep of her wand. Usually she did the cleaning the muggle way, but since the beginning of the school year things had been a bit hectic and Kiva had a lot to catch up on. Which meant, she was later coming to the clearing as usual and didn't have time to do the normal clearing out the space with a regular old broom. She conjured up a table and set the cat carrier down.

Almost immediately after, the students began to make an appearance. The first years always seemed a bit wary of this class (especially the muggleborns), so Kiva tried to make a good impression by giving them a fun and inviting lesson. Although, the last time she had introduced this creature, a giant dust storm had hit. Kiva hoped this creature didn't bring on another one four years later. “Good morning.” She greeted them with a smile, standing in front of the cat carrier so that those closest to her couldn't give away the creature she was to be teaching that day.

As it was the first lesson with the first years, Kiva decided to look more business casual than she normally would have. She sported burgundy cordoroids with black flats and a polo shirt. She was void of robes because it made her job easier that way. Her brown hair was longer than normal, having no time to really do much for it, so she clipped it back and out of her face. She couldn’t wait until she no longer needed to make a first impression so that she could return to her normal look of capris and sandals.

Once everyone was settled into the grass or chose to stand around, Kiva began, “For those of you who do not know, I am Professor Kijewski. Most call me Professor K. If you ever need me, my office is near the library, but I'm usually out here with my creatures.” Kiva explained. The school was rather large despite the small class sizes and Kiva was only all too familiar with how difficult it could sometimes be trying to locate someone in a hurry. “Alright, I'm going to explain some of the rules for my class. These are important, so I expect you to adhere to them." Kiva glanced out at the students, her face pleasant, but firm with her words.

"There will be no talking when I give directions. These animals do have the capabilities to be dangerous and I may give you advise on how to avoid getting hurt. If you're talking, well, the consequences are your own. There will be no talking when someone is else is addressing the class, whether that be for asking a question or giving a report." Kiva's gaze landed on a couple of students whispering and a frown appeared on her young face. "I expect everyone to do the work I assign. Especially if you plan on passing any future exams, not excluding C.A.T.S. and R.A.T.S. Aside from all that, you may discard your robes and talk amongst yourselves while in groups." Kiva finally smiled at them. "I'm not an evil teacher. I believe learning should be fun, but in order to learn, you have to listen. So, we'll do lectures in the beginning and then move onto group work so that you can all relax a bit."

Finally deciding it was time to actually get on with the lesson, Kiva clasped her hands together and stood up straighter. “Today we will be studying these,” Kiva opened the carrier and gently pulled out what looked to be a cat, except that it had spotted fur, rather large ears, and a lion’s tail. “Everyone please pull out some parchement in ink so that you may all take some proper notes.” Kiva told her class before continuing on with the lesson.

“This is a Kneazle. Kneazles are very intelligent creatures who can detect suspicious or unsavory persons very well and will react badly to them. Which means, trust a kneazles instincts. However, if a kneazle were to take a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes for an excellent pet.” Kiva placed the kneazle on the ground directly in front of her. “As you can see, a kneazle looks much like a regular house cat, with only a few minor details. Come have a look, feel free to pet her, she’s well-trained. Now, as you examine her, can anyone tell me the differences between a kneazle and a cat?”


OOC: Okay, you all 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 kneazle.
Subthreads:
0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 1 for First and Second Years 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Holly Greer

September 19, 2007 3:05 PM
Holly's schedule of classes had a few strange ones. The idea of "Potions" made her think of that old song about the guy kissing the cop on 34th and Vine. "Charms" was most likely not about the things hanging off her bracelet but what else it could be, she had no idea. Smiling cutely? "Transfiguration" was obviously all magicky. "Defense against the Dark Arts" might be an art class, but that was probably wishful thinking. It sounded too scary to be about art. Astronomy was a science class, though not the one she could have taken back home. History was almost normal.

It was the one called "Care of Magical Creatures" that filled her with the most hope and anticipation. It hadn't yet been a full day since she'd had to say good-bye to Wendy but Holly was already starting to miss the beautiful white equine. She'd been told in no uncertain terms that Sonora had no horses, but maybe . . . maybe the teacher of this class could provide some kind of magical alternative.

She might have been frightened by the dire warning about paying attention, but she knew from caring for Wendy that animals could be particular and you needed to treat them with respect and care. Even when you did everything right, there was still no guarantees that something unrelated might startle her and she could throw you off which was why Holly always always always brought a cell phone whenever she went riding by herself.

She was slightly disappointed, though, when it was just a cat that was brought out a few minutes later. Well, she was until Ms. Kijoy-Kidjou- Ms. K started talking about the furry gal. Holly took down a few sporadic notes but mostly, she was watching the magical kitty. Neezle, looks like a cat, smart, recognizes bad guys, good pet, some differences from a normal cat like:

She stopped there to see what her classmates had to say and whether or not Ms. K agreed. Though when another girl said something about the tail, Holly saw that it did look kinda funny and she almost wrote that without waiting for confirmation. She decided she'd get it down later. For now, though, she put aside her book and pencil and moved closer to the cat.

She wasn't really into either cats or dogs but, between them, she liked cats better. She squeezed between two other students and reached her hand out to gently stroke the oddly patterned fur of the magic cat.

Suddenly curious, she raised her hand and observed, "I thought witches like black cats. This one is spotty."
1 Holly Greer There may yet be hope for the school 123 Holly Greer 0 5


Cecily Smythe

September 24, 2007 1:09 PM
Cecily had already decided that care of magical creatures was going to be her best class, before she had even arrived at Sonora. Her cousin Lucas had told her all about it, and Cecily couldn’t wait to go to class and study a whole load of animals.

The fact that the lesson was held outside only deterred her a little bit – the weather was good so Cecily didn’t mind on this occasion, but if it was raining there was no way she was going to stand outside, even for her best class.

The teacher was okay – she smiled a lot, but some of the stuff she said was a bit creepy, like the bit about exams. Cecily wasn’t going to be taking those exams for years, so she didn’t see the point of mentioning them now. She did say, however, that the students could work without their robes on. Cecily didn’t mind wither way, as she usually wore robes anyway. The uniform robes were designed to go over other clothes, though, so Cecily had gotten a whole new wardrobe before coming to Sonora, so she had something suitable to wear underneath. Cecily took off her robe and carefully laid it flat on the grass. She felt a little more comfortable in her sleeveless yellow summer dress, which was made of silk with a shimmery chiffon overlay.

Eventually the professor got round to introducing the lesson, and it was a kneazle. Cecily barely withheld her squeal of delight – kneazles were the cutest things ever! She had mentioned liking them to her mother once, but was told that they shed all over clothes and furniture, so having one inside the house probably wasn’t the best idea. Cynthia agreed – she didn’t want all her best robes ruined by animal hair, no matter how cute the animal was.

Cecily wasted no time in squeezing her way through the other students (which was fairly easy because she was so small for her age) to get to the kneazle. As she reached out a hand to stroke it, another girl pushed in next to her and said something very odd about witches and black cats. Cecily paused with her hand partway to the animals and gave the other girl an odd look.

“Witches like all sorts of cats,” she said, thinking that that was blatantly obvious. The only reason the girl would have silly ideas about witches would be because she didn’t know about magic – that’s what her Daddy said. “Spotty ones, too,” Cecily said, eventually allowing her fingers to come into contact with the soft fur of the beautiful creature before her. “Of course some witches don’t even like cats,” she added, just in case the other girl was still confused.
0 Cecily Smythe You mean the furry animals? 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5

Holly

September 24, 2007 1:47 PM
One of the people likewise crowded around the kneazle gave Holly a very strange look and proceeded to tell her that witch's tastes in cats varied as much as anybody's. Holly supposed that made sense, but why then were there so many superstitions about black cats, specifically?

Holly petted the soft fur of the feline thoughtfully as she pondered this baffling turn of events. After a few more strokes, she moved away to allow someone else a chance to pet the kneazle, but she stayed close to the girl who had corrected her.

"My parents and grandparents are all muggles," she prefaced her coming question, so that the girl would know she had no magical background, as well as establish that she was a pureblood muggleborn. Chelsea had explained that was very important here.

Holly's brows drew closer together in puzzled confusion as she tried to explain why she had made the comment she had, "In all the stories about witches that muggles tell, they always have a black cat. Why do you suppose that is?" Witches also usually had warts, pointy hats, and broomsticks, but Holly decided not to mention these features as they were obviously false. She supposed the black cat description could be just as wrong, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
1 Holly Yes, of course. 123 Holly 0 5


Cecily

September 27, 2007 4:04 PM
Cecily rather liked stroking the kneazle. Stroking it reminder her of Garnet, her puffskein. It was the same sort of length and texture, not like Dodger’s fur, which was coarser and not so soft. After a short while, Cecily retracted her arm from amongst the crowd, and pulled back a little to talk to the strange girl who thought all cats were black. She said that Muggles always portrayed witches’ cats as being black.

“Why do you suppose that is?” she asked.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Cecily replied. “Muggles have some funny ideas, sometimes,” she mused as an afterthought. This statement was not supposed to be scathing, but merely a reflection of a widespread truth. Take those strange heated metal things Muggles sometimes used to curl their hair. Why put something hot by your head when you could just apply a bit of Silky’s Styling Serum and be done with it?

“I can’t imagine having Muggle relatives,” Cecily said, not nastily, but pensively, because it wasn’t something she’d ever though about before. She was curious how this girl had survived using all those silly Muggle appliances she’d read about in storybooks. “Didn’t you feel terribly out of place living with people who don’t know magic?”


0 Cecily They are a bonus. 0 Cecily 0 5

Holly

October 04, 2007 10:27 AM
Holly had already opened her mouth to say that no, of course she hadn't felt out of place, when she reconsidered her answer. While it was true that a muggle life was all she had known for her first ten years of life, she hadn't quite fit in. She'd been seeing a therapist since she was seven. That was by no means normal.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was always a little different from everybody else, but I just assumed that was because I was stressed. That's what my therapist always told my father, but neither of them knew magic was real. They thought I was imagining things. This past summer was particularly bad. I thought I was going crazy until a witch finally explained what was really happening."

"Though, in all honesty, I feel just as strange here because everything is so very different what I'm used to. They don't even have horses. What kind of self-respecting boarding school doesn't have horses?"
1 Holly Yes indeed 123 Holly 0 5


Cecily

October 11, 2007 5:17 PM
Cecily listened with interest as Holly talked about stress and therapists and going crazy. All in all this girl sounded a little unbalanced, and Cecily wasn’t at all sure she wanted to be making friends with people who were unbalanced. In fact, she was just considering making her excuses and bee-lining in the opposite direction, when the Muggle girl said something to make Cecily stay her heels.

“They don’t even have horses. What kind of self-respecting boarding school doesn’t have horses?”

Cecily paused. She’d had those same thoughts herself about Sonora. Why teach Care of Magical Creatures and not even allow students to bring more than one pet? It was unfair. It wasn’t like horses were difficult to look after, either; if there was only a stable somewhere then Cecily could have brought Heidi with her.

Making her mind up about the Muggle girl in an instant, Cecily smiled at her, and put out her hand for the other girl to take.

“I am Cecily Smythe,” she said, once again neglecting the more traditional yet, to Cecily, unfamiliar introduction. “At home I have a white pony called Heidi, and she was terribly sad when I told her I wouldn’t be able to bring her to school with me.” Having identified a common ground with a potential new friend, Cecily was careful not to veer off topic. “Do you have your own horse?” she asked.
0 Cecily Now about those horses 0 Cecily 0 5

Holly

October 16, 2007 5:13 PM
Holly took the offered hand and shook, smiling as she realized she'd found, if not a kindred spirit, then at least a person who wouldn't think she was crazy whenever she went on about Wendy. She put Cecily's name in her memory alongside Anabel's and Chelsea's based solely on the fact that she had a pony.

"I am Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles," Holly introduced herself, liking high class sound of how Anabel and Chelsea had introduced themselves so much that she'd immediately adopted the formula for herself. It didn't matter in the slightest to her that the magical family of Hollywood Thistles consisted only of herself.

"My horse is a white mare named Wendy. I was on the equestrian team at my previous school and I've won ribbons for both dressage and jumping. Have you done any competitions?"
1 Holly Yes, let us speak of horses 123 Holly 0 5


Cecily

October 21, 2007 2:08 PM
The other girl introduced herself as Holly Thistle, which Cecily thought was a very pretty name indeed. Holly then said that she did have her own horse, and that she was called Wendy. Convinced she had found a friend, Cecily took hold of Holly’s hand and pulled her gently over to where she’d abandoned her book bag and uniform robes earlier. Smoothing out her pale yellow dress, Cecily sat herself neatly down, using her robes as a blanket, and invited Holly to join her.

“No I haven’t done any competitions,” Cecily said, a little sadly, in response to Holly’s question. “Daddy won’t let me enter any competitions. He says that Heidi wouldn’t do very well, but I’m not sure that’s true. She’s quite a small pony, so I can ride her fine,” (Cecily didn’t think she needed to mention that the was small, as it would be obvious to the other girl, as they’d been speaking for several minutes already) “but she’s not very good at jumping. She’s very well behaved, though,” Cecily explained, “and I’m sure we could win dressage ribbons, too, if Daddy would let us.”

Heaving a sigh that spoke of many denied requests, Cecily blinked her brown eyes before continuing in her rapid chatter. “My sister Amelia is supposed to be looking after my Heidi while I’m here,” she said, “but she’s not very good with animals. She’s looking after my other rat, too. I have Ulysses with me, but the mean Headmaster said I could only bring one pet so I had to leave Hercules at home. They’re brothers!” she exclaimed, her voice filled with the anguish the poor separated creatures must be suffering.

0 Cecily What a marvellous topic 0 Cecily 0 5