Professor R. Dakin
May 20, 2010 11:26 PM
Intermediate (Years 3 & 4) by Professor R. Dakin
Rowan Dakin stood in her shorts and tank top by a lake far into the forest. Though she knew her scars on her arms and legs would be an object of notice she hoped her third and fourth years had enough tact to not stare. She had set up a trail for the students to find her, she had always told them to wear clothes they could swim in the lesson before, and had even put up reminders in all the common rooms so they could not say they had forgotten. This time she was prepared for any students boycotting her lesson, like some of the first and second years had. Once everyone was gathered, she smiled at them. “Ladies and Gents!” She said with a grin. “Today we are diving into the cold water to study some of the most amazing creatures we have ever seen!”She really did believe the animals they were going to study were amazing and hoped the students did to. “But before we dive in we are going to have a quick lesson on the Hippocampus! Now some of you who know the parts of the brain know that the Hippocampus is a large part of your brain. But the Hippocampus we are studying today is actually an animal.” She paused and moved to the chalkboard she had summoned here before the class had arrived. She tapped her wand on the board and a large picture appeared.
“Now as you can see the Hippocampus has the head and forequarters of a horse, and the tail and hindquarters of a giant fish. Some have called them Seahorses but they are called the Hippocampus. They are native to Greece, and generally found in the Mediterranean, though they have been caught off the coast of Scotland.” She rattled off with a smile.
“Now the Hippocampus lays semi-transparent eggs which you can see a baby hippocampus that is known as a Tadfoal.” Once again she tapped the chalkboard and another picture appeared. “Now Hippocampuses can live in salt water or fresh water as long as the water is deep enough. They can live in cold water, but prefer warmer waters. The ones in fresh water eat any plant life out of the lakes, rivers, or ponds they live in. The ones in salt water also enjoy the plant life but love to eat the coral, another reason the Great Barrier reef is disappearing so quickly.” She licked her lips and smiled.
“They live in pods, anywhere between five to fifty, the pod that lives here has twelve full grown, and five immature Hippocampuses. We also have about ten tadfoals at the bottom of the lake. Which you all will be observing under the water. You will be able to touch the Hippocampuses, and some of you if you really bond with the full-grown ones they might even let you ride them. Please do not touch the tadfoal eggs, as the mothers will become agitated. No one is to try to ride the immature Hipposcampuses, any breaking of the rules and you will be serving a months worth of detentions.” Not liking to be one of the stricter Professors, she felt like that, she had to protect the animals she was exposing.
“Now you will all line up single file so I can cast a bubble charm and a warming charm on you so you can breath, and be warm in the water. Do not worry under the water with the bubble charm you can speak to each other. Now I know some of you will want to sit this out but I cannot allow this, anyone who refuses will be sent straight back to your commons with a 5,000-word essay on Hippocampuses, and a weeks worth of detentions. Understood?” She asked with a raised eyebrow before beginning to cast the charms.
OCC: Feel free to explore the lakebed, ride a Hippocampus, or even press your luck by refusing to get into the water. Minimum posting length please, and the longer and more detailed the more points you earn for your house. Also you can write Rowan casting the spells on you, and there’s no way she messed them up!
Subthreads: Having a crisis of identity by <s>Daniel Nash II [Aladren]</s> Nate Bealer
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Professor R. Dakin
Intermediate (Years 3 & 4)
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Professor R. Dakin
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<s>Daniel Nash II [Aladren]</s> Nate Bealer
May 21, 2010 2:21 PM
Having a crisis of identity by <s>Daniel Nash II [Aladren]</s> Nate Bealer
Daniel had been dreading this lesson since he was told to wear clothes suitable for swimming for it. The problem was not that he didn't like swimming or that he couldn't do it. He lived in California and both of his parents had pools and access to private beaches on the Pacific. He could tread water for hours without tiring, nothing beat a refreshing dip after a hard day at the studio, and he looked good in a swimsuit if he did say so himself (the way he figured it, the only reason the network hadn't given him half-naked scenes yet was because he was still underage).The problem was that this was Sonora. At Sonora, he projected a persona that did not throw himself into large bodies of water because that was a decidedly undignified sort of thing to do.
The solution, when it occurred to him about an hour before class, was remarkably simple. He'd done it once already, for the Team Building exercises the year before, though obviously not to as much an extent as he was thinking he'd use today. If his current character couldn't play this part, he'd just change his character.
So he dressed like Nate Bealer for the second time at Sonora. He did his hair like Nate Bealer did it (or, more accurately, like the hair and make-up people did Danny's). He transfigured his bag to look like Nate Bealer's school bag (down to and including the "NATE" written in white thread over the front pocket). He bit at his nails to make them uneven and got some dirt under them so they didn't look manicured anymore. He stared into his mirror and went through his normal pre-filming routine to put himself into the mind-set of Nate Bealer. His posture changed to a more relaxed slouch, and when he spoke, his vocabulary would be smaller and his enunciation wouldn't be as crisp.
For one class period, he wasn't Daniel Nash II, wealthy high-class Aladren who could be easily mistaken for a pureblood. He was Nate Bealer, middle-class normal guy who was obviously born to muggle parents, and Nate liked adventure.
Daniel spared a moment be concerned that the smile and bounce of excited expectation came automatically once he discovered that they'd need to follow a trail to find where the class was being held, but mostly Nate was just thrilled to go exploring in a forest he'd never been through before. After all, Nate didn't have the same kind of mental health fears that Daniel suffered, and he was Nate right now.
So he gripped his wand in case of hidden dangers (Nate had been shot and kidnapped often enough that this seemed only practical) and headed off into the woods with a light heart and bright eyes in spite of (or perhaps because of) the potential unknown risks. Daniel briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to be a Pecari.
He managed to reach the lake without being attacked, abducted, or otherwise assaulted, and took a position toward the back of the group. Nate didn't care for school very much, so he wouldn't go to the front, and Daniel didn't really want to get noticed being someone else. Especially Nate. Daniel Nash the Second was the way he was in large part so he could differentiate himself from Nate Bealer.
Daniel did not take notes as Professor Dakin began her lecture. He hoped he could remember the important parts, and if that didn't work, he could probably borrow Juri, James, or Quentin's notes later. But taking notes was not a Nate thing to do, and if he broke character now, he didn't have a full length mirror to get it back. So he fidgeted in place and played with his wand, twirling it around his fingers, and resisted the inexplicable urge to poke the person standing in front of him.
He barely reacted to the mention of the hippocampus brain part, though he thought he would normally have sat up in attention and regretted that they weren't discussing its effect on memory, stress, epilepsy, and maybe even schizophrenia instead of some creature. As Nate, he was just as glad they were talking about a half-horse half-fish thing, which was way cooler.
At the instruction to do so, Daniel dumped off his bag and peeled off his t-shirt and kicked off his flip-flops, leaving him in a pair of swim trunks, and got into line for his bubble and warming charms without so much as a moment of hesitation. He wasn't quite sure what to do with his wand, so he brought it along, keeping it in hand and hoping he wouldn't drop or lose it.
Once he was cleared to go into the water, he took a running dive and missed the waves of the Pacific that would have changed the angle of the water's surface enough that it wouldn't have been a belly-flop. (It was Daniel who lamented the geometry of a still-water lake; Nate just thought 'ow - I'm usually better at that.')
He swam down into the depths of the lake, cutting through the water with comfortable ease, and was glad that the bubble charm also seemed to make goggles unnecessary. Spotting an adult Hippocampus first, Daniel slowed and approached the large creature cautiously.
"Hey, buddy," Daniel-as-Nate said in a calm tone, reaching out a hand, and hoped the odd resonance of his voice caused by the bubble didn't sound as weird to the half-horse critter as it did to him. "Don't bite. Friends, okay?" The Hippocampus eyed him warily, but nuzzled his nose into Daniel's hand. "That's it. Good boy. You are a boy, yeah?"
He looked over his shoulder and found one of his classmates treading the water nearby. "You think this one's a guy?" he asked curiously, not quite sure how to tell with the hindquarters all fish-like, and even less sure if the other student was close enough to hear him considering the unfamiliar auditory mechanics of water and bubble charms.
Daniel was fairly certain that would not have been the first question on his mind under ordinary circumstances. He was really going to have to look up dissociative disorders again when he got back to the library. But that was a remote consideration, kept to the very back of his mind. Outwardly, Nate's smile and look of curiosity and anticipation never dimmed.
As he stroked a hand through the Hippocampus's mane, his most prominent thought was, 'As far as classes go, this one's awesome.'
Distantly, Daniel was fairly sure he didn't agree with the sentiment.
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<s>Daniel Nash II [Aladren]</s> Nate Bealer
Having a crisis of identity
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<s>Daniel Nash II [Aladren]</s> Nate Bealer
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