Professor Donovan Cohen
November 12, 2010 5:16 PM
Logs you really shouldn’t build with (Years 6/7) by Professor Donovan Cohen
Not all change was good, but the most recent twists and turns in Don’s life all seemed to be working out for the best. Up until a few months ago, he had thought his sole calling was to be a traveling Creature Healer, offering help in rural parts of the world to creatures and the people who relied on them in places where such assistance wasn’t easy to get. While he did do a lot of good, he had developed a bad habit of charging little to nothing for the work he provided, and if he wanted to continue pursuing this dream he had to find a way to fund it by getting another job. Upon Once applying for a teaching position at Sonora, Don realized how perfectly timed this opportunity was for him and how well it fit into his plans. During the summer he’d continue to follow through with his first job of being a Creature Healer, and during the year he’d save up money to fund himself by working as teacher. He tried to not work himself up, opting to keep a sound mind in every situation so that he wouldn’t be too high or low when things worked themselves out for better or worse. Of course, he allowed himself to break his own rule when he did a fifteen minute ‘I-got-the-job-yes!’ dance with his sister when he received an owl while eating lunch at her place, but he didn’t think he could be blamed for that slip-up – not really.Now today would actually be his first day teaching, and he felt more at ease than he had when he came here to get a feel for the school. Maybe it was because he was now more familiar with the area, or because it finally hit him that he was actually responsible for students starting with this lesson and he was ready to offer them whatever he could. Whatever the case may be, he was relaxed even when he saw his students start to enter the shed for class, smiling at these faces he hoped he get to know better.
“Hello, everyone,” the extremely buff dark-skinned man calmly greeted once he thought all his students were accounted for. He looked like he belonged in a Muggle work-out video and not in the scruffy robes he had on, but he was starting to get used to wearing them. “My name is Professor Cohen, and I will be the new Care of the Magical Creatures professor at Sonora. Previously I was a traveling Creature Healer, something I still plan on doing throughout the summer breaks. I hear you’ve gone through a few instructors, so I will try to keep from repeating lessons. If I try to teach you something you’ve already learned, don’t hesitate to let me know, I’ve always got a back-up plan.”
“I also hear that you all are supposed to be the advanced class, so I hope you all take this subject very seriously and understand that it’s important to treat all creatures with respect like you would the life of a person.” He nodded resolutely. “With that aside, let’s start out lesson! Everyone follow me.”
The man led them out to another, larger shack he had set-up only for the meantime, undoing the locks and charms he had placed so that no one got in and got themselves in any sort of danger. He took the small group in, telling them to stay away from the murky mass of water on the other end of the shack. It was about the size of a medium-sized pond and had several logs floating in it. “Five of those logs aren’t actually logs,” he explained, keeping an eye on everyone to make sure no one wondered forward while he spoke. “There are five Dugbogs in there, and while they resemble logs they actually have big green eyes, though since they live in marshes it’s hard to notice them in all that dirty water. Dugbogs make excellent swimmers, and have sharp teeth which they like to use on anything from mandrakes to ankles and feet, which is why I don’t recommend blindly walking in the water.”
“I’d like each of you to grab a bucket filled with damp leaves lined up by the door – there should be one per person – and toss out a clump of the in there at the marsh. Though they don’t usually eat herbs, the leaves are from mandrakes so they’ll be curious enough to approach it and try it out. Take note of how fast they are in the water and how they go about eating the leaves. They probably won’t leave the water since they prefer to stay in water, but if they do decide to get out a Stupefy is enough to stop them in their tracks. For homework tonight you’ll have to write a foot-long essay on the creatures, so remember details.” He waved at them to get started and watched them start the lesson, making sure to usher anyone who got too close back, but overall enjoying seeing the students and Dugbogs interact. Yes, this was definitely the good sort of change.
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OOC: Standard posting rules apply, and tag Don if there's any questions or such. Oh, and it'd be awesome if you posted your house name along with your character's in the author space, but surely you all know that ;)
Subthreads: Welcome to Sonora. Don't get comfy. by Cecily Smythe with Professor Cohen
Holly Rating: Oh dear Merlin by Holly Greer, Pecari
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Professor Donovan Cohen
Logs you really shouldn’t build with (Years 6/7)
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Professor Donovan Cohen
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Cecily Smythe
November 21, 2010 2:34 PM
Welcome to Sonora. Don't get comfy. by Cecily Smythe
Midterm already felt like years away. Cecily was filled with a miserable lethargy as she grudgingly made her way to class. The class was Care of Magical Creatures, which presented both a mercy and a headache. It was among Cecily's favorite classes because she liked caring for animals, and because there was often less written work than in the classroom-based subjects. Besides, there would be a new professor today, and generally new staff liked to try hard and make a good first impression. In those respects, this class was tolerable. However, the main downside to every Care of Magical Creatures class was that they were held outside, and that rarely agreed with Cecily, who liked to look neat in any circumstance.As the seventh year approached the usual class location, however, she was ushered into what could only be called a shed. She was less than pleased. In fact she pulled her uniform robes tighter around her as if to protect herself from the unpleasant environment in which she found herself, and wrinkled her pointy little nose in distaste. So far, Mr New Professor, you are not doing very well. Alas, it only got worse. Professor Cohen was scruffy, and spoke with a casual air that Cecily did not find appealing. He then lead them from the shed into a building that Cecily couldn't even describe. Just being in there made her want to vomit. Now she knew how Holly felt during potions classes in their first five years.
Cecily paid attention as Mr Traveling Creature Healer told them about Dugbogs, only so she would be able to relate to her father in detail what trauma she and the other seventh years had to endure from this madman. Didn't he know who he was teaching. It was unlikely that Cecily would ever find herself near a pond or swamp that wasn't well cared for by her paid household staff, as well as the family elves. At least she was competent enough to cast a decent Stupefy if it became necessary, but the mere prospect of this existing as a possibility convinced her that this professor did not have the best interest of his students at heart. He probably loved these hideous creatures more than any human being.
Rather than grabbing a dirty bucket full of fermenting leaves to throw to disgusting creatures in a nasty swamp, Cecily decided to introduce herself to the professor. Thankfully she was in a habit of always looking neat and presentable, so her shoulder-length chestnut brown hair was in a neat French braid, her make-up was minimal but expertly applied, and her tailor-made uniform robes fit smartly on her petite frame. Pushing her way past other students to reach the professor, Cecily greeted him with a tight smile. "Good morning, Professor. I am Cecily Smythe, and I was hoping you could enlighten me on the point of this class." If he was hoping to get an open-armed welcome then he was quite wrong; Sonora had the task of educating witches and wizards from some of the finest families in America. It was only fitting their task was of suitable calibre. Cecily felt, personally, that Mr Cohen wasn't up to scratch.
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Cecily Smythe
Welcome to Sonora. Don't get comfy.
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Cecily Smythe
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Holly Greer, Pecari
November 27, 2010 2:10 PM
Holly Rating: Oh dear Merlin by Holly Greer, Pecari
At first, Holly didn't have too much against the new professor. His robes were below par, but if she was spending all day around animals, she wouldn't neccessarily be wearing her designer best either. (She would, however, be wearing her designer last-season-wear and still look at least a dozen times less scruffy than this guy, but he wasn't bad on the eyes, physically speaking, so she was willing to at least consider forgiving his fashion sense or lack thereof.)His introductory speach wasn't anything unexpected, though she took note of his name and frowned a little at his idea that all creatures - not just the beautiful ones - ought to be treated with the respect she would give another person. After a moment, the frown cleared as she realized she could just give the horrible ones the respect she would give to a horrible person.
The respect she'd give someone like, say, Professor Flatt the Elder. Which is to say, she'd give the thing a wide berth and try not to vomit or faint if it got too close. That was her normal response to the awful ones anyway.
That complication settled, she followed the professor and her classmates into a place that she tentatively identified as a building since it had four walls and a ceiling, but it wasn't a nice place at all and the air was thick with damp swampy stink. In the middle of it was a pond like pool that the gardeners couldn't even keep clear; the water was a dark murky mess.
Before stepping inside, she placed a few charms on her clothing to keep them from becoming saturated with the prevalent ickiness inside. That may still not be enough to save them, but she liked this blouse and would rather not have to destroy it. She could definitely see why the professor had dressed down now. If she had any scruffy clothes, she'd have worn them, too, if she'd known she was going to be going into a place like this.
She raised both of her eyebrows in disbelief as the professor began to describe dugbogs, and the expression only intensified as it became clear he wanted them to handle wet and dirty mandrake leaves to feed them.
Deciding that the best way to handle the situation was to transfigure herself a set of tongs, she took out a pair of pens and used her wand to reshape them. Then, careful not to put herself into direct contact with the wet leaves or the pail, she kept her distance from the water's edge, and used the long handled tongs to transfer the leaves from the bucket into the pond.
The pens would obviously have to be thrown away later, irreparably contaminated as they now were, but they held no sentimental value and she could easily afford to replace them.
Fortunately, watching the dugbogs eat and swim did not require close contact, so she just kept back, keeping a wary on the the beasts, ready to stupify, run, and scream if neccessary. Fainting in this place was something best avoided, so she did take a precautionary sip from her anti-anxiety potion as well.
She stole a few glances over to where Cecily was talking to the professor, too, in case her friend came over and needed to borrow the tongs.
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Holly Greer, Pecari
Holly Rating: Oh dear Merlin
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Holly Greer, Pecari
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Professor Cohen
December 03, 2010 8:22 PM
I’ll just stay on my toes then by Professor Cohen
First day on the job and it was evident that not all his students were exactly pleased with what they were doing. At least, he noticed a few less-than-thrilled expressions lingering on some faces. Were they not used to this sort of thing, he wondered? Or maybe it wasn’t working with the creatures as much as it was working with these particular creatures. Dugbogs really didn’t get all the credit they deserved, what with their awful habit of biting anything that strayed too near and the fact they weren’t the most beautiful things to look at. But still, he had hoped that the students could get into the habit of working with dangerous creatures from a distance and still being able to figure out what they were like. He hoped, as the lesson went on, people would be more at ease with the activity.Don’s internal debate about whether or not he should tweak future lessons to accommodate the classes level of comfort based off of their reaction today was cast aside for a moment when a student approached. She greeted him professionally, and Don smiled down in return to hers. “Good morning. Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked, wondering if she was confused about something or wanted more information before working with the Dugbogs.
“I am Cecily Smythe,” she told him, and he was grateful because the more reminders he had the easier it would be to know which unfamiliar names matched up with which unfamiliar faces, “and I was hoping you could enlighten me on the point of this class."
Don looked down at her and realized how that smile seemed off and her tone didn’t sound happy in the least. She could be frustrated with the lesson, or maybe just having new professor, or any number of reasons. Also since he didn’t know Cecily, or any students for that matter, he couldn’t be sure if she was being completely literal or not. But surely at this point of the year she’d know that this class was about studying more hazardous creatures than they had dealt with before. Not wanting to insult anyone’s intelligence, Don figured she must be aiming to understand the lesson behind the lesson.
“Well, not all creatures are approachable and easy to study up close, whether it’s because they’re dangerous or they shy away from anyone who isn’t their own kind. That’s why it’s important to know how to understand creatures in their natural habitat from afar.” He gestured over to the Dugbogs, taking the opportunity to make sure no students were getting to close. “I used a Dugbog as an example lesson because, since they blend in with the logs, you’d have to pay closer attention to what makes them stand out, meaning you’d probably be focusing a lot more on the features of the creature. And by feeding them, it’s a safe way to view more of them.” He turned back to her and continued, “So, all in all, the point is to learn ways to understand creatures at a distance while also learning about Dugbogs, which are too dangerous to teach to lower levels of this course.” Don thought he had explained it well enough for her to understand where he was coming from, but he would have to wait for her reaction to gauge how successful he was with that endeavor.
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Professor Cohen
I’ll just stay on my toes then
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Professor Cohen
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