Not what I was expecting... on Care of Magical Creatures

Kerry O'Shaunasey

December 03, 2011 12:01 AM

Beginner Care of Magical Creatures Lesson by Kerry O'Shaunasey

Kerry had decided to hold his Beginner’s class out in the clearing as well, though the day wasn’t quite as nice. The reason for this was that there were actual animals involved this time. There were what looked like porcupines hemmed in a makeshift pen. Two were rolling around and making little grunting and yipping noises as they wrestled playfully. The animals were surprisingly large, probably weighing between 30-40 lbs each. Kerry watched them with a grin for a moment. He thought they were pretty adorable.

Kerry was dressed as he always was, muggle jeans and button down shirt, with a black wizards robe worn open over them. He wore study black boots on his feet. They were very likely a muggle brand, as they clearly weren’t dragon skin leather. His hair was worn long and pulled back in a low ponytail. It was outrageously red, a deep color with no suggestion of brown that would have otherwise made it auburn. Despite the intensity of the color, it was clearly natural as the rest of him would have screamed ‘ginger’ even if he had been shave bald. His skin was pale, with a smattering of freckles scattered over his friendly face, and his eyes were a light blue.

He had small weatherproof cushions for his students to sit on while he gave his brief lecture before the practical aspect. He waited for all of his students to arrived, then turned his attention to them, instead of on the porcupine like animals.

“Welcome Care of Magical Creatures. For those of you who are first years, welcome to the magical world. I hope you’re finding it wonderful and exciting. My name is Kerry O’Shaunasey, but please, call me Kerry.” He knew it wasn’t what other professors did, but he had moral issues with the use of titles. “And I’ll call you by your first names.” He smiled. “Now, today, we’re learning about a native North American magical animal, called a Arrowspine. As you can see they’re nearly identical to porcupines. Arrowspines are where the legends of porcupines being able to ‘throw’ their quills comes from. Ordinary porcupines cannot actually throw their quills. The quills pierce the skin only on contact. Arrowspines can literally launch their quills at a foe from a distance of about five feet. Arrowspines are prized for the venom that is contained at the tips of their quills. This venom in low doses causes extreme itching, and in higher doses can act as a paralytic… that means it can paralyze. The effect of the venom lasts about an hour. Its speculated that short duration of the effect is simply to distract or paralyze an attacker while the Arrowspine makes it’s escape.”

“Arrowspines are also more intelligent than porcupines, and can be trained to guard homes, and retrieve. Like porcupines, they love salt which is what occasionally draws them into contact with muggles, as they go onto farms where there is horselicks and the like. They, like many magical animals are capable of speech, usually short phrases they’ve overheard, rather like parrots. There is no evidence that this is actual conversation, more like an echo of something they’ve heard. My mother has one that does a perfect imitation of a goose honking,” He shrugged, it was weird, but he had a muggle friend who had a parakeet that perfectly imitated the sound of her microwave, which was every bit as weird in Kerry’s opinion. “I haven’t heard any of these ones talk yet, but who knows, there’s always a first.”

Kerry went over to the pen of arrowspines, and picked one up rather like one might pick up a rather rotund cat, and settled it against his shoulder like a baby. “Now, I’d like you to work in pairs or small groups, and first I want you each to take a arrowspine. Don’t worry, they can’t hurt you, they’ve been humanely dequilled, and they are enchanted to nutralize any remaining venom resin and soften any remaining barbs. They’re not soft to the touch, like a cat or dog, but they’re no more dangerous, though if you treat them poorly, they may bite or claw, just like a cat or dog. They’re heavy, so if you can’t lift them, I’ve got some salt pellets in this bucket,” he indicated a bucket suspended on a pole so the arrowspines couldn’t immediately access them. “take a couple, and lead it along, it will follow you happily to get the salt pellets, and stay close in hopes of getting more.” Kerry smiled at his students. “Observe them for a while, and I want each of you to draw a picture of you arrowspine with as much detail as you can manage and write down some observations about their behavior. If you need help, just raise your hand.”

With that, he turned them loose to form groups or pairs and pick an arrowspine to observe. The animals were playful and sweet for the most part, though they didn’t put up with too much mistreatment. Kerry wasn’t too worried. He’d handpicked each of these arrowspines, and all of them allowed themselves to be handled, rolled over, and have their feet and paws touched. A few of them even played fetch.

(Site rules apply to posts. If you need Kerry, say so in your tag, happy posting!)

Subthreads:

Not what I was expecting... by Ephanie Lucore, Aladren with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari, Ephanie

Is class over yet? by Attoria Covington, Crotalus with Paul Bennett, Crotalus, Attoria

The difficulties of trying to be a lady.... by Theresa Carey, Pecari with Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus, Theresa

I feel indecisive right now... by Alicia Bauer, Aladren with Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw with Jade Owen

Do they bite? by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus with Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

I prefer my nature this way. by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

0 Kerry O'Shaunasey Beginner Care of Magical Creatures Lesson 0 Kerry O'Shaunasey 1 5

Ephanie Lucore, Aladren

December 04, 2011 8:43 PM

Not what I was expecting... by Ephanie Lucore, Aladren

Care of Magical Creatures was definitely going to be a mixed bag. Ephanie could tell that right away. She took a seat on one of the provided cushions. She fluffed out her hair and straightened her graphic t-shirt. Warily, she looked over to the huge animals that were roaming around in pens. She adored animals, especially cats. She had a gray and white kitten, but these were not kittens. They were Arrowspines and they were dangerous looking. She had read about them in her book, The Forest Hunter., where a wizard uses the Arrowspines to attack others. At first it seems that the wizard, called the Hunter, is evil, but it turns out that he is actually good and the protector of the forest. She quite enjoyed the twist in the story. So many tended to have predictable endings. Boring! She wanted excitement, adventure, anticipation, anything where she felt something. And someday, she would put that into theater.

Her daydreaming was brought to a stop when the professor began talking. His hair was shocking to say the least, but more so was that he wanted them to call him by his first name only. It was also really cool! Ephanie had never called an adult by their first name before. Silently, she allowed the name to come off her lips. Kerry. Kerry. Soon, Kerry was telling them more about the Arrowspines. Oh, that was interesting! She didn’t know that people actually were able to train them. She had thought that it had just been something to make the story creative. She wondered if anyone actually used them and if they did, was the poison always removed? What if they didn’t and someone got really hurt by accident? Or what if the poor creature had its poison removed and couldn’t protect itself? That seemed a little unfair. It was like removing a wizard’s wand. Though, she guessed they could at least bite and claw like the professor said.

It was still neat to be able to study them, however, she had to find a partner first. Turning around, she looked for someone that wasn’t already partnered. Once she made eye contact, she pointed to the person and then to herself. “Partners?” After that had been established, she got up and bounded over to the person. “Great! So, I guess we get to go pick out one of the Arrowspines. Let’s grab some of the salt. I don’t know about you, but I definitely am not going to be able to pick any of them up.” Ephanie was of average height for her age with a thinner frame. Being muscular was an achievement she would never have. Not that she minded. She thought if she continued to stay tiny, she would be in good shape for the arts. After all, how many heavier actors were cast into prince and princess roles? No, being thin meant everything.

Reaching, she took some salt out of the bucket and sprinkled it around, hoping for one the animals would start following. “Where do you want to go? I was thinking maybe over there,” she said, pointing to an area under a flowered tree. It looked like a comfortable place and they could take turns leaning against the tree trunk while doing the assignment.

0 Ephanie Lucore, Aladren Not what I was expecting... 0 Ephanie Lucore, Aladren 0 5

Attoria Covington, Crotalus

December 05, 2011 12:50 AM

Is class over yet? by Attoria Covington, Crotalus

Attoria hated Care of Magical Creatures with a passion. Absolutely hated it. She would like it if it weren’t for the fact that it was outside. Going outdoors meant the possibility of her fair skin becoming burned causing her to look like a lobster. They were supposed to study creatures not look like them. Then, there was the likelihood that her hair or clothing would become messed up. She hated that she had to wear outfits that were appropriate for doing unladylike things. Today she was sporting a pair of khakis and a pink polo. And worse yet, she had to wear tennis shoes! They might have been expensive ones, but they still felt weird on her feet. She much preferred dress shoes. She liked the way they showed off her ankles and her legs. Instead, right now, she felt dressed up like a guy rather than a girl. She had no idea how other girls wore such things every day!

To make matters worse, they were expected to sit on a cushion. Sitting on the ground was like inviting bugs to come bite you. Plus, the parts of her that were not directly on the cushion ran the risk of getting grass stains. Oh, it wasn’t that she was worried about the clothing. Her parents would just buy her whatever she wanted or needed, but it was more about the fact that she didn’t like to get dirty. She didn’t like getting dirty at all. If she touched it, she had to wash her hands at least five times before they felt clean. After this class, she always felt like she needed a shower. She didn’t know how anyone could ever choose to work in this field, but she supposed that it was easier for men than women. Men were supposed to get grime under their fingernails and be sweaty. They were just said to be rough. They were the types that were often depicted in romance novels. However, to be a female of the same variety was said to be many other things and none of them were pleasant. She intended to never be one of those.

Then, came the most unpleasant part of the lessons. They had to deal with frightening animals. She didn’t mind those that were adorable such as a kneazle or a crup, but the things in the pens looked intimidating. She didn’t really want anything to do with them. Unfortunately, she knew she was not going to have a choice. She sighed and attempted to look studious as the new professor began lecture. He was an odd sort of looking fellow with his red hair. She wrinkled her nose. She had never been a fan of red hair. It never seemed to have the same sort of appeal as blonde that could make one seem angelic or brunette that could make one seem rebellious. Both had a certain je ne sais quoi that others just seemed to lack.

Attoria raised an eyebrow when the red head said to call him Kerry. That was preposterous! It was improper to call an elder by anything other than his given title. She had no idea why someone would ever wish to be addressed in such a manner. If she held some sort of title, she would insist that everyone beside those on equal footing address her as such. However, given that she was merely a second year, she had no reason to question such impropriety. Besides, if he insisted to be called such, he was obviously not her equal. However, she would at least listen to what was said since they would be dealing with things that could possibly hurt her, a fact that was confirmed when he said that their quills normally contained poison. She shuddered to think that people actually used the creatures for defensive purposes. She would never want to come across one. Of course, she didn’t have to worry about such things since she never planned to be in a position where such as thing would come to pass.

Sigh. They were expected to interact with them. Hopefully, whomever she partnered would be more willing to do so since she wasn’t. She supposed that she could do the rest of the assignment though. It was just a picture and she was okay at drawing. She could at least do enough by sight. Turning to the nearest person, she asked, “Do you want to be partners? You can pick out whichever Arrowspine you want to.” Maybe that would make the offer seem more enticing.

0 Attoria Covington, Crotalus Is class over yet? 0 Attoria Covington, Crotalus 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

December 05, 2011 2:23 AM

Animals?! Yay! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

Waverly trudged into Care of Magical Creatures class, surprised at the lack of uniformity. Honestly, it was awesome, and she liked the idea of having class outside. She had met Kerry before and liked him a lot. It was just weird calling a teacher by their first name, but she'd get used to it. He knew a lot about magical creatures, that was for sure, and she felt comfortable enough around him to throw questions of all sorts to him. Maybe she could even ask him to tell her more about magical creatures than he had in the library. She didn't know there were so many different creatures and could hardly believe she hadn't seen them before.

Waverly sat down on a cushion happily, and when he started talking, her green eyes shined. The Arrowspines were so cute, but when he said that they were dangerous and poisonness, she knew she probably shouldn't pet them like she would the cats and dogs in her neighborhood. The Arrowspines were definitely creatures she couldn't carry, which would have saddened her if they didn't look so spiky. An Arrowspine was definitely not her ideal pet.

Now they had to split off and draw an Arrowspine. She looked around, and suddenly noticed a girl looking at her. The girl pointed at her, and then herself, and Waverly's face blossomed into a smile. Maybe people weren't as mean as they had first seemed here. Well, not mean, maybe not as cold as they had seemed. The girl came over to her, and Waverly nodded at the girl's statement. "I definitely couldn't carry one either. Good idea." She smiled.

Waverly looked at the tree the girl was pointing at and Waverly smiled, happy with following the girl's suggestions for now. "Yeah! It looks really pretty too." She started walking over there. "I'm Waverly by the way. What's your name?"

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Animals?! Yay! 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

December 06, 2011 1:35 AM

Only in our dreams. by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Paul did not like sitting on the ground. For one thing, there were bugs on the ground, and for another thing, there was dirt on the ground, and that meant having to go change clothes after class so he’d be presentable at all times. Some people had said cleanliness was second only to godliness; it was just possible that Nicole Bennett, Paul’s mother, ranked it second to acting properly in society, but since being clean was part of behaving properly, the two went hand in hand in his mind, really. As lazy as he could sometimes be, he was always lazy in clean, well-fitted, fashionable clothes. He was half-afraid, however superstitious he knew that made him, that his mother would swoop down from the shadows like a vampire armed with a scrubbing brush and a blistering lecture if he was not.

Over the course of a year, though, Paul had grudgingly gotten used to sitting on the ground and having to hurry to change before his next class, because standing the whole way through was definitely not something he was going to do. At least the new guy, Kerry – Paul wondered if he could get away with Ker, but was pretty sure that his mother would come back from her five-year grave to get him if he ever stooped to being even less respectful to an adult, however youngish he looked, than the weird adult ordered him to be – had thought to provide them with cushions. If he planted his shoes firmly against the ground and bent his knees just so, then he was a little uncomfortable, but didn’t really have his clothes touch the ground at all.

Unfortunately, that made it hard to take notes, and he didn’t remember that he couldn’t just steal Lize’s because she was no longer in his class until after the fact, when it was too late to do anything about it. He bit his lip, but then shrugged it off. He’d look it up later or something, and there hadn’t been much to remember anyway.

“I can’t see much different from one to another,” he said with a bit of a smile when Attoria told him he could pick out whichever Arrowspine he wanted, “but I’ll get one.” As much as he didn’t want to go to the effort of standing without his clothes touching the dirt, it would impolite to send a girl to do it. On his feet, he bowed slightly to her, then went to go see if he could see a difference in quilly things that were big and he was apparently supposed to carry as though they were infants, despite, if what he’d observed from seeing his parents and the nanny with Gemma and Leo and Richard was true, the tendency infants had to throw up on your clothes at the worst possible moment.

He wasn’t too sure about letting the thing have a lot of access to the back of his head when he didn’t know it and it didn’t know him, so he held it awkwardly as he returned, below the place on his shoulder which compared to the one Kerry had held it on his. He put it down on the ground between him and Attoria when he got there, holding his breath for a second to hide the effort since she was a girl and he did have some pride, and then sat back down on his cushion and, after examining his shoulder for a moment to make sure it wasn’t too much like a baby and its head for a second to be sure Ker was right about there being no more spines full of deadly poison, patted it on the head. His robes, along with his white shirt and his new vest, all seemed to be intact and in order once he straightened the robes slightly. “Phase one is complete,” he said.

0 Paul Bennett, Crotalus Only in our dreams. 201 Paul Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Theresa Carey, Pecari

December 08, 2011 1:23 AM

The difficulties of trying to be a lady.... by Theresa Carey, Pecari

Theresa gave the cushions on the ground a dubious look before, reluctantly in both a skirt and the presence of people who weren't her brothers and cousins, pushing her hat back further on her head and taking a seat, trying carefully to mind her dress. What she knew about other girls could be summed up quickly, but boys were a different matter, and she knew that the worst thing that could happen to her today would be for things to go wrong with her dress somehow. Just wearing one was enough to make someone seem like a better target for teasing, so not wearing it with as much dignity as Grandmother at least was just asking for it.

Looking around at the boys in the class, and the girls who didn't wear skirts, Theresa felt a stab of envy even beyond the lingering disbelief that there were parents who really allowed their daughters enough leeway that the girls could not only get their hands on unsuitable clothes (easy enough for anyone with brothers, at least in her experience) but were bold enough to wear them out in public. The girls, at least, were being improper, but they all looked to her like they had an easier time with the cushions than she did.

She was distracted from that, though, by the strangeness of the professor and his speech, which she spent the duration of with one eyebrow slightly up, her expression puzzled, but also waiting for the funny part, as though she were listening to Arnold. Welcome to the magical world? Well, where did he think she had been for the past eleven years? True, coming to school was a sort of induction into society outside the home, but four -five, now-siblings, three close first cousins, an endless parade of tutors and business friends of Father's and such, and the corners of Grandmother's parties meant she had hardly been isolated before this. Call him Kerry? She could just imagine how Grandmother and Mother would react to hearing about that. They'd send her to a girl's school in Siberia just to get rid of her, if they could find one, and then marry her off to some old Russian so no one would ever be able to understand a word she said ever again.

Well, maybe it wouldn't be that bad, under the circumstances, but she just didn't think she could quite get her tongue to say a professor's real name. He was a sort of servant, which was why he should at least call her Miss Theresa, but a strange kind she had to defer to in some ways. That being one of them. You learned etiquette from a teacher, who hadn't done his or her job right if you could step out of your place with your other teachers, however hard they might try to be friendly. The last thing she wanted were more remedial etiquette lessons.

To her relief, a solution occurred to her almost immediately: she just wouldn't call him anything at all. Feeling better, she paid attention to the lesson.

She made a bit of a face at the instruction to do a drawing - she was no better at drawing than she was at embroidery, and it was a little silly in lessons when there was already a perfectly good drawing in a book somewhere that she could go look at or trace over - but didn't really find anything else in the lesson to object to. She decided, in all the bustle, to get a partner first and a subject second and found someone.

"Good afternoon," she greeted the person pleasantly. "Would you like to work with me?"

0 Theresa Carey, Pecari The difficulties of trying to be a lady.... 0 Theresa Carey, Pecari 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

December 09, 2011 3:43 PM

The difficulties of being proper... by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

When Cepheus arrived to class, he was slightly appalled at the cushions on the ground. Especially because they looked, well, used and worn. Were they expected to sit on these things? Apparently so, and Cepheus sat down and made himself comfortable. He was dressed in the standard school robes as always with slacks and a morning dress shirt. It was slightly uncomfortable in the heat, but he was getting a little more used to it. His bright blonde hair was combed nicely as always. He had to make sure he looked presentable at all times.

As he listened to his professor speak, he was disliking him a little more. First, he hardly looked fit enough to teach--who wore jeans to class?--and then he wanted to call them by their given names? Family names would do fine, Cepheus thought. Perhaps he'd tell him he liked to be called Princeton. It was the truth. He was proud of his family background and their English roots. He didn't want people to start calling him Cepheus without his permission. He'd call Kerry "Professor" and hope that his Professor extended the same courtesy with his family name.

The Arrowspines were cute enough. He couldn't remember seeing one before, though he was sure he probably had sometime during his tutoring. His dear English tutor had made sure not to leave one thing out of his primary education, as boring as it was. The result was that Cepheus had a lack of interest in all subjects, except for potions. Care of Magical Creatures was one of the subjects he'd been disinterested in, except for that one time the tutor brought in a crup that became the family pet.

Now they had to have partners, and Cepheus had not yet turned his head to look for someone he knew when someone greeted him. She looked respectable and she was dressed nicely, so Cepheus knew he wouldn't have a problem with her. Unless she turned out to be a lazy and unhelpful partner. And anyway, he always got along better with the ladies than blokes.

"Good afternoon," he said, greeting her with a nod. "I'd like working with you very much." He smiled. "Cepheus Princeton, from London, England." If his strong accent didn't give away his origin, then he hoped his popular family name did. Not that many Americans were aware of it at all, but that was hardly his fault. He wasn't going to be in charge of the family for a very long time, if his father and grandfather didn't die of a sudden illness.

"I'll get an Arrowspine and meet you over by that tree over there? You can sit on one of the roots like a stool." He pointed to the tree with red and yellow leaves. It was a large tree, one that he wouldn't have thought would grow anywhere near a desert. He knew how difficult it was to wear a dress, though not from experience. Emma had complained about it a lot now that she had to wear dresses. He smiled at the girl and went to get one. It was a good thing he'd practised a bit of Quidditch, or he wouldn't have been able to carry the heavy creatures at all. As it was, he could hardly carry it the few feet to the clearing, so he put the creature back down and lured it the rest of the way with salt. The thing was friendly enough, but Cepheus was still a bit wary of its quills. He sat down next to the girl and pulled out a pad of parchment and a quill.

"I'm rubbish at drawing, so forgive me if mine looks like two spiky circles," he said, half-joking and half-honest. "If only my tutor had taught art in a more interesting manner." He had no idea how to start drawing an Arrowspine. The creature was crawling around, sniffing at their shoes. "I hope you're better at this than I am."

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus The difficulties of being proper... 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Theresa

December 10, 2011 5:09 PM

I know them well by Theresa

When she met a new person, the first thing Theresa usually found herself looking at was what that person was wearing. With other girls, ‘usually’ was almost ‘always,’ but she noticed boys, too. You could tell a lot about a person by looking at their clothes, as even a cursory examination of her twin cousins in third year would show anyone who looked. Arnold and Arthur looked different enough for anyone to distinguish one from the other, but she imagined it would have been easy enough to tell them apart if they had been identical, just on things like how Arthur would never go around even a bit wrinkled, never mind with his collar loose and no tie on, unless it was an emergency when that was just his brother’s normal way of dressing, at least, as far as she’d been able to see so far, at school.

Looking over the boy in front of her now, Theresa liked what she saw. His clothes were not remarkable, boys didn’t have a lot of choice, but his whole appearance was neat, and the impression this gave her was backed up by the way he replied to her inquiry. She did not know much about London or England except that her very distant ancestors had lived in the latter before Anthony the First moved to France and Anthony II to first Scotland and then America, but it seemed to have produced at least one polite person. She smiled and made a slight curtsy.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she replied formally. “I am Theresa Carey, of the South Carolina Careys.”

She perched on a tree root without thinking much about it, since she did that kind of thing all the time at home and it had been his idea, and got out her writing things while she waited for Mr. Princeton to return with the arrowspine. When she saw him leading it along with salt, she couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, and was still smiling as the pair of them reached her again.

It wasn’t very good, though, to hear that he wasn’t much good at sketching, either. “I had to learn important artists, and time periods,” she said uncertainly. “We were never really taught to draw more than a few things. I did have to learn my stitches, but I’m not very good at those, either.” She didn’t think she knew anyone who could stitch an especially accurate picture of the creature examining her shoes, anyway. She patted the top of its head absently. “I suppose we’ll just have to try our best, and hope he’s…generous when he’s grading.”

0 Theresa I know them well 0 Theresa 0 5

Ephanie

December 10, 2011 10:44 PM

I couldn't imagine life without them. by Ephanie

As she walked, Ephanie sprinkled the salt on the ground to encourage the Arrowspine to follow to where they had agreed to sit. “Waverly. That’s a really cool name. Are you named for someone? Mine is Ephanie. I’m named after my great-grandmother. Though, someday I’m going to have a stage name cause I’m going to be an actress. I already decided that I’m going to go by my middle name, which is Arianna. Actually, I’m going to shorten that to Ari. I haven’t decided if I’m going to continue using my last name or not. Maybe I’ll just go by Ari.”

At this point, Ephanie paused to take a breath. Plopping down on the ground, she petted the Arrowspine. “Hey, do you think we should name him…or her? We could pick a unisex name, one that works for both. Oh, we could just name him Arrow. That’s nice and to the point.” Though, the last part of point was muffled a bit, as she had her face buried near to her bag. She came back out with a notebook. “Do you need any paper? I have plenty.” Ephanie was always willing to share so long as it was something that she wanted to share.

Crossing her legs, she got to work. Though, what she drew ended up looking more like a horrible blob. “Ugh! I’m terrible at this. How is yours coming? Mine just looks like some sort of rock.” Ephanie had many gifts – she was fairly intelligent (she was in Aladren after all), she could dance and sing, and she was a part veela, which meant when she was older, she would be alluring. All of these would help her in the acting industry. However, drawing was not one of her talents. “Do you think if I just drew a stick figure and labeled it I would get credit?” She scratched her strawberry blonde head, as she starred at the picture she had just drawn trying to figure out which part was the top.

0 Ephanie I couldn't imagine life without them. 0 Ephanie 0 5

Attoria

December 10, 2011 11:41 PM

I guess we should make the best of it. by Attoria

Oh, lovely! She had the good fortune to work with Paul Bennett. If anything, he at least acted the part of a gentleman, which she could say that was sorely lacking in the general population. And like her, he couldn’t tell the difference between one Arrowspine and the next. She knew that there were some that would get fairly particular about such matters, because they, for some unfathomable reason, were passionate about creatures. Though, she supposed it wasn’t fair to judge them so harshly. Some animals were cute and some would be nice to have as a pet. However, what they were about to study were not among them. She couldn’t ever imagine having and training one for any purpose. And there were certainly better ways to protect her home than by using some creature that could easily be killed by an intruder. She might not have liked the animals, but she would never want to see them hurt. Yes, beneath the cool exterior, Attoria Covington had a heart.

After Paul was situated and had patted the creature, Attoria took a turn petting it. “I guess it’s not that bad after all. I suppose with Phase One out of the way, we should get to Phase Two, Mr. Bennett.” She was about to reach for her bag when the critter seemed to have the same idea. “Oh, no, don’t do that!” Without thinking about it, she pushed the Arrowspine out of the way. Thankfully, she didn’t get bit or clawed. Either they had a really gentle one or it just liked her for whatever reason. “Okay, you stay here,” she said, as she moved her very expensive lilac bag to a less precarious spot. That settled, she pulled out the parchment paper. The brunette attempted to balance it on her lap while still appearing ladylike. She didn’t think it would do to make Paul think less of her. She already had enough reasons to worry with the secrets regarding Brianna. If anyone ever found out…

Well, she would just be finished. Maybe. She did have her good name to carry her on, but she really didn’t want rumors floating around that she was some sort of liar since she was helping to perpetuate Brianna’s lies. However, if she didn’t, then she wouldn’t be able to be friends with Brianna. Brianna wasn’t from good stock. She was from the working class. The type that people like her looked down on. She liked Brianna. She really did. She had even thought it would be a good idea for the two of them to come here so long ago. Maybe it was. Maybe it helped to keep Brianna safe. The kids seemed to be becoming crueler, which she didn’t really understand. Actually, it sort of worried her, but she also wasn’t going to say anything for fear that she would become just as much of an outcast.

Brushing thoughts of Brianna and her issues aside, Attoria focused on her picture. Her brow furrowed and she bit her lower lip in concentration. After awhile, she looked over at Paul and smiled. “How is your picture coming along? I think mine is all right. I got most of the detail down.” Her picture was actually fairly decent. “I just have to label all the parts, which will probably be harder.” She had no idea beyond the basic parts of head and legs of where things were supposed to go. The parts of the spines were definitely going to be a pain. There were just so many intricacies to them! She had no idea where to begin. And it certainly didn’t help that they had a creature that didn’t want to stay still, as it was making its way to what appeared to be a lovely bunch of flowers. “Oh, no!”

Getting up, she hurried towards the critter. Grabbing some salt, she lured it back. “Okay, let’s each keep some so this little fellow stays with us.” With this, she offered some to Paul. “I don’t know about you, but I will be glad when I can drop this class. Animals are nice and all, but they’re not my cup of tea.”

0 Attoria I guess we should make the best of it. 0 Attoria 0 5

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

December 12, 2011 7:36 PM

I feel indecisive right now... by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Theresa Carey, Alicia noted dispassionately as she settled herself onto a cushion with a quick smile at nothing in particular which felt necessary, was wearing a hat again. Alicia was going to have to keep an eye on that. If she started a trend, became the first person in their year to start one, then that could destroy the position that Alicia was working to develop in the first year class. And Alicia did not want that to happen.

If Theresa started a trend, then Alicia would have to start a better one, and who could tell what people were going to take to? She never would have guessed that there might be a trend for very young, informal, jeans-wearing teachers, but first there had been Anne at home and now there was Kerry here at Sonora. She wondered if having not so good hair was part of the trend, too; Anne’s was too dark, and a lot of the time she didn’t do anything with it, and this guy’s was both all long when Alicia didn’t think that looked nice on men and was a color that was either a bad dye job or evidence that he needed to get to the salon and get one right away.

She had never seen a porcupine outside of maybe one cartoony drawing in a board book when she was very small and had never heard any legends about them throwing their quills, so that part of the lecture didn’t help her, but she looked at it with interest at the mention of it parroting back what it heard. That was something she’d read about in a few books, but she’d never seen anything do it in real life except people. She wondered if maybe it would talk for her.

Wondering about that, though, was put aside in favor of wondering about whether ‘each’ of them meant each group or each individual student. Touching or leading the arrowspine wasn’t going to bother her on its own, she was as indifferent to that as she was to touching the potions ingredients, but what might other people think about it? That was the same problem she had with calling the professor Kerry; it was one thing with Anne, who was barely out of college – had been in it when she became Alicia’s tutor, in fact – and was her uncle’s childhood friend, for goodness’ sake, and was only a tutor because of that, but he was an official professor, so she didn’t know what her peers might think if she used the informal address here. Just as she didn’t know what they’d think if she had no problem interacting with the creatures, since she’d observed that girls were supposed to be very squeamish. The lack of that expectation was one of the few things she could see that might have been good about being a boy.

Just as she was starting to feel a little uneasy, though, a thought came to her. Making the conundrum work in her favor wasn’t impossible. She’d ask one of her classmates, and then she’d respond to their opinion the way they seemed to want her to, but be careful not to seem too enthusiastic about anything, in case she was with a strange person and everyone else was still watching her. Then, if she found out they were strange, she could say something about how she’d been humoring them later. That was a brilliant plan, and she didn’t see how it could go wrong. With a moderate smile, concentrating on the fact she was uncertain, she turned to one of her classmates.

“Do you think we’re each supposed to get one, or one for each group?” she asked, looking at the arrowspines for a moment before looking back to the person she had selected. “I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t listening closely enough – “ embarrassment, she was embarrassed, just a little, in a laughing way – “but I didn’t think – he was really clear about that.” She had just caught herself saying ‘professor,’ which annoyed her. What if they had a strong preference for calling him one thing or another, and she got it wrong? She had to be better than that, or she'd get nowhere in life. A girl who couldn't always watch her tongue at every moment never would, Gramma Alma said.

16 Alicia Bauer, Aladren I feel indecisive right now... 210 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 0 5

Cepheus

December 12, 2011 7:44 PM

As do I. Practising it is difficult in itself. by Cepheus

Cepheus was glad that his assumption of her blood status had been correct. He didn't know where South Carolina was, nor whom the Careys were, but from her appearance, they were prestigious enough to be noted. Father would be proud. Once he had adjusted himself beside Carey, he began to draw, unsure of how to begin still. Carey pat the Arrowspine, and Cepheus smirked at her remark.

"Yes, let's hope so. Otherwise I'm going to have to do some real sucking up to the teacher to improve my grade. And I most certainly don't want to waste my time doing so." Cepheus frowned at the two circles he'd drawn, and crumpled up the parchment, the ink staining his hands. "Blast," he muttered, and dropped the parchment at his side. The Arrowspine was quick to investigate it. "This is more difficult than I thought," he admitted. He quickly began to draw again, this time succeeding in getting the body shape. The ears looked horrid, and the eyes were off-centre. Cepheus almost groaned.

"Horrid, my drawings are," said Cepheus. "Perhaps we can draw it together? As a sort of add-on game. See if we can draw it better together than apart." He and his cousins had done drawings like that before, though most of them turned out to be monstrous. Part of the reason was because they weren't drawing anything in particular. Now, their grade depended on their artistry.

"We could do it twice, one for each of us." He didn't know if the professor would mind, really, as long as there were two drawings between them. And besides, they were working as partners anyhow. Cepheus brought out a fresh sheet of parchment and said, "I'll go first." He drew the head and made sure to make the eyes better as well as the spikes surrounding on its head. It still looked like it had spiky hair. That couldn't be helped, he supposed. "Want to have a go at it?" he asked, holding out the parchment for her.

0 Cepheus As do I. Practising it is difficult in itself. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Waverly

December 13, 2011 9:51 PM

Me neither! by Waverly

Waverly smiled. "You're going to be an actress? That's really cool! Arianna is pretty, but Ephanie is too. My mom named me after a tree." She laughed. Waverly loved telling this story, even if it was only funny to her. "My mom went to Canada and saw this really cool tree called a quaking aspen, and she liked it and when she found out that the name 'Waverly' meant that, she had to name me. It's silly, isn't it?" She pulled out a notebook. "She tries to convince me that the name's from her birthplace in Illinois, but my dad and I know she loves the tree more." Waverly laughed. "I wish I was named after somebody important like a great-grandmother. That's cool!"

"Yeah, we should name...her! I like Arrow." She smiled and pet the Arrowspine. It was strange petting such a strange-looking creature that had poisonous spikes, but it seemed nice enough. She just had to keep from getting in its way. "I've got a notebook," she said, showing Ephanie the red cover. "Thanks, though!"

Waverly began drawing the Arrowspine. Her mom's artistic abilities had, thankfully, been passed onto her, and her Arrowspine turned out more like a cartoon than anything, but an Arrowspine nonetheless. She was having a little trouble with the body, though, and proportioning it right. "Mine's okay," she admitted, showing her picture to Ephanie. She laughed. "You could try a stick figure Arrow. Mine doesn't look anything like him anyway." She smiled. She had an urge to feed Arrow, he/she being so cute and all, and so she jumped up to her feet. "I'm going to get some more salt. I'll be right back!" She rushed over and grabbed a handful, and came back.

Arrow licked her hand excitedly when she held it out full of the white crystals, and she giggled. "Break time for me," she said. It tickled when he licked her hand. "He's so cute! I want to keep him." Waverly loved animals of all kinds, especially those in fairy tales which Kerry had told her were real. She'd never been able to keep a pet at home because her mom was a baker and Mom didn't like animals around lest they get a hair or something into the batter. But whatever. It looked like she was going to have a lot of time with these magical creatures. "Do you have any pets at home?" she asked.

0 Waverly Me neither! 0 Waverly 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

December 14, 2011 1:08 AM

I can be decisive enough for the both of us by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

The weather had begun to turn more towards winter, something that wasn’t too terrible in the desert but it did put a chill in the air. With that in mind Kitty tugged a warm woolly violet sweater on before Care of Magical Creatures class seems it was outside most days. Soon, I’ll be in the higher years and we’ll get to see the more dangerous creatures Kitty thought as she skipped out the doors. She was glad for the sweater when a cold breeze danced though her long black curls.

Humming happily Kitty made her way to the clearing. She plopped down on one of the cushions and crossed her legs to get more comfortable, glad that she hadn’t worn a dress or skirt today. Usually Kitty wore jeans anyway on the days she had CoMC class. Dresses and skirts were fun, but not really practical when chasing animals around. Curious blue eyes landed on the new professor, she supposed that seems the old one was now the principle it made sense that they’d hire someone new.

He looked pretty friendly, and Kitty thought his hair was quite bright and lent itself to that image. A grin tugged at her lips when he invited them to call him Kerry, it always seemed like the best teachers did that and Kitty couldn’t wait to see how he ran his classes. As he lectured Kitty turned her attention to the large creatures in the pen. They did look a lot like really big porcupines and though Kitty had only seen them in zoos, one of her friends had a pet hedgehog that was actually rather friendly.

Maybe when I grow up I’ll have one of those for a pet Kitty mused as the professor talked about what good pets they made. The fact that she wasn’t allowed to have pets at home made Kitty long for the day when she could have her own home and fill it full of pets. Not that her dad would ever be able to come over, but she’d still be able to visit them and that would just be good enough.

Kerry invited them to interact with the Arrowspines and Kitty stood up, she’d taken a step forward when the girl next to her spoke. “Usually it is one animal per pair, but last term we had a different teacher so Kerry might be different but we can start with one and if we’re doing it wrong I’m sure he’ll tell us.” Kitty chirped helpfully. Her fingers itched to pick up one of the large friendly animals and she gave the other girl a bright smile. “Do you want to work together? Oh I’m Kitty by the way.” Kitty asked, and introduced herself as well seems the other girl was unfamiliar to her.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren I can be decisive enough for the both of us 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Paul

December 15, 2011 9:25 PM

Only sensible thing to do, really by Paul

Paul had to bite his tongue not to laugh at Attoria talking to the arrowspine like it could understand. It helped, though, when he thought to wonder if maybe it could. The professor had made it sound like it was more like on a jarvey level of intelligence, not really capable of getting what they were saying and carrying on a conversation, but hey, who knew. Maybe they had the one mutant one that was almost smart and could at least understand what Attoria was saying to it. It didn’t object to her pushing it away, anyway, and he thought cats would have clawed at an unfamiliar person who did that.

Thought, though, not knew. He didn’t know much about animals. Mother didn’t permit them, and while they spent ample time around their extended cousins because Great-Grandfather felt this was important for building up their unity as they became one of the great families, that wasn’t the same as living with something enough to know its ways. Plus, they went to see their cousins, not their cousins’ pets, and he generally got pulled outside to play Quidditch, or go on a picnic, or whatever whoever seized control for the afternoon wanted to do. He didn’t spent too much time lolling around petting the cat, though he did sometimes like to hide out in the library with Fluffy at Grandfather’s.

They had spent a pretty good week at Grandfather’s, he thought as he began to sketch, right before school started, really good. Uncle Matthias had been there, too, with his people, and Mother had been in a good mood and Grandmother had been a perfect hostess – as always – and everyone had left after having a good time, he thought, with plans for a slightly bigger thing at Christmas. Aunt Katherine was supposed to come down without her lady friend, if she felt up to it, it would be good to see her again. She’d been crazy when he first started spending a lot of time around her, but she’d gotten better just before she moved to Vancouver with the lady friend, and they’d gotten along pretty well. Aunt Katherine was cool when she was well; she’d traveled all around the world with Uncle Vic before he went even crazier than she had, and she had lots of stories. Paul knew he would never be an ambassador like Uncle Vic had been, he just didn’t have the motivation, but he did like to hear her stories, and he could see himself being the sort of pointless rich boy who traveled for a while after school.

“That’s really nice,” he said when Attoria showed him her sketch, looking it over. He wasn’t much of an artist, of any kind, but he knew what looked good and what didn’t, or at least what he thought about that. “Mine’s…there.” It wasn’t as good as hers, but he though the arrowspine was clearly recognizable, along with labels of things like “head” and “nose” and “eye” and “leg” and “foot” and “tail.” He took pride in having neat handwriting, just because of the way Mother muttered about how men never did.

He accepted the salt when she offered it to him, making sure to hold it at a safe distance from his trousers. They were, after all, new. “Mine, either,” he admitted when Attoria said animals weren’t her cup of tea. “It’s sort of interesting, because we don’t even have a cat at home, but I don’t think I’m going to take any RATS in it.”

Perhaps, still in the beginner’s class, it was a little early to make decisions like that, but Paul knew his parents would want a firm answer on what he thought he was best suited for before he even got to his CATS, and he was going to be in Intermediate classes next year. Next year was a lot closer to now than last year had been, in at least one way, anyway. Whatever it was he took his RATS in was what his parents, assisted by Great-Grandfather, would use to decide his whole future. There wasn’t really anything he could think of that he’d like to do that would involve a lot of knowledge of Care of Magical Creatures.

Admittedly, the only thing he really wanted to do was as little as possible, but the family was going to insist on some kind of career. He knew this. His family was still only to the place of letting their wives be idle rich, and even they had to be planning parties all the time and thinking of the family’s interests. Guys had to expand the family’s influence in other ways, as well as make it more money. Whatever he did, though, he wanted it to be indoors, which wasn’t this class.

0 Paul Only sensible thing to do, really 0 Paul 0 5

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

December 15, 2011 10:37 PM

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Before he opened the door to leave the school Angel fished a small thumb length vial from his pocket and drank the clear potion down. The bitter taste was more intense than the nutrient potions due to the condensed nature of the sun protection potion. A tingling sensation washed over his deathly pale skin causing the young albino to shutter at the uncomfortable feeling. Once it died away Angel slipped on the nearly black glasses to protect his sensitive eyes before walking soundlessly out the door.

A cold wind danced around him as he walked, causing Angel to shiver and wish he’d worn his heavy cloak. His lack of body fat made him more susceptible to the cold than other students. Tucking his hands into the large sleeves of his robe Angel quickened his pace so that he wouldn’t be late to class. The professor had just begun speaking when Angel settled on one of the open cushions. His bare feet were curled up under him to warm them up after the walk and Angel focused his crimson gaze on the animals instead of the professor.

Angel glanced at the man though his ash colored lashes when they were invited to call him by his given name without an honorific. Even Lady Cynthia insisted he use Lady, so having someone in authority tell them to call him by his first name alone was different. Different…but maybe not in a bad way. While Kerry spoke Angel watched and wondered why he was different.

The smallest of smiles flitted across Angel’s soft pink lips when the assignment was given. While wand work came easily to him this would be the first sort of written assignment he would do exceptionally on. Drawing came as easily to the albino as spells did, but it had been so long ago when he’d first stumbled upon the trunk that held art supplies in that old house that he no longer remembered how shaky those first lines had been, how unsure. Now the lines flowed as easily as his blood though his veins, seems drawing had taken up a considerable amount of his first nine years of life.

Slowly Angel stood up with the rest of the students. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle the large creatures and glanced around to find someone to work with.

0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw ... 0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw 0 5

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

December 15, 2011 11:49 PM

Do they bite? by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Animals, aside from the birds of prey his family used to hunt with, were not Gareth’s favorite things. The only house pet they had was the demonic little half Kneazle his sister insisted followed her home one day. That was one of those moments in life when Gareth realized that being the youngest and the only female had advantages he would never enjoy. Mother, who had rejected any animal the boys had ever turned up with (including a full blooded Kneazle once) had cooed over the tiny kit and let her keep it.

That tiny cat had turned out to be more destructive that a full grown Hippogriff and it was clever enough to never lay fang or claw on anything of Mother’s but the brothers belongings were fair game. Gareth had lost count of the number of robes, boots, and bed linens that evil creature had destroyed and still mother let it stay in the house. Gareth was slightly terrified about what would be left of his room when he returned.

Gareth sat down on one of the small cushions and gave the creatures in the cage a curious look. They didn’t appear to be feline based, which gave Gareth hope. It was probably silly to allow one creature to put him off the entire species but he really couldn’t change how he felt about it. The professor was more relaxed than Gareth was accustomed to, as his tutors were usually far more serious. A glance at the muggle influenced attire made Gareth wonder briefly if the man was muggleborn. The last name wasn’t familiar and the lack of full introduction or branch designation when coupled with being told to address him by his first name made it seem more likely.

Gareth wasn’t particularly bothered by blood status but it was still a bit odd to think about a muggleborn being his professor. Dismissing the thought Gareth stood up and approached someone who didn’t look too worried, wanting his partner to interact with the animal first so that he could see how it behaved before attempting it himself.

0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus Do they bite? 0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus 0 5

Alicia

December 16, 2011 9:43 PM

Um...no, I think I'm feeling better now. by Alicia

At first, Alicia just noticed that Kitty didn’t seem to have a problem with calling the professor by his first name, which meant that for this class, anyway, Alicia would be calling him that, too. That was what she was really after more than actual knowledge about what they were supposed to do with the creature, and it was a little safer to have this conversation with a second year than another first year, at least at first, because they were less relevant to her. Then, though, she was completely distracted by the other girl introducing herself, as though they hadn’t met.

“I know,” Alicia said a little flatly, realizing she had done that but making no effort to correct it, though she did blink rather than just stare blankly at the other girl, since that might be construed all wrong. She’d realized at the Feast that this girl wasn’t really her kind of person, but this was…. “We met at the Opening Feast. Remember? I’m Alicia Bauer.”

She noticed her arms had crossed defensively at her waist and she quickly did correct that, putting them back in their proper places by her sides and trying to shut down the paranoid idea that it was possible that she really was that forgettable and everyone she thought did like her and was with her outside of her own dorm room wouldn’t even remember who she was next week. And, all other concerns set aside for a hypothetical second, after even just all the time she’d spent on each person she worked with, she found the thought of that even less palatable than the idea of Theresa Carey setting a trend with her stupid hats before Alicia could think of one and so becoming, in at least one area, the leader of the year.

When she did take everything else into consideration, which she couldn’t help but do, the idea of being unimportant was enough to make her almost feel sick, so she refused to even admit to the possibility. This whole school was hers for the taking, and there was nothing whatsoever that Kitty McLevy could do about that, even if she did have the wrong idea that Alicia was just some random first year from a group of them right now.

16 Alicia Um...no, I think I'm feeling better now. 210 Alicia 0 5

Jade Owen

December 21, 2011 10:43 AM

I bet I know your next subject heading by Jade Owen

There was absolutely nothing about Sonora that Jade had been looking forward to as much as Care of magical Creatures classes. She didn't really like the chickens - birds were just so stupid - but she had cats and dogs and kneazles and crups and puffskins and caterpillars and newts at home, and she wanted to learn as much about animals as she could. Plus the classes were held outside, and that was better than sitting in a stuffy old classroom.

Their professor for this subject was nice, too - he wanted to be called by his first name, and Jade had no objections. She was much less interested in the professor, however, when she saw the creatures he'd brought along to class. Jade had to take his word that the arrowspines looked identical to porcupines, because she'd never seen a porcupine before, except in cartoon pictures. It didn't occur to the first year to take notes as she listened to the professor's introduction. She thought that the arrowspines sounded like they would make wonderful pets - much better than guard dogs, if they could project their spines up to five feet. Admittedly, she wouldn't want to cuddle one with venom-y spines, though.

The assignment in itself couldn't have pleased Jade more. There seemed to be no reading or writing involved, and she was being given permission to play witht he creatures, and they had to make detailed sketches. jade liked to draw; she thought she was pretty good at it, too. She was just as good as Josephine and James, at any rate, and they were older. Maybe she would let Kerry be her favorite professor, and she could impress him with her handling of all the animals, and her exceptional drawings.

Standing up, Jade acknowledged she would have to work with a partner simply because there weren't enough animals to go round for everyone to take one each. She looked at her classmates for an unobjectionable partner, and she saw Dexter looking a little lost not so far away. From when they'd met before, Jade suspected he wasn't very good at reading, but as that really didn't matter for this class, she was very happy to work with him.

"You can work with me, Dexter," she said, patting him on the arm as she passed him to get to the arrowspine enclosure. She took a liking to one of the creatures who was rolling around on his back. Laughing a little, Jade nudged him onto his tummy before picking him up as she'd seen the professor too. he was a heavy lump, but she was no stranger to picking up household pets, and she managed to haul him safely to where she'd left Dexter. "Do you think we should name him?" Jade asked, leaning back a little to cope with the weight of the creature she held against her chest.

0 Jade Owen I bet I know your next subject heading 221 Jade Owen 0 5

Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

December 21, 2011 3:35 PM

I hope not by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

Alexandra looked at the cushions on the ground. Then she looked at her deep purple skirt. Then she looked back at the cushions, and considered just standing, but finally concluded that either they must be better to sit on than they look, because no one was vain as Theresa would risk her dress like that, especially since she could hardly look at a pretty dress on another girl without looking like she wanted to devour it. Plus, Alex hated standing up for long periods of time, a smile frozen on her face despite knowing how smiling emphasized the narrowness of her face and the size of her nose, and was not keen to repeat a party scene in a class which couldn’t have been further from one.

So she sat down on a cushion, just hoping the elves here would be good enough to get the dirt out, and raised an eyebrow as the professor told them to use his given name. She could understand him maybe using theirs – here, he was the source of authority, the one with all the power, all the control over their lives, Grandfather of an itty-bitty kingdom all his own – but them using his? She had never heard of such thing, she had been brought up in a strict, formal style, where her tutors were given full authority for the duration of the lesson. She never would have dreamed of using someone’s given name, of being anything less than as respectful, at the least, as she was of her father’s maiden aunt. She had been told that she did not need to offer a slight curtsy to her professors here at greeting and parting, since that would make some of the other students think she was strange, but other than that, she had to be at least as polite as she would be to Aunt Devereux. She wasn’t sure what to do with a professor who was breaking the bargain.

She lifted a shoulder in resignation and went back to a bland social smile for his benefit. She’d figure out something.

Alex took a few notes over the lesson, then stood up, looking toward the arrowspines with her usual near lack of expression, then went and got some salt to lead one along after her. She kept her eyes on it as it followed her, only glancing up, quickly, to see where she was going and then away when she noticed she was standing near another of the Crotalus first years – Gareth, she thought she’d heard him called. Gareth Whitebriar. She gave him a tiny smile and tiny curtsy of acknowledgment. “Good day, Mr. Whitebriar,” she said, the way she had been taught. She straightened, still holding the salt where the arrowspine could see it clearly, and brushed her straight brown hair back where it had fallen forward on her face as she advanced with her shoulders stooped. They were aching a little from it. “Do you care to observe this arrowspine with me?”

0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus I hope not 0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus 0 5

Theresa

December 21, 2011 3:39 PM

We'll learn it all someday, I suppose by Theresa

Theresa smiled at the mention of sucking up to the teacher to get a better grade if he was not inclined to forgive their lack of artistic skills. And here she had thought, after listening to her cousins and adults and anyone she could, really, that none of the lady skills Mother and the other women wanted her to learn would ever be of any use. Even having some experience with painting china, as Mother did, would have been helpful with this.

“I’d rather not have to bother, either,” she said, not thinking it was terribly unusual to speak of such things between themselves. She and her brothers and cousins frequently discussed how best to handle various tutors, how to handle adults in general, and aside from that one party where she’d met Mr. Pierce, they were all the society her own age she’d ever had. Children had to stick together, or else adults would run them over. Always. “So here’s hoping for the best.”

She was familiar enough with the idea of the outside world, though, to not ask what she wanted to, which was whether or not he had ever been in a big group like this, if he knew anything about how to even get an adult’s attention in all of this. How on earth the teacher was ever to figure out who they were for them to even be able to suck up to him if they wanted to.

She had, after all, been in a large group before. At the Reunion. Where no one had a clue who she was. There were so many people, most of them from Virginia, and while she was theoretically at least somewhat important because she was the great-great-granddaughter of Anthony IV, in actuality she had been a ten-year-old girl and the daughter of a second son, both of which combined meant that most of the adults not only did not know who she was, but that they did not care, either.

And for the first time in her life, she had been…free, almost. She had been surrounded by other people constantly, but there had been a complete absence of adults paying attention to them. Maybe everyone had assumed someone else was doing it, or maybe they just hadn’t cared, there, surrounded entirely by their own family and with nothing to fear – well, at least until the day the Aurors showed up, and Thomas did not come to breakfast, and Mother and Father and Aunt Lorraine had kept them all close until the danger, whatever it had been, was past. But that was all in the past now. There were adults here, paid to watch over them, if still not quite so bad as at home generally.

Unfortunately for him, his drawing really wasn’t very good. Hers didn’t look quite so bad – the head she had would do, if she wasn’t too concerned about it looking just exactly true to life; it was close enough – but she was going slowly, as she usually did when forced to draw things; she guessed it was just having to see so many sketches of Brandon and Diana’s that made Cepheus look like the greatest artist to ever live. “All right,” she said, when he suggested they share the work. “I only have a head, anyway.”

He drew the head on his, and then she took it and giggled at the impression of spiky hair on the arrowspine’s head. “All right,” she said again. “I’ll try to make a body.”

She drew carefully again, but not quite as carefully as she had before, not wanting to take up too much time when she was being watched and someone else was waiting for her to finish. She stopped in mid-pen stroke as an idea hit her and she proffered her own drawing of the head. “Do you want to work on this one, while I do this body?” she offered. She knew she’d hate to be sitting there, looking at her shoes and trying not to fidget and feeling like she should be doing something but not having anything to do. She hated it more than anything where there was nothing to do.

0 Theresa We'll learn it all someday, I suppose 0 Theresa 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

December 27, 2011 1:07 PM

I prefer my nature this way. by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

It wasn’t, Mellie thought as she found a cushion and sat on it without so much as a first thought for her overalls, the greatest day ever to be outside, but it wasn’t the worst, either. At least, if someone didn’t mind being outside, which she didn’t. She usually liked being outdoors a lot, and today wasn’t that much of an exception. It beat sitting in a desk hour after hour, squinting at her books and willing her stubborn wand to do things it didn’t really want to do and sometimes getting a headache from sheer lack of understanding what was going on.

Her thoughts, though, weren’t stuck on the weather for long, much less preferences of educational location. She was more interested in what the weirdly kind of cute things in the pen were, and what they were going to be doing with them. They had a new professor, so she couldn’t be sure what would happen; it was possible that this was one of those lessons about how cute things could seriously kill them, or something like that. She and her classmates, anyway, were in second year, which could mean they would be allowed to maybe interact a bit with more dangerous stuff while the first years had to watch. Admittedly, she didn’t remember anything like that happening last year, but then, she hadn’t really paid much attention to instructions that weren’t hers last year. And didn’t really expect to this year.

Luckily, she thought, it wasn’t one of those ‘the world is terrible’ lessons. Those were the thing she didn’t like about Defense. A lot of the material was interesting, and she had even heard of some of it before between Mom and Dad both working in the field, sort of, if not on the high level of an Auror, but the class was often scary. Mellie knew she wasn’t likely to be like her parents and go into law enforcement, and knew that not many people in her classes would, so why did they need five years of lessons? Her parents had never talked about the world being so dangerous as all that, but then…well, then she was back to them not exactly being Aurors. Mom had ended up in the hospital once, and that had been scary, but she’d been there a day and back at work two days after that.

But this wasn’t going to be like that. They were playing with things that really weren’t more of a danger than a cat. Admittedly, it might be more of a danger in the world, where it wouldn’t have been de-quilled and anti-venomed, but that wasn’t what Mellie was dealing with, and since she was from the magical community in Illinois, one of the biggest in the country, she wasn’t likely to ever see much of anything in the wild, anyway.

She started to just go enthusiastically for one of the arrowspines, but then stopped short, remembering the need for a partner. “Hi,” she said brightly to the first person who caught her eye. “Want to share an arrowspine with me?”

16 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari I prefer my nature this way. 206 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari 0 5

Cepheus

December 27, 2011 11:31 PM

I suppose I should hope so. by Cepheus

Cepheus was glad that she had warmed up to his idea, and handed his sad drawing over to her. He was a little put out by her giggling, but even he had to admit that it did look slightly ridiculous. As she began to draw the body, he fidgeted a bit, wanting to walk around or something. He looked at the Arrowspine and touched its forehead--or at least where he thought its forehead ought to be--and the Arrowspine made a little sound. Unsure if that was a good sound or not, he pulled his hand back, content to just look aimlessly at the sky and prepare for boredom.

Then Theresa looked over and told him to draw the body on her attempt, which was far better than his. He nodded. "Sure. It'll give me something to do. Thank you." He didn't want his artistic skills to terrorise her art, but it seemed like he had no choice. Either boredom or this. Either way, they were in this drawing thing together. He was plain rubbish at this, that was for sure.

"I thought this was a magical creatures class, not an art class," he muttered under his breath, and began to draw an oval-shaped body that attached to the head. He was satisfied with the shape, but it was getting the spikes to look natural on the thing that took a bit more effort. Stubbornly making, or trying to make, every spike perfect was difficult, and halfway he decided to just make careless pen strokes. The end product was a much better looking Arrowspine body than anticipated.

Cepheus had to be a little proud of this, though he didn't want to admit it yet. He still had the white underbelly to draw. It was a little shaky, but done, and he smiled at it. Overall, this one was a much better version of his previous attempt. And when he looked at the Arrowspine, his face darkened. The creature he had envisioned had been much fatter than this Arrowspine they had, and not nearly as many quills. It looked comical, and Cepheus decided he had been drawing a cartoon all along.

He looked over at Theresa to see if she was finished, and waited for her to look back at him before speaking up. "I'm all finished with the body on this one. Pathetic little tail and all. Turned out like a cartoon more than a portrait, but that's all there to there." He smiled and handed it over to her for inspection. "I'm rather proud of it as it is. Should we colour it red for our professor?" He smirked, then looked at her drawing. "How'd you do?"

0 Cepheus I suppose I should hope so. 0 Cepheus 0 5