Professor Tallec
June 27, 2015 6:35 AM
Time to spread your wings! [Beginner Lesson] by Professor Tallec
Richard was in a little bit of a daze as he sipped at his teacup. Ever since Pye borrowed his Kneazle, Cindy, for a lesson, Richard realized that Alfie Pye was exactly the type of friend he had been seeking. Dates were fun, but sometimes he just wished he had a buddy to grab a drink with. After tracking down the illusive Pye, Richard had finally managed to get him to agree to get a drink with him…sometime… when they both weren’t swamped with work. As Richard petted Cindy, he wondered just when the two of them would have time to get off Sonora grounds for that drink. “Perhaps the next three-day weekend,” he thought to himself as the beginner class made their way to their seats.“Hello, and welcome,” Richard’s deep voice resonated throughout the classroom as he stood up, carefully moving the snoozing Cindy off his lap and onto his desk. “Today we will be discussing the importance of keeping a good notebook,” he said as he waved his wand towards the stack of notebooks on his desk. The dark bound books then distributed themselves, one to each student, as he began the lecture.
“Notebooks are an essential part not only in researching magical creatures, but also in caring for them. If any of you hope to have a career with magical creatures, or to get an O in this class, you must practice taking good note taking and maintaining a well organized notebook.” He knew that this probably wouldn’t be the most entertaining lesson for a bunch of pre-teens, but it was essential that they have a strong foundation for intermediates, and hopefully Advanced COMC. Turning to the board, Richard then began to write down the expectations for the notebook. “You should have your name, house, and any contact information on the inside cover in case it gets lost,” he said as he referenced his own worn out notebook from when he was in the field. At this point writing a good notebook was second nature to the young professor, however that made it a little difficult to explain the entire procedure to someone else- let alone an entire class. “For each lesson in which we observe a creature- and that includes today,” he clarified, “I want an Observation section, where you chronicle any and all notes. As well as a short Discussion section that explains the significance of your results, as well as explain any inferences or patterns you notice in your observations,” he said setting down the chalk.
“Remember, your Discussion section shouldn’t be more than a paragraph,” he said with a smile. “The most important part of this class is to observe and try and understand the creatures, so don’t worry too much about the notebooks. Although, I will be doing a notebook check once a week to make sure you are keeping up to date,” he warned with a grin, despite the fact that he didn’t plan on grading their notebooks that hard since they were still beginners.
“Alright,” the dark haired professor said smiling at the group, “The rest of today is going to be pretty easy, but I want you to use it as a chance to practice good note taking skills,” he said as he pulled out a cardboard box from under the desk. He then waved his wand to close all the windows and doors, making the room slightly darker than before. “We are going to be observing Flitterbies,” Richard said as he opened the box releasing a glowing mass of the moth like creatures. They immediately began to hum lightly as they flew to all corners of the room. Richard smiled, he had always thought the creatures had an underappreciated beauty.
“As most of you can tell by now, Flitterby moths have a characteristic hum when in flight,” he stated while he pulled out another box from his desk. “These stones are enchanted to give off a little heat, and will attract the moths so you can get a closer look at them,” he explained, waving his wand to disperse the warm stones to the students.
“Now, I would like you all to take notes on what you observe about Flitterby behavior and appearance, as well as a hypothesis in your Discussion section as to why they are attracted to heat. I would also like a detailed drawing of one from each of you, and don’t just copy the picture from your book,” Richard added in case there were any students hoping to get off easy. “You don’t have to be a great artist, just do your best to get the important features down. But for the most part, have fun and feel free to chat while you work,” he said, trying to reassure the students that it was just supposed to be a relaxing assignment to get them back into the groove of school. Now that his instructions were over, he took the time to relax into his chair, enjoying the orange glow that filled the classroom.
OOC: Creative, realistic posts are worth more points. If Richard is needed, please tag Professor Tallec in the subject line. Posting rules apply. Please add house after name.
Permission given by Professor Pye to address him as such.
Subthreads: Being warm is nice? by Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw with Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw
Just what I was hoping for by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari with Emilia-Louise Scott, Aladren
Doing what I must. by Kelsey Atwater, Crotalus
Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia) by Kira Spaulding, Crotalus with Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
And fly? by Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw with Fabian Brockert,Pecari
Not the best observer by Micah Breckinridge, Crotalus with Gia Donovan, Pecari
Phototaxis vs Thermotaxis by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren
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Professor Tallec
Time to spread your wings! [Beginner Lesson]
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Professor Tallec
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
July 16, 2015 8:17 PM
Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia) by Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
COMC was not a class that Kira was all that excited about. It wasn't that she hated animals-she quite liked cute cuddly ones- or Professor Tallec-in fact, he was quite nice-or notebooks or anything like that. It was just that she didn't get to use her wand and doing spells and getting them quickly was the only thing that made her feel good about herself at all. The one area where she might be actually better than Kelsey or Tristan.Not that the Crotalus was all about being better than others, it was just that, they had so much, were complimented so often. Though quite frankly, Kira wasn't entirely sure what her brother had done that was all that spectacular. She knew he had some skills, he was a good flyer, though a bad Quidditch player apparently, a good dueler and got all right grades but still, the first year couldn't see what her brother had done that was special other than be born a male.
Professor Tallec reminded them about their journals. She wasn't sure that hers would be adequate as Kira's penmanship was far from perfect. Better than Scarlett's supposedly, but naturally not as good as Kelsey. Part of growing up with a lot of female cousins near her age had always made Kira feel as though she was being compared to them all the time and she'd always felt inadequate, especially given she was the youngest of the batch. It wasn't just Kelsey either, it was only mostly Kelsey. Kira also knew that she'd never be as funny or vivacious as Scarlett-even if she had better penmanship-or get as good as grades as Savannah. Even Aunt Jillian bragged about Chaslyn's accomplishments at dinners with the whole family, though Amity had said those were meant to make her feel bad, not Kira. Especially given that Amity said the fourth year never received compliments otherwise, because nothing either of them did could ever be good enough for their mother. The first year really disliked her aunt for it.
And her journal as well as any written work was something else that Kira wasn't sure she'd be able to measure up on. So far she hadn't had any problem grasping concepts but they were just going to get tougher, and even if she had the magical skill, she most likely wasn't as smart as some of her classmates. She didn't have to be the best, but she didn't want to be the worst. Kira just wanted to feel good about herself again, and she rarely ever got to.
Today they were studying Flitterbies, which at the very least weren't scary or gross. They were oddly pretty. However, her heart sank when Professor Tallec mentioned drawing them. She knew that like most things she did, her sketching was mediocre at best and while Kira didn't hear Kelsey praised for it as much she did the older girl's manners and propriety, she was certain her cousin was better than her at this too. She usually was better than Kira at most things, so she figured this was a fairly accurate guess.
Kira sighed loudly and then blushed as she realized it was probably loud enough for Caelia Lucan who was sitting next to her to notice. She was kind of intimidated by the older Crotalus who was friends with her cousin. She could only imagine the other girl was comparing her unfavorably like everyone else did.
OOC-Permission to mention Caelia given by her author.
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
Mine don't work that well. (Tag Caelia)
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
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Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
July 17, 2015 1:01 AM
Hopefully I can help you? by Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
Flitterbies. Even the name was pretty. Caelia liked pretty things. Care of Magical Creatures was not something that was known for very many pretty creatures and that was one of the reasons she wasn’t a huge fan of the class. Another reason was that a lot of it was memorization and stuff like that which meant she needed extra tutoring from Emrys in this class in particular. Luckily her penmanship had greatly improved over the summer as Grandmother Viviane had seen some of her messy scrawl and taken it upon herself to educate Caelia in forming perfect letters. At least, she thought to herself as she looked at her notebook which was a mess of misspelled words, even though she didn’t use proper spelling or grammar her letters still looked nice.Today in class she was sitting next to Kira Spaulding who was a first year in Crotalus House along with Caelia. Though she had not yet talked to the younger girl she did know that she was a relative of her roommate and closest friend at Sonora, Kelsey. Whether Caelia had learned this information directly from Kelsey herself or from some of the pureblood family charts her grandmother had asked her to study that summer so that she would pick more appropriate friends than her older brother had, Caelia wasn’t sure but nevertheless it was good information to have and she made up her mind to be quite pleasant to the younger girl because she liked Kelsey and thought her to be a very kind, genuine person so anyone related to her roommate likely had to be just as equally nice.
So, when the first year sighed rather disconcertingly next to Caelia, she turned to her with worried eyes. “Are you alright?” she asked, pencil in hand as she had just been starting her sketch of the flitterby. She had picked a rather pretty flitterby to draw and the light that was emanating from it illuminated her page enough that she could see the faint lines that had already been put on her paper. Art was one area in which Caelia felt like she actually excelled in. She didn’t have to remember anything for art, she was able to sketch whatever was in front of her and as long as her pencil was properly dulled then there wasn’t anything she felt she couldn’t do.
Sketching was one of the things her grandmother felt a proper young witch ought to be educated in. Fine penmanship, elegant dress, music, dancing, and a grasp on at the very least French also ranked among things that Viviane Lucan thought young witches needed to know in order to be successful in Society, however Caelia had long given up on being able to fluently speak French. Though her grandmother had given her many lessons her small brain had not been able to wrap itself around the awkward language which was fully of rough throaty noises and disappearing letters. Dancing was an easy one and with a brother like Emrys, Caelia was able to recognize many a classical song. However, of the talents she was expected to know, the only one she felt fully secure in was sketching. Art in general was something Caelia enjoyed—it was something she had to share with her father, something that let her stand out from her brother, something that made her feel special.
“You know,” she said with a friendly smile. “I’ve been meaning to make your acquaintance for awhile—” the word acquaintance was a rather large one for the kind of stupid twelve year old but one her grandmother had explained to her and said was proper to use in such an instance. Much of Caelia’s manners came from copying what her grandmother said to others and she was altogether too stupid to understand many of the words she said though she knew enough to know that they were polite words. “I’m so pleased to be able to sit with you today.” Caelia’s innocent, earnest manner of speaking could not be mistaken—she was interested in Kira Spaulding, and she wanted to be her friend.
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Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
Hopefully I can help you?
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Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
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Kira
July 26, 2015 5:39 AM
Perhaps by Kira
Caelia's question only made Kira blush harder. "Oh, no, everything's fine. I just prefer wand based classes,that's all." It wasn't the whole truth, but she certainly wasn't about to explain about her inadequacies and feelings of being inferior to her cousin to her cousin's best friend, even if the older Crotalus did seem genuinely concerned. It was just that Kira didn't want to make things complicated and speak badly of Kelsey to Caelia. Well, it wasn't exactly speaking badly of her, she supposed, given that it seemed everything Kelsey did was right . Still, Kira didn't want it to come across that way.Besides, it was also not appropriate to dump your feelings all over someone you'd only just met-especially if it got back to Kelsey about socially inept Kira was acting. Besides Amity had known-and disliked-a whole bunch of girls who'd been that and surely, Kira didn't want to be like people that one of her two favorite cousins-the other being Fabian-disliked. Amity had referred to them as parasites and the Crotalus didn't want to be a parasite. She only ever confided in Amity or Sophie, people she was closer too.
Most importantly though, Kira didn't want to open herself up to hurt and rejection and ridicule. Or having her private thoughts spread around the school. She knew what had been happening lately and even if Caelia Lucan was completely trustworthy, that didn't mean that someone less so wasn't nearby. Nobody knew who was spreading all these different rumors but she knew didn't want rumors spread about her . That was certainly not a good way to make an impression on others, if they believed them.
What Caelia said next caught Kira off guard just a bit. That wasn't really what she'd been expecting at all. She'd always thought that she was too akward for too many people to be enthused about being friends with her. When it came to making connections and friends, social skills tended to help a lot more than the ability to instantly enlarge or shrink a bit of fruit. In fact, part of Kira was just afraid that people would resent her if she did well, but at the same time, well, she felt good about doing good at wand work, and she should be allowed to feel good about herself! Even Father had seemed incredibly impressed and nothing had made Kira feel better than that.
She smiled at the second year. It was in her best interest to get along with Caelia Lucan given her friendship with Kelsey. Actually, Kira wouldn't be surprised if Kelsey set this up to prevent Kira from falling in with the "wrong sort" and keep an eye on her by absorbing her into a group with her and her friend. But from what she could see, Caelia was being quite genuine, that she wanted to actually talk to Kira. The first year just hoped that continued once they'd actually been speaking for awhile. "It's a pleasure to meet you too. So what's your favorite thing about being at Sonora?" Kira asked, hoping that question wasn't too boring or stupid or anything. She didn't want to mess this up. She needed a friend and she needed acceptance.
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Kira
Perhaps
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Caelia
July 26, 2015 3:51 PM
I bet I can do you some good. by Caelia
Talking to the younger girl made Caelia feel good. Kira’s blushing and politesse was endearing and while talking to her Caelia didn’t feel the least bit inferior like she sometimes did with Emrys or Kelsey. She loved her brother a lot, but he was so much older than her and so much smarter than her and also so much more capable than her that sometimes Caelia felt as though she couldn’t do a lot of things. Likewise with her best friend, Kelsey, Caelia felt as though she were lacking something because Kelsey had always appeared to be more intelligent than the youngest Lucan. So, when Kira admitted her preference in classes Caelia was quick to nod her head in agreement. Wand based classes were easier for her because she could hide behind her magic and not have to worry about making inaccurate hypo-whatsits or mixing up different species of creatures or something like that. The only reason she was doing okay in that lesson that day was because it involved drawing which Caelia had always been rather good at.“I agree,” she said. “There’s something very nice about being able to do something with your wand, isn’t there?” Though Caelia probably wasn’t the most powerful witch in the grade in the least, her abilities were slightly above normal which had pleased her because she knew intelligence wise she was far below normal and as such she felt the combination helped her to evenly balance out her academics so she didn’t make too awful of grades. She didn’t know Kira’s reasoning for liking wand work better than note taking like what they had to do in Professor Tallec’s class but Caelia was fine with not knowing. She was used to not knowing a lot of things, and so long as she didn’t know the exact reasoning she could pretend it was for similar issues with intelligence that Kira preferred wand-based work and that idea satisfied her quite well. It wasn't that she thought Kira was stupid nor that she hoped others weren't smart like she wasn't, but thinking in that vein sometimes made her feel less alone.
However, Caelia didn’t really know how to answer Kira’s question about her favorite part of Sonora. If Caelia was being completely honest, her favorite part was that her big brother was there and he could always help her whenever she needed. But that was more a reason as to why she liked her big brother. “There’s a lot of things to like,” she said diplomatically (or would have if she knew what that word meant). “I enjoy having my brother here the most, I think, but the dance club and the art club are also fun.” Caelia was a member of both groups even though she was more outspoken in the dance group. In art club Caelia kind of retreated into herself, trying her best to block out the others even though she loved to chatter as it helped her to concentrate. In dance club, however, she felt freer to express what she wanted—it was a safe environment.
“What about you? What sorts of things do you like about Sonora?”
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Caelia
I bet I can do you some good.
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Caelia
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