Professor Taransay
October 11, 2016 3:36 PM
Is it a stork? Is it a heron? No, it's a... [Intermediates] by Professor Taransay
“Good morning, class,” called Rory, bringing the students to order. “Now, my plan was to keep things fairly quiet and tame this term, so as to let the third years settle in before things get dangerous. However, tame and quiet sounds a bit too boring.” He chuckled. Rory had never been one to keep things particularly quiet, and working as a teacher was, it seemed, no exception to the rule.Now for the slight inconvenience to those already seated, although he was sure they wouldn’t object. “Those of you who have already got your books and quills out of your bags, could you please put them away. We’re going outside!”
Making sure everyone was following, Rory led the class out of the classroom and towards the labyrinth gardens. Stopping a little way into the maze, he waited until everyone was gathered round before speaking again.
“Ok, the creatures we’re going to work with today can be considered dangerous,” he warned, his face stern and serious. “They take offense very easily, so make sure you bow to them, and wait for them to bow back before approaching. Keep eye contact with them at all times and, if you’re at all unsure about the situation, back away from them. Obviously I’m here if anything goes wrong, but anyone who puts themselves or the creatures unnecessarily at risk will be asked to leave today’s class.”
Giving up the stern expression, his face broke out into an excited grin. “I now present to you: Hippogriffs!” he announced, leading them round a corner into a large open space, where a herd of hippogriffs were lazing around in a paddock under the supervision of one of Rory’s old colleagues, Janus McGraith, who had kindly volunteered his hippogriffs for Rory's use.
Stopping again, this time by the fence separating the class from the hippogriffs, Rory turned once more to his class. “I’m going to demonstrate, then I’d like a fifth year volunteer to have a go before I let you all loose.”
Rory removed his jacket and then vaulted over the fence. Giving the class a running commentary on his actions, he walked a few paces towards the nearest hippogriff before stopping and bowing, making sure to maintain eye contact. After a few seconds the creature bowed back, and Rory approached, confidently and calmly. He spent a few moments stroking the creature, then turned back to the class.
“Ok, who’s our volunteer? Yes, it has to be a fifth year – I want one of the older students to try first.”
Rory talked the student through approaching the hippogriff correctly, making sure that his instructions had been understood. He was fairly confident that, unless a student did something stupid, there wouldn’t be any horrific accidents in today’s class. McGraith’s herd of hippogriffs were used to being around people, so were perhaps a little more tolerant than many.
“Right, now it’s all your turn! Work in twos or threes, please, and choose a hippogriff to say hello to. I’ll be here watching in case you have any problems, or any questions.”
Learning more about the creatures would be the subject of the next lesson. For now, Rory was content to let the students see these amazing creatures up close. Hands-on experience with magical creatures was, for him, the best part of the subject, and something that just book learning could never full make up for.
OOC: Normal class rules apply. Tag Professor Taransay as needed, and please remember that he would not let a situation become dangerous without being there straight away. The hippogriffs should not be particularly aggressive without provocation, but you may describe their actions. Also, no one would have been left behind on the way without Professor Taransay realising.
If your character is a fifth year, feel free to volunteer them as the test subject (first person to claim it gets the role!). Professor Taransay would have talked them through the process, reassuring them if they were scared and advising them on what to do if anything got a little out of hand (not that it should…). Tag him if necessary.
Subthreads: Not a dragon, but I can live with that by Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw] with Kyte Collindale, Pecari
Back into the thicket by Nevaeh Reed [Aladren] with Arne Reinhardt
I'll just stay in the back... by Jax Donovan (Aladren) with Caelia Lucan
Volunteering like a good student. by Jack Spencer, Aladren
I may or may not be a bit of an ornithophobe by Cameron Dempsey, Pecari
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Professor Taransay
Is it a stork? Is it a heron? No, it's a... [Intermediates]
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Professor Taransay
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Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]
October 12, 2016 1:20 PM
Not a dragon, but I can live with that by Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]
Probably the very best thing about being an Intermediate student now meant that Gabe was one step closer to seeing a real dragon in class. As a Beginner student, he had been very disappointed to find that the most exciting thing in the curriculum was flobberworms, but he accepted this. You had to work your way up to dragons. It’s not like you could just walk up and approach a sleeping Peruvian Vipertooth without knowing your stuff. Yes, Gabe had upgraded from his feral Beginner’s textbook to a tamer Intermediate one and skimmed until he found some cool dragon facts.The first day of classes felt so long. It always took Gabe a while to get back into the swing of things, even if his parents did make him do summer school to learn non-magical things a few days a week over the past two summers. At least that didn’t last all day long. Plus, he had to wear robes all the time, which felt goofy. Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration all passed by, and then finally lunch. Gabe practically inhaled two hamburgers at the Teppenpaw table over lunch. And then finally, it was time for his favorite class of all.
He sat down in his seat, although he was hoping he wouldn’t spend very much time in it, today. The third year was more than ready for a practical class. So when the professor said they would be moving, Gabe practically bounced out of his seat. Stuffing his things haphazardly into his backpack, he followed the professor out the door.
“This is great!” he exclaimed to a random fellow student. All classes were much better when they didn’t involve desks. This was basically a scientific fact. As they started to walk through the gardens, he wondered what dangerous monsters they would encounter, now that he was among the Intermediates. Finally dragons? Manticores? Sphynxes? Gabe didn’t know if he would be very good at riddles. Hopefully one of his classmates would help him out, and he wouldn’t be stuck in the gardens forever.
Gabe, whose mind was generally in a thousand-and-five places, listened very carefully as the professor described the creature in question. Magical creatures required every bit of his attention. And as a newly minted Intermediate, it was very important to him to prove that he was mature enough to be in the class. The professor presented the creatures, hippogriffs. Okay, still not dragons, but still kind of cool. Would they all get to go flying on the hippogriffs? Gabe hoped so. Brown eyes watched the professor carefully. Gabe was confident he would master this whole hippogriff-greeting thing.
His hand shot up when the professor asked for volunteers, hoping he would forget that he had originally asked for a fifth year, or that maybe he would forget that Gabe was only in third year. But no such luck. So lame. It had been fun being in the Beginner class and being among the oldest. Now as an Intermediate, he had to start all over again.
Once the demonstrations were over, Gabe placed his backpack out of the way in the gardens. He was sure his stuff would be fine there.
“Heya,” he walked up to a fellow student, grinning with eexcitement, “Wanna work together? Which hippogriff do you think looks the coolest?” He was so excited to get started.
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Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]
Not a dragon, but I can live with that
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Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]
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Kyte Collindale, Pecari
October 23, 2016 9:34 AM
This year is off to a good start by Kyte Collindale, Pecari
Kyte never got out a quill or parchment until he was absolutely instructed to do so, or it became apparent that something was going on that he should (in someone’s opinion) be writing down. Care of Magical Creatures was one of the best subjects in terms of the probability of not-having-to-write-stuff-down, or at least not until afterwards, and so he sat with his writing materials firmly in his bag and his fingers crossed.“Yes!” he grinned, punching the air, when a double magical sentence was uttered - no books, and going outside. Kyte loved to be outside, roaming around, doing something. He felt like he actually learnt when they did that, and he didn’t get why more teachers didn’t understand that. Learning wasn’t something that just had to be at a desk, stripped of all meaning. He’d learnt plenty before coming to school. How to tie knots. How to juggle. How to trap and skin a rabbit. Most of these skills he knew the Muggle way and had dabbled in the magical as well, when someone had had enough time to let him borrow their wand and walk him through it. He knew pretty well how to lie to law enforcement too. He was pretty sure whatever Professor Taransay taught them today, he would remember.
“Hell yeah,” he nodded, when Gabe - who he happened to be next to - said how great this whole thing was. He kept pace with the other boy as they headed out, speculating on what they might be getting to see that day. He didn’t reach any firm conclusions other than it was probably, definitely, going to be awesome.
He tried to get his focus back as Professor Taransay spoke. Kyte’s family didn’t have animals in their circus but he’d been around enough events with animals, like Renaissance Fairs or random pop-up festivals, that he knew that animals needed respect. And Professor Taransay was here to tell them what that meant for this animal, cos all animals had different needs, and if you met their needs, that was how you showed your respect and then you had happy animals, and that was cool. Animals deserved to be happy as much as people. Maybe more, seeing as animals didn’t do dumb stuff like start wars. Okay, focus... Respect was with a capital R today. This animal literally judged on manners. That made Kyte a bit nervous, cos he wasn’t really the most formal kind of guy. Was the hippogriff going to be able to tell and like… judge him? He wasn’t super thrilled by the idea of a judgemental animal. But when they saw the hippogriffs… They were just so cool. He could forgive them for being kind of stuck-up sounding and needing him to complete a stupid task like bowing.
He watched the demonstration carefully, trying to take notes on the bow as much as anything. He’d bowed before. He’d bowed tons of times, at the end of a show. He just didn’t ever think anyone had been really calculating his worth as a person based on that bow.
“Yeah, sounds great,” he beamed, when Gabe asked him if he wanted to work together. “How about that guy?” he gestured to a nearby hippogriff. It perhaps wasn’t the coolest per se but it had the least haughty look in Kyte’s opinion. He didn’t think hippogriffs could ever really be informal but this one just had… a vibe.
He approached, and tried to bow whilst remembering to keep his eyes forward. That was weird. When he bowed at the circus he didn’t have to do that, he could just do a big flop forward and come up again with a big old grin on his face. It put him off balance a bit and he wobbled.
“Sorry. Sorry, dude…” he apologised to the hippogriff, as he noticed its eyes dart towards his leg. “I… I just lost my balance. I didn’t mean to like… be rude.” The hippogriff relaxed its concentration on his leg but it didn’t seem inclined to bow back. Kyte was a bit put out, and mentally revised his opinion that this one was more easy going. Though it wasn’t clawing at him, so who knew…
“Why don’t you try?” he asked Gabe. “Or maybe we should both practise bowing to each other before we try the real thing. It’s harder than it looks to bow to someone and keep eye contact at the same time.”
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Kyte Collindale, Pecari
This year is off to a good start
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Kyte Collindale, Pecari
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Gabe
October 25, 2016 3:00 AM
Filled with adventure, I hope by Gabe
Gabe nodded when Kyte agreed with him, always pleased to find a fellow fan of not-boring class. But of course Kyte was on the same page as him. Kyte was cool. Ever since partnering with Raine in Potions last year and learning that the Collindales had circus super-powers, he had been determined to learn their ways. The Teppenpaw looked forward to becoming better friends with his yearmates, and hopefully get some cool trick-flying tips while he was at it, too.Kyte picked a pretty chill-looking hippogriff, and Gabe followed behind him. Maybe, if they did well enough, this hippogriff would be the type of guy to let them fly with him! Gabe had never flown with a magical creature before, only brooms. Ever since he was a first year, he had always dreamed of flying on a dragon, but flying with a hippogriff seemed like it would be pretty awesome, too. As a circus kid, Gabe felt confident that Kyte would be up for that sort of adventure, and that clearly must be why Kyte had picked this particular creature in the first place. Good job, Kyte. Gabe congratulated himself on an excellent choice in class partner.
“Nice try,” Gabe encouraged, when Kyte gave it the first go. As a pretty normal kid from New York, he had rarely had any reason to practice bowing before, and so commiserated with Kyte on not getting it on the first shot. In fact, the whole thing felt silly, a creature who cared so much about manners. Well, purebloods did seem to have a bunch of strange rules, should he really be surprised that this seemed to have caught on with the animals too?
Gabe decided to take Kyte up on his offer of practice bows,”Well, alright then - Good day, Mr. Collindale,” he said in his best pretend-pureblood tone, making eye contact with Kyte, facing his body towards him, and bowing forward, his arms kind of dangling by his sides, “Erm, what am I supposed to be doing with my hands? Are we allowed to blink?” This being a polite gentleman stuff was harder than it looked. Such was the life of a soon-to-be hippogriff-flying adventurer.
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Gabe
Filled with adventure, I hope
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Gabe
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Kyte
November 04, 2016 9:19 AM
Fingers crossed by Kyte
“Thanks,” Kyte smiled. Gabe was a nice, relaxed partner, which suited Kyte well. He wouldn’t have taken well to someone getting all flustered over his attempt not working. Clearly they weren’t all expected to get everything right first time all the time. That was why it was a school. He didn’t understand people who got so worked up over that, as they were usually the allegedly smart ones, but he thought you had to be pretty dim to still think you could be perfect at everything first time. Most things that were worth doing took a bit of time and effort. That was something that frustrated Kyte. He liked being able to do things right away and got bored quickly with things that took a lot of patience and practice (unless the results were really, really cool) but he understood the principle at least.He tried not to giggle as Gabe did his bow, but it was funny hearing himself called ‘Mister Collindale.’ He was pretty sure no one even called his dad that, or only when he had to interact with people from outside the circus world. He guessed one day he himself would be Mr. C, given that it was ‘Mr. C’s Fantastical Magical Circus’, but that was about as formal as it got, and that was a very, very long way off.
“Putting your arms out will help you balance better. I think people who are good at bowing can do it with them tucked in but Professor Xavier didn’t say anything about having to and the hippogriff definitely didn’t appreciate wobbling. He was pretty specific about the eye contact. I guess we try not to blink? Oh man, now that I’ve said that I’m like… super aware of it. And my eyes feel sooooo dry,” he sighed as he tried to bow to Gabe, arms out for balance, and eyes wide, wide open. The whole effect was a bit bug-eyed and strange but he probably technically ticked all the boxes.
“Don’t be afraid to be critical. Get into that hippogriff mindset. It’s got to be up to scratch… Or else, our eyes might be up... for scratching,” he joked, although perhaps thinking about eye scratching wasn’t the most encouraging thing...
“One more try?” he asked. "And then I reckon you're ready for a shot with the real thing." He thought Gabe should try first because he hadn't had a go yet, so that made it fairer, and also meant he hadn't already personally offended the hippogriff in question. Kyte didn't want to mess up again and give both them a bad rep with the creature.
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Kyte
Fingers crossed
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Kyte
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