Professor Aaron McKindy
November 13, 2009 4:23 PM
Beginning Charms, Lesson I by Professor Aaron McKindy
Aaron McKindy was standing in front of the Beginning Charms class wearing his usual top-hat made of large, transparent, pink bubbles, a Muggle-style t-shirt that Garen had given him, and dark jeans. There was a collection of first-through-third years seated on a large rug on the floor just in front of the raised dais in front of the room. Whether they were looking at him uncomfortably because there were no desks to be seen in the room or because of his outfit, Aaron had no idea, but he was hardly unused to such looks and wasn’t much worried about them. Although he would agonise excessively over appearing out-of-the-ordinary around adults, his students were a much different case; the professor was thoroughly convinced that school spent too much time being dull, and it was his personal duty to liven things up a bit.“Good morning, class,” the man began, grinning down at the seated students with friendly grey-green eyes. “My name is Professor McKindy. In addition to being your new Charms teacher, I’m also Head of Pecari House,” he smiled at a few of the Pecaris he recognised in attendance “and I would like to make this as painless an experience as possible. Today, I’m going to be starting out with a bit of an introduction for the first years and a review for the rest of you.” Noticing the lack of excitement at his announcement, Aaron smiled more broadly at the class. “Don’t worry, there isn’t too much work involved.” He did see some faces light up at that. Excellent.
“Today, I would like you to work in groups of two or three. You will be playing a game called Jumanji. Have any of you read the book or watched the movie?” A few hands shot up, and Aaron nodded in approval. In all probability, the hands belonged to halfbloods and Muggleborns. A pureblood himself, Aaron hadn’t known about either until this past summer when Garen’s godson, Henry, had introduced the man to a plethora of unknown Muggle fancies, including Jumanji and bumper cars. “For those of you who haven’t, let me paraphrase,” the man continued. “Both the book and the movie detail the adventures of a pair of young Muggle children who encounter an enchanted board game and begin to play it. However, the effects of the board game come to life—when one of the Muggles lands on a spot that mentions lions, for example, lions appear and chase the children.
“Obviously, for our purposes, these effects will be the results of the different Charms I’ve placed on all of the games I have provided. Right now, I would like you to get into your groups, pick up one of the boards from the cabinet,” Aaron flicked his wand absent-mindedly in the direction of the large cabinet in the corner as the doors flew open to reveal game sets as he continued talking, “read the directions, and get started! At the end of class, I will pass out a worksheet I would like completed by next time, if you would.” The man looked around the classroom and, seeing no absolutely lost looks, nodded. “You may begin then! Any questions, please ask.” the professor smiled and stepped down from the dais. The step made his height appear to be less, if only moderately so; he still was around six feet tall, after all.
The students were gathering together in groups and talking, a few looking at him furtively as if he were quite mad. Aaron grinned. He had missed this.
|OOC| Right-o, I hope you lot have fun with this! If you need more information on Jumanji, check out the wikipedia page. For more information on how the classroom is set up, etc, check out Setting Up the Classroom.
Other than that, I expect the usual 10 sentences from you lot. If you’re having trouble getting up to that mark, try and write about your characters thoughts, feelings, worries, etc. If you’re REALLY having trouble, remember that my posters talk, and you can feel free to write for them! Plus, the hat is usually a good conversation piece. Remember, the more you write, the more points your House gets!
Anybody that wants to do the homework that is posted above in the Homework Bin will receive between 10 and 20 extra points for their House. Speaking of which, I’d appreciate it if you identified the House your character is in with the name (example: Aaron McKindy [Pecari] ), but it isn’t necessary.
Have fun!
Subthreads: Sounds fun! (need a partner!) by Demelza Eagle with Starbuck Gregory
Let the games begin... by Kameyrynn Prinzo, Teppenpaw with Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari, Delilah, Pecari
Searching for a partner by Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren with Daniel Nash II, Aladren, Veronica, Aladren
What a charming idea! by Tobar Brishen with Rachel Bauer, Crotalus, Tobar Brishen Teppenpaw
It's a jungle in here... by Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus with Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw, David Lancaster [Teppenpaw]
My kind of lesson. by Mike Song [Pecari] with Jose Hernandez (Pecari), Mike
Who wants to play with me? by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) with Theodore Manzana, Juri Dahlgren, Aladren, Lita, Theo Manzana
This really isn't all that fun. by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) with Raines Bradley (Crotalus), Dulce
Oh, dear... by Edmond Carey [Aladren] with James Anthony [Aladren]
You people never learn (Professor) by Quentin Melcher with Professor McKindy, Euna Song [Aladren]
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Professor Aaron McKindy
Beginning Charms, Lesson I
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Professor Aaron McKindy
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
November 16, 2009 8:56 PM
Who wants to play with me? by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
Adelita Garcia walked into the Charms classroom with a bit of apprehension. She had grown used to Professor Taylor and her strict ways, but this new professor was foreign to her and she had no idea exactly on how he would be around them. On top of that, being a Third year now meant that the work was going to get harder and being one of the older students, she was bound to have to help out the younger ones. Granted, Charms actually was one of her better subjects, but she wasn’t exactly sure if she’d be of any help to other people.Her dark brown hair was still long and lay peacefully around her shoulders. Because it was the beginning of the year, Adelita was dressed to make a great impression… of course, that fell short with now having to sit on the floor. “What is up with Professors making me sit on the ground or crawl into a tent when I’m in a skirt?” Adelita mumbled unhappily to herself as she carefully adjusted herself in order to sit properly on the ground. She wasn’t so sure if she liked the new professor if only because he was making her sit down on the floor on the first day. Aside from that, she did appreciate the pink bubble hat. Mainly because it was pink.
Lita didn’t pay attention to who was sitting next to her until she heard the familiar voice of her younger sister, “Isn’t he too old to play dress up?” Dulce said in her flat voice that she often used when she found life to be dull and uninteresting.
“Shhhh.” Lita replied, looking slightly annoyed. “Go sit with the other first years!” Lita refused to admit that Dulce was probably right with her comment. It did seem silly for an adult to wear a hat like that. Watching Dulce stand up and take a seat elsewhere, Lita focused back on the professor when he began the lesson. She had never heard of the game Jumanji and didn’t quite understand why this was their lesson, but she wasn’t going to ask any questions. After all, if their lesson was just playing a game to see all the charms that came with it, that sounded like a pretty fun lesson!
Standing up, Lita looked around for a partner. Seeing someone with a board already, Lita made her way over to them. “Hey, do you want to play with me?” She asked, realizing that she sounded like a five year old when she asked. “I mean, would you like to play Jumanji with me?”
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
Who wants to play with me?
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Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)
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5
Theodore Manzana
November 22, 2009 3:36 PM
Better late then never by Theodore Manzana
Theodore Manzana walked into charms a bit more nervous, mama would be proud if he did will with charms it had been her favorite subject in school, while papa would be proud if he were good at transfiguration but only time would tell. He smiled at the Professor who wore a very odd hat but it didn’t matter much. His own parents often wore odd outfits according to his friends, then again they did try to combine each other’s heritage into one outfit. Theodore still remembered the green and blue stripped jacket that his parents had forced him to wear to show his “pride” in Ireland and El Salvador.Once the Professor was done talking he stood grabbed a board and looked around unsure of what to do next. He bit his lip and saw the girl approach him and ask. “ Hey, do you want to play with me?... I mean, would you like to play Jumanji with me?” It took a moment for Theodore to understand her he was used to hearing his father speak Spanish and his mother speak Gaelic to him. He grinned at her and nodded. “Si, I mean yes.” He began as they found an empty spot and sat down.
“I am Theodore Manzana.” He said with a smile. “You may call me Theo though if you wish.” He set up the board and held out the die to the girl with a smile he said. “Mujeres primero.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, ladies first.” He corrected forgetting that he wasn’t at home.
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Theodore Manzana
Better late then never
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Theodore Manzana
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Juri Dahlgren, Aladren
November 22, 2009 7:28 PM
Sometimes never is better by Juri Dahlgren, Aladren
Grudgingly, Juri walked into the Charms classroom. It wasn’t that he disliked Charms. He just didn’t like it. Actually, he really didn’t care for any of his classes this year and it had nothing to do with the professors or the subject material or anything at the school other than the fact that he was at the school at all. Over the summer, it was like his entire life had fallen apart, because he was never there anymore. Any time he had called any of his muggle friends, they had been busy with other friends. They were all beginning to go into other social groupings, away from each other and away from him.Then, there was the whole his mother had begun dating problem. Serious dating like the kind where she brought him home and introduced him to Juri. He hated it. He hated the guy. What if the man stuck around and actually married his mother? Then, he would not have only a horrible stepmother, but a worse stepfather. He hated his smile most of all, the way his lips curled almost into a sneer at the very end. He hated his greasy hair, all slicked back. He hated the way the guy always wore a dress shirt with a sweater tied over the shoulders. It was stupid, completely and utterly stupid. And he wasn’t there to do anything about it cause he had to be here.
The only good thing he could say about being here was that he had three sorta friends. One of whom he saw and he smiled shyly before giving his attention to the professor. The guy was a bit strange, but seemed harmless enough. Though, he really had to question if anyone in his (or her) right mind would wear a pink bubble hat. It was absurd. He certainly wouldn’t ever be caught wearing that, but then there are some that probably wouldn’t wear the things he wore, such as the jeans that had tears in the knees or the black ring watchband. His father had thrown a fit over these things, but he could care less. His father had begun to call him a miscreant. It was the best feeling ever.
Before he could begin plotting what he would do over midterm, the professor started talking. All right. Time to pay attention. Maybe. He kept glancing over in her direction. He shook his shaggy blonde head. He shouldn’t be looking at her. What was wrong with him? For the rest of the time, he forced himself to pay attention to what they were doing, not that it would be difficult since it was just a board game. Yes, he had seen the movie, but it wasn’t as though that would actually be occurring. At least, he didn’t think it would be. Or maybe it would be. He wasn’t sure what to think of the idea of having charms on the board and having the randomness of a dice roll. What if he ended up with makeup on or pink hair or something? He hated the idea, but he didn’t really have a choice unless he planned to fail, which he didn’t.
Looking around the room, he spotted Adelita with some guy. Suddenly, feeling something he couldn’t quite explain, he shuffled over to the couple in time to hear the squirt being all gentlemanly to her, which made him gag a bit. Seriously? What was the kid like ten or eleven? It was definitely not as good as being thirteen. Before he could stop himself, knowing it was rude, but feeling aggressive, he said to the younger boy, “Then, you better roll,” as he made himself at comfortable in front of the board. It was apparent that he had every intention of joining this group whether or not they wanted him to. Reaching over, Juri tugged lightly on a bit of the long brown hair. “Hey, Garcia. Go ahead. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get a hair charm.”
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Juri Dahlgren, Aladren
Sometimes never is better
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Juri Dahlgren, Aladren
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Lita
November 23, 2009 7:59 PM
Never means there's no adventure. by Lita
The boy with whom Lita had approached looked to be a first year. Okay, not ideal, but Lita was friendly with everyone and perhaps this boy knew about the game. Plus, with her sister being a first year, maybe Lita can pave the way and introduce them. Adelita was well aware that her sister wasn’t going to make the effort to make friends. She just wasn’t the sort to bother trying. So, if Lita didn’t step up and make the effort on her behalf, well, Dulce would remain forever alone and that was rather quite sad.As the boy began to speak, Lita tilted her head at him ever so slightly. He spoke Spanish and it was clearly his more familiar language if that’s how he had begun addressing her. For whatever reason, Lit was still always caught off guard when other classmates spoke another language. Being from California, Lita was used to other languages and having three different houses in three different countries, Lita spoke more than one language, but she always separated school from all of that. Of course, she was well aware that some of the terms she used that were rather normal for her (like Tio) weren’t so normal for everyone else. That was a lesson she had learned gradually by the strange looks that her friends had shot her during their conversations. Now, three years later, they were all just used to them.
Adelita was about to introduce herself when Juri address the first year rather unpleasantly. A slight frown formed on her lips at Juri before a looking rather mortified when Juri joked about her hair. “Juri! That’s not nice at all!” She declared, although her lips twitched in a smile as she rolled her eyes and waved him away. “Don’t listen to him, Theo, he’s just teasing you.” Lita advised, returning her attention to the younger student. “I’m Adelita and this is Juri. Is Spanish your first language? It’s my second.” Lita commented with a smile before looking over at Juri.
“And why would I be lucky for a hair charm?” She asked. “I like my hair!” Giving him a pouty look momentarily as she tried to figure out why he would think her hair needed a change, Lita focused on the board game. “Okay, I don’t know anything about this game or what we’re supposed to do.” Grabbing a piece and placing it at the start, Lita rolled the dice and waited for something to happen. “What’s the point of this game?” She asked the boys, hoping they had played it before.
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Lita
Never means there's no adventure.
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Lita
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Theo Manzana
November 24, 2009 1:39 AM
How true that is. by Theo Manzana
The girl seemed to take the boy’s teasing good naturedly, something his sisters never did. Theo nodded when she introduced the pair of them. When she asked if Spanish was his first language he smiled and shrugged. “Sort of, my father is Salvadorian so he taught us Spanish at an early age, my mother is Irish and taught us Gaelic so I learned those before English.” He laughed he knew it sounded crazy but his parents were crazy.
He swallowed hard as she asked what the point of the game was. “You want to be the first to get to the golden city Jumanji.” He said with a smile. “When you get there you call out Jumanji and you win.” He looked around and smiled. “I believe from the looks of the other students there’s going to be some type of charm placed on you which we will have to figure out how to fix.” He smiled glad that he was with older students they would hopefully know how to fix the charms quickly.
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Theo Manzana
How true that is.
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Theo Manzana
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Juri
November 25, 2009 9:33 PM
Adventure can lead to things unwanted. by Juri
Juri raised an eyebrow as the kid explained how he knew three languages. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or annoyed so he settled for a question to decide. “You must be pretty smart to know three languages, even growing up with them.” He didn’t actually know how hard it would be if one grew up with all three, but most people, he figured, would have to be since there were people that still had a hard time with the intricacies of just their first and only language. Looking over at the boy, probably with a look that said that the boy had somehow offended him, he asked, “Are you in Aladren?”If the boy answered Aladren, Juri would considered being impressed since Aladrens were considered to be highly intelligent. He doubted the boy would answer as such though since he was an Aladren and hadn’t noticed the boy among the blue first years. Of course, he could have just not noticed. He had been paying a little more attention to other things and he had noticed a reddish looking girl sitting at the table so it was plausible that the boy had just opted to sit somewhere else. But if the boy did indeed answer a different House like Juri expected, then he would just be annoyed at the boy’s intelligence and hoped that Lita didn’t think that the kid was intelligent.
Though, Lita might end up thinking that since the kid (he couldn’t bring himself to actually refer to him as anything else) gave her an explanation to the game. More annoyance at the little know-it-all occurred. She hadn’t asked just the kid. She had asked both of them. Juri could certainly have given her a better answer. He was sure of it. At least, he was reasonably sure that he could have, but the more he thought about it, the answer was a resounding no unless he went into a detailed explanation that she didn’t really need. Then, he would probably only end up annoying her and he didn’t want to annoy her in that way, only in others.
In an effort to do so, though, he wasn’t honestly sure as to why he was doing so, Juri answered Lita’s question regarding her hair. “Nothing’s exactly wrong with it…if you like that…you know…look.” He had considered saying dull and flat, but he really didn’t think that and the manners his mother had taught him were kept with a nagging voice in his head. He brushed a hand over his head, pulling at the strands that hung on his forehead. He nearly sighed over why he couldn’t just be nice, but it just wasn’t in him at the moment. He glanced over to where one of the other girls were and wondered if he shouldn’t have joined another group instead, but it was too late now since the die had been rolled and they were waiting to see what would happen.
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Juri
Adventure can lead to things unwanted.
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Juri
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Lita
November 26, 2009 12:28 AM
But the unwanted might lead to adventures of the wanted by Lita
“I don’t think intelligence has to do with speaking more than one language.” Lita stated, not picking up on the fact that Juri may not have been the most polite of boys when communicating with Theo. “I’m well aware that I’m not an Aladren, but I speak two languages. When you grow up listening to them, they just make sense.” She knew that wasn’t really an explanation, but it was the complete truth in her eyes. “I think its cool that you can speak all three languages, Theo.” She wondered to herself if his parents actually spoke only those languages, and if that were the case, how they communicated with one another.“Hm…okay.” She commented quietly when Theo explained to her the point of the game. Lita watched as the piece she had chosen began to move shortly after the dice had finished moving. The piece moved forward three spaces and then stopped. Leaning over the board, Lita read the glass ball out loud.
The ground is solid, but it might shake.
What happens when its not there
And you are left up in the air?
“What the heck does that mean?” Lita asked the boys, but didn’t need their answer because she soon felt the affects of the words she had spoken. It was like her stomach dropped completely out of her body as she felt the ground giveaway on her. Only, it wasn’t the ground that had actually moved. It was Lita. Her body was floating in the air, steadily getting higher.
It took her a moment to realize what exactly was happening and quickly panic moved in on her. She stretched her legs out from under her so that she was still touching the ground, but she knew that wouldn’t help because she was still rising. “No, no, no, no, no.” Lita repeated while she tried in vain to keep her skirt from shifting too much and her feet on the ground. Eventually, the ground was no longer beneath her feet.
“Help me!” Lita exclaimed, leaning forward to desperately try to grab a hold of the boys to keep her as close to the ground as she could. She must have looked like a fool flailing around like she was. Trying to keep herself from levitating any more than she was as well as keeping her skirt in proper order so as to not make the scene any worse for her. “Don’t look!” Lita demanded through clench teeth at the boys so that they knew where their place was and to try and not sneak any peaks. “Please get me down!” The panic was clear in her voice. As much as Lita liked jumping while she danced, she hated heights. Especially in a situation like this when she had absolutely no control in what happened.
“Juri, please!” Lita cried out, nearly on the verge of tears. She was friends with Juri, so she was under the impression that he would help her and she knew for a fact that he was aware of what charm to use to get her down. She knew the first year hadn’t learned it yet, so she couldn’t be as positive about him knowing it the way she could with Juri.
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Lita
But the unwanted might lead to adventures of the wanted
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Lita
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Juri
November 29, 2009 10:23 PM
Maybe no adventures are wanted. by Juri
Lita was right, of course. Intelligence didn’t necessarily have anything to do with intelligence, because they grew up speaking those languages. Though, how skilled you were with the little grammatical and spelling details were still based on intelligence regardless of being able to fluently speak the language, which was a small fact that comforted him. He didn’t like the idea that Theo spoke Lita’s second language. It made him feel left out that they could communicate with each other in a nearly secret way and he certainly didn’t like that Lita thought it was cool that Theo could. He wanted to say something, but thought better of it and just sat silently fuming while Lita took her turn.Before anyone could answer Lita, she was rising up in the air and pleading to come down. Juri was vastly amused by the situation, but he also felt slightly guilty for the way she was flailing around up there. Though, it didn’t prevent him from the opportunity to take a peak, but just one. Anything more would truly equate him to some peeping tom and he certainly wasn’t one. He was just curious as was natural to a boy his age. He just hoped Theo wasn’t, because if he was and he considered taking a peak then he was probably going to need a steak for his eye or whatever. Plus, he could say he was doing it for Lita’s honor since she had said not to look. He just hadn’t applied it to himself.
The desperation in Lita’s voice called Juri to attention and without even needing to look, he waved his wand with the right incantation to bring her down. Pride swelled through him on not having had to look in the book. Now, that was intelligence, that was experience. He was better than the first year and his secret language. He hoped she was as impressed by that as she had been with Theo. Well, he wanted her to be more impressed, but he would settle for what he got. For now. With her back on the ground, he couldn’t resist teasing her a bit. “So, pink with white flowers, huh? I would have thought you’d be more a hearts kind of girl.” His expression was collected, but his heart was racing as he thought she’d smack him for sure.
Leaning forward, Juri grabbed the dice and rolled them. His piece lurched forward five spaces. When it stopped, Juri read what came up:
Must come down.
Words come around,
To leave a frown.
“Cryptic much?” Juri asked no one in particular, wondering what that was supposed to mean. He didn’t have long to wait as he felt a tinkling sensation on his head. “What?” He felt it, but couldn’t see it. His hair had changed to form pink spikes along his head with little hearts all over them. “What happened? What happened?” He was in a slight panic over not knowing what it was other than it hurt to touch, because there were now points all over his head. He kept trying to tell himself that it could be worse. He could have lost all of his hair. He wasn’t bald. It wasn’t working. He wasn’t reassured.
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Juri
Maybe no adventures are wanted.
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Juri
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5