Professor Olivers
September 09, 2012 1:24 AM
Walk of Faith [VI & VII years] by Professor Olivers
To be honest with herself, Florence much preferred the Advanced class above the others. The older students were more mature, obviously more advanced in their spellwork, and had been going to school long enough to know how to act properly during classroom activity. Of course, that didn’t go for every single student, but she liked to think so. So far she hadn’t had too much of a problem in any of her classes.Florence was a very meticulous witch who enjoyed setting stages for her acting, and today was no exception. She was kind of proud of the transformation the room had gone through in 24 hours. The posters on the walls were gone, replaced with South Asian tapestries. There was traditional Indian music playing softly in the background, and the desks had been vanished, leaving the entire room open and no fire hazards in sight. Her exotic carpet was gone as well, and in its place were long and narrow wooden platforms that were slightly raised. Coals were too dangerous to play with in class since they were too slow to cool, but there was a small fire going on instead. Sustained by magic, obviously, but no less real. It had been going on for at least an hour now, burning bright and warm. A challenge she hoped her older students would enjoy.
There were three of these platforms spread out in the room. She didn’t want them too close together. There were oriental pillows on the stone floor that surrounded the platforms at a distance for them to sit on while she did her mini lecture today. After that, they were going to do some walking through fire. Of course, it was a bit anticlimactic since they were going to use a charm to make the fire safe to walk through, but nevertheless, the sight of fire was enough to make any student hesitant to walk through it.
Once everyone was inside and seated, she stood up from her desk that had been pushed to the very back of the classroom and walked a few feet from the platform closest to her. Today she was wearing a sari to keep with the theme of today. Different cultures fascinated Florence, hence the name she went by, and she especially liked the Indian culture. It was a perfect way to integrate it into her lesson today and gave her a great reason to wear her sari.
“Good morning, class,” she said with a smile. By now, she had memorized everyone’s name and face so she no longer needed to take roll call. “Welcome to a little bit of a cultural lesson. Today we are going to walk through fire.” Oh, she was going to have fun with this. “Firewalking is an old South Asian custom as a rite of passage, a test of one’s strength and courage, or a test of one’s faith. In a sense, we’re going to be using all three. Traditionally, one would walk on hot coals, but in accordance with our lesson, we are going to be walking through fire.” The fire burning on the platforms seemed to grow a little taller.
Florence looked to see how her students were taking in this news with a mischievous smirk. “We’re going to be working on the Flame-Freezing Charm today. It’s on page fifty-four of your textbook.” She paused for a moment to let them turn to the page as she retrieved her wand from her desk. “As you can see in your book, the incantation is ‘Frigus Ignis’. The charm was quite popular back in the medieval times where witches and wizards used it as they pretended to burn at the stake during witch hunts. It was a fun way to pass the time back then, I suppose. However, we’re going to use it to change the properties of the fire you are all going to be walking through.
“Let’s all say the incantation together. ‘Frigus Ignis.’ Good. The platform you are sitting at is going to be the platform you are going to walk on. Your fellow classmates are going to be your spectators. Oh, and please take off your shoes and socks. It wouldn’t be fun with those on.” She smiled again, a little twinkle in her eye. “Though the fire feels hot, if you performed the charm correctly, it should feel like a warm breeze, a gentle tickling sensation, when you walk through. If you haven’t, well, ask your parents to buy you new pants.” She winked. “I won’t let it get that far, don’t worry.
“And just to make this interesting, whoever successfully crosses the platform and back first without getting singed doesn’t have to do the essay for this week.” Offering a get-out-of-homework-free pass was always a great motivator. “Remember, this is a more difficult charm and takes a lot of concentration. Even the slightest hesitance will weaken the spell. You have to walk through it confidently.” Florence closed her eyes and spread her arms. “Let the magic flow through you. Imagine the warm breeze and concentrate on changing the fire’s effects. Trust your magic.”
The former actress opened her eyes. “The fire will not change in appearance after you cast the charm. You have to trust your magic to perform correctly so you don’t scorch your feet.” She took a deep breath and let it out with a smile. “Go on, now. If any of you do burn your feet a little, come to me and I’ll take care of it for you.” That’s what salves and magic were for.
OOC: Firstly, NO MAJOR BURNS ALLOWED. You can get scorched here and there, but no burning up. You can singe your pant legs and whatnot, and of course Florence will be there for minor burns (tag her in the tagline if you need her), but nothing major! Two-hundred words minimum as usual, but make them extra creative and long for extra points!
Subthreads: Platform I (nm) by Professor Olivers with Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw, Jane Carey, Teppenpaw
Platform II (nm) by Professor Olivers with Eliza Bennett, Crotalus, Nic Sawyer, Crotalus
Platform III (nm) by Professor Olivers with Marcus Williams, Pecari, David Wilkes, Aladren
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Professor Olivers
Walk of Faith [VI & VII years]
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Professor Olivers
September 09, 2012 1:25 AM
Platform III (nm) by Professor Olivers
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Professor Olivers
Platform III (nm)
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Marcus Williams, Pecari
September 15, 2012 6:21 PM
It's Magical by Marcus Williams, Pecari
Marcus was going to be graduating from Sonora soon enough and he still hadn’t any idea on what it was that he wanted to do with his life. But, he knew he still had time to figure things out. What he really need to keep on top of was his school work. He had managed an O in charms, so he felt good about the class, but if he wanted to get a scholarship anywhere, he needed to make sure he kept getting Os or Es in his lessons. The only one that seemed to be trouble for him was Potions. He was never really good in science, so he supposed the one class that was like Chemistry would be his most difficult. At least they didn’t have math here. He wasn’t terrible at math, but it was really boring to learn.Charms was a new professor and a whole new year. He never really knew what to expect from the Professors and the new ones weren’t any better. This one, Professor Olivers, was weird in her own way. She seemed really happy but also strict. Walking into the room, Marcus had to freeze for a moment to get his bearings. The room was completely different. The desks were gone, there were new things on the walls, cushions on the ground, and weird planks that had him a bit nervous. He plopped his tall frame onto one of the free cushions and folded into himself so that he wasn’t taking too much room up.
If nothing else could be said about the professor, at least they could say she wasn’t boring. He had seen ‘fire walking’ in movies and read about them in books. He knew that certain tribal cultures did it as a test of faith or manhood or something along those lines. Marcus didn’t really see the purpose. So, you like to burn your skin and cause yourself an immense amount of pain, congratulations but I will not take part in it. Unfortunately, today seemed like one of those days where he was actually going to have to participate.
“You ever wonder why we do certain lessons?” Marcus whispered to the person in the cushion next to him. He really hoped that there would never be a day where he would have to walk to fire and therefore, need to use this spell. Freezing other things might be more appropriate. Like, if he accidentally knocked a glass over, he could freeze it before it hit the ground. That would be something reasonable and helpful. Walking through fire was just the professors way of making it interesting and possibly enjoyed watching her students injure themselves.
“My Ma always told me never to play with fire.” Marcus said as he stood up and walked to the front of the platform. Watching the fire for a moment, Marcus took a breath and held up his wand. Slipping out of his shoes and socks, Marcus prepared for the spell. He was good at Charms, so he could do this without fear. He could. Really. And what a great letter that would be for his mother. Hey Ma, hope you’re well. Guess what I did in Charms today. Walked through fire. Yeah, that’s right. He’d be yelled at for sure, but it’d be funny to see her reaction. With this in mind, Marcus said the spell. The fire didn’t freeze, but that was the point. It just only be warm.
He took a step and could feel the heat of the fire. It wasn’t so hot that he was burning, but it wasn’t a warm breeze either. He did a fast walk over the fire to the other side and then hopped a bit to ease the skin and the bottom of his foot. “That was not very comfortable. Someone else have a go, my feet need to cool down.”
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Marcus Williams, Pecari
It's Magical
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David Wilkes, Aladren
October 04, 2012 12:10 PM
I'm debating where to place my faith today. by David Wilkes, Aladren
David had been attending school long enough to know how to act properly during class time, and would agree that his charmswork was more advanced than it had been in first or even third year, but there were only a few circumstances under which he would claim to be a particularly mature person, and under all of them he would still be lying. He didn’t find that too much of a problem. He still had at least five more years of education stretching out before him, and after that, he’d still have a good handful of decades to worry about being mature in. For now, walking into the elaborately decorated Charms classroom, he saw no problem with first worrying that they were going to have to drink hot tea and do yoga – both activities he supported in the abstract, since his older sister’s affection for them annoyed certain members of their family so very much, but had never contemplated really taking up himself and thought of, since Annabeth was the only person he knew who liked them, as somehow essentially girly – and then wondering if there would be people dressed like Princess Jasmine.Those thoughts, though, didn’t stick with him long after Professor Olivers started talking, except for a vague one about how he wished it had been yoga. That looked painful, but at least he could take an aspirin – or visit the hospital wing for the potion equivalent, he guessed – afterward and no harm done. Fire was…different.
David worked well enough with tiny amounts of it in Potions, but it was never a comfortable experience. He’d heard, over and over again, never to go near the heaters and fireplaces when he was little, and though he guessed now that they’d been more afraid of kids falling in it than of the actual fire, he had learned it was something to be afraid of, a feeling which had been confirmed, if by someone else, when he was about ten. Now he was being asked to do the same thing, even with magic…yeah, he didn’t like that.
He looked at his shoes. Even if he could work a Disillusionment Charm, the rubber soles would melt unless he could Transfigure it into stone somehow. And do all this without anyone noticing that he was cheating. It was a tall order, that was for sure. And he was decent at charms, had access to magical medicine, and wasn’t an idiot who’d sit at home for a week after getting burned, so maybe he should just try to do things properly.
That resolution was challenged when the first person came off his platform smarting. It didn’t look any worse than sticking one’s finger to the side of a cauldron every now and then, but David didn’t like that, either, which was why he usually wore his gloves during Potions.
David shook his head, thinking of what the professor had said this lesson was about in its home culture. A rite of passage was right out, it was too late in the year to worry about being properly initiated into the mysteries of the Advanced classes. A test of strength and courage wasn’t necessary, either; he was happily aware that he possessed neither, it was just that he got stubborn sometimes, or was more afraid of one thing than he was another, such as not jumping up and announcing he wasn’t doing this because he was worried about getting in trouble. As for a test of faith – faith in what? His magical ability? Normally, that would have been all right, but he was feeling nervous at the moment, which wasn't great for magic, and he needed practice before he got a spell right. As for other faith, well, he believed in God, and even believed in miracles, if it came to that, but not in throwing down the gauntlet and demanding one for his very own….
“Frigus ignis,” he tried, deciding he could at least practice a little, if not with any clue how much good it was doing, before he had to make up his mind about chickening out or trying to bewitch his shoes. “Frigus ignis, frigus ignis,, wish I knew Latin, frigus ignis,….”
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David Wilkes, Aladren
I'm debating where to place my faith today.
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