Professor Olivers
August 17, 2013 10:01 PM
Let's cheer things up. [III, IV & V years] by Professor Olivers
The doors slammed shut once the clock struck ten-thirty sharp. It wasn’t that Florence was in a bad mood or anything today. She simply felt a little less tolerant of her tardy students. It had absolutely nothing to do with the ripped envelope on her desk. Not at all. Besides, teaching her Intermediate students the importance of punctuality was essential to earning one’s wages in the future. “Good morning, students,” she greeted them. She usually enjoyed being animated, but today she didn’t feel like she had the energy to be so high-spirited. It was a dreary day, the kind that made a person want to stay under the covers all day and sleep. Florence was not immune to that feeling either, and today she was especially feeling it with a scratchy throat and a letter telling her that she had been rejected as a dialect coach for a local summer theatre production after such a long absence from the theatre scene. She knew it was nothing personal, but she couldn’t help but feel a little stabbed in the back. She had worked with the company she had applied to for most of her career on the stage. It wasn’t fair that they wouldn’t take her back after more than a decade’s absence. She was building her career up again. Just because she was older didn’t mean her credentials weren’t the same.Florence had survived her morning’s Beginner class after finding the news without snapping at any of them, but she wished she only had her Advanced students to work with. They were simple; all she had to do was give them something to work on and leave them to it for the rest of the period. For her other two classes she actually had to teach them. Ironically, today they were on the chapter regarding the Cheering Charm. Merlin knew Florence needed that charm cast on her right now.
She did her best not to let her emotions show and instead tried to bring peppy Professor Olivers into the scene. “Today we’re going to be working on the Cheering Charm. Since I had you all read it last night for today, you should all know what page we’re on in your textbooks. For those who decided to bypass the reading for today, it’s page 142.” Florence charmed the chalk to write the name of the spell on the blackboard. She had no patience today to lecture her students about how important the readings were when she assigned them. Those who had read the chapter beforehand would be set apart from those who hadn’t simply by their skill and understanding of the charm during their time to practice in class.
“This charm is very helpful in morose situations or when someone is feeling down. Instead of trying to comfort with empty words, you can cast this charm. As you read last night, it makes a person happy. If the spell is overdone, the person is overcome with fits of hysterics. Hysterical laughter, that is. This spell was invented by Felix Summerbee who worked as a spell developer in the 1400s. The incantation for this spell is, ‘hilaro,’ pronounced, ‘ee-LAH-roh’. Emphasizing the second syllable is very important, but don’t drag it out for too long. And please do not pronounce the ‘h’ in the incantation. You pronounce the ‘h’ and you nullify the spell entirely. That means it won’t work. Got it?
“Then let’s get started. If you have any questions come and ask me. I will be at my desk. You will be working with partners today and only one. You may work with friends in this class, but keep the noise level down or else that privilege will be revoked. Take turns casting the spell on each other. If one of you becomes extremely depressed or begins to laugh hysterically, I’m afraid to say the spell has no countercurse. You will simply have to deal with it. I am assigning your weekly essay today as well. Fifth-years, for next Wednesday research why Finite Incantatem is unable to undo this charm. For my third and fourth-years, write down your experience with the charm and analyze why or why not the charm worked for you and how many attempts it took you. This spell will most likely be on your CATS, fifth-years, so be prepared.” A professor could only do so much to prepare her students and Florence, by being strict and expecting a lot from her fifth-years, had hoped to shape them into high achievers. Alas, only time and their CATS test scores would tell how successful she had been. “Go ahead and begin.”
OOC: All site posting rules apply; creativity and realism are especially important in gaining more points! Tag Prof. Olivers if any help is needed or someone in a fit of hysterics needs to be led away.
Subthreads: A suitable boy by Effie Arbon with Carter Browning, Teppenpaw
Who's up for a laugh? by Jorge Garcia, Pecari with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari, Jorge
This might help for awhile... by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Clara Abernathy, Pecari, Aria Yale
I'd rather not. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren with Henny B-F-R
How convenient. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Jade Owen, Cepheus Princeton
I think I need an Energy Charm, actually by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Rupert Princeton, Pecari, Wendy
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Professor Olivers
Let's cheer things up. [III, IV & V years]
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Professor Olivers
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Aria Yale, Teppenpaw
August 18, 2013 5:57 PM
This might help for awhile... by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw
Charms tended to be the one subject that didn’t interfere with her beliefs. At least, not yet. Because of this, she didn’t feel as though her relationship with Professor Olivers was strained in any way that she could think of. She did well on her homework, she was always on time, she never caused a ruckus while in class, and she always tried to do her best. There was no reason Aria would be on her radar the way she might be for Professor Skies and Professor Fawcett.But that didn’t stop her from jumping when the door slammed shut when class was set to start. She wasn’t one of the late ones, so her being started or nervous about having done something was not something she felt should be a normal response, but still, her heart raced for a moment and she wondered if Professor Olivers was upset with them for something. Aria didn’t recall anything happening to cause a reaction, but she wasn’t someone that was really involved with the other students, so she might not have even been aware if they had decided to do something. She hoped that wasn’t the case. Aria did not want to have any sort of trouble because of something someone else did.
The lesson started, however, like normal, so Aria began to relax again. She had read the chapter that they were supposed to, but Aria also had a habit of reading ahead in her books. Due to her lack of a social life, Aria had a lot of time on her hands, so to keep herself busy with her morning rituals and studying from her books. Sometimes, she went for walks around the school or in the gardens, but that was when she needed exercise or air. She definitely had a lot of time on her hands.
Cheering charms… she could use with some of those now days. She missed her home. She missed her friends. She missed her parents. Sonora, the people here could pretend to be interested or ask her a million questions, but they still did not care to understand her and they judged her for it. They thought she was weird and beneath them. They might not say it or even be aware of thinking it, but she could see it. No matter what she did or said, it was always wrong to them. She stuck out like a sore thumb at this school. She could try and try and try to be nice and helpful to people but it didn’t help. This place was lonely. She was in a crowded room, but she was completely alone. Her mother said it would get better. People would forget to see her that way. They would get to know her and their differences wouldn’t matter, but she didn’t see that happening. She wasn’t even sure that was what she wanted. They didn’t make sense to her any more than she did to them. So what was the point?
Aria sat quietly in her seat after they were dismissed to do their work. She waited for everyone else to pair off with their friends before she approached anyone. She didn’t want to get rejected by people if they already planned to work with someone, so she’d rather wait to see where everyone went, only, she didn’t get the chance to wait because she was approached first…
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Aria Yale, Teppenpaw
This might help for awhile...
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Aria Yale, Teppenpaw
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Clara Abernathy, Pecari
August 20, 2013 9:27 PM
It's better than nothing helping, right? by Clara Abernathy, Pecari
Clara woke up early the morning of her Charms Class so that she had a chance to get some breakfast before her class. She grabbed her stuff her class and took it with her over to Cascade Hall. She grabbed a quick breakfast and hurried up to the Charms Class so that she wasn’t late. She knew that the class started at ten thirty sharp and she didn’t want to be late. She walked into the classroom and glanced around for a place to sit. Normally she would have sat wherever she found an empty seat. She liked doing it that way because she always ended up working with new and interesting people. They may not always hit it off, but it gave her the chance to talk to someone new everyday. As strange as that sounded to others, it made perfect sense to Clara. Her dad always liked to tell her that a stranger was just a friend she hadn’t met yet. If you put yourself out there you’ll be surprised what you discover. So far she had found that piece of advice to be incredibly helpful. Because of it she had an interesting conversation with Thad and Ceph their first class together. She wasn’t entirely certain what they really thought of her, but it was fun talking to them all the same. She met Ji-Eun and Charlie, Wendy, Waverly, Sully and a slue full of others that were great people. Her favorites so far after only four years at school had to be Waverly, Lucian and Aria and Angel. Every single one of them were absolutely fascinating to the pluckly little Pecari for very different reasons. Waverly she liked because she and Clara were both a little on the talkative side and they were from the same house. That and they got along really well. Lucian she liked because he was funny, sweet and he made her happy. Angel she liked because he was so the opposite of her and she found that fascinating. That and she had never encountered anyone like him before in her life. She only hoped that her loud personality hadn’t frightened him too much. And then there was Aria.Clara liked Aria because she knew who she was despite what anyone else may or may not say about her. She had never heard anyone say anything negative about her, but not everyone was kind. She liked that Aria did things that was completely contrary to how everyone else was being taught to do things. She had learned a lot from Aria during their last Potions Class and she was eager to learn more from her. She may not completely understand where Aria was from and how she was raised, but that didn’t stop Clara from wanting to be friends with Aria. That is if Aria wanted to be friends with her. Whether she did or not, it wasn’t going to stop her from being nice to the other girl. It wasn’t in Clara not to be nice to anyone. Well…that wasn’t entirely true. Someone would have to push the right button for her to be mean in any way, but since that rarely ever happened it wasn’t something she worried too much about. Clara glanced around the room and was happy when she spotted Aria. She made her way over to the Teppenpaw and took the seat next to her. She gave Aria a warm friendly smile as she put her bag down next the desk on the floor. She pulled out her Charms book and placed it on her desktop. She was about to say hello to Aria when the door to the Charms room seemed to slam shut and the slam echoed around the room. She gave Aria a curious look and leaned closer to her. “You don’t suppose something is wrong with Professor Olivers this morning, do you?” she whispered to her. She leaned back towards her own desk when the Professor began telling them about their assignment.
She recalled reading about the Cheering Charm when she read through the chapter the night before. It sounded both fascinating and troublesome. Troublesome if the spell went arwy and you accidentally sent someone into hysterics. She sincerely hoped that that didn’t happen while she and Aria were working together if Aria was okay with working with her again. She took notes off of Professor Olivers lecture and made certain that she wrote them meticulously. “The correct pronunciation is ee-LAH-roh, making sure to emphasize the middle syllable, but not too long. And don’t pronounce the H at all. If you do, it will nullify the spell and it won’t work at all” she told them seriously. Clara made certain to write that down as well. When Professor Olivers released them to work on their spells, Clara turned in her seat to Aria. “I enjoyed working with you last time and learned a lot I didn‘t know before. How would you feel about us working together again?” she asked her, smiling cheerfully.
OOC: I hope its not a problem that I added the part of Clara learning a lot from Aria during Potions class since we didn't get to go any further with that thread.
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Clara Abernathy, Pecari
It's better than nothing helping, right?
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Clara Abernathy, Pecari
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Aria Yale
August 21, 2013 9:45 PM
I suppose so. by Aria Yale
Aria had only noticed who had sat beside her when the other student whispered at her after the door slam. Aria ignored the comment though because she did not like it when others spoke during a lesson and there was that part of her that felt like even if she was nothing more than the victim of the chattering, she would be the one in trouble. Also, she thought talking during a lesson was rude. It didn’t matter what the topic of the chatter was, to do so when anyone was trying to explain something or say something to everyone was not polite.Aria had no qualms with Clara, but she did not engage in the whispers and was grateful when Clara did not continue with them. She did not know what to think of the other girl. Aria knew her to be the best friend and possible relation of her roommate, Thornton. This year, Aria had a run in with Thornton in the gardens and also with Clara in Potions. Aria had no idea why they suddenly decided to start talking to her, but it was a bit unnerving to her. Especially since everyone was now asking her everything about her culture. She didn’t mind questions, but she felt like this was something they should have asked back when they were first years and not suddenly as fourth years. What was worse, after her conversation with Rupert at the pool party, Aria felt like everything that she said to them in regards to her community, they would just twist what she was saying to make her community seem unequal to their world as Rupert had done. She had been trying to compare them to show that they were different, but equal, he made them out to seem naïve and ridiculous. Now she just wanted to keep them to herself instead of being judged on something she cared deeply for directly to her face.
Needless to say, she was surprised when Clara turned to her to work with her. Aria had been under the impression that Clara would scamper off to work with one of her many friends, which would have been completely fine with Aria if she were being honest. She didn’t really want to answer any more questions, but she needed a partner just the same. At least Clara seemed nice and interested. “There are no other ways of doing this charm.” Aria stated. If Clara only wanted to work with her because she thought she could teach her a different way than what the Professor had, she was mistaken. “But I have no feelings of discomfort with working with you on this assignment.” Aria advised, realizing only after that it might have sounded like an odd assessment of the question.
“Would you like to start?” She asked the other fourth year.
OOC: No, it's perfectly fine. Aria would have worked with her and helped her along with the potion, so I'm sure she learned things.
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Aria Yale
I suppose so.
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Aria Yale
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Clara Abernathy
August 30, 2013 10:31 PM
Thats the spirit :) (nm) by Clara Abernathy
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Clara Abernathy
Thats the spirit :) (nm)
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Clara Abernathy
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Clara Abernathy
August 30, 2013 10:32 PM
Thats the spirit by Clara Abernathy
Clara was glad to hear that Aria apparently had no issues with working with her on this class assignment. She had worried a little bit that Aria might object to the pairing since the pair really didn’t know each other all that well. Clara felt bad about that in many ways and in a way wanted to make up for that factor. She had had the chance to speak to Aria once before now at the Halloween Party that Regina thrown a couple of terms back. While she had an interesting conversation with her and Liam at the time, she kind-of got the impression that Aria may not have liked her much and wanted to give her some space without intruding upon her. She knew that fourth year was a little late to be trying to get to know someone, but it sure beat never trying. She felt that Aria was worth the effort and since Aria seemed a bit more receptive this time around, Clara figured it couldn’t hurt to try again to connect with her. Clara just hoped that Aria was as receptive as she hoped she was. Clara was a little surprised by Aria’s comment about the spell. She hadn’t even considered that there wasn’t an alternate way of casting the spell. Clara had figured that the spell pretty much only came with one way of doing it and was perfectly fine with doing it that way.“That’s okay,” she replied, shrugging slightly. “It never occurred to me that there might be another way of doing it. I pretty much figured that spells only had one specific way of doing them anyway.” She smiled pleasantly at her partner and chuckled. “Besides, from what I’ve been able to gather from studying with you and listening to my nanny talk, potions seem to be the only things done in magic that have alternate ingredients to them for the same result. Or am I wrong about that?” she asked curiously. She waited briefly for Aria’s reply and after she gave it, Clara nodded acknowledging her view on the subject. She only hoped that Aria didn’t see the nod as a means of dismissing her opinion. Clara had asked her for her opinion after all so that alone should suggest that she wasn’t dismissing Aria, right? Clara nodded again when Aria asked if she wished to start them off. “Sure, I’m willing to be the first to take a whack at it. I just hope I don’t accidentally overdo it,” she giggled a little nervously, hoping she didn’t make Aria too nervous. “Are you ready for me to do this?” Clara asked her politely. Once she got Aria’s reply Clara nodded her readiness and prepared to do the Cheering Charm. “Just for the record, I want to apologize ahead of time if I accidentally goof up and cause you to go into hysterics,” Clara apologized sincerely. “I promise though to do my best not to goof up.” She tried to sound as reassuring as possible.
Clara said the spell a few times to herself to make sure that she had the pronunciation as correct as possible before she took her first attempt. She raised her wand and gave Aria a reassuring smile and tried out the spell. “ee-LAH-roh” she cast, making sure that she emphasized the second syllable as Professor Olivers had instructed they do. She hoped that she had emphasized it long enough without going for too long. She would rather have the spell fizzle than cause hysterical laughter. She didn’t think Aria would ever talk to her again if she made her hysterically laugh even if it was by accident. She watched Aria for any signs of contentment or laughter. When neither seemed to readily present themselves Clara couldn’t help asking. “Did it work? Are you feeling happier or should I be worried?” she asked curiously, still waiting for either elation or hysterical laughter.
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Clara Abernathy
Thats the spirit
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Clara Abernathy
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Aria
September 01, 2013 9:10 PM
Sure. by Aria
Aria did not understand Clara at all. Not at all. Everyone seemed to believe that Aria was the strange one, but she honestly thought it was Clara. The only reason the girl had spoken to her in Potions and continued throughout the lesson was because she wanted the alternative. Wasn’t it then, normal for Aria to believe that was the reason she chose to speak with her now? Aria couldn’t fathom any other reason the girl would chose Aria to work with over her friends. But Aria did not know the alternative to this and therefore, there was nothing for her to offer to Clara. This seemed completely logical of an assessment in Aria’s mind.Aria shrugged at her question. “I would think everything has an alternative way of it. The world is not limited to one path, why should spells be?” She asked the other fourth year. Perhaps it was simply the way that Aria was raised, but she always believed there were alternatives to things if one opened their eyes to find it. It was probably why she still had such a hard time with Transfiguration. Not only did she have an absolute issue with using animals, she truly believed there was a better way to do it that should involve the creatures. Aria felt that a lot of people who lived outside of the realm of Spirituality that she did often restricted themselves to one thing and did not open their minds to the possibilities that surrounded them.
Since Clara only gave a nod in response to Aria’s comment, she felt that Clara didn’t really believe her. Aria took that to mean that Clara was not as open minded as she perceived herself to be. Being friendly towards others who were different from one another did not mean they actually accepted this other people. Aria was beginning to understand this concept after her many conversations with people. It was a demon within herself as well. She was figuring out how to cope and let go of it.
As Aria was the first guinea pig for this spell, she wasn’t sure how she thought about Clara already admitting failure by apologizing before even getting started. Confidence was key to performing any spell and if she was simply going to believe that there was even a possibility of doing the spell incorrectly, than she was likely to fail the spell entirely.
She closed her blue eyes for a moment, almost afraid of Clara’s wand skills and opened them a split second after she heard her partner say the spell. She waited to figure out how she felt, but there was nothing especially different about how she was feeling. Did that mean it hadn’t worked? “Maybe I feel more cheerful?” Aria offered to her partner. “But, I’m not sure it was strong enough of a spell. You have to have more confidence to really make it work.” She advised Clara.
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Aria
Sure.
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Aria
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Clara
September 13, 2013 6:02 PM
You don't think so? by Clara
Clara regarded Aria’s reply seriously. She made a very good point that Clara hadn’t quite considered at the time she made her comment. She was sure that there were spells that were similar to one another, but she was fairly certain that while similar they had different outcomes…didn’t they? Since she hadn’t tried all of them yet she really had no way to know. I guess that could be a goal of mine she thought to herself before responding to Aria. She nodded absently. “You make an excellent point,” she told Aria. “It does make more sense that there would be more than one way to do things in life be it spells or potions or just traveling in general,” she agreed cheerfully. “I think the best part about it comes with the discovery of those ways, dontcha think? Especially if you have someone to share that discovery with,” she commented. Clara may not be good at a lot of things, but that has never stopped her from trying despite the outcome. She couldn’t help wondering if Aria went into things with the same gusto.She watched Aria closely to see if there was any change in her thanks to the spell. However, neither of them seemed to be sure. She regarded Aria curiously as she waited for Aria’s answer to her question. She was hoping that she had managed to get the spell to work, but if Aria’s reaction to it was any indication she had to conclude that she hadn’t done as well with it as she had hoped. Well at least she doesn’t appear to be going into hysterics so that could be counted as a plus I guess she chided herself lightly. She nodded agreeingly with Aria’s assessment. She really did need to show some more confidence in her spell casting. Given her track record with most things, Clara had more confidence in something going horribly awry with the things she attempted than anything going right. It was why nobody was more surprised than she was when things didn’t blow up in her face.
“I know that you’re right and I really do need to have more confidence with this, but I’ve gotten soo used to things going horribly wrong when I attempt them that I’ve come to expect that they will from the get go just to minimize any disappointment when it does happen ya know what I mean?” she commented half jokingly. She even smiled a bit at the admission. She wasn’t certain that Aria would fully understand, but it felt good to admit it anyway. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself. An interesting thought struck her as she did so and she couldn’t quite stop herself from voicing it aloud. “Maybe I goof up so often because I’m over thinking what I’m trying to do and I end up trying too hard,” she voiced aloud. “Maybe I just need to go for it and not worry so much that its going to fail from the get go.” Coming to that conclusion with Aria’s assistance made Clara feel better about trying the spell again. It felt the same as when Lucian helped her figure out how to fly. All she had to do was let go of the negative thoughts and go for it.
Clara smiled at Aria and nodded. “Okay…I’m ready to try again,” she told her. Clara raised her wand and gave Aria an encouraging smile. “ee-LAH-roh!” she cast pouring as much confidence as she could into the casting. She held onto the second syllable a little longer this time than she previously had and did the movement with the wand that they had been shown. She waited expectantly for Aria’s reaction to her second attempt with the spell. “How do you feel now?” she asked her partner curiously. She had felt way more confident going into this casting than she had the last one so hopefully that had made all the difference.
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Clara
You don't think so?
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Clara
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5