Professor Skies
May 07, 2016 12:56 AM
Beginners - feeling bouncy by Professor Skies
“Good morning,” Selina greeted the beginners class, “As you already know, I’m Deputy Headmistress Skies, however you can all address me as ‘professor,’ and I will be teaching you Transfiguration. Transfiguration is complex magic, and you will find that you do best in this class if you can approach your projects with a degree of patience. Please try not to be disheartened if you don’t achieve much straight away. A lot of what we practise may seem to have little practical use at first - why change one object to another, if the other is close at hand? But can you imagine being able to conjure up what you need out of thin air, or change your appearance at will? These are some of the more complex forms of Transfiguration, but you can’t learn to run before you’ve learnt to walk. The skills you will learn in your early classes will strengthen your magical ability as a whole, and your ability to control your powers. And you never know when you might not have exactly what you need readily to hand, so you may find these types of spell coming in useful more often than you imagine.“Your first task today will be to fill out a Transfiguration table, which is coming round now - there are detailed copies for first years, and blank ones for second years. The table lists all the features of an object, such as function, size, etcetera. When we are Transfiguring, the most important element is to visualise in detail the change that will take place, as well as finding common links between the items. As you become more practised in the process, this is something you will be able to do in your head, but to start with, it helps to think it through on paper.
“Today, you will be making bouncy balls. You have a few different options to choose from. First years, you may take either a smooth, round pebble or an eraser. Second years, you can choose either of these materials, or a more lumpy and uneven pebble,” as she spoke, a box floated from her desk around the room, pausing in front of each student so they could make a selection (although if they took too long, it jiggled somewhat impatiently). “Whilst you work, I would like you to keep notes about your different attempts, including what changes you visualised and what results you saw. For homework, pair up with someone in your year who chose a different starting object to you and compare notes. It’s not a puzzle, and neither of the first year objects is more or less difficult - they each have plus points and minus points.
“The spell for everyone is hevea,” she had considered making them look up the derivation of this for homework as well, as the other task was fairly easy, but she didn’t want to overload them in their first week. “We’ll be looking at different spell origins throughout the term, and anyone who wants to get ahead on this subject should read chapter four of their books,” behind her, the chalk scribbled details of the lesson and the homework in an elegant, sloping hand.
“You may talk quietly amongst yourselves whilst you work, and if you have any difficulties, you can discuss the problem with your neighbours or raise your hand to get my attention. You may begin.”
OOC - Welcome to Transfiguration! Remember, in her first lesson, Hermione Granger was only able to make a matchstick go silvery and a bit pointy. The lesson you’ve got is slightly easier to give you more chance to have a range of different outcomes, but it will still not be a fast or easy process for your character. You are marked on the quality of your writing, not how well your character does, and high marks are given for realism, creativity, length and relevance. Feel free to make up details about the worksheet that has been handed out, and tag me in the subject line if your character is calling my attention, or doing anything risky that a teacher would likely put a stop to. Remember, you are being supervised, and whilst explosions are fun, Selina would step in before a situation became truly dangerous, so please give her the chance to do so if you’re up to anything.
Subthreads: Play ball (tag: Gabe) by Ben "Hippo" Pierce, Pecari with Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]
Hope everyone's put away their china. by Joseph Umland, Teppenpaw with Killian Everett - Pecari
Where there's smoke... there's a Spark? by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw with Farrah Welsh (Aladren)
Not so bouncy. by Lily Spencer, Pecari with Arianna Valenti [Aladren]
Bounce, little pebble, bounce! [Tag: Juniper] by Finn Scott with Juniper Brockert,Teppenpaw
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Professor Skies
Beginners - feeling bouncy
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Professor Skies
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Finn Scott
May 29, 2016 7:38 AM
Bounce, little pebble, bounce! [Tag: Juniper] by Finn Scott
Finn had been quite excited to start classes. He’d always been a little envious seeing the older members of his family performing magic, and now at Sonora he was finally going to have a chance to do so himself! His first few classes hadn't gone too badly. However, he was a little nervous for his first transfiguration class, as it was meant to be a hard subject. What if he wasn't very good? That would be awfully embarrassing.He listened carefully as the Deputy Headmistress explained what they were to do. The task didn’t sound too complicated, although he wasn't sure his chances of success were that high. He took the sheet that was coming round, glad that he’d have the more detailed copy. Briefly debating over which object would be easier, the tray jiggled slightly and Finn hastily chose a pebble. Examining it, he found it a little hard to think that he could make it into a bouncy ball. The pebble was heavier than a bouncy ball, although it was at least smooth and fairly spherical. He jotted down his observations in the table he’d been given, hoping that they would make the task ahead of him a little bit easier.
Looking around to find someone he could pair up with for the homework, he was relieved to see Juniper’s familiar face. They’d got on well at the opening feast (or so he’d thought), and it would be nice to talk to her again.
“Would you like to work together?” he asked her, hoping that she hadn't already made plans to pair up with somebody else. Finn didn’t want to get left behind in the friend-making process! He hadn't talked to that many people yet, and whilst part of him wanted to make as many friends as possible, a shyer part of him was quite happy to sit back and let others make the first effort. However, after his previous conversation with Juniper, he felt more confident around her and was hoping to get to know her better.
Finn wasn't the most confident of boys. He’d been brought up to always be friendly and polite, but whilst he often came across as quietly confident he could be a bundle of nerves inside. Despite enjoying his time at Sonora so far he did find himself missing home and his family. Sharing a room with a boy he didn’t know very well (although Jozua did seem very nice) meant that he couldn't fully relax yet, especially as he was being very conscientious about keeping their room tidy.
Turning his attention back to the lesson he was in, Finn decided to have a try at transfiguring the pebble. He looked at it whilst picturing a bouncy ball in his mind. Aiming his wand at the pebble, he focussed hard on the task he was attempting. “Hevea,” he said firmly. To his disappointment, the pebble remained looking the same. However, it did bounce a couple of times! Feeling pleased with himself, he jotted down his initial results in the table.
“How are you getting on?” he asked Juniper.
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Finn Scott
Bounce, little pebble, bounce! [Tag: Juniper]
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Finn Scott
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Finn Scott
May 29, 2016 9:07 AM
Juniper Brockert,Teppenpaw
June 08, 2016 9:15 PM
And turn round. by Juniper Brockert,Teppenpaw
Juniper was definitely not looking forward to going to any class besides Care of Magical Creatures. The idea of sitting in class with all the first and second years and no escape sounded like torture. It wasn't like Orientation where she had ended up spending part of it hiding in the girls' room. If she ran out of the classroom because she couldn't take it, she'd be in deep trouble with her professor, plus her classmates would think she was a freak.And it wasn't as though Juniper didn't want to learn about how to use magic. That was necessary and in Transfiguration in particular, which she did think she might be good at, if she really did want to become an animagus someday she needed to be in class to learn. It was just that Juniper didn't want to have to be around other students, who even if they were quiet and not technically bothering her, were distracting just by being there because she'd be so anxious in their presence that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to focus. Only in Care of Magical Creatures would the comforting presence of animals and the overwhelming interest in the subject be enough to forget about the presence of others just a little.
The Teppenpaw tried to force herself to ignore the presence of her classmates and listen to Professor Skies. She really did want to learn things, she just didn't really like the social aspect of....well, of life in general. Not to worry about the little nuances of interactions with different people. Not to worry about people thinking her strange or to mess up if she didn't do things right. Not to worry about representing her family name accurately. Juniper had heard role call and there were last names she recognized besides those of her relatives and Finn. It made her acutely aware that any action she took had the potential to offend them.
And even the ones who weren't might be critical of her for some reason or another. She wasn't sure she was supposed to care, but she did. The first year didn't want anyone to have reason to make fun of her. Not that she actually had much experience with being made fun of since she genuinely didn't have much experience with people other than her parents, Duncan and the ghosts in their house and the only one of them whom ever criticized her was Mother. Occasionally, she saw other relatives at a family or social event, the ones more closely related more, in particular Tasha and her parents. And then there were the parties her mother forced her into where she tried to fade into the background and could never ever shake the feeling others were whispering and laughing.
Juniper had those feelings right now. Sure, people were supposed to be listening to Professor Skies, but she knew that not everyone was into academics and minds wandered. What if she was doing something wrong and they were critiquing her rather than learning how to transfigure erasers or rocks into a bouncy ball? It was a compartively simple lesson, a building block, but bouncy balls weren't a necessity of life-she might have fun playing with one with a cat, even though horses were her favorite, Juniper loved all animals-so others might not think it was that vital to learn and thus were letting their minds wander. She just hoped there was nothing about anything she was doing at the moment that made anyone think of her .
She didn't think long about which object she'd take, it didn't matter much to her. Juniper reached into the box and pulled out an eraser, pink and tapered on the ends. She examined it and wrote down some notes about it. It was a radically different shape from a bouncy ball which were always spherical but both were made out of rubber. Of course, they were of different types of rubber. And then of course, bouncy balls could be any color or pattern. Juniper decided she'd just make it a brighter shade of pink and concentrate on the shape. She'd rather go the simpler route and possibly succeed, then try something more ambitious, fail and have her classmates see. She was a Brockert and that meant Transfig prowess, even if she did prefer COMC.
Before she could try anything, she heard a voice speak to her. Juniper looked up, startled, only to Finn there. "S-sure!" Not only did someone want to work with her, but it was someone she'd already met and liked. That meant she hadn't messed up with her fellow Teppenpaw and that he wanted to be around her still. And as an added bonus, she didn't have to deal with the stress of meeting someone new. Plus, Finn had a pebble and she had an eraser and Professor Skies said to pair with someone in her class with a different object.
She watched as Finn tried the spell. "Good job." She told him as his pebble bounced.
Now it was her turn. Juniper took a deep breath. All she needed was for it to do something. "Hevea" . The eraser turned a rather garish share of neon pink-she'd always associated bouncy balls with bright colors so it was more or less what she wanted despite her desperate desire to blend in-and the tapering on the ends disappeared.
The first year considered her housemate's question. "All right, I guess. How about you?" Juniper returned the question.
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Juniper Brockert,Teppenpaw
And turn round.
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Juniper Brockert,Teppenpaw
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