Beginners - Transfigure your way out of a paper bag on Transfiguration

Professor Skies

November 13, 2016 11:11 PM

Beginners - Transfigure your way out of a paper bag by Professor Skies

“Good morning, class,” Selina smiled. They were well into the first half of the year now, and she knew all the new faces (and which ones to keep an eye on). She had walked them through visualising, and using a Transfiguration Table - a list of attributes and a way of comparing objects to see where one’s energy needed to be focussed. By now, they were hopefully getting the hang of things, and getting some results on their first tries, though their attempts were often likely to be far from perfect.

“Today, we’ll be doing something a little different. I’ve got a puzzle for you,” she smiled. Sometimes it was hard to see how certain spells were practical, although she felt it was more Muggleborns and Halfbloods who felt this way - why waste the effort of magic, when you could just get the thing in question, rather than create it. Purebloods who had grown up seeing everything done by magic were more likely to just accept that that was the simplest way… Still, that was a whole other lesson in itself. Transfiguration was hard to justify in that way, because what was useful depended very much on what you had and what you needed… Still, she wanted her students to start to feel a sense of accomplishment in their magic, beyond just doing it because their teacher had said so. And whilst solving a puzzle was something just for fun, she hoped it might give them some sense of accomplishment if they succeeded.

“Each of these paper bags contains an object,” She indicated a row of sealed paper bags at the front of the room. The contents ranged from small stationery items, to sticker sheets, to keychains to sweets. “Your job is to liberate the item inside without ripping the bag. You must use a tranfiguration spell to turn the bag into something that will allow you to remove the contents. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like, though you will be graded higher the more your item deviates from the original - though this could be in a broad number of ways, such as object, materials or design.” They had already covered using decoration on their objects in a previous class, and so the students would be familiar with trying to make their objects pretty as well as functional, and there were a lot of ways they could deviate from the plain brown paper bags they were currently being given. “Please hand in your item, along with a slip of paper stating what was inside, when you are finished. The prizes are yours keep.

“There is an additional challenge, in that you have to be careful that your magic only affect the bag and not its contents. Whilst the desks we work on here are magic-proofed, the real world will not extend you such courtesies, and you will need to be careful about limiting your magic only to the item you intend. If you have any problems with having fused your prize into your finished transfiguration, come and see me.”

OOC - Welcome to Transfiguration. Points will be awarded based on length, relevance, realism and creativity. You are welcome to make up appropriate spells for your character to use. If you are not confident coming up with spell words, you can just refer to it as ‘the incantation’ though more details = more points. Please check other people’s posts to make sure you are not coming up with two different spells to do the same job. If you are unsure about a spell’s realism, please check with me, via the OOC page. If you mess up, you are free to have Selina put you back on track without tagging me.

Subthreads:

I'll take what's in the mystery box (tag Florence) by Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw with Florence Newell, Aladren

I have the urge to say paper or plastic. by Kit Reid, Aladren

13 Professor Skies Beginners - Transfigure your way out of a paper bag 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw

November 14, 2016 2:29 AM

I'll take what's in the mystery box (tag Florence) by Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw

Georgia’s resolution for the year was to make more friends. She felt like she was really lagging behind in that department. Ok, her grades weren’t as good as they could have been, and without a parent to nag her, she sometimes flat out forgot to do her homework, so there were definitely multiple areas where she could improve, but to her, friends was the most important. If you failed a test, at least you had someone to sympathise with you about it if you had friends. And having some friends to study with would potentially help her grades. Sure, it was a bit of a circuitous route when she could just try harder, but she knew she’d do better with a study buddy. She had Farrah, and she was great (and super smart) but she felt a bit like she relied on her too much. Georgia had cried on her shoulder multiple times last year, and if they did homework together, Farrah was bound to be able to give her more help than Georgia gave her… She didn’t want Farrah to start feeling that she just took from their relationship or that she was super needy or something.

She wondered about making friends with some of the first years. At her old school, she would never have considered it. You didn’t talk to babies, unless there was something wrong with you. Although she had had some friends in the year above… That had always made perfect sense to her - anyone older was, by extension, cooler, but she hadn’t ever thought how those friends had to be breaking the rule to hang out below their grade level and socialise with her. She guessed it hadn’t been her problem. She’d been grateful for the friends, and how it made her feel to hang out with the big kids. But maybe it would be different at Sonora anyway… They had classes with the first years, after all, and were often expected to work together. Plus there was Farrah’s theory about how the social order was different here, based on certain ‘nerds’ being simultaneously cool.

Transfiguration had to be one of the hardest subjects on their schedule, and Georgia didn’t really look forward to the class because of it. However, that day she was pleasantly surprised. The thought of getting a little prize for efforts was really motivating, and the presentation of the task as a puzzle, rather than just for the sake of it, worked on her. She pondered what she might turn her bag into - though not before giving it a little squeeze and a shake to see if she could work out what was inside - Professor Skies hadn’t said anything about that being against the rules… Whatever it was, it was quite an odd, bumpy shape, with some hard bits and some squishy. She was excited to find out what it might be. The obvious answer to her was to turn the bag into a box. She guessed an obvious answer might not cut it as she was a second year but she’d never been very good at lateral thinking, and perhaps she could pick up points by making it look nice - Professor Skies had basically said as much. Perhaps a pretty gift box would be a good way to go?

She glanced at the person next to her. It was a first year, one she thought she recognised from her wagon. The girl had been with an older boy, and she was pretty sure they were both called Newell, so she guessed they were siblings or cousins. She was a bit jealous. As an only child, she’d always envied people with a big sibling or older cousin at their next school up. Someone who could show them the ropes and look out for them. Still, it didn’t mean this girl didn’t need a friendly face in her own classes. And anyway, her relative might have been a total jerk who’d just told her scary stories about the place. Some people were like that, especially brothers (from her experience by proxy and TV). It also gave her a chance to find out if she was aiming way too low with her project. She should probably be trying out something more complex than a first year, after all.

“Hi there,” she smiled, “How’s it going? Got an idea yet?” If the smile didn’t clue Florence in that this was a friendly exchange and not some kind of academic test, hopefully the Teppenpaw badge on Georgia’s robes did. Even though she was a year older, Georgia doubted she came off intimidating to anyone.

13 Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw I'll take what's in the mystery box (tag Florence) 346 Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw 0 5

Florence Newell, Aladren

November 16, 2016 3:14 AM

Yours is already a box?! by Florence Newell, Aladren

Transfigurations was exactly the sort of scholastic endeavour Florence loved: it was difficult. She enjoyed the challenge, the effort it took to manipulate and improve her mind and now her magic. Mental work was a joy and a privilege, and today’s lesson was the best kind, as well. Beyond the normal difficulty Transfigurations offered, today it demanded even more of her mind. Today, it was a puzzle. The Aladren was in heaven.

She fingered the paper bag extensively, trying to assess how large the item within it was and therefore how much space between the bag and the item existed. That was her margin of error. It seemed that the bag’s content was fairly small, but still, more room to work with would probably be best. Ideas forming, she began leafing through her textbook to find the incantation/s she would need.

That was when the girl beside her spoke. A second year with a Teppenpaw badge, which meant she had to be Juniper’s roommate. But as she began the interaction, it was immediately apparent that this girl was far more at ease with other people. Florence had no personal preference for shy or outgoing people, but this did make her job of communicating with the girl a lot easier.

“I’m thinking about making the bag bigger so I’ve got more space between it and the prize,” she stated, since the older girl asked about her ideas. “Then I think I’ll change the color of the bag, and then the composition. It’s probably easier if I do that in two steps, right?” Her blue eyes fell momentarily to her book as she leafed through a few more pages before looking back up. “I haven’t figured out what to turn it into, though. Do you know any good spells for this? And by the way,” she added quickly. People here were so conversational, she kept forgetting to fit an introduction in there anywhere. “I’m Florence. Flo’s fine, if you prefer.”

12 Florence Newell, Aladren Yours is already a box?! 362 Florence Newell, Aladren 0 5

Kit Reid, Aladren

November 18, 2016 6:25 PM

I have the urge to say paper or plastic. by Kit Reid, Aladren

Once the professor started class, Kit put down her copy of The Time-Turner Tales and switched to her sparkly silver notebook that was for Transfiguration notes only. There was nothing wrong with being organized and fashionable. Just like today, she wore a pale pink blazer with a matching plaid skirt. Under she had white leggings and pink boots. Her blonde hair was styled in soft curls to frame her face.

The idea of a puzzle intrigued Kit. She loved puzzles. There was something especially satisfying in solving one. Maybe it was because before she had come to Sonora, it had been the hidden proof of her intelligence amongst the proper things that young Pureblood ladies were schooled in. She glanced towards the indicated paper bags. Hmm, that was going to be a tough one. How to liberate the item inside the bag without actually ripping the bag. Of course, that was the first clue to the puzzle. The professor didn’t say that it couldn’t be opened some other way. Simply that, it couldn’t be ripped.

The Aladren tried to wait patiently to hear the rest of the instructions. Second clue was transfigure the bag, which was obvious since it was Transfiguration class. So, the third was exactly how to do so. After she got her bag, she set it on her desk and stared at it. The theory was easy enough. She would transform the bag into a bag. The question was how to actually perform the required transfigurations to get it to the type of bag she wanted.

She started by trying to picture what exactly she was going to turn it into. She wasn’t sure if what she was picturing was going to work though. She wished that they had this lesson a few years from now when she would be able to turn the paper bag into something a little more upscale, but for now, she was going to have to do her best. She was about to make her first attempt when she heard a voice next to her. She turned her attention towards the person. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you said.”

0 Kit Reid, Aladren I have the urge to say paper or plastic. 363 Kit Reid, Aladren 0 5