Intermediates - Bridging the Culture Gap on Transfiguration

Selina Skies

June 05, 2020 8:55 PM

Intermediates - Bridging the Culture Gap by Selina Skies

“Good morning class,” Selina greeted the intermediate students once they had filed in and taken their seats.

“As introduced at the start of the year, one of the popular and recurring theory questions on the Transfiguration CATS paper is ‘How good does your knowledge of an item have to be in order to conjure it?’ We have started to look at that with our co-study of biology alongside plant conjuration, and there are several prominent theories that you will be expected to reference in your essays.

“Today, we will be running a little class experiment along that theme with conjuring scale models of bridges. As this is an experiment, we will be following the scientific method, which I have outlined to you in previous lessons. That means we’re going to need a hypothesis. First off, who can remember what a hypothesis is?” she checked, pretty sure she would easily get the response given certain members of this class, “Excellent. Now, given the overall theory question we’re addressing, and that I’ve told you we’ll be conjuring scale models of bridges, can anyone suggest what an appropriate hypothesis might be?” she asked. There was, of course, more than one right answer, and so she allowed a few students to respond, refining any ideas that were off the mark before adding them to the board.

“Excellent. Today, we will be looking at this suggestion,” the chalk underlined the one which read ‘Knowledge of bridges improves ability to conjure them.’ “Now, that’s still a little vague. What are some of the ways we could rate ‘improvement’ when it comes to a bridge?” she asked. At this point, if the same few hands were the only ones going up, she was more than willing to push for replies from others, “All of you know what a bridge is, and I’m sure can say some things that make it good or bad,” she pointed out.

She refined the statement on the board with student input until it read ‘Knowledge of bridge structure will improve the strength of a conjured bridge.’

“Now, there are a few different factors which might affect how strong a conjured bridge is. These include magical power and practise. We’re also all starting with different amounts of knowledge of how bridges work. So, the most effective way of designing this particular experiment is to compare you to yourselves. You will each be given the name of a bridge type and a basic outline drawing to help you understand what it should look like. After that, you will conjure a small model. You may take as many tries as you like to be fully happy that you have made the best model you are capable of making - this is to rule out practise, or rather lack of practise - as much as possible.

“You will then weight test your bridge to the point of destruction and record your result. After that, you will receive a handout on your bridge type, explaining which design features help it to stand, and the ways in which different forces act on the bridge. You should discuss the material with your neighbour and explain it back to them to test your own knowledge and understanding. After that, you will try conjuring it again, and will retest its strength.

“We will come together to put everyone’s findings onto the board and to discuss what the results mean. For homework, you will receive two more hypotheses to test. You will write an experiment description using the scientific method for each one. One involves a similar design to today’s class, and one involves something different,” she offered as a clue.

“The spell you will need is pontus, with a steady, flat wand movement,” she stated, demonstrating to make a little arch bridge appear on her desk, “And you will be starting from popsickle sticks. If you have any questions, please raise your hand. You may begin.”

Whilst magical science was a relatively understudied field, this was a pretty popular experiment and had been a classroom staple of progressive schools for a number of years. Enough so that Selina had a guideline on what type of results to expect from her students. On the whole, the more the students studied and understood the bridge designs, the better their conjuring should be. However (as she was sure one of the more scientifically minded would point out) she had not really controlled for how well they understood. That could weaken the effect. There were also a small minority of people who got themselves in knots as soon as they tried to think about how something worked - the ‘blind faith’ category of person; they could conjure a bridge just fine if they weren’t really thinking about it, but as soon as you told them they had to understand what they were doing, they stopped believing they could, which was a little deadly in magic.

The type of bridge also played a part - most people could recognise why a simple span bridge worked, even without thinking about the physics, or even knowing that they knew it. It was just logical that a plank across two pillars worked, unless you stretched it out too far. However, understanding a suspension or a cantilever bridge required a bit more thought. Therefore, the effect of knowledge was typically weaker with simpler bridges, because the lack of understanding that needed… bridging was smaller to start with. Given that it wasn’t a simple black and white answer, she thought it would be of benefit to tease that out as a class discussion. But first, there was data to gather.

OOC - welcome to transfiguration. Posts are graded based on length, realism, relevance and creativity.
Some basic bridge info can be found here
If you are not super into the science of how bridges stay up, I hope you can still enjoy this class. As reading about the bridges doesn’t come in until halfway through, you can still give a long, detailed response that is on class material by focussing on your character’s first attempts to make a model.

Subthreads:

Big lizard smash (tag Lyssa) by Ness McLeod with Lyssa Fitzgerald

Couldn't we do so in a less science-y way? by Sapphire Brockert with Dathan Fischer

I wish it were that easy. by Felipe De Matteo

13 Selina Skies Intermediates - Bridging the Culture Gap 26 Selina Skies 1 5

Ness McLeod

June 06, 2020 7:49 AM

Big lizard smash (tag Lyssa) by Ness McLeod

Over the holidays, Ness and the bedroom mirror had become much better acquainted. Ness had rarely ever spent so long in front of it giving all the damns about appearance. On the one hand, it was shallow to care about such things, and people shouldn't, and almost all appearance related standards were ideals of the patriarchy. Lyssa was not the patriarchy. Lyssa was up for crushing it. That was what made her so awesome. It also didn't mean that there weren't versions of Ness that Lyssa would find more appealing than others. And that was totally valid, and eyeliner, applied in the right way, could be just as much of a 'screw you' to beauty standards as no eyeliner at all. Lyssa had met Ball Edition Ness. Lyssa had seemed to like Ball Edition Ness. How many parts of that was it necessary to put back on the table to maintain Lyssa's interest? And how interested was she? Was she like... interested, scientifically, the way someone was about a cool museum exhibit? Or like... Interested. In a want-to-use-the-library-for-non-research-activities Interested? Previously Ness would have thought that being regarded as a museum exhibit would be kind of cool. But now that was only the case if it was one of those modern museums that let you get hands on and experiment with things.

This morning, Ness had not committed to any particular look other than... Ness. Green sack school uniform edition. The Aladren was definitely not confident enough with any make-up look to make it a daily thing, or confident enough that committing to that was the right move.

Ness had also not yet sat next to Lyssa again in class. Partly, there hadn’t been many opportunities, but Ness wasn’t sure whether that was a self-inflected definition of what the perfect moment was. Sometimes the seat next to Lyssa had been free, but Ness had come up with a Perfectly Valid Reason to sit elsewhere… But now Evelyn had asked out Heinrich, and Ness didn’t want to fall behind in the dating game, and like… Sometimes Lyssa was talking to Jessica Hayles (yuck, why?) and it made Ness’ stomach squirm in a way that the Aladren was pretty sure was jealousy.

So. It was time to sit. And sitting could lead to asking her out for coffee made of men’s souls. And there was an issue there too in that Ness didn’t even like coffee, even the regular kind, and was not sure whether the whole ‘you are a badass Valkyrie’ impression was going to fall apart if Ness admitted to a hot drink preference of warm apple juice with cinnamon. But also not asking Lyssa to do that felt more and more stupid and painful every day, especially when you considered the risk that someone else might get in there first. Ness didn’t assume that Jessica was into Lyssa like that, but also didn’t assume that she wasn’t. Also, whatever reason they were hanging out, Ness wanted to be in Jessica’s place.

Class kicked off and it seemed to be a really great class to have chosen to sit next to Lyssa in because they were talking science! Ness could demonstrate science knowledge, and whilst that would have been visible across the room as Ness enthusiastically participated in the class discussion, hopefully it was more impressive close up, and would get a chance to be expanded upon with them interacting in person. Ness tried to push back the thought that that was how things had started with Gary, and that had fizzled out into a big fat nothing.

“This is cool,” Ness grinned, when they were released to work on their bridges, “Though maybe less valkyrie and more-” big lizard guy. Not Siegmund. Lizard- Siegmund! No, the lizard dude- Siegmund! Why would Ness’ brain only supply Siegmund? Damnit, Heinrich. Damnit brain! “Godzilla!” Ness stated triumphantly.

“I got a suspension bridge, how about you?” the Aladren asked, trying to study the diagram but not like… study study it. “It is really counter intuitive to not immediately try to analyse how exactly this works.”

13 Ness McLeod Big lizard smash (tag Lyssa) 1419 0 5

Lyssa Fitzgerald

June 10, 2020 10:43 AM

I'm Goddezilla. Raaawwrr. by Lyssa Fitzgerald

She’d arrived early to Charms to ensure she wasn’t late.

Lyssa had recently found herself sleeping more that she’d normally done. She hoped this wasn’t part of puberty, though assumed it might be. She’d found herself starting grow out of clothes that she’d loved for years. She was often tired both physically and emotionally. She wasn’t in pain usually, but she knew she’d probably be soon. She still loved her classes and learning. She still loved the school, but this feeling found herself irritable at many things she’d previously liked. She just wanted to curl up under covers and sleep for a week maybe? Maybe she could hibernate through the winter.

When Ness sat down next to her, Lyssa found her mind snap to attention. All that grogginess disappeared almost immediately and Lyssa felt like she was hyper aware of what her hands were doing. She could hear her breath and heartbeat. Her heartbeat needed to quiet down or Lyssa would miss what Professor Skies was talking to them about. Lyssa took some deep breaths like her mom had taught Parker when he was younger and found herself able to pay at least partial attention to what the Professor was saying. The other part of her attention was on how she could almost feel the heat coming off of Ness’s body. Was that Ness’s warmth or was it something else? Was Ness that close? Lyssa was acutely aware of her own hair suddenly and could feel stray hairs that she kept having to push behind her ears. Lyssa had smiled at Ness as she’d passed in the hall and had hoped to sit next to her in class, but she found Ness hung out a lot with Evelyn. Evelyn, who Parker had asked to help him with the Garden club. Evelyn, who seemed to be best friends, maybe more?, with Ness. Evelyn who was popular, well liked, athletic, happy. Evelyn who didn't seem tired and cranky and feeling like a Gargoyle. That wasn’t important at this moment though. What was important was that Ness was here. Next to Lyssa.

Lyssa was able to catch the jist of what was happening this class. She already knew a fair bit about construction from her dad. So she wasn’t sure how much difference it would make to her to learn more about the construction. Still it seemed like a good idea. Plus it used the scientific method which her teachers taught her for the three years leading up to Sonora was something she knew she’d enjoy. Using it with magic was something she thought would be good for both magic and science.

Lyssa opened her mouth to say something and then stopped. She wasn’t sure what she could say, so she closed it again. Thankfully Ness started speaking and Lyssa chuckled.

“I feel a bit like Godzilla everyday recently. Maybe you're still a Valkyrie and I'm Goddezilla,” Lyssa said, “both destroyers of men and their hubris.”

Lyssa rawred towards Ness. It made her feel a bit more in control of herself and when she finished she was left with a smile on her face. Lyssa opened her card. She leaned over to show Ness. Now Lyssa worried if Ness could feel her own heat as she moved closer.

“I have a Truss bridge. I think these are usually built for trains, though that might be different in the Wizarding world. Are there trains in the Wizarding world? The non-electric kind?” Lyssa bit the edge of her lower lip and pushed her hair back over her left ear as she turned to face Ness.

41 Lyssa Fitzgerald I'm Goddezilla. Raaawwrr. 1421 Lyssa Fitzgerald 0 5

Sapphire Brockert

June 17, 2020 4:24 PM

Couldn't we do so in a less science-y way? by Sapphire Brockert

Sapphire was not the least bit happy about being in Intermediate classes. Not only were they harder than Beginner lessons, but Topaz was in them. And the third year wanted to be around her sister less than usual-which she hadn't known was possible-because the Aladren was in a foul mood. Of course, said foul mood was targeting Allegra and Nessa McLeod more than Sapphire, but still. She wanted to remain off her sister's radar. Being in a place where Topaz was all day five days a week, was not doing that.

Another problem with being in Intermediate classes was that now there was nobody in the room that knew less than she did. Last year, and even her first year, Sapphire had been in class with first year Muggleborns who were new to the magical world. Therefore, she'd been more knowledgeable than them. Now the ones in her class had probably caught up to her and were smarter than her to begin with and she was the dumbest person in class.

But at least Sapphire was in Transfiguration. Like most Brockerts, this was her best class of all. Well,at least practically. The theory was hard, but then....the theory was hard in every class. That's why she had to rank how good at a class she was on practical ability alone. Transfig was the best and DADA and Potions were the worst. Of course, in DADA it wasn't that Sapphire was especially bad at any spells, but because it was scary. And one had to be quick on their feet, which the Crotalus was not. But then, at least in that respect she probably wasn't any worse than Allegra or Ruby or Esme.

Unfortunately, right from the beginning of the year, Professor Skies had started in with questions about how well someone had to know something in order to transfigure it. Which diminished what little self-esteem that Sapphire had! She was decent in terms of raw magical ability, especially in this subject but she didn't know how anything worked! On the subject of plants, she had learned a bit in Herbology but those facts didn't always stay with her.

And today, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. Sapphire's heart sank. She didn't know anything about bridges beyond that they were used to cross water. She didn't know how they were made or what made them stronger or weaker. Professor Skies was wrong that they all knew things about what made bridges good or bad, she didn't. The only answers Sapphire had were stupid obvious things like that a bridge had to be long enough to get to the other side of something. And, not that she ever spoke in class normally, she certainly wasn't going to speak up in front of Topaz who would only ridicule her later.

When Professor Skies told them what their lesson was going to be, the third year felt like crying. She wouldn't even know where to begin! Sapphire hadn't even known there were different types of bridges. She certainly wasn't going to know which was best.

The Crotalus looked around desperately, wanting nothing more than to escape, when she caught someone's eye.

11 Sapphire Brockert Couldn't we do so in a less science-y way? 1459 0 5

Dathan Fischer

June 18, 2020 9:02 PM

Not really, I don't think. by Dathan Fischer

The CATS were still two years away, but one of the downsides of the strange way classes were structured at magic school was that Dathan got to go ahead and hear the teachers stressing their importance two years early. He did not appreciate this.

In a way, when he thought about it, it wasn’t that different from things at home. In a way, maybe it was better here – he got to go to school four whole years before he had to deal with high-stakes testing, which was a lot more common back home. However, from what he had gathered, the CATS were worse than the SATs and a stack of graduation tests rolled together. At least with those, you could take them over and over again until you passed, and even if you never passed, they wouldn’t actually kick you out of school until the end of what would have been the last year. If he was reading the CATS right, you got one shot, and if you failed…well, that was it, then, wasn’t it? One had to have this or that mark on the CATS to get into the Advanced classes. Apparently, therefore, failing one test meant abruptly having no ability to finish high school, which he assumed meant no ability to do…anything, really. It did at home, more and more, these days, anyway, or that was what his parents said….

At least today’s lesson was something he could get his head around pretty well. He had learned the Scientific Method in fourth or fifth grade, before Sonora, and they had reviewed it in class, as Professor Skies said. He didn’t volunteer to answer the question – he tended to think of Professor Skies as someone who would expect more formal words than tended to come out of his mouth, such as ‘when you make a guess about how the experiment will turn out’ – but he broadly knew the answer, which felt good. Plus, bridges! This was cool, like building something with Legos.

He did put his hand up when they were asked to make hypotheses, and chipped in, “uh – if you know more about one kind of bridge, you can make it better than one you don’t know as well?” It made some sense to him, though even as he said it, he realized a small problem, which was that he didn’t know the names of different kinds of bridges….

He looked at the model he got to replicate from a popsicle stick and tried to imagine it as a tiny bridge. He knew that bridges…weren’t just, like, a board stretched over a hole. That could work in a pinch, but it wasn’t ideal. Real bridges had lots of solid bits on the sides. Which meant making part of the popsicle stick go up and other parts…grow tall? In real life, bridges often had a lot of metal bits, like the Golden Gate, but he didn’t think he was supposed to do that. Which just left….

He glanced around, more to think than anything, and caught the eye of one of the Crotalus girls, Jazz’ roommate, he thought. He started to smile, then noticed she looked…kind of freaked out, if he was to be honest. “Hi,” he said, concerned. “Are you okay?”

16 Dathan Fischer Not really, I don't think. 1457 0 5

Ness McLeod

June 18, 2020 9:10 PM

Got scales? by Ness McLeod

“Oh?” Ness stated, when Lyssa stated she felt a bit like Godzilla every day lately. “I haven’t noticed a tail. Do I need to check you for scales?” Ness teased. Before realising what that sounded like. Because checking for scales meant taking clothes off. And Ness hadn’t meant that. Not literally. It had just been something lizardy that wasn’t a tail. Crud. “OR DO YOU JUST WANNA SMASH BRIDGES?!” Ness asked really quickly and far too obviously trying to cover up the previous remark. Good. Cos what it really needed was more attention drawing to it.

Lyssa’s rawring was super cute. She was kind of goofy whilst clearly being wicked smart and that was a pretty lethal combination in terms of her ability to destroy sky scrapers but also melt Ness into a little goopy puddle. There was probably some kind of crush pun to make there. Ness couldn’t think straight enough to make it though (and that pun was fully intended). Ness grinned, half at Lyssa and half at the stupid jokes that the Aladren’s brain seemed incapable of suppressing.

“There’s a few trains. They’re more like… A ceremonial thing? Kind of like the wagons are for us. Like, you wouldn’t use them day to day to get around, but some exit for fun. Hogwarts, that’s the school in the UK, uses a train to get its students to school. Though it is for sure just a tradition thing. Like, it starts from London and goes non-stop to the school up in Scotland. So, if you live closer to the school than to London, you travel down there just to get this slow-ass train all the way back up the country. I mean, travelling down there only takes a second or two if you use magic. But yeah, it’s clearly very much just a ‘tradition’ thing once you think through the actual logistics,” Ness explained.

“Trussing makes me think of what people do to turkeys. Though… people always use that word but I am not sure I have ever seen anyone do it?” Ness had got the vague impression that ‘trussed up like a turkey’ was some vague combination of tying/decorating. It was one of those words that made sense in context, within that idiom, but which started to fray around the edges when you picked it out to examine it. “I don’t recommend sticking little paper thingies on your bridge’s feet though. I don’t think that’d help.” Though did people for real do that? Ness had seen it in pictures. Her family weren’t big on turkey and only kinda sorta did Thanksgiving. Aunt Lola and Mom cared about it as a holiday too, but Dad and Auntie Catriona were immigrants. And then there was all the politics of how correct it was to celebrate. It was more of a Foundation Holiday than a Family Holiday - they did a dinner for people whose families were being too crappy for them to go back to, because that was something good and something that it mattered to do. They gave people a sense of home and continuity. That was what they celebrated and were Thankful for. And sometimes they watched the episode of Buffy where Spike yelled at everyone in British about it.

“Though we’re meant to not be thinking too much about what would work. No thinking, just doing. Is that… even possible? I mean, some people seem to do that, sure. But can you? I don’t think I can.”

OOC: I have had the London thoughts before but this comic does sum it up perfectly.

13 Ness McLeod Got scales? 1419 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

June 21, 2020 3:14 PM

I wish it were that easy. by Felipe De Matteo

This was the sort of lesson Felipe could get behind, which was exciting because transfiguration was rarely one he felt that way about. This had been unfortunate for a long time, as transfiguration was a very useful field in general, but especially when trying to prevent Muggles from detecting the presence of magic, and when trying to help them with things. It was great. Felipe had not been particularly good at it before, and now he didn't feel half so pressured to try. Charms weren't his strong suit but he could see himself using them on a daily basis much more regularly. Today's lesson, though, was just fascinating. It was the sort of thing that featured such a happy marriage of muggle and magical things - technology, approach, mechanics, functionality, and more - that Felipe thought he could see himself using it again in the future, even if he'd stayed on as De Matteo heir. Now that he had a bit more freedom, who was to say where he would end up or what he'd do? Architecture might be alright, actually, although he's miss gardening. Were garden architects a thing? He wasn't even sure what country he wanted to do that in, although he knew he'd be perfectly content to follow Zara wherever she wanted to go right now. He was trying not to think of their relationship in terms of marriage though because that was apparently not a thing he was supposed to be doing, so that thought was pushed aside in favor of . . . a beam bridge.

It was simple and straightforward as bridges went, and it was something that Felipe had helped build by hand with some of the villagers of Ciudad de Matteo. Those had largely been from one side of a creek to the other, just jammed in the ground or laid on top. He supposed they weren't really bridges so much as ramps, but he knew that others with more skill than himself had done far more incredible things, and there was even a fancy arch bridge in part of Los Jardines de Plata. A beam bridge, he thought, would be the most interesting to test this with because it was one that seemed instinctually easy to do and thus would be a good test of how his learning about it impacted it, rather than starting from absolute scratch. It would also be a healthy reminder that his initial thoughts were often incorrect, something Felipe tried to make sure he emphasized for himself as often as possible.

Eager to share this process with someone else, preferably Zara but he was trying, again, not to be clingy there, he turned to the person next to him and smiled. "Hello. I've got a beam bridge. What's yours?"

22 Felipe De Matteo I wish it were that easy. 1434 0 5

Lyssa Fitzgerald

July 02, 2020 12:05 PM

No scales, but you are weighing on my mind by Lyssa Fitzgerald

Lyssa tried to stifle a smile. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Ness flustered and it was adorable. The way they spoke louder to hide the previous comment. The way they tried to hide it and then go quiet. For the first time Lyssa could see why people were attracted to other people. Why they wanted to be in relationships and spend time with one person specifically. It helped that Ness was getting all awkward cute.

Lyssa turned to look behind her. “Not sure you could see a tail even if I had one in this big thing,” Lyssa said, “but if you want to check for scales we could arrange something.” Lyssa cocked an eyebrow at Ness.

After her rawring, Lyssa ran her tongue over her teeth. She was suddenly conscious of what her breath might smell like, worried that it might be closer to the radiation breath than she wanted.
Ness then made some very good points about trains and wagons. Lyssa had been wondering about that. Tradition seemed paramount in many of the things they did in the Wizarding world. The thought that there was a reason for that walked into her mind and sat down. Was there something about wanting to maintain tradition out of fear that they might lose magical ability otherwise? Maybe this was something she and Ness could talk about at a later date. Or on a date...

Then Ness started talking about tressing up turkeys and Lyssa’s mind went to her bridge looking just like a thanksgiving turkey. Booties and all. Lyssa started laughing, only able to stop herself because everyone else seemed so hard at work.

“Aww, I think my bridge would look lovely with paper slippers and some twine pulling it all together like something out of a book a middle aged mom might read.” Already the image of what her bridge would look like came into her head.

Lyssa nodded at Ness’ comment about thinking and doing. She herself couldn’t do without thinking at least a little bit first. Lyssa figured that Parker probably could, and did more often than not. She wondered if that’s what set Pecaris apart from the other houses really, the doing without thinking. Then again, the thinking without doing seemed to be an Aladren special Ness noted looking over at the cute Aladren next to her. So two sides of the same coin.

“I don’t know. Probably. I know there can be a tendency to overthink things though and not do them.” The comment made Lyssa think about something she’d been going back and forth on. How one asks someone out for the first time? Especially at school? Do you ask them to coffee? Does that work at this school? She didn’t want to do something like Parker did. That was a bit over the top, and not really her style or Ness’. There had to be some way. “I wonder if that’s what the teacher wants us to not do. Overthink.”

Lyssa took a deep breath. She pictured the bridge in her mind, ones with string and paper booties on the bottom of the four corner beams made of the popsicle sticks on her desk. Waving her wand she said PONtus as clearly as she could. The sticks began to morph into the image in her mind. Kind of. The string looked more like dead vines, but the paper booties began to look exactly like she imagined. It looked… solid, but not the most structurally sound bridge. If she was going to improve the bridge, she did have to start with a less than great bridge. Then, as Lyssa sat looking at her bridge she took another deep breath. She could feel her mind go a bit blank as she turned to face Ness.

“Look, speaking of not overthinking things a whole lot,” she looked slightly over Ness’s shoulder, she couldn’t look Ness directly in the eye right now. Something about that was too scary. “I was wondering if a certain valkyrie,” she pointed to Ness, “ umm would like to get coffee with this goddezilla sometime?” Lyssa pointed to herself. Now that she’d said it, she felt a bit more confident and was able to look Ness once again in their face, “Or we could sit in the garden together and talk about building things as well as destroying other things or eating the bones of your enemies? Or something else fun...” she said trailing off. She still wasn’t sure what would be a good date, but the important part was she’d asked.

41 Lyssa Fitzgerald No scales, but you are weighing on my mind 1421 0 5

Ness McLeod

July 04, 2020 6:54 PM

I see what you did there by Ness McLeod

Ness.was welcome to check for scales? Eep. Maybe Lyssa just meant like... on her arm or something? But then she could do that herself. And there were eyebrows being used like an inflection.

But then Lyssa moved back to bridges before Ness could agree (agreeing would have been the right thing to do, right?). Ness laughed at the image of the bridge with booties, glad Lyssa was playing along. It was easy for them to be serious and be fun, and Ness enjoyed the pendulum swing of their conversations as it ranged back and forth between those two things.

"Maaaybe," Ness agreed when Lyssa stated that the goal might be not to overthink. It was pretty clear that was the goal from Professor Skies' directions but it was easier said than done. "Maybe we should make a list of the pros and cons of overthinking it though, just to be sure," the Aladren quipped.

And then, pendulum swing again, they were off bridges again and not joking (right?) and Lyssa was asking Ness for coffee. And/or adventure.

"Yes," Ness agreed readily, wanting to make the important part clear first, and glad that 'and/or adventure' had been tacked in as an option, because there was an issue with the coffee part of getting coffee. "Um, will you think me less of a badass valkyrie if I admit that my hot drink of choice is warm apple juice with cinnamon?" Ness confessed. "Apart from not liking the literal coffee part, any of those sound good though," Ness added, beaming happily.

Was this a date? It sounded like a date. How did you know if something was a date? What had Lyssa meant by attaching 'not overthinking' to this??

Ness tried to focus on the popsickle stick on the desk. It seemed very unimportant but this was class. And perhaps this answered how you stopped overthinking too much about your bridge...

"Pontus," Ness cast, focussing on the picture but not what it really meant. It formed into a rough analogue of the picture on Ness' desk, though the cables looked more decorative than anything.

...you filled the busy parts of your brain up with a cute girl instead.

13 Ness McLeod I see what you did there 1419 0 5

Sapphire Brockert

July 06, 2020 12:46 AM

Why not? Surely the Muggle world has other things? by Sapphire Brockert

CW-Internalized ableism

Sapphire flushed, mortified, as Dathan Fischer asked her if she was all right. She knew that people might think her freak-out over what they probably thought was minor was ridiculous. However, to her it wasn't a minor thing. Spending her whole life being told she was stupid had made her believe that she was. Not to mention the complications of untreated seizures.

Plus, in addition to not being that bright, Sapphire had no experience with anything Muggle whatsoever. People in her family simply saw no need to know about any of it because they generally did not interact with Muggles. Sometimes with Muggleborns and half-bloods but that was still taking a place in the magical world dealing with magical things. Which all should make the Crotalus feel better about not understanding science stuff, except that right now she had to! She had enough trouble following magical theory without adding Muggle things.

And Sapphire wasn't even sure how to answer Dathan's question which was not even an academic one. She wasn't all right but not only did she not want to look like she was freaking out over something stupid, she also didn't admit that she was stupid and didn't understand anything about how to make bridges better. Especially given that this was Transfiguration and she was a Brockert.

However, it did make her feel good that her classmate was being nice to her. Sapphire was now a third year and she really had no friends that she wasn't related to. She was well on her way to becoming like Angelique. Of course, the Crotalus wasn't as naturally extroverted as her cousin so not having friends at school might not have the same detrimental effect on her. And really, Angelique was doing okay now but she'd spent several lonely years at school and Sapphire, despite her shyness, did not want that for herself.

On the plus side, nobody-aside from Topaz-was particularly mean to her either. They just didn't seem....interested in her. Maybe it was because she was the only pureblood in her year and they thought she would be mean to them. Or they weren't interested in her because of how quiet she was. Maybe they even forgot she was around.

Honestly, Sapphire had been trained to be quiet in a way. First of all, if people forgot that she was around, they wouldn't think to torment her. Though that never actually worked with Topaz. Still, if the third year didn't say anything, she couldn't say anything dumb.

Still, she didn't know how else to respond. "I'm okay, I mean, I'm not sick or anything." Sapphire replied. "I just...don't know a lot about bridges. I mean, I know the basics of what they do but nothing about how they work. " She tried to figure out a way to explain that didn't make her sound stupid or like a bratty pureblood. Sapphire generally didn't think she was bratty, the way Amethyst could sometimes be, but some people would just assume that if she said she didn't know about Muggle things. "It just wasn't a particular interest of mine to figure out how things work in general." Which was true, she wasn't even interested in magical theory. Of course, part of that was because she didn't feel she could grasp it and she got easily frustrated. "And my tutor never thought it was necessary." Of course, Neal likely didn't know anything about things that combined Muggle science with magic either.

11 Sapphire Brockert Why not? Surely the Muggle world has other things? 1459 0 5