Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
June 05, 2020 11:28 AM
Drink up, my pretties. [Beginners] by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
"Hello, class," Professor Brooding-Hawthorne said, greeting her students as they arrived. Mary was a short woman, just over five foot tall, but her tall pointed hat more than made up for it. Today's choice was a wide-brimmed hat of green velvet to compliment her green gown, with ivory buttons on her wrists and up the bodice, to a high neck of purple crepe fabric. The dress was floor length, as most of her clothing was, and Mary looked a bit like a doll. The effect had been stronger when her hair had also been floor length, but she'd cut it to her shoulders shortly before the adoption of Zeus, and now that she had him she was very glad she had gone short. Finding time to sleep was hard enough (albeit getting easier), as was evidenced by the fading black circles under Mary's eyes, but finding time to wash several feet of hair would've been impossible.She grinned as the students paused, taking in the scene around them. The classroom had been transformed into a maze of sorts, or an obstacle course, with several starting points placed along the side of the room nearest the students, enough for all of them to work in only pairs or triads to get through it. At each one, a table with six bottles of potion was set up and at the opposite end of the room, past a set of doors closed with spring power, a heavy wooden block the size of a bookcase, and a very tiny doorway, was another table with two bottles of potion: the antidote.
"Today's class will give you all the opportunity to try out some potions, which is important for taking notes properly. We've been studying each of these potions - Strengthening Solution, Exstimulo, and Shrinking Solution - and now it's time you get to study them firsthand. As you know, the strengthening solution will grant the drinker immense, superhuman strength, exstimulo will grant the drinker increased spell power, and the shrinking solution will shrink the drinker to just a bit larger than a mouse. I want you to pair off, we may need one group of three, and pick a starting point. You can leave your belongings in the corner, except your wand, please."
Professor Brooding-Hawthorne waited for the students to get organized before continuing. "Each obstacle will require the effects of a different potion, and you will both need to take all of them to get through. I want you to try the activity without the potion first, and then drink the potion and try again. First, use the Strengthening Solution and take turns holding open these very heavy doors for each other to get through. Then, you'll use Exstimulo to improve your levitation charms and lift the heavy block for each other. Note that you should not try lifting this because you may have increased strength but you certainly won't have increased balance and I'll not have anyone dropping a block on their classmates. Finally, you'll shrink yourself down to fit through the small door at the end. When you get there, I will pipette antidote on to each of you to clear the last of these potions and then you can drink the rest to ensure you're fully cleared. I will be checking to make sure you all do so, so don't try to go leaving the classroom under the effects of these potions."
She looked around, ready to answer questions, interested to see whether anyone would ask about safety. She had, of course, planned for the risks, and the spring loaded doors had charms to detect whether there was anyone in between them before they would close, the large block the same, and the small door was not really a risk unless Mary started flinging pipettes full of antidote on students halfway through, and that wasn't going to happen.
When she was satisfied everyone understood what was to be done, she gestured for them to begin. "Please let me know if you need anything from me. When you are all done and antidoted... antidote . . . when you have received the antidote, I want you to get together with your partner and take notes. You'll hand those in at the end of class and I'll give them back to you next time so you have them for a paper you'll be turning in in two weeks. Go ahead and get started!"
OOC - Welcome to Beginners potions! The potions described can be found here, here, and here, and you can be assured that Mary will not let anyone get terribly squished or something. She brewed them herself, so they will all work as advertised. If you need her, please tag her, and otherwise have lots of fun. Feel free to godmod Mary pipetting antidote on to your student at the end of the obstacle course. Remember that posts will be awarded points based on creativity and interactivity, not just how well students do with each task. All posts should be at least 200 words! Have lots of fun.
Subthreads: You think I'm pretty? by Bonabelle Row with Graham Osbrook
Will drink in exchange for hat feels by Theo Spurn with Mary Brooding-Hawthorne, Josephine Clyde
Somehow I don't think this is going to be my favorite class ( Tag Val) by Lavender Brockert with Valentine Duell
As long as it's not milk in the looking-glass house (question for Professor B-H). by Mara Morales with Mary Brooding-Hawthorne, Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Hat feels by Theo Spurn
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Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Drink up, my pretties. [Beginners]
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Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
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Lavender Brockert
June 08, 2020 1:12 PM
Somehow I don't think this is going to be my favorite class ( Tag Val) by Lavender Brockert
As Lavender walked into potions and saw the set-up, she grimaced. What looked to be an obstacle course was not her idea of a good time. The Crotalus had heard about the ones that her siblings and cousins had had to do for the Challenges and it was not something she was looking forward to doing herself. And now, she was going to have to probably do two during her Sonora career. One when it was her turn to do the Challenges and one now.And Lavender had not been expecting to do this so soon. She was not looking forward to doing it later, but she was unprepared to do it now . Just because she had grown up with a bunch of boys did not mean that the first year was the sort of girl who liked things that involved athletics. And obstacle courses tended to. Lavender would have to be strong and/or fast and she was not those things.
However, she felt some relief when Professor Brooding-Hawthorne explained today's activity. While the Crotalus would have preferred sitting still and brewing a potion even if it meant yucky things were involved, at least if they were taking a Strengthening Solution, it meant she'd be, well, stronger. Able to lift things. That meant Lavender wouldn't make a fool of herself. As for magical ability, she wasn't Kira, but she was just fine, thank you very much.
And at least it wasn't a competition. Competition added a more stressful element to anything. It was one thing to play a friendly game with people you knew and liked, it was quite another to be up against classmates you didn't know. One had to worry about how well they stacked up against everyone else, people would be judged as superior to others and if you were the worst....well, people might look down on you and you wouldn't have any friends. You'd be a laughingstock and possibly tormented until the day you left Sonora. Not to mention worries about if you would let any potential teammates down and them hating you for it. That would seriously impede Lavender's main goal at Sonora which was to make a really close female best friend.
Theo's question, and Professor Brooding-Hawthorne's response brought another issue to mind. He had just gotten points for his house for "advocating for himself". That was something Lavender was personally unlikely to do. She'd always had people-or house elves-to solve her problems for her. That the professor would give points for such a thing gave the Crotalus an idea of what kind of person Professor Brooding-Hawthorne liked, and Lavender was not that kind of person. Although she certainly would raise her hand if she had anything to say. Which was unlikely.
So between that and the fact that the activity today had the makings of things she normally would see as more humiliating than fun if she wasn't being given potions to make herself acceptable in areas she sucked at, Lavender didn't think Potions was going to go well for her. She felt she could handle brewing, but this Professor Brooding-Hawthorne was unlikely to vote for her for prefect, for instance. Of course, Wally was even shyer than Lavender but there was his roommate.
Now it was time to pick a partner. Today, Lavender had sat next to the Teppenpaw girl. (Teppenpaw. Girl. Friend potential-Fairly High.) She turned to her classmate and asked. "Will you work with me?"
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Lavender Brockert
Somehow I don't think this is going to be my favorite class ( Tag Val)
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Valentine Duell
June 08, 2020 6:32 PM
This will be great! by Valentine Duell
Valentine's eyes went wide as she walked into the potions classroom. It looked like... well, something exciting! This apparently wasn't going to be a traditional potions class. Which was great and no-so-great at the same time. New things were always exciting and interesting to try, even if they turned out to be not great in the end. However, one of the best things about a normal potions class was working with Bonny and playing 'mad scientists' while they were brewing things. Bonny was an awesome scientist and Val was having fun adding the 'mad' part to it. Her maniacal cackle had really improved since she had started this class. She got to practice whenever the bubbly potion in the cauldron did the poofing thing.This looked a bit like an obstacle course. She moved around the room a little to see it from different angles and as such was farther away from the door when the professor started talking. Ooo... this did sound like fun, they were going to play with superpowers! She stowed her things in the corner and took her wand in hand as instructed.
She was tempted to partner with Bonny, but was convinced that she had fully instructed her friend on how to make friends and it was time to let her try. Plus, Val wanted the chance to meet some of the other girls. It seemed like she had been talking with a lot of the boys lately. It was true that the ratio favored them, but that was no excuse. So she had moved into position near the girl that had been sorted into Crotalus (Mama's house!) and was about to ask her to partner, when the other girl beat her to it!
"Yes!" Val said enthusiastically with a wide smile. "I was going to ask you the same thing. You're Lavender, right?" Although they hadn't directly interacted much, Val had tried to learn all the names she could, and she was pretty sure this girl was named Lavender. Confirmation would be good though. Just to make sure they were on equal footing, without making it look to obvious that she was feeding probably Lavender her own name she continued, "You can just call me Val. Valentine can be a lot to say all the time."
She indicated the potions and their first obstacle, "Do you want to get superpowers first?"
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Valentine Duell
This will be great!
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Lavender Brockert
June 20, 2020 2:47 PM
I hope so. by Lavender Brockert
Lavender beamed when Valentine said yes and that she had been about to ask the Crotalus the same thing. It made her forget for now about her general worries about whether or not Professor Brooding-Hawthorne was going to like her. Having her classmates like her was more important than having professors like her, which had been more Ivy's thing. Her older sister had lamented about thinking the staff at Sonora disliked her because she hadn't gotten prefect.She just hoped Valentine actually would like her. Right now, before they'd really ever talked, the Teppenpaw might be willing to work with her but that did not mean Lavender would not screw things up. Especially if she did not do well on the set task. She did not want to be judged for not being good at something, though surely the potions would help with that. It's just that the Strengthening Solution was not starting from a great place. Lavender figured that potions would have to start from what natural ability a person had. So, even though she would have more strength than she had normally, she would still have less than people who were naturally strong because the potion would have given them extra strength as well. Ditto the one that strengthened spell power. Lavender was starting from a much better place there but it would make her exceptional. However, the same potion would make her cousin Kira, who was already more than exceptionally magically powerful, beyond what the first year could even imagine.
Then again, Valentine was a Teppenpaw so she might be more forgiving than someone in a different house. However, Lavender might still screw up and say something stupid. Either with regards to the lesson or just something socially....awkward and unacceptable. Something that would make Valentine think badly of her. That would make her not want to be friends.
"Nice to meet you, Val. I'm Lavender." She responded, using the offered nickname. The Crotalus knew her name might be a mouthful too, but she didn't want it to be shortened. She liked her name, it was like a pretty fairy princess name. The only shortened form she could think of was Lav, and that was ugly. But if Val wanted to be called by a shortened form of her name, that was her prerogative.
"Sure." Lavender replied. She supposed it would be nice to find out what it was like to be strong. She took the potion and drank.
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Lavender Brockert
I hope so.
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Valentine Duell
June 22, 2020 5:25 PM
It's all in what you make of it by Valentine Duell
Valentine's smile never relaxed for a moment. She had been right! Lavender seemed great so far. Everyone she'd met was really super nice! School was turning out to be fantastic! According to her robes, Lavender was in Crotalus, and Val couldn't restrain herself from asking, "What do you think of Crotalus so far? Mama was in Crotalus when she went here. Papa was a Teppenpaw," She gestured at her own robe's emblem. "I guess I take after him more than Mama." If she had followed in Mama's footsteps a little closer, she and Lavender would have been roommates. That would have been great! She let out a little sigh, oh well, they could still be friends! "Did any of your family go here?" the girl inquired as Lavender picked up the first potion bottle.Something tickled at the back of Val's memory as Lavender drank the potion. What was it? Something about the potions? Something the professor had said? Then it struck her! "Lavender! Stop!" She reached out to her new friend, in an effort to stop her, but it was to late. Lavender had drained the potion. Valentine looked at Lavender with wide-eyes and a look of deep concern on her face. She looked over to the professor and then back at Lavender. Had she noticed? Were they doomed?
"I'm so sorry Lavender," Val had moved close and was almost whispering while keeping a wary eye on the professor, "I distracted you. It's all my fault if we've messed up this lesson already." There was a pleading look in Val's eyes as the flicked quickly to her partner before returning to watch the professor, "Please forgive me. I don't know that Professor Brooding-Hawthorne has noticed yet, so we may still get away with it." Now her eyes narrowed a bit, and darted around the room and to their first obstacle. "Play along and follow my lead," she whispered again, under her breath.
Valentine stood up and marched up to the heavy seat of doors and in a voice, just a little louder than necessary called back to Lavender, "Okay, now it's my turn to try the doors." The statement was followed by a quick wink and Val threw herself against the doors, trying to open them. She did not even budge them. "Nope," she continued in the same, just slightly to loud voice, "I can't move them either. There may have been a bit more emphasis than necessary on some parts of her statement as well.
She moved back closer to Lavender again, "Now that we've tried the doors without the potion, you can give them a try with your super strength." She gave her partner a wink again followed by another whisper, "Hopefully that will work. I'm sorry again for distracting you from trying the doors first before drinking the potion."
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Valentine Duell
It's all in what you make of it
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Lavender Brockert
July 07, 2020 11:34 PM
That's very profound by Lavender Brockert
"It seems pretty nice." Lavender replied. "I wanted to be in Teppenpaw at first because my brother is there and my sister was before she graduated. Plus, my mom used to be Teppenpaw Head of House when she worked here and Tepps are nice. However, Crotalus isn't bad, either. I wish I had a roommate but at least my cousin Wally is there with me." She nodded in Wally's general direction.She continued."Pretty much all my family has gone here, at least on my dad's side. Some on my mom's too. I still have relatives here now too even besides my brother and Wally. There's Wally's brother Stanley-he's the really loud Pecari-of course as well as my cousin Gabriel." Lavender gestured towards them. "And my cousin Peyton is a seventh year, in Crotalus too. Then there's a bunch of distant cousins." Technically, Martin was the same relation to her that Wally and Stanley were-a child of her first cousin-but he certainly felt more distant than them.
"Jasper-in your house-is one of them and so is Esme, but I don't know either all that well."She added, remembering the other two people in her class who had the same last name as her though Val was likely perfectly capable of making the logical deduction that all three Brockerts in the class were probably related somehow. It wasn't that common of a last name outside of her own family. Lavender smiled apologetically. "Sorry, my family is big and complex. Learning my geneaology was not fun because of it." The drawbacks of being a pureblood.
Though, the Crotalus figured as problems went, she probably got off easy. Her cousin Ryan had been mistreated by his mother and Aunt Jillian had placed unrealistic expectations on her daughters, Amity and Chaslyn, the former of whom did her best to ignore her mother had family functions. Ryan was also a social worker who saw kids every day who went through terrible thing and kids who didn't have any family at all. It all made Lavender grateful that her parents were warm and loving, that she had so much family that cared about her. Even if her family tree was so extensive and confusing that she didn't remember exactly how Jasper and Esme were related to her.
As Lavender drank the potion, Val cried out. The Crotalus felt her face burn. She should have remembered that Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had said to test the doors first. How could she have been so careless? Lavender was generally a cautious person who followed rules. That was why she was sorted into Crotalus rather than Teppenpaw. Was she going to get in trouble now? That was the last thing Lavender wanted. Well, okay, the last thing she wanted was to end up with no friends aside from the cousins she grew up with. Or get stung by a bee and have a severe allergic reaction. But getting in trouble was definitely on the list of things she didn't want.
However, Val was blaming herself and Lavender felt even worse. She might not have been in Teppenpaw but she still didn't like to see people feel bad. "No, no. It's not your fault. I should have listened better. Besides, when I get on the subject of my family and Sonora, I get long-winded. I should apologize to you for that. " Lavender could feel her heart pounding, because she was afraid the professor was going to yell at them and fail them. The first year was already concerned that Professor Brooding-Hawthorne wasn't going to like her because she wasn't bold enough to advocate for herself. As for the strength of foresight thing that Mara had....well, Lavender wasn't sure if she had that at all but that was more likely than being bold in any way.
Which, along with the fact that she wanted to be friends with the other first year, was why she was more than willing to follow Val's lead. She watched as the Teppenpaw tried to cover Lavender's mistake and smiled gratefully at her. Honestly, the other first year's idea was quite clever and she really hoped Professor Brooding-Hawthorne bought it. Or wasn't paying attention. Not being well liked by the professor because she wasn't noticed enough to form an opinion on at all was one thing, but drawing negative attention would have been worse! Lavender didn't have much experience with getting in trouble and she didn't want to gain any. She'd probably start crying if Professor Brooding-Hawthorne yelled at her. And then she'd be humilated because everyone would see and think she was a crybaby, because she wouldn't be able to help it. And then Val might not like her and neither would Aelia-whom Lavender also wanted to be friends with- or anyone else other than her cousins.
Still, right now, she had to do the assignment. "Again, it's not a problem. I sort of was more interested in talking to you anyway." Lavender looked at the Teppenpaw. "Thanks, though. It was really kind of you to cover for my mistake." She walked over to the door and tried it. It opened. "Wow. That was cool. I grew up with magic but I've never had a need for this particular potion before. "
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Lavender Brockert
That's very profound
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Valentine Duell
July 09, 2020 6:34 PM
Profound is my middle name... wait, that's not right. by Valentine Duell
Lavender had a lot to say about her family. Valentine did her best to follow along, but she got lost somewhere along the way. She was also incredibly jealous of her new friend. Lavender had so much family and she had two sets of grandparents, Mama and Papa. That was it... oh right, Aunt Paige and Aunt Jhonice as well, but that was it. "That sounds fantastic." She said smiling in response to Lavender's oration. "My family tree is... boring. I'm jealous." Then a thought struck her, "I guess your Mom wasn't head of Teppenpaw when Papa was here, was she?" That could be a fun thing to write home about!Once catastrophe struck, Lavender was blaming herself and trying to convince Val not to feel bad while she was trying to do the same for Lavender. She couldn't help it, she giggled. "Alright, we both messed up." she whispered to Lavender. "Live and learn, right? Now we'd better not fall to far behind or we'll draw the professor's attention." She acknowledged Lavender's thanks with a minor blush. "Don't worry about it, we're a team. That is what teammates do."
After watching Lavender open those doors with relative ease, Val was a bit shocked. "I haven't see this one in action like that either." She picked up her bottle of the strength potion and drank it down in one gulp. Then she walked over to the doors and easily moved them aside. "That's great!" She said as the doors closed behind them. "What's next?"
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Valentine Duell
Profound is my middle name... wait, that's not right.
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