Grayson Wright
February 06, 2021 5:59 PM
The Forms of Things Unknown (Intermediates) by Grayson Wright
OOC: Title credit to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V Scene 1. BIC:
Professor Wright stood before his intermediate class, hoping it was not obvious that he was nursing a nagging, persistent headache. He did not know why he had a headache, and he did not know why the pain potion he had taken had not worked as well as it should have, but neither of those problems was relevant to the intermediate class. Therefore, he was obliged to try to ignore the headache as best as he could…while teaching something that required some thinking.
“Let’s review for a moment,” he said. “Does anyone care to remind the class about the basic difference between what charms and transfigurations do to objects?”
He got an answer and nodded in agreement. “Very good. Charms change what an object does, while transfigurations change what an object is. However, how do we define what an object is?
“We’ll look at the Bubble-Head Charm for an example of a charm where it’s hard to say exactly what the object we’re affecting is. As the name implies, this spell creates a bubble of fresh air around the head of the user, allowing them to continue breathing safely under conditions where that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. You perform it like so – “ he performed the spell, drawing a circle around his own face with his wand while saying the incantation, though he only held the spell for a moment.
“So,” he said after it dissipated, “as you see, the spell encases the head – but does anyone see any way in which it changes what the head does?” He waited for a moment to see if anyone would attempt to put forward a theory, and to answer it. “If the object being charmed is not the head, though, then what is it? Is it the air? Or some part of space relative to your head?
“These are difficult questions to answer, but we know one thing: when we cast charms on these abstract objects, they tend to form an impression that we can perceive, such as the visible bubble you see with the Bubble-Head Charm, or the echoes of spells that can be produced by several methods. We’ll cover some of those later in the week. For today, work in pairs, take turns practicing the Bubble-Head Charm – it’s extremely unlikely, but I’d rather someone be looking at you while you attempt to shut yourself off from the broader air supply, so someone can get my attention quickly if something goes wrong – however unlikely that is. Once you both have it down, come to the library cart – “ he pointed to the relevant cart – “and pull a few books on an abstract-object charm; you’ll work together to produce a one-page summary of that spell, its object, and its manifestations by the end of the next class. Start on that once you both have the charm down,” he instructed them. “Any questions? If not, begin.”
Subthreads: An Object Lesson by Gabriel Wilson
Things I know all too well. by Sophia Priory
16
Grayson Wright
The Forms of Things Unknown (Intermediates)
113
1
5
Gabriel Wilson
February 10, 2021 5:23 PM
An Object Lesson by Gabriel Wilson
Gabriel absolutely loved Charms. Actually, he loved all his classes but the thing about Charms in particular was that Professor Wright was a very Aladren-ish Aladren which meant he liked to talk about a lot of different things that were very interesting and informative regardless of how relevant they were to the particular charm they were learning about. Okay, that was not the definition of what an Aladren was, but it was what Gabriel meant in this case.Unfortunately, today, Professor Wright did not go off on as much of a tangent as normal and that was disappointing as the third year did love a good tangent. However, Gabriel did know the answer to both his questions. Someone else was called on for the first one but when he asked how they defined what an object was, Gabriel blurted out, feeling quite proud of himself (and completely missing that it was supposed to be a rhetorical question) "An object is a material that can be seen and touched."
Professor Wright continued to teach them on the Bubble Charm which an excellent, very useful spell, which was helpful if one had to go into an environment that was hostile in some manner. For example, if Gabriel's cousin Ryan had to go into a house with lots of cats-which he was really allergic to-he could cast it on himself to prevent having an allergic reaction. Of course, as far as going into a hostile environment for his job as a social worker...cats were probably the least of Ryan's worries. It was also a spell that could be used when one was under water for a long time or when surrounded by things that smelled bad.
Unfortunately, some of the other questions that Professor Wright asked were a bit more difficult than the rhetorical one he'd asked earlier. Why ask a rhetorical question that was easy and ones he seemed to want answers to that were more difficult? The head was not doing anything different except breathing from a smaller pool of air and by Gabriel's-and the dictionary's- own definition, air wasn't an object.
Wait, was that the answer? The head was breathing from a smaller pool of air. That was what the head was doing different. Of course, after his earlier blunder, it was probably for the best if Gabriel stayed quiet and did not draw more attention to himself.
They were released to find a partner and he looked around for someone suitable. Which was almost anyone who wasn't going to make fun of him for answering a rhetorical question. Even though he was pretty sure it was the correct answer. Spotting such a person, Gabriel approached. "Would you like to work with me?" He asked them. Non-rhetorically.
11
Gabriel Wilson
An Object Lesson
1481
0
5
