Lawrence Marsh
April 17, 2021 10:47 AM
Born to be Wild or not [Intermediate] by Lawrence Marsh
Jackelops had become a wildly, sometimes too wildly, popular aspect of Professor Marshes class. There were usually one or two students a year at this point who asked to bring their Jackelops home with them when the year ended, or at least keep working with them upon returning the next year. They wanted to keep the creatures as pets, which wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, but it did pose more than a few problems, especially if the students thought Jackelops, and therefore other wild creatures, could be domesticated. If that was the case, students might go into areas with wildlife and act as if all animals could be tamed. This was all fine and good with Jackelops, but those were not the only animals in the wild.After students had arrived Professor Marsh moved around to the front of his desk and smiled at them. He noted briefly that he was less worried than he had been a mere two years ago. He felt good. Maybe these students had tamed him in a way.
“Good morning class. By a show of hands, how many of you have or have had a pet at home?”
He paused looking around counting the hands.
“Great. Can some of you name some of the pets you’ve had?”
Lawrence called on a few of the students.
“Excellent. I love hearing about your pets and animals. Some of you have had a variety of pets and that’s good. Today we are going to talk about the difference between domesticated creatures and wild animals.”
Professor Marsh flicked his wand and the chalkboard flipped over to reveal the chalkboard split in half. Above the top of the left side it read domesticated and above the top of the right side it read wild.
“Now, that doesn’t mean that wild animals can’t be tamed. After all, even the wildest animal of all, us, can be tamed, but I don’t know if we can be domesticated for other animals.”
“Now when I say domesticated, what do I mean? A domesticated animal has been selectively bred and adapted over generations to live alongside humans. The easiest example is the dog.” Marsh took out a picture of a grey dog barking and stuck it under domesticated.
“We’ve all seen a dog,” he said pointing to the picture, “but can anyone tell me what wild animal dogs come from?”
Marsh called on one of his students.
“Correct,” he said pulling up a picture of a wolf howling and pasting it on the board. “Dogs come from wolves. Over generations they were adapted to live with humans, us. Dogs can live without humans, and they still have some aspects of wolves, but for the most part they work better with humans.”
“Now today you are each going to get the picture of two creatures/animals and you will need to tell me if they are domesticated or wild and explain why you think so. Once you do that I want each of you to write down some of the traits that wild creatures have and some that domesticated creatures have.”
Marsh waved his wand and a box with photos started floating down the aisle. Two photos would come out of the box and land on each table.
“Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be walking around as usual.”
OOC: Please feel free to use non-magical animals for domesticated animals or you can use category XX creatures. https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Category:XX_Creatures
If you want to know more about Domesticated vs Wild and physical characteristics: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Category:XX_Creatures
Subthreads: I think you might have been. by Quincy Wright with Valentine Duell
Probably not by Sadie-Lake Chalmers with Sapphire Brockert
41
Lawrence Marsh
Born to be Wild or not [Intermediate]
1462
1
5
Quincy Wright
April 18, 2021 1:33 PM
I think you might have been. by Quincy Wright
Quincy liked Professor Marsh because the man reminded him of supervillains in movies who were trying to convince everyone that they totally weren't the bad guy. The way the professor emphasized that 'humans' meant 'us' made Quincy think he was trying to convince himself and everyone else that he was in fact human. As such, Quincy was pretty sure that Professor Marsh was definitely not human.Keeping an eye on him a bit lest he do something sus, or do something super cool, Quincy took notes with less interest than he probably should have. He liked this class a lot but it definitely didn't feel like it was hard. Did his classmates really not understand the difference between wild and domesticated animals? Did no one teach their magic children about the phylogenetic tree, the animal kingdom, nothing? It was horribly disappointing.
He got his pictures and looked at the first, a miniature pony, with only vague interest. It was the second that caught his eye though, because it was one he thought was oddly classified in the magical world: a grindylow. He knew it was an XX classification (because of course he did), but he also knew it was aggressive. It was considered domesticatable, but it was also known for drowning people and tearing them apart when provoked. He supposed dogs could do that too though, so maybe that wasn't a good way to think of it. Still, he didn't imagine many people wanted a grindylow as a pet. Happy he'd at least gotten something interesting to work on, he set about his task alone, happy to have some peace until someone just had to go and interrupt.
22
Quincy Wright
I think you might have been.
1495
0
5
Valentine Duell
April 21, 2021 6:49 PM
Which category do you fit in? by Valentine Duell
Valentine knew she should like Care of Magical Creatures. She didn't really have any trouble with it, and she liked some of the creatures they got to learn about. But, she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she and animals just didn't quite get along. She did not particularly like this conclusion, but there didn't seem to be much she could do about it. The jackelope project they did their first year had gone well enough on paper, but she never felt as though she had connected with her charge as some of the other students had. Sadie and Philippe had been amazing with theirs.When Professor Marsh began class, she put away her notebooks and noticed she was sitting next to Quincy. She gave him a quick smile, but wasn't sure if he saw it. It seems as though it'd been a while since she'd gotten to talk to Quincy much. This may be a fun class after all.
She did not raise her hand when Professor Marsh asked who had pets. Mama and Papa had never gotten her one, and she really hadn't ever thought to ask. Would she have done better with the jackelope if she'd had a puppy growing up? Maybe, all of her animals had been stuffed.
When her pictures arrived at her seat, Val saw she'd gotten a snake and some sort of frog-monkey thing? She didn't recognize it, that wasn't a good sign. Step one... figure out what the creatures were. To bad Hilda was in sixth year, she could probably tell her what kind of snake the first picture was. Or..... Val glanced sideways towards Quincy and smiled.
"Hi Quincy!" She interrupted him, "What did you get?"She looked over at his pictures, "Aww... you got a pony. I got a snake." she made a playfully disgusted face and showed him her pictures. "Do you know what this frog-monkey thing is? It'll save me some page flipping in the book."
2
Valentine Duell
Which category do you fit in?
1490
0
5
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
April 22, 2021 7:59 PM
Probably not by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Sadie wanted to believe that everything was back to normal. Felipe hadn't said anything to her since they started back at school, not that she had really expected him to. Things with Jessica were carrying on the way they always had. That was what Sadie had thought she wanted. She wasn't sure how to talk about any of the things that were bothering her, and would much prefer they just didn't exist. The trouble was, they did exist, and Jessica knew it, and however much they both ignored it, the awareness of it lurked under the surface of their interactions. It was like a big, horrible zit, and however much concealer or photoshop you applied, the fact was that it was still there, ready to pop out at any moment. She wasn't sure whether it was her imagination or not that Jessica was looking at her differently.Sad-happily, Jessica was not in class with her any more. It was definitely a relief but Sadie felt so bad for thinking that about someone who was her closest friend. She settled into Care of Magical Creatures, feeling like she ought to be able to say she was feeling like her usual self, or like she was in her comfort zone, but she wasn't entirely sure what either of those things meant.
She half raised her hand when Professor Marsh asked if any of them had pets. It felt like it would have been disingenuous not to, especially when Professor Marsh knew about Jack-Jack but that was sort of a sticking point. Was Jack-Jack really a pet? Jackelopes could be farmed, and some were for their antlers (and it was barbaric and cruel, the conditions they were usually kept in) but not a lot had been done to adapt or change them as a species. The fact that she and her classmates had cared for them for a year meant they were able to have their needs met by humans, and they weren't going to be dangerous. The ones that got too used to being in a cage probably also couldn't go back to the wild, though there were rehabilitation centres aimed at doing that. It felt like there was a middle ground between domesticated and wild - animals which had not been adapted to be with people, but where individual members of that species were used to living in confinement, like the animals in zoos.
But Professor Marsh probably wasn't looking for confusing examples, like her having a jackelope as a pet, and she didn't really volunteer information in class as a rule. She also wasn't keen to draw attention to herself as being any kind of special exception.
She sometimes wondered whether Professor Marsh thought it was a bad thing that she kept Jack-Jack. He had never outwardly said so, but he did think Jack-Jack was a wild animal. Sadie was sure Jack-Jack would hate it in the wild. He liked his fuzzy bed and his bunny treats. But was that because Sadie had made him that way? On the surface of it, it seemed like bunnies were a less extreme example than dogs – a wild dog was a wolf, but a wild bunny was still a bunny – but she’d read a pet blog over the holidays which said that domesticated bunnies were far enough removed from wild ones that they were a different species – they wouldn’t be able to interbreed, and the loss of their natural survival instincts differentiated them. Jackelopes weren’t bunnies, of course, but there was possibly a similar mechanic at play with the ones that were bred for farming. However little they changed on the outside, you couldn’t interfere with nature without it having some kind of effect.
Feeling more like everything was a fuzzy middle ground, she collected her cards. At least she hadn’t drawn jackelopes. She had mooncalves, which were tame and harmless enough to be considered ‘possible to domesticate.’ That didn’t mean that anyone had… Though given that they gave a useful (if smelly) product, and that being out in the wild caused confusion for non-magical people when they left crop-circles, it seemed like people would try to keep them contained. They hadn’t been told to work in pairs, so Sadie just began making notes.
13
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Probably not
1480
0
5
Sapphire Brockert
April 23, 2021 4:40 PM
Definitely not by Sapphire Brockert
OOC: CW-Discusses ableism. BIC:
Sapphire's year had not started out on a good note. Even though she wanted to be a good sport about not getting prefect-unlike Topaz-it still made her feel bad about herself. Again. Like the staff thought she wasn't good enough. Or that she really was not good enough.
What was so awful about her though? Yes, maybe Jezebel got better grades, but she knew that could not possibly be the only factor since Topaz had near perfect ones and she hadn't gotten it. Of course, Sapphire would think that was because of the Aladren being a complete and total monster, but that wasn't something anyone on staff was aware of. Not even Grandfather. Especially not Grandfather. In all honesty, from staff perspective, the seventh year looked like an ideal candidate and Ness came across abrasive and unapproachable. Sapphire would certainly never go to her with an issue especially given how anti-pureblood her sister's roommate was. Of course, she'd never go to Topaz with a problem either. Especially since the problem was usually Topaz.
And it wasn't as if Jezebel was Miss Social Butterfly either so they couldn't possibly have held the fact that Sapphire was shy against her. Also, Allegra was shy too and she had gotten it over Julius. Who,while rather cold and unapproachable, had started the paper and therefore done more than Jezebel had to deserve it. Even though her cousin was still the better choice.
Oh, and by the way, Sapphire found the other Crotalus to be just slightly more approachable than either Ness or Julius. Her roommate was just another person who had shown little interest in her, who, like the staff, like Ellie, apparently, didn't think she was good enough. Why wasn't she good enough?. Topaz picking on her was one thing, because the seventh year was a terrible person and clearly the problem. But what did everyone else have against her? What was so great about Bridget, about Anya, about Jezebel?
However, the pain was less fresh by this time in the year, and Sapphire was starting to at least get over the specific slight of not being prefect. It did sound like a potentially overwhelming task after all, and anyway, she would have had to work with people she wasn't that comfortable with. She still felt like there was something wrong with her though. And she didn't mean the epilepsy either. Something deeply unlikable.
Unless, of course her epilepsy was why Sapphire hadn't gotten prefect. Which would be discrimination against someone with a disability/medical issue. Which nobody ever made a stink about as much as they did other kinds of discrimination. Not that she wanted others to be discriminated against but somehow, nobody cared as much about those with disabilities or medical problems. Either they were ignored or mocked. Like her classmates ignored her and her sister mocked her (though to be fair, Topaz was just awful like that and she probably would have given Sapphire a hard time even if there was nothing medically wrong with her. After all, there was nothing medically wrong with Allegra or well, anyone else the seventh year seemed to have it in for). People either assumed they were incapable because of their issue or did not accomodate the issue. And the same people who complained about discrimination against other groups didn't seem to care about the disabled!
It made Sapphire feel as though she did not matter. All of it. Her classmates, the staff....her own parents who didn't even notice she had a legitimate problem because she got lost in the shuffle of a big family with a negligent mother.
At least Professor Marsh was doing an easy lesson today. She could have hugged him for discussing not domesticated versus domesticated animals rather than something complicated and confusing . The Crotalus knew what animals could be pets and which animals could not.
Once released, Sapphire got her cards. She then spotted Sadie, and made her way over. Sapphire wanted to be around someone who
11
Sapphire Brockert
Definitely not
1459
0
5
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
April 25, 2021 3:53 AM
Welcome to the non-wild side by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Sapphire approached, and Sadie had something close to a genuine smile for her. She was pleased to see the older girl, just a little wary of everything right now, and she wasn't known for being the most effusive person the rest of the time - hopefully that meant Sapphire didn't notice anything different about her to usual. She certainly didn't feel very different, as being a little anxious was more or less her default, even if that had been getting better, prior to the incident with her mother.Sapphire was definitely one of the least complicated people who could have approached. After all, they were already friends. Almost definitelt friends, not slightly weird you-just-randomly-declared-we-could-be friends. She still wasn't totally sure where she stood with Dathan, and what that whole thing had meant. She was pretty sure she would have got all tongue tied around him anyway, even if she hadn't been feeling awful about herself. Anyway, he was going to have lots of chances to spend time with Ellie this year, and Sadie couldn't really compete.
"It's going fine." She offered Sapphire a happy smile. "I got mooncalves, and erumpants. How about you? How are you doing, and what did you get?" She split it, so that it was clear she cared about both parts, though Sapphire was welcome to be as brief on either as she wanted.
13
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Welcome to the non-wild side
1480
0
5
Quincy Wright
May 01, 2021 11:22 AM
Hmmm . . . how would you classify me? by Quincy Wright
Quincy held up the card with the pony on it, happy to trade if Valentine wanted. His eyebrows came up, making it a question even though he didn't use any words (because most of the time, words were mostly overrated). Still, he suspected not everyone would agree with him on that one, so he did go ahead and offer - "Trade?" - before they settled into the actual work they'd been assigned. He hadn't worked with Valentine much for a while despite the fact that they were in the same year, but he supposed that was mostly because he didn't work with anyone unless he had to most of the time. He wasn't anti-social (yes he was) but he just wasn't one to reach out to other people. Valentine was, though, so here they were."Clabbert," he said, pointing at the second card Valentine had. He smiled a little at the picture. "It looks like Rafiki though, from the Lion King," he added, amused at the thought of a Clabbert whacking people over the head with a stick when they tried to collect anything from it for their potions. "But you'll probably still have to do some page-flipping if you wanna read more about it. They're pretty cool." He paused, not really sure whether to keep up this conversation. He doubted that Valentine was going to just end their chat here but they did have stuff they were supposed to be doing so . . . well, he figured he'd have to just steer them that way. "What do you think? Domesticated or wild?"
22
Quincy Wright
Hmmm . . . how would you classify me?
1495
0
5
Valentine Duell
May 02, 2021 5:49 PM
Between wild or domesticated? Hmmm..? by Valentine Duell
Val's eyes opened wide in delight at Quincy's question. A pony instead of a snake? Absolutely yes! But... she glanced toward the professor then back at Quincy. "Are..." she whispered to him in a low tone, "Are we allowed to trade?" Professor Marsh had distributed the pictures, had they been random, or did he know who had gotten which pictures? Or had he at least known which pictures had gotten paired together? Would he know if they got mixed up, would he care? She placed her snake picture on the table near Quincy and gave him a wink. If they somehow got accidentally mixed up... well, that would just be terrible, wouldn't it?Instead she focused on her other card for the moment and gave Quincy a thankful smile. "A clabbert," she repeated. That would seriously cut down on the amount of page turning she would need to do and for that she was very grateful to Quincy. Then she giggled, "It does a bit. I guess I'll have to see if they are any good at giving out wise advice." She began to flip through her book looking for the section on Clabberts. While she did so, she continued to chatter. "Your other picture is a grindylow, right?" She was pretty sure she'd recognized that one correctly. They were... lovely little creatures.
2
Valentine Duell
Between wild or domesticated? Hmmm..?
1490
0
5