What's going on now? on Transfiguration

Selina Skies

April 16, 2021 7:47 PM

Beginners - Design Work by Selina Skies

The beginners were usually a rather excitable bunch. Pecaris were usually a rather excitable bunch. It shouldn’t have been surprising therefore that a certain pair of second years needed an eye keeping on them, and yet it had been a while since Selina had felt quite so strongly about that. After all, so far their first year counterparts showed no such signs of being trouble, or making Selina want to implement a seating plan to separate them… For now, she was giving them the benefit of the doubt, but she would be keeping a close watch on things.

“Good morning,” she smiled, once everyone was seated. “Today, we are going to move onto design work.” By now, the class should have had the basics down, and at least been getting some result every time they tried a transfiguration – it was unlikely to be complete or perfect, but they should have been getting somewhere. Anyone who, by their own admission or her observation, was struggling with that had been asked to come see her during office hours for some extra help.

“In transfiguration, you are graded on several elements – the most important is always whether your work is complete and functional. For example, if you have been asked to turn a tortoise into a teapot, you need a complete teapot, whose lid can be removed, and which does not try to crawl across the table or tuck its spout in. You will also be able to increase your grade with the complexity of your design work. A white teapot with a blue pattern will get a higher grade than a suspiciously tortoise-patterned one, for example.” There was also fierce debate about the point at which ‘function’ or ‘full teapotness’ was achieved – as tortoise-patterned teapots did not commonly exist, did that represent incomplete transfiguration, even though it didn’t impact on function? A famous transfiguration scholar had once shown up to a conference with a novelty teapot in the shape of a tortoise to prove a point about that and the resultant fight had almost come to hexes. The beginners would have the fun of reading about that, and commenting on what made an object ‘completely transfigured’ for homework, with several similar examples presented for debate.

“Today, I’m taking the pressure off in terms of other elements of transfiguration – you are starting with a plate, and you will be ending with a plate. However, I would like to see at least two changes to it – whether that be material, colour, size, shape, or pattern. Whilst there are several charms that do one of those things, can anyone tell me why this will count as transfiguration?” Or at least, why it would for the purposes of assigning it within their curriculum. Again, shots had been fired on this. She took a few answers, until she felt the point had been made.

“The spell you will need is lateramen. It uses a gliding wand motion, like so.” She demonstrated, holding up a small, square black plate with a gold criss-cross pattern, where she had started with a large plain white one. Each student had a similar blank canvas on the desk in front of them.

“You may discuss your work quietly with your neighbours, and ask them or me if you have any questions. You may begin.”

OOC: Welcome to beginners transfiguration. Although no other transfiguration classes have been posted, you can assume we are part way through the term, and your character has had some experience. This is covered by the part about ‘By now, the class should have had the basics down, and at least been getting some result every time they tried a transfiguration – it was unlikely to be complete or perfect, but they should have been getting somewhere. Anyone who, by their own admission or her observation, was struggling with that had been asked to come see her during office hours for some extra help.’ You can assume all that is true of your character, and use it how you like.

The parts about students causing trouble is based on what was written in Charms by Billy and Oz, otherwise I would not make assumptions about the general behaviour of the class.

Classes are graded on quality of writing, not on how well you claim your character does. So, a long, detailed, realistic post where they only do part of the work will receive more points than a short post where they finish the task immediately. Points are given for length, realism, relevance, and creativity. If you have any questions, please ask on the OOC or in chatzy. Otherwise, dive in and have fun!

Subthreads:

Okay, no problem. [Bobby] by Iris Cobb

What's going on now? by Billy Cobb with Reighleigh Mae Thorn

13 Selina Skies Beginners - Design Work 26 1 5

Iris Cobb

April 17, 2021 11:55 AM

Okay, no problem. [Bobby] by Iris Cobb

Iris was a little behind schedule today, as she had stayed lat after charms class to talk to Professor Grey about some of the bits of their homework assignment that had been confusing her. She usually arrived somewhere in the middle of the pack of students arriving for class, but today she was definitely closer to the end of that pack. She shot her brother, Billy, a dirty look as he was just wandering about in the corridor waiting for the last second to slip into the class room.

Inside she found an empty seat next to one of her fellow first years, Bobby Yu. Iris smiled at the Aladren girl and hoped she hadn't been saving the seat for anyone else. Before she could say much else though, Professor Skies began class. The crotalus girl listened intently to the professor. Transfigurations was not her best class, but she was doing okay. The question that Professor Skies asked about why these things counted as transfigurations sounded simple enough, but she certainly didn't feel confident enough to weigh in out loud.

Once the demonstration part of the class started, Iris wrote down the spell word and made a quick sketch of the wand motion. She had discovered that her drawing had often come in helpful in this class. If she could draw up a picture of what she wanted, it was so much easier for her to complete the transfiguration. Then the were set free to work.

Iris promptly turned to Bobby with a polite smile, "Hi, I hope you didn't mind me sitting here." She hadn't spent a lot of time getting to know Bobby yet, but they'd been in enough classes and such that Iris knew her name. "What are you thinkin' about doin' with your plate?" Iris turned back to look at her own, "I was thinking some flowers would look nice on mine, but that may be a bit complicated." She had drawn many flowers in her life so far, it was the natural subject matter when your hobbies were drawing and gardening. However, she hadn't needed to make any appear magically yet.

OOC: Billy Cobb is another of my characters, so I can write for him without it being considered 'godmodding'. If you think Iris and Bobby have a closer relationship than the one indicated, let me know and I can adjust things.

2 Iris Cobb Okay, no problem. [Bobby] 1526 0 5

Billy Cobb

April 26, 2021 5:07 PM

What's going on now? by Billy Cobb

Billy sat down as usual just as the professor began speaking. Classes were beginning to get to him again... well, not necessarily the classes themselves. Mostly just the classrooms. He felt like he was suffocating in these rooms all the time. They sat in classes to learn stuff, then they sat around doing more work while the teacher's weren't watching. He still didn't fully understand why it got called 'homework', it wasn't like they did it at home or anything. As nice and comfy as this place was... it sure wasn't home. Home was up on the mountain where you could run free and spend all day without settin' foot inside if you didn't want to.

Here there wasn't nothing to do but sit around and do the learnin' the professors wanted you do to. Well, and play Quidditch. That was pretty fantastic. He'd looked around at some of the other 'clubs', but the only one that had looked mildly interesting was the dueling club. It was at least more active then just sitting around like most of the rest of 'em. He joined in with that one, just 'cause it was something else fairly active to do.

Billy sighed and realized that the professor wasn't talking anymore, he had a plate in front of him and most of the rest of the class were doing things. Were they eating? He thought he remembered something about food and transfiguring not going together particularly well, but couldn't quite imagine exactly what it had all been about. Glancing around again, it didn't look like people were eating off of their plates. He leaned sideways towards his neighbor and whispered, "What are we doing?"

2 Billy Cobb What's going on now? 1519 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

April 27, 2021 8:38 PM

Whatever we want. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ray had seen magic before when her dad used it and it wasn't like she was completely stupid so she could figure out that some stuff was possible. Like if magic was real, then there had to be some stuff you could do, like turn stuff into other stuff, or make fireballs. That was like Witchcraft 101 on television and if the Muggles had figured it out, then it would be pretty disappointing if the magic people hadn't. Still, actually learning how to do some of it was really boring. When would she ever need to make a stupid teapot? Unless the fairies liked it and wanted her to host a tea party for them, which she was pretty sure wasn't going to be on their list of demands when she finally got in with them, then she wasn't going to need to know that.

Other lessons were more interesting though. There were useful applications to being able to make new designs and she loved the idea of changing all the plates to say something offensive at one of her mother's next horrible pageantry, networking, blah blah blah events. If she could get them all to have pictures of--

Her thoughts were interrupted by the student next to her and she looked at him with one eyebrow raised and a smirk already on her face, ready to make this into a joke. She knew of the boy because they were in the same House and because Iris had pointed him out as her brother, but they hadn't really talked much or anything. Ray didn't really talk to people if she could avoid it because most of them were so not worth her time.

"Well, I was trying to figure out what sort of 'inappropriate' images I could get to show up on my plate," she said, picking it up with her black, lace fingerless glove covered hands and making a snooty face to show just what she thought of the idea of inappropriateness in plate design. She'd almost pay to watch Ms. Teapot-Face grade it. She set the plate back down and looked at Billy from underneath her black hair, fingering the spider necklace she was wearing as she considered her classmate. "But everyone's just supposed to make their plate look different. Or be different. Material, color, blah blah blah," she said, not wanting to look too much like she'd actually been paying attention.

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn Whatever we want. 1525 0 5

Billy Cobb

May 01, 2021 6:25 PM

Oh, that's good. by Billy Cobb

Billy looked at the girl curiously. She was in his house, in his sister's year, and he was pretty sure he'd seen them together at times. That was about as much as he knew about her, and until this moment that had been plenty. Now he was curious. From what she had just said to him, she didn't quite seem like the sort of person the Iris would normally make friends with.

"Inappropriate image?" He asked in return. He wasn't quite sure what she meant, but made sure to make it sound like he was curious as to what sort of inappropriate image she was thinking of, and not what she meant by an inappropriate image in general. The idea sure had some merit for fun. Just to be sure, he grinned a small bit and inquired, "What were ya thinkin'?"

He himself was no great artist, and considered his own plate. This wasn't the worst class in the school, he did alright last year, but he couldn't remember which of them words they were supposed to be using for this. So instead of digging through his scrawled notebook, he turned back to the girl, and not wanting to seem unlearned, he asked "Did she say which plate transforming word we were supposed to be using today?" Maybe she would think he'd learned a bunch of them last year.

2 Billy Cobb Oh, that's good. 1519 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

May 06, 2021 9:06 AM

So you're game? by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

OOC: CW Description of a not-so PG drawing. BIC:

Billy, it turned out, was either as oblivious as his sister or much much more conniving. He wanted to see what she had in mind? Well alright then. Not caring too much about the fact that her only available writing utensil was a quill and ink, or for the fact that such images may well get whoever bore them on their paper in trouble, Ray smiled mischievously and leaned over to Billy's papers, quill in hand. She drew out the longer, cylindrical middle shape and two smaller round shapes - the infamous depiction of what she had in mind to do to her plate, even though she had no real experience to give her any insight as to how that should look in a more nuanced design - and completed the drawing with some more crass additions.

"You know what that is, right?" she asked, realizing suddenly that Billy should certainly know about the thing she was trying to draw, even if he didn't exactly know about the age old hieroglyph for it. "Do you think I'd get in trouble for putting it on here?" she asked with another grin, knocking her knuckles against the surface of her still-blank plate.

Billy asked about the word they'd be using for class and Ray suddenly thought it would be very funny to give him entirely the wrong word. Just watch him make his plate go flying across the room or something when he waved his wand. But that didn't seem like the right choice when she wasn't yet sure whether Billy was the sort of person she wanted on her side or not. Plus, he was a second year; she wasn't sure how fast he'd recognize any of the words she did know and be able to call her out for lying to him.

"Lateramen," Ray said easily, because she was a good student even when she didn't want to admit it. She waved a finger in the same motion as they were meant to be waiving their wands to indicate that part of the spell too. Then she raised an eyebrow at her classmate. "Thinking about other things today, are we?"

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn So you're game? 1525 0 5

Billy Cobb

May 07, 2021 9:07 PM

I like games, you do as well? by Billy Cobb

OOC: CW continuing from above post. BIC:

Things felt a little 'weird' when the girl... Ray? No, that didn't sound like a girl's name, he had an uncle Ray. Oh well, maybe he'd ask Iris what it was later, if he didn't find out for certain sooner. Anyway, it felt a bit weird when the girl leaned over with an expression that he himself had worn on more than one occasion. She was awful close, not that he had anything against people gettin' to close, but for some reason it just felt... weird. Probably nothing.

Once she had withdrew a bit, he could see what she had drawn on his paper. At first he wondered why she thought a fountain was inappropriate. At least the drawing had a vague resemblance to the one in the gardens. The proportions were a little off, in fact it almost looked like a... ooooh. He did his darnedest to suppress the snicker that was fighting to get out. The best he could manage in answer to her question was to return the mischievous smile and give a slight nod. He thought this girl might be some fun after all, maybe getting to know her a little better wouldn't be so bad.

After Billy's initial reaction had passed, which he'd done his best to keep as quiet as possible. He really wasn't looking to get into more trouble with the teachers, but... if she wanted to go for it, he sure wasn't gunna stop her. "Better'n you I think." He finally replied, still sporting the grin. He was pretty sure Iris wouldn't know what that image was supposed to be. As for her second question, Billy gave a playful shrug of his shoulders, "Dunno... I got in trouble fer practicin' charms in charms class. Don't see why you couldn't get yerself into some trouble in transfig for doin' some transfiguring."

Billy picked up his own plate and examined it. Best at least make it look like there was some actual work going on here. "Lateramen," he repeated. It sounded vaguely familiar from last year. "Hmm... yeah, other things are usually more interestin'." He picked up his own quill and began to sketch close to Ray's doodle. "Quidditch stuff, Dueling club, you know, fun things." He showed her the paper then upon which he'd drawn, perhaps a bit poorly, a broom with what was probably two bludgers nearly striking the back end of the broom. Strangely the design may have had a similar resemblance to the girl's 'fountain'. "I may go with a Quidditch theme for my plate. Whadda think?"

2 Billy Cobb I like games, you do as well? 1519 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

May 10, 2021 1:10 PM

When they aren't totally lame. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Billy's show of appreciation for her artwork - in the form of a reprised snicker and a nod - made Ray give in to a more sincere grin and her nose wrinkled with amusement. She'd finally found a classmate she could really enjoy, it seemed, and it was a boy. Her mother would be so disappointed and that was delicious. She managed to make her eyebrows give one suggestive, agreeing jump when Billy said he knew the shape better than her. That was bordering right on the limit of Ray's comfort or confidence but she wasn't about to admit that and Billy didn't try to push it so she didn't have to. In fact, he worked towards his own artistic portrayal instead, near where Ray had done hers. Ooh, if a teacher ever saw his papers, he was definitely going to get in trouble. He didn't seem to mind though, especially if he had gotten in trouble in Charms for something stupid it sounded like. This was the kind of lowkey rebellious she could work with.

Ray lifted her chin and leaned forward to see over Billy's arm as he drew, and she let out a snort of laughter - one she quickly stifled with a glance at Professor Skies - and looked at Billy more proudly than she'd expected to. "I think it's very important to bring your hobbies into the classroom, Quidditch included," she said seriously, although her eyes still sparkled with humor.

She ran a hand over her own plate again, not sure she could one up the Quidditch that Billy had come up with. She'd thought she was very clever and funny until now but she was pretty sure a straight up doodle wasn't going to cut it, especially next to Billy's more subtle imagery. There were alternatives of course, but nothing she was confident enough with to actually do.

"You're way less likely to get in trouble than me," she finally admitted, snickering at the thought of the two of their plans next to each other. "I may need something more subtle. You go first so I can see how it turns out, and I'll think about it," she decided, slipping into bossy as a natural remedy for rising anxiety when she didn't know what else to do.

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn When they aren't totally lame. 1525 0 5