Selina Skies
April 01, 2021 10:43 PM
Intermediates - Let's Work Together by Selina Skies
“Good morning,” Selina greeted the intermediate class. “Today, in some ways, we will be returning to something that should be familiar and comfortable for most of you, as we will be working on inanimate transfigurations.” Her smile as she said this suggested that there was, of course, a catch. Naturally, she would not be having her intermediate class just doing work meant for beginners.“The twist, however, is that you will be pairing with someone else to achieve this. For those of you who take advanced classes, you will tackle trasnfigurations of unusual size, which involve synchronising your casting, and combining forces with another person. It’s a useful foundation for that to practise those skills with something a little more within your current skill range – and for those of you who end up not taking the advanced class, you may still be called on in life to work on collaborative pieces of magic, so it’s good to be familiar with how that feels.
“This particular task also requires you to separate out the different elements of a transfiguration, and to narrow down your focus to those parts which you are responsible for. You will be transfiguring a piece of paper into a cup. I want one of you to focus on form and material, and one of you to focus on design. Now, those two things overlap to a degree – especially shape and design. I would like you to try first without discussing your ideas, and to see what happens – do your powers fight each other, does one dominate the other? After that, decide who is responsible for what element, but don’t discuss the finished product you are aiming for. See what it takes to work in harmony and have both people contribute.
“Once you have finished, I would like you to summarise what difficulties you encountered, how you worked around them, and what strengths you found in your partnership.
“You should all remember the spell from beginners. Can anyone tell me?” she asked, writing the correct answer of ‘Chavena,’ along with its pronunciation (more of a soft ‘sh’ than a ‘ch’) on the board.
“You may begin.”
OOC: Posts will be graded on length, relevance, realism and creativity. Have fun, and feel free to make up a range of different outcomes, though don't let anything get messy or out of hand without giving me a chance to help.
Subthreads: Yes! Lets!! by Valentine Duell with Jezebel Reed-Fischer
My brain hurts already. by Graham Osbrook with Esme Brockert
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Selina Skies
Intermediates - Let's Work Together
26
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5
Valentine Duell
April 03, 2021 11:49 AM
Yes! Lets!! by Valentine Duell
Valentine arrived at transfigurations early. She had an adventure to figure out. So she found a seat, pulled out her gaming notebook and began scribbling down ideas, plots and NPCs until Professor Skies called out her 'Good Morning'. Val looked around to see the classroom had filled up around her, she quickly stashed her gaming book and pulled out her less fun transfiguration notes. This was still by far her least favorite class. Professor Skies was great and wonderful, but it was just so hard. She just could not picture what she wanted in her head and that was what half of the class was about doing. She wasn't about to give up though... she only had three more years... she sighed.The Teppenpaw perked up immediately at the mention that they were going to be working on something familiar and comfortable. Inanimate transfigurations, those weren't terrible, she could mostly do those. This may not be so bad. Her uncertainty turned into a bright smile when Professor Skies announced that they would be pairing with someone. Even better! She'd get to work with someone on easy things, this would be a great class!
Some of that excitement drained away as the professor continued to talk. They were do both change the same thing without talking much? It almost sounded like they were having a magical battle to see who could dominate the paper, but not quite. The professor was having them purposefully start out without coordinating to see what would happen. Val was pretty sure she knew what would happen with their paper. Probably even after they had discussed who was doing what to it. Oh well.
Valentine turned to the person sitting next to her and smiled. "I guess we can't coordinate to much to start. Would you like the form and material part and I'll work on design?" She really hoped they would go for that. She wasn't sure her 'form and material' skills were all that good, especially if there was going to be opposing forces. She could probably try and layer 'design' on top of whatever they were doing, different colors and maybe a few accents?
2
Valentine Duell
Yes! Lets!!
1490
0
5
Jezebel Reed-Fischer
April 18, 2021 12:24 PM
To defeat (bum bum) the cups. by Jezebel Reed-Fischer
Jezebel was pretty sure she didn't have any friends. She would count Martin among her own friends but wasn't sure he'd apply the label back to her; Dathan was a friend but he was also her cousin; and Bridget and Josie were friends but homework and differing interests often kept them apart outside of classes, namely the fact that Jezebel's interests outside of classes were basically nonexistent. She worried tremendously that this was going to be her lot in life, especially if she was pretty determined to never get married (not that she'd likely find anyone to want to marry her anyway if she wasn't going to make any friends) but it wasn't something she could exactly dwell on either. One of the primary reasons was that she was doing well academically and that the staff seemed to have taken note of her because they'd made her a prefect. She wasn't even the only choice! Something in her apparently was worth noticing. Sometimes she liked to imagine that maybe one of them had even called her friendly or sociable or something like that. She doubted it, but it was nice to imagine. And the prefect badge that now gleamed on the front of her robes had done a lot to boost her confidence if for no other reason than it mandated her socialization with peers. If she wasn't really worth being friends with, perhaps she could at least be social by virtue of her duties and position.Then there was class. Classes like today's required her to be social, for better or for worse. In this case, as a fifth year who was apparently seated at a table with a third year who wasn't even in her House, Jezebel couldn't help being a bit nervous. She didn't know a thing about this girl's abilities in the classroom, which meant her lowkey confidence in her own abilities where hardly helpful, and she didn't know a thing about how to talk to her anyway. So this was likely going to go horribly. The other girl seemed less convinced of this though because she started with a smile and then the best thing Jezebel could have hoped for. She even smiled back.
"Yes," she said, breathing out a clear sigh of relief. "That sounds good. I'm Jezebel," she added with a nod as she adjusted her grip on her wand. Her mind raced for a moment as she tried to decide what to do. She figured a wooden cup would be the easiest since it was sort of just thick paper, and a cup without a handle would be easiest for this girl to stick a design onto. Unless a handle counted as design? Or was that form? Well, she'd aim for no handle and see how it went. Wooden cup. No handle. She tried not to think of any wood grain texture or anything that might mess with the design, focusing instead on how it felt to hold or handle a wooden cup, how it felt to drink from . . . "I'm ready when you are," she said, her eyebrows set in a determined expression.
22
Jezebel Reed-Fischer
To defeat (bum bum) the cups.
1454
0
5
Valentine Duell
April 21, 2021 6:14 PM
They shall not stand in our way! by Valentine Duell
To be perfectly honest, Valentine was a little startled when she saw that a fifth year had decided to sit with her. Not just any fifth year either, a prefect! That was fantastic! If anyone should be good at this (who wasn't Bonabell), it would probably be a fifth-year prefect. With any luck, this would be one of the few Transfiguration classes that didn't end in disaster for her. Well, honestly 'disaster' may be the wrong term, it wasn't like she was causing really weird things to happen... to often.Jezebel even seemed to agree with Valentine's distribution of duties. That was also good. It seemed a little strange when Jezebel introduced herself, but then again she was two years ahead in another house. This would be the only year they would have classes together, and although Val tried to get to know as many people as she could, she really only got to know the students a year above her or lower unless they were in some of the clubs with her. Also, it occurred to her that she was now in intermediate classes, she wouldn't really get to know the first years much either. Well, she may have to do something about that... later. For now she had an older student to get to know.
"I'm Valentine," She responded cheerily to Jezebel, "Congratulations on Prefect by the way." Val added gesturing towards the badge. She debated mentioning that this was not her best class, but thought that perhaps that may come apparent without explanation. Also it looked like Jezebel was starting to concentrate. She should decide what she was going to attempt to do as well.
Just for the heck of it, Val tried to imagine a cup in her head, and unsurprisingly came up with nothing. She sighed and began jotting down the things she wanted to keep in mind, the usual 'what is it now' versus the 'what do I want it to be' lists. She also attempted a doodle for a potential pattern on the cup, but she wasn't that good at drawing either. Maybe she'd have to see if Alexander could give her some pointers on that front.
The list was being difficult, as 'what it is now' was a flat plain white sheet of paper, but Jezebel would change that. She didn't know what Jezebel was going to change the 'form and material' into.. and she wasn't supposed to ask for this first try. She would have to go off the idea that it was white paper.. which it wouldn't be... probably?
"I'm ready when you are."
Jezebel looked... determined and focused on that paper. Val glanced down at her own sheet of notes and back to the paper. Well, here goes nothing... "Okay, let's try this." She replied with far more confidence than she felt. Valentine tried to gather up the descriptive words in her mind, she was just going for a simple pattern. Some dark squiggly lines around the exterior of the cup which should end up being pink.
She picked up her wand, and waved it "Chavena!"
2
Valentine Duell
They shall not stand in our way!
1490
0
5
Graham Osbrook
May 05, 2021 5:30 PM
My brain hurts already. by Graham Osbrook
No doubt it said Things about him, things that Graham imagined he would laugh at if someone tried to tell him about them, but he was not exactly the most trusting person in the world. When Professor Skies told them they were going to do something familiar, he was immediately on the lookout for the catch, which was not long in presenting itself.Group spellcasting! His mind went immediately to some of his favorite wireless serials from when he’d been living at home. It was an old short (well, relatively speaking; it was still about forty episodes) series, with a complete storyline; there was some ancient prophecy that said that the evil dark wizard could only be defeated by bringing nine specific witches and wizards together in the exact center of the continent, somewhere in North Dakota. This had forced the protagonist to first figure out which of two cities was the real exact center, and that had been a mere warm-up to figuring out who the Chosen Nine were, and that had gotten really messy when it had turned out that three of them were somewhat inconvenienced, the most notable case being the one who had mysteriously vanished thirty years prior. Transfiguration had actually been a plot point in that series; the one guy had mysteriously vanished because it had turned out that he’d been literally Vanished.
Naturally, in the end, the Nine had been found – the one guy rematerialized with a massive effort that drew the villain’s attention, another guy busted out of prison, and so forth – only for there to be a twist ending he had never been sure he liked the reasoning of. They had gotten quite a long way toward casting the group spell first, though, and that part had been pretty epic. Somehow, though, he expected this to end up being…a little less epic, though possibly no less difficult for that. He tried to get his mind around casting a spell to turn something into something without knowing what shape it was supposed to be, and he found it made his brain hurt. At that point, was he conjuring, or was the other person charming what he transfigured, or…?
Yeah, he was not escaping this class without a headache today.
“Want to work together, after I warn you up front that I’m having trouble getting my brain around this?” he asked.
16
Graham Osbrook
My brain hurts already.
1498
0
5
Esme Brockert
May 07, 2021 5:49 PM
It could be worse by Esme Brockert
Aside from when Professor Skies attempted to bring Muggle science into lessons and sent Sapphire on a downward spiral for the class period, Esme loved Transfiguration as it was a subject she excelled in. She was a Brockert, it was in her blood.Fortunately, the dreaded S-word wasn't uttered and they would doing something far more interesting. It looked like it would be even more important than usual to work with someone that Esme felt that she could get on with. The whole idea of one's magic clashing with another's was an interesting concept and she wondered how exactly that would work. Like, would hers work better with someone who was in her own house or did it work along family lines? Or just generally speaking, people who got along would also have magic that was more compatible? Like, would she have better results working with Sadie, who was in her house than she would have had working with Topaz, who was in a different house and that Esme didn't get along with but was her cousin. Not that Topaz was an actual option since she wasn't in this class but she was an example of someone related to her, in a different house, that she didn't like.
And even if Esme's magic was not compatible with her cousins and the bloodline theory wasn't a factor, what about twins? Her uncles Eustace and Gene were fraternal twins but she couldn't for a moment think that anyone would be able to work well with Uncle Eustace on anything anymore than they would be able to with Topaz. Of course, Uncle Gene was on the passive side, very non-confrontational, much like his son Christopher had become. Probably because his twin was so aggressive. Kind of like Allegra and Topaz.
Or was the level of magical strength a factor? Like would two people who were magically poweful be able to work together without overdoing it? Did the magic need to be complimentary to each other? Esme briefly shuddered at the thought of having to work with someone who was...whom she didn't think she could get on with so their magic would be different than hers and therefore successful.
“Want to work together, after I warn you up front that I’m having trouble getting my brain around this?
Esme appraised the person in front of her. Graham Osbrook was a fellow Crotalus which was generally all she knew about him. And she knew there were a wide variety of personality types in their house, but he wouldn't be quite so radically different as, say, a Pecari would be. The fact that she knew little about him was a good sign because if he was the sort of person who irked her, Esme would likely already know that. Even the fact that he was having issues understanding this-and she wasn't unaccustomed to people who felt that way-was not as off-putting as some things might be. She wasn't Topaz, after all. "Sure." The fourth year replied. "What part do you need help with?" She asked, used to she was at helping Sapphire with such things, though the older Crotalus usually understood them better than she thought she did.
11
Esme Brockert
It could be worse
1479
0
5
Graham Osbrook
May 11, 2021 8:37 PM
I mean, technically, anything can always be worse. by Graham Osbrook
On the surface of it, making so bold as to present himself as a suitable partner to a beautiful, older, more magically talented pureblood girl was an incredibly stupid thing to do, and Graham took a certain pride in not being incredibly stupid, at the very least. Stupid sometimes, sure, who wasn’t, but there were limits. This probably should have at least run up against one of them.However, he thought there were advantages to the situation that made it worth gambling on. They were both Crotali – the natural maintainers of the social hierarchy – and, by declaring his incompetence up-front, he was more or less signaling that he acknowledged her superiority in every way. Whatever damage his pride (what there was of it; he’d never quite understood why people spent a lot of energy being angry at the social order. It was not as if it was at all likely to change anything) might take would be more than balanced out by the potential benefits. It seemed reasonably possible, he thought, that he could sort of hide it if he could not pull off either half of the spell solo. After all, if she had something in mind, most likely she couldn’t separate it from the other half any more than he could figure out how to, so….
“How to imagine substance without shape in a way that isn’t conjuring,” he admitted when asked what he was having trouble getting his brains around. “Or how to imagine a shape without substance. That…might actually be harder,” he said, another thought occurring to him as he spoke. “Even if I just picture the outline of something, that’s still…lines and stuff, isn’t it?” Geometry was not something he knew a lot about, but he remembered Grandma trying to teach him and Claire about what a two-dimensional figure was while simultaneously explaining that even the squares and triangles she’d drawn on the paper were technically three-dimensional, since the line of ink or graphite had a teeny-tiny height to it.
Maybe, he thought, abstract thought just wasn’t for him….
16
Graham Osbrook
I mean, technically, anything can always be worse.
1498
0
5