That sounds nice on Transfiguration

Selina Skies

February 19, 2022 5:21 PM

Intermediates - We Shine Together by Selina Skies

“Good morning,” Selina greeted the class, trying to focus on the whole of the intermediates, and not just the one who seemed to be verging on absolute crisis mode. Intermediates was a big step up, and each year of intermediates also had its own increase in complexity. Xavier was certainly not the only person in the class struggling, though he was probably struggling the most, and he was the only one she had been warned might explode due to an emotional breakdown… The latest letter from MACUSA had probably, as usual, not helped in the slightest.

“We’re going to start with a breathing and wandwork drill. As you know, precise wand movements and channelling your energy effectively are key components to success in any class. Drills like this can help your precision, and also make for a nice, calming mindset to begin class with.” The support was one Xavier was familiar with, having gone through a lot of similar drills with Professor Wright. The hope was it would help him feel grounded in the classroom too. It was also the kind of support that benefited everyone, hence turning it into a class drill.

“I will start by doing ten deep breaths, modelling a wand movement on the exhale which I want you to copy. After that, I will do ten with verbal commands for you to follow as you exhale. Try to take deep, even breaths. Only begin your wand movements as you exhale. The goal is to really focus on synchronising your wand movement with your breathing. You may be breathing at a different pace than the person next to you. That’s fine. Focus on your breath, time your movements to yourself, and don’t worry about rushing to keep up with other people.” There was a not-so-subtle metaphor for life in there too. Selina began, guiding them through simple movements that made up the core of a lot of spells, such as slashes, spirals, circles and so on.

“Excellent,” she nodded her approval, once they were finished. “Now, for today’s class. We are beginning the practical work for our mechanical transfiguration unit.” The last couple of classes, they had been reading up on the theory, learning the history of the field, along with what defined mechanical transfigurations (those which have complex moving parts which must interact, often though not exclusively made of differing materials). They’d also looked into some scientific studies on expert vs non-expert transfiguration of complex objects, to begin answering the unit’s overarching theory question, which was ‘How much knowledge of objects is required to perform successful transfiguration?’

“Today, you will be beginning with something quite simple, in that you should all be able to envisage how it works, though I do have an example up at the front if anyone wants a closer look.” She tapped an umbrella that was sitting beside her desk. “Now, who can tell me why this fulfils the definition of a mechanical transfiguration?” she asked, taking answers which covered the fact that the umbrella had parts which moved in order to make it expand and collapse. Albeit very simple ones, but it fulfilled the definition. Most umbrellas were also made of multiple materials, though she had something close to an opt out on that one.

“The level A task will be to make one of these decorative paper umbrellas from a toothpick.” She held up the small replica parasol that was typically found in cocktails. “Who can tell me why this is easier?” she asked. Once she had some satisfactory answers, she moved on to the level B task. The students, by now, should have been familiar with how she divided tasks, and that the general expectation was third years on As, fifth years on Bs, and fourth years building up their confidence or diving in as they saw fit. There was, of course, always wiggle room and exceptions. “For level B, you will be making a standard umbrella from a broom handle.

“The spell for this is umbraeclum, with a sweeping horizontal curve, like you are drawing the top of an umbrella on a flat piece of paper,” she said, demonstrating the wand movement—which, funnily enough, had been included in their warm up drill. “You may begin.”

OOC: Writing about Xavier and Professor Wright is based on facts established in previous threads.

Usual class rules apply. 200 words minimum with points for length, creativity, relevance and realism.

Subthreads:

In which case, I'm letting down the side by Xavier Lundstrom

That sounds nice by Iris Cobb with Hansel Hexenmeister

Yes we do! [Bonabelle] by Valentine Duell

13 Selina Skies Intermediates - We Shine Together 26 1 5

Xavier Lundstrom

February 22, 2022 3:40 PM

In which case, I'm letting down the side by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier made his way to Transfiguration, his head still full of numbers. They'd been doing a unit about proportions and strength in Potions. It basically went like 'Actually, if you double everything, you might end up with a different strength potion because liquid will evaporate off at a different rate' and the main advice for improvising was 'don't' and to just memorise these set proportions, and the formula that worked for about two thirds of cases but again, generally, just don't.

He took a seat in Transfiguration, regrettably getting there too late to find adjacent seats for him and Oz.

Professor Skies began with a very familiar routine. He'd been warned that this would happen. They might have even said 'asked whether he agreed' but given that they clearly expected him to agree and the alternative was doing things MACUSA's way, it hadn't really been much of a choice. He wondered what his classmates thought. Did they recognise it as a sign that someone in the class needed extra help? Was he going to have to overhear laughter and pointed comments about it once they began their work?

The task for today sounded stupid and impossible, but that was at least ninety percent of his educational experience here, so he let that wash over him. Cocktail umbrellas. Great. Time to hone his hostessing and party planning skills. Maybe being gay would be an advantage. Although regardless of what the (limited and annoying) portrayal of people like him on TV said, he didn't actually care about frilly, over elaborate drinks. He was good with a juice box, so he could get back to skating.

He took a toothpick. It was easy to imagine it blooming like a flower, sprouting the little paper struts and the... parasolly bit. He could see it in his head, like a cool time lapse video. But it felt about as far removed from anything he'd ever do as making one of those. Maybe more so. He knew what a camera was, and how it worked, and he could have, if he had the patience or interest, have snapped shots of a seed growing day by day, or each step in making this by hand. That was achievable. He could imagine cutting small strips of cardboard, putting a fold in each to give it flexibility, and carefully glueing them - at full stretch - to a tissuepaper lid. The idea that it would be faster by magic was laughable. In theory, knowing how it worked gave him an advantage in making it now. One that he suspected was well and truly quashed by having a magical parasitic force doing its best to suck down all his powers and burst from his chest, turning him into smoke. A little thing like that would get in the way of making a cheerful cocktail umbrella.

Okay, this was spiralling. This was his thoughts getting out of control and helping the thing inside him to defeat him. Some days he didn't even believe in it anyway, but some he just couldn't shake the idea... Unfortunately, the best thing to do for his spiralling thoughts was breathing, and he felt too self-conscious to continue zoning out and doing noticeably special exercises.

"So, whatdyathink?" he asked, opting for distraction instead, and blurting the first vaguely conversation-opening words he could at his neighbour, hoping they hadn't just noticed him having a staring contest with his toothpick (and losing). "Uh, about the exercise," he added, to make it clear he wasn't talking about his results, which, as yet, were non-existent.

13 Xavier Lundstrom In which case, I'm letting down the side 1529 0 5

Iris Cobb

February 23, 2022 5:50 PM

That sounds nice by Iris Cobb

Iris thought she was getting the hang of these intermediate classes. She certainly didn't think she was excelling at them, and certainly not transfigurations, but she was making good progress. She was a little later than usual in getting to class after she needed to get a little clarification from Professor Wright at the end of the charms class. Out of the available seats, she decided not to sit at the one near Xavier. She still remembered his behavior when they'd been stuck at school the previous winter break and in general did her best to politely keep her distance from him. She could understand him not wanting to hang out with Billy, but if that extended to her as well, well then she was just fine with that.

She took her seat elsewhere in the classroom and prepared for class. Iris followed the professor's instructions during the wand drills. Part of her felt a bit silly, but most of her knew that the professor knew what she was doing and that getting the wand movement correct was important. Once the lesson began, Iris was just a little bit skeptical about the idea of an umbrella being considered a 'transfirguration'. It was just a thing with moving parts. As a third year, she listened intently to the level A task for the day. She guessed, without raising her hand, that the smaller thing was easier because it might have less moving parts and was a smaller object. She wasn't actually all that familiar with the miniature umbrella, she'd never seen one like it before. What was it's purpose? The paper wouldn' be much good in the rain, did it make shade for... a mouse? She'd never seen a mouse with one before and wasn't sure why a mouse would need one, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what else it would be used for.

When she got her own toothpick Iris examined it for a few moments before turning to her neighbor. "I'm sorry," she apologized for interrupting their work, "But do you know how them little umbrellas work? I haven't seen one before, what are they used for?"

2 Iris Cobb That sounds nice 1526 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 23, 2022 6:27 PM

Yes we do! [Bonabelle] by Valentine Duell

Valentine stared with a classic 'deer in the headlights' look as they were left to set about the task for the class period. She had never been good at transfiguration class, she just couldn't picture the things in her mind to help the magic make the changes she wanted done. It was frustrating and terrifying. She also still needed to see if she would need to continue taking the class next year, and she really, really, really, really hoped she didn't. Professor Skies had helped her struggle to this level with extra time and it would be a relief to both of them if she didn't have to do that anymore. Val thought Professor Skies looked a little more worried or weary or something lately and she hated adding to whatever else the Deputy-Headmistress had to deal with. Bonabelle had been beside her helping out the entire time as well with extra study session, without the two of them she suspected she would have been tossed out of the school long ago.

While it had always been great fun to do potions class with Bonabelle, she'd started shifting to finding her girlfriend for transfigurations instead, out of pure necessity. She was glad whenever Bonabelle sat with her in any class, but didn't want to purposefully take up all of her time, just in case she wanted to sit with someone else... someone like Stanley. Today she had claimed the seat next to her girlfriend and gave her a grateful hug before class began. The wand drills were nice, and she relaxed a bit as she went through them. She could get the wand right and she could get the words right, it was just the rest of the process that was the problem.

Then she was staring at the broom handle in front of her. She had to turn a straight, wooden broom handle into a convoluted metal and cloth umbrella that functioned? Val could already hear Bonabelle's voice inside her head, 'You can do this, you're a fifth year, you've done this all before.' She took a deep breath, aimed her wand, moved it and chanted the incantation, "Umbraeclum!". Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. She'd felt the magic flow but it had no direction, no design and it had dissipated. She gave her girlfriend a weak smile and a shrug. "Worth a shot?" she volunteered weakly. Charms worked more like that, the wand and incantation gave the magic enough direction to do the job, not so much in transfiguration.

She pulled out a worksheet from her notebook and began the laborious process of noting similarities and differences, making sketches of changes she needed done. The words helped, images wouldn't form in her mind, but words would. The sketches could help her mind have an image to work with, these were the work-arounds that had gotten her this far. She only hoped they continued to work. Val slid the sheet over to Bonabelle for inspection, "Did I miss anything?"

OOC: Extra work with Professor Skies and Bonabelle established in past posts.

2 Valentine Duell Yes we do! [Bonabelle] 1490 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

February 25, 2022 6:46 PM

Do we need candles for this? by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel moved his wand with his breathing and found it to be weirdly soothing, which he guessed was kind of the point, if Professor Skies wanted them to have a calm mindset for doing their spellwork. The incantation words were not as difficult for him as he knew they had been for his sister and brother, but he did still have an accent, having learned English from a non-native speaker, and he struggled with some of the sounds that German didn't have much use for. Being calm when trying to get those trickier words out was probably a good thing.

It was harder saying the words on the exhale than it was moving the wand on the exhale, but he did all right with it. By the tenth verbal practice, he was a little better at it, so he figured practice would help with this, too, as it did with many things.

As Professor Skies began to explain the lesson, he wondered about how common umbrellas must be in places that weren't a literal desert. (Sonora had to be a strange exception, because the founders had odd Irish weather fetishes, and made everyone else experience the misery of rain, too, because they were apparently dark wizards, but surely the rest of the world wasn't like that?) He was pretty sure Karl did not own one, and when it was wet outside Hansel did not go out, because water falling from the sky was weird and possibly the sign of an apocalypse, and he didn't want to take any chances.

If he only kind of knew what an umbrella was from books and seeing crazy people go out into death weather here at Sonora, he had even less idea of why there would be toothpick sized paper umbrellas. They wouldn't even keep a small snake dry.

Apparently, Iris hadn't run across them either. Hansel just shrugged. "I am from the badlands of Utah. I barely know how a regular umbrella works," he admitted. "I do not know what the little ones are for. She said we can go up to the front to look at how the big one works. Maybe she will let us examine the small one, too?"

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Do we need candles for this? 1524 0 5

Iris Cobb

February 25, 2022 8:02 PM

Maybe, do you know how to get some? by Iris Cobb

'The badlands of Utah'. Well, now if that didn't sound like an exciting place, Iris wasn't sure what did. She could draw a few conclusions from the statement however, "I take it you don't get much rain then back home?" She asked as she stood picking up her notebook and quill. "I'm not sure how we could succeed at this without knowing how it works. Hopefully she doesn't object."

Iris was not the Cobb that was planing on exploring the world someday, however she did like to know things about her friends and classmates. So as they made their way to the front of the room she asked Hansel, "What are the badlands like if there isn't much rain? Do you get water from a river nearby? We get plenty of rain up on the mountain, but don't have umbrellas. It's not like we are made out of sugar and will melt away." Huh... that made her stop and consider something for a moment. One of the storybooks on their shelf at home was 'The Wizard of Oz' and the witch in that did melt from water... she was a witch. No, she hadn't melted... was that something that might happen when she came of age? She may have to look into that, did wizards have the same problem? The only wizard in that story hadn't actually been a wizard.

Anyway, they arrived at the front and saw the little umbrella setting on the desk. "Do you want to pick it up and get it to work?" She asked Hansel, "I can make some sketches of what it's doing and how it works." She did like to draw and had gotten pretty good at it, even if her main focus at home was flowers and other plants. This thing was almost a flower with the way it opened up.

2 Iris Cobb Maybe, do you know how to get some? 1526 0 5