Professor Kijewski

December 05, 2006 6:24 PM
Kiva had had a very amusing and somewhat awkward start of the day. But it was definitely a break in her usual routine that Kiva had apparently needed. With life back at her parent's house getting steadily worse, any break from reality was a nice one to have for Kiva. After her seemingly random conversation with Simon, Kiva went back to setting up her class materials before eventually waiting for her class to arrive. As usual, it didn't take long for her to hear the little padded feet of her first and second years.

There were times (pretty much since the disaster of her first year teaching here at Sonora) when Kiva wondered whether or not it was a good idea to teach her class outside. But, after awhile, she realized that this was the only class, aside from flying, where the students were allowed outside for a breath of fresh air and the freedom to move around. Plus, with some of the things she would be teaching the older students, Kiva would need the space.

When the last of the students arrived and settled in, Kiva began her lesson. “Good morning, Everyone!” Kiva greeted them with a smile. “Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Professor Kijewski. However, most people just call me Professor K.” Kiva introduced herself. The crate directly behind her made a soft whining sound, but Kiva ignored it. “This class is less formal than your other classes. The only rule I have is to not talk while I or one of your peers are talking. Other than that, feel free to get as comfortable as you’d like. Go ahead and remove your robes if you'd like, I know it's hot out and I want you all to be as comfortable as possible." Kiva said as she paced infront of her students. She waited a moment just incase there were a few students who decided to take her words literally and get comfortable.

She went behind her and opened the container, pulling something out before replacing the lid. She held up the custard-colored fur spherical shaped animal in her hands and showed it to the class, "Today we will be discussing these. This is called a puffskein." Kiva said raising her arm a bit higher for everyone could see it. "These are scavengers and very easy to care for. They usually make the best sort of pets for beginners or when parents feel that the responsibillities of any other pet may be too great." Kiva paused here to make sure everyone was paying attention to her.

"What's really cool about these creatures is that they don't mind being roughly handled. You can toss them, squeeze them, do whatever you like and you'll usually get a happy purring response from them." Kiva tossed the puffskein in her hand high into the air, caught it and gave it a squeeze. The result was a loud purring sound, much like the sound one would get from a content cat. "What I have in this pin are a bunch of puffskeins. I thought that since this is our first lesson, we might as well make it as fun as possible. If everyone could just stand up and grab one puffskein, you may take the rest of class and play with them or toss them between one another." Kiva said, opening the container and moving so that the students would have better access at getting to the puffskein.

"There are plenty for everyone and you all have to participate, remember you are earning your house points here." Kiva called out to everyone. In the past, she had always had a student or two who would do nothing during the lesson. After the blowout last year, Kiva was going to nip that habit in the butt as early as possible. "If everyone enjoys their puffskein, I'll consider having you all take care of them and name them. These are babies, and because there are an abundance of these creatures in the shops, most never find a home. So, whether or not you guys can keep them as house pets or class pets, it's entirely up to you." Kiva said, smiling at her students. She was hoping that the idea of being able to call one their own was enough to really inspire them. Though, she knew there would always be a handful that would want nothing to do with the creatures. Such a shame too, considering how easy they were to care for.

OOC: Okay everyone, I'm looking for how well you write your reponses (make sure they are at least 2 paragraphs, 5 sentences each), grammar, and how well you develop your character. Take your time and have fun! Also, because this was an issue in the past, I will write a post indicating that this lesson is completed and everyone is dismissed. Until that post is written, continue to post here. Thank you!\n\n
Subthreads:
0 Professor Kijewski Years 1 and 2, Lesson 1 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5


Darla Park

December 09, 2006 8:33 PM
Classes. Darla, a small girl with Asian features and olive skin, was looking down sadly as she walked into this Care of Magical Creatures class. Darla was simply awful in classes. Being half-blood, her father wanted Darla to be at least slightly educated in Muggle things (she even heard she would have summer school every summer when she got home so she could go to college), so Darla had gone to an Elementary school for her last five-six years. And was always awful at most classes.

Darla sometimes found people who absolutely no problem with school. Those who didn't even have to try to get good grades, or those whose whole life revolved around schoolwork. Darla was not one of these people. She was extremely slow, and only got mediocre grades no matter how hard she tried. Darla's only real talent was cooking, but that wasn't a class. She knew here at Sonora, there was Potions, which was related to cooking. So she may do faily well at that. But other classes? No...

Especially not one like Care of Magical Creatures. If there was anything that Darla couldn't get along with, that was most animals. She normally made them mad, a dog bit her once because she didn't know how to pet it and a cat scratched her when she grabbed it's tail. Darla had no idea how to take care of animals, and she normaly did it wrong. So here was going to be one of her worst classes. She just hoped she wouldn't need too many trips to the Hospital Wing.

But when Darla saw what they were doing today, taking care of puffskeins, she let out a sigh of relief. Her mother had a puffskein once. Apparently, they didn't care what you did to them, they just purred. This was good, this was a creature Darla could handle.

So when the instruction was given, Darla went up to the pen and got herself a puffskein. Accidentally, Darla squeezed it while picking it up, and it purred. Darla smiled, positive any other animal would have attacked her. "I like you," she grinned. "I don't normally like animals, so consider yourself lucky, bud. Now if I'm going to keep you, I suppose you need a name. And I would like to keep you, you know. You're the only one who hasn't made me bleed or bruise in some way." She gave the puffskein another squeeze, and laughed when it purred. "Okay then, names. Hm... I like my dad's name. Carlo, named after his mother's father, Carlo Adriano, from Italy. Or my dad's father's name, Tao Park?"

Darla frowned. "Maybe... a mix? Tarlo? Yeah... Tarlo will do... a mix between Tao and Carlo." Darla then made her way back to where her bag was. Where she was sitting. She noticed another little puffskein near her things, and another person with them. A new friend? Darla smiled and walked up to the person. "Hi, what's your puffskein's name? Mine's Tarlo, a mix between my dad's and grandpa's names."\n\n
0 Darla Park Whoo! No work! 0 Darla Park 0 5


Law Cooper

December 10, 2006 9:18 PM
Law, never one to be too confident about anything related to academics, was actually excited about Care of Magical Creatures. For one, it was outside, which was of course his favorite place to be. Also important, it lookied like they were actually going to get to work with animals, not just sit around all day and take notes.

He didn't want to get his uniform dirty, so instead he wore baggy jeans and a blue button-down flannel shirt, hoping the teacher wouldn't mind too much. Besides it was hot, and Law got embarrassed about getting really sweaty around people he didn't know, who tended to think it was really gross. Running a hand through his mousy brown curly hair, he was relieved to find that he wasn't sweating horribly. Which was good to know, considering he was still having trouble to adjust to the warm weather of Sonora, even if it was controlled by climate spells.

Sitting on a large rock towards the left of the class and putting his bookbag down next to him, and directed his attention towards the front. He was in luck, the teacher seemed pretty nice. She didn't seem to care about uniforms, at any rate.

Puffskeins. Law couldn't help but be disappointed. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with them, in fact a couple of the local girls kept them as pets. It was just that they didn't really do much of anything but purr and just kind of sit there. The brown-eyed boy had been hoping for something a little more interesting.

Not as excited as when he had first walked to the class, Law stuck his hand in the bin and picked up the first Puffskein his hand could grab, a runty kind of golden-brown colored one. He held it in his hand and, as expected, it just sat there. Great, now he had to figure out what to do with it for the rest of the period.

Out of no where the little fuzz ball jumped out of his hands and started crawling off, and his jaw dropped. Well there was something he hadn't been expecting. He chased the little thing and watched it crawled to some girl's stuff. Great. Dashing through a herd of students, he made his way towards the fuzz ball and scooped it up.

Face red from embarrassment, he was about to apologize to the girl, when he realized it was Darla. She was the girl in his house and year who he'd met at the Welcome Feast. The red in his face started to go down, he didn't feel so embarrassed about losing the fuzz ball in front of someone he kind of knew.

"Never thought about naming it," Law confessed, "It's just a ball of fuzz, really."\n\n
0 Law Cooper chasing after the fuzz ball 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 11, 2006 9:21 PM
Darla smiled seeing it was the boy she met on her first day, Law. She watched as he scooped up his puffskein and admitted to not thinking of naming it. Here she frowned a bit. "But... it's still a creature. Every creature deserves its own name. Even if it is just a ball of fuzz," Darla muttered, looking at her own puffskein. Names. "Mine's Tarlo, after my dad and grandpa, Carlo and Tao. Now we have to figure out one for yours..."

Darla paused and looked at the puffskein in Law's hands. "He looks like the perfect marshmallow in a s'more," Darla grinned. Golden brown, and he looked soft too. "How does the name S'more sound to you? Or something to do with marshmallows? Mallow? Marshy?" Darla realized she was talking food again, randomly. She couldn't help it, food and cooking was her favorite subject. "Uh... or anything you want..." she added, not wanting to sound bossy.

Darla then decided to move onto another subject. "I'm glad it's puffskeins we're learning about," she mentioned. "I'm awful with animals, I end up handling them wrong all the time and they make me bleed one way or another. I always wanted a pet, just didn't know how to treat then," Darla rambled. "But a puffskein wouldn't care how I handle it, so it would make a good pet. What do you think?"

"I'm also bad at school, despite the fact my dad thinks education is the most important thing in someone's life," Darla shrugged. It wasn't like he pressured her, it was more she knew she wasn't the daughter he'd hoped for grade-wise. "He's making me go to a Muggle summer school too, so I can go to college." Darla frowned slightly. School over the summer, you had to be a maniac to make that up. "My dad is a Muggle, mom's a witch. How about your family?"\n\n
0 Darla Cute fuzz ball =] 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 12, 2006 5:31 PM
The animal rights speech. Law had heard it a couple of times before, usually from his cousins on his mother's side. It wasn't that he didn't care about animals, really, some were pretty cool, but they weren't his favorite thing in the world to think about.

"S'more is cool," he replied to the marshmallow rant, which was starting to get him kind of hungry. He was always hungry though, so that didn't matter too much. Law watched the puffskein, now officially dubbed S'More, crawl up his arm to sit atop his shoulder as Darla continued.

"Why would an animal want to attack you?" he asked her, genuinely confused. Most animals could take a little bit of rough housing, and besides, from what little he knew of her, he didn't think Darla was a bad person. She was a Teppnpaw, she had to be at least a little kind. And animals usually seemed to respond well to people like that.

"I think I might give it to Gnome, for the holidays," Law thought aloud, then realized that Darla would have no idea what he was talking about, "She's my cousin. Naomi's her real name, but everyone calls her Gnome because she's so little."

"That's crazy stuff, about the summer school, I mean," he said, shaking his head incredulously. He couldn't see either of his parents making him go to extra school, and his mom was a teacher. No, for the Coopers of Oregon, just having a magical education would be good enough.

"My parents are both magic- my dad's mom was a pureblood and his dad was a muggle, though. My mom's parents were both magic, but both her parents were halfbloods. I'm not exactly sure what that makes me."\n\n
0 Law Cooper I don't do cute 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 13, 2006 7:52 PM
Darla grinned when Law accepted S'more as his puffskein's new name. The name she'd thought of. This fact made her happier, that Law had accepted the name she had thought of. Darla wasn't used to people accepting her ideas, unless it came to a new reciepe. And when it turned out that she'd made a mistake, and the reciepe ended up tasting bad or getting people sick, no one except her family trusted her with that again.

Darla was always lucky that her reciepes rarely ever failed.

Darla blushed slightly when Law asked why an animal would hurt her. "I'm just, not that good with them. I try to be, but I always end up making some sort of mistake." She slid her black hair behind an ear in nervous habit. "I'm better with people. And people and animals are just really different. Like, I was trying to get a cat's attention, and accidentally grabbed its tail and it scratched me. Same with the dog I tried to pet while it was eating, except he bit."

Darla grimaced, remembering the stitches she had to get from that incident.

"Gnome," Darla laughed a little. "That's a cute nickname." She looked over at Tarlo. "I don't know if I have any cousins, but I do have a little brother. Asher doesn't have a nickname though." Asher was a bit like Darla, and they looked the same too, so people called them twins despite the two year difference, but that was the only other name they were called besides their first and last names.

"It's not too bad," Darla shrugged at Law's comment to summer school. Actually, she did find it rather awful. She hated looking stupid around people. It wasn't like she was an airhead, if she tried to get good grades she was sure she could. But studying for hours on end got boring, and it was hard to put effort into it. And even though she always completed homework, because she didn't read too much about what the homework was on, Darla didn't get too good of grades. "I mean, I'm pretty used to it. My dad's just trying to get me into a good placein life."

It took a second for Darla to figure out Law's genetics. This was something she was okay at. It was actually pretty easy once you figured out how to do it. Quarter plus quarter meant his mom was half. As was his dad. When it came to blood, half plus half meant another half. "So you're half blood, like me. Just not directly," she stated. Darla blushed slightly. "Sorry, I like genetics. That and cooking are the only things I'm good at." And bits of sciences. The ones that required formulas, at least.\n\n
0 Darla That's no good, since I do =] 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 14, 2006 4:14 PM
Law smiled a bit when Darla explained why she didn't get along with animals. At least he didn't laugh, he had to be given credit for that. It just seemed like animals didn't like her for common sense mistakes. Of course animals didn't like their tails pulled or being interrupted while they were eating.

A lot of people had nicknames in his family, if he thought about it. Law was short for Lawrence, sometimes they called his brother, Zane, Z, and his youngest brother Theodore, was almost always referred to as Ted. Naomi was Gnome, and well, that was all that there was as far as nicknames on either side of his family. He felt bad for Darla, not knowing if she had any cousins and all. Law was curious as to why she didn't know about them, but he wasn't one to pry, either. It must get lonely, though, with only one other kid in the family.

Law winced as he felt something tug at his brown curls, and realized that S'more, had climbed on top of his head. And it was... purring? Wow, the fuzz ball- sorry, S'more, really did like his hair. That was pretty weird, actually. Pulling the little thing out of his hair, he made a mental note to keep an eye on the fuzz ball.

"Sorry," Law said, confused about the last thing Darla had said, "But what are genetics?" It had to be a muggle thing, because he certainly had never heard of it before.\n\n
0 Law Cooper It's a good balance, though 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 15, 2006 4:47 PM
Darla started giggling a bit when S'more started crawling on Law's head. The little puffskein was cute. All the puffskeins were cute, of course. She smiled, looking town at Tarlo. Tao-Carlo. Hah. She could show Asher Tarlo, and he'd be pretty happy. Asher, unlike Darla, was okay with animals.

He had more common sense with them, at least.

Darla was, however, a bit surprised being asked what genetics were. It must have shown, having her brown, almond eyes widen a bit in surprise. "You don't know what genetics are?" she coiced carefully, giving Law a disbelieving look. She may understand if a pureblood didn't, but Law had Muggle blood on both sides of his family. Didn't they at least think about giving him the other half of his culture in school form?

Darla thought another second on how to explain to someone who didn't know what genetics were... well... exactly what they were. "Genetics are..." she paused, "the stuff that... makes you up. DNA and such. Like, your nationality or blood. Or your looks. You get genetics from your parents so you're half of what they are." Darla hoped she was making sense.

"Okay, take me. My dad is half Korean half Italian. My mom is Italian, English, Irish, and Japanese. So I'm a little over a quarter Asian and Italian. And a little bit English. My dad is a Muggle, my mom is a pureblood, so I'm half of each," Darla stopped. "Am I making any sense?" she asked, a little confused herself.\n\n
0 Darla Balance is good... 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 17, 2006 11:11 AM
Wow, it seemed like genetics were basic stuff to being a muggle. If so, Law really wouldn’t know too much about it. Both his parents had always known they were magical, and both had gotten magical educations, as had both his maternal grandparents. His paternal grandmother, though long dead, had been a witch too, and a pureblood at that, so she wouldn’t know about genetics either.

“The last person in my family to go to Muggle school was my dad’s dad,” Law answered her first question off-handedly, passing S’more from hand to hand, “And he never said anything about genetics.” He wouldn’t have had the time to. Grandpa Wes was much too busy trying to learn everything about the magical world all four of his children were destined to live in.

Law cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out what Darla was saying. Sadly, her words were lost on her. DNA? He had no idea as to what that was. And if you were half of what your parents are, than what was the other half? Or was it each a half, and that made a whole? Muggles were definitely a lot more complicated than he had previously thought they were.

“Sorry,” he smiled weakly when Darla asked if he understood her, “It’s kind of all going over my head.”\n\n
0 Law Cooper yeah, otherwise we'd all fall all the time 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 21, 2006 10:27 AM
"Your grandfather?" Darla confirmed, trying to understand all this. It was very hard when Law and Darla seemed to grow up in completely different environments. It was a challenge, but Darla didn't care. When it came to making friends, she didn't care about challenges. They were, in fact, welcomed by her. "He probably wouldn't. Not many people care about their history in genetics and such. We all have different likes and such."

Darla also still didn't quite get why Law didn't go to a Muggle school was well. It was part of who he was, after all. And, as her mother stated, it was good for wizards to learn things like basic Muggle math and science and such. It made them more well rounded. Also, Muggles were becoming a big part of Wizard-life. So knowing basic things a Muggle knows makes it easier to fit in. She even believed there should be Maths and Sciences and English in Magical schools, since they were needed subjects overall.

Darla agreed with her mother, and wished such was true. After all, if it was, Wizards would be able to understand her when she spoke of her Muggle background, and she wouldn't have to take summer school for her father.

And Law still didn't understand. Darla frowned slightly as she squeezed Tarlo gently in her hands. She was never very good at explaining things. "It's okay. Basically, you're hlaf of each parent, and having two parents make you a whole," Dala said. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at explaining things." She was still didn't understand how Law didn't get a Muggle education.

"Which is why I don't get why you don't know much about Muggles," she said. "Muggle background is a part of who you, and your parents, are. Why wouldn't they have you learn about it. It's good to learn about your roots." She hated how Wizards believed Muggles were stupid and such. Hated how they favored themselves over Muggles, and didn't even think of "corrupting" their children with Muggle lifestyles, when it was obviously helpful.

See was glad for Muggle Studies, but Darla's mother had said she'd taken that class. And they normally filled the position with someone who knew nothing about Muggles. But Darla didn't want to show these feelings to Law, how she preferred her Muggle background to her Wizard one since he obviously only knew the Wizarding one. And also... "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything if I insulted you. I'm sure your parents had good reason for not having you see Muggle background, I just mean it's not eactly fair."\n\n
0 Darla True true 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 21, 2006 4:13 PM
"Yeah, I think I get it," Law said nodding at what Darla said about genetics. He didn't see what was so phenomenal about it- didn't everyone know they were half their mom and half their dad? Muggles couldn't be that thick, so what did Muggles think was so special about that concept?

He didn't understand why Darla was so set on Muggle culture. Law felt like he got along just fine knowing as little as he did about them. Besides, Muggles just confused things. Aunt Leah, who was a muggleborn, would sometimes try to explain muggle concepts to him, but they were so weird! Some of the sports that Ethan (Aunt Leah's son) had taught him were pretty neat, but nothing matched up to Quodpot or Quidditch.

Law stopped tossing S'More from hand to hand to stop and give Darla a good, hard look. Was she trying to put down his family? He couldn't be sure, so he didn't say anything, but something inside of him snapped. Insult him, and he'd get over it, he wouldn't like you, but he wouldn't do anything about it. But there was nothing worse that you could do to Law than insult anyone in his family. They were the most important thing to the eleven year-old, more important than Quidditch, even.

It was even worse that she was calling his family, of all things, prejudiced against muggles. She obviously didn't know about his uncles.

"Well, everyone in my family lives in magical neighborhoods, so I don't understand why I would need to learn so much about Muggles," he said quietly. It was true, he lived in an all magic community, as did his Aunt Tabby and cousin Hannah with Grandpa Wes in Pennsylvania, as did his cousins in New Jersey. Heck, most people, upon meeting Grandpa Wes, thought he was a squib instead of a muggle, he was so intune with that lifestyle. He'd lived in magical communities for more than half his life, anyway. He'd learned about magic because it was a necessity.

It wasn't a necessity for Law. Law had everything and everyone he needed in the magical community.

"My parents don't have anything against muggles," he said quietly, "If I wanted to know anything about muggles, they'd tell me, if they knew the answer. My uncles used to be real involved in muggle rights, and such."\n\n
0 Law Cooper Glad you agree 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 22, 2006 10:44 AM
Darla shrunk away slightly when Law turned colder to her. She didn't mean to insult anyone, really she didn't. And she certainly didn't want someone with such good friend potential to hate her. Darla understood what she said was a bit shortsighted, she normally said things that were such. And they were talking about the boy's family, there's nothing more important than that.

But Darla still hoped he didn't take her too hard. She bit her lip and looked down at Tarlo. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions," Darla muttered, squeezing her puffskein gently. "I was just trying to understand a few things, I shouldn't have pryed..." Darla wasn't used to most magical things. Sure those one her mother's side tried to show her, and she did listen. But Darla always preferred Muggle things.

She remembered when her mother tried to help clean up for Darla when she was done cooking. Her mother had used magic, and Darla felt a small loss inside that she wasn't able to clean her own mess. Darla was an odd one, so people said. Liking cleaning so much as well as cooking by scratch and just moving.

But Darla still had no idea why Law didn't care for Muggle background. Sure he lived in an all magical community, but still. People travel. And when you travel, Muggles are impossible to avoid. But Darla wasn't going to pry anymore. She was trying to make friends, not push people away. So she just nodded and kept her eyes on Tarlo. Who was staring up at her with his large eyes.\n\n
0 Darla It's good to agree 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 22, 2006 6:43 PM
Law always felt awkward whenever there was any tension between people. This was one of those times. Problem was, he never had a clear plan of action on what exactly to do in such times. It was just one of those things that he would think up as he went along. Except, he hadn't thought of any solution yet.

Law watched as S'more climbed back up his shoulder. What in the world did that puffskien think was so great about his hair? The creature was, decidedly, weird. It was a far cry from his favorite animal in the world, but he was willing to look past the weirdness factor.

Which was what he knew he had to do right now with Darla. He didn't know a lot of people at Sonora, so right about now he valued the kids he could talk to. And he had enough trouble just finding his way around the school without being mad at anybody. Besides, Darla seemed nice. So now was the time to be mature and fix things, even if he really wasn't sure how to do that.

"Make you a deal," he said, untangling the puffskein from his curls, "You can teach me Muggle stuff if you let me teach you about Quidditch."\n\n
0 Law Cooper Like agreeing to disagree? 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 23, 2006 10:29 AM
Darla's fingers etched around Tarlo's fuzzy body. The little puffskein was letting out a spasm of purrs, like giggles from being tickled so much. Darla wasn't really paying attention to the little puffskein she was tickling, rather she was looking at Law for some sign of... well anything really would do.

She watched as Law's own puffskein, S'more, climbed up and around Law. Darla couldn't help but grin seeing the puffskein's fetish for hair. She knew Tarlo wouldn't be able to slip into her own drape of black hair, and hoped the little puffskein didn't also have S'more's hair-fetish. Otherwise, Darla would have to disappoint it by showing the uselessness of her long, straight hair. Maybe once she cut it, but not now.

Darla was extremely glad when Law spoke again, not really sure how to break the silence herself. She certainly didn't want to fill it up with meaningless chatter, but she would have started had Law not broken it for her. Darla was also glad his breaker was more than meaningless chatter.

"You can teach me Muggle stuff if you let me teach you about Quidditch."

"Okay then, deal," Darla chirped cheerfully. Sure, she was rather horrid at sports. Clumsy and noncoordinated, and Darla never took an intrest in them before, she preferred cooking and cleaning to such activities, but she was willing for compromise. And learning something completely different was good too, broadened her horizon as her father always said.

And Darla also was glad she could help teach someone about Muggle things. She always liked showing her maternal relatives the different Muggle things and surprising them. Especially the sciences, despite the fact Darla wasn't too good at science. Asher was much better at teaching, being the smart one, the son her father always wanted. But Darla was more interested in it than her younger brother, being the more eager learner.\n\n
0 Darla That works too 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 23, 2006 3:58 PM
Law grinned happily upon hearing that Darla had accepted his offer. Conflict solved. Holding S'more in his cupped hands, he kept the little beastie as far away from his hair as possible. The boy looked over his shoulder to check in the professor was giving them anymore orders. Seeing as it appeared that the instructional part of the class was over, he didn't think the teacher would mind if he talked about Quidditch. Besides, they had barely been talking about puffskeins before, anyway.

"Good, we can start now," Law decided, never one to procrastinate, "So tell me what you do know about Quidditch." The boy remembered Darla calling bludgers, 'blooders' so he might have a lot to explain. On the other hand, she seemed to understand the concept of bludgers, even though she didn't know the name, which was a good sign.

Law just knew Darla would love Quidditch if she gave it a chance. It was socialization, it was fun and exciting- who wouldn't like that? And of course, you didn't have to be great at it, certainly he didn't think he was particularly great at Quidditch. But it was fun and he tried, and trying was all that mattered.\n\n
0 Law Cooper in some cases 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 24, 2006 9:42 AM
"N-now?" Darla muttered, a little taken aback. She didn't know Law would start on his subject so soon. Then again, Darla had already had her turn, talking about the details of genetics and such. So it was only fair he'd get his turn as well. When he asked her what she knew about Quidditch, however, Darla heart dropped. Heh, would not much be an appropriate answer for her?

"Erm, I know you have to get some red ball through one of three hoops. And that those... metal ones are supposed to knock you down," Darla said, feeling immensly stupid. She never memorized any names of any of the equipment in any sport. What was the use if she was never going to play them? But now she sort of wished she remembered the names of the balls for Quidditch. Maybe it would make her seem less stupid. "And there's one more ball, but I'm not sure what that one does."

Darla thought hard about anything, anything, more she knew about Quidditch. Gah, she didn't even know the number of players on a team, or even what they did. Well, she did know one, she guessed. "Erm, and there's one player that protects the posts from the red ball getting in," Darla stated. This was obvious, you didn't have to be a sports lover to know someone had to protect whatever ball from getting in wherever. Or else your team would lose. That was simply common sense.

Darla sighed, as she looked down at Tarlo and shook her head. "That's about it," she said with a tiny laugh. "As you see, I don't know too much about it. You have a lot of work on your hands." She managed a teasing grin in Law's direction.\n\n
0 Darla Only some? 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 30, 2006 12:11 PM
Well, she had a basic grasp of the sport. Albeit an extremely basic grasp. But it was a start, a step up from all the muggleborns who didn't even know that you could fly on broomsticks.

"Chill," he replied to her statement that he had a lot of work to do, "You're doing fine." Of course, that wasn't really true, and there was so much she needed to be told, but Law was an optimist. Besides, it be no help to tell her she knew so little about the sport. He'd been told the same thing by teachers in school subjects, and that never made him feel any better about himself.

From his own experiences like the treacherous experience with penmanship, he knew you had to take things one letter at a time. Or in this case, one position at a time. Otherwise, a sudden bombardment of information did nothing but confuse a person.

"So the red ball that goes through the hoops is called the Quaffle. Everytime a team gets it through any of the three of the opposing team's hoops they score ten points. The people who handle the Quaffle are the Chasers. There are three on a team. There's also the Keeper, his job is basically goaltending, which is to defend his hoops from the opposing team's Chasers," he stopped, realizing he was rambling and that there was a good chance that Darla was totally lost and that he had only made things more confusing.

"Sorr 'bout that," he apologized, "I got carried away. Did you understand any of my babbling?"\n\n
0 Law Cooper Otherwise, Ares would be bored all the time 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 30, 2006 1:36 PM
"Chill," he had stated. "You're doing fine..."

Hah, Darla was pretty sure she wasn't doing fine. Knowing next to nothing about the sport certainly wasn't doing "fine." Not even knowing the names of the balls wasn't doing "fine." Darla knew she wasn't a good choice to teach sports to, finding them not too interesting. But at least she had a one-up against Law by knowing more about Muggles than him.

And Darla would have to teach him about Muggles sometime. She knew that would be more confusing than a sport. Maybe she'd show him the Algebra she had to do. Or Sciences, history? They were all good subjects to try out. She'd already started with genetics, so Darla wanted to finish that up. With her very basic concept of it...

Law started on with the red ball. The Quaffle? And putting it through the opposite teams hoops for ten points. And the people who did that were Chasers. And of course, there was someone to block those hoops. The Keeper? Darla nodded, that sounded right.

"Okay, so the red ball is a Quaffle?" Darla repeated, a little unsure of herself. "And the players who try to get the Quaffle into the hoops are Chasers? And the ones to protect are Keepers?" Darla was sure she was getting it right.

"Right, I think I get it..." she muttered.\n\n
0 Darla Wait... what? Oh! God of War... gotcha XD 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

December 30, 2006 2:51 PM
Law was relieved to hear that Darla had gotten his rant. It meant that they could move forward and that he didn't have to go back and repeat everything all over again. Of course, as they moved foward, he would be sure to keep things simple.

"Don't ask me," he smiled reassuringly at Darla's unconfident tone, "You got it. The three chasers and the keeper are four of the seven starting players on a team. So right now you know more than half of what you need to," he added hoping that would make things seem as easy as they really were.

Next were the beaters and Bludgers, as the seeker and the snith were something you usually left for last. But how to explain them simply. He didn't know much about the muggle world, so he couldn't use a comparison to their sports. And personally, he thought the simplest way to explain it was just to tell it like it is.

"So while the whole thing with the Quaffle is going on, the two metal balls, the Bludgers are there to try and knock off the players nearest to them," he didn't say that they could be tampered with, because that would just baffle things, "There are two players on each team, called beaters. They have these wooden bats that they use to keep the Bludgers away from teammates, and they hit Bludgers towards the opposing team."\n\n
0 Law Cooper Don't mind my author, she's nerdy 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

December 31, 2006 9:48 PM
Darla beamed proudly when Law told she had it. Hooray, first step to learning something new. She smiled eagerly. "I am getting it," she grinned, tossing her black hair to the side, and snuggling Tarlo to her cheek. "I'm normally much slower than that. I'm surprised."

Well, Darla was slower at Math and Science and History. Things that took time to memorize formulas and numbers and dates. Sports, as Darla knew, you really only had to learn the names of the postions and what the position did. She didn't think she even had to really learn to play. Since the deal was just teach about the subjects. Not have them get involved. Darla knew she'd be clumsy and awful on a broom. And taking Law's Muggle knowlege (none), she wasn't about to force him to do homework her dad sent her. Or the tests.

Ew... tests. Darla could totally wait for her dad to send those out.

And now Law started on with Bludgers. Darla blushed remembering the opening feast when she'd called them "blooders." Well, at least Law knew that was because she knew nothing about Quidditch. So it was less embarassing that way.

"Okay," Darla nodded, this was a bit simpler to remember than the Chasers and Keeper. She tried to repeat it all. "Chasers throw Quaffle to other teams' hoops. Keeper stops Quaffle from going in. Bludgers try to kill players, and Beaters use bats to pound them away from their teammates and to the other team." She believed she had it. "Wow, Quidditch is a violent sport," Darla muttered, not able to hold that bit in.

The she looked to Law. "And there's one more player and ball, right? The little gold ball?" Darla really knew nothing about this. Well, now she did, but her previous knowlegde was awful. "What purpose do those two serve?" She had a feeling that was a very stupid question.\n\n
0 Darla Mine can be as well 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

January 02, 2007 5:08 PM
Law laughed at Darla's description of the Bludgers, "They don't try to kill you, just, knock you off your broom." Of course, there were probably a lot of instances where getting knocked off your broom had the same effect as being killed. But Law simply wasn't one to think in those terms.

The little gold ball? What purpose does it serve? It was a very good thing Law was currently occupying himself by picking through the blades of grass to catch the scrambling S'more. Otherwise he might have been really rude and laughed.

"The last ball, that's the Snitch," he explained, "It's about the size of S'more, 'cept more gold and shiny, and of course, it has wings and it's not furry. Only the Seeker is allowed to catch it. It's worth 150 points and catching it ends the game. Whoever catches the Snitch usually wins, so it's really important."

Well, that was it, that was Quidditch. Or a very basic version of it, anyway. He'd barely described the rules, or what kind of people usually played what position, or moves or anything. He'd mentioned maybe one of the hundreds of fouls one could break (like pelting a bludger into the crowd, or throwing an opponent player off their broom). But the eleven year-old figured that was probably best left for another day.\n\n
0 Law Cooper happy new year 0 Law Cooper 0 5


Darla

January 06, 2007 10:10 AM
Darla cocked an eyebrow at Law's statement. Bludgers just try to knock you off your brooms? She could have laughed. "Couldn't knocking someone off their broom hundreds of feet in the air result in some type of death?" Darla asked. "Or at least the pain of a broken bone?"

Tarlo purred lightly in her hands, and Darla realized she had been stroking him. Darla stopped, and perched her little puffskein on her shoulder so it could move around instead of having her hold it the whole time. Then Darla paid attention to Law talk about the Snitch, the last ball, as she tried to ignore the tickling feeling as Tarlo moved around.

"So that's how the game ends!" she exclaimed. With the little knowledge of the game Darla had, she was never sure how the game ended. Most sports, she knew, ended when a certain team got to a certain number of points. Or sometimes there was a time limit, and when it ended the team with the most points won. And even sometimes, there were judges that gave points. Or in golf, you went until the end, and the person with the least points won.

But Quidditch never seemed to have any of that, so Darla was confused on how the game ended. Apparently, the Snitch was the end of the game. A little puffskein-sized ball that was worth 150 points. "I never knew how it ended before," Darla laughed. "I have to say, that's pretty different. It's nice though."\n\n
0 Darla A little late, but same to you 0 Darla 0 5


Law Cooper

January 07, 2007 10:50 PM
Well," Law said, thinking about the implications of a big metal ball knocking you out of the air, "Yeah, I guess it could hurt, but usually there are spells put on the Quidditch Pitch, or someone there who knows how to stop anything real bad from happening." Not that that was a certain thing, as Law had had his share of bumps and bruises due to Quidditch. He even ended up with a bloody nose once, when he was about nine. But he wasn't exactly about to tell Darla about that. Nothing like injuries to discourage a person.

Giving up on the fight against S’more hair fetish, he allowed the furry little creature to climb up his arm and shoulder back to it’s, his -was S’more a he or a she? Law had assumed he, but you never knew- perch in his hair. At least the small creature wasn’t trying to eat his hair or yanking his locks very hard or anything. He had to admit, it was kind of weird when S’more began purring.

“Yeah, hunt for the Snitch can get pretty intense,” Law admitted, “’Cause basically the whole game is riding on who catches it. ‘Lotta pressure on one person- I usually don’t play seeker. Besides, you have to be small, which I,” he nodded at himself with a grin, a boy who was unusually tall and heavy for his age, “most definitely am not.”
\n\n
0 Law Cooper I still can;t believe it's a new year already 0 Law Cooper 0 5