Professor Murphy

April 22, 2007 3:25 PM
Rois Murphy, a woman in her fifties, a woman who had lived a long and wonderful life, was standing in the center of the clearing waiting for the first of the students to arrive. From the information left to her from the previous Care of Magical Creatures Professor, the one she was replacing until further notice, it seemed as though most classes were broken up so as to experience the different creatures at levels that their age can handle.

Seemed reasonable enough, but Rois liked to teach all ages while they interacted with one another. It was entertaining and a wonderful learning experience for all.

There was also mentions of contacts who knew of the situation and were waiting to find which creatures Rois would be requesting. The list of those contacts, address, and the creatures they had available were waiting in the office for Rois to decide. It was nice being the one to decide what to teach and not having everything set and prepared for her. Most substitutes had to go strictly by what was left by the previous Professor. It was rare to have such freedoms.

Rois was not a fragile woman by any means. She had always had an active life. White hair down to her chin, grey eyes hinting at amusement, body small, but aggressive in stance. She was a mother and a grandmother, she could handle even the worst of them This was going to be a new lesson for them all. All the classes together with a new Professor. It was supposed to be fun.

When the students were to enter the clearing, the first thing they would see was more likely going to be her, but what should really catch their attention was the golden foal unicorn that was standing beside her. "Good Afternoon everyone!" Rois greeted them. "My name is Professor Murphy and I'll be your new Care of Magical Creatures teacher for the time being. I'm not sure how your previous professor conducted her classes, so I'm just going to tell you a few rules that I have." Rois shot a stern look at a couple of students who were snickering.

"There will be no talking unless there is a project and I allow you time to work on it. You are to wear proper attire while in this class for your own protection. You are to listen to everything that I say when it comes to handle the creatures. I don't want to have to worry about loss of limb." Rois smiled, her Maine accent was thick, but she figured they could understand her just fine.

"Now, this beautiful creature is called a foal. It's a female unicorn. Unicorns are the purest of creatures. They are what oose innocence. Often times, they are hunted for all the wrong reasons. Their horns can be found in some potions and their tail hair in wands. Their blood, however, can give longevitity. However, it is against Wizard's law to slay a Unicorn or use it's blood. Now, unfortunately, they are only really comfortable around the females, so I would like for the girls in the class to get in a line to pet the creatures. Boy, if you'd be so kind as to stand a bit back and take notes, that would be wonderful."

OOC: Some of you may be aware of where Kiva is during all this, but IC, your characters should have no information on that. Keep your posts at least a minimum of 2 paragraphs, 10 sentences each. Be creative and make sure you stay in character!
Subthreads:
0 Professor Murphy Lesson Two 1st - 5th Years 0 Professor Murphy 1 5


Echo Elms

April 23, 2007 5:03 PM
Care of Magical Creatures was starting to become Echo's least favorite class. It always seemed to involve standing around outside in a compressed huddle of students all trying to get close enough to both see an exotic magical creature and hear the professor. In order to keep your personal space in tact, you had to stand way off to the side so that people looked at you funny, or way in the back where you could see or hear nothing but the kids who hung out back there to goof off. And if he decided to chance being actually in the crowd, he ended up being so hyperaware of everyone else's position that he payed not an iota of attention and the last time he tried it he almost had an attack just from the possibility of having an attack. It was not cool.

So today was a stand in the back and off to the side day. There were way too many kids, what with all the grades being there. He was sort of relieved they sent the boys back and had the girls come forward -- that worked for him -- but he didn't like it in principle.

As he took a step back toward the other boys he commented, "Right, so, does anyone else feel kind of..." Pushed aside? Ignored? In the way? Underfoot? Unwanted? Inconvenient? There was word for this.
21 Echo Elms And the boys edge back... 93 Echo Elms 0 5


Matt and Josh Santoro

April 24, 2007 10:26 PM
Matt met up with his twin just outside of the school doors. They may not like to be partners in class, but they liked to goof around on the way too class. And Care of Magical Creatures was the perfect opportunity for such an occasion. It probably had something to do with the fact that they got to be outside and Professor K was lenient on a lot of things.

"We'll have to do it on Friday. Everyone's always excited it's almost the weekend, so no one will really be paying any attention." Josh was saying as they entered the clearing just before class began.

"Yeah, that makes sense. And we can set it so that they go off while we're in..." Matt trailed off as he took in his surroundings. There were way too many people here to only be first and second years. And, as he looked around, he discovered not only were there third years, but fourth and fifth as well. Just what sort of lesson had all five years together?

"What's this?"

"No idea."

The twins moved closer into the group and looked around. They discovered that not only was everyone here, but the Professor wasn't. Instead, some old woman was standing there introducing herself to all of them as Professor Murphy.

The twins looked at one another. So many professors have gone without any explanation and Professor K was the DH. Things were weird in the school of Sonora.

It took them both a moment to even notice the unicorn that was standing beside the elderly woman. Both boys tried not to seem too excited about there being a unicorn cos it was uncool to oogle a pony, but they were fascinated by it. Unicorns were hard to find and harder to catch. The fact that this professor had one meant that she was either good at this job or had some nice connections.

Both Matt and Josh frowned and pouted when they were told that the boys couldn't go up and pet the unicorn but that the girls could.

"That's no fair!" Matt called out before shuffling back with the other boys. He lazily kicked at the dirt.

"Right, so, does anyone else feel kind of..."

"Unimportant." Josh finished, shrugging at Echo. He knew of the boy, having met him in this very class their first year and he was Matt's roommate, but he spent all of his time with Elly and Meredith (sometimes that kid with the really blonde hair), so Josh didn't actually know him.
0 Matt and Josh Santoro We're too cool for a unicorn anyway... 0 Matt and Josh Santoro 0 5


Echo Elms

April 25, 2007 7:03 AM
"Unimportant," Josh finished for him.

"Yeah, that," Echo agreed. He also agreed with Matt's sentiment of Unfair!. Summarized it nicely. Echo started to pull out his notebook but thought better of it. "And how are we supposed to take notes if she didn't give us any information?"

Professor McFarlan's instructions were sketchy at best. Girls - go pet the unicorn. Boys - stand in the back and pretend I gave you something real to do. This wasn't a class, it was some weirdo exclusive petting zoo.

Arms crossed, Echo watched the girls go up, one by one. He honestly didn't see the draw of a unicorn. It was a small horse with a big horn on its head. So what? Well, there was the serene glowiness about it, and its magical properies. Still. It could impale you with its horn. And that wouldn't be cool at all.
21 Echo Elms ... of course we are 93 Echo Elms 0 5


Josaih

April 27, 2007 2:13 PM
Josiah made his way down to COMC, robes in his arms. He was wearing a yellow shirt with a prairie dog on it that had a speech bubble proclaiming “TEPPANPAW RULES!” His pants were beige cargo pants. His feet were covered in black sandals that he expected to kick off while he enjoyed class time.

When he got to class, he was taken aback. What was with the huge crowd? It looked like the whole school was out here! Did he miss a memo? He saw a glint of gold at the corner of his field of vision. A snitch? Upon further inspection, he found a unicorn foal. And a teacher that was most certainly not Professor K.

The teacher was also really strict and mean. Why couldn’t he kick off his shoes and leave his robe off? He frowned. If this Professor Murphy wanted robes on, well she can yell at him. He threw his robes on the ground at her shooing the boys off.

Anyone else feel…. one person began Unimportant? another suggested. Josiah strode over to them, kicking his robes ahead of him as he went. “Yeah!” he put in fiercely. “It’s not like we can know these things without notes! I think she’s just trying to have a class for the girls!” He glanced at the redhead, “Are you related to Elly?” He asked. Turning to Josh, he introduced himself to them both, “Name’s Josiah.”\n
0 Josaih Joining the outcasts 0 Josaih 0 5


Echo Elms

April 28, 2007 12:41 AM
[OOC: Slightly confused, but I think I've deduced that Elly is the redhead who got glanced at and the question is directed at brown-haired Echo because he's always hanging around with her? If that's not workable let me know and I'll rewrite]

I think she's just trying to have a class for the girls! one of the firsties complained, coming over to join them. Echo recognized him as having something to do with the Charms club. He never went to it (it was all firsties) but Elly seemed to be okay with that, because she went sometimes. When the kid said his name was Josiah, Echo nodded like he'd known it all along because he sort of had. If someone had said 'Josiah' to him, he would have known who it was. Apparently Josiah knew who he was too, even if not by name. But, it was kinda funny. No one ever assumed he and the English girl he spent so much time with were related. There wasn't a red hair in his family, and he'd never even been to England until midterms and that was for maybe, maybe, half an hour. Usually, their spending huge amounts of time together caused an entirely different set of assumptions.

"Ha! No," he said, following Josiah's eyes to her, "we're just friends." And that was pretty much what he said to the other set of assumptions too. And both were true, no matter what Brett might claim. "I'm Echo. And," he indicated the twins, "this is Matt and Josh."

He liked Josiah right off. It was easy to like someone when you were all being unjustly ignored together.\r\n\r\n
21 Echo Elms We're fun to join... all out and cast and stuff 93 Echo Elms 0 5


Matt and Josh

April 29, 2007 2:45 PM
Josh was going to answer Echo's statement about the notes, saying that perhaps the Professor meant the random statements she had made about the unicorn before inviting the girls up to pet it, but before he could answer him another boy joined them in their small group off to the side. His eyebrow went up slightly as the boy went on. Okay, so Josh didn't think it was all that fair that only the girst could pet the unicorn, but he didn't think it was because the Professor was only partial to girls. And, besides, it wasn't like they couldn't complain about it to Professor K if/when she returned.

Maybe there really was a good reason behind it all. Though, Josh wasn't about to open his mouth and say all this to these three since they each seemed to want to believe the Professor was completely against the male population.

Matt knew this kid already, having met him in DADA not that long back, but decided not to mention it as this kid had been rather strange in what he knew of the Latino heritage. And Matt didn't really want to have to go through another explanation of that sort of thing.

When Echo answered Josiah's question, the twins looked knowingly at one another. Josh, simply because he believed Elly and Echo were a couple (even though both denied it) and Matt because he thought Echo liked...well, not girls. But neither of them had ever heard anyone actually ask Echo or Elly if they were related. They didn't even look alike. Echo wasn't even British. What an amusing question.

The twins nodded in greeting to the newcomer, but didn't bother to explain which one was which as they were identical. Although, by now, Echo was bound to know which one was actually Matt having roomed with him nearly two years. The same usually could not be said for anyone else.

"Well, all I can say is, lucky us that we get a free break." Matt exclaimed, getting over the idea of not being included rather quickly.
0 Matt and Josh Hey now, we're the Cool Kids, not the Outcasts. 0 Matt and Josh 0 5

Saul Pierce

April 30, 2007 10:35 PM
Saul had tried to sneak up toward the unicorn, just to get a better look at it. Having had a pretty major growth spurt the last few weeks (he now reached 5'7"), he'd been able to see over most of the girls' heads pretty well but it hadn't helped disguise him any. He'd been directed back to join the boys and he grumped the first six steps away until he recognized Echo in a small subgroup of the ostracized male population. With that head of curly hair, he was easy to pick out.

Feeling better already since he had a bona fide reason to spend the class not doing any work, he grinned and joined the growing crowd just as one of a set of twins (at least one of which he was pretty sure was a Pecari) was saying, "lucky us that we get a free break."

Saul grinned at him, that being the same sentiment he'd just had, and nodded, "Absolutely. I mean, the unicorn is pretty and all, but the snifflers us third and forth years had at the beginning of the year were way more interesting. We got to go treasure hunting and everything. All the unicorn is doing is just sitting there. Hey! We could find gnomes! The garden's probably full of them!"
1 Saul Pierce joining the Cool Kids 82 Saul Pierce 0 5


Josiah

May 01, 2007 8:21 PM
OOC: oops, sorry Echo, I dunno why I thought you were a redhead too... Seeing as my other charrie lives in your house, I should know that by now *Blushes* sorry

IC: Josiah grinned at Echo. Well, him and Elly hung out enough to be related. So what if it was a stupid question? He had a reason to. Which led to another, one he wouldn't voice, of his relationship with Elly. Friends? Or more than that?

Turning to Matt, he smiled. He remembered now that Matt and him were partners in DADA. He wondered why Matt didn't show more recognition. Maybe he didn't like Josiah?

Then another person joined the outcasts. Well, he did have a point. Weren't unicorns just horses, but fancy? He'd have to admit though, that he wished he could touch it. The gold fur was too...cool to pass up.

"Gnomes? Sounds like fun I guess," he shrugged, "It could be like DADA, right? Did anyone ever even make it to the stash in the center of the maze anyways?"

He recognized Saul from the Pecari quidditch team. This guy didn't seem so bad. After all, he was a fellow guy who liked quidditch. No one who liked quidditch could be all that bad.\n
0 Josiah *raises eyebrow* Josiah, a cool kid? *laughs* 0 Josiah 0 5


Lucas Smythe

May 02, 2007 11:09 AM
Being late for classes was becoming some sort of unintentional habit for Lucas. This time he had shown up just in time to hear the professor... who... wasn't... Professor K strangely, say that the boys were pretty much unneeded in the lesson. Alright, the short old lady hadn't used those words exactly, but it was how Lucas was going to take it. From the various outbursts from other boys, it seemed that Lucas was not the only one to take it that way.

He boy flicked his fringe from his eye and crossed his arms and assumed an "I'm not gonna move" pose, but as the girls began to push past him to reach whatever they were allowed to touch and he was not, he felt that maybe he ought to move. A few of the girls that passed him were chatting about unicorns and how 'cool' they were, so Lucas assumed (apparently correctly after standing on his tiptoes to have a look) that there was a unicorn at the front.

He mumbled to himself incoherently and looked around - if all the girls were flocking forwards, that must mean... Yeah, all the guys were flooding toward the back. Lucas noticed a group of boys and began wandering over to them, he recognised a few of them, as in he'd seen them around the school, but he didn't actually know any of them.

Then Lucas caught sight of Josiah who was also in the group and considered turning around. He was relatively unsure of the boy, not sure if he liked him or not. But still, maybe he should give him the benefit of the doubt?

Pushing his fringe away from his face once more, Lucas continued toward the group. As he arrived at the scene, Josiah was talking about gnomes and defense against the dark arts. Lucas raised his brow a little, but kept his mouth quiet for the time being.

Suddenly changing his mind, Lucas opted for hovering a little away from the group, but close enough that they could talk to him if they so desired. He just felt a little shy around the older years and decided that 'butting in' wasn't the way to go - it may be a "private party" after all.
0 Lucas Smythe It could happen... 96 Lucas Smythe 0 5


Echo Elms

May 05, 2007 1:55 PM
Echo grinned as Saul veered suddenly onto the topic of gnomes, "Oo! Gnomes!" he put in as Josiah wondered if anyone made it to the middle of the labrynth in DADA. Echo didn't think his group did. They ran out of time -- too much chatting, he thought, that and his spell started getting whacked out screwy toward the end. That's mainly what he remembered. It might have been that they did make it and the ending just wasn't very memorable.

He carefully stepped out of the inner crowd, making the gathering more inclusive of the new joiners and giving himself some extra elbow room. Being a little outside the group suited him and he nodded to the kid with the too-long bangs he was now standing near, but his focus was still with the group.

"How do you find gnomes?" he asked Saul, who was probably going to be the expert on such matters. After all, the groundskeeper, Mr. Tellerman, was Saul's cousin or something.
21 Echo Elms Anything could happen. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul Pierce

May 11, 2007 10:37 PM
Saul wasn't entirely sure what gnomes had to do with DADA, and he certainly had no idea what the younger kid was talking about with the Gardens (he guessed it had to do with a first and second year lesson). It didn't matter anyway because while the kid was asking about it, Echo was oohing the gnome idea and then prompting for more information.

Having lived his entire non-Sonoran life on the very fringes of magical society, in those places where they brushed up against the fringes of muggle society, Saul had very little first hand experience with gnomes. But Simon had mentioned them when he told Groundskeeping stories once or twice, and that was enough for Saul.

Addressing everyone who looked like they were remotely paying attention to him (audience was important and a larger one was always better, so he was sure to make eye contact with the people on the fringes so they'd feel included and not go away), he began with an authoritative tone, acting as if he had the first clue of what he was talking about.

"Gnomes," he said, then gave a short dramatic pause while he tried to figure out what he was actually going to say about them. "Gnomes are tricky little guys. Clever, you know? They hide about in gardens causing mischief." He wasn't entirely sure what kind, but Simon was all about getting rid of them, so they must be bad. "Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to track one of these critters down and grab it."

Simon claimed he swung them around and tossed them away and they'd leave the garden alone for awhile, but Saul thought that was probably just hyperbole. "They hide about in bushes," he added, though that was mostly just a guess, "so we'll spread out and try to find them in the hedges. Agent Elms!" he called over to Echo, him being the one of the few he knew by name, "You'll lead one team. Agent Santoro!" he pointed to the non-Pecari twin, because it wouldn't be right to appoint the whole command cadre from his own House. "You'll lead another. I'll take the third. That's two people per team."

It belatedly occurred to him that introductions were called for before they proceeded with the mission further. "For those of you who don't know, I am Agent Saul Pierce. Agent Echo Elms, is the fellow with the curly hair. Agents Santoro are the two that look alike," neither of which was Saul entirely sure of their first name, but he thought they sounded Spanish. Maybe. "As for you two, report in, Agents!"

After all, there was no point in chasing after gnomes if they weren't going to make it fun. Otherwise, it was just chores.
1 Saul Pierce All about Gnomes: they are Gnifty. 82 Saul Pierce 0 5


Matt and Josh

May 12, 2007 1:16 PM
Matt and Josh stood there as their group grew to include older students. Well, one older student. He was on the Pecari team and when Matt whispered into Josh's ear, Josh discovered his name to be Saul. Josh didn't think the name suited the kid, but he didn't say it outloud.

"What's a sniffler?" Matt whispered to Josh. Josh shrugged.

"I think he means niffler, cos they're the ones that like shining things and Mama will never let us have."

"I wonder why he calls them snifflers..." Matt whispered, staring at the 3rd year. Josh shrugged again.

"Slip of the tongue?" Josh suggested.

The mention of gnomes had the twins looking at one another again. Why would they want to go looking for gnomes? The twins saw them all the time in their gardens at home. They were nasty little things that liked to play tricks and got Mama all mad when she would pick her squash and discover that her vegetables were all ruined.

They were going to mention how they really didn't feel like doing more chores as they got enough of that at home, but Josiah started talking instead so the twins remained quiet. At some point, another boy arrived into their little group, though he seemed a bit standoffish by staying a few feet away. Both Matt and Josh nodded their heads at him in greeting, but otherwise said nothing.

Again, they tried to say that the didn't want to have to do chores during a free period, but Saul suddenly exclaimed their name and pointed at Josh. Well, if he was going to make a game of it, he wasn't going to stop him. Games were fun. And they could use that charm that McKindy had taught them. The walkie talkie charm...if they could remember it.

"Matt."

"Josh." The twins said their names and pointed to themselves when people were apparently introducing one another. "What happens when we find them? What do we do?" Josh asked. He needed to know the rules of the game if he was to participate. \r\n\r\n
0 Matt and Josh They are Sneaky 0 Matt and Josh 0 5


Lucas

May 13, 2007 5:14 AM
After arriving into the group – or a little way outside it – one of the students, whom Lucas recognised from around the school (he was always hanging around with that redhead girl), stepped a little away from the group and nearer to him, offered a nod in his direction as a greeting before continuing with the previous conversation within the group. They were discussing gnomes. Lucas hated gnomes, they were so pointless and annoying and wrecked stuff – kinda like his cousins, really.

Another two people nodded toward him, elder students that looked the same – twins, obviously. Since three people had offered a greeting, Lucas felt that he could possibly include himself within the group a little more, though he remained where he stood.

The one that had been talking about gnomes, the ‘leader’ of the group, it appeared, then got everyone’s attention and looked around everyone. ”Gnomes. he said, making Lucas focus his attention on the elder boy – and he noticed that it worked on the rest of the group too. All eyes were on the guy as he began talking about gnomes as if he knew about them, which Lucas wasn’t entirely convinced that he did since he labelled them as ‘clever’ while Lucas would have said the complete opposite about the creatures – they were the stupidest things he had ever come across in his entire life.

But that didn’t matter – this lad was talking about making a game out of catching them. It sounded fun, if not a bit daft and a slight waste of time, but then again, that’s what happens if people are shunned during their classes, they make their own fun. It’s all the professor’s fault.

The elder student was going on about being split into teams to find the gnomes and grab them. Two people per team – whichever way, Lucas was going to get stuck with some older kid he didn’t know.

"For those of you who don't know, I am Agent Saul Pierce. Agent Echo Elms, is the fellow with the curly hair. Agents Santoro are the two that look alike." Well, at least Lucas knew their names now. Sort of – he knew the Santoros’ surname.

This problem cleared itself up quite quickly however as the two introduced themselves as Matt and Josh, Josh being the ‘agent’ in Saul’s game. ’Older guys are weird.’ Lucas thought to himself as Josh asked about the rules of the so-called game, which Lucas had been wondering himself. After all, if there are no rules then it really isn’t a game – it’s just a chore. Catching gnomes was something you did when you’d been bad and your parents want to punish you, so this Saul guy had better make it fun.
0 Lucas And stupid... 0 Lucas 0 5