Professor Kijewski
December 07, 2008 6:20 PM
Lesson 1 for First and Second Years by Professor Kijewski
Kiva stood in the middle of her clearing waiting patiently for her new first years and returning second years to meet her for their next lesson. It still felt very odd not having her office or quarters like she had since the start of her teaching career and Kiva felt like she was losing out on connecting with her students because she was heading home at night instead of just to her living space. But, she had known what was at stake when she had decided to have Emery. She can only hope that her students knew that they could still go to her for anything that they needed.“Good morning everyone!” Kiva greeted her students once she felt that they had all managed to return to the clearing and that no one else was going to come. “I hope you all slept well.” Kiva smiled at a couple of the first years who still seemed rather unsure of either her or her class. She couldn’t blame them. There were times when they would be handling questionable creatures, but Kiva hoped that they were able to take something from her lessons. Whether that be an enjoyment of the learning, or simply being able to tell a crup from a terrier. Either way, it shows that they had been able to take away something from her lessons.
“As you all should know by now that the purpose of Care of Magical Creatures is for you to have a better understanding of the type of magical creatures are currently residing in our world. How to handle them and how to identify them. It’s really quite simple, but handling certain creatures can be quite dangerous.” Kiva paused in her lecture as a group of students started whispering to one another. One of Kiva’s rules was for students to not talk while she was talking. Her second rule was for students to remain quiet when a classmate was talking. This were rules that everyone had, both in and out of the classroom.
She waited patiently for the group to realize that she had stopped her lesson for them and once they quieted again, she continued talking. “Although we will be exploring more complicated and dangerous creatures as you continue with your education here at Sonora, we also have the opportunity to explore the creatures that most people overlook or take for granted. They can be the simple creatures that you keep as your pets to those that may be more significant size-wise but ones that you don’t necessarily give much thought to.” Kiva paused and waved her wand. A few yards behind her, a large box with quarter-sized holes in the sides floated over to the group of first and second years. Setting the box down, Kiva pulled the top off a bit and pulled out a fluffy ball.
“Today we are going to have a fun lesson that focuses on the little creatures people often forget about. This, my friends, is a Puffskein. And this-“ Kiva pulled out a smaller pink version of the Puffskein, “is a Pygmy Puff. These creatures are parents favorites to give because they are easy to care for and never make a mess.” Kiva placed the Pygmy Puff on her shoulder and them proceeded to toss the Puffskein in the air. “These creatures are scavengers, they’ll eat about anything. Leftover foods, insects, probably garbage-but I wouldn’t feed them just that. They also don’t mind to be tossed around. Most actually enjoy the attention. If you listen closely, you can hear this guy purring.” Kiva quieted down so that the students could hear the loud purring sound that was emitting from the Puffskein as she tossed it around.
“I have a large abundance of Puffskeins and Pygmy Puffs that was given to me by a friend. These little guys need a home and, if you get your parents permission, you guys can all have one for yourselves.” Kiva announced to them. The puffskeins had been a huge hit a few years ago, but she had had a few issues with some students regarding the parental permission. “at. "If everyone could just stand up and grab one puffskein or pygmy puff, you may take the rest of class and play with them or toss them between one another.” Kiva took the top off the large box and stepped to the side to allow the young students to pick out the ones they wanted.
“Please remember that everyone needs to participate, even with this lesson. Also, you have until the end of the month to get your parents permission to keep on for yourself. At the end of this month, whatever puffskeins or pygmy puffs left will be going back to my friend.”
OOC: I wrote this lesson as though they’ve already had a few lessons throughout the year because based on the schedule, we’re closing in on midterm. This way, you guys don’t have to feel like it’s still in the first week of starting school. Have fun with it and remember that in order to receive points for your house, your posts must be detailed, creative, and no less than 200 words (this was the minimum requirement asked in your sample post for your application).
Please note that there is a separate thread for your parents’ letters on whether or not you have permission to keep the puffskein/pygmy puff. If I do not receive any notice from your character’s parents stating that they are allowed to keep the creature and you are writing anywhere on the boards with the creature, I will OOC you and take away points. This is your warning.
Subthreads: Dude. (or Girl, not picky ;D) (OOC Question) by Kyler Kent with Professor K.
*squeals* by Pippa Brockert with Daniel Nash II
Falling to meet a person by Taylor Li with Deepa Rajaram
No fair by Charlotte Abbott
Not really seeing the attraction. by Ian Grimm with Adelita Garcia [Crotalus], Ian
Making a spectacle by Nathaniel Leon with Quentin Melcher, Nathaniel
They're kinda like magical, living skittles, really. by Eun Ae and Mike Song
Lesson closed, but continue posting if you like. (nm) by Professor K.
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Professor Kijewski
Lesson 1 for First and Second Years
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Professor Kijewski
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Ian Grimm
December 21, 2008 8:34 PM
Not really seeing the attraction. by Ian Grimm
Care of Magical Creatures rated in as a dead last place when it came to Ian's preference in subjects. Transfiguration took a solid first, with Potions and Charms following close behind. DADA and History of Magic took the middle ground, existing in a pleasant plane of ambivalence. CoMC huddled as an extreme outlier, mostly because the class held no relevance to his present or future goals. Which wasn't to say that Professor Kijewski was a poor teacher or that her lessons were boring. Ian was simply of the mindset that time was the most valuable commodity, and he disliked having his time spent in the pursuit of things he had no interest in.In particular, he found absolutely no point to learning about pink and purple link balls that masqueraded as living creatures. He couldn't help the frown that curled his lips at the suggestion that he take on one of the useless things as a pet. It was bad enough he was going to be forced to spend the class period having to touch it.
"You've got to be kidding me. . ." he muttered to himself, brown eyes incredulous. Nevertheless, he pushed up his glasses, set aside his school robes, and walked down toward the large box that swarmed with the tiny poofs. He was not careful in his choosing of one, preferring to spend the least amount of time possible holding it before retreating back to his robes and book-bag.
It didn't help matters that the creature was pink- and not a pleasant shade of pink at that. It was more of the obnoxious, unnatural neon sort of pink that screamed from bar windows and blinked adds from decaying billboards.
Ian dropped the puff as previous instructed and sighed when the thing decided to bounce in the opposite direction of his feet. Perhaps it could sense his annoyance. He followed after it with a muted sigh, wishing- not for the first time- that he was in his sixth year and free from the subject. His wishing grew in fervor when the ridiculous thing bounced its way into the lap of one of his classmates.
"Excuse me, mind throwing that thing back my way? It's not being particularly pliant."
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Ian Grimm
Not really seeing the attraction.
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Ian Grimm
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Adelita Garcia [Crotalus]
December 21, 2008 11:23 PM
No? I think the attraction is obvious. by Adelita Garcia [Crotalus]
Adelita had heard various things about the Care of Magical Creatures class. Her Tia Izzy still took the lessons even as a Seventh year despite the fact that she had no plans with working with animals after she graduated. She had told Lita that the creatures were always so much more interesting after their fifth year that she took the class merely out of curiosity. Her Tio Jose had explained that some lessons were more fun than others, but that could go for any lesson with any subject. Her Tio Matt didn’t care much about this class and only seemed to like it because they usually didn’t have to sit and listen for long periods of time.Having since taken a coupe of lessons of this class, Adelita was following along the lines of her Tio Jose. There were lessons where Adelita found herself wandering onto other subjects or chit chatting with her friends while other lessons had her on her toes as she tried to retain everything that was told to her. Of course, she did that for a lot of her lessons too. So, it was rather hard to determine if she even had a favorite class just yet. Maybe after the year was over she would have a better understanding of where she stood with it all. What she was able to accomplish easily and what she struggled with.
This lesson, however, brought out the girl in her. Not that that was hard. Adelita was probably the definition of a girl. She liked to do her hair, she liked to wear skirts and dresses, and she even liked the color pink. When she was old enough, she even planned to wear makeup. But the pygmy puffs had Adelita ‘oooing’ with the rest of the girls while she fawned over the little creatures. But, really, how could she not? They were just so adorable! This lesson now placed Care of Magical Creatures close to the top of the other classes at this point in time.
“Hello, you cute little pink thing.” Adelita cooed while she picked out a purple pygmy puff and placed it against her cheek. Her parents hadn’t allowed them any pets back home in San Francisco because they traveled so much, but now that Adelita was in school and stable ten months out of the year, her parents were more open to the idea of the girls having a pet. And this creature would be the perfect type of pet. She knew that the moment she sent her letter off, her parents would agree. She just knew it. And, if they didn’t, she would resort to begging. They always gave in.
Taking the pygmy puff back to her belongings, Adelita sat cross legged (she had returned to jeans since first impressions weren’t so necessary anymore) on the ground. She was in the midst of playing with her purple plushy when a pink plushy rolled right into her lap. Giggling in surprise, Adelita addressed the new comer, “Why hello there, did you go and get yourself lost?” Although the pygmy puff didn’t answer her, another person did. Glancing up, Adelita saw a boy making his way over. By calling the creature ‘thing’ Adelita assumed that the boy could care less about the little creature which caused for the corners of her mouth to twitch downward. Not because she felt that everyone should like animals, Merlin knew there were a few creatures Lita could live without, but because pygmy puffs were so harmless and vulnerable that she couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to just cuddle one. “Sure.” Adelita called out, picking up the pink plushy and tossing it lightly towards the boy. She was not a quidditch player, so she was sure her aim was going to be off… and by a lot. “Oh, sorry about that! I’m better on my feet than I am with my hands!” Adelita explained, hoping the boy wasn’t angry that he would have to chase the plushy again. “Maybe he just wants to play?” Lita suggested. She was sure that after being in the box with all the other puffs that the creature just wanted time to roll around in all this space.
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Adelita Garcia [Crotalus]
No? I think the attraction is obvious.
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Adelita Garcia [Crotalus]
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Ian
December 31, 2008 3:03 AM
I'm guessing you were going for sarcasm there. by Ian
"Thank you- " Ian cut off his words of gratitude once it became apparent that the return of the object of his pursuit would be further delayed. He also kept his internal commentary on mute, not having the desire to induce a potential argument over his suggestion that it wouldn't take much to improve upon that kind of throw. He supposed, though, that spending his class period toddling behind a minuscule piece of neon pink fluff was better than sitting down and poking at said piece of fluff. Still, he was not pleased."It's fine." His eyebrows quirked in consideration. "If this is how they play, then I think it's fair to state that their evolutionary status is sitting on the conservative side of simple."
He didn't wait for a response, not rightly expecting one and dutifully walked off to reign in his errant pygmy-puff. As it had done before, upon his approach, it began to make furtive bounds away from him and back again toward the seated girl. He finally gave into his desire to sigh aloud when it once again landed in the girl's lap. He held out a hand to stem any further attempts at returning the thing back to him. "No, don't bother. I'll just bring my stuff over here; it apparently likes you for whatever reason. . ."
It occurred to him, a touch belatedly, that his words could easily be construed as insulting. He threw a clarification over his shoulder as he knelt to gather together his school bag and robes. "I'm questioning its motivations there, not your merit, by the way." It did not occur to him to infuse any semblance of pleasantness or friendliness into his tone. Then again, Ian was who he was. He deposited his retrieved robes and bag in a neat pile across from the girl and took a similar stance, tucking his legs neatly to his side and perching his chin atop one propped up palm. He used his other hand to once again adjust his glasses back up his nose.
He made a mental note that beyond preferring that girl's lap to his presence, there seemed to be little to no peculiarities to the puff's behavior. "I'm Ian, incidentally- a second year in Aladren."
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Ian
I'm guessing you were going for sarcasm there.
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Ian
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Adelita
January 10, 2009 11:37 PM
Sarcasm or fact, either one is good. by Adelita
Adelita watched the boy go after the pygmy puff again. The corners of her mouth turned even more downwards at his comment. He didn’t seem to have all that good of an opinion for the little creatures. She found absolutely nothing wrong with them. Every creature had its use and even though these puffs were small and didn’t do much other than enjoy being bounced around, didn’t mean they deserve to be thought any less of. Even Adelita, who hated bugs or any sort of creepy crawlies, could appreciate why they existed in the world.Shrugging off his words, Adelita returned to her own pygmy puff, rolling it around in her hands and smiling as it purred. “I need to think of a name for you…” Adelita mumbled. What to name a purple plushy… hm… It would have been more helpful if she knew whether or not it was a boy or a girl, but she didn’t even know if they had organs to differentiate between them. Unable to think of a name (she seemed to only be creative in dance), Adelita settled with calling him Poco Un. Or, Little One in Spanish (sounded better in her second language).
Happy now that she now could call the pygmy puff something, Adelita was surprised to find the pink one back in her lap as though it were magnetized to her. She went to try throwing it again, but stopped when the boy held up his hand. Her frown returned quickly at his comment. She could have sworn he had just insulted her. Although he corrected himself, Adelita still felt that he meant some of it towards herself as well. Glancing down at the pink pygmy puff, Adelita whispered to it, “I would run away from him too. He seems very irritated. Not fun at all.” She whispered all this in absolute seriousness to the creature before returning her gaze on the boy as he made his way back over.
“I’m Adelita.” She smiled at him in her usual way. Normally she would give her nickname, but after talking to Nathaniel and Daniel, Adelita was under the impression that boys didn’t like nicknames. “I’m a first year in Crotalus.” She wasn’t exactly sure why having to explain her year or house to someone other than perhaps they had to decide if she were an enemy or not, but she was learning the habit of introducing herself that way. She wondered if she would do that while at home by default.
“Here you are, Ian.” Lita offered him his pygmy puff back if he so chose to take him. She didn’t mind holding on to the creature for him if he wanted though. “Are you not a fan of animals?” Lita asked him. She got the impression he wasn’t all that fond of the lesson, but she wasn’t sure if that extended to the class in general. Changing topics almost as quickly as she had asked the first question, Adelita continued, “Aladren, right? Professor Flatt scares me. I don’t know how it is with him as your Head of House.” She probably should have mentioned that Professor O’Leary scared her too and made her not envy the Pecaris either, but she felt she had shared enough for the time being.
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Adelita
Sarcasm or fact, either one is good.
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Adelita
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Ian
January 15, 2009 12:40 PM
I can accept that. by Ian
Ian made a quick mental note to add a new page to his ever growing collection of notebooks. His summer had been spent in preoccupied pursuit of comparing his personal notes on his fellow classmates and upper classmen with those on their respective families kept in the Grimm Inquiries' File Room. As such, his two notebooks had grown into thirteen, each page filled with his precise handwriting and much practised shorthand. The new first years had warranted a fourteenth notebook to be added.If he recalled correctly- and most times he did- Adelita's surname was Garcia.
"Crotalus. . . the females in there can be-" Troublesome, annoying, entertaining were a few of the immediate adjectives he thought of when considering Crotalus. This was mostly since his impressions came from his experiences with one certain female fellow second year. "- quarrelsome. Some Purebloods are peculiar that way."
He held out his hand toward the pygmy puff, not particularly expecting it to bounce forward. Surprisingly enough, it did just that, and with a loud purring sound, settled into his lap, the very essence of contentedness. His class notes gained another line of observation regarding the creature's preference for lower altitudes. The puff didn't seem to mind him after all. He tried to pretend that this didn't please him in some small way and resolutely refused to move his fingers in response to its snuggling.
"I neither like or dislike them. They serve no real purpose for me and my plans for the future. It seems to be a waste to have one considering, as a pet or otherwise. If I was a farmer or a zoo keeper, it would be different." He spoke plainly enough, having honestly no real feeling toward animals or pets in general. It was a sincere ambivalence.
“Professor Flatt?” Ian’s hand subconsciously began petting the purring fuzz, unbeknownst to himself. “He’s predictable. He gets a thrill from seeing people react, so the less you do, the more he’ll ignore you.” Ian generally found Professor Flatt’s classes to be a waste of precious time, but they did serve as an excellent opportunity to work on his notebooks. The reactions presented from his classmates provided some of the more interesting observations. “Professor Schmidt poses more concerns for me. Not so much him, but the potions he lets us accidentally make.”
He was reminded of his last potions lesson that had resulted in two exploding cauldrons and the ruin of his favorite shoes. He had not been pleased.
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Ian
I can accept that.
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Ian
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