This started out so well.... on Charms

Professor Perrault

October 13, 2016 5:25 PM

Research Task! [VI & VII years] by Professor Perrault

Edward’s summer had been rather agreeable on the whole but he was quite content to be back at Sonora now and slipping back into that comfortable school routine. He would definitely miss getting to see so much of his sister and niece, for sure, who were much further away from him than they had been when he’d taught in Québec, but he liked Sonora and knew that he’d made a good decision. That didn’t necessarily make it easy, but at least he was at ease in his new surroundings and could go back to fully enjoying being a professor.

“Good afternoon class,” Edward began in his usual positive manner, starting the lesson promptly because he did not expect tardiness from his Advanced students. If they weren’t keen and willing then they’d clearly chosen the wrong course to continue to RATS level. “Today I’ll be setting you a research task,” he got straight to business after a quick roll call. Edward liked to use a range of teaching methods, practical probably being the most popular amongst his students. The older they got the more often he began to incorporate the heavier going lectures and to be more demanding with essays he’d set for homework every so often, but he always hoped that his great passion for the subject helped enthuse his students. Charms could so often be dismissed as a soft subject when compared to classes such as Transfiguration and Edward could see why, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of hard work and effort required to achieve good RATS grades.

“I want you all to start thinking about how you can apply your knowledge of charms to industry and business,” Edward explained the purpose of their research task. “Therefore, I’d like you all to pair up - some threes may be necessary if you don’t divide equally, but I expect you can sort yourselves out - and come up with an area of business that you find interesting. You do not need to be focusing on your future career plans, as I don’t expect all of you to know what you want to do yet nor have the same aspirations as your partner.”

“Once you’ve chosen this, I’d like you to research the ways in which charms are used relating to this. Choose a few specific charms to focus on and produce information on them, always linking it back to your chosen industry. These don’t necessarily have to be charms you’ve covered before, but may well be. You should be using books to find out this information but I want you to put your findings in your own words. It is up to you how you wish to present your research.”

“If you are at all stuck for ideas I can help you out,” Edward added. “But I would rather it come from you, so do give it some thought and just bounce ideas off each other.”

“Right, I have numerous books here in the classroom that you should probably find useful but if you don’t have anything to go on, let me know and you can take a trip to the library,” Edward told the class. “You have the whole lesson to work on this and then I expect you to coordinate in your pairs and get it finished for next week.”

“Now, any questions?” Edward waited for questions which he would respond to accordingly before clapping his hands together. “Okay, get started.”

OOC: You all know the rules by now. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Ugh, this is the worst. by Aiden O'Neil (Teppenpaw) with Shinohara Uzume, Crotalus

You may call me a genius [tag: Clark] by Joella Curtis, Pecari with Clark Dill

Yech by Scarlett Brockert,Pecari with Tobi Reinhardt

This started out so well.... by John Umland, Aladren

8 Professor Perrault Research Task! [VI & VII years] 0 Professor Perrault 1 5

Aiden O'Neil (Teppenpaw)

October 13, 2016 9:57 PM

Ugh, this is the worst. by Aiden O'Neil (Teppenpaw)

Aiden couldn’t believe that he was finally in Advance classes. He didn’t feel like he had been at Sonora for that long, but he was already in his Sixth year. Thinking back on it, he thought he had done pretty well so far in his Sonora career. Much better than he originally thought he would do. Academically, it wasn’t all that great if he were being honest. His grades could totally be a lot better, but Aiden had such a hard time concentrating on lectures or reading that he just couldn’t keep it all in his head. Because of that, his grades suffered. He was still passing everything (thanks in large part to his girlfriend) but it could have been better.

Outside of academics, Aiden was doing alright. He was friends with his roommates, his housemates, had friends outside of Teppenpaw, was a Prefect, was one of the hosts to the Archery Club, and he had a girlfriend. He didn’t think he would get on the ballot for Head Boy, but he figured that if he ended his school career with only the things that he had accomplished thus far that he had already managed to win at this stage of life. Maybe some people would think that way of thought was ridiculous, but Aiden felt like it made his days a lot happier than most. And that was the attitude that he really wanted to keep with him as he started his Advance lessons.

That was until he heard what their assignment for Charms would be. Aiden was not good with research or projects of any kind. He just didn’t have that type of focus. And now he had to figure out what charms would be used in business and industry? What did that even mean? Aiden’s only real knowledge was his Dad’s job where he was on the board of his family’s company. They worked in potions sales or something. Aiden never really paid any attention to that stuff. He was sure his dad thought he would take over or work there in some capacity and Aiden knew that he would, but it didn’t mean that he had to pay much attention to all of that now.

Aiden didn’t really know any sort of jobs that did that stuff except office work but even then his knowledge was really quite limited. How was he supposed to do a whole research project on a subject that he literally never thought of before? He sighed. At least he could work with someone. If they had an idea, he could take the time to research it and help in that way. Aiden turned to the person nearest to him and smiled, baring his perfect teeth. “Hey, do you want to work on this together?” He asked them with a cheerfulness that people probably associated with all Teppenpaws. “I have to warn you, I really don’t know much about business jobs or industry jobs, so I’m kind of hoping you would be able to pick the topic.”

6 Aiden O'Neil (Teppenpaw) Ugh, this is the worst. 287 Aiden O'Neil (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Joella Curtis, Pecari

October 20, 2016 5:33 PM

You may call me a genius [tag: Clark] by Joella Curtis, Pecari

Advanced classes were tough, that much Joella had discovered just a few days into her sixth year, but she did appreciate having only three subjects now. Not only was she thrilled about finally being able to drop those subjects which she had just never got along with, but she also had more free time. Joella knew that this was really supposed to be “independent study time” and she did plan to do that, but only to some degree. The way she was headed it didn’t even matter if she passed her RATS because she was simply going to play Quidditch, there was no doubt about it. But even with being so sure of herself and her future, Joella knew she’d still try when it came to her RATS next year because giving up wasn’t in her nature and it certainly wasn’t how she’d been raised.

It did help that she liked her professors, all of whom were admittedly very easy on the eyes, as they added to the list of people she wanted to make proud. Her father was at the top of that list, not because he put any pressure on her but because he was the kind of person who Joella firmly believed all others should aspire to be. He was so full of wisdom and goodness and she always took his advice very much to heart.

Charms had always been her favourite subject and that hadn’t changed when Professor Olivers left and was replaced by the gorgeous Professor Perrault - one could totally get lost in those dreamy blue eyes and get carried away imagining where he got those sexy scars… but that wasn’t the point!

Today didn’t sound like the best lesson at first. Joella was very much a kinetic learner and she much preferred practical lessons, which was probably why she also got on pretty well with Defence Against the Dark Arts too these days. But then the sixth year got to thinking about what she could do for her research task because, even if Professor Perrault said they didn’t need to, she was instantly wondering how she could tie her future career into this. And then an idea struck and she sat there for a moment feeling like a complete genius whilst she waited for Professor Perrault to finish answering her classmates’ questions.

But who to pair up with? Joella glanced around the small class thoughtfully. Under normal circumstances her mind would have instantly leapt to either of her roommates, Lionel, or Aiden at the mention of pairs but this was different, this was specific and this was… Clark!

The blonde head of the Aladren Captain was right in front of her, literally asking to be partners - well maybe not literally but still. Joella extended an arm forward over her desk and tapped her Quidditch rival on the shoulder, before bringing it back to flick her bleach blonde locks over her shoulder. “You, me, broomsticks?” she smiled confidently, as if she were the first person Clark Dill would think of to partner with when she knew full well he’d probably had other plans.

“You know, like the Flying Charm, the Braking Charm… there must be loads of charms involved in broomstick manufacture,” Joella expanded, hoping that a fellow Quidditch player like Clark would share her enthusiasm, at least more so than she expected her roommates to. “I think it could actually be pretty interesting, don’t you think?”

Clark was an Aladren and although such species could sometimes seem kind of cool, they were by definition nerds. So really Joella thought she was being quite realistic in her hopes that he’d be enthused by her idea.

8 Joella Curtis, Pecari You may call me a genius [tag: Clark] 295 Joella Curtis, Pecari 0 5

Clark Dill

November 02, 2016 4:17 PM

Heya, Genius. by Clark Dill

It was probably a hold-over from his younger days, when 'research project' meant spending a few days doing field trips with his dad to various museums and libraries and related educational venues, but the phrase still made him sit up straighter in his chair and grin a little bit in anticipation. Even when it did involve day trips with Dad, research projects did give a good excuse to investigate a topic of his own choice in depth without anyone thinking he was weird or preparing for the next science club meeting (though, to be fair, a good number of science club topics were presented because he had already done the research for fun and wanted to discuss it with people).

As Professor Perrault continued, several such Science club topics scrambled for attention in his mind, all of them being tangentially related to the topic of charms in a industry and business.

Clark himself had no plans to go into industry when he graduated. He planned to work in the sciences - potentially as a teacher because, of all the things at Sonora, the three he was going to miss most upon graduation were John, Lena, and giving Science Club lectures. Though working in a research facility wasn't out of the question either. The problem with that - and the college applications he was starting to fill out - was that research tended to be a lot more focused to a single field or discipline and Clark wanted to study all of it.

As a science teacher to younger kids, he might not get the in depth analysis he enjoyed, but he could teach "General Science" and cover a much wider variety of studies.

Someone tapped on his shoulder and he turned around, expecting to find either his best friend or his girlfriend and was surprised to find Joella looking at him instead, and even more baffled by her first words. Him. Her. Broomsticks. She wasn't asking him on a date, was she? He already - oh. The research project. Right.

In truth, broomsticks were, in fact, one of the first topics that had leapt to his mind earlier. His research for the lecture on broom dynamics had brushed up against the kinds of charms placed onto broomsticks quite a bit, so he had a lot of notes on that aspect of broom manufacturing already.

"Um," he said, "it is absolutely fascinating," he confirmed truthfully, his hesitation mostly due to her status of 'Not-A-Research-Nerd'. Such people, in his experience, didn't really appreciate the depth he often went into for research projects. For this reason, he usually worked with John who was just as happy as Clark was to delve into the minutiae of esoteric facts, or possibly Lena because working on a school project gave them a valid excuse to spend more time together.

(As they would actually be working on the project during those times, and possibly spill discussion about the research into date time, because Clark wasn't very good about not talking about any of his current studies, however, it may very well be in Lena's best interest that Joella had approached him first.)

"Yeah, we could do broomsticks," he agreed, hoping she didn't detect any disappointment that he wouldn't get to study anything really new. His research before had been maybe too thorough and he wasn't sure what more there was to learn about the subject.

But it had been interesting, she was right about that, and as he warmed up to the idea, his voice became more animated and excited. "Those are just the beginning! Brooms have advanced a lot since the early years and the charms have become really differentiated in the last fifty years or so. Did you know they use different steering charms, depending on if the broom is intended for beaters, chasers, seekers, or keepers, and they come from an entirely different family of enchantments for street brooms. And racing brooms have an completely different set of charms entirely! It's all customized to optimize the kind of flying the rider is likely to do and that's not even going into the adjustments they can make based on the height and weight of the-" he stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering that this was Joella, who wasn't even an Aladren. "I mean, yeah, there's plenty to research about charms in broom manufacturing. How interested are you, really? Because I was raised by a scientist, so I might geek out on you a lot and I want to know how quickly I should shut myself down or if you're cool with it because it's brooms."

1 Clark Dill Heya, Genius. 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Shinohara Uzume, Crotalus

November 07, 2016 8:12 AM

At least we are in it together! by Shinohara Uzume, Crotalus

Since there was only a few months until her ceremony, Uzu’s urge to get out and have fun had increased exponentially, especially since she could no longer could use Quidditch practice as entertainment. She was already a late bloomer into womanhood, having to postpone her dance ceremony further because of a Quidditch injury was just too risky. Even a strained muscle or small bruise could hurt her dancing, and by extension her desirability as a wife. As a result, she made the painful choice to quit the team, although she was adamant that she would go to every game just to cheer on her roommate.

Even if she couldn’t do Quidditch, there was no reason she couldn’t continue to do what she wanted when she wanted. So since she woke up feeling quite feline-like that particular day, Uzu decided a nice soak in the sun was in order, for as long as time could allow anyways. Arriving only a minute prior to the start of class, Uzu sat down at the first empty seat she saw, quite content with the lingering warmth on her skin.

As usual she let the fates decide her placement for that day, and today it was next to none other than Aiden-kun. Listening to the instructions for the day, she didn’t find the task one bit amusing. So as Professor Perrault talked she used the time to examining her company from the corner of her eye. She supposed she had lucked out today since Tepps were her favorite classmates. They were always pretty interesting without being as rambunctious as Pecaris.

She was a little startled when the person she had been analyzing turned to her suddenly, blaming her reaction on the overdose of vitamin D. However Aiden’s blissful tone quickly forced a smile out of her, and she nodded her head in agreement, Tepps really were so genuine. She was a little jealous to be honest. “I suppose I could choose the topic,” Uzu replied in a joking tone. Teasing was much easier than being friendly, it just felt safer. “But you better not be trying to get out of doing work,” she teased, avoiding resposiblility was her job after all. “I’m pretty sure if you relied completely on me for this project we would both definitely fail,” she said with a giggle, actually being completely truthful with him.

0 Shinohara Uzume, Crotalus At least we are in it together! 0 Shinohara Uzume, Crotalus 0 5

Scarlett Brockert,Pecari

November 13, 2016 12:53 PM

Yech by Scarlett Brockert,Pecari

When it came to picking classes after CATS, the choices had been obvious to Scarlett. She was taking Transfiguration because she was a Brockert and it was her best subject anyway, Charms because it was basically the backbone of magic and DADA so she could ogle Professor Pye. Plus, no offense to Sophie, but Potions wasn't really Scarlett's thing. It required too much attention to detail for her taste. She could have taken Herbology-which might have been a good idea since they wouldn't be tested on it for RATS-or Care of Magical Creature. However, Scarlett always rather liked the quick visual affects wandwork produced rather than toiling away and Charms was something she might actually use in life.

And obviously, she wasn't going to take four or five classes! That was insane . Scarlett wasn't stupid-one couldn't be to be sneaking around the school for six years and not get caught if they were totally unintelligent-but she'd never been all that academically inclined. That was more Savannah's thing and that was fine with the Pecari. The two of them had always had their own identities. Even though apparently, Savannah's was more yearbook friendly. Of course, Scarlett didn't blame her twin for that,as she'd never blame Savannah for anything, she blamed the yearbook creators for not including categories that were more descriptive of her. And they took away Class Clown, which she'd been so proud to win (and so mad to lose to Uzume Shinohara the last time partially because she didn't find the other sixth year particularly funny.)

However, when she heard today's lesson, Scarlett stopped thinking about the yearbook and began to regret her decision and wish she had taken Herbology or COMC instead. Or Divination even. She despised research projects. They were a lot of dreary work. And to make it worse, the research topic was how charms were used in business and industry. How painfully boring! Her father was in business, handling finance reports for a media company-of course the Brockerts had an influence on magical media in the western states, they seemed to have influence on just about everything- but she didn't know the details. And didn't think he used much for charms in it.

Whatever the specifics were, it still sounded excrutiatingly dull. Scarlett had always assumed Father must have thought so too as he didn't seem to talk about work much. Granted, that could have been out of consideration for everyone else.

And she still kind of wanted to believe that "business" was just a cover for something far more exciting and secretive as she'd always thought as a child. Like maybe her dad was a secret agent or a spy or something . He was a fairly quiet fellow and that didn't really sound like him but that was precisely why it was such a good fit. Unobtrusive people like Father were the last ones you'd ever suspect of such things. Plus, it would explain her own sneaking around undetected ability. Actually, if Scarlett had any intention of working, it might be fun job but she'd just be satisfied marrying a guy with one. It made them more interesting.

That was another thing. Now that Chaslyn was betrothed and Savannah was with Aiden-though not in an official betrothed capacity-Scarlett was sure her time was coming soon. Maybe she'd have to pester Phillip about his old classmates again.

Right now though, she had to do this stupid Charms paper. She sighed. She had no idea where to even begin as she didn't think that anything related to this would hold her attention. Scarlett turned to her neighbor, "Hey, do you have ideas? Because I sure don't." Maybe the person could help her brainstorm something and hopefully get that Scarlett was more or less asking to work together.

OOC-Scarlett's opinions about the yearbook are solely that of the character. I personally think the categories are just fine.

11 Scarlett Brockert,Pecari Yech 293 Scarlett Brockert,Pecari 0 5

Tobi Reinhardt

November 13, 2016 1:36 PM

I second the motion. by Tobi Reinhardt

Tobi wasn't stupid. On the contrary, he was a rather thoughtful, insightful young wizard. However, school had never been his favorite place. From a young age, he had learned to dislike the place where students sat perfectly still and listened to an adult talk at them. Sonora had slightly improved this as the classes were usually hands on, but it still wasn't his favorite thing. No, Tobi preferred to learn naturally and felt that he had learned more from his father in his charms shed than from either Professor Olivers or Professor Perrault.

Nevertheless, he signed up for Advanced Charms along side he preferred classes, Herbology & Care of Magical Creatures simply because he knew his father would never let him hear the end of it if he didn't. Father would likely not be completely pleased Tobi had decided to forego Transfiguration or Potions and he was sure to hear about it later, but he knew he could always argue that dropping the class would afford more time to his time studying Charms.

Usually, class provided a distraction from thoughts of his future. Charms was harder, but when they worked on spells that he wouldn't use later on, he could relax a little and have fun. But when Professor Perrault announced their assignment, he felt his heart drop into his stomach. Metal charming was such a Reinhardt thing. His eyes immediately searched for Liac, his first choice for a partner since they both came from charming heavy families, but before he could, Scarlett Brockert asked him if he had any ideas.

Tobi smiled. He was the quieter of the two Reinhardts in that class, and he hadn't branched out as much as his cousin had. He knew Scarlett's cousin and his had their little...well, he wasn't sure what to call it, almost certain that the two had something more than friendship going on even if no one had acted on it yet for whatever reason (Chaslyn's recent engagement only being the latest in that line), and he knew Scarlett's twin was dating Aiden, Tobi's roommate and likely his second best friend at Sonora after Liac and their family.

"Sure," he said. "I'll probably do metal charming, it's kind of a given, you know what with the family legacy and all." He wasn't trying to make Scarlett feel stupid, rather just stating a fact in the no-nonsense way in which he talked when it wasn't something extremely pleasant he was talking about such as salmon. "So if that's something you're okay with doing..." He trailed off, letting Scarlett take the initiative of officially confirming their partnership. Even if he wanted to work with Liac, he wasn't going to abandon someone who needed his help. And besides, Chaslyn was in that class. Liac could always partner with her.

10 Tobi Reinhardt I second the motion. 289 Tobi Reinhardt 0 5

Joella

November 14, 2016 4:37 AM

Is that my new name? by Joella

Initially the response she got from Clark was not quite what Joella had expected but as he, supposedly, considered the idea further in his mind, the nerdy response she had anticipated was released in full flow… so much so that she wondered if she had overestimated her own abilities when it came to research projects, no matter how invested she was in the topic.

Luckily for her, the seventh year seemed aware that she was nothing like him. “Well, you can’t convert me,” she teased. “I’ll never join the dark side.”

“But hey, maybe I can make an exception for you,” she added with a smile. “Go ahead, geek out on me all you like.” Was she flirting? Nahhh this was Clark.

“You seem to, like, know all this already,” Joella commented, somewhat surprised. She’d gone to that Science Club lecture on broom dynamics last year, and perhaps that was what had prompted her to think of doing brooms for the research project, but it still surprised her how much information Clark could rattle off off the top of his head. She shrugged and smiled. “I guess that means less reading for me so that works.”

“Or I could just sit back and let you do all the work?” she suggested, hopping up onto her desk to sit on it and swinging her legs over to remove the space between her and her research partner. “Just kidding,” she grinned because it occurred to her that Clark might take her seriously. She could imagine that people tried to take advantage of Aladrens all the time when it came to group projects and she definitely didn’t want Clark to think she was using him.

“So, where to start?” Joella mused, tapping her mouth with perfectly manicured nails. “How do you want to present this?” It wasn’t just up to Clark to make such a decision, of course, but Joella thought she’d rather exhausted her brain for the day after her awesome idea.

She couldn’t wait to get under way with the project, partly because she was interested in doing it and also because there was far more important information she totally needed to try and squeeze out of the Aladren captain.

8 Joella Is that my new name? 295 Joella 0 5

John Umland, Aladren

November 14, 2016 8:37 PM

This started out so well.... by John Umland, Aladren

John enjoyed actually using magic at least as much as the next wizard, and maybe more than some, but he felt no compunctions whatsoever about smiling and looking a bit more attentive when Professor Perrault announced that they were to have a research project. He did not find research projects easy per se - he had too much of a tendency to get distracted and have to throw together something that fit into the narrow little boxes on the rubric at the eleventh hour – but an officially-sanctioned reason to dive head-first into the rabbit hole and occasional opportunities to force his classmates to listen to him expound on what he learned was usually an occasion for happiness. Since this was Advanced, he felt it was reasonable to assume the fun occasions were going to begin outweighing the unfun ones by an even more substantial margin than they already did.

Five minutes later, he learned that he had spoken more truth than he’d meant to when he’d told Billy Boy that thinking was a dangerous pastime. Pair work was not inherently horrible, the assignment was no worse than mediocre, but the difficulty with being one of the oldest students in the school was that people he got along with well enough to work with for a week now fell into three categories:

a) the youngest students, who he viewed as something like he supposed people whose younger siblings weren’t Joe viewed younger siblings,

b) his Quidditch teammates who were
1. mainly also ‘youngest students’ now and
2. not old enough to be here even if out of that group,

and finally, C) Clark, who Joella Curtis, of all people, seemed to have sunk her claws into with remarkable speed.

Smart move, really. Pecaris, it seemed, had an opportunistic streak, or maybe that was just their default Quidditch strategy. He made a mental note to discuss with Clark whether or not using this against them, leading them into traps, was a viable strategy on the Pitch. John had already noticed that one of his weaknesses was a tendency toward overly-elaborate plans, so it would take some working out, but he thought there might be something there.

There was also something here now, though, which was a difficulty. John didn’t mind interacting with most of the classmates who would condescend to speak to him and weren’t Jamie Park for just the length of a class, but working with someone else on a project for a week was a completely different prospect. John thought he could throw together something that would meet Professor Perrault’s assignment in a few hours, five maybe, but a partner would inevitably complicate things one way or another. If he could not have company he could enjoy working with on the project, he would greatly prefer just being left alone.

Adul – older adults (he was still not used to belonging to this strange category of ‘younger adults’) were not, however, reasonable creatures. Irritated, John ran a hand through his hair and looked at the nearest unpartnered person. “Care to work together?” he asked, trying to hope for the best and mostly failing. “If all else fails, I figured out a lot of charms that would be useful for a spy to know a few years ago,” he added, a little recklessly, not expecting to be taken seriously for a moment.

16 John Umland, Aladren This started out so well.... 285 John Umland, Aladren 0 5

Clark Dill

November 23, 2016 11:18 AM

I think you need more than one great idea for that by Clark Dill

Clark was thirty percent sure that Joella was flirting with him. Thirty percent was nowhere near certain enough to comment upon, even if he had any idea what to say about it, so he decided to ignore it for now and hope it stopped before Lena noticed. Still, it was kind of, thirty percent, flattering, even if nothing could ever come of it, and he grinned back.

"Yeah, I over research Science Club topics," he admitted. "It's almost always interesting in the first place, which is why I pick it for a club topic, and then I want to make sure I have all bases covered in case people ask questions. And since the specific charms used do have measurable effects on the flight dynamics, they were a key research focus for that lecture I did on broom dynamics. I can get you my list of sources later, I've still got it up in my room."

Clark shrugged, honestly not entirely against doing most of the work himself. He'd already done most of research they'd need, which was far and away the most time consuming part of it, and if he did the write up then he'd know it was done correctly, but he was still glad when she turned out to be 'just joking'. If he was going to do it all by himself, he'd still probably prefer to do it on a topic he hadn't already largely exhausted.

"Well," he began, considering their presentation options, "we have a few options here. We could just write it up clearly, thoroughly, and objectively and it would neatly fall into the 'research project' box. We could give our report a sales spin, and write it up like we're the advertising department of a broom manufacturer and trying to convince people to buy one of our many products, comparing and contrasting them to make sure you puck the one that is just right for you! Or we could give it a diary feel, and talk about the charms from the point of view of an employee who does the broom enchantments, and go into all the nitty gritty details of how the charms actually get done."

1 Clark Dill I think you need more than one great idea for that 277 Clark Dill 0 5