Professor Marlowe
July 12, 2006 11:47 PM
Lesson One, Third and Fourth Years by Professor Marlowe
The mixed-year class was coming in after lunch. The post-lunch classes were, as even her own memories of being a schoolgirl showed, often as torturous as the post-breakfast classes when it came to focusing. Making things more potentially fun was the presence of her House's third years, the notorious Crotalus third year girls and their one male yearmate. Unless she was very much mistaken, they had almost singlehandedly given Crotalus House its current less-than-lovely reputation. She hadn't personally had any greater problems with them than dealing with a lack of motivation, but they were supposed to have cooled down a bit since they made a name for themselves as first years.Having more or less swallowed a turkey sandwich whole at her desk so she could finish grading the first years' essays and reconfirm - otherwise translated as find - her lesson plans, she was seated and smiling when they filed in.
"Welcome," she said, standing up and moving to stand behind the desk. "I'm guessing you know the drill by now. Notes as usual, get your wands out when you're done writing. Your incantation will be Excavaris Conterra." Momentarily doubting that she had put them up, Selina tried to be subtle about glancing towards the side of the board reserved for notes. Thankfully, they were exactly where they were supposed to be. She'd occasionally toyed with the idea of trying to stop worrying about making mistakes to see if it helped her make fewer of them, but had never actually applied it.
"Excavaris Conterra," she said when it seemed that everyone was done, "is a spell that will transform a given object into a container. The size generally depends upon the caster's skill and desires, and today's products are most likely going to turn out on the small side. Since you've given a mostly good account of yourselves, your original item will be a pincushion, and I believe you each already have one in front of you. Extra points will be given for how pretty the box is. I'll demonstrate."
The pincushions were of the old-fashioned variety, resembling nothing so much as a cloth tomato. Pulling out her wand, she moved it in a pattern resembling an upright and then horizontal numeral eight, saying the spell words as clearly as she could. The little box was ornamented only by double rows of carved lines around the edges, flaring a little at the corners, but it was lined with red cloth. "You may begin."\n\n
Subthreads: Old friends and old enemies by Earl Valentine with Asher Tallow, Earl
Trying to focus by Jordanna Howard
With Firefox's favour, perhaps attempt 2 will work by Zack Dill
I don't like tomatoes... by Anne Wright
Not half bad... by Mia Kerova with Jenna Howard, Stephen Baxter, Mia
<s>bugging</s> <i>Tagging</i> the Professor by Sorrel Craven
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder by Lily Collins with Dalia Bastet, Dalila
Always among the last to arrive... by Kaylie Brockert
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Professor Marlowe
Lesson One, Third and Fourth Years
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Professor Marlowe
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Mia Kerova
July 23, 2006 5:53 PM
Not half bad... by Mia Kerova
Mia entered the transfiguration room in the ‘on time’ block. She wasn’t late, or very early, just simply on time. Had she still been ill, she definitely would have been late. Her colds, which were more common then they ought to have been, made her ten times slower. But, her previous cold passed and with ease, thanks to the school nurse even though she really didn’t need to be taken there in the middle of the opening feast, and she felt ready for just about anything. It only helped that she was going to a class where she’d get to use her wand again.Mia took a random seat at the end of one of the middle rows, propping her bag up against the leg of the desk. She had that same black bag autographed by her friends since her first year and it was fairing pretty well against the text books and papers and other things she might throw in there at one time or another. She pulled out what to write with and what to write on and waited for the professor to start class. She did what she would normally do while waiting for class to start. She took her wand from her pocket and spun it through her fingers.
Mia put her wand down on the desk when the lesson began. She jotted down the notes quickly and slid the paper aside. She pushed the pincushion back and forth between her hands, quite similarly to what Silk might do, as she watched the professor’s demonstration. The wand movements for some of these spells were pretty weird, but she was good at catching on. After a few years, Mia could safely say she was good with a wand. It was one of those things that came naturally to her like quidditch might come naturally to others, but not her. She didn’t mind flying, but she did mind trying to balance herself on a broom in the air with people trying to knock her off of it. She did make a point to watch the games though.
When the students were told to begin, Mia stopped passing the pincushion around and took up her wand again. She practiced the wand movement to make sure it was what the professor had done and then looked at the pincushion when she felt comfortable with it. She tried to think of what she might want the finished box to look like. The first thing that came to mind was a jewelry box that used to be on her mother’s nightstand. Mia had always loved the way it looked, but Lyn quickly got rid of it when Noah left since he had given it to her as an anniversary gift. She decided not to make that in fear she’d get it right and then feel the need to throw it hard across the room.
Then she remembered a nice looking box she had received as a present when she was a little younger. Mia wasn’t sure where it was now, but it was around her house somewhere. It wasn’t necessarily for jewelry, but it was a pretty box. Mia thought hard on what it looked like and then thought about the spell. She whispered it to herself a few times and then pointed her wand at the pincushion, speaking the words clearly.
“Excavaris Conterra.”
She watched the little red pincushion grow and change and when it finally stopped, Mia eyed it. It was a polished mahogany box with a wavy line lightly carved through the center and filled in silver. It didn’t look like a total mistake since the dips in the line were, for the most part, even. The rose carved out on the lid came out nicely even if it was the red of the pincushion rather than the deeper red of a rose. Mia opened it and saw only wood. The original box had a velvet interior, but Professor Marlowe didn’t know that and it didn’t look bad without it, just a little plain.
Mia closed her box and put her wand down next to it. She made a mental note to look for the original box when she went home though she doubted she'd find it. She let her eyes wander a little at the other boxes around the room to see how other people made theirs.\n\n
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Mia Kerova
Not half bad...
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Mia Kerova
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Jenna Howard
July 25, 2006 5:41 PM
I'm still a lost cause by Jenna Howard
Jenna stared blankly at the front of the room as the teacher gave the traditional lecture. There was no use in paying attention, a) because all of the notes were on the board, and b) it seemed that try as she might, and no matter how many books she read (and she read quite a few) she would never be proficient in this class. Or Charms, or Defense Against the Dark Arts, for that matter. Wand waving was just not her forte, and it was something that could not be helped.She rested her elbows on the desk, chin on hands, trying to think of ways out of it, wondering how likely the teacher was to realize if she hid her tomato in her book bag, took out a piece of paper, and made one of those folded paper box type things. It was hard to tell, seeing at this was Jenna’s first class with this particular Transfiguration teacher. Besides, she didn’t know how to make one of those folded paper box type things anyway.
Then she heard her sister whine to someone walking to the front of the classroom to get the tomato for her, and without moving from her chin resting on hand position said, “It’s on your desk, genius.”
Not the kind to start trouble, there was only one thing to do- resort to humiliating herself and actually attempting to complete the spell. She twirled the wand between her fingers ruefully, plopping the tomato down on the table, sure that nothing good could come out of this.
Well, if she was going to attempt this, might as well try it the right way. She’d go for making a mini cauldron of pewter. A simple design, but then, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and Jenna didn’t like to set goals for herself she didn’t think she could reach.
“Excavaris Conterra.”
Gray eyes watched for change- or lack thereof. She watched as a small cavity slowly grew in the tomato- which was turning a depressing and dull shade of gray. As it changed it became lopsided, extremely so, and she watched with an irritated glare as it toppled over and onto floor. The pathetic looking thing (she wasn’t exactly sure what to call the gray beanie thing with a small, uneven depression) had not changed in material at all.
She watched as the stupid thing rolled over and tapped someone’s foot, and in her mind declared it lost. Jenna was certainly not going to ask for the thing and call attention to the fact that she had failed. Then she looked up at the owner the foot, and after a minute registered a friend from before her third year.
Jenna had never been particularly close with the other girl, but they had often worked together in classes. Whatever the case, Mia looked as if she had been successful with the class work and was looking around the room and not paying attention to her foot, so Jenna was still safe. She still was against picking up the would-be cauldron and confirming anyone’s thoughts that it was hers. After all, the girl still had a grain of dignity left in her.
\n\n
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Jenna Howard
I'm still a lost cause
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Jenna Howard
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Stephen Baxter
August 08, 2006 9:49 AM
Two girls... what more could a guy want?...unless its three by Stephen Baxter
Ash was wrong, Stephen thought as he watched Mia in class. It wasn't like he just liked Mia because she was hot. He liked Mia because she was hot, and she was pretty good at these spells too. And she liked animals too, he recalled. She had that cat... Milk or Silk or something. It wasn't like they didn't have anything in common. The professor had said something or other at the start, but it was more through watching Mia that he got an idea of what it was all about.Apparently they were trying to become fairy godmother's or something. Turning pumpkins into coaches; or, as in this case, cloth ball things into girly boxes. No problem. He'd seen Cinderella. Once. When he was a kid. With his Mom. And there was no need for that information to ever be known to anyone. At all. Especially Sorrel.
He glanced at the board to check the usual spot where the notes were written, and was disheartened to note that there was no vaguely familiar 'bibbidy-bobbitu-boo' or whatever the hell that woman had said. But then, he reflected, reading over the real spell, that had been Disney. This was real. The second people started dancing around waving their wand like some kind of fairy and singing would be the day that things got very scary indeed.
He wrote the spell down in his book, although he wasn't really sure what he'd be able to do with it until he glanced over Mia's way again. Pretty boxes. Girls liked pretty boxes. They put their jewelery and stuff in them. He glanced down at his cloth puff thing with renewed interest.
Well, first of all, it'd have to be a lot more empty. And harder, because if it wasn't it'd just flop which wouldn't be any good at all. And the colour was boring. It should be something cool, like red or better yet green. Green was the best colour out there, after all. His desk - he patted it proudly - was still stained a particularly cool shade of green all the way from ... wow, back when Reiner was the Transfig professor. It was an awesome desk.
But he was getting distracted. Mia had managed to turn her puffball into something that seemed pretty good. Somehow that expression she had on her face now that she'd been successful and was looking around made her look even hotter. Stephen watched until she started to look in his direction and then quickly looked down at his own puffy cloth ball. he flipped his wand once, and then putting on his best cocky grin focused on what he wanted.
It had to be green. It had to be something that'd catch attention. It had to be something that'd impress a girl. Probably not Sorrel though, he thought as his ears picked up her talking to the Professor. His grin managed to widen at what he heard for a moment, but then he blocked it out. He had a mission. An important mission.
"Excavaris Conterra."
Well, he thought glancing at the final result with his head slightly tilted, it was eyecatching. It hadn't got much bigger, which was a bit disappointing, but it had gone green. It looked rather like the colour in his desk had seeped into it. It was kind of bumpy with the gaudy reflective faked jewelled look, but definitely eyecatching. And, he checked with a quick poke of a finger, it held its shape. Excellent. The lid might stick a bit, and the centre... well, it was a bit fluffy in there, but it wasn't a bad first effort. He wondered if it was quite what a girl would like though. Mia's was a bit low key in comparation, but he didn't let that put him off.
He stood up, ruffled his hair a bit and ambled over, ducking down to pick up something that was down by Mia's foot and only partly because it gave him a chance to have a look at what part of her legs the school robes revealed. He stood again, grinning at Mia and reaching behind him to place the thing he'd picked up on the desk he thought it might have come from with a distracted "I think you dropped this" before leaning forward to have a proper look at Mia's effort.
"Looking good, Princess," he grinned, while trying to work out how best to gauge whether she'd think his own work as awesome a gift as he thought it'd be.\n\n
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Stephen Baxter
Two girls... what more could a guy want?...unless its three
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Stephen Baxter
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Mia
August 08, 2006 11:02 PM
*resists urge to smack said guy* by Mia
After peering around the room for a little, Mia looked back at her own box. Something was nagging at the back of her mind about it. It seemed unfinished, not that she knew if the same spell would simply add on whatever was missing or totally mutate the already finished box. She leaned back in her chair staring at it. She pulled her hair back and rested her hands on the back of her head holding her hair like a clip. Then she remembered what was missing from her box. There were supposed to be gold tassels on the edges of the front of the lid. She had forgotten about those.She didn’t think about it for long. Stephen seemed to pop up next to her out of nowhere. This time she made sure to check that the Cravens were in their own seats and not following him. She sat forward, dropping her hands, and glanced to where they were sitting as Stephen returned someone’s misshapen pin cushion. Mia saw Jenna next to her and the misshapen pin cushion on her desk. She didn’t acknowledge it, rather just gave a small wave to her. They didn’t talk much, but they had partnered up in class a few times. Stephen leaned in to look at Mia’s box.
"Looking good, Princess," She blushed for half a second, before figuring he must be talking about her project and not her. Thank god it was only half a second.
“Thanks,” she looked at her box. “I tried to make it look like a gift I got a few years ago. I forgot a few things, but Professor Marlowe doesn’t need to know that.” Mia opened the box to reveal the plain, duller interior and closed it again. "She wanted a box and she got a box." She looked back at Stephen.
“How did yours come out?”\n\n
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Mia
*resists urge to smack said guy*
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Mia
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Stephen
August 14, 2006 10:42 PM
*grins rakishly* by Stephen
Stephen's grin widened at the blush, and he manfully resisted the urge to jump up and shout 'YES!' complete with the arm pump that completed the action. It was touch and go for a moment. Mia definitely didn't think of him as just another Pecari, he was certain, even if the blush didn't last too long."Must have been some gift," Stephen commented, thinking that if it had been the kind of gift that the girl had considered memorable then his own box was definitely on the in. "Mine's pretty awesome," he said, without a trace of irony. "Here, have a look if you like." He put it down on the desk next to Princess' own box, and watched to see her reaction.
OOC: Description was in my last post, in case the lengthy time between that and this means you've forgotten ;) I'd have repeated it but I'm too lazy :-p\n\n
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Stephen
*grins rakishly*
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Stephen
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Mia
August 17, 2006 5:01 PM
*rolls eyes* by Mia
Mia gave a half shrug when Stephen commented on the gift. She definitely liked it a lot when she had gotten it and if she knew where it was she’d probably still really like it. It was a simple pretty box that she could put things in. Those kinds of things were handy when you had small items with no idea where to put them and the jewelry boxes are filled with…well, jewelry. Mia mainly had rings and bracelets, but she only had one bracelet that she wore everyday. Her silver charm bracelet from her mother for Christmas two years ago was always on her right wrist minus one of the charms.Mia raised her eyebrows inquiringly with a small smile as Stephen complimented his own box. Knowing him it was something outrageous like his desk. He put his own box next to Mia’s on her desk and she knew she hit the mark.
“Wow,” she said without thinking. It wasn’t a bad wow. It was a ‘she knew what to expect, but seeing it was still a slight shock wow.’ It was definitely a green box, but it was like she said before. Professor Marlow wanted a box and she got one. Now she also had a very green, bejeweled looking box. Mia picked it up and opened it with only a little difficulty. The lid stuck a bit, but it opened in the end. She saw it was soft on the inside. She didn’t know if that was intentional or not. She thought again that the velvet inside her box would’ve been nice.
“Cool box.” She complimented, handing it back to Stephen. “Maybe not the color I would’ve picked, but then again, it’s not mine. It’s cool all the same.”
OOC: No worries. I'm no stranger to laziness. ^_^\n\n
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Mia
*rolls eyes*
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Mia
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Stephen
August 17, 2006 10:07 PM
D'you reckon Jenna'll be rejoining the thread? by Stephen
Stephen basked in the glow of Mia's awe at his box, but was brought up short by the mention of colour. His hand moved a fraction as he thought of snatching the box back, but then through better of it."But... it's green! What possible colour could be more awesome than green?" he asked, confounded. What was he going to do if she- wait. She liked the box, just not the colour so much. Obviously she needed to learn appreciation for the colour green, the most awesome of all colours. Although red was pretty cool too. And so was blue. And orange. But they were all just marginally behind green.
"Take my desk, for example. It's green, and much better than the rest of these brown desks. And frogs are pretty cool. And green jello. Annnnnnnnd," he drew out the word, thinking. "The box," he added.\n\n
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Stephen
D'you reckon Jenna'll be rejoining the thread?
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Stephen
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