Professor Skies
May 22, 2016 3:30 AM
Intermediate Theories - forbidden vs impossible by Professor Skies
“Good morning,” Selina greeted the Intermediates. “As you prepare for your CATS exams - which all of you are now considered to be doing, as you are in intermediates,” she added, lest any third years had taken this as a cue to nod off, “You will need to start learning how to answer the major theory questions of the core subjects, as well as demonstrating reasonable skills in practical magic.“In Transfiguration, two of the major questions are the limits of Transfiguration, and the borders between Transfiguration and other subjects, most commonly Charms. Today we are going to be looking at a subject that covers the first question quite succinctly, although there is the possibility of it coming into discussions on the second question too.
“Today, we will be looking at three subjects…. Food, money and the human body. I would like you to get into pairs or threes and answer the following questions,” as she spoke, the chalk moved behind her, adding the questions to the board.
“1. What are the magical limits of Transfiguring these items?
2. What are the legal limits?
3. What other things are limited by magic or by law in the field of Transfiguration?
“Fifth years, you will also write an essay this term on the impossibility of bringing back the dead, and whether this violates laws within Transfiguration or Charms. If you finish your classwork early today, you may start researching this.
“Chapter seven of your books will be helpful, and I have provided additional material from the library which has good sections on these subjects. You may begin.”
OOC - This lesson primarily deals with Gamp’s Law. I found this article, which I thought was helpful and interesting, though I’m not convinced by idea number 4 http://www.beyondhogwarts.com/harry-potter/articles/the-five-principal-exceptions-to-gamps-law.html
As we don’t know for sure what the other exceptions are, I have tried to avoid stating them as facts, and am very happy for differing theories to start flying around the room.
Subthreads: I don't believe in impossible. by Jack Spencer, Aladren with Alistair Johnson, Crotalus
In need of your ideas (tag Kira) by Chuck Fintoc, Pecari with Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
Stepping out of my comfort zone. by Lauren Song - Teppenpaw with Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus, Lauren
This sounds like a challenge! [Tag: Ingrid] by Louis Valois, Aladren with Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari
Those are synonyms to me [Tag: Jax] by Wu Peizhi, Teppenpaw with Jax Donovan, Aladren, Wu Peizhi
Not words I like to hear, those. by John Umland, Aladren
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Professor Skies
Intermediate Theories - forbidden vs impossible
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Professor Skies
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Jack Spencer, Aladren
May 25, 2016 12:40 AM
I don't believe in impossible. by Jack Spencer, Aladren
Jack was feeling rather chipper today, a stark contrast from the melancholic aura he’d been producing before. He didn’t have to study for his CATS this year, but he was eager to learn more about the topics the 5th years were studying to prepare himself. Theories and critical thinking were difficult for him to fully comprehend and exercise, but he worked hard. Most of his life Jack had been a hard worker; otherwise he wouldn’t have been noticed much in his large family or have anything to pride himself in.Jack didn’t know why he was happier today than yesterday, but he was. It wasn’t like he had much reason, seeing as the ball was at the end of this year and he had no prospective dates. He was fourteen and still hadn’t found a witch he fancied, though there were loads of pretty ones to look at. His marks were decent right now, but not extraordinary. His brown hair was getting a little too long for his taste as well and poked his eyes if he let his fringe hang unchecked. However, despite all these things, he had a little spring in his step as he walked to class. It was better, he thought, not to question the good things.
Transfiguration was one of the classes Jack enjoyed. He wished he were better at it, to be as good as he was in Charms or Potions, but he liked the challenge well enough. It was cool seeing objects transfigure before his eyes. He smiled at Professor Skies as he usually did and took his usual seat near the front. He had his lucky quill with him, the quill he’d been using miraculously since first year, and he pulled out the rather long feather out of his bag along with his notes. His writing wasn’t very neat, but it was improving, as he got older. Still, at times he struggled to read his own handwriting. He’d have asked his mum about taking a handwriting class over the summer if it wasn’t such a feminine thing to care about.
The professor began class and Jack listened attentively. He hoped they were going to discuss a spell they’d been working on for the past week. He hoped it would be a practical lesson where he could work with other people. Alas, he was disappointed. Jack bit the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning. This was one of the topics where Jack usually felt like an idiot. He brushed his fingers through his thick hair and sighed. At least his audience was only going to be one or two other people instead of the entire class. Jack wanted to be a professor eventually, he’d decided, but Transfiguration was certainly not going to be his field of study after Sonora.
Once they’d been dismissed to work, the English wizard turned to the person next to him. “Shall we work together?” he asked with a smile. “I have to warn you, I’m not very well-versed in legal limitations of magic, but I’m good at research.” Jack scribbled down the questions on the board. “Shall we begin with food? That’s an odd subject, I think. I’ve never really thought about it before, but I guess no one makes food appear out of thin air. What do you think are some of the magical limits of Transfiguring these items?”
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Jack Spencer, Aladren
I don't believe in impossible.
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Jack Spencer, Aladren
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Alistair Johnson, Crotalus
May 25, 2016 2:04 PM
Then you probably won't agree with this. by Alistair Johnson, Crotalus
Transfiguration was potentially the hardest class that Sonora offered but in Alistair’s books this just made it all the more important. It wasn’t his favourite class but one that he worked hard in and valued.Over the years Quidditch had become more and more consuming of his time, not so much because his Captain duties required him to host regular practices for the team but more because his interest was continually deepening - although he had ever lacked interest to begin with. Alistair did not, however, want his sporting endeavours to affect his academic progress. As a result of the hard work he put into his studies, the fourth year had always achieved good grades but he was aware that he still had room for improvement and if he wasn’t careful they could potentially deteriorate.
Today was not a practical lesson, which Alistair generally had more success in, but this didn’t bother him. Theory was important and he did not want to be one of the ignorant sorts of people that tended to overlook it. He paid attention as Professor Skies spoke, conscious that whilst he was not taking the CATS exams this year they would still creep up faster than expected.
The theory questions proposed by his Head of House were stimulating and the Crotalus’s brain whirred in search of intelligent answers. Before he had chance to think of who he might work with, his yearmate Jack Spencer suggested that they pair up.
“Of course,” Alistair nodded, his tone upbeat and friendlier than usual, glad not to have to seek a classmate out himself. The bonfire at the end of last year had awoken him to the fact that he didn’t really have any specific male friends at Sonora. He’d always found girls much easier to get along with and that wasn’t a problem but particularly recently he had started to wish his ratio of female to male friends was slightly different. Alistair wasn’t of the silly notion that partnering up with someone for a task in class meant you were going to become best friends, but Jack Spencer was an appropriate choice if he were looking for someone to hang out with since they clearly had one thing in common, if not more.
He offered the Aladren boy a small smile before getting stuck in with the topic in hand. “It’s not possible to conjure food since it can’t be created from nothing,” Alistair nodded firmly, a mild frown upon his face the more he thought about it. “But then with Transfiguration you’re not starting from nothing… Although I do believe one can duplicate food, and that’s legal.”
The fourth year paused to flick through his textbook and when he found the recommended chapter he spoke again. “See, food is the first exception to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration… so surely the limitation of Transfiguring food is that it simply can’t be done and therefore there would be no legal limits because it’s not even possible?” Alistair wasn’t sure he understood this theory completely and knew he was therefore at risk of sounding stupid but this was an intriguing subject and there was a lot to sink one’s teeth into.
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Alistair Johnson, Crotalus
Then you probably won't agree with this.
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Alistair Johnson, Crotalus
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Jack Spencer
May 26, 2016 6:38 PM
Why, why, why? by Jack Spencer
Jack didn't know much about Alistair Johnson except that he'd been co-captain of the hybrid team Aladren had beaten two years ago. He also knew that Alistair had loads of friends, or at least it seemed like he did. Jack wasn't jealous of the Crotalus wizard any more than he was jealous of anyone else, but he was glad to have the opportunity to chat with a wizard outside of his house. He really didn't know how or why Alistair got on with witches better than wizards, if what he saw was accurate. To Jack, witches were too scary and emotionally unstable. He ought to know, having two sisters.Johnson's explanation sounded intelligent for the most part, and Jack took a moment to think it over.
"Really advanced Transfiguration deals with conjuring objects out of thin air," he corrected. "I think Conjuration is only slightly less difficult than Human Transfiguration, but certainly more difficult than what we're doing now." That was textbook, and having older siblings had really helped him get a head start on his education.
"Alright, so let me write that down. Food: cannot be conjured out of thin air. Can be duplicated?." Jack tapped the top end of his quill against his lip in thought. "Should we ask why it doesn't work? I know with theories it's difficult to prove with our limited knowledge, but I wonder why food can't be conjured. Is it because it needs to be baked or put together? Do you think ingredients could be conjured? Or vegetables and fruit, or perhaps not because they have to be grown?" Jack's thoughts were suddenly running wild and he couldn't get a coherent answer. "If it pertains to all food, does that exclude natural foods as well? I'm just repeating myself, sorry."
Jack scratched his head. "It would make sense if there weren't any legal limitations on it if it isn't even possible. But what sorts of legal limits are there on food anyway? I suppose that's something we'll have to research, the laws concerning food and Transfiguration. Anyway, what do you think about all that? Anything else you think we should add?"
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Jack Spencer
Why, why, why?
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Jack Spencer
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Chuck Fintoc, Pecari
May 28, 2016 3:30 PM
In need of your ideas (tag Kira) by Chuck Fintoc, Pecari
Chuck was grateful for the opportunities that being a student at Sonora Academy opened for him and always tried not to take his education for granted, but it had to be said he didn’t always find school enjoyable. Academics were not his strong point and Care of Magical Creatures was pretty much the only class he achieved particularly highly in. That didn’t mean that Chuck was a stupid boy, it was simply that his way of thinking and his interests didn’t quite coordinate with the likes of Transfiguration.In Chuck’s honest opinion theory lessons were quite often dull but he wasn’t likely to voice this because it was rude, and he wasn’t blind to the fact that they covered important topics. He supposed the proposed questions for today should be something he found vaguely interesting but they just weren’t. Ultimately, the limitations of magic were no use to him. He had enough to deal with just keeping up with what was possible so delving into whether or not he could do more was not that appealing. The fourth year knew that difficult topics were all part of the learning process and that being an Intermediate student meant things weren’t easy but CATS seemed so far off that they didn’t bear thinking about, or preparing for.
Chuck was just glad he wasn’t a fifth year yet and therefore neither had the impending doom of CATS to worry about nor the horrible-sounding essay that Professor Skies had just set the older year.
“Want to pair up?” he turned to the person beside him, who happened to be Kira Spaulding. He’d got to know her a bit last term when they were in the same challenge group and she’d seemed nice, and intelligent come to think of it so hopefully she’d have lots of bright ideas.
“I can’t say I know much about this topic,” the large redhead smiled. “But I can tell you something, there should be no limitations on food.” Like most Fintoc men, Chuck liked his food and this was rather implied by his figure.
“Actually,” Chuck frowned upon further consideration of his statement. “If that were the case, people like my family would probably be out of business.” Primarily cattle ranchers, the Fintocs’ wealth relied on the popularity of their meat produce. If people were able to conjure food themselves, surely that would put so many people out of business? “So it’s definitely not possible magically, or maybe it’s just not legal?” The fourth year didn’t really have any particular ideas to share but if Kira was going to partner with him, he was sure she’d want him to actually contribute.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, knowing he wasn't knowledgeable enough to make any good points. “What are your thoughts?”
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Chuck Fintoc, Pecari
In need of your ideas (tag Kira)
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Chuck Fintoc, Pecari
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Lauren Song - Teppenpaw
June 02, 2016 6:00 PM
Stepping out of my comfort zone. by Lauren Song - Teppenpaw
Lauren loved Transfiguration. It was her favorite subject out of all the other classes that she was taking. She had really enjoyed Charms before as a Beginner, but Transfiguration posed a challenge that she really enjoyed. Professor Skies was really cool too, but that meant Lauren needed to focus on raising her Potions grade this year. She felt happy being back at Sonora, and today she had a honey-yellow headband on over her loose black hair to represent Teppenpaw and silver flowers in her newly pierced ears. Her mom had freaked out a little over the idea of piercing her ears at the mall like a Muggle, but Lauren had assured her it was safe. It hurt, of course, but it looked nice now that it was all healed. Dad had even brought her the flower earrings she was wearing from Korea to commemorate the event when he’d come to visit.At Sonora, things were a little different now. Jemima had a really cute boyfriend, Ginger was the captain of the Quidditch team, and Lauren was kind of excluded out of those two worlds. She was happy that her friends were so involved, but it made her feel just a little left out. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been relying on her roommates for companionship instead of venturing out and making new friends. It was easier to stick to people she felt comfortable with, but this year she knew she had to make the change. Maybe she would join a club or something. The Science Club looked cool, or maybe the Art Club.
As Professor Skies began class, she reminded them that CATS were coming up. Lauren had one more year until she would be expected to take it, and the thought made her panic a little inside. She had time to study and learn everything she needed to, but test-taking was always a little scary. Essays were okay, she was good enough with her words, but tests and choosing the right answers was intimidating. She would have to ask her professors if that’s what the CATS testing was really like.
It looked like today they were going to work on the theories of Transfiguration. If she remembered correctly, it was Gamp’s Law that she was talking about. Lauren took out a piece of parchment and wrote, Gamp’s Law on the top and separated it into three sections before turning to the appropriate chapter in her textbook. Professor Skies wanted them to pair up too, so Lauren looked around, half-hoping her roommates were around and half-hoping a new person would approach her. It was too easy to fall through the cracks in classes and social life when there were a lot more outgoing and extroverted people around her.
No one was going to do it for her, though, so Lauren took a deep breath and forced herself to get out of her comfort zone. “Hey, do you want to work together?” she asked with a friendly smile.
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Lauren Song - Teppenpaw
Stepping out of my comfort zone.
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Lauren Song - Teppenpaw
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Louis Valois, Aladren
June 03, 2016 6:37 PM
This sounds like a challenge! [Tag: Ingrid] by Louis Valois, Aladren
Louis was glad to have moved up to Intermediates. Being one of the older students in the beginners’ class hadn't been as bad as he’d predicted but he was enjoying the challenges that moving up to the next level had brought. Both transfiguration and charms were proving to be his favourite classes this year, largely due to an increased amount of theory involved in the lessons.Today’s transfiguration lesson sounded like it was going to be interesting. Louis had done a fair amount of reading on the limits of magic, wanting to know what he could and couldn't do, and he was intrigued as to what others’ opinions on the subject were.
When Professor Skies announced that they were to be working in pairs, Louis immediately made eye contact with Emmy-Lou. Emmy's response was a shaking of her head, followed by a series of scheming side glances as she propped her head up on the desk with her fingers tapping against her mouth. He was slightly concerned at this, assuming that she was concocting some nefarious plan. True to form, the minute Professor Skies had finished with the instructions, Emmy told Louis to stand up and, once he had obeyed, shoved him over to the left of the classroom.
“Emmy, what are you doing?” he hissed, narrowing his eyes as she smirked at him.
“If you want any chance at going to the ball with Ing, you've got to actually talk to her!” Emmy replied in a hushed whisper so none of their classmates would over hear. She flapped her hands at him. “Now go on, work your French charm.”
Louis rolled his eyes. “What did I tell you about not interfering?” he replied sternly. “Besides, I’m not sure my French charm will work on her!” Despite his protestations, he still found himself walking over to where Ingrid was sitting, by no means averse to working with her. He had been meaning to get to know her better this year, for reasons other than just the ball, and Emmy did have a point about this being as good a time as any.
“Hey Ingrid, do you mind if I work with you?” he asked, waiting for her agreement before sitting in the empty seat next to her. “How are you finding intermediates?” he enquired, taking out his textbook and turning it to the relevant page.
“I've done a bit of research on this before, and Gamp's Law states that food can’t be made from nothing. I presume a similar principle applies to money, although to a less severe degree, as leprechaun’s gold is actually money that is created from nothing, I think. But that does disappear after a bit, so the basic principle is probably the same. I think there are also laws about creating money from nothing too, otherwise I’m sure my father would be more interested in that idea.” He made a face at his mention of his father. Ways of earning money had been the topic of heated debate between the two in the past.
He paused to collect his thoughts, then realised he was rather monopolising the discussion. “Sorry, have you got any suggestions?” he asked with a smile.
OOC: Mentions of Emmy included with her author's consent and help (thanks!)
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Louis Valois, Aladren
This sounds like a challenge! [Tag: Ingrid]
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Louis Valois, Aladren
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Alistair Johnson
June 05, 2016 5:29 AM
I wish I knew. by Alistair Johnson
Alistair felt rather annoyed, mostly at himself, when Jack reminded him that advanced Transfiguration did actually involve conjuring items. He didn’t like to look ignorant or stupid but tried not to hold it against his classmate, considering that the Aladren had not corrected him in a demeaning manner but instead simply stated a relevant fact that Alistair had clearly overlooked.The Crotalus always liked to appear intelligent and hoped that people would view his brain to be as superior as Caelia seemed to. However, Alistair hadn’t been sorted into Aladren, which was commonly dubbed as ‘the clever house’, and Jack Spencer had so he probably thought himself on a higher intellectual level. Alistair didn’t want to consider that this could quite possibly be true, although Jack’s thoughts on the lesson topic were certainly challenging.
He nodded as Jack talked, serious and focused as he took in all the points made by his classmate. Jack seemed well informed and was raising some pretty intriguing questions.
“I think that’s a good point,” Alistair agreed, “that food is not made but grown, and therefore that might cause there to be magical limitations.” He paused briefly before continuing. “Of course, as you say, some food is baked but I should think most ingredients stem from natural foods that are grown.”
Alistair frowned in thought again as his brain formulated ideas against this. “Although, if you think about it, there are other objects besides food that involve components that have been grown. Like anything made from wood, for example, and there don’t seem to be magical limitations for these.”
As it turned out, the fourth year was better at confusing himself than he’d thought, although he chose not to see it this way. He was just debating new ideas that he had never before considered as any good intellectual should. Hopefully Jack was following his train of thought.
“I should think,” Alistair tried to reach some sort of conclusion with his points, “that if we can duplicate food, or even conjure it - which I am not convinced is even possible -, then surely there would have to be legal limitations. I say that because we buy our food and we probably wouldn’t bother doing so if we were simply able to conjure or duplicate it. Although, even if it were possible but not legal, surely it would be fairly common for people to disregard such laws - especially those lacking money? Or perhaps,” as he spoke the Crotalus had found another idea to raise, “the quality of transfigured food is not good enough for consumption?”
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Alistair Johnson
I wish I knew.
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Alistair Johnson
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
June 05, 2016 3:40 PM
Not someone with better ones? by Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
Though Transfiguration was her favorite class, Kira was always disappointed when there was a theory lesson. It wasn't that she found it boring or couldn't grasp it but she was maybe a little above average at best, as opposed to the practical where she shined. And she tended to need that little boost, the one where she was amazing rather than mediocre. Or worse than mediocre. The fact that Kira had a constant feeling of not being good enough made her cling to the one thing that made her feel good. The one thing that she was praised for rather than sitting idly by-she was mostly not outright criticized-while certain others were fawned over.Not that she had a big head about it. There was enough that she wasn't good at out there-such as well, everything else- to keep her humble.
And with the ball coming this year, Kira needed to hang on more than usual to what made her feel good about herself. She had appreciated Caelia's offer to help and her general encouragement but short of magic shoes the third year's dancing was going to be hopeless. Honestly, Kira might have contemplated that but she knew her fairy tales, and that even though Muggles didn't realize it-as they didn't know vampires, werewolves, unicorns and in fact, magic itself were real-fairy tales had a grain of truth to them, even with all the different versions out there. The one about magic shoes....hadn't ended well. Actually that was true of a lot of them but that was the relevant one in this case. Someone in her very predicament had charmed themselves a pair of shoes to do just that, but the spell had gone wrong and girl had neither been able to stop dancing or remove the shoes from her feet. The only way to remove them had been to cut the girl's feet off. Kira would prefer to leave her feet attached to her body even if such a thing as magic dancing shoes that worked the way they were intended would be within her skill set someday. She wasn't going to chance it at this point. Being able to dance was not worth eventual dismemberment.
Odds were it wouldn't matter, Caelia would have a date and Kira would not so she'd go to dinner and then head out to hide in her room with a book the way Amity had intended to before running into Annabelle Pierce and conversing with her. It worked out for her cousin but she doubted that was going to be case for her. Most nice people around her age had their own group of friends and didn't need her around. The only reason anyone would ever need Kira was not about to come into play at a school ball. She wasn't even old enough to be a choice for one of the male prefects who were in desperate need of someone to do the first dance with.
Still, she had to push it to the back of her mind and settle in for a theory lesson, trying to look on the bright side. If the Crotalus knew the limits of magic, she wouldn't have to feel bad when she absolutely could not do something magical ever. Such a thing would not be her fault, but just how it was. Of course, the drawback of such a lesson was that she could end up working with someone smarter than her-pretty much most of her classmates-and while that meant they'd get the right answers the person would likely think Kira was stupid and/or resent her for them having to "do all the work", even when she gave it her best shot to contribute-and was told how wrong and bad her ideas were and how stupid she was.
Why oh why couldn't they have had a practical lesson?
“Want to pair up?”
Kira breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out to be Chuck Fintoc asking her. First of all, the third year was glad that someone besides her cousins or Caelia wanted to work with her in the first place. Secondly, she liked Chuck, he was one of the nicest non-Teppenpaws she knew and didn't really make her uncomfortable. Also, while he was certainly not stupid, he was also not one of those incredibly smart Aladren types who knew how smart they were and liked to act like they were better than everyone because of it. She just hoped Caelia didn't get stuck with the sort. Blood purity and social status weren't the only reasons people acted superior.
She smiled at the Pecari. "Absolutely!"
Kira laughed at his comment about food not having limitations. "I've never really been sure why food can't appear out of nothing. I mean, maybe it's because like there's so many different components to even a simple dish. I don't really know much about cooking but there tend to be lots of different ingredients included that you'd have to include at once?" She hoped this made sense.
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
Not someone with better ones?
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Kira Spaulding, Crotalus
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Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus
June 07, 2016 12:40 PM
Stepping in. by Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus
Something had happened over the summer. Something that had been developing, emerging over the past couple of years but that had really been strong when he’d been at the local swimming pool. Arne Reinhardt had begun to notice girls. He had always noticed girls, if he was being perfectly honest. The only difference was that now it seemed to be socially acceptable to be noticing girls. Which, while societal norms were not something he normally liked to comply with, it was something he occasionally did pay attention to—if it meant falling in line with the guys back home he had taken to hanging out with who themselves had only just left the “girls have cooties” phase. And Lauren Song was pretty, even if she was a fourth year. Arne, with his fall birthday, was practically the same age as most of the fourth years anyway, and probably would have been in the same year with most of them in a European muggle school.So when she asked him to be her partner, he flashed her his best smile and agreed. He didn’t fancy himself a Romeo or Don Juan or whatever else it was the older guys in Turner’s Point liked to pretend to be when they were clearly no more charming that a piece of beaten leather or a burnt nail, but he knew that with his German-Native American roots he was not only rather good-looking himself but also of a unique mix that not many people came into contact with. “Sounds like a plan,” he said and pulled out his rather beaten notebook and grease pencil. He refused to use a quill and used the same notebook for all his classes—a notebook in which he barely kept track of what was going on, but for Lauren’s sake he’d be a good partner. It wasn’t going to be on him if Lauren failed the lesson.
“We’re lucky we’re not in fifth year,” he cracked as they set to work. “It’s all well and good to have to know all of this but writing an essay on it all? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Arne’s surly personality, the one he was sure most of his classmates were used to, was in contrast to the joking manner in which he was speaking to Lauren, but had he made an effort to get close with any of his classmates, they would have soon found out that surliness was only the cover of the complexity that was Arne Reinhardt. The real Arne Reinhardt (or at least the Turner’s Point Arne Reinhardt) was a rather outgoing person.
“Well, to answer the first question, with money, you obviously can’t be just making money appear out of thin air, then everyone would be crazy rich, you know?” He chewed on the end of his pencil and pulled it out of his mouth. “And I know you can’t be doing the same thing with food but for that I’d like to know why. ‘Cause it makes sense with money—it’ll loose it’s value. But if you could make food appear like mad then world hunger could be solved. And so it just seems mean to put a limit on food, right?”
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Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus
Stepping in.
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Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus
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Jack Spencer
June 09, 2016 2:41 PM
We'll figure it out. by Jack Spencer
Jack was hoping everything he was thinking about made sense, and Johnson seemed to pick up on it. He listened closely to Alistair as his desk-mate brought up other differences and similarities between other objects. However, Jack was beginning to get a little confused with the non-linear way Johnson was relaying his thoughts. Jack tried to keep up and tried to mull over it. This was why he disliked theory: it took so much brain power to simply understand the concept of why something was the way it was. Jack needed to improve at it if he wanted to be a professor someday.Duplicating food was possible, that much Jack knew simply from having siblings whinging for more dessert, but he wanted to check the textbook. "What's the text say?" he asked as he flipped to the right page. It was Gamp's Law they were discussing, or at least it was based on it. "It says here that food can be multiplied, enlarged or summoned if it already exists, but cannot be conjured. So I suppose we ought to write this down." Jack scribbled away his findings, but now they were down to the limitations.
He grinned, remembering Johnson's last point. "I don't remember what transfigured food tastes like, but I wouldn't think it would be as tasty as the original. Imagine they served transfigured food to us students." Jack chuckled at the idea. "We'd hardly know the difference, it's already so good. At least I wouldn't know." Sonora Academy had delicious dishes, and Jack enjoyed the food here very much. If they happened to make just a few dishes and duplicate it for them all, Jack wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. However, it would make so much sense if that were true; feeding a hall full of hungry pubescent children was no simple task.
"Now onto legal limitations. I'm sure one wouldn't be able to summon food from a shop or something. That'd be stealing and I know that's illegal." Jack added that to his notes before tapping the quill against his bottom lip. "What else? No enlarging food as big as a city?" Jack grinned, amused. "What do you think the limitations would be for enlarging food?"
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Jack Spencer
We'll figure it out.
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Jack Spencer
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Chuck Fintoc
June 16, 2016 7:46 AM
No, I have faith in yours. by Chuck Fintoc
Chuck was glad of the positivity of Kira’s answer in regards to being his partner, the one word having suggesting that she was actually happy to pair up with him and not simply feeling obliged. Then again, she was one of those proper pureblood girls all the same and may just have been better at acting than her cousin Kelsey seemed to be.But he got a laugh out of her which was pleasing. Chuck loved to make others laugh - being the cause of a merry sound for even a mere moment was a nice sort of power to have, not that he would care to call it power. In his world it seemed that far too many good people got so wrapped up in power that they forgot the importance of other things. For instance, the Pecari knew many of his classmates that had been drilled by their parents to make good connections and the true value of conversation and friendship often got lost as a result of this. In some ways it was sad to see so many young people, some even young enough to still be classed as children, attempting to be resourceful adults when really they were just the convenient tools of their families. Now in his fourth year at Sonora, Chuck was finding himself growing quite accustomed to the strange inner workings of society (which he was technically supposed to comply with himself).
“Yeah, that’s a good point,” Chuck wasn’t really all that sure what to say in response to Kira’s suggestion so he just nodded and tried to look intelligent. She did raise a good point, certainly one that he wouldn’t have been able to come up with himself. “Although, meat is a food and it’s not made up of a number of components.” That was one thing he actually knew enough about to say for certain but had no way of expanding to make it specifically relevant to Transfiguration.
It was a bit of a misfortune for Kira, really, to pair up with an older student but not actually get any benefits from that. Chuck hoped she wouldn’t mind but she seemed to nice to admit if she felt that way anyway and the fourth year always had the outlook that what he didn’t know didn’t hurt.
“Shall we have a look in the book?” the fourth year took his tatty textbook in his large freckled hands, hoping that this topic was simpler than it sounded from their brief discussion. It wouldn’t do to locate the relevant page only to find loads of complicated words and sentences that only served to confuse him further.
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Chuck Fintoc
No, I have faith in yours.
309
Chuck Fintoc
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Lauren
June 17, 2016 1:00 AM
Appreciating the attention by Lauren
Lauren didn't always know how to talk to boys that weren't her brother, especially better looking ones, but it was nice that Arne was paying attention to her. She was used to hearing her roommates gush about boys because, after all, that was what girls did during sleepovers. She didn't really have anything to contribute to those conversations, but she liked listening. The smile Arne gave her made Lauren feel a little flattered, but she chided herself silently. Attention from a boy did not mean they had a crush on her, obviously."Yeah, I know," she said with a relieved laugh. "But only one more year and I'll be one of those fifth-years dreading the homework and freaking out over CATS." She'd never taken an important test like that before, and she got scared just thinking about it. Though she'd had to be brave for the sake of her family as the oldest, she really didn't like encountering new things that were too intimidating or scary. On her way to Sonora Lauren had been a nervous wreck, but it was okay now. She imagined being one of those passing out or needing a Calming Draught on the day of her CATS exam.
The task at hand didn't seem that hard; all they needed was to think critically and use their textbook. What Arne was saying totally made sense, and she wondered why there had to be a restriction on food. "That's a good point," she said thoughtfully. "There has to be another reason why the government puts a limit on duplicating food. According to Gamp's Law food cannot be conjured out of nothing, but it doesn't say anything about duplicating it."
Lauren leaned her chin against her hand, now in her thinking pose. "Limits only happen when people are afraid of certain consequences, are trying to control circumstances to make it go their way, or because something bad happened to cause limitations. Maybe so many people were duplicating food and ingredients that no one was buying it, so the lack of supply and demand was actually harming the whole economy." Whenever Lauren listened to her dad talk, he usually talked about his prospering business, and supply and demand were popular words whenever he was trying to teach them about the whole system. She even knew some of those business terms in Korean even though she didn't understand much or speak the language.
"Do you think it's completely impossible to do certain things like bring back the dead? I always thought that everything was possible with magic."
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Lauren
Appreciating the attention
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Lauren
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5
Wu Peizhi, Teppenpaw
June 17, 2016 1:48 AM
Those are synonyms to me [Tag: Jax] by Wu Peizhi, Teppenpaw
Overall, Wu had little opinion on Transfiguration class, resigning basically all her coursework to “occasionally inconvenient, but necessary”. However, today’s lesson did nothing but confuse her. She hated theory. There was so much she didn’t understand or had trouble conceptualizing. Not like practical work--that was great. A wand movement and incantation was the same in every language. Actually doing magic let her feel secure. Talking about it just frustrated her, as well as sparking some moderate self-loathing.Moreover, even the things she understood in theory were hard for her to express or expand upon. Wu was not an academic by any standards; her grades would have been firmly higher if the coursework was not done in English, sure, but even without a language barrier, she would not have been the top of her class. She was horrible at elucidation, trapped somewhere between her shyness and social custom that said girls should be seen and not heard. Whatever the cause, even when she knew what she was talking about, it almost never came out correctly.
She sighed heartily and turned to a neighbor, preparing to admit one of the most shameful things a person could: ignorance. But when she looked at the person beside her, she felt her heartbeat stall: Jax Donovan. Wu wasn’t sure how she had gone this far into class without noticing. Admittedly, she was running a bit low on sleep, and she’d just skirted into the class in time to not be considered tardy and had to take whatever seat was open, but still, she felt she should have noticed before now.
The Teppenpaw did her best not to be visibly disturbed by his presence. She didn’t want him to feel guilty, and she already felt bad enough about how much she’d been avoiding him and their other peers as of late. She wished they could see how much she missed them, but they were probably blinded by hurt. That was the worst thing about the whole situation: not the part where she felt emptier without them, but the part where they probably thought that she hated them or they had wronged her somehow. Gia, Sammy, Jax, and Laila were wonderful, kind, fun people. Wu was the one who was bad.
But beyond the now-typical discomfort she now felt around the people with whom she had spent the last two years, Peizhi had another reason to feel uncomfortable with Jax today. Her sleep last night had been polluted by a disquieting dream involving him. Really, she supposed what bothered her the most about the dream was how much her dream-self had not been bothered, if that made sense. She and Jax had been… alone in a rather small room. She dreaded to think about it, a blush already rising to her cheek; she was a young thirteen and quite innocent in general, so nothing had progressed beyond kissing. Even that, however, was enough to make her feel guilty and dirty.
She assumed it was because she missed him greatly. Wu had never consciously felt any feelings of that nature toward him, so by that logic, she supposed she was lucky her unconscious mind had selected him and not one of her female peers, because that imagery would have been something completely disruptive to her day-to-day life. As she understood it, Sammy had two mothers, which surprised her but led to no further reaction, but to see herself in such a situation even in a dream would not have been pleasant for her delicate psyche.
Despite her many reasons for discomfort with Jax, the third year was pretty sure it was too late to turn the other way to find another neighbor with whom to discuss. Her eyes had already locked in his; she could not turn away now. “D-do you, um…” she fumbled weakly, hoping the clearly troubled expression on her face would be accounted completely to her nervous nature and obvious ignorance. “Do you understand any of this? I feel very lost.”
In many ways, she added silently.
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Wu Peizhi, Teppenpaw
Those are synonyms to me [Tag: Jax]
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Wu Peizhi, Teppenpaw
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Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari
June 17, 2016 11:16 AM
The lesson, or talking to me? by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari
Theory class. Bleugh. Transfiguration in general was kind of bleugh in Ingrid’s opinion. It required a lot of concentration for the practical stuff, and a lot of brainpower for the theory. She much preferred Care of Magical Creatures, and the practical parts of Defence (even though Professor Pye could be kind of a pain, although he seemed to be loosening up a little). She put on her best ‘paying attention’ face just because Professor Skies was also Deputy Headmistress Skies, and it probably wouldn’t do to be on her bad side, plus failing classes wasn’t really a thing in her family. Having grown up around people with a solid work ethic, who simply expected academic success as a standard, Ingrid did pretty well at school. Maybe she didn’t always put as much effort in as her Aladren siblings, or her people-pleasing Teppenpaw sister, but she knew she had to get her homework done, and was bright enough that the level of effort she was willing to put into it was more than enough to get her through for now.As Professor Skies set them to work, she took her time getting out her books and choosing a quill, just to delay the actual moment of starting work. During that time, Louis approached her, asking if she’d like to work with him.
“Sure,” she smiled, pleased to have some Aladren brains on the case, although she wasn’t going to admit that to him. She had decided last year at the bonfire that Louis was the ideal person with whom to have a friendly rivalry and/or date. They were on the Quidditch teams with the most history of animosity, so to a certain extent they were always going to be ‘against’ one another. And it was fun having a particular person in mind to beat (apart from her brother who was a) considerably more of a challenge and b) leaving after this year). But she knew her family expected her to do things like go to the school dance with a boy from a nice family, and Louis fit that bill. Plus really hating someone seemed like a lot of work. Her brother was always practically grinding his teeth over Liliana (although it was hard to imagine a little light snogging relieving that situation because she was pretty sure Theodore had no idea how to have fun and it wasn’t like Liliana would stoop to kissing him if she did). She wasn’t particularly sure that she saw Louis in a romantic way, but she was sure that didn’t want to be totally obsessed with hating him. She had thought about greeting him ‘hey loser’ or something similar to try to set the tone, but he’d addressed her by name, so she decided that fun name calling could come later.
She listened to Louis chatter, pleased to find he did it like a normal human, and not in a dry academic kind of way.
“I kind of know the same ones,” she admitted, when he asked, “Like, I can remember asking why I couldn’t have what I wanted for tea given that we could just magic it up, and getting a very long answer in response. And like… there’s real valuable, and magicked valuable, like Leprechaun gold which is imitation. I think it applies to other valuable stuff too, like gems… Like, you can fake it, but an expert can tell. So.. does that count or not? Cos with the food, you literally cannot make it happen at all. Whereas you can kind of make something like a gemstone or money appear, only it’s not really real. And I’m sure there’s a tonne of laws on that one. It’s definitely illegal to try to pass off fakes or pay with Leprechaun gold.”
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Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari
The lesson, or talking to me?
322
Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, Pecari
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Jax Donovan, Aladren
June 20, 2016 5:20 PM
Forbidden will likely be my future with anything. by Jax Donovan, Aladren
Generally, Jax did not mind classes. He could usually get away with working by himself. On days where a partner was required, it was typically a practical lesson and he didn’t have to actually talk to the person he was working with, all he had to do was fire spells at them. However, every once in awhile the professors threw out theory or discussion work at them and he was stuck having a conversation with someone that he didn’t care for. Sometimes he lucked out and worked with someone he was comfortable with, but he wasn’t too sure about that today.When Peizhi had taken the seat beside him, he knew it wasn’t because she felt safe next to him or because she wanted to be there. He knew it was simply out of necessity seeing how class was starting and she had only just managed to make it into the room. Since she made no gesture to indicate she was happy to see him, Jax didn’t make any sort of fuss about it. She had spent the better part of the first half of the year ignoring them and out of sight of their group that Jax had been made to accept the fact that Wu was one of those people who either felt she was no longer in need of ‘lesser’ people to bother spending her time with them or she figured out Jax’s secret and was too nice to expose him so she opted to just stay away. Based on the look she threw his way when she realized who she was seated next to, Jax was tempted to choose the latter scenario. After that initial look, Jax was now grateful that he hadn’t taken that seat next to Peizhi in the library on the few occasions that he saw her there by herself.
He tried to not look angry or hurt over her clear distress with working with him that he noticed when she first looked at him but had tried to hide. In order to not seem so icy with her, Jax turned away and instead focused his gaze onto his book that lay on his desk, playing it off as though he were disinterested and taking the time to think about how to answer her. “We basically just have to discuss why certain types of magical are limited.” He tried to explain. “Things like, why we are unable to produce or replicate galleons.” He added. “Whether it’s because of the law or simply not possible.” He honestly wasn’t really sure if he could give an answer to that. These were things that he didn’t think about as they were just the way they were.
“I think there is a legal limitation to creating or replication money because the government has to keep track of the amount of currency that is currently in use for taxation purposes.” There was another word that he wanted to say, something about the value of it, but he couldn’t think of the term. He glanced up at Peizhi to make sure she was still sitting there before looking away again. “Also, if everyone were allowed to create or replicate money, no one would feel the need to work so our society would no longer run the way it currently does and money will no longer be of value. Something else would simply replace it.” He had spoken for too long and he wasn’t entirely sure that it had made any sense to Peizhi o if she were paying any real attention to him. But he had participated in the assignment, so at least he’d get credit for that.
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Jax Donovan, Aladren
Forbidden will likely be my future with anything.
296
Jax Donovan, Aladren
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John Umland, Aladren
June 22, 2016 4:26 PM
Not words I like to hear, those. by John Umland, Aladren
Classes had always, even at the best of times, had at least as many downs as they did ups, but this year they were worse. On the first day, he had noticed that Clark was gone, and then the staff had decided to make him overwhelmingly aware of the fact that what the Intermediate classes did possess was a fair number of girls. He had, after considerable thought, decided that Plan D, Version 2.0 (deliberately giving himself food poisoning and thus avoiding the occasion altogether; D-1 had just been poisoning himself, not least because he could make himself an antidote ahead of time as a contingency measure and because it meant he’d have a better idea of just how sick he was about to get when he ingested whatever he ingested, but he’d decided that would be harder to pass off as both an accident and an accident that gave the teachers no reason to seriously wonder what he was up to in his free time) was his best bet for handling the Ball situation, but since he had yet to figure out a contingency for the event that the staff started asking too many questions about what he had in his room that was so absorbing that he’d eat a mayonnaise-containing sandwich past its sell-by date instead of going to the dining hall and couldn’t say he enjoyed the thought of spending hours being violently ill just to avoid a particular three minutes of the day, he was still trying to figure out plans to correspond to all the other letters of the alphabet. That meant an increased awareness of girls as he tried to figure out which of them might be most amenable to an affair of convenience.They didn’t make it easy. They were so…different, most of them, at least here at Sonora. Unfathomable, some of them, and while he had read that this was supposed to be part of their appeal, he couldn’t see it. Modern social norms had changed the game a bit (something John thanked God for; he did not think he would have flourished in a world where he was expected to select his life partner based on her father's ability to provide a mule and then spend the rest of his life looking at the backside of said mule), but dating was still a form of courtship behavior, intended to lead at some point to reproductive behaviors which, in a group of species which included his, also doubled as bonding behaviors. He didn't even want to work with people he found it impossible to relate to at all in class, never mind spend his free time with such people and allow them into his personal space. Maybe it was just because he was, as his brother Paul put it, an untrusting person-legitimatized-by-fiat (as if Paul had any room to talk, on either count), or maybe it was simple snobbery, as he suspected his sister Julian would suggest, but he couldn’t get his head around how this ridiculous process he was expected to engage in was supposed to work. The Best Looking page’s girls only avoided being boring because the blonde ones all looked so much alike that it was a little creepy, not appealing, he didn’t really know any of the others, either, and sooner or later, he thought he was going to fully accept that food poisoning really probably was his best bet.
Transfiguration classes, though, were a welcome respite from all that, sometimes enough to be the high point of a day. The legal limits of Transfiguration were only of minimal interest to him, but the magical ones…oh, that was interesting. He wished he had the notebook he had written about Clark’s geology survey and the research he’d done afterward in, but he thought he could remember enough of it off the top of his head to make a good show in the money category anyway – money was made of metals which were excellent conductors of electricity, the most valuable money was made of a metal it was extremely difficult to do much with magically, and since magic interrupted electricity’s workings and wands, the most efficient channels for magic, were composed of once-living bits, he had long since hypothesized that metals were poor conductors of magic in the same way that wood and sinew were poor conductors of electricity. He could throw that in there, though he thought he would keep his other friend’s hypothesis – that enough electricity, say inside a cage made of electric fence stuff or inside a power plant or something, could disrupt spellcasting the same way magic could interrupt circuits – to himself for now. The first part would do for today.
Food…he bit his lip, his mind blank except for what he’d read in the textbook for a moment. Food. One could change it, extend it, Summon it, but not conjure it – though one could conjure living things, many of which were edible. There was iron in foods, but food was generally not all metal, so that argument didn’t extend, but something was nagging him – something that suggested it all tied together somehow, just not in the question of elements as such….
“Energy!” he said happily under his breath. It was only a second later that he realized he’d said it aloud. Then, a second later, he realized that he still wasn’t completely right, but he thought he could see the way forward. He wanted to get to work, but Skies had said back at the beginning that they had to work together and had said ‘you may begin’ less than a minute before John’s exclamation, so he tried to look agreeable as he looked at the next person over instead.
“Ah – hello,” he said. “Need a partner?”
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John Umland, Aladren
Not words I like to hear, those.
285
John Umland, Aladren
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Wu Peizhi
June 23, 2016 4:16 AM
It's not a fun way to live, is it? by Wu Peizhi
Wu struggled very hard to understand. It wasn’t like being confused all the time was exactly fun--not that she had a lot of fun in her life, honestly--so she did what she could to alleviate her troubles. But they always built. She was always stressed. She was always confused. She was always… lost.This time, however, the effort went beyond trying to comprehend; she could hardly even pay attention to the words let alone process them. All she could do was look at him, her expression fairly blank as all the strain went on in silence within her head. She studied his features for any insights to his emotions. Was Jax okay? Did he miss her? Was he hurt by her actions (or, more accurately, lack thereof)? Another strange part of her brain--one that she begged desperately for reprieve--couldn’t help but glance idly over his lips, that disconcerting dream still present in her mind. They looked soft, nicer than he’d have wanted to admitted.
He spoke longer than she thought she’d ever heard him, evidently trying very hard to help her understand. That rather just made her feel worse that she couldn’t be attentive. “Jax…” she began weakly, leaving a tense pause between the end of his statement and the beginning of hers. “....Look, I am…”
“I am very sorry,” she forced out. Beneath the table, her small hands pulled into nervous fists, fingernails carving their names into her palm. “For, um….” She tried to think of the word Sammy used when someone didn’t show up. “Ditching?” she stumbled, unsure. “Things are very... complicated. I wish I could see you more, like before… but I can’t.” The contraction felt awkward, but she had seen that most people used them, and so saying cannot always felt awkward too. There really was no winning. It felt harsh, too, a finality she wasn’t willing to let linger too long. “I am so sorry. I hope no one is too missing of me.”
Peizhi almost felt like crying, but she swallowed the lump threatening to form in her throat; she was not going to cry, especially not in class. “But, uh, if not… If the opposite… well, I understand that, too. That would be better.” As much as she didn’t want them to be sad, the idea of not being missed felt almost worse, in a selfish way. Like she was nothing. She had always been nothing. Apathy was better than anger, in any case.
“...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-.... This isn’t the place for-...” Her eyes caught briefly on his before she pulled away, finding apparent interest in the scuff on her left shoe. “I will not bother you anymore today.” Grades didn’t mean a lot to her, so getting a zero for not discussing the assignment was fine. For such a quiet little mouse, she sure had squeaked a bunch, and now all she wanted to do was go back to hiding in her hole.
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Wu Peizhi
It's not a fun way to live, is it?
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Wu Peizhi
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Jax
June 23, 2016 7:48 PM
It's the only way I have. by Jax
When she said his name, so quiet and mouse-like, he looked up at her to see if he only confused her more by what he said. She found to be ridiculous. Since she didn’t immediately follow up with any comment, Jax took that to mean that she hadn’t followed along with his comments at all. So now Jax had to figure out a different way of explaining what their class assignment was about. This was rather challenging because he wasn’t quite sure himself.Before he really had much of a chance to think about the assignment and how to better explain it, Peizhi began to apologize. He thought at first that she was apologizing for not understanding, but as she went on, it became clear. Jax was looking at her with his usual piercing gaze, somewhat softer than it might have been with someone else, but as she began to explain herself, his gaze grew icy. Peizhi had always been one of these girls that he wanted to keep safe. She seemed so fragile and meek. But now he felt himself grow angry with her. His nature was to protect those who he perceived to be weak, but his current situation had him wanting to lash out. It was complicated? Like she was the only one who was dealing with difficult things? Gia always told him that friends mattered, but maybe not as much if this was how Peizhi felt about it. Things were ‘too’ complicated for her to talk to them now. Whatever.
Jax closed himself off to the emotions swimming around in him. He had always liked Peizhi. Her quietness made him feel less like an outsider in their group of otherwise chatty girls. For her to suddenly decide she didn’t want any part of their friendship had stung. And her simple explanation that it was complicated did not satisfy or alleviate any of his anger or hurt feelings. Jax watched her closely. Although she looked uncomfortable and would not really meet his eye, she seemed genuine with her apology, but he still didn’t feel better about it.
He didn’t really know how to respond to her. She seemed to have made up her own mind. Whatever it was that was making her life ‘complicated’ it was apparently something to do with him and the others even if she wouldn’t outright admit it. If it was something else, he couldn’t really see why she would push them away because of it. “I’m used to people disappointing me anyway.” Jax said quietly. Peizhi certainly wasn’t the first person he and his sister encountered who decided they were not worth their time and Peizhi would not be the last. “I’d rather not be anymore of a complication for ou.” He stated, his voice colder than he had ever thought to use towards her, but when Jax was hurt, the anger was quick to flare up. “I’m sure the girls would like an explanation too. Gia thinks that she did something wrong to upset you and that is why you dislike us now.” Jax made it a point so that Peizhi would have to explain herself to the rest, he would not do that for her. His sister had a difficult time accepting things when they did not fit into her happy world. Gia would never accept that excuse from Peizhi.
“We still have to complete the lesson.” Jax said. He didn’t want to fail simply because of Peizhi’s guilty conscience. “If working with me is causing you an issue, then I will find another partner to work with so that you won’t feel upset. Otherwise, we can continue with the lesson, if that’s something you are willing to do with me.”
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Jax
It's the only way I have.
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Jax
0
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Louis
June 28, 2016 10:22 AM
Academics never scare me! by Louis
Louis laughed at the idea of a young Ingrid wanting to have her favourite foods by magic. “To be quite honest,” he confessed, not really sure why he was being quite honest, “When I was little I thought that our food was made by magic. It was only when I was about six that I discovered the kitchens.”“There must be some difference between food and money – or jewels,” he agreed. “The limits seem to be slightly more flexible with money, although it doesn’t seem to be possible to permanently transfigure either.”
He paused to see if he could think of anything else regarding those two subjects, but couldn’t come up with anything. That was annoying – for some reason he felt like he couldn’t let Ingrid one-up him!
“What about the human body?” he asked. “I’m fairly sure that magic can’t cope with all damage. You see the odd person missing a limb, and you’d have thought that they’d get patched up if it was possible.”
Louis would never admit it to Emmy, but he was glad she’d forced him into coming and talking to Ingrid. He was enjoying this whatever-it-was they had, somewhere between slightly competitive and something more. He was only just starting to think about girls, and was starting to appreciate that maybe he’d like to be something a little more than friends in some instances. Besides, he needed to take someone to the ball later in the year and, whilst it was probably a little early to be planning, he reckoned he’d have fun with Ingrid.
“So, we’ve finally got four Quidditch teams!” Louis said, aware that he was going off topic more than a little but this was Ingrid, who was no doubt as excited as he was. And he was pretty excited. “Though of course Aladren are going to win again this year,” he added as an afterthought, grinning at the Pecari player. Despite his earlier thoughts, he had no intention of allowing her to beat him at anything, especially Quidditch! Louis was quite a competitive person and enjoyed a good rivalry.
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Louis
Academics never scare me!
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Louis
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Kira
June 29, 2016 10:55 AM
Really? *is shocked* by Kira
She felt a small surge of happiness when Chuck said she had a good point...and tried not to let her face fall when he brought up meat and thus a flaw in her thinking. Kira had never tried to be the best at most things because she knew it wasn't going to happen and striving for it tended to make people miserable anyway. Besides, she didn't want people to resent her. Still, she felt kind of stupid right now. Kira just wanted others not to think badly of her. Thinking she was stupid qualified as such. Chuck was probably wishing he'd picked someone better to work with but he was stuck with her .That was the thing though, not only did she feel inferior to Kelsey, it seemed there were an awful lot of other people around who were gifted in many ways. Smarter, better looking, less socially awkward, more proper. People always showing how great they were in one way or another. And then there was her. It made it hard to identify with a lot of her classmates, made them intimidating. Despite her background, Kira was certain she was looked down upon by those who were higher achievers.
The Crotalus wanted to clam up right there, not say another word for the rest of the class. However, that would be rude and certainly not the way to make friends with Chuck. He'd think even worse of her than he probably did already.
She had to continue. "Um, well, maybe because things have to come from somewhere and like, if you have meat, it would be ripped off someone's table which would be stealing or straight from an animal which would be quite unpleasant for the animal. Plus meat needs to be cooked and I don't know when that would happen in the latter scenario." Kira would hate to be the animal that happened to. To have some part of yourself start cooking and then ripped out. That would be awfully gruesome and painful. She liked meat and wasn't going to stop eating it, but to have that happen when you were still alive would be dreadful.
Kira nodded. "Sure. Also, I think with money, it's kind of like...it would have no value if you could just conjure it from nothing, I guess."
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Kira
Really? *is shocked*
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Kira
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