DH Skies
February 10, 2018 11:25 PM
Intermediates - what kind of flower is under your nose? by DH Skies
“Good morning,” Selina greeted the intermediates. She always found the intermediates vaguely stressful… They’d got over their newness and shyness, which meant some of them were getting complacent or cocky - that was, if they weren’t too busy lusting after each other (she was convinced fourth year homework was consistently the worst in the school - they were over having moved up to the big, scary intermediates and did not yet have CATS to worry about so were usually rather bored, plus they were full of hormones that meant they were constantly distracted from the work). They set things on fire less than the beginners, which was a positive, but that was always less of a risk in her class than others anyway. Beginners mostly just didn’t get anywhere if they bad at her subject. And, unlike the advanced class, none of them had chosen to be here. She supposed she could be thankful that she and Kyte Collindale no longer had to see each other, outside of academic support - a feeling that she was sure was more than mutual - but she now had a miserable and angry half-veela around all the most hormonal members of the school. She thought, if given the choice, she might trade Kyte’s complete incompetence and inability to focus and go through all that again if it meant she didn’t have to deal with Cleo. Unfortunately, the universe seemed unwilling to offer any such bargain, and so here they all were.They were through their first lesson back, and had been introduced to the syllabus and the topics that they would cover this year. There was a lot of animate transfiguration on the syllabus, and they’d already begun to work through some theories on that. They would continue to look at those throughout the term as they progressed from plant life up to working on animal transfigurations. For their homework, they had been asked to read a chapter on defining and creating lifeforce, which offered several explanations, from the Muggle scientific MRS GREN characteristics, to the Chinese lifeforce of qi. The purpose was for them to find a definition that resonated with them, and that would hopefully make it easier to carry that ineffable quality over into their spellcasting.
“We have a practical class today,” she informed them. “You’re going to be applying what you read for homework, so hopefully one of the definitions resonated with you. You will be attempting to make tulips. In general, the spell for creating plants is their Latin name, although the verb elicio meaning to call forth can often be added. So, in this case, we need elicio tulipa with a soft flowing wand movement - think of the shape of a tulip flower.
“Third years, you will be working with plastic tulips. You don’t need to worry about form, just about function - life force. Fourth years, you’ve got wooden sticks. Fifth years, you’ve got plastic ones,” she explained, waving her wand as she described each, sending the appropriate material from her desk to land in front of the students in the given year group. Even though they were all aiming for the same result, the varying starting materials hopefully presented enough of a challenge, although she wouldn’t be surprised if some of the more capable fifth years could get it more or less straight off. “If it’s too easy for you, either move up a level or, if you’re already working with the stick, try to expand it. Give me a fully planted tulip with a root system in a pot not just a cut flower. If that’s too easy, make the pot beautiful. There’s always room to stretch yourselves,” she reminded them.
“You may talk quietly with your neighbours, and if you have any questions, ask an older student or call me over. You may begin.”
OOC - posts will be marked on length, relevance, creativity and realism. If you have any issues, please tag me in the subject line. Credit for the ‘elicio’ part of the incantation goes to Joe Umland’s author.
Subthreads: I’m sorry. It was an accident. by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw with Professor Skies, Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw
Professor Skies – your hair! by Lily Spencer, Pecari with Professor Skies
What is happening in this class? by Isaac Song, Pecari
I am a good person by Winston Pierce, Crotalus with Emerald Brockert,Aladren
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DH Skies
Intermediates - what kind of flower is under your nose?
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DH Skies
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Winston Pierce, Crotalus
February 21, 2018 12:19 PM
I am a good person by Winston Pierce, Crotalus
Winston wasn’t sure what was going on this year, but he blamed Jozua Sparks for it. He’d been the center of both the Charms episode and now the Transfiguration episode. One would think a guy who runs a dueling club would have a bit more self-discipline.And then someone had the gall to color the professor’s hair pink, which resulted in all if them getting threatened with detention! Winston scowled around at the Pecaris and Teppenpaws nearby, figuring it was unlikely a Crotalus would do such a thing to their own Head of House, and most Aladrens seemed too study-happy to show such disrespect to a teacher.
In an effort to prove he was above such childishness and had the maturity well beyond what some of the fifth years were displaying this year, Winston turned back to his assignment in a somewhat pointed fashion that was meant to convey, ‘See me working? I am a good person. Unlike some of you lot.’
Admittedly, making a tulip wasn’t really an assignment he could really set to with very much passion and gumption, but he did his best to rally them anyway, to make a point. He was going to make the very best tulip Professor Skies could imagine. Well, the very best one Winston could imagine, he supposed, the limits of transfiguration being what they were. His final product would have far more in common with his own imagination than anyone else’s.
Still, he set to with great purpose and diligence, determined to get a good mark despite the professor’s obvious and perfectly understandable sour mood. He had taken a wooden stick, as the fourth years had been instructed to do, and while he doubted he could quite pull off a potted tulip with roots and everything, he did have what he thought was a good idea for expanding upon the given assignment.
After a few tries, he had it. A single tulip, wrapped in florist paper, with a little water tube on the end so it didn’t dry out and die too quickly. He wrote a little note note and tucked it inside, placing it so the words could still be read, “For Professor Skies, who is a wonderful teacher.”
It was perhaps unfortunate that the color of the tulip was the exact same shade of pink that someone had used to to color the teacher’s hair, but that had been an unconscious choice based on having just seen it, and Winston himself did not make the connection. He just thought it was a pretty color girls and women would like.
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Winston Pierce, Crotalus
I am a good person
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Winston Pierce, Crotalus
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Emerald Brockert,Aladren
February 22, 2018 12:36 PM
Good for you. by Emerald Brockert,Aladren
This was the last year that Emerald would be able to get away from Topaz for the majority of the year. Next year, the little monster would be attending her first year at Sonora and she'd probably be in Aladren too. Ugh. So much ugh.At least they would never be in the same classes. Emerald took a seat in Transfig and waited for the class to begin. Like a lot of Brockerts, this was one of her favorite classes. Actually, she really liked all her classes. Learning was one of the best things about Sonora and one that would still be here next term when she'd no longer have the other best thing.
Professor Skies began the lesson and Emerald received her wooden stick. Last year, she'd completely mastered the plastic tulip and didn't expect to have too much trouble with this either. She would start out easy though, with a solid color tulip. Emerald wasn't inclined towards flashy displays in the first place, nothing wacky. She was going to pick a color for her tulip that was actually found in nature.
She was trying to decide between red and yellow when a commotion arose. Emerald rolled her eyes. Jozua Sparks was always creating a commotion with what seemed to be gross incompetence. Of course, his incompetence wasn't as gross as his taste in friends.
And for Emerald, judging the fifth year as incompetent was actually being nicer than the alternative, which was that he was being disruptive on purpose.
Her attention was diverted further when Professor Skies hair went pink. She was pretty sure what had happened. Lily Spencer had either persuaded Jozua to create a diversion or taken advantage of him being generally incompetent to throw a color changing charm towards the professor's hair. The Pecari had given it away with her laughing. It would figure that Lily was the sort who thought she was just so super funny and clever that she'd laugh at her own tricks. Even though she was literally the dumbest person Emerald had ever met. Which made the Aladren inclined to believe that there wasn't a plan. Which was a crappy way to treat a friend really as you shouldn't take advantage of someone's faults that way especially someone you supposedly cared about. How very Topaz of Lily.
Which figured. Along with being the dumbest, Lily was also the most disrespectful person she knew. The fifth year clearly thought she was entitled to do whatever she wanted for reasons Emerald couldn't fathom. She didn't think it had to do with how the girl was raised or her blood status since there were other purebloods who were perfectly respectful people, including Emerald herself and Lily's brother had been in Owen's class and as far as she gathered from her cousin, didn't act this way.
Then there was the fact that she was a prefect! Okay, yes, it was by default-Emerald assumed that was the whole reason because she couldn't imagine anyone less suited for the position, except maybe Topaz as Topaz with any sort of power was a disaster waiting to happen-but still, one would think that being given such a responsibility would make someone more inclined to behave in mature fashion.
And now they were being threatened with a detention because of her (and possibly Jozua). Emerald resisted the urge to glare at Lily. After all, as someone from a big family, she recognized attention seeking behavior when she saw it and she wasn't about to give the older girl the satisfaction.
"This is ridiculous" Emerald muttered, louder than she intented but just loud enough for Winston Pierce to hear next to her.
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Emerald Brockert,Aladren
Good for you.
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Emerald Brockert,Aladren
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Winston Pierce
March 14, 2018 1:13 PM
You’re a Good Person(TM), too by Winston Pierce
Winston put his tulip aside for later grading once Professor Skies was done dealing with the more troublesome members of the class. He smiled in commiseration toward Emerald who he had been lucky enough to get as a desk neighbor today. Emerald was a good person, too, and he was glad he wasn’t as unfortunate as poor Miss Kirkly who was finding her self in charge of keeping Jozua Sparks in line. As if that was possible. She might be a mixed blood, but today, Winston felt nothing but pity toward the Teppenpaw prefect.“Utterly ridiculous,” he agreed verbally, in case the smile didn’t convey the fullness of his concurrence. He heaved a heavy put-upon sigh. “And I had hoped this year would be a pleasant one, with my sister starting and the ball coming up.”
Winston wasn’t entirely sure who he was going to ask yet to the ball, but he felt he had a good shot at finding someone with the right kind of pedigree who was willing to say yes. Emerald herself was definitely on the short list, though he doubted Transfiguration class was the appropriate venue for asking, even if he was fully decided and had cleared it with Simon and Victor to make sure neither of them were secretly crushing on Emerald and would resent Winston for asking her to the dance first.
“Have you thought about what you’ll wear?” he asked, hoping this was a topic most girls would find pleasant and cheering, as his intent was to divert Emerald to a more pleasant topic than Lily and Jozua and their improper antics. “I’m looking forward to getting some new dress robes, though I haven’t decided which ones yet. My cousins have a fashion line with quite a few very fine choices. Have you heard of Ann & Ann Apparel?”
And if he could drum up some extra business for the Anns, they might be willing to design him something even better than what they already had available. The Anns might have other problems, but their understanding of good clothes was not one of them. Well, it wasn’t one of Annabelle’s issues anyway, and she kept her sister in line in that regard.
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Winston Pierce
You’re a Good Person(TM), too
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Winston Pierce
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Emerald
April 05, 2018 6:35 PM
Aw, thanks. I appreciate that. by Emerald
She was pleased to hear Winston's agreement. When the initial conflict had happened, two older students acted like Lily's behavior was perfectly okay. How would they have felt if it had been a member of their family that she was mocking? That was what had really upset Emerald. She didn't really care what Lily looked like, it was just the easy thing to say when she was angry. And she had rather meant the part about the Pecari getting in trouble with her mother. It would have served her right to get in trouble after being so disrespectful.And that she felt she had the right to do it! If she had least apologized or looked a bit ashamed. That was what bothered Emerald most. It was one thing not to conform to proper standards-that was Lily's problem-but to think she could go around treating people in whatever way she wanted showed that the fifth year had no regard for they felt. It showed a tremendous bit of ego and entitlement and quite frankly, wasn't that different from Topaz.
Of course, Emerald didn't think Lily was as manipulative as her little sister. That would take intelligence. Whatever else Topaz was, she was bright. Lily was not.
And okay, so Winston wasn't exactly supporting her on that particular issue as he didn't know and she wasn't going to bring it up. She did want to put it aside generally speaking because the Pecari didn't really deserve her energy but the older girl did tend to spark something visceral in Emerald because of it. And right now, her classmate agreed with her about Lily's (and possibly Jozua's) current antics. That was enough.
The Aladren smiled at Winston. "Not really. I'm pretty sure my sister and my cousin have been planning for months though." Emerald wasn't really a girl who was that into fashion but Ruby and Angelique loved and those were the two relatives closest in age that she was around much so she had sat their quietly-and somewhat bored-when they'd get into the topic. So, she had heard of Winston's cousins' line. "Actually, I have seen their stuff. It's quite lovely. I know some of my relatives have dresses they designed."
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Emerald
Aw, thanks. I appreciate that.
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Emerald
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