Professor Skies
April 21, 2019 8:25 AM
Beginners - Easter Eggs by Professor Skies
“Good morning,” Professor Skies greeted the beginners’ class. The weather outside was shifting - both in the sense of that particular morning, which had begun with overcast skies and a spot of rain but which looked like it might clear into a nice day by lunchtime - and in the broader sense, with the general pattern of the weather across days. Yes, there were abrupt and unexpected cold days, contrasted with startlingly warm ones, but overall it was shifting into being milder and warmer, if also somewhat wetter, and unmistakably, spring was in the air.“Today, we are going to be having a fun little challenge in class, in celebration of the season and of Easter. You are going to be working to make foil-wrapped eggs. Now, you will not be creating chocolate today - can anyone tell me why?” she asked. Gamp’s Law was covered in more depth later on in their studies, but those who had grown up in a magical household or who had gone ahead in their reading might well have been able to tell her the answer.
“Instead, you are going to be using a hard-boiled egg, and your aim is to turn the shell into pretty, colourful foil. You will be exercising two skills by doing this. The first is, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, design-work,” the fact that making their projects prettier or more intricate would always earn extra credit had been a mainstay of class since their first day. During the first half of the year, this had mainly been asked of the second years, as a way to up the challenge for themselves whilst first years still got to grips with the basics, but since Midterm, the first years had received encouragement to start making their mark.
“The second skill you’re working on is your degree of control. You are to transfigure only the shell of the egg - whilst it may seem easier to transfigure only a smaller amount of an item, it does require a greater degree of precision that you’ve been using up until now. I will be unwrapping each of your eggs at the end to determine how well you’ve done with this.
“To give you some added incentive, and to celebrate the holiday season, the two prettiest eggs - one from each year group - will win a large chocolate egg,” she indicated the brightly wrapped prizes on her desk, “Everyone else will receive a small egg for their efforts,” she added.
“The spell for this is aluminus, and you will need to make a smooth sweeping wand motion around your egg,” she demonstrated, producing a pretty wrapper in graded shades of blue with differing swirls or circles on each band.
“Before beginning, you should make notes on the similarities and differences between what you’re starting with and what you’re aiming for to help you with the visualisation process. You may also want to sketch out your design - for some people that helps with their visualisations.
“You may talk quietly to your neighbours. Raise your hand if you need my help. You may begin.”
OOC OOC - welcome to Transfiguration. Posting here can earn you house points! Posts should be a minimum of 200 words and will be graded on length, realism, relevance (how well you deal with the class content) and creativity.
Posts are marked out of character, based on the quality of the writing, so a character who says they are doing badly but does so in a well-written and detailed way can still score full points. You are now part way through this term, so first years should consistently get some results on their first try unless something is very wrong, but no one is likely to get it perfect on the first go.
You are being supervised, so if things are going wrong, Selina would step in before anything got terribly out of hand. Please tag me in the subject line if there’s something that needs my attention.
Have fun, have a go, if you’re unsure about anything, ask on the OOC or in chatzy.
Subthreads: Something about rising from the dead? by Evelyn Stones, Pecari with Hilda Hexenmeister, Pecari
I could do this wrong in my sleep! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, Teppenpaw with Jessica Hayles, Crotalus
Cracks by Sophia Priory, Aladren
I really hate competing by Allegra Brockert, Crotalus with Isabella Harrington, Aladren
I actually have a chance by Bridget Ferguson,Teppenpaw
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Professor Skies
Beginners - Easter Eggs
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Professor Skies
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Evelyn Stones, Pecari
April 22, 2019 4:50 PM
Something about rising from the dead? by Evelyn Stones, Pecari
Evelyn was determined to . . . basically just to not suck. She had been doing her best to study with Ness and take a leaf out of the Aladren's book (of which there were many, figuratively and literally) in terms of academic and magical success. Transfiguration was certainly not a skill Evelyn had developed, despite great leaps in progress in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. Somehow, Transfiguration just didn't sit with her.She liked Professor Skies a great deal, particularly after the woman had been so instrumental in saving her entire life (a favor which was hard to forget), and Evelyn wanted very badly to please her. Beyond that, she liked the idea of Transfiguration, and the Easter season seemed fitting. Although the holiday was situated firmly in Judeo-Christian faiths, there was some beauty in the story of a deity sending their offspring to take on the form of their subjects and die to save them. And then rising from the dead? That was sort of a transfiguration, right? Of course, "the transfiguration of Christ" was an event all on its own, but whatever.
Putting thoughts of religious doctrine and eschatology aside, Evelyn focused on her egg. It was sort of cute in a weird way. She'd always liked the idea of little babies hanging out inside an egg until they were deemed ready and then they came popping out of their shell. Talk about entering with a bang. Or crunch and shatter as the case may be.
Although Evelyn was excited about this project, particularly since she tended to be a detail person more than a big picture person and thought she might have an advantage there in terms of separating the shell of the egg from the contents of the egg, she wasn't sure about the creative side of things. What sort of design did she want to make? She thought about it while she took notes on the similarities and differences of the eggs she was working to transfigure.
Differences: The egg is currently all one color, whereas when I'm done it will be different on the outside than the inside.
She liked Fabergé eggs, but was completely sure she wasn't going to be able to create that.
Similarities: Both eggs will have a distinct inside and outside, regardless.
What about something closer to home? She thought of some of the sports teams from Oregon, but decided that she didn't care enough to do those any justice.
Similarities: The new egg and the old egg will have the same density of shell, as I'm only changing the appearance, not the material.
What about even closer to home? The thought came to her as she was brushing her hair out of her face. It was simple, but blue, pink, and purple streaks to match her hair seemed easy enough, and it was definitely a color scheme she had spent a lot of time thinking about for all sorts of reasons recently. That was a whole separate issue, that she hoped wouldn't influence her egg to break or something. Maybe the strength of her feelings about the bi-flag would help her, instead? She was prone to magical outbursts when she was emotional. Yay.
She took a moment to write out a few more differences and similarities and sketched a basic design: blue, pink, and purple streaks, with triangles outlined in white in a sort of repeating geometric design. It seemed fitting, considering what bi was, and what she . . . well it seemed fitting.
Evelyn was surprised to find a deep sense of irritation as she worked. Why was this something that was on her mind so much recently? Why couldn't she just focus on her studies and not be so worried about things that shouldn't matter right now anyway? She pulled out her wand, gripping it hard, and took a deep breath.
Relocating her egg so that it was on top of her paper, next to the design she was working from, Evelyn took another deep breath. "Aluminus," she whispered, doing her best to copy the motion that Professor Skies had used. Then she groaned.
Turning to her neighbor, she held up her piece of paper, now bright pink, with white lettering. It shimmered, a hint of foil plain in the new coloring. "Does this count for half credit do you think?" she asked.
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Evelyn Stones, Pecari
Something about rising from the dead?
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Hilda Hexenmeister, Pecari
May 02, 2019 4:33 PM
That would help; I think I may be killing us all by Hilda Hexenmeister, Pecari
Hilda entered the transfiguration room with little expectation of having a good day. She had gotten rained on when walking over to breakfast, and she was of the opinion that might actually be the morning’s highlight. Charms had not disabused her of the notion and she had little reason to think Transfiguration would be any different. The weather - rain notwithstanding - was getting nicer now and being stuck all day in classrooms and being talked at in English was getting old. It was still months away, but Hilda was totally ready for summer to start right now.Unfortunately, the calendar insisted it was still spring, and Hilda was more than a little mad at it for that. Stupid thing didn’t even have ducks on it this month, just little chicks.
She slumped into a seat and did not hide her grumpiness at being stuck inside. From her look out the window, it looked like the rain had stopped and it might be thinking of clearing up entirely. She thought she might skip lunch if it did, get outside, try to shake some of this cabin fever.
First though, she had to get through another transfiguration lesson. As usual, she didn’t understand most of the lecture, but she recognized the word ‘chocolate’ and she was sure she heard ‘grumps’ in somebody’s response to a question, and Professor Skies seemed happy with that answer, which made her wonder if the classroom consensus was that the winter had been too long and chocolate was necessary to combat the months of being cooped up indoors.
Quidditch practice in bitter cold weather did not count as a reprieve.
The flow of English from the front of the room ended, only to be picked up by a quieter onslaught of English from her peers. Lecture was over. Classwork had begun.
Fortunately, she had picked up on the important cues that told her what she should be doing even without understanding a word of the lecture. Professor Skies had demonstrated turning an egg into a foil wrapped candy, and she had an egg sitting in front of her, so obviously that was what they were supposed to be doing.
Letters on the board informed her of the incantation, and Transfiguration was all about visualization, so it was a bit more forgiving than Charms if she didn’t get the incantation just right. Sure, there might be some side effects like a bad smell or a small fire, but usually the transfiguration itself still worked, more or less.
Hilda pulled out a sheet of parchment and filled out a transfiguration table - in German, of course - which noted that the shape and size would remain unchanged, but the shell would become foil and the inside chocolate. She decided to keep things simple and not try to fill it with caramel or anything fancy like that.
She wasn’t entirely sure if she knew how to transfigure taste, but doubted Professor Skies would be testing that part too much. As long as it looked and felt like chocolate it would probably be fine. Besides, Gamp’s Law meant it would still essentially be a hardboiled egg for all nutritious purposes. You can’t create food with magic, after all.
She kind of wished she had the English to raise her hand and ask if this would work to turn broccoli into chocolate so it could taste good but still have all the nutritional benefits of a vegetable.
Maybe Heinrich would know. She’d ask him later.
For her foil design - being extra creative in decorative flourishes was a grade saver that did not make up for how badly she did on in class tests and quizzes where she couldn’t ask for translation help but it did at least mitigate the damage - she decided on swirly pattern of pastel colors, which she sketched out in the box for appearance differences.
She was still working on the finer details when the girl next to her said something in English. She was holding up a paper that had turned to foil instead of her egg. Hilda covered her mouth as a small involuntary giggle escaped. “You get small points?” she guessed, hoping she was correctly translating the older girl’s expression and tone of mixed dismay and hope, if not her words. “I try.”
She looked over her notes one more time, then lifted her wand over her egg and attempted the spell. There was immediately a puff of yellow smoke and the horrible sulfuric stench of rotten egg.
Hilda waved her hand rapidly in front of her nose and gagged a little. “Ugh! Das ist schrecklich!”
OOC: For anyone trying to find ‘grumps’ in Selina’s lecture, Hilda misheard ‘Gamp’s’. Also google translate tells me ‘das ist schrecklich!’ means ‘that is awful!’
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Hilda Hexenmeister, Pecari
That would help; I think I may be killing us all
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Evelyn Stones
May 02, 2019 8:29 PM
Nooooo by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn felt instantly dumb for her initial comment to her classmate when she realized which classmate she'd spoken to. She was usually so thoughtful about the students in her classes that didn't speak English as a first language, and made a point of not rambling off nonsensically when she said hi to them. She wondered, now, whether that meant she was obsessing over the very things they were trying to put aside, but she'd seen Hilda with her little card deck out before, advertising that she didn't speak English much, and few people were so blatantly stubborn as this girl. So Evelyn pushed aside her worries."It smells like egg, though!" Evelyn said when an obnoxious smell erupted from the younger student's attempt. "I think you aged it."
When the air cleared, partly due to her hand waving, Evelyn smiled. "I'm terrible at transfiguration," she told her partner in a low voice. "Honestly, I'm the worst. At least we don't have to change the whole egg. If it weren't impossible anyway, I'm sure we'd have to try."
Leaning forward to look at Hilda's design, Evelyn again held up her foiled paper. "I like that," she said. "I'd show you mine, but . . . you know."
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Evelyn Stones
Nooooo
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