Declan Chatterjee
September 27, 2006 3:41 PM
First lesson: 1st and 2nd years! by Declan Chatterjee
Declan could only imagine, he reflected as the first students began to trickle into class, just what the first and second years thought of the classroom itself. Every centimeter of the walls that wasn’t hidden by windows, doors, or bookshelves was plastered with posters of stars, comets, nebulae, planets, and diagrams, both Muggle and magical. The ceiling had been enchanted to show the night sky all day—at the moment, it displayed the typical January constellations. On each desk lay a cut-out of one of the eight extraterrestrial planets.Soon the chairs were mostly filled and the room was full of the typical pre-class chatter, and the young professor moved away from his desk and towards the door. One last late student stumbled in, mumbling excuses before Declan could close the door and begin the lesson. He tutted good-naturedly.
“Let’s try to be on time, shall we?” he asked the class as a whole. He clapped his hands together, then. “Well then, as we’re all here, let’s get started. I’m Declan Chatterjee, your new Astronomy professor—you can call me Professor Deck, if you like. As I understand it, Professor Dione left off with the solar system, correct?” he looked to the second years for affirmation. “Well, we’ll cover a bit of that in the beginning, just to put the first years up on the same footing as you astronomical veterans. You may all notice a vaguely circular image on your desk, and some of you may have correctly conjectured that that is, in fact a planet.”
He smiled at them. “Now, those of you who keep up with Muggle news—and I’d suggest you do, at least Muggle astronomical advances, as we will be discussing them in this class—may have heard that their classification system no longer has room for Pluto as a planet. In this class, we will be treating Pluto as a planet, simply because the magical planetary classification system differs wildly from that used by Muggles. So ‘My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas’ will still serve you well in my class.
“For this lesson I would like you to group up according planet—therefore, Mars with Mars, Uranus with Uranus, and the like—and compose a list of everything you know about said planet. These can be scientific facts, Muggle or magical, or mythological stories associated with your planet, or magical properties it might have—anything and everything is fair game. The group that knows the most about their planet will get a reward at the end of class. Does everyone understand? …Good. Now, get started!” he made a little shooing gesture with his hands and grinned at the scraping of chairs and babble of voices that ensued. This teaching thing really was quite fun.
OOC: Hop to! I’d like to have someone do each of the planets—let’s not have ten people on Venus and neglect poor Neptune. And keep in mind that Earth was not one of the options. Other than that, you know the drill: a good length (at least two decent-sized paragraphs), and keep it realistic!
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Subthreads: Mars by Saul Pierce with Professor Deck, Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya), Echo Elms, Elly Eriksson, Anonymous, the girl EE
I like Pluto by Grail Markner with Leo (and just a little Gil), Nikki Ramirez, Leo (and a little Professor Deck)
Venus over here! by Elly Eriksson with Caedence redoak, Elly
Neptune by Echo Elms with Saul
Jupiter by Eavan Valentine with Gil Idoya, Eavan, Leo
Mercury Group by Helena Layne with Devian Dupree, Devian
Saturn by Ginger Silverstein with Amber Carey, Adam Brockert
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Declan Chatterjee
First lesson: 1st and 2nd years!
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Declan Chatterjee
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5
Saul Pierce
September 27, 2006 4:43 PM
Mars by Saul Pierce
When Saul entered the first lesson of Astronomy, he also led in as many of the Pecari first years as he'd been able to find in the Commonroom before they had to leave to make it on time. He'd left a little earlier than he would have if he'd been going by himself because he walked slower when going backwards like a proper tour guide does. As it was halfway through the year, he no longer pointed out any of the landmarks they passed, but he did talk about Dione, various rumours he'd heard and made up about why she had left and wasn't replaced until halfway through the year, and even a small bit about the subject material.Consequently, none of his tour group would be surprised when, a few minutes later, the new teacher would tell them that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore according to the muggles. At least, they would, if they'd been able to figure out that "Oh! And did you guys hear that Mickey's dog got lost? You know, I always wondered why a mouse had a pet dog anyway. Shouldn't he have been using Mickey as a chew toy or something? Speaking of chew toys..." actually meant that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore. He'd meant to clarify the statement, but he'd distracted himself before he got around to it.
By the time he'd gotten them to the classroom, he'd completely forgotten he'd been engimatic about anything, so he just swept his arms wide, announced "Here we are, Astronomy!" and instructed them all to find seats. He took a moment to look up at the ceiling and wondered if that was new, because he didn't remember it from last year and he was pretty sure he should have. It looked cool.
Then he looked down at the desks and saw they all had planets on them. Noticing the two nearest places had a Saturn and a Jupiter (two of the more recognizable planets) he figured each seat had a different one. He moved around them, looking for one with Earth, but came up empty. Lacking an Earth seat, he instead picked one with a red planet that wasn't Jupiter. Mars.
Because even if Mars didn't have any candy bars on it, at least it had candy bars named after it.
When the teacher started the lesson, Saul grinned at the guy's name. Chatterjee. He wanted to be called Deck for some reason, but Chatterjee was just so much better. Now that was a name that stood out. Pierce was so boring. He wondered if he could change his name to Chatterjee. Was stealing someone's name plaigerism? Copywrite infringement? Saul would have to ask Aunt Regina when he went home for the summer.
Except he was one of the few Pierces left in the family. So he probably wouldn't make it a legal change, just use it as a stage name or something.
The word Pizzas made him snap back to attention, but he had no idea at all why the man had mentioned them. Something about serving them in the class and then he was talking about the day's lesson. Then it all crystalized when he said 'The group that knows the most about their planet will get a reward at the end of class.'
Pizza! The winning group would get served pizza! Saul perked up and sincerely hoped it would be pepperoni. He was so going to win. There was lots of stuff he knew about Mars. Like, candy bars! And that's where men were from. And some dead people used to think he was a God of War or something. And Duck Dodgers from the 24½th Century did battle there or something. And Marvin the Martian was from there. And some guy from the Justice League.
And lots of other things. He wrote all that down on a piece of parchment using a ball point pen, adding at the end more pointless facts that were mostly intended just to fill out in volume what they lacked in substance. Chatterjee said the most facts, after all. So the following statements qualified as facts: it was a planet, it was 4th from the sun, it was round, it was rocky, it was red, it might have once had water, it was spelt M-A-R-S, it was next to the asteroid belt, it was after Earth, it was before Jupiter, it's position in the sky counted as an astrological event, there was no pizza on it, there were no people on it, there was a rover on it.
He paused after that one, and decided he should probably add: there are no dogs on it, not even ones named Rover or Pluto.
By then he was out of space on his paper so he figured that was a good start and maybe having more partners could help him brainstorm more ideas. So he stood up and started looking for the other Martians. "People of Mars! Where are you?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
1
Saul Pierce
Mars
82
Saul Pierce
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5
Professor Deck
October 04, 2006 1:38 PM
Making the rounds... by Professor Deck
So far, his class was a bona fide success. Declan leaned back against his desk, arms folded across his chest, and observed them with a fond smile for a while; he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed working with kids. A portrait placed discreetly in one corner--that of a red-headed man--caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Declan glanced at it; Michael's portrait grinned at him, one eyebrow raised as if to say, Told you so. He'd always been trying to convince Deck to quit BAMA and take on a teaching position. Deck smiled back at the portrait, winked, and pushed himself away from the desk to make the rounds.The groups were all hard at work, though of course there were the expected unrelated conversations peppered through. None of them were too distracting, and most of the students were doing their work as well, so he didn't bother reprimanding them--though he was tempted to when he passed a pair of rather uncomfortable looking girls he dimly recognized as Pecaris, who were having a rather tense conversation. They soon settled down, though, so he moved on.
He passed the girls he'd seen during the snowball fight--Grail Markner and Nikki Ramirez. He smiled at them as he passed, but they were both hard at work with another boy, who, if Declan wasn't completely mistaken, had a twin brother on the other side of the room. He passed by the other groups, occasionally stopping to offer a comment or suggestion, before coming across one boy--a second year, he thought--who seemed to be lacking a group.
"How's it coming, mate?" Declan asked, stopping by the boy's desk and crossing his arms as he peered down at the composed list. It was quite prodigious... and quite amusing. He coughed to cover a laugh. "Ambitious, are you? I'm not one for stifling creativity, Mr..." he waited for the boy to provide his name, then continued. "But I'm afraid 'there is no pizza on Mars' isn't quite what I was looking for. Let's try to stick to the facts, shall we?"
Bonus points for ingenuity, though, he added mentally, stifling a very unprofessional grin. Michael would've liked this kid.\n\n
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Professor Deck
Making the rounds...
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Professor Deck
0
5
Pierce, Saul Pierce
October 04, 2006 5:29 PM
Mars is red because of all the tomato sauce by Pierce, Saul Pierce
The class appeared sadly lacking in Martians. He'd seen groups for the big red planet Jupiter, for Mercury and Venus, for Saturn, and even found Echo sitting alone and unloved with Neptune, but there were, as far as Saul could find, no other people of Mars. He'd found a few empty desks with Mars pictures on them and figured his group was pretty much non-existant except for him.He had just made it back to his seat to tackle the assignment alone when he was interrupted by the teacher. At the question of how it was coming, Saul turned his list so that it was right side up for the man to read it. "Got one page done, but can't find anybody else doing Mars, so I was about to start a new page by myself."
He fell silent as Chatterjee read through what Saul had written (which was kind of impressive given the quality of Saul's handwriting). He grinned in pride as he was deemed 'ambitious' and 'creative', then was prompted for his name.
Anticipating the pizza in his near future, Saul grinned and answered, "Pierce," then because Simon was a freak and had made it impossible for Saul to leave an introduction like that, he added, "Saul Pierce," with the proper intonations to suggest he had answered Bond, James Bond.
Chatterjee's next words, though, stunned him. "But I'm afraid 'there is no pizza on Mars' isn't quite what I was looking for. Let's try to stick to the facts, shall we?"
Surely, he misheard or misunderstood. "Wait, wait, that's not a fact?" Because facts were true and not facts were not true, so if that wasn't a fact . . . "Is there pizza on Mars, then?"
He was totally moving to Mars when he grew up.\n\n
1
Pierce, Saul Pierce
Mars is red because of all the tomato sauce
82
Pierce, Saul Pierce
0
5
Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)
October 04, 2006 8:30 PM
...I honestly don't know what to say to that. by Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)
Well. That was unexpected. Declan gazed--stared, really--at the boy for another few seconds before realizing how incredibly rude and unprofessional that was, and clearing his throat. But really--how was he supposed to reply to that? This boy... Pierce... well, that explained something at least. He must be related to the mad groundskeeper who thought he was the next Errol Flynn.He was saved from having to answer when a scowling boy appeared at his elbow and thrust a couple of parchments out at him. "We're done, sir," the boy said in a lightly-accented voice, obviously upset about something. Declan took the papers and scanned the top of the page--Pluto. That was the group with the two Aladren girls, wasn't it?
"Thank you, Mr...."
"Leonardo Idoya III," the boy said, his bizarrely mismatched eyes truculent and challenging. Declan barely refrained from raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Thank you, Mr. Idoya. I'm sure you've heard by now that it's school policy for all students to wear regulation robes in class at all times?" he said. It wasn't that he minded--and besides, the boy was wearing smart trousers, a pair of dress shoes, and a white button-up shirt along with a tie in what Declan recognized as Crotalus colors.
"Mar--Grail was cold," the boy said after a moment, and then turned on his heel and strode back to his group.
Declan looked after him for a moment, stifling the urge to shake his head in disbelief. He'd have to keep an eye on this 'Leonardo Idoya III.' He was a little puzzle altogether. But for now, he turned back to 'Pierce, Saul Pierce.'
"No, there's no pizza on Mars, Mr. Bond," Declan said with a small, amused smile. "I should have been more explicit. I would like scientific or mythical facts, please, as well as any known magical properties you might have heard of. I'm afraid they'll be the only answers accepted as legitimate." He gave the boy an apologetic smile and started to move back towards his desk to deposit the papers the Idoya boy had given him.\n\n
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Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)
...I honestly don't know what to say to that.
0
Professor Deck (and a cameo courtesy of Leo Idoya)
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5
Echo Elms
October 04, 2006 9:18 PM
Neptune List by Echo Elms
Echo gazed uncertainly around the room, still looking for elusive Neptuners, and suddenly Professor Deck honed in on Saul and was looking over his sheet. Was it already answer checking time? He hadn't even taken out a sheet of paper."I would like scientific or mythical facts, please, as well as any known magical properties you might have heard of. I'm afraid they'll be the only answers accepted as legitimate," Echo overheard Professor Deck telling Saul. Ah! Now he knew what was going on.
Echo pulled out his own sheet of paper and paper and started his list.
"Neptune," he wrote in big block letters at the top. Underneath he made two columns (one for planet stuff and one for myth stuff) and continued in some smaller breed of writing vaguely related to cursive.
Planet Stuff.
has no life
has no water
furthest planet from the sun (except Pluto which might be a planet but might be an asteroid field).
in our solar system.
orbits the sun.
next to Pluto.
next to Uranus.
Myth Stuff
god of ocean
trident (not gum)
looks like a sea monster
chariot pulled by seahorses
Neptune has another name in Greek but I don't remember what it is (P-something?).
Jove is his king (Jove's Greek name is Zeus).
Juno is his queen (Juno is Hera).
Neptune is probably related to Juno or Jove.
If Echo was going to win a pizza -- Saul was sure it was a pizza -- he definitely needed more than that. Where was a group when you needed one?\n\n
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Echo Elms
Neptune List
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Saul
October 04, 2006 9:21 PM
And the ice caps at the poles are mozzarella by Saul
Saul was seriously disappointed. There were no people on Mars, he knew that, so, logically, there shouldn't have been pizza, but the professor had said it wasn't a fact . . . So much for living on Mars. Oh, well, the atmosphere wasn't breathable anyway.He took out another sheet of parchment and looked over at Echo. He still appeared to have no group. Saul fought his greed and decided that, yes, they could both work on both planets. He knew a whole lot more about Mars anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be purposely cheating Echo out of answers so that the Mars list would be longer.
"Hey, Echo," he called for his neighbor's attention while the professor returned to the front of the classroom with a non-Pecari first year's list. "Still want to work together on both planets?"
He took a moment to cross out the pizza line on his first list, then pushed it over toward the younger kid. "Here's what I've got on Mars so far, see if it helps you out at all." He wasn't sure if the dogs line counted as a scientific fact or not, so he kept it in there just in case. He should probably cross out the one about how to spell Mars, too, but Chatterjee hadn't specifically stated that one wasn't acceptable like he had about the pizzas.
Giving Echo a chance to look at that and finish whatever thoughts he had been so diligently writing when Saul interrupted him, he titled his currently blank parchment "Mars Page 2" and started listed out a few more ideas that had occurred to him while he walked around looking for other Martians.
Some people think martians are little green men.
There is an atmosphere but people can't breathe it.
It's smaller than Earth.
It's bigger than Pluto and Mercury.
It's lots smaller than Jupiter and Saturn because it doesn't have gas.
He stopped there, and peeked over at Echo's list. "Hey, is Neptune a gas giant like Saturn and Jupiter? You can say it has gas so it's bloated."\n\n
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Saul
And the ice caps at the poles are mozzarella
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Saul
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5
Echo Elms
October 04, 2006 9:38 PM
The groupless team up by Echo Elms
"Yeah, cool," Echo said and pulled his chair over by Saul. Taking a glance down Saul's list, he didn't see much of anything he could add to it. "Maybe you could say Mars is the only planet people have been to? I mean, like, not people people, but the rover is kinda like people, right?"Inspired by Saul's list, he added, Air is not breathable, to his own and slid it over.
"I don't know if Neptune is a gas giant. I thought it was small, because it's far away like Pluto, but then why'd they call them giants? The picture sort of looks like gas, though, right?"\n\n
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Echo Elms
The groupless team up
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Saul
October 04, 2006 10:08 PM
Neptune and Mars by Saul
Saul looked over the Neptune list Echo showed him and read through it without finding anything he was sure was wrong. To his words though, Saul shook his head, "No, I'm pretty sure all of the planets except Pluto that come after Mars are big gas giants. I mean, Jupiter and Saturn are way bigger, but Neptune and Uranus will eat a couple Earths for breakfast. That's one of the reasons why Pluto was so weird for a long time, cuz all the other rocky ones were close to the sun and that one's just out there."A thought niggled at his mind and he looked over Echo's list and he pointed out the line that said Neptune was the furthest except for Pluto. "Neptune is the one that crosses orbits with Pluto, you can put that down, too."
"Oh, and lots of moons. The big ones all have a lot of moons. Does Mars have any moons? I can't remember." He felt like he should know that, but he was blanking. If Echo didn't know, he'd just say that it did have a few and hope he guessed right.
He frowned at his partially filled page, knowing there had to be more he could add to it. Magical properties. Well, if he was a girl he'd know a whole bunch of Astrology stuff about all the planets, but fortune telling wasn't really something the guy California Pierces did much of. If he could just remember something of what the girls were getting taught, though. Maria had asked him to help her study for one of Regina's tests, and Saul had known the stuff nearly as well as she had by the time they were done. He hadn't retained it very long, but it must still be in his head somewhere.
Astrology aspects: energy, strength, courage, new life
Mars rules physical force
Mars is subliminal, not intelligent
Mars is masculine
Saul sat back. That was all his memory was going to cough up for him. Neptune was harder, though, since that wasn't something most fortune tellers dealt with for daily horoscopes. "Neptune moves through the zodiac signs very slowly. It's a generational marker and doesn't influence daily events according to astological theory."
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Saul
Neptune and Mars
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Saul
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5
Echo Elms
October 05, 2006 5:20 PM
Wow, you're smart. by Echo Elms
Echo added Saul's suggestions to his list.Crosses Pluto's orbit.
Moves through sky crazy slow.
More than one moon.
He slid the paper so Saul could see, "Put what I put for the moon. Maybe it's vague enough." He tried to remember about pictures he'd seen from the Rover, but all he could remember was all the red sand or clay or whatever it was. "And maybe add something about reddish orange sand."
The Mars list was looking really good. He particularly liked the one about the Mars candy bar. How come he couldn't think of anything like that for Neptune?
Echo looked at the ceiling thinking about Saul's magical properties. Energy was a magical element. Neptune. Neptune. Neptune.
"Well," he said, "it's blue. And so is water. And Neptune is the god of the sea. Probably its element is water. Neptune is a male god so it's probably male, too. Unless it's not. Water is soft and fluid, which would be feminine. Maybe it's, like, both?"
He took the paper back and scribbled:
element is water.
masculine feminine balance.
That felt right. His dad would approve. "I keep thinking there's some character somewhere or something called Neptune and I just can't think of it."\n\n
21
Echo Elms
Wow, you're smart.
93
Echo Elms
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5
Saul Pierce
October 09, 2006 10:54 AM
I am smart. A smart alec. by Saul Pierce
Saul followed Echo's suggestion and wrote out 'More than one moon' and 'The ground is covered with reddish dirt' at the bottom of his list. He frowned at the list while Echo regarded the ceiling, trying to think of something else, but he was pretty much dry now.Echo started talking about, but Saul had no idea what he was on about but the kid seemed not to need his input as he started writing more stuff on his sheet.
Saul was on the verge of another Martian epiphany when his train of thought was cut off by Echo saying, "I keep thinking there's some character somewhere or something called Neptune and I just can't think of it."
Saul racked his brain, suddenly feeling like he must be right but he came up blank. He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't think of one. If Simon were here, he might know, if it was a famous play or a movie, but I don't remember. Maybe Shakespeare mentioned it?" Neptune seemed like the sort of thing Shakespeare might have put into at least one of his plays or poems.
He probably mentioned Mars, too, come to think of it. He wasn't really sure about that, though, but maybe if he put it vaguely enough it would count. 'Mentioned in a number of literary classics' he wrote down on the next line. "Maybe use something like that," he suggested to Echo showing him what he'd just written.
He sat back in his seat and frowned unhappily at his list, which wasn't quite done yet with its second page. "I'm running out of ideas here." He made that sound like a critical failing of creativity, which it was.\n\n
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Saul Pierce
I am smart. A smart alec.
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Saul Pierce
0
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Echo Elms
October 09, 2006 11:47 AM
Hey Alec, can I call you Alec? by Echo Elms
Nothing else was coming. Echo jotted Saul's, "mentioned in many classics" on his sheet and held his head in his hands for a moment of hard thinking. His brain was starting to hurt."I'm done," he declared, and pushed his sheet to the center of the table. The moment he did he grabbed it back, "Posiden! Saul! It was Posiden!" He scribbled that in it's proper spot and added the other thing he remembered about Posiden, "Brother of Zeus."
Now he really was done. He wasn't going to be able to seriously compete with the groups that had three people in them anyway. Saul seemed to have come to a dead end too.
He definitely needed to stop kicking his chair legs. Outside would be nice. If he were at home he'd have convinced his mom by now he needed to be out with his trees. Of course, this past break at home his mom practically had to throw him out the door to get him to leave. "Hey Saul, what do you do in the summer?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
21
Echo Elms
Hey Alec, can I call you Alec?
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Elly Eriksson
October 11, 2006 5:38 AM
Can I join your group? by Elly Eriksson
Fed up of Caedence’s open hostility and dangerous mood swings, Elly collected her bag, stood up, and left Caedence to work on her own. She was more than a little annoyed. She thought they’d finally managed to settle their differences, and then Caedence had started bullying her for information she didn’t even know, and all for a stupid astronomy lesson. It was ridiculous. In fact, fighting with Caedence was ridiculous, because Elly never had the inclination to finish an argument, so they spent a lot of time avoiding each other, which, seeing as they shared a dormitory, was just silly.Elly visually scoured the classroom for a smaller group that might be grateful for an extra person, and one that didn’t involve having to work with people who were likely to bite her head off (or any other part of her anatomy, for that matter). She saw Echo and Saul sitting together, and inwardly smiled in relief. Saul was undoubtedly unusual, but he certainly wasn’t going to start getting annoyed if she didn’t know anything, and as one of her best friends, Echo wouldn’t either. Elly headed over to them, dragging a spare chair up to their desk. She slumped into the chair and dumped her bag on the ground next to it.
“Hey,” she said, with none of her usual enthusiasm. “What are you guys up to?”
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Elly Eriksson
Can I join your group?
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Elly Eriksson
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Echo Elms
October 11, 2006 1:30 PM
Sure, why not? by Echo Elms
"Hey, Elly," Echo said, happily giving up on failing to make small talk with Saul. "I'm Neptune, and Saul's Mars. We didn't get real groups so we're sort of working together. We're done." He slid his sheet over to Elly to let her look if she wanted. Done, done, and done. He never wanted to think about Neptune or Mars again.Elly seemed to be here to stay. She had a chair and bag and everything. Echo glanced back at her former group, saw Caedence and decided he didn't really want to know. He reached for something to say that wouldn't make her think about it. A happy Elly was ... Elly.
"I'm thinking of going to the library after class. I'm looking for a different transfigurations book," well that sounded boring. He tried to make it more interesting, "Like transfig for dummies or something. Anyway, I've only been there once and they've got to have some crazy stuff in there. Want to come?"
Well, it probably just wasn't meant to sound interesting.\n\n
21
Echo Elms
Sure, why not?
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Anonymous
October 12, 2006 7:45 AM
Re: Sure, why not? by Anonymous
Elly quickly realised that Echo and Saul didn’t even have the same planet, so it wasn’t as if she was joining the wrong group, which made her feel better. She had a quick look over the list that Echo passed her. At first she was impressed with how long it was, but as she read over some of the ‘facts’, she couldn’t help but smile. She began to wonder whether some of Saul the Guide’s more distinctive traits were starting to rub off on Echo.Echo asked if Elly would like to go with him to the library after the lesson. Elly brightened a little more. “Sure,” she replied. “I haven’t been to the library much, yet. It’ll be good to look around. Besides,” she lowered her voice and leaned closer to Echo, “I want to look up sticking charms.” She smiled her most mischievous smile and winked at him before leaning back to her original position, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
She was amazed at how much Caedence could pull her down, and Echo could pull her back up again. Twice since midterm Elly had fallen out with Caedence and been cheered up by Echo. He was definitely a good person to have around – it almost made Elly feel glad she’d spilt her juice on him at the opening feast.
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Anonymous
Re: Sure, why not?
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Anonymous
0
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Elly
October 12, 2006 7:47 AM
Oops... try again. by Elly
Elly quickly realised that Echo and Saul didn’t even have the same planet, so it wasn’t as if she was joining the wrong group, which made her feel better. She had a quick look over the list that Echo passed her. At first she was impressed with how long it was, but as she read over some of the ‘facts’, she couldn’t help but smile. She began to wonder whether some of Saul the Guide’s more distinctive traits were starting to rub off on Echo.Echo asked if Elly would like to go with him to the library after the lesson. Elly brightened a little more. “Sure,” she replied. “I haven’t been to the library much, yet. It’ll be good to look around. Besides,” she lowered her voice and leaned closer to Echo, “I want to look up sticking charms.” She smiled her most mischievous smile and winked at him before leaning back to her original position, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
She was amazed at how much Caedence could pull her down, and Echo could pull her back up again. Twice since midterm Elly had fallen out with Caedence and been cheered up by Echo. He was definitely a good person to have around – it almost made Elly feel glad she’d spilt her juice on him at the opening feast.
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Elly
Oops... try again.
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Elly
0
5
Saul
October 12, 2006 7:41 PM
EE + EE by Saul
Saul was a little surprised when he and Echo were joined by the other EE. Was she just now looking for her group? But no, it turned out that she was here more to socialize than to work on the assignment, which was totally fine with him because that meant that her group had come up dry as well. He carefully kept his own Mars sheet to himself because she didn't seem interested in helping them come up with more stuff and he wasn't giving away his ideas when there was a pizza for the winner.As the two EEs continued to talk though, Saul became aware that something very weird was happening right next to him. They were arranging a Library Date. He hadn't realized those existed outside of fiction. Really, who went to the library together? Saul wasn't sure he'd ever gone in there himself, alone or with a group. And for a date, especially, weren't there better places to go? Didn't Elly even have a swing outside? That was so much cooler than a room full of books.
He wasn't going to tell them what to do though. It was their business if they wanted to go into that place of boredom. He was curious though, "What do you need sticking charms for?" That sounded interesting even if the method of dicovering them was no fun.\n\n
1
Saul
EE + EE
82
Saul
0
5
the girl EE
October 15, 2006 12:17 PM
What's wrong with the library? by the girl EE
“What do you need sticking charms for?”The question wasn’t from Echo, but from Saul. Elly tilted her head a little as she looked at him. She decided it was safe to tell Saul. He had, after all, helped in her swing-building mission earlier in the year.
“A little project I’m working on,” she said, smiling. “Call it a form of light entertainment.”
Elly chose not to say anything more – it might ruin the surprise she had planned. If people knew about it, it wouldn’t be half so much fun. Though it wasn’t too difficult to put two and two together – what other light entertainment would involve the use of sticking charms? Still, she wasn’t going to say anything else, anyway. All she had to do was master how to do the charm itself, which couldn’t be too difficult, even with her shoddy wand work; it was supposed to be an easy spell. She had decided the common room was the best place to pull off the prank, and she was planning on asking Echo and Meredith to help her, but only if they wanted to. She didn’t want to get her friends into trouble.
Elly looked at Saul, and, suddenly remembering he was a second year, considered the possibility that he might know something about the requisite spell. “Do you know anything about sticking charms?” Elly asked him.
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0
the girl EE
What's wrong with the library?
0
the girl EE
0
5
Saul
October 16, 2006 1:19 PM
It has books in it. by Saul
Saul was intrigued. If she'd just wanted to put up some new posters on her wall, she'd have said so. Instead, she was being all mysterious, which suggested to Saul at least that she wasn't intending to use them for completely legal purposes.His first thought was that she wanted to put all of Michael's models into an interesting scene on the ceiling before he remembered that she wasn't a second year boy and therefore probably hadn't seen Michael's collection. He wondered how painfully he would die if he tried it himself and if it was worth the certain death that had been promised against anyone who touched the things.
He'd think on it later, while he was trying to sleep, when he could map out in his mind what they'd all look like up there.
In the meantime, he had a question to answer. "I live around muggles so we're not allowed to use magic for stuff like that," he told her. "Naturally, all of us with any magical talent learn how to do a whole slew of charms where using a simple thumbtack would be far less effort."
He grinned, giving both EEs a chance to appreciate that bit of irony, then asked for more specifics, "Looking for any particular type of sticking spell? I've got ones that simulate tacks, glue, and evaporated soda. I also learned the one that's like a wad of chewed gum, but I'm not very good at it yet. There's a stronger one for bigger things that would require nails or screws, but it's more advanced and nobody would teach it to me."\n\n
1
Saul
It has books in it.
82
Saul
0
5
Echo Elms
October 16, 2006 4:47 PM
Books are cool. by Echo Elms
Excellent. It was a date. Well, not a date-date, but a pre-planned time to hang out. And he'd worried Elly might think it was boring. Saul would. In hindsight, he felt sort of bad inviting Elly in front of Saul -- but he'd assumed Saul wouldn't be interested. Or, if he was, he'd get them kicked out by being too loud. But now he'd probably have to ask him too, or it'd be mean.Sticking charms. He blinked and tried to catch up. He'd sort of nodded and tuned out the first time Elly said the word because he had no clue what she was talking about. Saul seemed to know, but then, he was Saul so he always seemed to know even when he didn't.
The only secret thing he could think of for sticking charms was posting dumb notes on people's back. Things like "kick me," "tackle me," and "Echo Base" (first hand experience -- at least those Star Wars Freaks were creative). He wasn't going be involved in something like that, but he was fairly sure Elly wouldn't either.
"Or," he put in when Saul had finished his spiel, "I have masking tape, Scotch tape, and camoflage duct tape." That the tape might be more a more reliable option than anything Saul could teach her was just and opinion, so he kept it to himself.\n\n
21
Echo Elms
Books are cool.
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Elly
October 17, 2006 7:09 AM
Well I wouldn't go that far. by Elly
Elly listened to Saul and Echo offering their many varied solutions to her need for a sticking charm, and quickly realised that she was going to have to explain herself further; they seemed to be under the impression she wanted to put up posters or something else equally menial. Not wanting to sound ungrateful for their suggestions, Elly laughed lightly. “Thanks, but I’m needing something a bit stronger.”She quickly glanced round them to see if anyone was listening, and leaned forward again to explain. “I want to stick everything in the common room. Everything – cushions, books, people’s bags… anything and everything. Not for long, just long enough for me to be greatly amused.” She grinned. “Imagine coming down before breakfast and not being able to move anything!” Mirth was already dancing in Elly’s eyes as she considered the prank. She didn’t want to upset anyone, but she had imagined the scenario, and every time had found it extremely amusing. She knew it was a bit immature, but the possibility that some poor student might have to explain to O’Leary they couldn’t hand in their DADA essay because it was stuck to the common room table was just too funny.
She became semi-serious for a moment. “You’ve got to promise not to tell anyone, though. It just won’t work if people know about it, it’s got to be a surprise. Promise you won’t tell?”
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0
Elly
Well I wouldn't go that far.
0
Elly
0
5
Echo Elms
October 17, 2006 12:29 PM
My lips are sealed. by Echo Elms
"I won't tell," Echo promised. At first he thought they were going to reverse gravity in the room and make everything stick to the wall or ceiling or something like that -- which would have been awesome, but Elly's idea was a lot less complicated. Come to think of it, complicated probably would have been bad if they were going to do more than just think about it.They. Was he going to be sticking stuff too, then? If Elly did it all herself, then she might really get in trouble. Sticking (ha!) together would spread blame around. And if it was the common room, it wasn't like anyone was going to get hurt or be targetted. Probably the older students would know how to unstick stuff anyway.
Fully convinced now that it wasn't a mean idea, Echo added, "I'll help if you want."\n\n
21
Echo Elms
My lips are sealed.
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Saul
October 17, 2006 1:25 PM
Sealed? Doesn't that hurt? by Saul
Saul nodded slowly and thoughtfully. They'd probably get in huge trouble if they were found out, but that was hardly a deterrent. Neither did he feel any sympathy for anyone who left their stuff out in the common room. As far as he was concerned, at that point, it was public property. He'd gotten more quills that way than he'd ever bought. He also lost just about as many in the same fashion, but he wasn't too concerned about that.There was a Transfiguration textbook in the commonroom, too, that he was only about 40% sure was his. At least, it was the one he brought to class and nobody else seemed to be claiming it. That might have been enough to convince him it was his, except he didn't remember actually buying this year's transfiguration book. He made a note to self to bring it up to his room and officially claim it before Elly stuck it to the coffee table it normally resided on.
"Hmm," he said aloud, "The glue one might work for some of the smaller stuff like pens and things. But just a generic freeze stuff in place spell?" He shook his head. "Don't know anything like that off hand." Then his expression brightened as he thought of his default solution for when he didn't know something, "Simon might. I could ask him while you two have your library . . . thing." Not wanting to tip them off that he knew they were going out, in case Echo was courting her on the sly, Saul smoothly didn't say the word 'date'.\n\n
1
Saul
Sealed? Doesn't that hurt?
82
Saul
0
5
Elly
October 17, 2006 7:05 PM
You musn't take things so literally. by Elly
Elly was thrilled. Both Echo and Saul had promised not to tell anyone about the sticking idea, and Echo even offered to help. Elly beamed at him; she had hoped Echo and Meredith would join in.In addition, her explanation had encouraged Saul to think a bit more about practical spells, and once again considered asking the groundskeeper for advice. Elly thought it must be convenient to have an older relative at the school, and evidence so far had shown that Saul thought so, too.
Elly wasn’t sure quite what Saul meant by their ‘library thing’, though. It had been said in such a way that Elly thought maybe Saul had planned on saying something different but had changed his mind and said ‘library thing’ instead. They were just going to the library to take a look around and research sticking charms for a prank. What was so unusual about that?
“Thanks, guys,” Elly said, “it’ll be great to have your help. I’m going to ask Meredith, too, but I think that’s enough of us.” Elly didn’t want the teachers to find out who’d pulled the prank, so the fewer people who knew about it the better. It suddenly occurred to Elly that Simon was technically a teacher, and it might not be wise to ask him. She looked at Saul. “Is Simon safe to ask? You won’t get us into trouble, will you?” Saul was a nice guy, all right, but Elly wasn’t convinced he always thought about what he was saying before he opened his mouth. She wondered for a moment whether she should have said anything in front of him – he seemed a lot more likely than Echo to draw attention to their plans. Yet he might be enlisting the help they required... Elly shrugged mentally. It didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, after all.
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0
Elly
You musn't take things so literally.
0
Elly
0
5
Saul
October 17, 2006 9:33 PM
But it's funny by Saul
Saul blinked. He opened his mouth, but for once in his life, nothing came out of it. He blinked again. Sure, he'd known. Simon had started working at Sonora when Neil went to Salem. Saul had been nine. But somehow, he had never quite internalized that Simon was considered a grown-up here."Dang," he said in stunned amazement. "Simon's a staff member," he stated as if he'd just figured that out, which was more the truth of the case than not. "Guess I'm not asking him." His voice and shoulders both sagged in dejection at loosing this latest excuse to go bother Simon.
It wasn't so much that he thought Simon might turn him in as the fact that Simon was prone to tell stories. There was no guarantee that'd he'd hear about the culprits Professor Connell was looking for before launching into the next episode of 'What My Kid Cousin Asked Me About This Week' to that very same teacher. At which point he'd have a new story: 'What I Made My Kid Cousin Do At His Detention.'\n\n
1
Saul
But it's funny
82
Saul
0
5
Echo Elms
October 20, 2006 11:28 AM
Hey Elly, I started a library thread. (nm) by Echo Elms
21
Echo Elms
Hey Elly, I started a library thread. (nm)
93
Echo Elms
0
5