Professor McFarlan
September 23, 2007 3:46 PM
Astronomy - First Years by Professor McFarlan
Kathleen McFarlan grinned as she activated her beloved crystal. All the other classes were used to the miracle combination of magic and science that made its effects. First years were the only ones that would experience the awe of seeing it for the first time from now on. She hoped that even if they had older siblings who told them about it, the experience would be wonderful for them.The classroom didn’t look like a class room at all. Instead of desks and chairs, were comfortable recliners so they could gaze at the heavens without strain on their neck. Instead of for walls and a ceiling, the entire room gave the illusion of stepping into outer space. Below them floated Earth, orbited by its single satellite. The planets, stars, asteroids and moons all were in their proper places.
Dressed in emerald green robes that complimented her auburn hair and matched her eyes, Professor McFarlan stood near the door and greeted her First Year students with a welcoming smile. She assured the timid that yes, gravity still worked and helped the extremely nervous to a comfy chair. When everybody settled down, she signaled for their attention.
“Welcome to your first Astronomy class. My name is Professor McFarlan. Please assume that the usual expectations of behavior are expected here. You’ve heard the rules a time or two already, so I don’t believe I need to go over those, do I now.
“All of this is a replica of our home. The sun, moons, planets and stars are our neighbors. We are all part of a giant balancing act. Everything out there effects us physically and magically. If you can grasp that and use what is taught here, you will find that you magic works far more effectively. For instance, when Haley’s Comet visits us, you find that the Point Me spell doesn’t work and magical compasses go haywire. A potion begun during the new moon has greater strength than if one started it during any other phase.
“We shall begin with the basics.” Professor McFarlan crossed to her desk and touched the crystal with her wand. The stars faded out and replaced by an ethereal, rosy golden glow that hid what was ordinarily a barren class room. She opened a small chest and what appeared to be nine multicolored marbles of assorted sizes floated out and zoomed into a line down the middle of the classroom. These were followed by several bb sized objects which found their assigned marble and settled down into orbit. Another flick of the professor’s wand and the marbles and bb’s grew and grew until it became apparent to all that they were replicas of the planets and their moons. Earth was the size of a quaffle and Jupiter was equivalent to an over sized beach ball that people bounced around at outdoor concerts. Saturn’s rings glowed in a rainbow of colors. All were floating close enough to the ground so that even the shortest student could touch them.
“I would like you to pick three planets. You may chose any three but Earth and yes, because of its magical properties, Pluto is still considered a planet. You may work alone, in pairs or in small groups whatever you are comfortable with. You may walk around the models and touch them, just be gentle with them. I would like a paper telling my the name origins of your planets, list their satellites, describe their atmospheres, topography, and any other interesting features. I also would like any myths, legends, or superstitions involving your chosen planets that you may know.
“If you need me, feel free to raise your hand or come over to my desk and I’ll be happy to help. You may begin now.”
OOC: The usual drill. Two paragraphs minimum with lots of imagination. The more details the better. Feel free to impress me.
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Subthreads: Well, this was unexpected by Holly Greer with Liz Guthrie
Science with flare by Rilla White with Professor McFarlan, Cecily Smythe, Cecily
Poor Pluto... You shall be missed. by Renaye and Josh Warren with Lucie Dupree, Josh and Raye, Raye and Josh
And I thought starlabs were awesome. . . by Laurie Cider with Zane Cooper, Laurie
Just what my overactive imagination needed... by Gray Wright with Addie Laurent
How boring... by Chelsea Brockert
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Professor McFarlan
Astronomy - First Years
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Professor McFarlan
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Renaye and Josh Warren
September 25, 2007 6:14 AM
Poor Pluto... You shall be missed. by Renaye and Josh Warren
Renaye and Josh headed up to the Astronomy room, actually walking together this time. Renaye and Josh hadn't been able to spend a lot of time together because of homework and junk. It was nice to actually catch up."So," Renaye said, "What do you think--" but she stopped. They had just reached the door of the Astronomy room that seemed to open up into put space. Literally. Outer space! Josh stood in the doorway, his mouth slightly open. Renaye grinned over at him, saying in an exciteded whisper,
"How. cool. is. this?!" She took him by the arm and dragged him inside, despite his worried protests that they might fall through the floor. They dropped into two reclinersm, Raye twisting around to get the full view. Josh looked around quizically, intrigued by the room. It wasn't like any other classroom they had been in, that was for sure! Renaye reclined her seat, saying under breath, "Cool..."
Professor McFarlan, as she introduced herself, told them that she would like them to pick three planets. Pick three, and write about them. Josh turned to Renaye and she grinned back.
"Pluto."
"Jupiter."
"Mercury."
Well that was easy. Renaye hopped off her recliner and Josh looked around in case anyone wanted to join. Raye spotted his look and said to the room at large,
"Anyone need partners?"
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Renaye and Josh Warren
Poor Pluto... You shall be missed.
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Renaye and Josh Warren
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Lucie Dupree
September 25, 2007 10:46 PM
*Sings a sad tune* by Lucie Dupree
Even growing up in the world of magic, the Astronomy room was nonetheless impressive, as Lucie stepped into it. Eagerly, she made her way into one of the comfortable chairs, having to hop up a little to get into it. Settling in, her bag next to her, she pulled out the parchment her parents’ had purchased for school and a pen borrowed from a roommate. In neat print, with necessary hearts over each i, she began taking notes on what the professor was saying.Of course, it was hard to concentrate when she wanted to watch everything that was happening around her, but if she wanted the notes for later studies, she had to force herself. Though, the occasion ‘Ohs’ and ‘Ahs’ were worked in with everyone else’s. Her notes were as follows:
Astronomy
Sun, Moon, Stars create balancing act
Affects us physically and magically
Haley’s Comet means Point Me spell doesn’t work, Magical compasses don’t work
New Moon means stronger potions
--
Assignment: Paper on 3 planets: where the name came from, satellites, atmospheres, typography, and so on. Add in myths, legends, superstations.
Finished, Lucie was about to look for a group. After all, working with others was much more fun than working by oneself. Though, it seemed a group would find her, as a girl yelled out, ’Anyone need partners?’ Pushing up out of the chair, Lucie waved her hand, “I do!”
Making her way over, she flashed a brilliant grin to the other two students, her long blonde hair streaming behind, no longer in the ponytail it was in earlier that day. “Hi, I’m Lucie.” The last name not added, merely, because she never saw the point. Though, her parents were always telling her she should not only add her last name, but where they were from. Lucie would just grin and giggle. Silly parents.
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Lucie Dupree
*Sings a sad tune*
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Lucie Dupree
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Renaye and Josh Warren
September 30, 2007 3:19 PM
*plays violin* by Renaye and Josh Warren
OOC: I am so sorry about the long delay! Mahem in RL...Renaye and Josh looked around at the sound of someone responding to their partner recruit. Raye grinned at the girl and Josh gave a nod.
"All right," She said, "Come on over!"
The girl came over with a huge smile on her face. She had blonde hair, like Renaye. The girl introduced herself as Lucie. Josh offered a small smile and Renaye grinned back.
"Nice to meet you," she said, "I'm Renaye and this is my brother Josh. I hope you don't mind if we picked planets already?"
Josh pulled out a piece of paper. They would have to write down what they knew about the planets and stuff. Josh looked over at the 'planets' floating in the classroom.
"Raye," he said, writing down Pluto and Jupiter. "Let's do Mars rather than Mercury, okay?"
Renaye nodded and looked to Lucie. "Is that okay? We have Pluto, Jupiter, and Mars, then. Josh likes to know as much as he can about his home planet," she said, ruffling his black hair. He gave a small groan of protest and swatted her hand away. Lucie was going to think he was weird. And he hadn't even said anything. That was one of the reasons why he didn't say much. The less you say, the less likely you are going to be embarrassed.
"So," Renaye said, "You know anyone at Sonora? We have a cousin who goes here, but that's it."
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Renaye and Josh Warren
*plays violin*
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Renaye and Josh Warren
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Lucie
September 30, 2007 4:48 PM
We could so start a musical group :P by Lucie
OOC: It's no problem.BIC:
“Good to meet you two, too,” she said with another grin over the word silliness. “I don’t mind at all.” She was about ask which ones when Josh filled in the blanks. Pluto, Mars, and Jupiter, but gave a small giggle over the way Renaye teased Josh. She teased her brother all the time. She tried to tease Danae, but she was just way too cranky.
Curling up near the twins, she continued the conversation, her imagination starting, “I think it would be fun to be from another planet, but living on Earth. You could totally be like an observer and study the strange habits of people.” Realizing, she hadn’t answered Renaye’s question, she abruptly switched topics, as she began counting on her fingers, “I have two sibs and three cousins. Chris and Nicoletta are fifth years. Talen is in the year above us. My brother, Devian, is a fourth year and my sister, Danae, is a third year.”
Glancing at her papers to recall the assignment, she didn’t know much about the technical stuff of the planets, but she did recall reading something about one of them, “The God of War is supposed to be associated with Mars. Hey, Josh, you aren’t the God of War, right?” She gave a grin to let him know that she was only joking and hoping he had a sense of humor.
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Lucie
We could so start a musical group :P
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Lucie
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Josh and Raye
October 01, 2007 6:23 AM
We'd be one sad song singing violin playing beast! by Josh and Raye
“I think it would be fun to be from another planet, but living on Earth. You could totally be like an observer and study the strange habits of people,” said Lucie. Renaye could see what she meant, but honestly, she would rather live on Earth. It's too awesome here to not live here."I could really go for the whole zero-gravity thing!" Raye said. "Imagine the Quidditch you could play!" Josh sat up a little straighter. Now this was going in a good direction! Josh loved talking about Quidditch. Everything else seemed so tedius to him. Why talk about the weather when you can talk about FLYING in that weather?
"Do you play?" Raye asked Lucie.
“I have two sibs and three cousins. Chris and Nicoletta are fifth years. Talen is in the year above us. My brother, Devian, is a fourth year and my sister, Danae, is a third year.”
Raye blinked her green eyes. "That's a lot. We have one cousin. She's a second year, Pecari. Her name's Irene."
Josh tapped his pen on the paper, trying to get them back on topic. He didn't want to fail this. Lucie, though, must have been thinking the same thing. She got back on topic.
“The God of War is supposed to be associated with Mars. Hey, Josh, you aren’t the God of War, right?”
Josh gave a small grin as Renaye laughed. "You never know," he said, writing down "God of War" for Mars.
"Some people think Jupiter use to be a star, but it just became a planet," Renaye said.
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Josh and Raye
We'd be one sad song singing violin playing beast!
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Josh and Raye
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Lucie
October 01, 2007 10:05 PM
Hopefully, no one would run away by Lucie
Lucie shook her no at being asked if she played. “I’ve never even been on a broom. My mom doesn’t think it’s proper…” Lucie made a face at this, “for a young witch. I can’t wait to learn though. It looks like absolute fun.”Her parents really did have some boring ideas. She hated having to sit there and learn how to sip her tea in the right way. Really, how could one sip it the wrong way? She guessed Danae could, as she was usually being told she was doing something in the incorrect manner.
She gave a small laugh when Josh said one might never know, pleased that he had responded to her joking. She hadn’t been sure since he seemed to be much quieter than his sister. It was quite the opposite of her as well. She was always chattering about one thing or another, just because she could go on about anything, even if she didn’t know anything about it. In those cases, it was more questions.
On the thought of questions, what could she say about Pluto? What else had been in all the books she had read? All the independent tutoring? Oh, she knew! “Pluto’s supposed to break through illusions.” Pondering this for a moment, she reasoned, “Maybe it has an effect on certain magic, like disillusionment charms? Maybe they aren’t as strong?”
She grabbed her bag to pull out the textbook. She began flipping through the pages to see if she could confirm what she had just said. She didn’t find anything yet, but she found something more on Jupiter. Pointing excitedly, she stated, “It says here that Jupiter is supposed to expand psychic awareness and it good for divination.”
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Lucie
Hopefully, no one would run away
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Lucie
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Raye and Josh
October 03, 2007 9:23 PM
We can only hope... by Raye and Josh
“I’ve never even been on a broom. My mom doesn’t think it’s proper…” Lucie made a face at this, “for a young witch. I can’t wait to learn though. It looks like absolute fun.”Josh's bright blue eyes grew wide. What? That's so depressing... It seemed like there were a lot of people whose parents didn't think flying was "proper." How lame. Renaye seemed to be thinking along the same lines. She smiled at Lucie's desire to fly.
"It's great! Just wait till the lessons," she said, "It's going to be awesome, because after that, we can fly for real!"
“Pluto’s supposed to break through illusions.” Pondering this for a moment, she reasoned, “Maybe it has an effect on certain magic, like disillusionment charms? Maybe they aren’t as strong?”
Josh was impressed with her knowledge. He hadn't known that, and he was sure Renaye didn't. He wrote it down as Renaye offered her a "Good one!" Josh knew a bit about Astronomy. It wasn't his forte, but he knew some stuff. He knew Jupiter was use to be an old star, as Raye said earlier. He also knew that Mars was the closest planet to Earth, atmosphere wise, and distance wise. He really didn't know what effects it had on magic though.
“It says here that Jupiter is supposed to expand psychic awareness and it good for divination.”
Josh wrote this down too.
"You're on a roll!" Renaye saidm flipping through her own book. "It's a good thing we have you. We usually just figure it out and try our best for it, but nothing really extravagent."
Renaye decided she liked Lucie. She was exciting and nice and didn't seem to get boring. Ever. Raye liked exciting people. Maybe because she considered herself exciting. They were just similar.
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Raye and Josh
We can only hope...
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Raye and Josh
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Lucie
October 05, 2007 5:49 PM
Hopes for hope *grins* by Lucie
Judging by the fact that Renaye just said it was great, she knew how to fly, which Josh probably did too. She wondered if she would be any good. She hoped so, thinking of how much fun it would be to go flying with them some time. Then, thinking further, she asked, “Do you play Quidditch?”Devian had played his first year here and then stopped without explanation. Well, there might have been one, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it, as she had been only eight and had been much more interested in hearing about other aspects of the school, such as what he was learning, other students, and so on. When she had originally come to Sonora, she had hoped to be in the same House as him, but she actually liked hers and thought it was the right fit now.
Lucie continued flipping through the book trying to find out more information, “Do either of you have the factual stuff about the planets? I think it’s in this chapter, but I haven’t found it yet.”
A few minutes later, she asked, “Have you met lots of people yet? I only met two girls at the feast, but we didn’t really talk.” She didn’t mention that the one had been sucking her thumb and uncommunicative, as she didn’t think it would have been very nice to do so.
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Lucie
Hopes for hope *grins*
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Lucie
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