Selina Skies
December 20, 2019 5:27 AM
Intermediates - Make It Snow by Selina Skies
“Good morning,” Selina greeted the intermediate students. “Coming around is an outline of the things we will be studying this semester,” she informed them, waving her wand to disseminate a stack of parchments. This listed module outlines including animate transfiguration (theory/practical), mechanical transfiguration (theory/practical), and limits of transfiguration (theory). “For those of you who have just moved up to intermediates, you should all know that you have the chance to take electives or extended studies. These can include subjects outside the core classes. Some are taught here and there are correspondence course options. You may take these up now or at any point during your course of study, though the later you do that, the more limits you will face in what you can take at exam level before graduation. If you have any questions about this process, please talk to a staff member, particularly Mr. Row,” strictly speaking, this information was not Transfiguration related, and had hopefully been discussed at multiple intervals with the students. However, it didn’t seem like it would hurt to mention it.“Today, we are going to begin our mechanical transfiguration unit, which is one of my favourites,” she added with a smile. The animate things came with a lot of worrying about the animals involved and a lot of competing theories and ethics. Interesting fodder for theory, but a headache when it interfered with practicals. This element of transfiguration had been somewhat niche when she started out but it had gradually been gaining momentum and she had been adding more and more of it in with no complaints so far. “In essence, this is a branch of transfiguration that looks at making moving things with complex working parts. We will look into the theory of that too, discussing how your knowledge of how something is put together affects your ability in this branch of magic.
“Today, we’ll be starting out with something a little simpler. Something that you should all understand the fundamental workings of, but which nonetheless presents a challenging problem for you all.” She placed a rubber ball on top of a small box on her desk so that it was easily visible from around the room, and with a muttered incantation and light, flourishing wand movement turned it into a little snow globe, complete with a castle in it. She picked it up to demonstrate that a little flurry of glittery snow did indeed appear when she shook it.
“Now, who can tell me why that might be more complicated than some of the things you’ve already made?” she asked. It didn’t seem like a very challenging question, and so it didn’t take much calling on people to get a clear answer.
“The incantation you will need for this is Globus Nivalus,” she instructed, “And you should use a swirling wand motion with a light fluttering gesture at the end. In version A of the task, you can just work on creating the ball filled with water and ‘snow.’ In version B, you can add a miniature scene. You may choose which to work on, or work through one and then the other. The goal of the class is for you to be comfortable creating something involving multiple materials and parts which must work in harmony but also independently. This will be a useful foundation for creating more complex systems, both in terms of pseudo-living things and more complex mechanical transfigurations.
“You may talk quietly with your neighbours, or ask me if you need any assistance. Please begin.”
OOC - welcome to Intermediate Transfiguration. Posts will be graded based on length, realism, relevance and creativity.
Subthreads: I suck less now! by Evelyn Stones with Jessica Hayles
Beautiful things. by Katerina Vorontsov with Felipe De Matteo
How I hate going out in the storm. by Nathaniel Mordue with Allegra Brockert
Do I have to? by Jeremy Mordue with Johana Leonie Zauberhexen
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Selina Skies
Intermediates - Make It Snow
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Nathaniel Mordue
December 26, 2019 1:38 PM
How I hate going out in the storm. by Nathaniel Mordue
Breathe. Just breathe. It's okay. It's over.It'll never be over. Not anymore.
But we'll all pretend. They're pretending. They gave you the badge, didn't they? They're going to pretend last year didn't happen. I have to pretend it didn't happen.
In...one...two...three....
Out...one...two...three....
Whose idea was this stupid exercise anyway? How does not breathing for three seconds either way help anyone?
The most annoying thoughts were always the ones that seemed to come from outside the swirling vortex of misery that composed the majority of Nathaniel's mind at any given time, he thought. He could almost get used to his thoughts racing, or else struggling to get through fog, but there was always that little corner that felt as though it were watching someone else suffering, and commented. It didn't feel like it had anything to do with him at all, but he knew it was his own thought - he was not insane, no matter what Dr. Greene and Uncle Alexander tried to say, or whatever Dr. Greene tried to convince Uncle Alexander, or...whatever. That wasn't the point. The point was that he did not hear voices that weren't real. He was not mad. He just wished to decapitate himself sometimes, was all.
He ran through another of Dr. Greene's exercise - grounding, she called it. She said it was helpful for people who thought they were about to have panic attacks. Nathaniel did not think he had panic attacks, but when his thoughts began to race, like rats in a box getting nowhere, he couldn't deny that it helped. A little. So he did that. He could feel his feet inside his shoes, the strap of his bag cutting into his shoulder, his robes brushing the tips of his fingers where they hung down. He couldn't focus too much on things he saw - not while walking - but he could hear the voices of classmates around him, the sounds of their footsteps on the floors, the sound of his own footsteps on the floor. He could smell something vaguely floral - someone overdoing it on the perfume, perhaps - and something waxy, presumably a cleaning supply. He could still faintly taste his last cup of coffee, which had tasted a lot better when he was drinking it than it did right now; he ought to take the opportunity to brush his teeth again between classes, he thought. A practical step. There was something he could control, right there.
He sat down in Transfiguration and resolved to pay attention. No matter what else was going on, or was going to go on, the staff had chosen to give him another chance. To pretend that last year had never happened and to let him pick up where first-semester-fourth-year Nathaniel had left off. He had to live up to that opportunity. Even if it was just to spite everyone who thought he had gone quite mad and couldn't do it.
Anger. There it was. His old friend and helpmeet. He'd show them. At least as long as he had to. It was all going to be okay. As long as he could stay angry, he could shut out distractions. Most of the time, anyway. Enough.
He could still feel his heart give a few uneven, unnaturally slow and violent throbs, though, when Professor Skies began to talk. His old friend and helper - the one who was, indirectly, responsible for the current situation. If she had not agreed to help him last year - to pass those letters on to Sylvia and Jeremy...Well, it would have all been different, wouldn't it? He would have been someone else. He would have had to throw his weight as a prefect around just to get his own family to stay within shouting distance of him, if they would even do so then - and also assuming he had gotten through the summer without going to prison, of course, or getting placed in a Facility instead, if he had used his altered mental state as an excuse for murdering his stepfather and his mother had still loved him enough to pay the bribes that would be necessary to get officials to accept that. Would things have been better or worse with Jeremy? As it was, his brother would speak to him, if more or less forced anyway, but in that other situation...at least Jeremy would have still known that Nathaniel kept his word, that he could be trusted, and would have known that he had options. Now...well, as far as Nathaniel was concerned, all that was still true, but he couldn't exactly explain it to Jeremy. Or anyone, really, but especially not Jeremy. Jeremy wouldn't understand.
Yet, he reminded himself. Yet. Jeremy didn't understand yet. Someday, hopefully, Jeremy would grow up enough to understand. Which reminded Nathaniel of another practical problem - the fact he needed to figure out what had happened at the Crotalus table last night, and probably proceed to tell Jeremy off about it....
Without fully realizing it, he had sunk back into himself, lost in his thoughts. He was aware of Professor Skies' voice, but only very, very distantly; he couldn't hear a word clearly. The room had melted into an abstract watercolor, hues without form, diluted and largely meaningless. That corner of his mind which sometimes commented on how stupid the rest of him acted these days was still there - trying to point out to him now that he was doing something wrong, that he was missing something important - but it, too, was just a buzz, barely noticed - until he blinked. And inhaled for the first time in thirty seconds. And returned to his body, the room rushing back into place and color and full sound all around him at once, in total chaos.
"This will be a useful foundation for creating more complex systems, both in terms of pseudo-living things and more complex mechanical transfigurations," Professor Skies was saying. “You may talk quietly with your neighbours, or ask me if you need any assistance. Please begin.”
Damn it. He had missed the entire lecture. Gone out of himself and come back too late. Damn it. His neighbor glanced up and he smiled stiffly, trying to pretend nothing was wrong, hoping he could look as though he was doing something vaguely productive long enough to figure out, from watching people from the corners of his eyes, what he was supposed to be doing...and that he could remain focused on that task long enough to actually complete it.
Great start to your second chance, Nate. Really great start.
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Nathaniel Mordue
How I hate going out in the storm.
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Allegra Brockert
December 31, 2019 3:20 PM
Continuing that song would be super super awkward by Allegra Brockert
Allegra was generally pretty nervous about being back at school even though she was happy to have Esme not only there but in Crotalus with her. It was just...after the events of last year, there were people she needed to avoid, besides Topaz. Allegra was fully convinced the people from her Challenge team blamed her for their abysmal failure and had nothing but contempt for her and her lack of physical abilities.And she couldn't even plan a good party to make up for it which meant she was going to be an awful failure as a socialite too! Which meant nobody would ever want to marry her and she had no future. Allegra was going to be an old maid.
Plus, aside from Gary, her former teammates were hard to avoid. Connor was in her house and a distant relation, Teo was in her classes, and Felipe was in her house and her classes! Every time she saw them, she was reminded of her inadequacies and, the fourth year was certain, that every time they saw her, they felt nothing but contempt. So Allegra tried hard, so very hard, to avoid them. Almost as hard she tried to avoid Topaz.
And obviously, her cousin had made things worse, taunting her. Though the Aladren was primarily trying to torment Ruby who'd beaten her. Beating Topaz was even worse than being beaten by her. Ruby had not been her sister's primary victim choice before, at least since she gave up on having pets, but over the summer she had been in the line of fire. Which somewhat took Allegra out of it. Of course, now that they were back at school, Topaz would probably go after her roommate instead whom the other fourth year found more deserving of her torment than anyone else. Especially after the graffiti incident. Whether or not Ness actually did it, Topaz thought she did and that....would be enough reason in Topaz's mind for her to do what she did. Especially as she'd done terrible things to people-such as Allegra herself-for far less reasons.
Anyway, now it was time for Transfiguration, which was an area where the Crotalus felt a little confident. She was actually pretty good at it. She didn't like to be too up herself about things-she had no reason to be normally-but it was the truth that Allegra did well in this particular class.
Professor Skies began talking about mechanical transfiguration which was a fairly interesting topic. Anywhere else, aside from quilting or crochet, Allegra might have felt intimidated by the complexity but Transfiguration was a place where she didn't feel like a total failure.
She took a rubber ball. First, the fourth year would do Task A and make sure she had that down. Allegra did not want to fail at this. When there was something she was not atrocious at, she had to succeed because it would be worse to fail and think she wasn't that good at that thing either. She envisioned the ball turning into glass and filling with "snow". Allegra had never bothered to give thought to what the "snow" inside a snow globe was made out of but that's what she pictured. "Globus Nivalus " The glass ball was ideal though the white stuff inside wasn't exactly floating. Allegra tried again, this time getting it right.
Now she had to picture a scene. She tended to associate snow globes as either holiday or vacation themed. She tried to think of places she'd been, being fairly well travelled. It was hard to pick though. Or picture things she'd seen in the past without the pictures in front of her.
That's when the Crotalus made eye contact with Nathaniel Mordue. He smiled stiffly at her, and she looked down. Should Allegra initiate a conversation? She wasn't great at that. But now, they'd locked eyes, she felt obligated. It might be rude not to and the fourth year didn't want to offend Sylvia's cousin. Nathaniel and Sylvia weren't like her and Topaz. They were close. She certainly didn't want it getting back to the older Crotalus how awkward she was. Plus, she needed to practice socializing with boys now that she was getting older. "How is your assignment going?" Allegra asked the Teppenpaw, smiling shyly at him.
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Allegra Brockert
Continuing that song would be super super awkward
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Nathaniel Mordue
December 31, 2019 6:27 PM
Yes. That would be extremely awkward. by Nathaniel Mordue
There was one thing which made Nathaniel think that he might survive the class period, and that was that he was sitting next to one of the Brockerts. The Brockerts all seemed to do well in Transfiguration, which meant he could likely puzzle out what he was supposed to be doing just by watching her. After a moment, he realized that the specific one was also preferable to some of her presumed cousins, as this was Sylvia's quiet, respectable Brockert friend, not the other one, whom he suspected she didn't actually like that much. The other one was an Aladren, but Crotali were not the types to say anything about his screwups even if they happened to notice. Not to him, anyway. Not to a Mordue.It was still such an odd feeling, he thought, wishing he could be almost anyone else, and yet still having that reasonable corner of his mind which was aware of the remaining advantages to being him.
He pretended to take notes as she began her work, actually trying to write down the incantation she used. Globus...globus nivalus? Nivea - that was Latin for 'snow,' he thought. And...yes. There. She had made what looked like a snowglobe. He felt a rush of relief, adding this as a serious point in her favor when it came to the Ball Situation and adding a mental note to himself to inform Sylvia of this as she worked on whatever fearful mathematics it would take her to decide who he should ask to dance.
Of course, she did have other appealing attributes. Such as being strikingly pretty. He wished he could ignore that, but...of all Sylvia's friends, he had to say, this one probably came the closest to rivalling her in looks. Allegra's blue eyes and slightly more reddish hair were both striking against her fair complexion - at least, when the former weren't directed downward - and she had the features of one of the china dolls Sylvia had had when they were younger. Now she had two points in her favor, though he wasn't sure he should tell Sylvia much about this one, as she might not appreciate the implication that anyone could rival her in any way....
Not, of course, that anyone really could. Not least because he really didn't think he could muster the energy to have more emotional entanglements. He already had to fight sometimes not to allow his mind to slip toward thoughts saying that the ones he had already weren't worth it. That it wasn't fair. That they were liars. He put his hand up to his collar, feeling the thin chain hidden beneath it, reminded himself that it didn't matter - didn't matter if that was true, didn't matter if that was false. They were his family. The reasons why he had to keep going, no matter what.
"I was just...thinking through ideas," he said. "So, not as quickly as yours," he said, trying to deflect attention from himself. "It looks like you're done already. It's very good," he complimented.
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Nathaniel Mordue
Yes. That would be extremely awkward.
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Allegra Brockert
January 20, 2020 2:07 AM
I don't need to be more awkard by Allegra Brockert
Allegra blushed. It wasn't as if she was never complimented by anyone. Even though Topaz did her best to destroy the Crotalus' self-esteem on regular basis and assert her dominance over her, Allegra's parents often praised her for things such as her quilting, her kindness and nurturing towards her younger siblings and yes, her grades too, even though Isla had been labeled, "the smart one"(to Topaz's great annoyance, even though it was just Allegra's parents saying this about their own daughters and the Aladren wasn't even a part of it.) while Allegra was the kind nurturing one and Esme was the elegant graceful one. Of course the fourth year had to wonder if the fact that she was the nurturing one had to do with her being the oldest. Then again, Emerald was the oldest of her siblings and the Crotalus doubted anyone would apply that adjective to her.Still, being complimented by a young gentleman was very different than being complimented by one's own parents. After all, didn't most parents have nice things to say about their own children? Even Uncle Zeke had nice things to say about Topaz. Same with Grandmother about Uncle Eustace.
Not that Allegra was going after Nathaniel like that. She wouldn't be opposed to it if he was interested in her though. Not that she thought he was of course. It was more likely that Sylvia would want him with Caitlin rather than her. And much like with herself and Topaz, Nathaniel seemed like he'd do what his cousin wanted. Unlike her, the Teppenpaw seemed willing to do what Sylvia wanted because he actually liked her and they were close as opposed to Allegra who did what Topaz wanted because she was terrified of the consequences if she didn't.
Plus, if Caitlin was interested in Nathaniel, well the fourth year didn't want to stab her in the back either. Not that the older Crotalus had said anything of the kind but she was prefect and would need someone to dance with at the ball. Plus, again, it was probably what Sylvia wanted, and Sylvia, like Topaz, seemed to get what she wanted.
"Thank you." Allegra replied. "I'm not actually done though. I just decided to do task A first before going on to task B." She smiled at him. "I'm actually trying to think through ideas for the scene too. Do you, um, want to brainstorm them together?" Please don't say no She begged silently. It would be mortifying if he did. Plus, it would probably get back to Sylvia that Allegra had made a fool of herself in front of Nathaniel. "I tend to think of snow globes as something you buy on vacation as souvenirs"
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Allegra Brockert
I don't need to be more awkard
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