Just do something today [Beginners] on Potions

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

June 18, 2021 7:31 AM

Just do something today [Beginners] by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had a headache and the smells of her own potions lab were not helpful. Normally not one to self-medicate such things away, especially in front of students, she was mostly just carrying on as usual. Still, she knew she’d be less hands-on than usual today, so she had decided to shift the tasks she’d assign students to something she was mostly pretty sure they wouldn’t need any help with. Of course, that was no guarantee, and she made sure to carefully knock on her wooden desk once the students were settled and before she began speaking.

“Today, we’re going to be focusing on technique,” she explained with a small smile. “It’s important that our handiwork is neat, consistent, and accurate. Our cuts are precise, our fires are consistent, our stirring is exact, etc. For many students, some of the fine motor skill abilities are almost as challenging as some of the wandwork. Since you have the opportunities to develop your wandwork more in other classes, we’re going to focus on your fine motor skills today.” She waved her wand, resisting the urge to rub her temple as she did so, and sent trays of ingredients around the room. “Each of you will have access to a variety of ingredients here, all of which require a degree of precision. You’ll be collecting flobberworm mucus while preserving the skin and body of the creature, vanilla bean while preserving the pod, and the various parts of lacewing flies: wings, carapaces, etc. There’s a list of what all you should be collecting on each tray. Feel free to work together, as an extra set of eyes and hands can be the best way to improve your technique. Go ahead and begin!” She finished with a smile that might have been more about the fact that she could sit down now than anything else.

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne Just do something today [Beginners] 1424 1 5

Billy Cobb

June 19, 2021 11:54 AM

Something huh? Well, alright... by Billy Cobb

As always, Billy was the last one to slide into the classroom at the last possible moment. He found himself a seat and already wished the class was over. Potions classes were looooong. Occasionally they were interesting... or could be made interesting anyway. He visibly wilted as the Professor lady explained what they were going to be doing today. Didn't he get enough 'fine motor skills' practice at Quidditch practice? Hitting bludgers was precision work.... at least that's what Hilda kept saying... or something along those lines, occasionally his attention drifted while she was talking.

He sighed and wracked his brains for some way to make this fun. Nothing was coming to mind. There had to be something, flobberworm mucus was involved, everyone hated that stuff. He didn't mind it to much though. Unfortunately he wasn't supposed to throw stuff at Iris anymore, that had been made abundantly clear. She'd probably enjoy this lesson. That made it a bit worse.

Slowly he dragged himself back to his feet and went to gather the supplies. He dropped them a bit unceremoniously back at his spot and glared at them for a few minutes. The thought wondered through his head wondering how sick he might get if he ate some of that mucus, and would that get him out of class, and would that be worth it? Probably not he decided. He wasn't sure an extended stay in the hospital wing was any better than this.

Instead Billy turned to his neighbor, "So. Got any ideas on how to make this fun?"

2 Billy Cobb Something huh? Well, alright... 1519 0 5

Oz Spellman

July 01, 2021 11:42 PM

There is probably still a long lost of things not to do by Oz Spellman

Oz still thought most of potions smelt like grandma farts. This was not actually a subject he was well-versed in because Mom didn't really talk to her mom. On the couple of occasions when he'd seen her, she hadn't appeared any more flatulant than anyone else, though plenty of toxic things certainly spilt from the other end. Henry just about got away with existing, because he was quiet and good. Him and Mom however... There were reasons they didn't talk to her or see her much.

He didn't mind the stinkiness and general sliminess of potions too much though. It was kind of gross but gross was kind of fun. At first, it didn't sound like they were in for a super fun lesson, given the words 'neat, consistent and accurate' had been used, and that stirring of all things had been used as an example. How could you stir wrong?

However, when she revealed the actual lesson details, things strarted looking up as there were some truly gross things involved. And they got to poke all of them.

"Dude, she just said we get to pull the wings off bugs for credit," he pointed out, when Billy complained about the class. Perhaps he had tuned out at the bit about stirring and hadn't heard the actual details. Oz wouldn't have blamed him. He sort of liked working with Billy sometimes, because he was so bad at paying attention and staying on task that Oz actually got to be The Better One. That was something he never got when he was around Henry, but it had been a semi-familiar feeling at his old school. He had done some stupid stuff, but he had been a long way from being the worst kid. Sonora had a far higher standard, and he was pretty sure he'd been marked out as a trouble-maker and a loud mouth for stuff that would have been regarded as just existing at his old school. So, finding someone worse than him was sort of comforting, even if he felt bad for thinking it. He also knew he was easily led, and that hanging out with someone who tended to be in trouble was not a good way to keep himself out of it. That was the less great part of pairing with Billy. Still, if he would agree this was fun, maybe they could have a good time working on it without getting themselves into trouble. Maybe. "It beats math."

13 Oz Spellman There is probably still a long lost of things not to do 1514 0 5

Billy Cobb

July 04, 2021 9:30 AM

Think we can find one? by Billy Cobb

Billy gave his roommate a bit of a smirk of agreement. Oz was still a city boy, which was fine, he couldn't help it. He'd gone through the 'fun to pull wings off of bugs' phase a while back himself, but he'd come to the realization that it was a bit mean. The bugs couldn't really defend themselves... well, most of them. Some of them earned their dismemberment after attacking first. There was no mercy on that front. But, for the ones just going about and living their buggy lives, he eventually let them alone. These bugs were already dead, so that wasn't really an issue, they were past going about living their buggy lives. Plus, he didn't want to ruin the fun for Oz. "That is true." he replied. "I've got some out of class experience at this, how 'bout you?"

He dug through his supplies and extracted the small green insect. It looked like a normal bug, except it's wings were a bit weird. He gave Oz another grin and pulled out his tweezers, and deftly removed the wings from the lacewing fly. "That's easy enough, what was next, the cara-thingy? How do we do that bit?" He'd done further insect dismantling at home and in class, but it usually ended in a mess. Now he was supposed to keep the bits together? Success on that front had never been terribly high.

2 Billy Cobb Think we can find one? 1519 0 5

Oz Spellman

July 08, 2021 8:32 AM

I often trip over them by accident by Oz Spellman

OOC: CW - vaguely gross bug dissecting analogies BIC:

“A little,” Oz nodded, when asked about out of class experience. Pulling the wings off dead bugs was free and outdoors, which made it his kind of pastime. He missed the days when that kind of thing had been sufficient to show that you were a tough guy or one of the cool kids. It had all got a lot more complicated since then…

Still, those were summer break problems. Right now, he was in class, and next up was a cara-thingy.

“Step one, look up whatever the heck that means,” he muttered, reaching for his book. “The hard upper casing of a turtle, beetle, crust-something or arachnid,’” he read, giving up on the word ‘crustacean’ and pronouncing ‘arachnid’ with a regular ‘ch’ sound instead of a hard ‘k.’ “Shell. It means shell,” he concluded. Why couldn’t everyone just say that? He skimmed the instructions on removal, but they mostly just seemed to use a lot of description to say the same thing again and again.

“Cut it hard enough to cut it but don’t crush it,” he shrugged. “Helpful.” The book did at least suggest going in through the belly, because it was soft. “Also, there might be some scooping involved,” he added, studying the diagrams. The body of the bug appeared to be quite fragile. Trying to peel its outsides off from the insides like a banana skin wasn’t going to work. However, cutting it open and scooping it out like a pudding cup seemed to be what the book was suggesting.

“Slow and steady,” he summarised with a sigh.

13 Oz Spellman I often trip over them by accident 1514 0 5

Billy Cobb

July 10, 2021 11:29 AM

Sounds like a fun skill to have by Billy Cobb

"Right," replied Billy after mostly listening to Oz's reading and analysis. "Cut the shell, scoop out the innerbits? Sure." He leaned over Oz's shoulder at the book to see if it had any pictures, there were a few and they looked as boring as a schoolbook could make cutting up a bug an scooping out it's innards look. "Would it kill 'em to make that look more exiting or interesting?" He sighed as he sat back down in his seat again.

He dug through his kit of potioning stuff the knife was easy enough to find, the scoop was hiding though. He did find something that gave him a good (terrible) idea. He grinned with that smile that meant nothing but trouble at his partner. "Hey Oz, I can't find my scooper-thingy.. but, I did find this." From his bag he pulled out a thin metal tube. He vaguely remembered using it to move a small measured amount of liquid from one thing to another thing at some point in the past by holding the top end closed with his finger. Such weird magic around here. The fluid had magically stayed up in the tube until he released his finger. It'd been kinda neat. That function wasn't what he had in mind at the moment though. He was sure it had other uses.

"I bet you can't crack your bug open and suck out it's innards with this instead of scooping them." Billy challenged Oz.

2 Billy Cobb Sounds like a fun skill to have 1519 0 5