SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Potions Lesson 1

Lissy Longbottom · 06-30-2022, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Aria had indeed noticed Lisa and it was quite easy to see that the girl was not herself. She considered questioning the younger girl but who knew if Lisa wanted to talk? She looked distracted. The Slytherin offered her a smile and a concerned expression. Not to mention she kept looking over to where Lisa had taken up residence for the lesson. Be okay, yeah, Lisa? Aria asked silently.

Since Hernandez had been late, it didn’t take long for the lesson to get underway. By then the fifth year had her belongings out and was ready to soak up some knowledge. A well manicured eyebrow lifted slowly and curiously. A unique potion? INTERESTING! As for that question? Aria’s hand shot into the air immediately. “I wouldn’t be able to poke good natured fun at my brother! That would make me very miserable.” Her eyes were wide with horror of the thought. She was artistic and would be able to communicate through art and fashion but expertly harassing Caes? Nooo, that MUST be done with words!

Javier chuckled at Aria's enthusiastic answer and nodded. "You wouldn't be able to do much of anything that involved making fun of someone, unless you happened to draw a crude caricature of them," he said as an afterthought. Not that was he condoning that kind of behavior!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Milo, settling into his preferred seat back nearest the door, looked up sharply. It seemed to him that more and more statements, occurrences, and manifestations were remarkably on the nose as of late. Relevant. Pointed. Had coincidence not been stalking his every step, he might have been able to see each individual situation as such, but as a collective their haunting was constant.

He stared at Mr Hernandez for a moment, eyes narrowed infinitesimally, then spoke up, neglecting to raise his hand as ever. "I know someone who can't speak." At least, Milo was fairly sure that was it. He didn't know the details and had always maintained enough of a stubborn disinterest to keep from asking. It was only in recent months he had wanted to know more about the cold man, to see if certain things... matched up. Coincidence. Haunted. "He has to communicate in other ways or not at all. It would be isolating if that bothered you." Not applicable here.

As someone who was starting to find that he preferred to go without conversation more often than not, Milo could see the benefits of this. However, he also knew the frustration of not being able to find the words to communicate the things he needed to express, and so identifying this as 'problem' made the most sense to him in that moment.

"Very good point. If you cannot use your words, you have to find other ways to communicate - which thankfully, the human race has been able to do spectacularly over the centuries," he explained with a nod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

It wasn’t awkward nor weird seeing Lisa after their conversation at the lake. At least, that’s what Serena told herself. She had purposefully chosen a spot near the back and the furthest from her friend—if they were that? We’re they?

Ugh. It wasn’t the time to focus on that. She was in potions. Her favorite class and with an incredibly great professor. She must turn off that part of her brain. As she attempted to do that her mind drifted to yet something else she didn’t want to think about at this moment.

Uuuuugh. Okay, okay. Focuuuusssss.

Taking in a deep breath and tucking her hair behind her ears, Serena promised herself she’d practice mindfulness and focus on the now. Yes. Oui.

Just in time because the professor had just asked them a question. What would happen if everyone lost the ability to speak? It’d be more peaceful. She’d no longer have to pretend to be hard of hearing in order to be left alone. AND she’d never EVER would have to deal with hearing the paparazzi that followed her mom when they were in public.

“If it happened all of a sudden?” She asked for clarification. “It’d be chaos at first until we learn different ways to communicate, and there’d be a lot of misunderstandings.”

"That's a good point. It can be disorienting to lose a sense that one has had all along...well, speaking isn't a SENSE of course, but it is a useful skill and we would have to all figure out what works best for us," Javier explained. That meant also figuring out how OTHERS perceived you best - which was a whole different beast of its own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Mercer perked up at Milo's voice and waved as his friend before pointing out Arden's hair-bushes. Ominous, even for a not-Hufflepuff, right? Or not really ominous. PORTENTOUS. It meant something.

"If I couldn't talk, I could still write. And my face says a lot without even needing words. My mum says I have expressive eyes. Maybe my eyeballs can talk." He waggled his eyebrows.

Javier chuckled again and shook his head, "I don't think they can speak in the literal sense, but you're right - we can write, and facial expressions can also tell us a lot!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

SPOILER!!: before class

As Professor Hernandez started the lesson, she turned around to slip her textbook into her backpack and found Daniel seated behind her. Hi, she mouthed to him before turning around to listen to the first question.

Hearing the word 'misunderstandings' come out of Serena earned a wry smile from her. Yes but would it be more than the misunderstandings that they were having now or less? But not knowing how to speak... That would be awful for her acting side gigs. She raised her hand to offer an answer. "It would certainly put a damper on my acting side gigs, Professor. However, I think we'd adapt.... Wait. Clarifying question. Is it permanent this speaking ability loss? Because if it is not, perhaps there is a charm or an elixir to help heal? Or perhaps there's a way to speak through a radio or a creature!"

Her mind was rolling with ideas now.

Javier paused and tilted his head. "You know, I hadn't thought about that. I suppose it was just a hypothetical question - whether or not it is reversible wouldn't make it any less inconvenient for the time you had to deal with it, yes?" he asked with a grin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Vasco really enjoyed Potions. It was almost like making candy and he got to do that at home with his papa. Sometimes his potions turned out as they were supposed to, other times.. not so much. At times he tended to explode his potions, melt things, spill things and knock things over. It was usually a big mess. So maybe it wasn't like making stuff at home? Still he liked this class and was always on time, today being no exception.

With his usual simple greeting to the professor out of the way and his bottom sat upon a seat somewhere in the middle of the room he was good to go. All eyes on the man in charge of the room. And the starting question was a good one! Hand in the air the first year waited to be called on. "Well being unable to speak really wouldn't bother me all that much as I don't mind being quiet and can quite awhile without saying a word. Sometimes I do so just to annoy my sister." Yes, Vera he did things on purpose too. "If I did need to talk though there's plenty of ways to do so. I could write things do, draw what I need, point to stuff, learn how to sign.." That one might take awhile however if he really wanted to learn and others might not actually understand him still. "I wouldn't be opposed to my sister being unable to speak for a day or two though.. not that it would matter other than making things quieter as she would still find ways to bug me like she does now." Oops. He had talked waaaay much more than he had wanted to. Oh, well. At least he had gotten his point across?

"Excellent points!" Javier grinned at Vasco, "Those are all great ways of communication that do not rely on speaking." And who didn't want a family member to take up a vow of silence every once in a while??

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Desiree blinked, unsure what to make of Professor Hernandez’s question. Was that what they were brewing, a potion to take away people’s ability to speak? Yeah, no thanks. She needed her voice! This lesson was giving her major Ursula the Sea Witch vibes, which ordinarily this Disney-obsessed girl would be so here for, but today it made her slightly nervous.

She considered the questions carefully, The first one was pretty obvious. If you couldn’t speak, you’d have to come up with some other way to communicate, like writing or signing, and that opened up the door for alllll sorts of misunderstandings. But nearly everybody else had already said something along those lines. So what else could she say? She decided to focus on the other part of the question.

How would her life change if she couldn’t speak? Well, for one thing, it would kill her dreams of becoming an opera singer when she grew up. Wait, opera… the arts. That gave her an idea! Her hand shot up, and she said when called on, “Assuming that losing one’s ability to speak also means losing the ability to sing and assuming this is long-term, it would mean I couldn’t be an opera singer when I grow up. I’d be sad, but I could always find another job and another form of art. Speaking of which, couldn’t art be considered an alternate way of communicating?”

"Art certainly could be an alternate form of communication. Many people learned to draw before writing - look at the cave paintings we have!" Javier pointed out. Hieroglyphics too were an excellent form of art that were used to communicate.

Until those Phoenicians came along of course. They really ought to thank them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Atlas would not constitute it as drama, professor. More like standard human interactions and personalities clashing. For the record. Not that anyone had asked him.

Also, Lisa was one of the more transparent people he knew...so...just putting THAT out there. Straightening just a bit, his eyes crossed as the candy was presented to him...and his stomach twisted in a pit of guilt. "...I didn't mean to take your brother's gift to you," he murmured back, brow creasing a bit. IF he knew she were thinking such things over a single piece of candy...there would be some very bold opinions shared too. "It's fine," he added as a gentle refusal, coiling his fingers around her offering and gingerly pushing her fingers back towards her palm - so she could keep it. Giving the back of her hand a couple of pat pats with his fingers before straightening and returning to his seat more properly. He offered Lisa a small smile and and tiny nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. He could not really offer all that much more as class began.

And...oof. Well. This hit a nerve. He knew precisely what it felt like to be silenced, which was a form of losing one's inability to speak aaaaaaand since the professor had not exactly specified the 'how'...it had Atlas' mind reeling. He wished he had just stayed in bed.

But, he was TRYING to be a good sport. Ish. If you squinted and looked sideways at him. So...up went his hand and OOF went his heart.

"Depends on how the ability was taken," Atlas offered, vaguely. "We've probably all experience some sort of temporary voice loss from a bag cold, gestures or writing things down work just fine to counteract such things. But..." He hesitated, ironically, his bright blue eyes glancing around sheepishly and his shoulders folding in somewhat. "...never mind...just that, professor."

...the irony of what he had just done to himself was NOT lost on him, for the record.

Javi smiled at Atlas and nodded in agreement to his answer. "Excellent forms of communication as well, Mister Flamsteed. It would take adjustment of course, but humans are always good at adapting," he added. For the most part at least...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

SPOILER!!: Mercer

Arden was veeeeeeery pleased when the boy in her year, Mercer??? sat next to her and complimented her VERY curly hair-ball pigtails. "Thank you. I think they look nice, too." She beamed and nodded proudly. "They certainly don't look anything like mine, but that isn't a bad thing. They still look cute - " she poked one of his hair nubs and giggled.

What a depressing way to start the lesson, though. LOSING YOUR VOICE? NOT SPEAK? Arden would rather die! How awful! She loved her own voice - she loved HEARING her own voice?! What could be worse than losing your ability to talk than losing your ability to hear?! Arden thought about it a little and decided she would RATHER lose speaking than hearing. Because with speaking you could just, like, learn sign language or WRITE but hearing?!!!! THAT MEANT NO MORE MUSIC.

"I think that might make magic MIGHTY hard. Only the BEST witches and wizards can do nonverbals, right?!" Was what she decided to share as SOOOOON as she was called on.

And she DID notice Mercer pointing at her hair, and she turned to see WHO he was gesturing about her to. Milo Evans. Also in her year. Arden sent him a wave and a grin. A lopsided one.

Arden brought up an excellent point, and Javier nodded in agreement at his answer. "Yes, very good point! Magic...as you all know, nonverbal spells are very advanced magic, and not being able to say an incantation would certainly hinder our abilities for a while."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Did Apollo notice Professor Hernandez's lateness? Not at all, as he himself had weirdly been STUDYING. Shocker, who knew that the Gryffindor had it in him. Perhaps Maya had been rubbing off on him, or he just wanted to show her that he had both brains and athletic talent. Whatever the reason, Apollo had made it from the Gryffindor towers, but not early enough to see Hernandez had arrived just moments before.

A unique potion though? What Apollo wanted to know though was if this unique potion would be on his OWL exam? Before he could contemplate too much on what sort of potion they were working on, Hernandez started a discussion about being unable to use their voice. He looked toward Mercer saying he could still write and he was expressive. This made sense, and yet the younger Gryffindor Arden pointed out a fault with that, in magic would become very difficult.

"Body language would become very important. And I suppose, as Arden said, we'd have to master non-verbal spells if we wanted a chance of not being shunned from the wizarding world."

"Yes, body language is something a lot of people fail to realize has such an impact on communication," he elaborated on Apollo's answer. "Some people may have to focus on that aspect of their communication MORE than they had in the past."

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Edric was busy twirling his quill on a bit of parchment, trying to see if he could get it to spin properly like a top. He was mostly listening, his ears hinged on the idea of a 'unique' potion as his Head of House had promised. He looked around as the others answered, trying to think of a thought that hadn't already been said.

"I guess you'd have to communicate like the Muggles do, you know, using sign language? And gestures? Your life would be like a giant game of charades." Might be kind of fun, at first. But then he'd probably give up on communicating with others and just become a hermit... which was, honestly, not so different from how he lived now.

He went back to his doodling, giving up on the quill-balancing and instead focusing on building a pattern of concentric circles.

"That's one way to look at it...but you could also write, or even draw," Javier added with a small smirk, nodding slightly towards the doodles that he totally saw on Eldric's paper.

"Overall excellent answers everyone. You all touched on the main point - that without our ability to speak, communication is going to be limited, and we have to figure out the best ways to communicate with each other. Some people would probably do better writing out words...others might respond better to miming or signing. It all depends on the person," Javier explained as he began to pace slightly in front of the class.

"Today's potion is, obviously, going to focus on this very scenario. We'll be brewing and testing the Jawbind potion today - can anyone tell me what the Jawbind potion does? And, knowing what it does, how can you attempt to counteract it?" he asked them.

OOC: Hey all! Sorry for the delay, my internet kept dying on me for some reason last night, I think it was too hot >___< For the second bit of Javier's question, think of how YOUR INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER would react and what THEY personally would do to counteract the potions. We'll be moving on once again in about 24 hours!

06-30-2022, 10:09 PM	#22 (permalink)
Lissy Longbottom Potterdom Mod Book Club Mod DMAC & DoM Giant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Ferrix: GMT-6 Posts: 56,907 Hogwarts RPG Name: Moritz Schultz (#0f667e) Ravenclaw Seventh Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nancy Schultz (#ac6f77) Hufflepuff Fourth Year Ministry RPG Name: Jabari Rahal (#c54031) Mysteries Ministry RPG Name: Calloway Bennigan (#b8b323) Accidents & Catastrophes x11 x1	curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - chicken emoji - probably @ Disney - I speak dog Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Aria had indeed noticed Lisa and it was quite easy to see that the girl was not herself. She considered questioning the younger girl but who knew if Lisa wanted to talk? She looked distracted. The Slytherin offered her a smile and a concerned expression. Not to mention she kept looking over to where Lisa had taken up residence for the lesson. Be okay, yeah, Lisa? Aria asked silently. Since Hernandez had been late, it didn’t take long for the lesson to get underway. By then the fifth year had her belongings out and was ready to soak up some knowledge. A well manicured eyebrow lifted slowly and curiously. A unique potion? INTERESTING! As for that question? Aria’s hand shot into the air immediately. “I wouldn’t be able to poke good natured fun at my brother! That would make me very miserable.” Her eyes were wide with horror of the thought. She was artistic and would be able to communicate through art and fashion but expertly harassing Caes? Nooo, that MUST be done with words! Javier chuckled at Aria's enthusiastic answer and nodded. "You wouldn't be able to do much of anything that involved making fun of someone, unless you happened to draw a crude caricature of them," he said as an afterthought. Not that was he condoning that kind of behavior! Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir Milo, settling into his preferred seat back nearest the door, looked up sharply. It seemed to him that more and more statements, occurrences, and manifestations were remarkably on the nose as of late. Relevant. Pointed. Had coincidence not been stalking his every step, he might have been able to see each individual situation as such, but as a collective their haunting was constant. He stared at Mr Hernandez for a moment, eyes narrowed infinitesimally, then spoke up, neglecting to raise his hand as ever. "I know someone who can't speak." At least, Milo was fairly sure that was it. He didn't know the details and had always maintained enough of a stubborn disinterest to keep from asking. It was only in recent months he had wanted to know more about the cold man, to see if certain things... matched up. Coincidence. Haunted. "He has to communicate in other ways or not at all. It would be isolating if that bothered you." Not applicable here. As someone who was starting to find that he preferred to go without conversation more often than not, Milo could see the benefits of this. However, he also knew the frustration of not being able to find the words to communicate the things he needed to express, and so identifying this as 'problem' made the most sense to him in that moment. "Very good point. If you cannot use your words, you have to find other ways to communicate - which thankfully, the human race has been able to do spectacularly over the centuries," he explained with a nod. Quote: Originally Posted by Deezerz It wasn’t awkward nor weird seeing Lisa after their conversation at the lake. At least, that’s what Serena told herself. She had purposefully chosen a spot near the back and the furthest from her friend—if they were that? We’re they? Ugh. It wasn’t the time to focus on that. She was in potions. Her favorite class and with an incredibly great professor. She must turn off that part of her brain. As she attempted to do that her mind drifted to yet something else she didn’t want to think about at this moment. Uuuuugh. Okay, okay. Focuuuusssss. Taking in a deep breath and tucking her hair behind her ears, Serena promised herself she’d practice mindfulness and focus on the now. Yes. Oui. Just in time because the professor had just asked them a question. What would happen if everyone lost the ability to speak? It’d be more peaceful. She’d no longer have to pretend to be hard of hearing in order to be left alone. AND she’d never EVER would have to deal with hearing the paparazzi that followed her mom when they were in public. “If it happened all of a sudden?” She asked for clarification. “It’d be chaos at first until we learn different ways to communicate, and there’d be a lot of misunderstandings.” "That's a good point. It can be disorienting to lose a sense that one has had all along...well, speaking isn't a SENSE of course, but it is a useful skill and we would have to all figure out what works best for us," Javier explained. That meant also figuring out how OTHERS perceived you best - which was a whole different beast of its own. Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin Mercer perked up at Milo's voice and waved as his friend before pointing out Arden's hair-bushes. Ominous, even for a not-Hufflepuff, right? Or not really ominous. PORTENTOUS. It meant something. "If I couldn't talk, I could still write. And my face says a lot without even needing words. My mum says I have expressive eyes. Maybe my eyeballs can talk." He waggled his eyebrows. Javier chuckled again and shook his head, "I don't think they can speak in the literal sense, but you're right - we can write, and facial expressions can also tell us a lot!" Quote: Originally Posted by Watson SPOILER!!: before class Lisa offered a small smile in return to Aria's. Maybe she needed to be more happy to fly under the radar emotionally? However, if she were oh so happy, that would hurt her more. She also offered Professor Hernandez a nod in reply to his reply as she got settled. Focusing on her textbook proved difficult because, of course, Lisa had noticed Serena enter. In the group, it had been easier not to chat as they waited. It felt weird not chatting. She felt like there was this large divide within herself. Things were strange and she didn't like it. She needed to ignore those feelings and thoughts. She turned her attention back to her textbook. Focus, focus... Four Wiggentrees needed... Orange. Castor Oil. Potion turned blue. She tapped her foot, oblivious to Daniel staring into the back of her head. She was disturbed from her thoughts someone touching her. It was a shoulder squeeze. Looking up, she found her older brother was the one who gave it and sat next to her. She was about to go back to her reading when she saw her brother's favourite lolly offered to her. Eyes wide, she turned her gaze to him and whispered, "Thanks Evan." And so she was about to pocket the candy in her backpack (which was behind her) when she heard Atlas asking for another candy. Had he noticed her being off? I... No. Without second thought, she offered the candy in front of her to him. "You can have this one, Atlas." She shouldn't eat the candy. She had to look her best. Looking up at him, she did a double take. He looked tired. She wondered if he was okay.. "Are you okay..? OWLS?" she asked with eyes wide as saucers. As Professor Hernandez started the lesson, she turned around to slip her textbook into her backpack and found Daniel seated behind her. Hi, she mouthed to him before turning around to listen to the first question. Hearing the word 'misunderstandings' come out of Serena earned a wry smile from her. Yes but would it be more than the misunderstandings that they were having now or less? But not knowing how to speak... That would be awful for her acting side gigs. She raised her hand to offer an answer. "It would certainly put a damper on my acting side gigs, Professor. However, I think we'd adapt.... Wait. Clarifying question. Is it permanent this speaking ability loss? Because if it is not, perhaps there is a charm or an elixir to help heal? Or perhaps there's a way to speak through a radio or a creature!" Her mind was rolling with ideas now. Javier paused and tilted his head. "You know, I hadn't thought about that. I suppose it was just a hypothetical question - whether or not it is reversible wouldn't make it any less inconvenient for the time you had to deal with it, yes?" he asked with a grin. Quote: Originally Posted by Kolyander Vasco really enjoyed Potions. It was almost like making candy and he got to do that at home with his papa. Sometimes his potions turned out as they were supposed to, other times.. not so much. At times he tended to explode his potions, melt things, spill things and knock things over. It was usually a big mess. So maybe it wasn't like making stuff at home? Still he liked this class and was always on time, today being no exception. With his usual simple greeting to the professor out of the way and his bottom sat upon a seat somewhere in the middle of the room he was good to go. All eyes on the man in charge of the room. And the starting question was a good one! Hand in the air the first year waited to be called on. "Well being unable to speak really wouldn't bother me all that much as I don't mind being quiet and can quite awhile without saying a word. Sometimes I do so just to annoy my sister." Yes, Vera he did things on purpose too. "If I did need to talk though there's plenty of ways to do so. I could write things do, draw what I need, point to stuff, learn how to sign.." That one might take awhile however if he really wanted to learn and others might not actually understand him still. "I wouldn't be opposed to my sister being unable to speak for a day or two though.. not that it would matter other than making things quieter as she would still find ways to bug me like she does now." Oops. He had talked waaaay much more than he had wanted to. Oh, well. At least he had gotten his point across? "Excellent points!" Javier grinned at Vasco, "Those are all great ways of communication that do not rely on speaking." And who didn't want a family member to take up a vow of silence every once in a while?? Quote: Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy Desiree blinked, unsure what to make of Professor Hernandez’s question. Was that what they were brewing, a potion to take away people’s ability to speak? Yeah, no thanks. She needed her voice! This lesson was giving her major Ursula the Sea Witch vibes, which ordinarily this Disney-obsessed girl would be so here for, but today it made her slightly nervous. She considered the questions carefully, The first one was pretty obvious. If you couldn’t speak, you’d have to come up with some other way to communicate, like writing or signing, and that opened up the door for alllll sorts of misunderstandings. But nearly everybody else had already said something along those lines. So what else could she say? She decided to focus on the other part of the question. How would her life change if she couldn’t speak? Well, for one thing, it would kill her dreams of becoming an opera singer when she grew up. Wait, opera… the arts. That gave her an idea! Her hand shot up, and she said when called on, “Assuming that losing one’s ability to speak also means losing the ability to sing and assuming this is long-term, it would mean I couldn’t be an opera singer when I grow up. I’d be sad, but I could always find another job and another form of art. Speaking of which, couldn’t art be considered an alternate way of communicating?” "Art certainly could be an alternate form of communication. Many people learned to draw before writing - look at the cave paintings we have!" Javier pointed out. Hieroglyphics too were an excellent form of art that were used to communicate. Until those Phoenicians came along of course. They really ought to thank them. Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie Atlas would not constitute it as drama, professor. More like standard human interactions and personalities clashing. For the record. Not that anyone had asked him. Also, Lisa was one of the more transparent people he knew...so...just putting THAT out there. Straightening just a bit, his eyes crossed as the candy was presented to him...and his stomach twisted in a pit of guilt. "...I didn't mean to take your brother's gift to you," he murmured back, brow creasing a bit. IF he knew she were thinking such things over a single piece of candy...there would be some very bold opinions shared too. "It's fine," he added as a gentle refusal, coiling his fingers around her offering and gingerly pushing her fingers back towards her palm - so she could keep it. Giving the back of her hand a couple of pat pats with his fingers before straightening and returning to his seat more properly. He offered Lisa a small smile and and tiny nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. He could not really offer all that much more as class began. And...oof. Well. This hit a nerve. He knew precisely what it felt like to be silenced, which was a form of losing one's inability to speak aaaaaaand since the professor had not exactly specified the 'how'...it had Atlas' mind reeling. He wished he had just stayed in bed. But, he was TRYING to be a good sport. Ish. If you squinted and looked sideways at him. So...up went his hand and OOF went his heart. "Depends on how the ability was taken," Atlas offered, vaguely. "We've probably all experience some sort of temporary voice loss from a bag cold, gestures or writing things down work just fine to counteract such things. But..." He hesitated, ironically, his bright blue eyes glancing around sheepishly and his shoulders folding in somewhat. "...never mind...just that, professor." ...the irony of what he had just done to himself was NOT lost on him, for the record. Javi smiled at Atlas and nodded in agreement to his answer. "Excellent forms of communication as well, Mister Flamsteed. It would take adjustment of course, but humans are always good at adapting," he added. For the most part at least... Quote: Originally Posted by kayquilz SPOILER!!: Mercer Arden was veeeeeeery pleased when the boy in her year, Mercer??? sat next to her and complimented her VERY curly hair-ball pigtails. "Thank you. I think they look nice, too." She beamed and nodded proudly. "They certainly don't look anything like mine, but that isn't a bad thing. They still look cute - " she poked one of his hair nubs and giggled. What a depressing way to start the lesson, though. LOSING YOUR VOICE? NOT SPEAK? Arden would rather die! How awful! She loved her own voice - she loved HEARING her own voice?! What could be worse than losing your ability to talk than losing your ability to hear?! Arden thought about it a little and decided she would RATHER lose speaking than hearing. Because with speaking you could just, like, learn sign language or WRITE but hearing?!!!! THAT MEANT NO MORE MUSIC. "I think that might make magic MIGHTY hard. Only the BEST witches and wizards can do nonverbals, right?!" Was what she decided to share as SOOOOON as she was called on. And she DID notice Mercer pointing at her hair, and she turned to see WHO he was gesturing about her to. Milo Evans. Also in her year. Arden sent him a wave and a grin. A lopsided one. Arden brought up an excellent point, and Javier nodded in agreement at his answer. "Yes, very good point! Magic...as you all know, nonverbal spells are very advanced magic, and not being able to say an incantation would certainly hinder our abilities for a while." Quote: Originally Posted by PhoenixRising Did Apollo notice Professor Hernandez's lateness? Not at all, as he himself had weirdly been STUDYING. Shocker, who knew that the Gryffindor had it in him. Perhaps Maya had been rubbing off on him, or he just wanted to show her that he had both brains and athletic talent. Whatever the reason, Apollo had made it from the Gryffindor towers, but not early enough to see Hernandez had arrived just moments before. A unique potion though? What Apollo wanted to know though was if this unique potion would be on his OWL exam? Before he could contemplate too much on what sort of potion they were working on, Hernandez started a discussion about being unable to use their voice. He looked toward Mercer saying he could still write and he was expressive. This made sense, and yet the younger Gryffindor Arden pointed out a fault with that, in magic would become very difficult. "Body language would become very important. And I suppose, as Arden said, we'd have to master non-verbal spells if we wanted a chance of not being shunned from the wizarding world." "Yes, body language is something a lot of people fail to realize has such an impact on communication," he elaborated on Apollo's answer. "Some people may have to focus on that aspect of their communication MORE than they had in the past." Quote: Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl Edric was busy twirling his quill on a bit of parchment, trying to see if he could get it to spin properly like a top. He was mostly listening, his ears hinged on the idea of a 'unique' potion as his Head of House had promised. He looked around as the others answered, trying to think of a thought that hadn't already been said. "I guess you'd have to communicate like the Muggles do, you know, using sign language? And gestures? Your life would be like a giant game of charades." Might be kind of fun, at first. But then he'd probably give up on communicating with others and just become a hermit... which was, honestly, not so different from how he lived now. He went back to his doodling, giving up on the quill-balancing and instead focusing on building a pattern of concentric circles. "That's one way to look at it...but you could also write, or even draw," Javier added with a small smirk, nodding slightly towards the doodles that he totally saw on Eldric's paper. "Overall excellent answers everyone. You all touched on the main point - that without our ability to speak, communication is going to be limited, and we have to figure out the best ways to communicate with each other. Some people would probably do better writing out words...others might respond better to miming or signing. It all depends on the person," Javier explained as he began to pace slightly in front of the class. "Today's potion is, obviously, going to focus on this very scenario. We'll be brewing and testing the Jawbind potion today - can anyone tell me what the Jawbind potion does? And, knowing what it does, how can you attempt to counteract it?" he asked them. OOC: Hey all! Sorry for the delay, my internet kept dying on me for some reason last night, I think it was too hot >___< For the second bit of Javier's question, think of how YOUR INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER would react and what THEY personally would do to counteract the potions. We'll be moving on once again in about 24 hours! __________________ I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid