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History of Magic Lesson 1 On this fine January morning (cold, but sunny), you may get the impression that History of Magic was more cluttered than usual. This wasn't saying much, as History of Magic was never cluttered. Clutter was not a thing the notoriously orderly Alice was fond of and her office and classroom usually showed this. Today was a different matter. Desks and chairs were arranged in their usual places, yet in between desks and chairs were cardboard boxes which were sealed shut with tape. To the left and right side of the desks (which was usually empty) were more of these mysterious boxes. Be careful not to trip over any of them as you make your way to your chairs. Worry not. The room may be more crowded than usual, but all the boxes were still arranged in straight lines - leaving you with more than enough room to walk to your desk in a straight line without even coming close to bumping a box. Alice was meditating in her chair. Her eyes were closed and her hands were gently clasped together. OOC:Class has started! We would love to have you even if you weren't here all along - just pretend that you were. ^_^ Question 1 Mini activity Main activity Question 2 Class dismissed! |
Her crisp winter uniform on, and her stomach full of breakfast, it was time to fill her head with history. Hanna entered the classroom to see she was the first there. And there was Professor O'Hara meditating in her chair. Hanna never knew whether she could break the meditation or whether she should leave people, but seeing as this was a lesson she figured Professor O'Hara knew they were going to be joining them. "Good morning Professor," Hanna greeted in a quiet voice. She headed to her chair and got her things out for the lesson. Her textbook was plonked carefully onto the desk, her bag slung across her chair. She unrolled some parchment for notes, and got her favourite quill and a small jar of black ink out, keeping the lid on for now. |
Jackson was still in a great mood, which made life nicer for everyone, and it helped that he was in one of his favorite classes. Call him weird, but he had loved learning about magic over the years ever since he got to Diagon Alley. Jackson followed Hanna into the classroom, offering a smile at their professor who seemed a bit occupied with her meditation. "Good morning, Professor," he offered, keeping his voice on the gentler side as well. "Hey Hanna, how's it going?" he greeted the other Ravenclaw, making his way through the room and to a seat in front. |
Dark circles were under Dorian's eyes from spending another night reading till late but despite his tired appearance, the Ravenclaw felt good this morning. With his History textbook in his arm, Dorian entered the classroom but stopped at the sight that greeted his eyes. Merlin's Beard what were they going to to do with those boxes today? Finding a path to his chair, Dorian looked over at the meditating professor as he walked and decided not to greet her. As someone who meditated daily himself, he disliked it when someone got him out of it. He did say a "Hey" at both Hannah and Jackson before he placed his textbook on his desk and sat down. |
Unlike most people, Tina didn't find history of magic dull. She was a whiz at remembering names and dates, and she much preferred a calm classroom setting to being thrown into some scenario involving spells, creatures, or some other unpredictable thing that could go wrong at any moment. No, the class was fine; it was the professor that Tina had conflicting thoughts about. She'd heard all about Professor O'Hara's support of the Scrimgeour regime from a family friend/former Hogwarts professor who she considered a reliable source, and she didn't condone it...not at all. Based on her own experiences, however, the professor didn't seem so bad. In fact, Tina rather appreciated the woman's sense of order. It was for that reason Tina was surprised when she entered the classroom and saw all the boxes. She assumed they must have something to do with the lesson, but she had no idea what it could be. Maybe using the boxes to make something? Or sorting something into the boxes? The boxes weren't the only surprise Tina saw. Blink, blink. Well, this was weird... so far the only people here were Ravenclaws. Did the other three houses forget there was a lesson today? Tina nodded at her housemates as she passed on her way to find a seat. Then she saw the professor. Uhh... was she supposed to say hello? It seemed rude not to, but she didn't want to interrupt her thoughts because that seemed rude too. Maybe if she was especially quiet, it would be okay. "Good morning, Professor," Tina whispered before taking a seat. |
Absentmindedly itching her arm that already had TONS of itch marks on it, Nettie walked in to History of Magic in a considerably better mood than she HAD been in the last few days. She still felt all MEH. But...she was feeling better. Slowly but surely. It also made her feel better to see all her fellow housemates already at the lesson - even if they ended in the negatives this term, at least no one could say the Claws hadn't tried! "Hello Professor" she piped up as she took a seat near the front next to Hanna and Jackson, giving them each a small smile as well. Itch itch itch. She realized what she was doing and put her hands under her legs to stop herself from itching. What WAS that anyways? |
Did they have to? Attend this lesson, that is. History of Magic was the worst. The W O R S T. And their Professor was sooooooooooooo weird. Subjecting them to this kind of madness was absolute torture. Couldn't they, like, go off the honor system or something? Everyone had to read one chapter a week? That sounded like a FANTASTIC idea. Mostly because Zoryn probably wouldn't do it. But also because it meant they wouldn't have to go through the excruciating stomach pain that was this class. "Are you moving?" was her only greeting this morning. Because she wasn't sure if helping their Professor pack was something Zoryn wanted to take part in. No offense, but Zoryn reserved her strength for Quidditch. Didn't want to pull a muscle or anything. Not with recruitment season at it's height. So soz, but she'd have to pass. |
Jó paused in the doorway to the classroom, taking a sweeping glance of everyone in the room, his eyes finally landing on the Professor. Whose eyes were closed? And not paying attention? And generally just... Józef was giving up. This subject was already boring, no wonder the Professor had fallen asleep before it had even begun. Although he didn't say hello, he did go and sit down because who knew when she'd wake up or another teacher would show up?! With his toe, he gently nudged one of the boxes as he passed. How tightly sealed were they? Any chance of a sneak peak? |
History of Magic was a subject that Indigo actually usually enjoyed. Though, to be honest, there wasn't really a subject that he didn't enjoy. They could all be interesting in their own ways. Sometimes classes were boring but that didn't mean he found the whole subject boring. And today he was in a fairly good mood, so he wasn't at all upset about making his way to History of Magic. He paused briefly in the doorway as he entered the classroom, wondering what was up with all the cardboard boxes. They were all taped shut, which was pretty tempting. But he just glanced at them and took a seat in the middle of the room. |
Patrick was a bit confused about why there were so many boxes in the room but figured in Durban time he would find out what the deal was. For now he followed suit and walked down the narrow isle of floor and sat at his usual desk. Not too far forward but not too far back. With a smile he greeted their professor, ”Hello Professor” he was trying to keep his enthusiasm up but history of magic was boring. |
History of Magic wasn’t that bad. Aside from the fact Stasya still hadn’t quite decided whose side Professor O’Hara had been on last term during Scrimgeour’s reign of terror. The professor was still teaching, and she’d seemed to be more on their side toward the end of last term, so the prefect was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Plus, there was the whole matter of her own accountability as a prefect, so she needed to be observant and she couldn’t do that when choosing to stay in the barns all day instead of attending lessons. Even if she felt responsibility for not protecting Ambrosia due to her not having been there when the Abraxan disappeared. She might be more attached to the various Granians in the barns, but all the winged horses were dear to her. The multitude of boxes she saw upon slipping silently through the door of the classroom were curious. Were they studying the owl post this lesson or something, maybe? Although there were the packages but not the owls, so maybe not. The question remained upspoken either way, as she noticed the professor meditating at the front of the classroom. She’d just wait until the woman was done before she greeted her, as she stepped carefully over to her usual desk and got situated for the lesson. |
Viv was so shocked. This had to be the biggest turnout in... years! Despite the case, Viv came for her education... Regardless, she went to her usual spot. But what were these boxes? She walked around the chairs carefully. Then she thought: what was Professor Alice doing? Meditating? |
Alice was aware that students were entering the classroom and that they (most of them) greeting her before sitting down. All of these greetings went unreturned. Not that she was rudely ignoring her students - it was just that meditating went down better without interruptions. That was not to say that your greetings went unappreciated. On the contrary, allowing your greetings to blend against one another in the background made the final round of meditating so much more pleasant than it would have been had there been no greetings. Of course, by now most of the students would have gotten used to the professors meditating at the start of each lesson. And even though this state of mind allowed her to block out greetings, she had trained her mind to recognize questions by the raised intonation which usually accompanied them. So yes, she did hear Zoryn's question. It was the thing that finally made her open her eyes (slowly.) "Do not worry, Ms. Spinnet, I have no plans to move. These boxes are for today's lesson." "Good morning, class," she said, finally returning the greetings of everyone who had spoken. Normally she would have said Namaste at this point, but her flow of thought was interrupted. Next time she would. "I am pleased that none of you tried to open the boxes." That actually did make her proud, though it wouldn't have been the end of the world if one or two boxes had been opened. "We will be opening them, but first I have some questions for you all to test your knowledge on today's subject. I would like to know what you know about Sasquatch. You may list any facet of knowledge which comes to mind. One at a time in an ORDERLY fashion, please. You may begin." OOC: Woot! To be continued in 24 hours. :love: |
Kaira raised her hand: 'They are hairy, ape like creatures that live in forests..they are also called Bigfoots..been represented in a few Muggle movies,' she said. She'd heard about Sasquatches. There were stories about them that her sister used to tell her to scare her when she was younger. |
On the one hand, the greetings from the others who hadn’t taken the professor’s meditation to heart hadn’t seemed to bother Professor O’Hara, which tempted Stasya to add her own greetings to the mix once the lesson officially began. The only reason she hadn’t spoken before was out of politeness anyhow, but as the lesson really began, not counting the response to Zoryn’s question about if they were moving boxes arranged around everyone’s desks, any thoughts about greetings fled from her mind. That and her hand rose almost before Stasya could say she controlled it. “Sasquatches are cryptids normally seen in North America, and traditionally they’re considered the counterparts to the Yeti in the Himalayas and the Almas in Siberia. Most people believe they’re a form of primate, too,” she offered, grey-green eyes sparkling at the thought they were going to discuss cryptids in the class. Even if it would have made more sense to be learning about them in CoMC. Either way, it was exciting. |
By now it fazed Hanna not one bit when Professor O'Hara didn't respond to a greeting. She was the meditatey kind. Including in class. She waved and said a hello to Jackson, and Dorian as they entered too. She returned Tina's nod, and Nettie's smile with a happy wave. And waited patiently until... Class began, and with it - a good morning from Professor O'Hara. Hanna gave a small smile to the Professor, having greeted her already. Hanna looked curiously to the boxes, having figured out a loooooong time ago that whatever was in the classroom, unless it said 'OPEN ME' or 'EAT ME' or whatever, it was generally NOT OKAY to open or eat things. Or touch them. But she was curious. She thought about what she knew about the Sasquatches, or Bigfoot. Kaira and Stasya started it off with facts, although Stasya's had information Hanna didn't really know about. She knew very basic facts. What else did she know about them? Not... much. Nothing. She raised her hand anyway, "Um muggles discovered them because of the... large footprints they leave." |
Tina glanced toward the door, watching as more people entered the classroom. So it wasn't going to be a Ravenclaw convention after all... that was good, she supposed. She had to fight not to roll her eyes as she overheard Lava Girl ask if Professor O'Hara was moving. Was that really an appropriate question? She supposed she should be used to Lava girl's antics by now... But she didn't have too much time to get annoyed. Class was starting. Tina sat up a little straighter as she listened to Professor O'Hara. So they were opening the boxes later? Tina wasn't sure what opening boxes had to do with history of magic, but she wasn't fussed about it... as long as there wasn't some unwelcome surprise waiting inside the box (like a dungbomb, for example). Upon hearing the question, she was even more confused. Boxes and Sasquatch? Nope, those two things didn't seem to go together... unless they were supposed to imitate a sasquatch demolishing a town using the boxes as mock buildings. But that seemed unlikely; the professor said they were to open boxes, not squish them. Tina pondered the question as she listened to her classmates' answers. All the facts she could think of off the top of her head were already said, and she didn't want to repeat someone else's answer. Then a memory stirred... something M. Evremonde once said about sasquatches and MACUSA, but what exactly was it? Ooh, she remembered! Tina's hand shot up, and she waited to be called on. "There was once a sasquatch rebellion that caused MACUSA to move headquarters from Washington D.C. to New York City," she said when it was her turn to speak, feeling pleased with herself for remembering. |
Vivienne walked in and greeted Professor O'Hara. Vivienne loved to meditate. It was an easy way to get rid of negativity. Just like Occlumency. She did not wanna hear O'Hara say Namaste. She sat and waited for O'Hara to explain about the boxes. She then wrote some details about the Sasquatch: their appearance and history. And also their behaviour. |
Oh, Zoryn wasn't worried. Actually, she was just disappointed. Look no offense to Professor O'Hara, but Zoryn wasn't exactly her biggest fan. The woman was just plain weird. The whole meditation thing was really whack. Couldn't she meditate on her own time??? Or at least just meditate THROUGH the lesson so that they didn't actually have to learn anything? Where was the decency!? Honestly. As for the question, what did she know about sasquatches? Easy. "They're meant to be studied in Care of Magical Creatures," so... Why bring them up here? It wasn't sass. (It kind of was sass). |
Are you kidding me? Everyone loved O'Hara. Even though she was different. Sasquatches? We need defence against them. Isn't that what this class was all about? "Really Zoryn? We need to know about defensive spells." |
"Nothing. Don't even know what they are. Sound's like a soup." Yes, that was Józef Kowalski's intelligent offer from the back, hand up of course. Sasquatches. It was a funny word, though. "Sasquatches." So funny, that he had to say it out loud. And why was Zoryn bringing up Care of Magical Creatures? And that other kid, the first year, talking about Defence? This was History. DUH. The timetable said so. "Have you got Sasquatches in your boxes?" |
Patrick had heard everyone else's answers and had the same information as them. He felt like he was absolutely repeating what everyone else had already said. But the more he sat there the more he agreed with Zoryn. Who was she and why was she speaking to his soul all of the sudden. Raising his hand he prepared to answer in the most I-grew-up-mosty-muggle-and-have-muggle-answers. "In muggle society they believe the spot Big foot all the time and swear that its just a tall mutant of a man..." Although he was fairly certain that he would lose points for that answer... |
Sasquatch? Was that even a word? Were they still speaking english? It wasn't until some people started calling it BIG FOOT that she made the connection. OOOOOOOH. Now she got it. She raised her hand. "Well, some people think it's a type of ape, whereas others don't think it's real at all," she answered. |
Skyler raised her hand. "Some say that bigfoot is a human that never evolved. If bigfoot is real professor" and out there, wouldn't there be multiple ones? He can't live forever right?" |
Jackson had to admit, he wasn’t sure where this was heading… Perhaps Sasquatch was actually just a troll that had gotten lost? “Sasquatch is a famous lore that I jheard about all the time as a kid. Everyone knew he wasn’t real, but people still claimed to see it. Whether it’s one or many has also been a mystery since people are iffy on if they believe the creature aexists or not. When I think of Big Foot though, I imagine a big hairy neanderthal walking through the forest.” In America, people reported seeing Sasquatch all over the place, but it never seemed to lead to actual proof. With how good of quality everyone's phones and cameras had now, Jackson found it highly unlikely that Sasquatch himself was that blurry. Was Professor O'Hara going to bring one in??! He used the itch on his neck as an excuse to turn his head again, eyeing the boxes... |
SPOILER!!: Kaira The first answer was more than acceptable. It was the fundamentals which she hoped all of her students would possess."Correct. Bigfoot and Sasquatch are terms you can use interchangeably for the same species. This is in contrast with the Yeti, who is an entirely different (though related) species." SPOILER!!: Stasya This next answer was pretty good. Alice nodded approvingly at the precise language Stasya used when discussing Sasquatch. "Very good! Props for knowing the difference between Yeti and Sasquatch. Those terms are often confused. While cousins, both are distinct species." Good on her for knowing the word cryptid, too. SPOILER!!: Hanna Alice gave a small nod. "Sasquatch is one of the creatures that our governments have a hard time covering up. Sometimes Muggles in North America (No-Maj's) discover footprints in the western forests. Occasionally, there are even brief sightings." SPOILER!!: Zoryn! Now that was just disrespectful. Perhaps it was her meditating that prevented her from flying off the rails like what she might have done when Julian was headmaster. Or maybe it was just her own resolution of not yelling at the students (unless really pushed) that made her reply to Zoryn's comment in a normal tone. "I am sure you meant that as a joke, which is why I will let it slide. Please refrain from making inappropriate jokes in my class from this moment until the end of class." On the bright side, she suppose she should be glad that the girl knew Sasquatch was a creature. SPOILER!!: Vivienne While true that Alice usually required answers from all her students, she elected to make an exception for Vivienne. The young student WAS writing everything down, so it was not like she was distracted. Good for her. SPOILER!!: Mr. Kowalski She had expected some students to not know what a Sasquatch was. Understandable, since they were a North American creature. "What soup does Sasquatch sound like, Mr. Kowalski?" she asked out of vague curiosity. "No, I do not have Sasquatches in my boxes." SPOILER!!: Patrick She nodded at the Slytherin. "That is correct, Mr. Dooley. Sasquatch is one of the wizarding communities worst kept secrets. Luckily, the Muggles haven't figured out that he's part of a bigger world." SPOILER!!: Trinetta Alice crossed her arms thoughtfully at the answer. "Your answer is sufficiently descriptive if used to describe the Muggles perspective. As a witch, what do you believe Sasquatch is?" SPOILER!!: Skyler "I've heard this theory before," she said, nodding at the Slytherin's answer. "We will discuss him in greater detail in a few moments, but yes, there are multiple Bigfoots." SPOILER!!: Jackson Alice nodded approvingly at the more detailed answer. "Everything you said is basically correct, Mr. Thomas - except for the part where Sasquatch isn't real. I understand why you would have heard that, considering that this is what Muggles believe. You are correct about the Bigfoot's physical appearance." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPOILER!!: Tina! And here was when one of her students brought up the subject of the lesson before she herself could do so. Alice nodded approvingly at the girl's answer. "Bravo, Tina, your answer shows a strong education. Two points to you." And Professor O'Hara would make sure those points counted once they manage to fix their hourglasses. Curse the unruly villains who had damaged them! Standing from her seat, Professor O'Hara leaned forward on her desk (back still straight, of course) with her hands on the desk. "Sasquatch, otherwise known as Bigfoot, is a cryptid living in the northwestern forests of North America. They are one of our worst kept secrets, as Muggles keep noticing them. MACUSA is constantly having to Obliviate memories of "Sasquatch hunters" who see too much. Bigfoot are hairy creatures who average between seven and ten feet tall. They are covered in reddish brown fur and they wear no clothes." Alice did not like the idea of being face to face with one, but that was her prejudice. Usually Bigfoots were peaceful. "Now, Sasquatch and Bigfoot are terms which you can use interchangeably, but terms like Yeti, Yowie-Yahoo, and Mono Grande are not terms you can use interchangeably, as they are used to describe different species of cryptids which can be found in other countries. The Yeti is far more savage than the Bigfoot and can be found in Asia. The Yowie-Yahoo is relatively peaceful and lives only in Australia. The Mono Grande is savage as a dragon and can be found in the jungles of South America. But today we will be discussing only Sasquatch (or Bigfoot), so let's move on, shall we?" She took her hands off her desk and walked around to begin pacing between the students, carefully stepping over boxes as she did so. She wouldn't want to trip over her own boxes - that would be humiliating. Of course she had arranged them in straight lines so that it would hard for even a clumsy student to trip over them - and the graceful Alice was not clumsy. "Now, as Ms. Tina Dantes mentioned, there was a Great Sasquatch Rebellion in 1892 which caused MACUSA to relocate their headquarters from Washington to New York. Do you remember how I said that Bigfoot is one of our worst kept secrets? This is in part because they like to wander and they do not appreciate hiding in the deepest parts of the forest all the time like what our centaurs do." No offense to centaurs, of course. "Irene Kneedander was the head of the Body For Protection of Magical Species at this time. She hated the Sasquatch and she hated most of all how they kept being sighted by No-Maj's. She answered their defiance with harsh punishments. Sasquatch were to be attacked for violating any rule, no matter how small. But this strategy only backfired. Rather than submit to Irene Kneedander, Sasquatch violently rebelled. A bloody war the likes of which MACUSA had never seen would soon engulf them. In the end, Sasquatch lost, but not without inflicting enough losses on MACUSA to warrant a switch in headquarters. These events are chronicled in the historical volume, Bigfoot's Last Stand." That was a long talk. Alice knew that some students had an annoying tendency to doze off when lots of words were being said, so she was certain to glance at them as she walked by to make sur no one was doing that. If they were, she would be an Irene Kneedander to their Bigfoot! "Now, I would for us all to roleplay the story you've just been told," she dramatically announced, and she took a large pack of cards out of her front robe pocket and began handing them out to the students. "I have assigned roles for each of you. Some of you are Sasquatch defending your rights, some of you are MACUSA enforcers just doing your job, and one of you is Irene Kneedander. Once you have your card, you will open the box to your left and you will find your costume inside. Put it on in an orderly manner. Then sit down patiently and wait for further instruction." OOC: Woot! This is the mini activity. You can OOC decide who your student will roleplay. We'll move on in 36 hours! |
a MACUSA enforcer! ................. Kay. In through one ear and out the other, honestly. What was so disrespectful about a correct answer? If Professor O'hara didn't want to hear it, then maybe she shouldn't have asked. Clearly this was all her fault. Duh. As for everything else. Zoryn stopped listening after the word 'cryptid'. This just required way too much focus. She was bored. Yaaawwwwwwn. As for their topic for the day? MACUSA? Did someone need to remind their Professor that they went to school in THE UK? It was called History of Magic. Not History of All Magic on Planet Earth. Why should Zoryn care about America? It's not like American wizards cared about anyone but themselves. It was such a foul, selfish country. In Zoryn's expert opinion, anyway. As for the whole roleplay thing... Ew. Some people in the classroom had no idea what acting even meant, and they had to sit here and suffer through their attempts? No thank you. Ugh. If it weren't too late to just walk right out, she would've done it ages ago. Instead, however, the seventh year found herself opening up her card. Enforcer. Cool. She'd leave the Sasquatchery to Anna. They were learning about Anna's cousins in DADA (trolls) and her parents in History of Magic! How great was that! |
Sasquatch Indigo was listening attentively to the lecture about the sasquatch and the MACUSA rebellion. He'd heard a vague mention of it before in a book or something, but this was the first real explanation of it he'd gotten and he had to admit it was actually pretty interesting. The idea of roleplaying... not so interesting. Indigo didn't mind classes where he was simply expected to take in information. Participation? Not always his favorite. Especially participation that was going to require interaction with other people. But it was too late to leave so he reluctantly took a card and looked at it. Sasquatch? Okay. He eyed the box to his left apprehensively. There was a costume in there that he was supposed to put on? Okay.... but, for the record, he really didn't want to. |
Sasquatch Tina had expected that the Great Sasquatch Rebellion was going to be the subject of the lesson. What she didn't expect was to get extra house points for her answer! She beamed, giving the profeasor a nod of gratitude so as not to interrupt the lesson. She could alway give her a verbal thank you later. She took a quick moment to jot down the facts about sasquatch that had been mentioned as well as the interchangable names and names that weren't interchangeable, before turning her attention back to the professor. Tina had a very basic kmowledge about the sasquatch rebellion. She knew approximately when it happened and that it caused MACUSA to relocate, but that was about all... so she took careful notes to fill the gaps in her knowledge. So they were going to be basically reenacting the sasquatch rebellion, and the boxes were full of costumes? That wasn't where Tina thought this activity was going. She had a sort of sick uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She really was not cut out to be an actress, but she supposed roleplaying could be alright, as long as they had lines. Wait, they were going to be assigned lines, right? This girl didn't do improv! Tina glanced at her card: Sasquatch. Thank goodness! She was glad she didn't get stuck playing Irene Kneedander; that woman sounded like a huge tyrant! With her card in hand, Tina opened the box to the left of her desk to find her sasquatch costume. There was a mask, gloves, a reddish-brown fur cape and a long, scraggly wig to match. In the very bottom of the box was a pair of shoe covers designed to look like giant feet. Tina wasn't sure whether to laugh or scoff; she'd look ridiculous wearing all this! She put the pieces on as quickly as possible and waited for furrher instructions. She hoped she wouldn't need to take any notes while wearing this! These gloves were so hairy and bulky, it made holding a quill impossible! |
Hairy Biggie Foot Valencia nodded along as the topic was explained. She was a fan of rights for all sentient creatures. In fact, much like her mother, she was passionate when it came to the rights and care of all living creatures, whether they be humanoid or not. She looked at the costume in her box. It was incredibly hairy. She picked up one of the gloves and looked it over. She was actually rather uncomfortable with literally dressing up as something to play out them demanding better treatment. She was assuming this had way more to do than just not wanting to be in the forest all the time -- (which she actually did relate to). |
MACUSA enforcer The actual History aspect of the Sasquatch discussion had been somewhat new to Stasya’s knowledge, but the information she had provided had been taken favorably. If not necessarily as favorably as the Ravenclaw girl who had brought up MACUSA as her answer had been. Either way, she wasn’t embarrassed at all for revealing her interest in cryptids. Nor was she bothered by the fact she’d wondered the same thing Zoryn had actually brought up, as the topic of discussion had been clarified. In a way, it all sounded a lot like the situation with centaurs here. Misunderstandings and occasional bad decisions. Not that she agreed with the tactics of Irene Kneedander one bit. In fact, she was adamantly against those beliefs, as Professor Noble probably knew quite well by now after six terms of her silent protests against the use of animal parts in Potions class. However, the roleplaying aspect of the lesson wasn’t an issue. Not considering she’d been in drama club for a few terms by now, and she’d glanced at the card she’d received with interest. Thankfully, she didn’t have to pretend she understood Irene Kneedander. Although she wasn’t a Sasquatch either. Instead, she was a MACUSA enforcer which was probably going to be difficult enough to act out. At least the costume was probably fairly normal. Hopefully. She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as she opened the box nearest her desk on her left to look. |
Wow! Apes? Why do people have to be so disrespectful? Sasquatches were just creatures. Vivienne... distracted? Tina was too smart. Vivienne loved Sasquatches. Cute animals indeed. Seriously those boxes needed to be moved. Vivienne tried so hard to stay awake. She watched O'Hara take the cards out of her robes. She chose to be an enforcer doing her job. She opened the box and put on her costume. Then she waited for O'Hara to continue. |
main activity Alice walked down the rows handing cards to every student. They were passed out in the orderly fashion you have come to expect from her - there were no random assignments. Unfortunately, there were a few extra cards after every student had gotten their card. Hmm. Someone(s) were ditching class today. That was never cool in Alice's book - even if one of the ones ditching class happened to be a Gryffindor who also happened to be Alice's favorite person at Hogwarts. "Right!" she said as she walked back to her desk. "Now you all have your assigned roles and you are in your costumes. You will notice that I've made more room to walk around up here by my desk. Please line up in an orderly fashion and come up behind me. I will move this desk out of your way so you have even more room to move." She used this time (the students leaving their desks to come up front) to drag her desk and chair out of the way and lean it up against the side of the wall. It was not a hard effort as her desk was rather light. Ground rules! "Now you are not allowed to hurt each other - no REAL fighting. You can use magic and throw fake punches (if you're Sasquatch), but please be careful to avoid accidents." She strode over to the back of the room, leaned up against the wall with arms crossed, and began narrating. "A sighting of Sasquatch has been reported by No-Maj, who were promptly Obliviated. A group of Sasquatch have made it from their home in the forest to the outskirts of Seattle. MACUSA employees have arrived. The tension builds as both groups collide with each other..." That was their cue. OOC: Don't worry too much about doing things accurately. Alice expects you to improvise with what your student knows about their characters. She'll interject here and there when needed, but otherwise the floor is yours. Irene Kneedander is still available, as are Sasquatch and MACUSA. :jump: |
Irene Kneedander hasn't been taken soooo! Nettie took a few moments to sit and wait, watching as the teams got split up. She looked down at her box and opened it up. At first, she was confused - it didn't look like any of the other people but then she realized...that meant she was the main character, right!? Irene Kneedander? YAAAAAAS. She slipped on the costume, waiting patiently for everyone else to get going. She then paused to listen to O'Hara give them further directions. Although thrilled at the prospect of being a KEY player in all this, she knew that meant she had to get kind of nasty. She cleared her throat and turned to the MACUSA enforcers. "LADIES AND GENTS! The Sasquatch have DEFIED the natural order for the last time! Any Sasquatch you see - ATTACK it, no questions asked!" she barked at them. Wow, this was fun! She cut her wand through the air like a sword and turned to the Sasquatch. "On my count - one, two, THREE!" she called. |
Macusa enforcer Patrick had decided on an Enforcer. He wanted to go unnoticed. He had been struggling this past week and this class was no doubt making it really hard to pay attention. He was tired, stressed, and honestly freaking out that he had this constant itch. Getting up and getting dressed in the ridiculous outfit and began to take part in the reenactment of the events. He really wasn't too sure what he was supposed to be doing. It felt like that time back at his muggle school in the states when they had to reenact the Salem witch trials. He stood back watching the others to see what exactly they would need him to do so he didn't mess up and have any more attention drawn to himself. |
Indigo pulled on the sasquatch costume and found that it actually wasn't so bad. A bit scratchy, but quite warm. That was fine for now but it might get hot later... though that was a future Indigo problem. What was he supposed to do now? They were acting out a scene. What was the scene again? The MACUSA enforcers were coming to say the sasquatch had broken a rule? Oh yeah, Professor O'Hara had said they had moved out of the forest and into the suburbs of Seattle. That seemed fine. Indigo would rather live in Seattle than in a forest. He moved into the area that had been set up for them to act in and looked around a little awkwardly. How did he act like a sasquatch. He decided to sort of cross his arms over his chest. There, he looked a bit mad. And stubborn. Like someone who wanted to move to Seattle but was being told they had to go back to the forest. Should he say something too? "You can't tell us what to do. We have rights too." How was he doing? |
Alice watched the students perform, rather more impressed than she had thought she would be. She had expected them to come into it with less energy. It was always nice to be proven wrong. She gave a small nod of approval to Trinetta's convincing acting. Patrick and Indigo were doing good too. Unfortunately, her watch told her that very soon they would have to stop. Alice deiced to give them just a BIT more time so everyone could get involved. They were doing so good as it was that she hated the idea of cutting this activity too close. "Fifteen minutes left, guys," she announced from her position in the back. "Good job so far. Let's keep it up until the last second, shall we?" ooc: I'll leave this activity open for another twelve hourse before moving on to the next question. ^_^ |
Tina's heart sank when she heard Professor O'Hara's next instructions. Improv was really not her strong suit! Improvisation led to uncertainty. uncertainty led to mistakes. Mistakes led to embarrassment, and so on… If she was going to get up in front of everyone and pretend to be a sasquatch, she needed lines, a script, some kind of plan to go on. With an inward groan, Tina joined her classmates at the front of the room, standing with the other sasquatches. How in Merlin's socks was she going to approach this? She had no idea what a sasquatch would do or say! She thought back to what she knew about the sasquatch rebellion, how the sasquatches fought against oppression and still lost… It reminded her a lot of something that happened to a friend of hers. Granted, he wasn't a big hairy creature, but she imagined the emotions would be the same. Maybe if she acted like him, that would give her the anger she needed. Or if all else failed, she could always just think of Cassius Rosier! Tina took a quick moment to get into character. What would he do in a situation like this? What did he do in such a situation? Resist peacefully and try to protect the others… that sounded about right. Tina (as sasquatch) stood beside someone else in a sasquatch costume (Indigo), arms crossed and nodding in agreement as he spoke. When she saw Irene Kneedander (Nettie) brandish her wand like sword, Tina moved between her and the other sasquatches, arms and legs akimbo in a protective stance. “Irene Kneedander…” she growled, imagining she was looking into the smug face of her ex-friend from Beauxbatons to fuel the angry fire in her eyes. “We are DONE being subjugated by the likes of you!” She pointed at the MACUSA enforcers. Wait, would a sasquatch use the word subjugated? Probably not, but it was too late now. “One last chance, MACUSA tyrant,” she warned. “Call off your attack, and no harm will come to you. All we want is to roam in peace!” Was that okay? Too much? Not enough? She was already second guessing herself. |
It was a pity that they had to move on from this activity. Alice rather liked seeing the students act it out, even the ones who were (shall we say) less than realistic. A good effort was always appreciated by Professor O'Hara. "All right, class!" She walked back over to stand in the center of the young performers. "You all did very good. Now please return to your seats so we can continue the lesson." She waited before they had done so before sitting down on the floor (remember, her desk was moved to make room) in a cross-legged Yoga pose. Don't worry - she was not about to meditate at this moment. "The Sasquatch Rebellion caused a strain in No-Maj-Bigfoot relations that has, unfortunately, continued to this very day. The event has been dramatized in the novel and play production 'Bigfoot's Last Stand' and countless other productions. Now, I want you all to think about the play you just finished performing. Why do you think it is important that we study events like the Sasquatch Rebellion? Please share your answers with the class, in an orderly fashion." And she pointed to the first raised hand. |
Aww, Nettie hadn't had much time to actually bark out orders at people, but it had been kind of fun. Smiling, she returned to her seat and pulled out her notes again. She raised her hand. "I think the reason it's important to learn these things is because you should learn to look at both sides of an argument. The Sasquatch had important points as to why they felt they were justified in their actions, as did the MACUSA." |
Patrick quickly shed the costume because he felt ridiculous in the get up. Sitting back down in his seat he prepared to answer the question that was asked. "Well its important to know these things so we can avoid them in the future." He really felt secure in his answer. It was the same reason that he learned history in the muggle schools. Keep track of the past so they could steer away from it in the future. |
Tina had thought trying to channel her friend and her own anger to help her relate to the sasquatches' struggle was a good idea at the time, but now she wasn't so sure. She should've guessed a human's angry reactions would be too complex to pass for a sasquatch's! Could they please stop now before she made an even bigger fool of herself? Did she mention she was terrible at improv? Tina was so busy doubting herself that she couldn't focus on what the people around her were doing. She almost missed Professor O'Hara's announcement that time was up. Thank Merlin! Now she could get out of this costume before she embarrassed herself any further. She put the costume components neatly back into the box where she found them and returned to her seat to ponder the professor's question. That's easy, Tina thought. It's to make sure history doesn't repeat itself… but that other guy (Patrick) had already said that. She nodded in agreement as she raised her hand. “I agree, Professor,” she said. “It's important to learn so we can stop *history from repeating itself. If we look back and evaluate the choices historical figures made and their outcomes, maybe we can learn from that and make different choices if faced with a similar situation.” As soon as Tina spoke, she wished she hadn't. That answer made perfect sense inside her head, but it sounded disjointed when she tried to put it into words. Yeah, she was just going to keep quiet now so she wouldn't humiliate herself again! |
Indigo was happy to take his seat when it was time for their acting to be over. He hoped they didn't have to do more of that at any other point during this lesson. Luckily, it seemed like Professor O'Hara was just going to tell them more stuff instead of making them act. Indigo considered the question and listened to the answers of the others. "I agree with her, professor," he said when it was his turn. He wasn't sure of the girl's name (Nettie), but her answer was about looking at both sides of an argument. "There are two different sides to every conflict. And if we didn't study an event like this we might only hear one side and come to an uninformed decision about what we think happened." |
Alice agreed with all of her students answers. That showed her that this lesson was a success. It made her feel a warmth which was rather uncommon for her normally cold style. "That is very well stated, Ms. Gladin," she said to the Ravenclaw who had spoken first. "We are naturally inclined to sympathize with one side more than another when it comes to viewing things through the prism of history. By being forced to act for someone on the other side (even in something like a play), that can open your mind up to their point of view - even if you still disagree with them by the time the activity is over." Mr. Rousseau had made this point too, so of course her agreement with Nettie was also agreement with him. "Ms. Dantes and Mr. Dooley are also correct." Their answer of being sure that history did not repeat itself was the one that she vaguely expected to be the one everyone would have. "We've all made mistakes in our own lives that we can learn from so we don't make similar mistakes in the future." Her own biggest mistake was aligning with Julian last year. "Just as we can improve ourselves individually by looking at our past mistakes, collectively we can at least try to avoid repeating the tragedies of the past." Alice was still in her meditating pose. She would remain like this until after the students had been dismissed. "I hope you enjoyed today's lesson. Class dismissed." ooc: Thank you so much for coming, guys! That is all for now. :D |
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