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Potions Lesson 1: Animal Whisperer Potion Upon entering the Potions classroom this morning, you may be thrilled to see some familiar faces. Sitting on top of your workstation is none other than your beloved school pet—caged, of course. Students without their own pets have a school owl on their desks. In the back of the classroom, there is a wall of blanket-covered cages. What the cages contain is unclear, although you may be able to hear some scratching and chomping sounds coming from them. Professor Varma stands at the front, dressed in deep violet robes and adorned with lots of silver jewelry. An enchanted piece of chalk writes a message on the board behind her in rather large letters: Quote:
OOC: Hello hello hello! Thank you so much for coming to my first ever lesson! Please remember that although this is our first OOC lesson together, your students have had classes with Shreya for several months now. Feel free to check out the classroom rules before you post. Also, you may remember that owls were snatched by the cult earlier in the term. So this may be the first time your charrie is seeing their owl (if they have one) in awhile. Shreya has gotten permission to use them in the lesson....but just remember that the Squad UPDATE: Just wanted to apologize for any confusion I may have caused with my original post. I mistakenly believed that all pets had been snatched, not just owls. Just clarifying that ONLY the owls were seized. If you already posted reuniting with a non-owl animal, it's okay. Since the Squad has been heavily supervising everything the students do, it's reasonable to assume that they haven't seen their cats/toads/other non-owl pets as frequently as they're used to. Lesson Progression: Q1: What are some ways that animals communicate with us? Q2: Name a situation where it might be useful to know what a creature is thinking or feeling. Mini Activity: Testing the animal whisperer potion on your pet or school owl Main Activity: Testing the animal whisperer potion on a kneazle or puffskein Closure/Homework: Brew another batch of the animal whisperer potion for Professor Williamson. |
Eden loved Potions. Ever since she had decided to risk a little rulebreaking over the summer holiday and practice brewing in her bedroom, she'd been hooked. The focused, measured, and meticulous nature of brewing suited her fine. It was meditative more than anything else. She'd spent many early mornings studying recipes over toast, writing notes in her special not-diary, How to Become A Scary Menace-Witch. Her vials were always pristine, her knife sharpened, her simmering anger placed on a backburner. So when Eden walked into the Potions classroom she tried to leave everything else behind her. And oh boy, was there a lot to leave behind lately. But distraction came quickly - why did the Potions lab look like a menagerie? Why was there a caged owl on her workstation? Eden didn't have any pets herself, and eyed the owl curiously from the doorway. "Good morning, Professor Varma," Eden said, silently appreciating the professor's fashion sense. And potions knowledge, of course. But also fashion sense. She was one of the first to arrive, as per usual, and settled at her desk. She took out her textbook, parchment, quill, wand, and dragon-hide gloves, all while making awkward eye-contact with the owl. "Hi there," she greeted the animal, too. For good measure. She got an ambiguous hoot in return. Neat. |
At first glance, Nem had assumed that the caged animals on the desks were all creatures that had been provided solely for the purposes of the lesson, whatever that would be. That was until they saw the message on the board, of course, specifying that these were pets. With this information in mind, they looked directly at their desk, only to find a sleek barn owl, fast asleep. Good. After allowing themselves a look at the covered cages at the back of the room, Nem went over and sat at their desk, getting out some supplies while the owl slept on. Only when they'd set their dragonhide gloves on the desk, next to the cage, did Nem look up towards the front of the room once again, and fixed their eyes on Varma. "Morning." Their general bearing was calm, still, unaffected. Inscrutable. The way this term was turning out, however, relaxed unobtrusiveness was in the process of being turned on its head, and had become more conspicuous than ever. But that was fine. |
As he entered the potions classroom, Devin was worried as always about what horrible thing about muggles they would be forced to learn today. ”Good morning, Profe- BABS!” He hadn’t even properly finished greeting the professor yet when he spotted his beloved tawny owl caged on his workstation. Beaming from ear to ear, Devin practically ran to get closer to Babs. Sliding into his seat, he leaned in closer to the cage to talk to his owl. ”I've missed you, Babs. I was worried you were dead.” Devin slipped one of the owl treats he had still been carrying around in his robe pockets all term into the cage for Babs to eat, still respecting the instruction to keep Babs in her cage. It hadn’t said that you couldn’t put things in the cage. The treat probably wasn’t very fresh anymore, but hopefully it would still be tasty enough for Babs to enjoy. He doubted whoever had been keeping these animals alive this whole time was offering them extra treats or giving them love. But why was Babs here in potions class? Obviously Rosier and The Hoods didn’t want students telling their parents about the cult takeover of the school. Surely they would have killed all the pets like they did to poor Mollywobbles though if they didn’t have a purpose to spare them for. As relieved as Devin was to see his owl alive, he was deeply suspicious about what they would have to do to their pets. Maybe The Hoods had spared the pets only so they could make all the students test potions on them or force everyone to feed their own pets to whatever was making those noises in the back of the room. Whatever was going on, he didn’t trust it. |
He had actually gotten more sleep last night than that he had in a while. So why was he still so tired? Minjae stifled a yawn behind his hand but failed in doing so. He entered the classroom behind a young Gryffindor , nodding a greeting at the Professor when the kid in front of him suddenly shouted. Alert and wide awake now , Minjae’s hand went to grab his wand but then realized what the kid had been shouting about as he saw ….their pets in cages on their desks. The Hufflepuff gave a quick look around and found Brownie his brown owl and his day suddenly got a lot brighter . Although he looked composed as he walked to his desk and sat down , Minjae was actually screaming in his head with joy right now. ”I thought they killed you, Brownie” he said softly and his owl gave a quiet hoot. As happy as he was right now, he also had a terrible feeling about this. Let’ s just hope his feelings were wrong for once... |
Quinn wasn't exactly expecting for a zoo to have opened up in the Potions classroom, but it appeared that that was what happened. He scanned the desks, seeing an array of animals, though mostly owls. He also scanned the students—there weren't many, but the ones that were here... he wasn't too excited about. Two of them, at least. "Good morning, Professor," Quinn said, pointedly not looking at either Eden or Nemesis (though he doubted Nem cared much either way). He made his way to his workstation and found an owl in a cage sitting atop it. "Good morning to you, too." The owl gave a small hoot back. Quinn was glad he had met Waful over the summer, or else he might've been more intimidated. But why did they need animals for the potions lesson? |
Violet entered the Potions classroom, her favorite class, feeling in a slightly better mood than usual. At least she could get some work done for a while and try to forget activities at the school. "Professor Varma," she said, nodding at the teacher on her way to her seat. As she settled in, Violet looked around the room and saw that most of the other students were sitting in front of the pets that had brought to school. Violet looked back in front of her eagerly, but was dismayed to find an unfamiliar brown barn owl sitting there in a cage instead of her magpie, Machiavelli. Her heart sank--what had happened to him? Had he escaped, or was he hurt, or d..... Violet cut off that train of thought sharply; she was not prepared to go there. "Well, owl," she said to the bird under her breath, "I guess it's just you and me today." The owl looked solemnly back at her with large, golden eyes. |
Ash walked into the potions room. She immediately noticed Maggie, and rushed to the table where her eagle owl was. "Maggie! Wait.... Where is scar? Whatever, I'll think about that later." She took a seat. "Hey professor. We aren't going to kill our pets, are we? This is potions class. Genuine question." She felt nervous. Where was scar? Were they dead? Who knew? But she chose not to think about it. Instead, she said some rude words under her breath that nobody could quite make out. |
greetings again >:D Quote:
She breezed into Potions as though she hadn't a care in the world, ignoring the little kids that were early, and began to set up at a station next to Nemesis, as though she actually knew what she was doing. (She did not. She was maybe only average at Potions, at best.) But Nem was always a reliable bet Muttering a "Henlo," their way before clearing the frog in her throat, and adding a clarifying, "Hello," Bernie zoned in on the fact that this place smelled differently. She squinted around then, finally picking up on the fact that there were... animals. Everywhere. She paaaaaaaaaaaaaused for moment of Gryffindor confusion, then decided to keep her mouth shut for a change and instead just watch the other kids. Petting their animal. Cooing to it. Loving on it. Oh, so they all knew their animals. Cool cool. They were pets or something or maybe familiar from that Creatures class she no longer took. Even better. Everyone else was in on the experience and here she was with.... what. Bernie bit her lip and looked down at her station, where there was a plain and boring bird, an owl she supposed, presumably property of the NeO-ALLiAnCe now. She shrugged at it and then kept messing with things on her desk, also not looking at the professor, who was very pretty and often intimidating. |
“Hi, Professor,’’ Claudine greeted the exotic-looking woman. After a previous Astronomy professor wore colourful saris to her lessons, the Snakette had almost expected to show up to lessons to see Varma wearing the same. Dark eyes shifted to the board. Pets? Only then did she quickly look around the room. Cats, owls, toads and… Sammy the rat! She brightened up considerably then rushed over to the station on which her rat in a cage sat. “Hi, Sam. I’ve missed you.’’ Claudine risked putting a finger through the cage to pet his head for a second. How she had missed him! Samm chittered a bit, seemingly happy to see her. The fifth year had only eyes for the rat right now, not paying a bit of attention to the back of the classroom. |
When Ivy entered the Potions classroom, she certainly didn't expect to see a bunch of cages containing animals sitting on the workstations. Cats, owls, rats, toads... Oh! The looks on some of her classmates faces and the writing on the board confirmed it; they were the pets and school owls that had gone missing at the beginning of term. It was one of the only times Ivy was glad for her indecisiveness that prevented her from having a pet to bring to school. They had their family cats at home, but they were getting old and she hadn't wanted to stress them out by bringing them to Hogwarts. But she also could never decide on what pet she wanted when she went to Diagon Alley every summer. Since they could only bring one, and there were sooo many cute and cool pets to choose from, it was hard to decide, you know? But for once, that was a good thing. She'd been worried enough about the school owls, at least she hadn't had to worry about her own pet too. And at least now she knew they were alive. Unless there was some nefarious reason for the animals being present in this lesson, like... ...Anyway. "Good morning, Professor." Ivy offered the professor a small smile then took her seat. The little screech owl at her workstation was quietly dozing, so she tried to quietly pull her things out of her school bag and set them up on her station. It looked so happy and peaceful, she didn't want to disturb it. |
Aboli entered Potions with a stoic face, her gloved hands wrapped around her schoolbag straps tightly. Her entire body was tense. She had been having such off-putting dreams that her sleep was utter garbage; she probably had baggy eyes, too. She did not greet the professor besides a head nod and was about to take a seat next to Nem for the heck of it, but Bernie had seated herself near them. So she pulled the note she had written from her pocket and set it down in front of Bernie without really looking at her. Quote:
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Emmerson Cambridge positioned herself at the very back of the potions classroom. Out of sight, out of the way should the professor decide to pick on kids to provide responses. If she could get away with it, Emm would be outside the classroom altogether. Somewhere else. The Gryffindor sank into her seat, paying no particular attention to the reunions taking place around her. She didn't have a pet and hadn't really been paying attention to which might or might not have been around. Artemis was only a toy, a toy that thankfully had chosen to sleep through the ransacking. "Good morning, Professor Varma." It was uncertain the woman could hear her over all the animals but Emmerson didn't have much more in her. Emm hated being here. The wind had entirely been taken from her sails and she didn't want to deal with a smelly owl. Weren't these things gone anyway? |
Phoebe was dragging just a bit, although she'd been trying to keep her chin up for weeks now. She gave the professor a polite smile, but her attention was immediately drawn to the owls on many of the tables. Owls? That was pretty cruel, wasn't it? Just keep reminding them how close they were to freedom... but they weren't really close at all. And then she saw Beans, her own little tabby, tail tucked between quivering legs. "BEANS. Oh, sorry, Professor. Beans. My baby." It was a light at the end of a very long tunnel, and Phoebe actually cried into her beasty's smelly fur. But if they had to injure their pets... it wasn't fair. She couldn't be asked to sacrifice anything else. Beans got another cuddle. |
Quinn Mamie was feeling very...okayy about potions today. It was kind of like cooking, which she wasn't great at...but she could follow directions, so...she wasn't the worst at potions. She noticed the collection of caged animals on all the workstations...interesting. "Good morning, Professor Varma," she said quietly as she took her seat far from Bernie and next to Quinn, giving him and the owls a nod of recognition. She eyed the barn owl sitting on her workstation. Birds were weird. |
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Kinsay bolted into class and quickly made a beeline for the first seat she saw. She didn't even stop to say hello to Professor Varma (an uncharacteristic move). She didn't go to sit with her best friend (an even more uncharacteristic move). She actually didn't go to sit with anyone at all (the most uncharacteristic move all all). Once sat at the workstation, she looked up to find one of the school's owls and though she'd normally try to take it out of it's cage for SNUGGLES or to pet it, she simply gave it sad looks and then slumped onto the work desk, causing the little owl to hop to the side in its little cage. Everything was terrible. When would the year be over? |
Kale didn’t rightly remember how loud owls could be when they were fussing and he was, like, so glad for it. The endless twittering brought some life back into the castle. Owls. Who’d have thunk that such a small part of wizarding life could be so sorely missed? He was too busy beaming at the smell and the sounds to really acknowledge Varma, sorry Professor, but who could blame him?? OWLS! HERE! AT HOGWARTS! What a GIFT!!! |
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"Hello, Professor," she chirped almost excitedly. This was going to be a great lesson. There was no possible way that it could be anything other than that. Except for the simple fact that she had caught sight of the message on the board that said NOT to take the creatures from their cages. While that was a little saddening, the eleven year old could wait a little bit longer. "Hiya, Sir Frederik," she hummed, sticking her fingers through the small slots of the cage so that she could smooth his fur a bit. Soft words of affection were whispered to the rather old but very sweet pink pygmy puff which were met with a series of different sounds that caused her to giggle. It was really only when she had settled down into her seat that she noticed who was sat at the workstation beside her. The look on the other girls face instantly alarming to her. There was no smiles, no chatter and no exclamations of wanting to cuddle the owl in the cage on the workstation. It was all so confusing. "Kinsay, is everything alright?" The question was asked quietly with a look of concern, as she took out her things for the lesson, placing each on on the workstation neatly. |
For some strange reason, Camryn was feeling pretty good as she headed for Potions class. Of course she knew that could change at any moment what with this being Hogwarts. She entered the room feeling almost.....cheerful? “Hello Professor”, she said as she passed the Potions Mistress. Annnnnd there was a big surprise. Animals everywhere. There was an owl on her desk and Cam was immediately intrigued. What did the owl have to do with Potions and what would they be doing in class today? She wondered this as she spoke softly to her new friend. Was this possibly going to be an uneventful class? |
Ahhh!!! Potato was here! The cutest cat in Ravenclaw Tower! Before making a beeline for her brown tabby, Irithel first stopped to greet Professor Varma, who was looking super beautiful as always. "Hi, Professor. I love your jewelry, they're very - " she suddenly paused and looked around the room to check if the hooded guys were present, "they're very magical and pure ...?" Yeah, good try. She smiled awkwardly and power walked to her workstation, where she dropped her school bag and extended her hand into the cage to give Potato a pat. She hoped they would get to play with the animals in this lesson, though she wasn't sure how it would fit the subject of Potions. She had noticed the hidden cages in the back of the classroom and wondered what they contained. They sounded really creepy! |
Delaney shuffled into potions rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She had only rolled out of bed moments before, much later than intended, and had been forced to skip out on breakfast. Luckily the potions classroom wasn’t located far from the Slytherin dorms meaning she had managed to make it to class on time. “Morning Professor Varma,” She directed towards the professor as she fought off a yawn. She glanced at the desks laid out across the room until she made contact with one in particular that contained a Chartreux can sitting silently in its cage. Ignatius! What was he doing here? Delaney, with considerable more energy than previously displayed, beelined it to the desk. She stuffed her fingers through the cage to scratch at her cat’s head as she took note of the other animals in the room, specifically the owls. Were they back for good? |
Heath's dark eyes were immediately drawn to the cages on the workstations as he entered the potions classroom. At first he thought all of caged animals were owls until he saw the message on the board. Pets? If these animals were pets, that meant Rey was here somewhere! He wasn't sure how to feel about that. Any joy he felt at the thought of spending time with his little Jedi cat was tempered with fear that he'd be forced to do something like dissect his own cat or feed her a deadly potion. He was so lost in thought that he almost forgot to greet Professor Varma upon his arrival. "Good morning, Professor," he said, giving her a polite nod of acknowledgment as he passed. He searched the rows for the gray striped bobtail cat until he came to his usual spot. A familiar meep stopped him in his tracks, and a pair* of big blue eyes stared at him from inside the cage. "Hi, Rey," he whispered as he sat down. He wanted nothing more than to reach through the bars and pet her, but he didn't dare. Instead he neatly arranged his supplies in front of him and waited for the lessson to start. |
Valencia tilted her head to the side seeing all the animals -- including OWLS! She briefly wondered if one could be smuggled out of the classroom. How close were people paying attention? "Hello Professor." she greeted, distracted, as she passed. She then took her seat, smiling at the owl in the cage in front of her. |
SPOILER!!: Greetings Shreya lingered in the doorway for a few moments, peeking down the corridor to make sure there weren't any stragglers. Once everyone had arrived, she closed the door, clapping her hands together excitedly as she made her way to the front of the room. Her robes billowed behind her. "Hello, everyone! Thank you for being respectful of the rules and keeping your pets in their cages." Really, she had been expecting at least one student to disregard the message on the blackboard. She was delighted that everyone was on their best behavior. They needed to be, if they wanted today's lesson to go as planned. "The Neo-Alliance has graciously granted us permission to use pets in today's lesson." Though graciously wouldn't be the word Shreya would choose, if she wasn't afraid that they were listening in on the lesson as she spoke. Getting permission to uncage the owls was a lengthy and difficult process, one that had required a lot of research and forged anti-Muggle sentiments on her part. "I trust that you will all be responsible and respectful, given this lesson opportunity." Shreya hated to sound strict, but she just wanted the students to know the severity of the consequences if anyone were to try anything—with the owls, especially. There was a reason the Neo-Alliance wanted them caged away in the first place. "But before we get started..." She leaned against her desk, smiling at her students. "Let's talk a bit about animal communication. What are some ways that animals communicate with us? Or vice versa—what are some ways that we communicate with animals?" OOC: Phew, thank you everyone for bearing with the little hiccup yesterday. One more time to be clear, only the owls were seized by the cult at the beginning of the term. Though it is reasonable to expect that students haven't seen their non-owl pets as frequently as normal....due to constant supervision by the Inquisitorial Squad. So if you posted a reunion with your non-owl pet, that's totally fine. Thanks for being understanding of my mistake! Anyway, the first question is up! The lesson has now started, so if you're just joining us, play along as if you've been here all along—or else there may be IC consequences. We'll move on in about 24-30ish hours. |
No killing. So what were the pets for? Communication, apparently. "Body language, professor. Even when we can't speak to a pet directly we can still understand their wants, needs, and general emotions. And they can tell ours sometimes too." She could tell her pets were unhappy, and they could tell that she was unhappy. It was a pity party. Yay. THe best party about body language though, was that muggles could use it too. And it could be used to tell what animals or humans wanted. |
Camryn was having a good time bonding quietly with the owl, well as much as one could bond through a cage. She was totally tuned in to the creature in front of her when the professor announced that class was beginning. She turned her attention to the professor and listened as she explained how fortunate they were to be able to use the creatures for class. When a question was asked, Cam raised her hand. “We can communicate with animals by touch. We can let them know how much we love them by petting them or snuggling with them. I mean that’s one way, but of course it would depend on the type of animal.” You wouldn’t want to pet a dragon or something dangerous like that. |
Devin looked up from Babs’ cage when the professor started talking about communication with animals. Were they going to make potions that would let Babs talk to him? That would be exciting - no, painful because Babs was clearly going to be sad about whatever The Hoods had done to her. But it would be nice to hear what Babs thought about him. He really did try to be a gentle, loving friend to Babs. ”I use treats to communicate to my owl Babs how much I love her, or if she did something good.” Like delivering a letter for him, but he wasn’t going to talk about that when The Hoods were probably listening. Wouldn’t want to remind them of why they had taken the owls in the first place. Speaking of owl treats, Devin slipped another one from his pocket into the cage. Who knew when Babs might next be able to see him? Realistically he knew that there was no way the neo-alliance would let him keep Babs with him after the lesson, but that didn’t stop him from hoping that he could take Babs back to the Gryffindor dorms with him. He wouldn’t even dare to try using her to send for help, he just wanted to know that she was safe and didn’t want her to be scared and alone. He could read her stories, tell her all about the part of the year that she missed, feed her treats, and maybe even let her out to stretch her wings inside his dorm if his roommates were okay with it. Letting Babs go again was going to be sad. At least this time he was better prepared for it. |
There was Heath and Rey, with the boy having no time for her. Claudine wasn’t offended; in fact, she understood perfectly how Heath was feeling. Her own gaze kept drifting back to the little rat in the cage. Wasn’t it amazing how pets could cheer most persons up? She honestly felt as though the room housed happy students now more than any other time of the school year so far. The Snakette could hardly believe that the Neo Alliance gave Varma permission to use the animals. She was suspicious and couldn’t wait to see how the lesson would progress. She was inclined to strongly agree with Ashley. Body language, in her opinion, was the strongest method of communication. Claudine raised her hand. “Actions on humans’ part, Professor. For instance, we can train an animal to do something in particular using an action, the animals can respond to that action.’’ Was she making sense? If not, here was an example. “Like tapping on a chair to motion a kneazle or crup to hop on to it.” Or bed, if one wanted snuggles. |
Animal communication? Violet felt pretty confident that she could communicate with Machiavelli, at least on the receiving end. He was very good at getting his point across, but if he understood Violet (and she was pretty sure he did), he usually ignored her and did as he pleased. Raising her hand, she said, "Well, my pet magpie will pull on my hair when he wants something or wants to get my attention." And he would get it, because to ignore him was a bit painful. |
Mamie wasn't super sure about animal communication, other than body language like Ashley had mentioned. She thought about any animals her family had met. She remembered her cousin's cat liked to bring dead mice to her cousin. Maybe that was communicating something? She raised her hand. "Animals might bring you something, like errrr...food or something they value, to show they care maybe?" Maybe. She wasn't sure if cats valued dead rodents. |
Quinn thought about it for a second. How did humans and animals communicate? It seemed like his classmates had already covered a majority of the normal ways, so... "Uh, well, I'd venture to guess there's some sort of spell that lets us understand animals? Like, what their noises mean..? Th-that could be completely wrong though, I haven't really heard of a spell that does that, but, uh, I wouldn't be... surprised..." Quinn trailed off—he thought it was plausible, but he didn't want to seem like a dolt if he was wrong. |
Communication? A rather poor choice of topic if you asked her. Animals were not the ones Emmerson was interested in talking to. The Gryffindor would sacrifice more than half her schoolmates and and roughly half the school staff for just 10 minutes over mirror with her mother. Too many things had happened since the school's takeover. She was not coping well. There wasn't any other way to say that. Reluctantly, Emm raised a hand--more as proof she was participating than because she was particularly interested in giving a response. "Biting. They use biting to communicate displeasure so you'll know if you scared them or are annoying them. Biting's also the surest sign they think you're lunch." Artemis bit sometimes. He liked gnawing on things. |
Okay, no crying over a little cuddle. Phoebe let Beans chew on her fingers while she settled into her seat and gave the professor 74% of her attention. Maybe more, but at least a good chunk of her attention was taken up by her furry friend. Comforting beasty. Phoebe considered how she and Beans communicated with each other. "I can tell a lot of what Beans wants from me by how she meows. Sometimes she chirps a little. Sometimes she hisses, and that is very clear." |
er...we have a pet tarantula so ... hi XD At first Atlas had been overjoyed to see his Gooty sapphire ornamental nestled in a cage a top one of the desks. So much so that he had entirely neglected to greet the professor and had made a quick dash straight for his assigned spot. The benefit of having Araneus was that they were a solitary creature and the prolonged separations between himself and the tarantula were not thing that would impact their dynamic much nor influence things negatively. As long as Araneus was getting fed on the regular, which Atlas had been able to do even WITH the pseudo dementors' supervision, then things could continue as normal. Whatever normal was these days. He really did just want to take Araneus out from the cage and allow her to crawl up and down his arms or just perch on top of his mop of blonde hair. Alas. Instead the first year had to setting for poking his finger at the sides of the container and give finger high fives to the tarantula through the glass. His ears perked up a bit as class began - right, this was a lesson. Totally remembered that - and as the first question rolled around he found himself answering with the first thing that came to mind. "...I just talk to Araneus..." he explained with wide eager eyes and an actual smile across his features. "Just...as straightforward as that. I talk. She listens. Well...LISTENS since she doesn't have ears but feels the sound vibrations over the hairs on her legs. She gets used to my voice, er, vibrations and associations some of the words I say, the sounds, with certain actions sometimes. Like when I say hi..." He paused and looked at his beautiful blue beauty. "Usually that means I'm about to hold her or give her something so she gets all up close to the front of the container she is in and wiggles her legs around. Finger high fives." |
While they waited for things to get underway, Nem whiled away the minutes in silence, studying the owl in the cage, which still did not move other than to breathe. When Grantham joined them at their desk, Nem looked over and met her with a, "Hey." They went back to watching the owl, but occasionally glanced back at Grantham's fidgeting fingers. During such a moment, they noticed the note placed down in front of her, and looked up to see who'd delivered it. Song. Huh. Hadn't really spoken to her since that portrait mess (though, they hadn't spoken directly to each other then either) which it had turned out they'd been wise to avoid. The note got a lingering look, before Nem turned attention to the front of the room again and murmured to Grantham, "Trouble?" That one word could have multiple meanings, really, but they didn't elaborate. It wasn't totally unheard of for Nem to opt out of giving an answer in class - actually, there was probably about a fifty/fifty chance, depending on the variables - and once the professor posed her first question, they considered just sitting back and waiting for things to keep moving. And then abruptly decided against it. They raised a hand. "Sound. Voice. Some animals can pick up human languages, yes, but not necessarily understand the words, though you can train most creatures to associate certain words or sounds with actions. But it's possible for a human to learn what an animal is saying, like Phoebe just said." Nem nodded in the Gryffindor's direction. "A cat has a different purr when it's content, as opposed to when it's trying to get someone to feed it. You can tell the difference between all their vocalisations if you pay attention to the situation, and the same goes for other creatures." Sure, it was nothing to do with Potions, but it was an answer nonetheless. |
SPOILER!!: before class started So so so they were going to talk to animals. Great. That COULD be useful, like, if you came across a bear while hiking (something she'd said recently in Divination. See? Useful class.). She listened to the others' answers, specifically to Phoebe's (hi Beans) and Nem's answers. She hadn't really known that Nem knew that much about Creatures, because why would she? She was not ever in that class with him. But she was impressed by the knowledge. Could she even add anything to this discussion, honestly? Well a lack of knowledge never really stopped a Gryffindor, did it. After some thought, Bernie raised her hand, her chosen answer more along the lines of a different Slytherin (which she would now reluctantly acknowledge out loud). "Building on Claudine's answer, and Nem's, I think you can use repetitive, uh, food-related actions to communicate to them? Like you can ding a bell to let them know it's dinnertime, or shake the bag of treats when you want them to do a trick? And vice-versa, can't some dogs like hit a bell by the door to let you know when they wanna go out?" She didn't know, did that make sense? She had seen many, many videos of animals doing tricks on the YouTube back home, on account of how she didn't have one and very much wanted one. |
Aboli received a smile from Ivy when she sat next to her, and then the lesson began. No chance for a quick chat before the class then, but that was okay. She was already cautiously intrigued by the presence of all the animals, and the first question to discuss was off to an interesting start. How did they communicate with animals? There were a lot of ways, like all the ones her classmates had already talked about, and it sometimes depended on the animal, like... Ivy blinked. Was that a tarantula in a cage on Atlas' workstation? Huh. Interesting. She knew some people did have them as pets, but she'd never actually encountered someone who did. But... Er... She'd gotten so distracted listening to his answer and watching curiously as he interacted with the arachnid that she'd lost her train of thought. How to...communicate with animals... Hm... Most of the ideas that came into her head had been covered pretty well by others already. She kept thinking about how her family hadn't technically trained their cats at home, but in a way, it just sort of happened. Just by living with each other day-to-day, they picked up on each other's habits, and so they learned when they were going to be fed just from the time of day when her mum went to the kitchen. Or how they always seemed to know when she needed cheering up after a bad day. ...Merlin, she missed them. Ivy remained quiet for now, jotting down a few notes so she had something to occupy herself with as she continued to listen. |
Kinsay sat sadly with her head on her desk, waiting for the lesson to begin. In any other circumstance, she would have been elated to be working with creatures. Potions wasn't something she was very good at, but objectively, this was very exciting. Not that she felt all that excited in the moment. She just felt tired. Like she needed seventeen naps. She only lifted her head when she heard her name and turned to see who was speaking to her. She did appreciate the concern, but there was too much that wasn't alright and Kizzy didn't want to delve into it. Especially not right now. So instead, she just returned Dahlia's question with a deep shrug. She felt a little guilty for not saying anything else though. As for Professor Varma's question, Kizzy didn't shoot her hand up into the air as enthusiastically as she usually did. But she did quietly raise her hand. No incessantry from this one today. "Beans likes it when I talk to her in baby voice." Actually, she didn't know this for sure, but she always did it anyway. Kiz turned to give Beans a lil finger wiggle. Phoebe and Beans were so far away. She was starting to regret not paying more attention when choosing a workstation to sit at. Not that this one was bad. Dahlia seemed super nice. |
Eden listened to her classmates' answers, expression souring a bit when it came time for a certain few people to answer the question. She let her eyes wander the room while she thought of her own answer, her gaze finally landing back onto the strange owl in front of her. The longer she waited, the more answers were already taken. So she went ahead and raised her hand. "I think Quinn's idea is pretty neat," Eden said, tone perfectly polite. Can't ignore me forever, Kingsley. That didn't really answer the question, though, so Eden decided to elaborate. "I know it's probably not the kind of spell that Quinn is talking about, but I read that animagi can communicate with other animals while in their animal form. So that's one way magical folk can communicate with animals. It's not very accessible, though." |
Lia wasn't at all sure what to think when the only reply she got from Kinsay was a shrug. While she didn't know the slightly older girl all that well, she did know that almost a hundred percent of the time the other girl was much more excitable. Whatever this was... the first year didn't know but it was just sad. A tiny nod of her head was given in return, she knew better than to push a subject that didn't want to be talked about. Perhaps once they could hold their companions, she could let Kinsay hold Sir Frederik for a bit. Maybe that would help cheer her up. The lesson was moving on already and she had to turn her attention onto Professor Varma so she could take notes. How did creatures communication with us. There were so many ways and really it all depended on the creature as well. Animagi could communicate with them really well both in and out of their creature form. There was also a potion or spell or something that helped you communicate with creatures like Quinn had mentioned... but she couldn't remember which it was. Hady had told her about it sometime ago when she had gone to work with her for the day. Raising her hand, Lia waited for her turn. "My older sister had a cat that used to jump up onto my lap and headbutt me in the face when he wanted me to cuddle him. It never lasted long though cause my little nephew would always try to grab at him which made Hagan angry and he would try to run away... or hiss, bite or scratch at Logan." Yet, Logan never ever learned from it. That kid was always getting into trouble for bothering the creatures. |
Irithel thought the words "Neo-Alliance" and "graciously" should never be used together, and hoped Professor Varma was just faking allegiance to the bad guys so that this lesson could happen. She thought about the first question about animal communication as she continued to stroke her cat. Just when she was about to raise her other hand to provide an answer, a first year spoke about talking to his pet that did not have ears. This piqued her interest and she glanced at the boy and his ... tarantula ... She froze at the sight of the creepy-crawly named Araneus. Potato meowed at her annoyedly, demanding that she continue petting him, but she withdrew her hand from the cage and shuddered: she imagined that she had been touching the hairy body of a spider instead of her cat's soft fur. She tried to stop looking at the creature, but her green eyes darted back at it every few seconds as its owner talked about the tarantula feeling his speech over its hairs and wiggling its legs around for a high five. No offence but ugh!! Now she hoped all the pets would stay locked in their cages. Too distracted to answer the question, she resorted to staring straight ahead and tried to remove the terrifying image of Araneus from her memory. |
Aboli was glad Bernie didn't throw away her note. She read it, and she didn't look angry...maybe that meant Bernie would forgive her. She hoped so. And Ivy would hopefully be a good table partner. Since she did not have a pet, the owl in front of her would do. It was quite a pretty owl....red and white. She wondered what her OR HIS name was. She raised her hand. "Well...some animals use blinking and eye movements are communication with not only other animals but with us. Can't you slow blink to get a cat to be nice? Or something?" Aboli was still unsure of cats. She knew there was something about blinking wit them. They either liked or didn't. Also, didn't hippogriffs hate blinking?! |
SPOILER!!: Replies As Shreya listened to her students' responses, she noticed that the room was becoming a bit....well, stinky. With all the animal cages, the potions classroom was starting to smell more like the creatures barn. "I do apologize for the smell. Perhaps we could brighten things up in here a bit," she said excitedly. Brighten things up—both literally and figuratively. Shreya flicked her wand toward her desk. A collection of scented candles emerged, floating to various spots around the room. With another flick of her wand, the candles lit up. Hopefully scents like vanilla, jasmine, and lavender would help to mask the rancid hay smell being emitted from the cages. "Excellent answers, everyone. You touched on some very important elements of animal communication." She almost couldn't contain her excitement at the wonderful answers her students were giving. They certainly knew a fair amount about animal communication. She'd have to commend Professor Williamson for teaching them well. Shreya briefly turned back to the chalkboard to make sure the enchanted chalk had copied down all the notes. Not that it was absolutely necessary for the students to remember all of these. This wasn't Care of Magical Creatures, after all. But she figured they may want to jot them down. Quote:
"Each type of animal has their own 'language' that they use to communicate with us. But this makes trying to understand many different animals a difficult feat. You'd need to become an expert in each type of animal language." Which was where today's lesson came in. But before they got to that point, Shreya had another question to ask. "One more question. Can you describe a situation where it might it be useful for us to know what a creature is thinking or feeling? Feel free to be as specific or broad as you like!" OOC: Such good answers, guys! Y'all are making this so much fun! Q2 is now up. You have another 24-30ish hours for this one before we move on to the mini-activity! |
Yayyyy. She said a good answer. Ash, much like a pet, loved positive reinforcement. You'd think she didn't care, but she really did. One of the big things keeping her actions in check was the fact that she would hurt so many people if she accidentally got killed. They would be all sad. "If your pet isn't eating or is limping or sleeping too much or something, you know something is wrong, but you don't necessarily know the problem, especially if it's internal. So basic body language is helpful for knowing when something is wrong, but it would also be great if cats could actually tell you they broke something. It would save lots of time, money, and pain. Body language definitely helps you figure it out though." After that long answer, she went back to petting her owl. "I love you, and one day you'll be out of this cage." |
Quinn had heard about Parseltongue and Parselmouths, but he had never heard anyone actually speak the language before. He thought it would probably be pretty cool to meet someone like that. But also, kinda scary. Quinn let out a small "Hmph." at Eden's response to his answer. She just did that to pester him, didn't she. Well, he wouldn't be having any of it. Not one bit. He wouldn't even give her the satisfaction of looking in her direction. Quinn thought for a moment about the Professor's question, and then raised his hand. "Well, some animals can sense when the weather is changing, right? It would probably be good to know what they were thinking if a bad storm was coming so you could prepare." |
Violet's mind was preoccupied with threats lately. So when she raised her hand, she said, "If a strange animal was threatening you in some way, it would be useful to know what they were upset about, so you could maybe avoid provoking them." |
Apparently she did make sense. While it was not uncommon for some to build on others’ answers {in her mind this was pioneered by Rainwater. Merlin. She missed him}, it was uncommon for one Bernadette Grantham to be building on an answer given by the Slytherin. While surprised, she maintained a carefully blank face as she copied her notes. There were so many ways that animals communicate, a lot of which she knew already but there were some answers that made her gain perspective she had never focused on before. Needless to say the animal talked was incredibly fascinating. Claudine truly appreciated this aspect of the lesson. She didn’t get why Varma was apologising for the odors though. It was only natural with all the animals. She gazed around fondly at them all, even the tarantula though a shudder was suppressed. Anyway. The scented candles were okay. Claudine’s hand went up immediately after Violet gave her answer. “In addition to what Violet said, if an animal was threatening you, it would be helpful to know how the animal might want you to remedy the situation.” |
That was what it always came down to, wasn't it? In most, if not all things, the best approach was to pay close attention - scrutinise, then analyse - be it communicating with an animal, or figuring out the way the wind was blowing during a hostile takeover of your school and/or the world. The little things, you know. Nem just nodded, glanced sideways at the Wavemaker for no particular reason, and waited for the next question. See, this? This was one of those times Nem tended to hold an answer back. They had some ideas, but one in particular, and they had no plans to share it with the class. Could be useful, depending on whether or not this class went in the direction they had been anticipating. A combination of Animalis Fidelis, a potion that aided communication with animals, and maybe another magical application thrown in there (which would have been a good answer for the last question, yet also ill-advised), and you had a ready-made spy. Intel on tap. As answers were provided around them, Nem sat in silence, exploring different mental avenues and idea backstreets which soon had little to do with the question at hand. |
Mamie wasn't sure why someone would need to know what an animal was feeling or thinking, outside of creatures class. And then they had to just learn how to tell. She tapped her feet around under the desk, nervously thinking while she listened to everyone's ideas. Self-preservation was an excellent reason to talk to wild animals. Unlike the others, Mamie didn't think that all wild animals would want to threaten her. But, wild animals were known for their wilderness skills. She raised her hand. "If you're lost in the forest and there's nobody around, it would be nice to ask the animals where to find water, or even for directions." She wondered if the animals in the Forbidden Forest could give them some good directions. |
Camryn was busy writing notes. Thankfully the professor put all of the important information on the board and that made it easy for her not to miss anything. She still wasn’t quite sure how all of this was going to connect with Potions, but surely they would find out soon. It was time for the next question and Cam listened carefully. She had an idea and raised her hand to share it. “Kind of like what my classmate said, it would be good to know what an animal was feeling if he was sick. That way you wouldn’t have to guess and you could know what to do to make him feel better.” Animals were like babies, if they were sick or upset, you had to figure out what was wrong with them. It wasn’t always easy to do. |
Sitting and taking in her professor's words and writing down her notes as quick as she can while the professor writes on the chalkboard. Multitasking! Go Aibhi! And what's this? Animals? Pets? This was something she was used considering communication within her household between other humans can be such a struggle, but to her reptilian pets? She felt a sense of comfort and ease to be with and even talk to them as if they could even understand her. Thinking of how to answer the question and then finally raised her hand and shifts in her seat. "My dad has had us around reptiles pretty much all of our lives. A- uh- I believe they are called a Herpetologist. We have a few pet lizards and snakes and he taught my brother and myself different ways to understand the different postures certain reptiles have when something is not wrong and understand their health." She lowers her hand as she speaks and shrugs. She always had a love for reptiles and she always treated them like they were her babies. Spoils them like crazy. |
Yes, Devin had been carrying these owl treats around in his pockets all year just waiting for exactly this. There had been a few times he had been cleaning out his pockets and considered ditching the extra weight, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the treats behind lest he get into a situation such as this where he finally got to see Babs and then didn’t have any treats for her. Every day he had hoped that somehow Babs would come back to him. Not even the sad realization that his owl might have been killed could make him give up hope. But here Babs was, still alive, and Devin was glad he had held onto the treats all this time. See, carrying around owl treats everywhere was really paying off. Another treat was slipped into the cage for Babs. It would be useful to know what was wrong in situations that scared an animal, but many of his classmates had touched on topics similar to that. ”I think it would be interesting to have conversations with animals about the different ways in which they experience the world. Like having stronger senses of smell or better night vision or being smaller or larger and the perspective of that. Knowing the things animals can feel and sense could help us notice things that we couldn’t sense ourselves.” Or, you know, it would be useful to ask Babs where the neo-alliance was keeping her but that answer probably wouldn’t go down well with The Hoods. |
Kinsay was back to slumping. It had nothing to do with the topic of the lesson though, hopefully Professor Varma knew as much. The thought alone made Kiz feel a little guilty and she tried her best to perk up a little bit as an afterthought. Unfortunately, she wasn't so great at hiding her feelings so, um, maybe it wasn't working to the extent that she wanted to. As for this next question, there were loads of answers that Kizzy could think of, so she immediately raised her hand into the air and "Do owls like delivering our mail?" That was it. That was the thought. It was related to the question... Tangentially. |
The scented candles helped Irithel to calm down enough to take down some notes while listening to her classmates' answers. She did not try to copy everything, as some points could turn out to be irrelevant in this lesson. Her curiosity about the connection between animal communication and Potions heightened at the second question. She was never not wondering what creatures were thinking and feeling, so she had to narrow down her thoughts before she raised her hand to answer. "This is related to what they said," she nodded at the Slytherin girls Violet and Claudine, "sometimes we think an animal is threatening us, when it's actually just being playful. Like when a tarantula crawls up your leg. It would be useful for us to know if it's happy or upset." And if she were an expert in tarantula language, she would tell it to get away from her! Potato hissed at her, as if he knew that she was still thinking about another kid's pet and not him. |
Eden ignored Quinn's ignoring of her. Fine. He could keep on hating her for hating Emmerson and being good at the sardine spell. This was Potions, and she was going to have a good class so help her God. Her first thought was asking bugs not to bite her, but that seemed kinda lame. The first year raised her hand. "Maybe animals know things that we don't have access to? Including different ways of practicing magic. If we could talk to them and form a good relationship, maybe they would share their knowledge." |
Positive reinforcement, hmm, alright, could Bernadette do that to the school owl? Use that technique to make it loyal to her, to do her bidding, to carry a message outside the castle? Could she--- could she COMMUNICATE with it here and now? Maybe through owl eye signals? She eyed the creature in the cage before her and began an intense one-sided staring contest with it, occasionally lifting her eyebrows as though she were bossing the owl around with a particularly demanding mental note, her concentration only breaking when the scented candles made her nose twitch. Hmm, those were nice. Were they doing something with candles now? She dismissed the question and went back to staring at her owl, nearly missing the professor's next comment about communicating with animals, and all the others' answers too. Her own answer was probably something along the lines of now, now it would be useful to know what the animals were thinking, but also... her mouth might've twitched a little at Kinsay's answer. Not because she liked the girl, not at all, they MAYBE had a truce AT BEST, but because she also would like to know if owls LIKED delivering the post. So, this owl, here? The one Bernie was staring at? DO YOU LIKE DELIVERING LETTERS, HARRY? Yeah, she'd named it Harry, after her mum who didn't ever want her to have a pet at home. DID HARRY MISS DELIVERING LETTERS? WOULD HARRY LIKE TO DELIVER A NEW LETTER? Also, were you supposed to talk to owls like how you talked to dogs? Because she wasn't sure how aggressive or baby-talk-ish her voice was supposed to be? |
The smell of all the animals didn't particularly bother Ivy - she was used to them being stinky sometimes, what with growing up around cats and her mum's two miniature horses - but she also didn't mind that the professor had lit some scented candles. It did make the room smell a little more pleasant. The Ravenclaw looked over her notes to be sure she'd accounted for all the ones Professor Varma had put on the board. They were all there, so it was time for the next question. After a bit of thought, Ivy raised her hand. "Sometimes creatures can sense whether a person is nice or not, and sometimes it makes them act differently, even if the person seems okay to us. So it might be useful to be able to talk to an animal in that situation, to see if they notice something we don't about someone." |
Aboli had some experience with this, but nothing that she wanted to share at large with her peers. Plus, it was still very confusing. She thought about Jack at home, and how whenever he was sick, they lamented that they could not communicate to him that he was sick but would feel better if ONLY HE TOOK the potion they were offering him. On that same strain, she heard Ivy's answer and raised her hand. "To go off of what Ivy said, it would be helpful to communicate with animals when there's magic afoot. Like...you know, your pet knows you very well, but one day someone is pretending to be you via the polyjuice potion. The pet would be able to, I THINK, sense that the person is an imposter." Did the Trent's have a pet? Mighta' been useful. Imagine if Rosier had been taken down by a very intelligent dog or crup. Sigh. A girl could dream. |
Tavie was more or less unimpressed by her cat being caged for the purpose of education. Coral hadn't been in any type of kennel since she smuggled her across multiple boarders to get her England, but that was different. Coral had been smaller then and homeless. Tavie was saving her from becoming an ally cat. But this? She didn't like it. She didn't know how they even got ahold of her cat. Like, she knew why they couldn't get Poesy or Delphy, and she knew that Coral roamed the castle, but she didn't think she was the type of cat to be easily caught. "Right now." Tavie briefly raised her hand, her hazel green eyes lifting momentarily from the calico cat in the cage to the professor. "It would be useful now to know how our pets felt about this confinement." Clearly, Octavia was not a fan. |
*catching up* Heath peered into the cage, studying Rey’s little face intently. Normally she’d be sticking her paw through the bars or meowing her head off to demand release, but now she was quietly curled up in her cage, looking through the bars at him with those big blue eyes. Heath was torn. Part of him was glad she was being quiet, as it gave the hood brood less reason to hurt her. Another part of him hated seeing her so unlike herself, so subdued, so scared. He couldn't blame her; he was scared too… especially when Professor Varma called the Neo-Alliance gracious. Those words should only be used in the same sentence if A) it was Opposite Day or B) the word "isn't" came between them! The mention of the Neo-Alliance sounded the alarm bells in Heath's mind, and once again, his thoughts turned to awful things he might be forced to do to Rey and ways to keep her alive. He didn't know how he'd get through this if anything happened to her! She'd been his best friend when he had nobody, and now that he was cut off from his family, he needed her more than ever. He was so lost in thought that it took him a minute to register the first question. When he did, his thoughts, still focused on Rey, went to all the ways she communicated with him… meowing at him to say hello, flopping onto her back when she wanted to be petted, biting his nose as a sign of affection. But those things applied specifically to Rey, not all animals or even all cats. Not feeling confident in those answers, he kept quiet. Heath considered the next question carefully. His first thoughts went to helping sick or threatened animals, but those things had been said a few times and Heath wasn't one to piggyback off of someone else's answer. Focusing on Rey again, he thought of the times when he wished he knew what she was thinking… mostly times when she behaved in a way that didn't make sense to him, like randomly running up and down the hall in the middle of the night or pawing at cabinet doors to make them go SLAM! Why did she do that? Was that a cat thing or just a Rey thing? Never mind. His hand went up, and he said, "Our pets have quirks that may not make sense to us, so it would be useful to know what they're thinking when they do something odd. Knowing how their mind works would help us understand their seemingly strange behavior." There, still not an answer he was particularly confident about, but it was something! |
phew this got long, skip to the OOC to avoid shreya's verbosity lol SPOILER!!: Replies "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, everyone!" Shreya said encouragingly, making her way back to the front of the classroom. It was easy to have such great discussions when the students were contributing such wonderful answers. "There are certainly many reasons why we might want to know what an animal is thinking. Perhaps we want to help them if they are feeling ill, like Ms. Fox and Ms. Quincy mentioned. Maybe we want to ask them about their unique perspective on something, like Devin, Heath, and Aboli said. Or maybe we're just curious about if they like delivering mail," Shreya said, glancing back to Kinsay with a smirk. And certainly there were many other wonderful answers. She just didn't have time to repeat them all. As she circled back to her desk, she realized that now was probably the time to throw in something anti-Muggle. Shreya would place bets that a member of the Neo-Alliance was somehow listening in on the lesson right now—be it a one-way mirror or some complex eavesdropping spell. As much as it bothered her to do so, Shreya had to play along with them. The sound of her voice changed slightly, her usual lilting, loud tone replaced by a quieter, more hesitant one. "And one great advantage that we have over Muggles is that we have the ability to actually hear what creatures are thinking. Which could be very beneficial if it came to recruiting powerful creatures for.....our own advantage." She spit the last part out very quickly, the words sounding foreign on her own tongue. Merlin. She hoped the students would understand someday. For now, she felt like she was letting them all down. "Anyway," she sighed, adjusting her robes in a slight moment of awkwardness, "It's time to put what we've been talking about to practice!" She waved her wand toward the cupboard at the side of the room. Many vials of potions floated out—several landing on each workstation. "You may recall earlier in the term when we brewed that mystery potion. The one with the lacewing flies, belladonna, and unicorn horn? At the time that we brewed the mystery potion, I was unsure if our furry friends would be able to join us. So I didn't tell you what the potion was." Normally not her preferred method of teaching, but she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up if her attempts to get permission to use the pets failed. "Well, that mystery potion you brewed was something we call the animal whisperer potion. When taken, this potion allows you to understand what a creature is thinking. While effects can vary, the strength and clarity of the thoughts you hear depend on your bond and level of trustworthiness the creature has toward you." A notion that the students would hopefully come to understand throughout the lesson. "Each of you has several vials of the potion, and each vial is ready to drink, save for the addition of your animal's essence. To start, you'll be trying the potion out with your own pet or school owl. First, take a few minutes to bond with the creature. There are treats and toys on the front table." Shreya gestured to the front workstation, which had a collection of items for each type of pet. Then, she pulled on a pair of dragonhide gloves and made her way over to a spare school owl, dozing peacefully in its cage. She hated to wake it, but it was time for the demonstration. "You don't have to use gloves, but I recommend them if you are unfamiliar with your animal or if you simply don't want to get your hands dirty." Shreya didn't want any nips from any frightened creatures. "Simply wet your hands or gloves with a bit of water," she said as she ran her hands under the sink for just a moment, "and give your creatures a few good pets. You're bound to pick up a few stray hairs, feathers, or slime. You only need a small amount of them for the potion." Shreya stroked the owl carefully. The tiniest particle of a feather was left on her gloves. She took it and dropped it into a vial, where it bubbled furiously. "Wait one or two minutes for the bubbles to subside, and then it's ready to drink. Then, you can talk to your animal and see what you hear back." Shreya took off the gloves and looked back enthusiastically at the class. "If you don't have any other questions, you're free to begin! You may remove the animals from their cages, but please keep a close eye on them." She was prepared for the classroom to get a bit rowdy, but she didn't want things getting out of control. OOC: YAY so excited for this part! For the mini activity, you will RP for your character and the animal on their desk. To get all the points, please show your character 1) bonding with their animal, 2) collecting a specimen, 3) drinking the potion, and 4) attempting to hear your pet's thoughts. This can all be done in one post if you prefer! You should RP for the pet/school owl as well (just make it a different color to differentiate). Feel free to have your character be as successful or unsuccessful as you like with hearing the animal's thoughts. Shreya will be around periodically for questions & observations! You have approximately 48 hours (possibly a bit longer) to complete the mini activity. |
Exactly. Varma got where Claudine was coming from yet again and the girl couldn’t be more pleased. That, coupled with the fact that she had Samm again and there were no Hoods in sight, meant that her anxiety levels were at the low. The girl sat there listening to Varma go on, though her eyebrow arched at the way the woman said ‘our own advantage’. Maybe the Hoods had ears in the classroom so Varma had to make it seem as though she was on their side. Anyway. The good thing was that they were moving on. Yes, the fifth year indeed remembered the said potion they had made earlier. Oh. So that’s what it had been! Colour Claudine intrigued and excited. Just think! She’d be able to hear Samm’s thoughts! Level of bond and trustworthiness? Claudine and Samm had plenty of that going on between them. She got right down to work by petting Samm on the nosey. The rat had always liked that and he still did. See how he squeaked and sniffed at her finger? His front paws grabbed said finger which made Claudine giggle. Animals always made her so happy. “You hungry, buddy? Here. I’ve got some treats for you.” She always kept a packet of treats for him in her bag which she retrieved. It was a packet of dead flies which Samm loved to eat. The proof was that he was currently gobbling up a few. |
SOooooo the mystery potion they had brewed earlier in term? It was THIS. And how come Aboli had never even tried this potion before because it sounded SO coooooool! She squinted at the owl in her cage. "Please don't bite me, all right? I like owls." More so than cats. She picked up a treat gingerly from the table and offered it through the bars of the little cage. The owl gobbled it up quickly. Yay. Aboli smiled in a pleased manner. "Good girl. Awesome. Let's have another, shall we?" and she made another offering to her overload and savior, this beautiful tawny owl. "Do you have a name?" Was there a name plague anywhere? |
wow this post is long Yayyyy. More positive reinforcement. They were talking to their pets apparently. Ash carefully took Maggie out of her cage and started to coo and pet her. Her normally deep-ish, sharp voice was much smoother and higher. It didn't do that a lot. Ash didn't smile a lot either. But when Maggie hooted back at her, she couldn't help but grin. "Aw yes, you are definitely the best eagle-owl ever. Totally cool and smart and pretty and strong and kind and loyal..." It went on like that for a while. "... and it's so good to see you because I love you so much." She gave the owl one last treat, before wetting her hand and petting her. Ash let out an audible aww as she did it, that was completely unplanned and also embarrassingly high-pitched. She looked around. Did anyone hear that? Maggie was excited to see Ash. HELLO ASH! HENLO. NICE TO SEE YOU. Yes, yes. All the cuddles. Personally, she found Ash's weird squeaking to be endearing. Maggie had never seen her be this affectionate to anyone other than her best friend and the cat. Was she okay? WAS HUMAN OK? IMPORTANT QUESTION. SMALL HUMAN MUST BE DOING BAD. Because why else would she be like this? Maggie had never shown interest in cuddles, unlike the cat. And Ash had never particularly shown interest in cuddling an owl before. Maggie hooted at the girl and ruffled her feathers. She was heaping praise on her now? Something must be seriously bad. SHE MUST COMFORT THE SMALL CHILD. Ash picked up a few impressive feathers. One of them went into her pocket as a keepsake. She would keep it in the special box with her letters from home, her bracelets from Serena, and her drawings. The other went into the potion. While it bubbled, Ash busied herself with other things, like petting her owl. She finally drank the potion when it was ready. Hello Maggie. What are your thoughts? Maggie NEEDED to know if Ash was alright! ASH!!!! ARE YOU OKAY??? SHe hooted questioningly. WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD AND CUDDLY? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU WHILE I WAS GONE? She needed to get a read on this kid. Well this was cool. Ash could hear Maggie's thoughts now. Sadly, they were all worried thoughts. "Awwww, don't worry, I'm fine. Totally okay. That was actually a lie, sorry. Everything is sad for me. But it'll all be okay, right? One day, we'll see each other again, and everything will be great and there will be nothing to worry about. What about you though?" Her owl's safety was more important. Was MAGGIE okay? After all, she was the one in a cage, not Ash. Although Ash was the one under psychological duress. So maybe it was even. Ash was a BIG FAT LIAR. Maggie could just tell. You're lying, Ash. I know it. I'm fine, and you aren't. You don't have to lie. The child was dumb enough to think she could trick an owl, huh? Well she was wrong. Ash had nothing to say to THAT thought. She was going to protest, but she had already been caught in a lie. So instead she just fell silent and continued to pet her owl. "I love you so so much Maggie." And with that, Ash started sobbing. Embarrassing, but there was nothing she could do. Those tears had been building up for a long time. Whoops. |
bit of a catch up first It had been weird for Morgan to see Schnitzel all locked up in a cage like he was. And the cat clearly didn't like being cramped inside. But he supposed it was smart for class so that animals weren't all running amok all over the classroom. There were a lot of animals in one space, after all. But smart didn't mean this Gryffindor liked it. He poked his fingers into the cage to give his kitty some head scratches as he idly listened to the discussion questions and the class answers. The way he communicated with Schnitzel was as straightforward as simply talking to him, though he did give plenty of treats when he was trying to teach him tricks. Still, others had already said both of those things as well as other stuff, so he didn't have more to add. It might not have looked like he was paying much attention when the next question was asked, but he was listening sort of. "I'd just like to know what he was thinking sometimes," he casually mentioned aloud, forgetting to raise his hand. "Like what do cats think about all day? Is it boring stuff like wondering where they can take their next nap or do they make complex plans for stalking mice?" Oh oops, was class moving on without him? Morgan glanced up as the professor spoke again. Aw sweet, they were actually going to hear their pets' thoughts? That sounded awesome! And he could finally free his cat from his prison. "Come on, Schnitzel!" he said as he opened the cage door and pulled the orange tabby out from inside. "Let's go get some of that potion! Oh and some treats too!" The kitty's ears perked up at that word, having heard it enough from the boy to know exactly what that meant. And, carrying the cat in one arm, Morgan headed up towards the workstation for a potion vial and some kitty treats. |
Violet wished very much she could be doing this exercise with Machiavelli, but since he wasn't here, she prepared to try to bond with the school owl before her. She sat there for what seemed a long time, staring into the owl's eyes, with the owl staring back. Then she hesitantly stretched two fingers through the bars and stroked the owl's back. The owl turned its head all the way around, as owls do, and nudged her hand with its beak--okay, it seemed to like that. Violet continued petting it, using three fingers now, and suddenly felt the owl give her a soft nip--oh, she had forgotten to put on the gloves! But it hadn't really hurt (and she knew an owl could really bit hard it if wanted to). It was more to get her attention. Violet looked down and saw that a few small underfeathers were sticking to the rough places around her nails and withdrew her hand. She added a feather to one of her vials of potion and watched excitedly as the liquid began to bubble furiously. When it slowed down, she picked up the vial and looked closely at the potion. Well, she always claimed her potions were safe and well-brewed, so she ought to be able to trust them on herself now. "Skoal!" she said, remembering the toast her governess used to use, and raising her vial at the owl, she drank it all in one gulp. She swallowed, not sure what she thought it tasted like, whether good or bad, and closed her eyes. When she opened them, the owl had moved a bit closer to her on its perch and was still staring intently into her eyes. "Uh, hello there, owl," she said, feeling a bit foolish. 'Hello there, human girl.' Violet was startled to hear the words, not sure if they were coming from the owl or if they were in her own head. "Ah...are you all right?" Violet had been worried about all the school animals all term, so this was the next thing she could think of to say. She was usually full of words in her head, but trying to speak to an owl was so strange that she was having trouble thinking. 'Terrible, can't leave cages, stuffy room, no windows, terrible smell, all animals together, noisy all the time.' "I'm so sorry!" Violet exclaimed. "It's not our idea--it's those hooded people" (if they were people) "they took you all away from us and won't let us see you. I think they don't want any messages getting out of Hogwarts." She picked up one of the treats and slipped it into the cage, holding it out to the owl. The owl delicately pecked up the treat and sat crunching it for a minute or two. 'Thank you, that was kind. I would take your message if I could.' "That's nice of you to offer. By the way---in that room, you haven't seen a magpie, have you? A black and white bird? Kind of rude and likes to steal things? But, I mean--he's really nice when you get to know him." The owl sat for a few moments like it was thinking. 'No, no black and white birds, only cats, toads, and owls,' it replied eventually. "Oh. Okay, thanks anyway." Violet sat a few minutes, wondering again what happened to Mack. Before she could focus her thoughts, she felt a tear or two welling up in her eyes. "Oh, owl, things are really terrible here. But I expect the school owls will be okay, they might need you. But if you get a chance, fly away from here as fast as you can, and don't come back." The owl just looked back at her and hooted softly. Violet wasn't sure if that was because the potion was wearing off, or if it just didn't have anything else useful to say. |
Animal Whispering time! (sorry if its long!) If only her dad could see this right now. Maybe if Aibhi gets this right, she can use this to speak to Khan and Izzy. Looking at the owl before her, she takes a glance at the posture of the owl to see if its giving off a comfortable vibe, a defensive vibe, or any other vibe. Examining the posture of the owl see that it bobs its head a couple of times seeming to be alert but Aibhi tries to keep a peaceful relationship between the both of them. Opening the cage carefully, she pulls her hands back and keeps her focus on the owl. "It's alright. Come on out. I won't hurt you..."Aibhi spoke softly to the owl watching its body language. Reaching for her one glove, she uses her non-gloved hand to reach out to pet the owl gently with just two fingers. Carefully she gently pets the owl seeing what it will do and surprisingly, the owl seems to like it. She gives a little smile as she sees a few feathers about in the cage and grabs a couple as she sees the owl move in a little closer to her. Who would have thought I would actually enjoy this?! After collecting her things for the potion, she carefully places the ingredients into her little vial and watched to see it begin to work its magic (so to speak). After seeing the bubbling in her vial seem to dissipate and stop bubbling, Aibhi grabs the vial and looks at her little owl companion for a moment before exhaling out softly and lifting the vial to her lips and swallows it quickly and distracts her own mind on the taste of the potion itself. Exhaling out softly and smacking her lips together she takes a moment before looking back at the owl and clears her throat. "Uh- Uh...hello...? Ca- Can you understand me?" She asks the owl unsure of herself. the owl blinks, bobbing its head up and down for a moment. Curious. Curious to the words coming out of this one's mouth. Watching her carefully, the owl steps a little closer and simply replies with "Well, hello." Aibhi's eyes flutter. She gasps softly. IT WORKED?! Did it just bloody work?! Mum's never going to believe this! Smiling, Aibhi, hears the voice of the owl speak through to her as she puts on her other glove and sits there watching the owl carefully. "Hello. You- don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." "Oh, I'm not afraid of you, girl. It's the others that concern me." the owl starts. Aibhi tilts her head to the side. "Others? Oh...oh you mean-" She trails off looking around her for a moment before nodding and speaks a little softer to the owl, "Yes, I would have to agree with you on that. I worry for mine and my brother's safety every single day here. Can't talk to my parents, can't really go to anyone for help..." She lets out a heavy sigh and shrugs, "But we have to go through the motions, yeah? Not really much we can do as students. " The owl bobs its head to her. "Bad people. Bad, bad people. Don't step out of line, Miss Draven." Aibhi looks around the classroom for a moment before back at the owl as the owl is now perched onto her gloved hand. "No one's ever called me by that last name before. Usually only by my father's last name." The owl begins to hoot softly to her. The potion was beginning to fade away. Aibhi sighs softly and nods. |
There was a very good reason why Emmerson did not have an actual animal for a pet. It had a lot to do with the little girl's general disinterest in their furrier counterparts. They were cute, sure, and you could cuddle with them after a long day but she didn't wanna be bothered with feedings, cleanings and the like. No thanks. Similarly, she was not particularly interested in their thoughts. Don't get her wrong, she'd been SUPER curious about the mystery potion when they'd first brewed it. Just...now that she knew what it did, the Gryffindor was less impressed. Not an animal person was probably.....a very fair way to describe her. With a scowl in place, Emm looked to the owl. She didn't want to bond with it and had no warm feelings towards it. Stiffly, she ran two fingers along its neck and down to its back, stroking in repetitive manner. "There there...." Or whatever. This owl would probably have preferred to be outside soaring, not down in the dungeons figuring which way is up. Luckily a feather DID come loose through her forced bonding moment. Emm dropped it into her potion and waited for the bubbles to subside. "Bottoms up, I guess." She said, a vain toast offered to the bird before downing the contents of the cup. Blech! When would they make potions that tasted like chocolate? That didn't look very good. What was that? Huh? Oh, the owl. Right. "It wasn't. I'd let you try if I was a little more sure you wouldn't drop dead after." The 12 year old offered...er...half offered. Couldn't really go offering semi-strange potions to animals when you didn't know their dietary limits. "That's...perfectly fine. Rats do the trick just fine. Say, could you tell me how to get out of here? "Fam, if I knew the answer to that, you'd have a different partner and I'd be sipping a diet coke light ice with a mini umbrella on a beach in Madrid." |
While little Samm ate the flies {five of them. Claudine was always careful not to overfeed him}, she continued to pet him. Gloves were a no-no for this activity since she was quite used to Samm, and working with creatures on a whole. Yes, her fingers were slightly wet to help scoop any loose hair up. Sure enough when Claudine checked her finger, there were hairs there. Perfect. Into the vial a strand went. Like Varma’s, the contents bubbled happily. When all had popped, she drank. The vial was immediately set down and Claudine fixed her gaze on her little friend. “Hi, Samm. How are you feeling? Not stressed, are you?” Being away from her for such a long time might have taken a toll on him. To her delight, she heard his thoughts and was super excited of the fact. “I would be better if I had more flies.” “Um… sorry. You’d overeat and that wouldn’t be good for your health.’’ “I’m fit as a fiddle, Blaze.’’ “Excuse me. Are you sassing me, Samm?’’ “I might be.’’ Cue Samm sitting on his hind legs and staring at her with beady eyes. Claudine’s attention was only disturbed when she noticed Ashley crying. Um… was she okay? |
There was a name plate. The owl's name was apparently Grace! Sweet Grace! "Okay Miss Gracie..." she smiled and offered her another treat. "Such a sweet girl..." she eventually opened the cage to offer the treat right from her hand, and she was pleased to find the tawny owl was more than accepting. It wasn't hard to bond with the school owls, though. They were used to the students! Now...what specimen did she want? Plucking her feather might hurt, so she searched the bottom of the cage for any. Unfortunately, there weren't any. Uuugghhhh. Could she get some owl spit???? Did owls spit? Question for Professor Williams. "I need a feather, but I don't really want to pluck one...." she whispered, stroking the back of Grace's head. "Because then you might stop trusting me." She tugged on one of the feathers veeeeery gently, just to see how Grace would take it, and the owl seemed not at all concerned. Aboli get a hold of the feather, then offered Grace another treat. She was getting FED TODAY. She plucked the feather, quickly, and winced slightly at the hoot Grace gave off, and the sliiiiiight flap of the owl's wings. Ah. Ah AH. But Grace was content on her perch, and Aboli grinned. "Thank you, girl." The feather was added to the potion, and Aboli waited for it to stop its bubbling. She was ready to converse with this owl!! |
mentions for all! you still have about 24 hours for the mini activity :) As the students got started bonding and conversing with their pets, Shreya made her way around the room, her purple robes swishing behind her. "Well done, Ms. Blaze," she said as she passed the Slytherin, who was happily feeding her rat some treats. "Bonding with your pet first should increase the effectiveness of the potion. I commend your patience." Shreya had half expected the students to be so excited to talk to their pets that they skipped over the bonding portion. Those who took the time to praise and socialize with the pets should certainly have more success. And sure enough—from the look on Claudine's face once she started communicating with the rat—it had worked. Shreya gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up before moving on to the next workstation. It was strange indeed to observe the children during this part of the lesson, as Shreya was unable to hear what exactly they were picking up on from their pets. Though, as they had previously discussed, body language could communicate a lot. And by the looks of it, Ashley had either failed miserably at communicating with her owl or heard something extremely upsetting from the bird. Whatever the case, Shreya offered her a comforting pat on the back as the Ravenclaw cried. These poor children. Merlin knew what was going through their heads these days. Morgan and Aboli got encouraging nods as well, as they both seemed to be following the bonding protocol. They would surely hear some interesting thoughts from their pets soon enough. And it seemed like Violet had succeeded as well, as she looked to be deep in thought after talking to her owl—though Shreya had only overheard the last part of Violet's seemingly one-sided conversation. Aibihi seemed to be overjoyed that the potion had worked. Not at all surprising, as she had taken ample time to pet her owl first. Shreya gave her a warm smile. Emmerson, on the other hand...Shreya would be interested to see if her potion worked well. The young Gryffindor was acting rather coolly toward her owl. "You may hear some more interesting thoughts if you take a bit of time to become friends. Try these," Shreya said gently, placing a small pile of owl treats on Emmerson's workstation. "It seems as if you are all on the right track!" Er, well, mostly. "Take a few more minutes to see what you can hear. The potions will be wearing off shortly." OOC: Ahh your animal RPs are so much fun to read! You have about 24 hours for the mini activity. And remember, catching up is always allowed! |
Yes, the staring was, as that Italian greyhound liked to say, TOO MUCH. The school owl (now named Harry) let out a loud YIP YIP YAP squawk of disapproval at Bernie's intense gaze. What, now they were supposed to touch it? Touch THAT? Bernie exhaled through her flared nostrils. She was not a fan of birds, had she said that yet? Also, she was just... supposed to let it out of the cage? Er? What if it took off? Did she haaaaaaaaaave to? Would be more dangerous to pet it through the bars...? Or? Regardless, all Bernie accomplished |
Great. The professor was patting her on the back now. And several others, including Claudine and her own owl, were looking at her with various faces of concern. Ew. EMBARRASSING ALERT. She somehow managed to stop crying, and instead just looked like she was about to cry and petted her owl some more. Awwww, the poor human child. Maggie hooted comfortingly. She had never seen Ash exhibit THAT behavior before, not even when she was possessed for a while. She hooted comfortingly. shhhh, Ash. Don't cry. It's okay, not-so-small human. Ah yes, thank goodness for the comforting owl. Where was scar/luna/any name really cat? They were getting extra snuggles later today. So that Ash could do some late-night secret crying instead of middle-of-the-day embarrassing crying. Hey. At least the professor was patting her back comfortingly instead of poking a wand in her back threateningly. It's the little things that count. |
It would be amazing! They could all use a lesson right now on empathy and understanding other perspectives. Perhaps he would discuss that more with the professor later. Now wasn’t really the time to draw more attention to his thoughts on the great importance of empathy when The Hoods were probably listening. Rosier probably wouldn’t be too keen on students showing empathy. Ooh, he was going to get to TALK TO BABS! How cool was that? That was about as good as he could hope for, given the fact he was unlikely to be permitted to take Babs back to his dorm with him. Devin opened the cage and gently stroked Babs. ”What a good girl. I’ve missed spending time with you after class. I’m just going to get a few feathers off you for this potion so we can talk to each other, okay?” He wet his right hand in the sink and used his other hand to feed Babs another treat while he ran his wet hand across her back a few times. A few feathers stuck to his hand. ”Good girl. You’re doing great, Babs.” Devin dropped a feather into one of the potion vials in front of him. Now all he had to do was wait a couple minutes. |
Sufficiently distracted by his tarantula being right in front of him, Atlas sort only half paid attention to where the conversation went next - his answer would not have been particularly helpful anyway. He wanted to know what Araneus was thinking and wanted to convey all the time. In fact, the first year was still tracing his finger along the outside of the cage for one of the tarantula's legs to follow. Or kind of follow. Sometimes Araneus just wasn't in the mood to play games. His attention WAS drawn once he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and then he saw movement and people holding their pets. Best lesson EVER! Just bond with your pet? Feel safe? Professor Varma was quickly becoming his favorite adult for the time being. Wetting his hands as instructed, the Gryffindor was quick to pull the lid off and then his hand was lowered into the cage. Araneus was never one to be in much of a hurry and half the time to practice had already gone by by the time the tarantula was lazily walking over to the 11-year-old's hand and climbing on to his palm. Grinning from ear to ear, he took another minute just to let Araneus stretch their limbs and crawl over his hands and arms. He couldn't really tell if there were any hairs that had fallen off or not...but he took the vial, uncapped it, and then scrapped the top along both of his palms to hopefully collect something. Most likely his own dead skin cells BUT attached to those should be some remnants of Araneus, right? His hand serving as a vehicle, Atlas guided Araneus to his shoulder and once again waited patiently for her to slink off his hand and on to his shoulder. Thankfully she perched there long enough for him to down the potion - which did NOT taste great and was now an unpleasant room temperature thanks to clutching it in his hand - and then he waited. "So..." he hummed, setting the empty phial down on the table and then scrunching his neck up to look at Araneus. "Hi." ............................... Nothing. "Hey, Araneus." Still nothing. Was it possible that his familiar was thinking about nothing? Surely Araneus should at least be thinking about food... |
Delaney watched as the potion vials floated throughout the room before one landed on her desk. Ignatius watched her with curious eyes as she stood up and retrieved some treats from the front of the classroom. Back at home Delaney would always try and sneak Ignatius some of her dinner from her plate by “accidently” missing her mouth so this shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. The first year returned to her desk with a handful of cheese chucks and Ignatius could be heard meowing incessantly. She unlatched the crate her cat was in and started handing out the goods. Puuuurrrrrrrrr Delaney smiled softly at the animal. If she couldn’t write or contact her parents this year at least she still had her cat. As Iggy continued to scarf down the cheese, the Slytherin started to scratch behind his year and give him the best pets, from head to tail. She raised her hand as her professor made her rounds, “Professor Varma… how long does it usually take to bond with an animal. Like a wild one you’ve never met before?” With a hand full of cat hair, Delaney grabbed her potion sample and unceremoniously shook her hand out over the vial hopping a few would make it inside. The bubbling eventually died down and the young girl closed her green eyes as she tipped the liquid down her throat. Blagghk. That was gross. Iggy had finally finished off the remainder of the cheese and was now sitting calmly, staring at Delaney expectantly. Delaney stared back… trying reeeallly hard not to blink. She sat there for at least two minutes in silence “Iggy,” she whispered, “Are you there?” ….. “Iggyyyy!” Yes. More cheese? Delaney’s eyes widened, “You can hear me!?” Yes. I can. Is there more food? She rolled her eyes, “I’ll get more food later. I promise. How is life as a Hogwarts cat?” She had considered leaving Ignatius at home with her mother, but she hadn’t wanted Eleanora to get her tiny little three-year-old hands all over him. A cat’s life is the same here or there. But for you… you must be careful… Delaney furrowed her eyes before giving her cat a wistful smile, “I know…” |
v sorry 4 being almost as incessant as kinsay james Mystery potion. Right. Nem remembered. Though it wasn't necessarily all that mysterious; relatively few potions in the world - almost definitely none taught at Hogwarts - were not published somewhere. If someone knew how to search Potions texts effectively, they might have solved the mystery. Even if it wasn't written down somewhere, Nem thought a little brain engagement could go a long way in analysing ingredients and combinations, order and context of introduction, et cetera, meaning a person could figure out, or at least theorise, what a potion might do based on recipe alone. This approach had informed much of their own... work. That being said, Nem hadn't tried. Had never looked into the potion Varma was referring to, not beyond silently mulling over the ingredients and brewing process as they'd all gone through it in class. After the lesson was over, they had put it out of their mind, focused on other things, and that had been that. It didn't matter anyway, because all had been revealed. Allegedly. Thing was, Nem wouldn't be drinking it. On principle, you know? Yes. They had those. Look at them, being all principled, with morals and stuff. Nem was still very much a vegan, and could not in good Disregarding the gloves, Nem wet their hand with a dribble of water, opened the cage, and gently smoothed down the barn owl's chest feathers with the backs of their first three fingers. It opened one eye, stared at them, opened the other, and hooted softly, just once. Though Nem had no intention of drinking this potion, they were perfectly content to show a little extra engagement to make up for it. "Professor," they said, raising one hand while the other still stroked the feathers, maintaing eye contact with the barn owl, but glancing at Varma as they spoke. "Would you say this potion is similar to using Legilimency on animals? I've just always wondered if that would actually work, or if their thoughts would be too abstract, or exist in a way most people cannot process, depending on the animal, not to mention the verbal language thing. If a person can hear an animal's thoughts with this potion, as opposed to just... understanding feeling or instinct or vibe or whatever... that means the potion has a dual effect - telepathic link plus translation, right?" They paused, considered the line of thought they had been entertaining earlier, and continued to not share it. But wait, there's more. "Would it work on a human, seeing as they're part of the animal kingdom, or is it dependent on something else? Classification or complexity or whatever." Oh. Look at that. A few feather barbules. Nem sprinkled them into the vial and set it to bubbling, and... just went right back to petting the owl. |
As soon as the potion finished doing its thaaaaang, Aboli took a sip and waited. How would she know she was ready? Had she bonded enough with Grace to hear specific thoughts??? She was so concerned after hearing nothing for a few seconds that she reached out to pet Grace again, but then - No. Aboli pulled her hand back and stared at the owl. "You don't want me to pet you?" she asked gently. Treat. Now. Merlin...this owl was bossy, wasn't she? Aboli grabbed one and offered it gingerly to her. She could hear how pleased eating the treat made Grace, but she wasn't really getting like, full on thoughts or anything. She supposed it had to do with her not being Grace's owner. Grace was just a school owl. And maybe she was still mad at Aboli for the light feather plucking....hmmm. |
It was lucky that Phoebe already knew Beans, because she figured that she didn't have to work too hard to bond with the tabby. She fed and bathed and pet and spoke to this cat every single day. Most spoiled cat in the world, honestly, and that had to speak for something. She leaned her forehead against Beans' little snout and whispered comforting words, promising all the treats in the world and a chance to chase mice later and time on her pillow. In return, the cat gave Phoebe a vigorous forehead bath and clawed her hand. "Okay, ouch. No time on the pillow, then." The petting had accumulated enough fur that Phoebe could add it to the potion, and she let it sit for a while so Bean could get more cuddling. Phoebe got more scratches for her trouble. "Why do you do that? I want to give you love." With a sigh, Phoebe took the potion and focused her attention back on the cat. More pets. See? She did want love. Phoebe gave Beans a scratch, and Beans swatted her. No pets. "Why are you LIKE THIS?" Communication was NOT MAKING IT BETTER. |
At her second pass around the room, Shreya noticed that Bernadette seemed a bit hesitant to collect a specimen. "If you're unsure, you can always use a pair of clippers to snip off the tip of a feather. It won't hurt them," she said gently. Not all students were fans of touching animals, she supposed. Thankfully, Ashley seemed to be calming down. Perhaps her pet had a soothing effect on her. Devin got a thumbs up as she passed his workstation. The Gryffindor was completing the steps perfectly. Shreya was quite excited to see how he communicated with his owl. The two seemed to be very close. Atlas, on the other hand, seemed to be having a bit of trouble. "Be patient. Sometimes, it takes a bit of time to work." She gave the young boy a reassuring nod. And he could always collect another specimen and try again if it didn't work. He appeared to have a strong bond with his tarantula. Shreya couldn't imagine the potion not working at all. Phoebe seemed to be having similar trouble, or at least a rather uncooperative pet. "Is Beans usually this....combative?" Shreya asked with a chuckle. The poor girl was covered in scratches. Delaney certainly had an interesting question. "Wonderful question, Ms. Whittle. It strongly depends on the type of creature. Some are naturally more trusting and open to human connection. But even if you have no bond with the animal, you are likely to still have some degree of communication. The thoughts will just be incredibly muddled." The Slytherin got a smile as she appeared to succeed with hearing her cat. Speaking of interesting questions, Nemesis had an intelligent one as well. "Well, I'm no expert in legilimency, so I might not be the best one to ask. My inclination is that a skilled legilimens would be able to see an animal's thoughts, but incoherently. Creatures process information much differently than humans. So their memories and languages are encoded in a completely different way—meaning that we would be unable to process them ourselves. This potion works in part by temporarily modifying our own neural pathways to understand our animals better. But you are correct that there is also a telepathic link at work." She paused, collecting her thoughts for a moment. Nemesis would be a wonderful one with whom to converse about in-depth potionmaking topics, indeed. "The potion has not been approved for human-to-human use. I imagine there would be complications, as we already have the proper neural pathways to understand other humans. It may temporarily create a telepathic link, but there are too many dangerous variables—such as overloading or 'doubling' your neural pathways—for it to be worth trying." It was a complicated answer, but Potions was an equally complicated subject. Another glance around the room (and at her watch) showed that the potions should be wearing off. "Wonderful work, everyone. I hope you were able to hear at least a little something from your pet." After all, this was the easy part of the lesson. The next part might be a bit more challenging. "If you could place your pets back into their cages for now, that would be wonderful." Shreya knew it would be difficult for the students to part with their pets, but rules were rules. At least the pets could stay in their cages for the remainder of the lesson....before the house elves came to collect them again. "Now that you've practiced communicating with your own pets, you're going to try to communicate with some others." Their own pets, and the school owls, were already so used to human connection that the potion should have worked fairly easily. The next round of creatures could be trickier. Shreya waved her wand toward the back of the classroom. The blankets flew off the cages to reveal a collection of kneazles and puffskeins. "The house elves were kind enough to bring us some creatures from the barns. With your remaining potion vials, you will be attempting to communicate with some kneazles and puffskeins. When you're ready, you can come collect one from the cages. You will repeat the same process—bonding with them first and then collecting a specimen." She stressed the word bonding. That would be critical. "These creatures are not as connected to humans as your pets were, so it make take some patience. There are plenty of creature-specific treats and toys on the back table." Cat toys, tunafish, puffskein treats, and other various items were scattered over the back workstation. Quote:
You only need to try to communicate with one creature to get full points, but feel free to talk to more if you wish! You have until February 6 to complete the main activity. VM me with any questions, and of course, Shreya will be walking around to observe and answer any! |
i had this half-typed up and now it's .....~???!?! idk not my best work SPOILER!!: Previously, on Bernadette the Bird Lady Bernie continued her owl-like staring at the... well, owl, like, in her possession. She creaked open the door of the cage and reached in, GLOVES ON, MIND YOU, to gently stroke the owl. Just one. One stroke. A pat-pat, more like, somewhere the owl (Harry) could see her hand at all times. Because it was eying her right now, it really was. Could owls read thoughts even without the aid of a potion? Speaking of questions about reading thoughts.... Bernie slowwwwwwwwwly stared at Nem for a bit, asking all those questions like they were, obviously thinking of doing something with such thoughts, and then looked to the professor when she moved on. Hah. Well. Bernadette was absolutely not going to SNIP OFF A FEATHER! How dare the professor suggest that! That would be like pulling a hair from your own head! Only probably worse!!!! Even Harry agreed, with a soft but disapproving hoot of their own. She would, however, immediately abandon this task (read: actual assigned activity) and go get herself a kneazle. A KNEAZLE!!!!!! That was basically a BIG CAT!!!!!! Like ALL SHE'D EVER WANTED!!! Bernie nearly skipped to fetch a kneazle and then skipped back to her desk. She plopped the kneazle down (oh, hello, Phil) and began petting him, her owl all but ignored for now while she commenced cuddling with Phil. Phil Phil Philburt. What a soft kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Noooooooooooooooooo. This was TRAGIC. They had to put the owls back. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS? This was a crushing blow, causing Ash to be surprisingly dramatic. Crazy, because Ash was hardly ever dramatic. She was in MELTDOWN MODE now. She put Maggie back in the cage, ignoring the creature's thoughts of comfort. They were all lies anyway. She sulked over to Simon the kneazle and brought him back to her seat. "Hello. Your name is Simon, no? I'm... I'm... You can think of me as Ash. You are a cool kneazle and it's cool to know you. Can I pet you? You look.... really.... really soft." And then she started to cry again, and buried her face in her arms. Why was this so stressful? Why was it so sad? Why did she really wanna pass out? The stress and sadness and just everything kinda just piled up and made her really wanna take a long, long nap. And go home. And maybe pet the kneazle too. Actually, no. She wanted to do two things: go home and give her best friend a really big hug. Forget sleeping or petting kneazles. But maybe.... maybe she could pet the kneazle? Maybe? She peeked back out at it through the cracks in her arms, trying to get a read on it. |
hi Sasha Despite any and all previous reservations, Kinsay was looking forward to this next part of class. Maybe hugging a kitten would help get rid of all the sads. So she didn't hesitate in running to the back to get her first pick and she chose YOU, Sasha. The prettiest kneazle. And what better way to bond other than ALL the squishes. that's what Kinsay was going for. She squeezed her kneazle all the way back to her workstation and even then, she continued squeezing. She was going to hug this cat until there were no more hugs left to give. This would probably take a while. Hopefully no one else wanted alone time with Sasha because uh, Kinsay was going to hug and never let go. It was already helping loads. She nuzzled her chin against Sasha's little head. What a GOOD kneazle. SO MANY SQUISHES !!!!!!!!!! So fluffy, Kizzy might DIE. |
Oh jeez just... imagine that I.... did things; picked up Basil Quinn managed to have an.... interesting conversation with his owl. Truthfully, it wasn't very happy yo be in a cage. And it wasn't happy with any of the Alliance people. It had some, er... words. Words that he usually only heard his parents use when they were angry. Or stuck in traffic. Either way, when the Professor unveiled the kneazels and puffskeins, Quinn wasn't sure what to think. They were kinda cute, but also wild barn animals. Maybe bitey. He wasn't the biggest fan of bitey. Quinn approached the cages and picked out Basil the puffskein, bringing him back to the work station (and grabbing some treats and a little jingly bell toy along the way). Quinn set Basil down, then rested his head on the workstation so he was level with the cage. "Hi, Basil," he spoke softly, "I'm Quinn. It's very nice to meet you." |
PANCAKE! *because we like pancakes* Patient and Atlas were not exactly words that lived in harmony when in the same sentence. Or thought. Or same planet. Maybe even same universe. He swallowed nervously and nodded his head at the professor regardless, not wanting to disappoint her because...well...he found himself really really liking her ... do disappointing her was not something he wanted to do. Maybe it was time he included her in his little triangle of trust. Which would then make it a square. Right. Being patient and trying to hear his pet's thoughts...which really was just not working and the Gryffindor found himself frowning as time ticked on. It was only when he heard Nem Upstead ask some very insightful things and the first year found himself gawking. And blushing? Mostly gawking. So much so that even if the potion kicked in and he finally become privy to Araneus' thoughts...he didn't notice. He was hanging on every word between the older Slytherin and professor. In the end, Atlas had heard nothing from Araneus - maybe he hadn't actually collected enough from the tarantula to be able to create a connection with essences this go around. Oh well. You win some, you learn some? He was a little too satisfied from that little bout of question and answer to be too bothered by this not working out. He felt like he and Araneus understood each other well enough without the potion anyway. And then it was time to move things along and Atlas was wetting his hands again before heading off to collect his next attempt, which in this first year's case was a very sizeable puffskein. "Hello," he greeted before scooping him up and cradling him in one arm while his other stroked the creature as he made his way back over to his desk. He didn't yet grab any toys or treats because, well, Atlas was kind of hoping that THIS time maybe he would make a connection and then he could ask what the puffskein wanted and then he could fetch that. Now back at his seat, Atlas continued to hold and pet the puffskein and THIS time noticed that some fur had attached itself to his palm. Much more promising than with Araneus! Uncapping the phial, Atlas repeated the scraping of his palm and plucked an additional hair from between his fingers to drop into it. After a little swirl swirl swirl, the Gryffindor downed the potion (wow it TASTED different this time ... and he wasn't sure if that was good or bad) and then...waited. "I'm Atlas, by the way," he added |
kneazles! Text Cut: Bernie For the entire first half of the class, Phil had been halfheartedly pawing at the back of his cage.....because that was obviously where the door was, right? Upon being picked up by the eager girl, Phil did not seem to register that he had been removed from his cage. Not yet, at least. So, he sat on the workstation and continued pawing at the air, a rather bored look in his eyes. Text Cut: Ashley Oh, thank heavens. That cage was starting to get quite cramped. Simon peered around the room curiously, tilting his chin up ever so slightly at the sight of all the other creatures. And then, the human was crying. Goodness, there were certainly many more enriching ways to be spending his time right now than this. When would this nonsense be over? He side-eyed the girl—a bit judgmentally, if that, before taking a tall seat on the table....though he'd certainly accept some treats or pets once she composed herself. Text Cut: Kinsay The squeezes! Too bad Kinsay hadn't taken the potion yet, because if she had, she might be hearing that the squeezes were not opportune for the fur volume. Sasha fidgeted a bit, trying to wriggle her way free. After a rather loud meow, she was able to leap out of the human's hands. (Though she hoped the girl knew it wasn't anything personal. Sasha had just spent quite a long time preening this morning, and she didn't want it all to go to waste.) The kneazle perched herself on the table and began furiously grooming herself. Normally, she'd save her baths for more....private settings. But her fur was certainly ruffled by now, and that was unacceptable. |
Text Cut: Quinn Basil folded into himself in fright as soon as the human reached his hands into the cage. Where were they going? Why did he have to leave his cage? His beloved, dark, beautiful, safe cage? He started shaking as the boy placed him on the table, peering only one eye out from under his fur. He looked up at the human hesitantly. Text Cut: Atlas Must they always interrupt the naps? Pancake had been right in the middle of an afternoon snooze, when his cage rattled open and a human tugged him out. He was rather perturbed at this, though his interest was piqued by the smell of food. His eyes lazily scanned around, landing on the tunafish and the owl treats before resting on the boy. If he was listening carefully, he might hear a subtle thought. "Hungry." No, this Gryffindor wouldn't be getting much more out of the puffskein unless his appetite was first accommodated. |
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He set down one of the treats he picked up in front of Basil, making sure not to make any sudden movements. "Do you want a treat?" he cooed. |
Lilly the Puffskein <3 The fifth year was proud of the compliment paid to her by Varma. “Thank you, professor,’’ came her happy reply, along with a beam. It was difficult not to be happy and go the extra mile when she was involved with an animal. Did she mention that she was enjoying every aspect of this lesson? Because she was. And that thumbs up? It was returned. Claudine eyed her pet, that rat whom she very much adored. Who knew he was so full of sass? Certainly not her but now, it was good to be enlightened. “I learnt it from my human momma. Meaning you, Blaze.’’ #Dead Claudine was absolutely deceased {figuratively, duuuh}and speechless. And there was Varma addressing the class, so the girl half fixed her attention on the professor, half on Samm. Ooh. Another chance to bond with another creature! She was game. Samm received one last look before she hurried off to wet her hand and to retrieve a Puffskein. Lilly and her pink streaks attracted Claudine’s attention. Gently, the puffskein was scooped out of her cage. “Hallo,’’ Claudine crooned, already beginning to pet her gently and soothingly. “Love the streaks, ma’am.’’ If anyone observed the girl, they'd easily distinguish she was a lot mellow with animals than most humans. Upon examination of her damp fingers, she found that there were puffskein hairs there, including a few pink ones. They were quickly dropped into a vial of the potion which was then swished and swirled a bit before the contents were consumed. “It’s nice to meet you,’’ Claudine continued her chatter, and waited for the potion to hopefully work. |
bonding with Basil! Aboli stroked Grace some more, hearing spurts of thought here and there...she wondered if she had done the potion wrong. It wouldn't be that big of a surprise - afterall, she was much better at spellwork than at potioneering. She wasn't bad at Potions, but she wasn't as serious about it as her spells. So she finished up "chatting" with Grace as the professor went on to explain they'd be communicating with either a kneazle or a puffskein. Aboli's choice was easy: PUFFSKEIN, DUH. They were soooOOooo incredibly cuuuute! Puffy and CUTE. As she let the connection between herself and Grace subside, she gently clasped Grace's cage door shut and waited her turn with the puffskein. She was aiming to get Basil, and so when he was free, she made her way up to gently take him in her hands from his little cage. He probably would hate all of the attention he got today O_O Aaaaand she cradled him. "Hi there, Basil. You're really cute." She said in the smallest, most comforting voice she could manage. And she was wearing her gloves, so the velvety feeling of them might feel okay on his fur??? Maybe???? |
so thrilled someone else has to play the pet for a change HAHA Quote:
Right right right right. She... well, she could keep petting him for a bit to get some of his fur stuck to her hand! "Aren't you just the CUTEST," Bernie practically SQUEALED. Oh, also. She popped her free hand in the air for the prof. "Can I keep this kneazle after class? For.... potions................. research purposes?" |
@ atlas flamsteed: stop that Yes. Nem thought they might know a better person to ask, but the circumstances made that a bit complicated. Then again, they had a brain of their own, and everyone who was an expert had accumulated their knowledge some other way, and built on it or used their own critical thinking to expand it; they could easily do the same. Anyway. Something to think about. "Thank you, professor. I'll keep all that in mind." Ez probably wouldn't mind being a test subject. Well. He'd probably mind, but he wouldn't do anything about it. (Read: Nem did not particularly care about dangerous variables.) Once the next activity started, Nem didn't bother fetching a creature, as they wouldn't be needing one. They could have grabbed a puffskein to bounce around for a bit, but it was probably best to avoid the kneazles. Nem still wanted one of their own, but they needed to get it in its kitten form, so it could be calibrated or whatever. It was possible. They were sure of it. The money was the main problem, but hardly an obstacle which could not be overcome. Grantham had grabbed a kneazle though, and for a moment Nem had to fight off some mild irritation that she'd had the audacity - perhaps the deviousness - to bring one over here... but then they watched the creature for about three seconds, and slid back into neutral. Evidently, it was not the sharpest tooth in the maw. Shaking their head in mild amusement, Nem shut the barn owl's cage door and picked up their quill. Instead of fussing around with creatures, they sat and wrote out some detailed notes about their question to Varma, the answer they'd received, plus follow up ideas and extensions or extended thoughts. Every now and then, they would watch Grantham's progress out of the corner of their eye. |
Mirabelle "She's playing, Professor. It's okay. I know how to heal the scratches." Phoebe let Beans headbutt her a bit and gave her a cuddle, but it was apparently no longer time to play with kitties. Back to her little crate for now, and they could cuddle again later. For now, though, Phoebe very much wanted to try bonding with a creature who wasn't going to scratch her. She scooped the docile little kneazle and returned to her seat, grabbing treats and toys along the way. Gentle scooping. She seated herself on the floor by her desk and lowered the kneazle Mirabelle to the ground, letting her explore a little and sniff her fingers and knees. "Hi, sweet girl. That's my Beans you smell on my hands. Can I give you a little pet? Oh, or maybe we start with treats. Do you want a treat?" She offered several across her palm. |
Text Cut: Ashley Simon blinked at the girl. Once. Twice. Three times, before bending down to retrieve the treat. He chewed it purposefully. Was he smart? What sort of preposterous question was that? Was it not obvious from the sage look in his eyes, the intelligent way that he carried himself? He was a kneazle after all, creatures that were particularly known for their intellect. He turned up his nose at the girl as if to say, Of course I am. To both of her comments. Another treat would be preferable. Text Cut: Bernie Phil continued pawing at the air, until about two minutes after the girl had stopped petting him. He followed her other hand up into the air, where he fixed his gaze. Was she holding something? He swatted his paw in the air, just in case. Shreya chuckled a bit at Bernie's eagerness. While she had been a bit hesitant with the owl, the Gryffindor was obviously getting along much better with the kneazle. "Now that's something you'd have to take up with Professor Williamson." She leaned onto the workstation, resting her chin on her hand curiously before asking, "What sort of potion research?" You know, just for kicks. She also happened to notice Nemesis, who was not partaking in the activity. That was the thing about Potions. It was a bit of an ethical concern—at least for Shreya. While she could require students to brew a potion, she couldn't exactly force them to ingest it. It just seemed...a bit unscrupulous. Which was why she didn't make any comments to the Slytherin. They seemed to be observing Bernadette every so often, which was acceptable enough to the professor. Text Cut: Phoebe Mirabelle slowly made a circle around the girl, sniffing out her new surroundings here and there. She finally took a seat, staring up at Phoebe with large, loving eyes. The tip of her tail flipped up and down merrily as she graciously accepted the treat and leaned into the girl's palm for some pets. What a polite human—asking before she touched. She must have been raised right. Polite youth always made Mirabelle beam with joy. |
Text Cut: Quinn Treat? Hmm. That did sound appealing. And it smelled very good. Basil was certainly tempted. He weighed his options for a moment before hesitantly making a move for it. He stayed far away, using his long tongue to quickly snatch the treat. After he swallowed, he rolled a bit closer to the human. Text Cut: Claudine Oh, now look at this lovely girl! She was a good one—the puffskein could just tell. Lilly hummed in delight at the compliment of her pink fur and watched with expectant eyes as she downed the drink. This puffskein didn't need much convincing. She liked this girl already. Which was why the Slytherin would quickly hear a high-pitched, dainty "Nice to meet ya too! I'm Lilly. What's your name? You have pretty hair too." She rolled in a circle before perching in the girl's palm. "Do you wanna know where I got my pink fur from?" Text Cut: Aboli Oh, no. Another one? Wasn't one enough? Basil contracted his fur at the girl's touch, reducing himself to half of his normal size. Thankfully, this one had gloves. That was a little better, at least. And she was talking quietly. He liked that. He re-puffed his fur at that realization, ever so slightly. |
@ nemesis upstead : no you stop Quote:
It was working? IT WAS WORKING?! "Food?" Atlas cocked his head down and looked at the lazy puffskein. "You hungry?" That second question was more of a rhetorical one seeing as the blonde had hopped out of his seat and was now carrying the puffskein over to the options. "Okay...I'm going to hold you over each of these so...let me know what you want." Starting from one side of the food to the other, Atlas hovered the puffskein over each option for approximately 5 seconds each and waited for a response. When he received one...he would pull the item to carry back over to his desk. |
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Ooh! Some fur had rubbed off. She prepared the potion. And then she ingested it. "I'm supposed to hear your feelings now apparently. I guess I'll find out what that means." |
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Back to the kneazle, and the professor. Bernie had decided to start putting the hairs in the vial with the potion from earlier, and then should she... shake it up? What? She kinda stole a glance at Nem, who would know this information, but felt too prideful in her kneazle at the moment to bother asking. Back to the professor, and the kneazle, again. "Ew," she muttered under her breath about the old man that ran the barns. Again, not interested! But potions research, yes! She needed the help! "Isn't there a potion that goes along with becoming an animagus?" she asked lightly, innocently, though it was doubtful she'd enjoy that much. |
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