| Doxy
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Blue (EST)
Posts: 6,261
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Ean Zoilo Feirgrund
Graduated
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jansher Leon Grunt
Slytherin Fourth Year
Ministry Department Head:
Firash Zarko Grunt
Games & Sports
Ministry Department Head:
Isaek Fyodore Edelbach
International Cooperation  x8  x7
|  • HuffleStud • Knight of The Zodiac • Manly Beard-Grower • Cicatrice de Harry •
SPOILER!!: Responses SPOILER!!: Befriending & petting their kin Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera  Oohhhhh!!!! HE KNEW THIS ONE!
.... or well, he could hazard a guess at least.
Beaming, Zeke raised his hand to respond. "Well, Professor, since they're horse guardians, showing them that you're nice and trustworthy by being nice to horses and looking after them would be a good step... wouldn't it?"
Feed the horsey, brush the horsey, love the horsey and BAM! Befriend a Porlock!
It totally made sense to him. Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana Right, so that was the predicted next question, which only made sense. Kate figured they were going to discuss how this works then get out there and find some Porlock. Speaking of which, how did this work anyway? Kate thought that over then raised her hand. "Well, since they're protective of horses, maybe we should show them how gentle we can be to horses. We could ride horseback or come out walking by one," she suggested. Her first thought was to offer the Porlock some food, but since she had no idea what they ate, she scratched that idea. Also, she doubted a creature that didn't trust her would accept food from her. Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy Listening to some of the answers that were given around her Hady was able to draw a mental picture of a Porlock in her mind. The really didn't sound very cute at all but maybe in it's own way it was. Not that that was really the point here right now.
Shifting from foot to foot as a chill from the cool air ran through her she tried to keep her focus on what was being said. It made sense didn't it? Porlocks were horse guardians right? So they cared about the animal, so gaining their trust probably had something to do with that.
"Maybe we can gain their trust by being gentle with the horses they care for and getting the horse to trust us?" The small snakette replied with a hand raised up in the air. Quote:
Originally Posted by Buggy-Boo Oh so they were studying Porlocks! Margo had heard of them of course, but had never actually seen one, who has really. "Porlocks are very shy, and mistrust humans." Margo stated what little she knew about the creatures.
Margo was trying to think about what she had done to gain the trust of other animals. "I would think you could gain their trust by feeding them, like with most animals. Like if you went back and fed it everyday." Margo said thinking the way to any animal, magical or other wise was through their stomach!
Margo giggled at the thought, most people's trust could earned that way to. Quote:
Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline Porlocks seemed to be the topic of today's lesson, the fifth year topping the top of his parchment with the creature's name for any notes that he might right. The details of porlocks was something he knew but his classmates were quicker, giving answers before Benny could come up with one of his own. Oh well, he could remain quiet for this round of questions and leave it to them.
At the next he was ready and raised his hand to "Certainly be nice to the horses its caring for. A mutual respect of the creatures would provide a connection for porlocks to feel more comfortable around you." Outright trying to connect with them might be bad, especially for the more cautious creatures. Quote:
Originally Posted by Hey Ju Agatha thought that there was already way too much chit chat going on. She wanted to start the practical bit now. That was, if no spells were involved; if there was any new incantation she needed to learn for the practical bit of this lesson, then she would rather they kept talking.
So many people were saying the way to gain the trust of a Porlock was to be nice to the horses. Well, obviously, but also "You could allow the Porlock look after your horses." Because there were probably people out there who were very protecive of their animals and Agatha wouldn't blame them. "If they know you're nice enough and you trust them to look after your horses, then they can trust you back." Honestly, Agatha would only ever let anyone touch her horse if she trusted them, so that obviously should work for Porlocks too. Obviously.
"I know I'd only let Porlocks look after my horses." The Slytherin added added matter-of-factly. No one else. No one.
Okay, maybe her uncle too. Quote:
Originally Posted by Yaya Porlocks. Interesting.
She had read about them, although had never seen them. Though now that she thought about it, could it be the cause of some horses' distrust or backing away from some people, that the Porlocks would warn them somehow? IT was definitely a question to ask to Professor Thompson.
She pondered a bit, raised her hand and cleared her throat a bit,"Well, considering they take care, guard horses, their trust should come through actions, and obviously caring and loving intentions for the horses in our part. These actions, should be like doing a constant cleaning of the stables, the correct feeding, the hair brushing, gestures like caressing and being around them. OH, and it would also help if we leave some fresh food for the Porlocks?" Because the stomach was quite a magnet for trust. Quote:
Originally Posted by slytherus Porlocks. Scott can't even guess what it is just by it's name, but hearing other students' answers, he figured out they guard horses and that they don't trust humans. Much like Snow when they first got him. How to gain the porlocks' trust? Scott hopes it is the same as gaining a puppy's trust. He raised his hand halfway and said "Just don't appear hostile... Uhmm... Try to pet them, if they let you..?" Quote:
Originally Posted by Squishy This class was interesting, and Lux was wanting to see Porlocks because they seemed nice enough even if they didn't generally trust humans. Clearly it was possible to gain their trust given the next question they were asked. Quite a few people mentioned food, but Lux wasn't sure about that despite how amazing food was.
Raising her hand, she said, "I think you can gain their trust by looking after your horses well and treating them nicely. Porlocks are horse guardians and clearly take their job seriously, so I feel that they are more inclined to trust someone who is nice to their horses and makes sure they are healthy, well fed, groomed, and living in a clean stable." Hopefully her guess was plausible, but it just seemed to make sense to her. My, my. The answers Javier received were equally unique and excellent, despite their similarities. Each received individual nods of acknowledgement from the Professor so they were unlikely to feel snuffed. " Indeed. Showing them compassion and kindness will work.. after you've been exposed to their presence." So essentially that wouldn't get their arrival first.
SPOILER!!: Offering food Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Adi made some notes as his classmates gave answers and Professor Thompson confirmed them. So many fascinating stuff on Porlocks! But then again allll creatures are fascination.
Anyway, this next question required some serious thinking from the fifth year. No worries, though. He thought of something soon enough and raised a hand. "By leaving food for them. Sometime or the other they would figure out who's leaving the food and they'll start to trust them.'' Well, if anyone left him Chocolate Froggies he'd start trusting them sooner or later. Suddenly, something occurred to him. He just said FOOD O__O
"Porlocks eat grass so when I said food, I really meant grass.'' A nice big pile of fresh, green grass. Gosh, maybe it was because he had been thinking about having a scone only a few moments ago that made him say that particular four letter word.. " Correct. They also happen to like sweet items too." It happened to explain the lack of ants and other sweet seeking insects in the barnyard. Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising What Tia really wanted to do was see these rare creatures already. Like would they get the opportunity to ride them? Did porlocks fly? She probably should have done advanced reading except with her other classes, she had momentarily forgotten about Magical Creatures. Oh well, she listened to her peers for a few moments and then she heard a question that she could probably guess about. Raising her hand after considering her answer, "Food. They say the way to a man's heart - or well, in this case creatures, is food. Don't poison them. Feed them what they like and you'll bring out their trust." Quote:
Originally Posted by Daydreamer11 Answers, so many answers. Interesting ones too. Janelle smiled when she heard the Slytherin boy's (Cutty)answer. Well now that was one way to go about it. It would either earn the animal's trust or get you a porlock beat down, Janelle wasnt sure which. She did admire his creativity though.
Janelle's answer was not nearly as good, but it was the only thing she could come up with. She raised her hand and waited for her turn. "You could have a treat for the porlock........something he really likes. Then you find a spot near him and sit very still.........and you wait. Hopefully the porlock will finally trust you and come to you." Quote:
Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin Kace heard the Porlocks were shy and didn't trust humans. Huh...well note to himself that he won't be approaching those creatures. But now how can they gain their trust. Hmm....well usually creatures love food right? But he heard a ravenclaw mention that answer. He wanted to think of something else. He thought about it and said...
"Professor maybe we can get them into their familiar surroundings. We can put a piece of food in their nests we can make in a stable?" I mean it sounded logical right? Just about everyone of his students were showing how bright they were. " Very good. Food is very important. And one of the tactics that we will be doing today." Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry174 Angel raised her hand. "Professor we could offer them cake or something like that." She had been fooled a few time by people offering her cake when she didn't want to do what they did. "It does work on people, Professor, so it might work on them." Since this one was more particular about a food item than in general. " Hmm.. perhaps not a whole cake. They do however enjoy sweets."
SPOILER!!: Other answers Quote:
Originally Posted by Sararara SO. The ickle horsies were mistrustful. Guess that meant no riding them for now. Poop. Norah sniffled again as she thought about the question that followed. Trust trust trust, how do you gain one's trust. Obviously food was the bestest answer, if y'asked her, but people already SAID that so she needed to think of something else. UM. The third year raised a hand in the air without really knowing she was going to say, and waited to be called on. "Um. Oh! I bet it'd help to be really quiet so they don't get scared. But don't be too quiet, or else it seems like you're hiding something. Just don't sneeze because loud sneezes are scary." Which was UNFORTUNATE, because Norah reeeeaalllyyy felt a sneeze coming on sometime soon. SNIFF. Wait! Her hand shot in the air one more time, because another idea over here, YEP. "And I think you should ask before petting them or brushing them because it's not very nice to touch someone before they say its okay, and it'll show that you're trustworthy 'n stuff. Plus hair brushing is just mean." DIDJA HEAR THAT, MOM? SHE DIDN'T WANT TO BRUSH HER HAIR. Ickle Porlocks shouldn't have to go through that either. " ..Yes. Frightening them is something we would want to avoid." He wasn't going to question that example, instead nodding about being polite. Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassirin It felt a little like the professor was ignoring her, and Dot scrunched up her nose as she listened to him explain about the creature. The porlock thing. The stuff she'd found in the book was exactly true, if not as creative and genius as what her classmates had said.
Maybe she was just dumb at this subject. Stubbornly, Dot raised her hand and tried again on the next question. "Professor, if the porlocks hide from humans, then maybe we should hide from them first so we don't scare them. We could disillusion ourselves, or muffle the sounds we make. I don't think that works long term, but maybe you could get them used to you over time by introducing yourself into their environment slowly." Nodding, " That would work in terms of witnessing them, yes. Earlier wizards when discovering them used to disllusion themselves to study them before attempting to interact with them." Quote:
Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black Once again, Ror had absolutely no clue what a Porlock was and by the sound of it, it sounded like those dogs that people mistake for mops sometimes. And they were very protective of horses??????? uhhh...okay...whatever floats their raggedy boat. This probably wasn't how they gained trust, but it's worth a try. Maybe. She raised a hand half-heartily, "You invite them to a sleepover and have deep conversations at three in the morning." The morning after is always weird, but a bond is definitely there. .... " It's worth a shot." Because why not, that's the one main question to everything. Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz Okay Ruby couldn't decipher in that blue-eyed stare if she was right or if what she'd said was useful or anything since the professor hadn't seemed to give any sort of indication that he'd even heard her. Oh well.
But honestly.... this trust thing made her wonder... hand up...
"Professor, why do we need to make them trust us? Like what is the purpose if they hide when they see us, it isn't like we NEED to make them trust us to go hang about with the horses they guard. And besides, how are they guarding the horses at all if they don't actually do anything to protect them, if they only hide from people?" Pause. "Unless they don't hide from something that would be a predator of a horse or something like that."
Just saying. Why? She was interested to know. Questions were always welcome to the Professor as he calmly responded, " Why? Because it's polite to thank them for their work and in the off chance we happen to see one we do not automatically attack before fully understanding them." As to how they protect both magical and muggle horses. " Typically horses are more receptive to human contact to where Porlocks do not feel it necessary to stick around when horses can inflict enough damage to a human if they feel threatened enough. Porlocks do more than physical protection by also keeping them calm when they are feeling stressed out." Quote:
Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah
Of all the answers given, Cutty found Agatha's to be the most interesting. Putting himself in the place of another wasn't something he did routinely. Or ever. So the fact that Agatha not only thought to do this, but actually COULD he found interesting. Could she do that with other things? Human beings for example?
It sort of creeped him out.
So he concentrated on her hair and forming his answer. Raising his hand and going with the pre-established motiff of Slytherins using stealth, he gave this unconventional idea, "Yer get 'im to come to yew by makin' him angry. Do something that yer know he doesn't like. Strategically replace the grass with succulents and flirt with his gehl or his moom if yer can by leaving them gifts and not him. Yew'll do his head in! And then he'll come lookin' fer yer." He also considered setting traps and 'rescuing' the poor scared little porlocks. Mostly, because he was a horrible human being.
" Thankfully making them angry is not necessary." The trapping them, however. " Otherwise that would work." It was considered crude, but effective. Quote:
Originally Posted by Felixir Toby wondered vaguely how many times there had been a Porlock nearby when he'd visited the stables or barnyard in the past. As he was pondering on this, Toby caught snippets of Cutty's answer to the next question, and he looked up and over at the Slytherin boy, halfway between alarmed and the nature of the answer and amused by the delivery of it. But he said nothing, and just ended up casually staring instead as he mulled over an answer of his own to give.
Tricky question, this was, because Toby had never been in a situation where he didn't trust someone else. With him, his trust was earned instantly with no work, and he'd never seen fit to stop trusting anything. Probably wasn't wise. In any case, that made it hard to answer this question from experience, but luckily Toby was good with animals, and he had a weird level of empathy at times. He thought for a while, before finally looking back towards Professor Thompson and raising his hand.
"The best way would be to leave them alone," he said simply. The sixth year paused for a moment, as if he was going to leave it at that, but decided it might be best to elaborate. "When you're trying to build trust with someone or something that doesn't trust others, and prefers to hide away, the best way you can show them that you're safe and trustworthy is to leave them alone. You're accommodating them, and they'll notice, especially if you're nearby but not prodding them into interacting with you. And eventually they might trust you enough to come closer, but sometimes they won't, and for them to still see you as trustworthy, it's best to respect that."
Another pause.
"... But I don't think that's the answer you want, because that probably won't help us see them today. It's a way more gradual method."
When he was done talking, Toby went back to subconsciously chewing at the edge of his school scarf. Patiently waiting in between the pauses, since some needed that time to get their words together." That is a gradual method, yes. Unfortunately that would require some luck involved too." A pity it was, chance wise. Quote:
Originally Posted by ArianaBlack Hearing Kevin, Zander nodded "Yeah". Though he didn't quite understand... Some humans were mistrustful, so maybe that's what he meant? Though... It probably had to do with the fact that Kevin wasn't willing to trust just anyone, to which Zander didn't quite feel the exact same way. This Gryffindor did things the other way around. Easily trusted, but his trust was also easily lost.
As for the next question though...Well huh. He was stumped. Which in his defense may happen a lot, but generally not in Care of Magical creatures, okay? So the Gryffindor listened in to a couple of answers given by others, making sure to nod along the way... Before he finally could come up with something of his own. "Well, I reckon Hippogriffs are kind of the same way with all that trust and permission stuff.... So maybe.... Maybe we have to bow to the Porlocks and uh- approach slowly and with caution?" He was trying to make connections here. At least give him that much? Nodding, " They would appreciate that, though the bowing isn't necessary." Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezerz Trust. Well, that wasn't the easiest. Beverly was familiar with that considering she didn't trust easily or at all in some occasions. But when it came to her horse, she only trust Kennedy and her personal elf. No way outsiders would land a hand on her most precious possession.
"Patience," Beverly said, raising her hand. "If you want to gain trust then it requires a lot of it. You have to keep in mind that you are working by their standards and not yours." Can't push someone to trust you right away; takes time. "And to gain said trust you'll probably have to do research and find out what pleases them and what doesn't because, like humans, they are not all the same. Some could be more pleasant than others."
So basically, don't just kiss butt, actually work for the trust. " Correct." Precisely worded. Quote:
Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104 Marigold thought for a second about suggesting that charm that was on the OWL - the trust one - but was already embarrassed enough about it. Instead, she raised her hand and said, "The same way you gain trust from a dog, right? You can let it sniff around you while you don't move suddenly, or offer it food or something like that." " Both methods will work, yes." Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixStar AJ didn't even bother with the first question because she had never heard of a porlocks before. It sounded like the professor was saying pot luck and that just made her hungry. Her mind went off thinking about tacos and all of the toppings you could put on them when she realized that questions were being asked. Snap out of it.
The next question was up, and AJ was going to show that she could participate and stuff. She raised her hand. "Eye contact, professor." She had a point, she did. "If you keep looking away or having a hard time keeping eye contact it can be viewed as you not being trustworthy." Apparently that was a thing, and you could tell when someone was lying by that technique and that was a pretty untrustworthy trait. " Very true, as with anyone."
" Alright. We will be using food to lure out the Porlocks, who happen to be with the Winged Horses out by the Playpen walkway." Which food? Grass? " Since it's quite nice out to them, they'll have plenty access to grass, so we'll be feeding them certain fruits.. with a little change in the taste." If that tomato the Professor had eaten earlier gave any hint on what they would be doing. " We're going to make it taste sweet. As sweet as a regular sugar cube." Now why exactly? " The Porlock's nature is to allow the Winged horses first access to the snacks, unless it's sweet. Knowing full well that too much sweets can do more harm than good they're more than willing to help out with the diet."
With a simple wand motion the huge basket right by Professor Thompson appeared. Filled with a large number of tomatos, apples, and lemons. " Now taking a fruit from the basket we're going to perform a spell that will make it the desirable taste. Extra Sweet." And? " Not only will it taste sweet, but if done proper the fruit should sparkle and shiny enough to garner attention in the light to attract the Porlocks."
" So we don't accidentally offer a bunch of salty and bitter treats, we will be practicing and tasting them until it is sweet enough." Hopefully these kids didn't eat alot right before the lesson just in case. " The incantation is "Magimus. Maa-Gee-Mus.." This time the Professor took out a lemon. " Drawing a circle around its circumference," Holding it in his palm so it just sat there, he drew an invisible circle around it with his wand before saying, " Magimus." Continuing the circle sparks started forming in the circle before he lowered his wand. Not bothering to peel the skin off, he gave it a little bite for a taste.. smiling a little from the extra sweet taste. " Now it is no longer sour.. Now you all can try."
--- OOC: We will be giving them extra sweet fruits. Using the spell, Magimus you will first practice and taste the sample fruit of your choice; tomato, apple, lemon. In no less than three labeled posts the following must be done;
- Picking the desired fruit.
- Practice the incantation "Magimus" and the wand movement (draw an invisible circle around) alone and then on the fruit.
- Tasting the sample, retrying if the attempt fails/tastes bad.
You will have until February 2nd 11:59 pm EST to complete this part before we continue. Feel free to poke, pm, vm for any questions you have and I'll get to them.
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