| Forbidden Forest Centaur Dugbog
Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Forbidden Forest
Posts: 144
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera  There were more words coming from the Centaurs mouth that he didn't understand. Seriously... did the school not think to hire an interpreter for this thing? WHAT was the seminar even about?
The only part he WASN'T confused about, were the sticks. Sticks were sticks, that much was fine... and then questions of wand woods?
Why?
Centaurs didn't use wands. Did they? Did they MAKE wands? ... wait.... better question, were there centaur hair wand cores????
If he was going to be able to participate in ANY other discussion point this lesson, it might be this. Wand woods. Hand raised, Zeke rattled off the only thing he knew. "There are lots of therm, Sir." Lots of wand woods, "And they have different properties and things. Some are stronger, some are more flexible, harder to control, friendlier..." wait, did he just call a wand wood friendly?
...
He was officially lost. " Friendlier," the centaur nodded, agreeing with all the boy had said but electing only to focus on that word for now. Quote:
Originally Posted by Sararara A nod! She got a nod! That was WAY better than a scolding. Norah gave Thereos a teeny weeny smile before switching to a face of concentration as he continued. He was saying a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make loads of sense, but she was still listening. He was a real live centaur, after all. He was probably juts 800 times smarter than she was. That happened with Sebby too, sometimes. It was hard to comprehend what came out of his little genius mouth. She saw him smile, though, and he got a big grin right back. It looked nice on him. He really should try smiling more often.
She wasn't entirely sure about why wand woods were even relevant, but she put a hand up anyways, because there was at least something she could contribute. Well, it wasn't very relevant, but y'know. It was true and about wand wood so technically there shouldn't have been anything wrong with it. "Bowtruckles like to live in trees whose wood is used for wands! I guess...that might mean the trees are special and magical or something." They were definitely more magical than the trees in her back garden, anyways. She and Sebby and Marcel had tried to make wands back there before they were big enough for wands of their own, but they'd never worked. " Which is why it is important to seek confirmation and assurance from bowtruckles before taking from their homes. A wood taken without permission will be crafted only to betray its wielder." Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy Confused. That's what was she was now. Even more so then just seconds ago. It was like Thereos was speaking in riddles to her right now. Or at least that's how she was feeling. A few things stuck out to her and others went completely over the fourth years head. All she was able to do then was try to connect what she could understand to together and hope that in the end it all somehow made sense to her.
Hazel eyes shifted off to the side finding the pile or wood or sticks or whatever that were now being spoken of. Hady had to blink confused with how this all fit together. What did she know of wand woods. Only what she read in texts or was told. So therefore not very very much. However her hand once more went up, "I know that each wand wood is different therefore depending on the type of wand wood used would depend on the type of wand." Okay no. That made next to NO sense what-so-ever. Just ignore her please. It seemed she could read and understand information just fine but when she had to explain it out loud it next to never came out right. The centaur nodded.
" The same is true for our bows." Quote:
Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy So Bentley may or may not have been paying full attention. The thing was, he had never really seen a centaur in person before. This was all so bloody cool! Would the centaur let him take pictures of him so he could send them to his father???
He'd ask him after class.....but look how his man body turned into a horse right by the navel.
HOW DID HE DO THAT?!! So cool.....
The centaur man was talking again and this time Bentley caught some of what he was saying.
"I know! Me! Me!" Bentley shot his hand in the air. "Bowtruckles, which are really cool..I've taken a picture of one...usually live in wand wood trees." This human's enthusiasm was of the sun in Leo. Overbearing.
Thereos merely nodded at the boy before speaking. " I hope you paid your respects and offered gratitude to the bowtruckles after." Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomRaven First: This centaur looked so grumpy. Or maybe all of Centaurs were grumpy to human? Dunno.
Second: What on earth "Venus passes through Aquarius." meant?
Third: She didn't know anything about centauromachy. So she'd better not to say anything since... like she'd said before, centaurs didn't seem like a friendly creatures. Maybe because they thought that they were smarter than humans. Pfffft.
And what did she know about wand woods? The younger lioness raised her hand and answered. "I think different wood represents different magical strengths.. like in transfiguration, dark arts and stuffs." Was she make sense? Thereos nodded and moved on. Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
He didn't know what Serpens had to do with him but considering the centaur didn't look nearly as miffed as he did when answering the Hufflepuff Prefect, Blaise was willing to think it was a compliment. Naturally, after receiving a compliment from such a wise creature, one did not immediately say anything to have him take it back. That being the case, he offered no answer to the machy business they were on about. Why? Because he'd never heard about it before in his entire life and didn't want Serpens to suddenly NOT be resonating with him, y'know?
It was a thin line, so Blaise sat, listening intently to others give their answers, some getting shot down with silence itself. He'd be keeping Serpens, thanks.
Some of the guesses were pretty neat though and if the centaur was gonna teach them how to fight then he was aaaall for it.
Huh. So THAT was what all that machy business was about. See? He knew it would be something interesting and they were even talking about bows and arrows. Were they gonna get to shoot those? His aim wasn't the best but he didn't think he'd be the worst either by principle of the fact it didn't require casting a spell first.
Count him in.
This time, the boy did raise his hand, feeling perfectly knowledgeable about wand woods.
"Girl ones don't work nearly as well and don't like doing what you tell them. Super moody, mhm and they think they're in charge every time you try casting. I'd highly recommend getting a boy wand wood--not that YOU need one of course. Your kind is brilliant without them." Or was it the same thing with arrows. Were there GIRL arrows too? Did they shoot as well?
Questions, he now had them.
" WE have no necessity for wands," Thereos corrected firmly. " But those too arrogant to listen to vibrations of their earthly match shall never prosper." Quote:
Originally Posted by littledhampir Oliver was staring blankly at the centaur professor. Was he supposed to have understood any of those words? Because he didn't. Swift as a coursing river, that was what the centaur had said to him and it was about the only thing that made sense. Did centaurs watch Mulan?
Centaurmachowhatever meant fighting? They had to FIGHT a centaur? Olly did not think that would be a good idea. He did not want to have to fight a centaur. Plus, this one was so tall that he would probably only be able to land a punch on the horse part. Which probably wouldn't do much damage. Plus, he had big horse hooves that could kick and that would really hurt.
Oh, no fighting? Talking about wood? This centaur jumped subjects too often for Olly to keep up. But he was much more comfortable with the topic of wand woods than with fighting. So he raised his hand. "My wand is made from walnut wood." Was that helpful? " Walnut. You shall find some of that wood over there," the centaur nodded. " Although it may not resonate with you in the same way again." Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom
Why did Caleb continuously feel like dude was talking in riddles? Caleb was all for centaurs having freedom to do whatever they wanted in the forest and all, but they were NOT fit to be teachers. Nope.
He raised his hand. "Only certain types of trees can be used to make wands. The wood has to be just right or it won't work," he explained. He knew there was more to it, and some runic stuff was involved too sometimes (like with the work of his Uncle Alex) but that was pretty much the gist of it.
Thereos nodded and lifted his tail slightly. Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry174 Angel looked at the Professor as he spoke, well a centaur was a creature and he was an he so that was right, right? this was so confusing but it was a fun lesson and she was seeing a cool Centaur here. "Professor, I know that you have to be careful with the wood right, you don't want to damage it." " Damaging the wood indicates that one is not listening to its vibrations and communicating clearly," the centaur nodded. Quote:
Originally Posted by Tazzie Professor Centaur talked about Centauromachy but Owen simply did not understand all that was said so he made a mental note to read up on that when and if he had the time. Can't let reading interfere with his daily eating routine, eh?
...So. Smiling. The Professor centaur smiled at them. Owen didn't really know what to think of that. But it made him comfortable enough to share his answer to the question asked. What did he know about wand woods? Hmm... He had read up on some books about wands when he first got his because curiosity. Now what did he remember? ...Oh! That one. "Because they never nestle on mundane trees, um, bowtruckles help wandmakers in identifying the few kinds of trees that can be made into wand woods."
Wait, why were they talking about wand woods? Shouldn't they be talking about centaurs? And MORE about centaurs? " Help," the centaur nodded. " Gemini smiles down upon you." Quote:
Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl What did wand wood really have to do with centaurs and the study of magical creatures, though, unless they were talking about bowtruckles? And why would they study bowtruckles when they had a perfectly good real and live centaur here in front of them? Davie peered closely at the centaur-professor before he raised his hand to contribute.
"You have to be careful not to try to make a wand out of mundane wood, I think... so, as the others said, you should look for bowtruckles nesting in the tree. That's a sign it's a good tree to make a wand from." The centaur nodded. Quote:
Originally Posted by feeheeheeny When the centaur arrived, Soph had looked a bit skeptical. Like, yeah, WE SEE YOU THERE, CENTAUR. She kept her wand firmly in her hand, but eventually as the centaur posed no threat to them and simply began class, Soph lowered herself onto the stone next to Zander, still alert as ever.
She was fully prepared for anything else that might come out of that forest.
What did she know of centaurs, though? Quite a bit, but the others had it covered - at any rate, she was way more interested in listening to the centaur's replies to everything her peers had to say. He had a funny way of talking, didn't he? She knew centaurs did, but it was the first time she'd ever really gotten to experience this up close and personal. His stuff about Mars and Neptune and Pluto and Aquarius and all the astronomical things piqued her interest greatly, but she remained silent, simply observing and soaking in all that was this centaur standing before them. He was very noble, very wise, but also kind of... strange. Very strange, and slightly unnerving.
As the subject moved along to centauromachy, Soph only knew the basics, that it referred to a centaur fighting, but she didn't know much more than that, so she stayed silent once more. Best to keep the centaur's gaze off hers as much as possible, probably, as she still looked VERY alert and ready to move if something happened. As Thereos explained centauromachy, Soph took it all in, and was surprised when the centaur SMILED. What in Merlin's name...
But the moment he mentioned a wand, Soph straightened up a little, her curiosity rising further, and as soon as the next question was posed regarding WHAT THEY KNEW ABOUT WAND WOODS, Soph was smiling, too, smugly as ever, and her hand raised triumphantly. "There's forty-one wand woods traditionally used by most Wandmakers - or, well, at least Ollivander's in Diagon Alley, but there's about twenty other woods that are suitable for making wands that I know of, too, so that's SIXTY different woods that are good for that." That was a lot. "And they all have different properties, different attributes that they bring to an individual wand, like some woods are 'specially good for healing spells or potions or divination and whatnot, and wand woods tend to have, like, an affinity toward different elements and produce different energies and respond to different energies from the wand bearer and all the woods have various hardness, too, like some woods are softer than others and some are stiffer and all of that stuff's gonna affect how a wand will act upon casting. It's super cool."
Clasping her hands in her lap, Soph smiiiiiled at Thereos, and for the first time she noticed that Culloden was there, too. Ahem. He wasn't gonna get jealous of her wandlore love over his potions, was he? Thereos may have smiled at this human, but it was fleeting.
" Capella shine brightly with you," he bowed towards the human girl.
" Much like wand woods resonate and respond to the energies of witches and wizards, they too do so for my kind," Thereos continued with his attention now towards the rest of the class. " We centaurs have their own use for these noble woods - crafting their own bows before coming of age as a right of passage just as you all ceremoniously receive your first wands. A rite of passage my kind have decided to allow you to participate in today."
Thereos gently trotted over towards the pile of sticks and lifted from it a great bow adorned with natural dyes and intricate engravings. " This is Wind Whisperer, the bow I crafted myself when it was time made from thick vine only found in the Forbidden Forest and representing seeking a greater purpose, vision beyond the ordinary, and hidden depths. Young centaurs are sent into the Forest alone to listen to the forces of nature until they find the tree that speaks to them and from it cut the wood necessary to craft their own bows. For some, this may take mere hours. For others, days."
His dark eyes drifted towards the Forest and then back to the humans.
" Seeing as that part of the ritual is sacred and your understanding of the Forest limited, I have already sought the acceptance of the bowtruckles and collected woods for you. The tools used to craft a centaur's bow are also sacred and I may not share even the names with you. We have agreed that you are permitted to use your wands in shaping your wood. I trust you all know the proper spells for cutting and shaping. If not, your Professors are here to assist you."
He gave a cursory look towards the adult humans.
" Besides finding a wood that speaks to you, you must also name your bow and in its wood engrave the name. Should you break your bow at any time during the crafting process, it merely means that that was not the wood for you and you must start over. Remember, you must listen carefully to the wood and let its energies resonate with your energies. You may begin. Instructions are engraved on the stone beside the pile." Quote:
Originally Posted by stone engraving Creating a bow and naming it- Select a wood from the pile and shape it. Each piece of wood is approximately 6 feet in length.
- Every piece of wood will have a natural curve, no matter how slight so listen to the wood. Place your one end wood to the ground with one hand holding it in place at the top. With your other hand, press lightly against its middle. It will swivel so that its natural belly faces you.
- In the middle of your wood, use your wand cut two lines approximately 3 inches apart to indicate where the handle will be.
- Using your wand, shave wood off either end of your wood until both the upper and lower limbs curve similarly to each other. You want the bow to be strongest (thickest) at the handhold.
- Use one of the provided strands of caterpillar silk (in the woven basket behind the pile of wood) and tie it to both ends of your bow. Make sure it is taut.
- Select a name and carve it into the handle of your bow.
OOC:
for cutting/shapping the bow - Diffindo
for engraving the name into the bow - Intaglio
1-2 posts required
approximately 12 hours to complete; catch up okay if lesson has moved on " Once you have successfully crafted your bow, we will move on to the main activity where you will participate the ritual of the ceremonial first use of a centaur's bow."
__________________ MARS IS BRIGHT TONIGHT.................................................. ............................  His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew... .................................................. ......
but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even centaurs' knowledge, was foolproof |