| Granian
Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bikini Bottom
Posts: 21,185
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Roman Gellar
Slytherin First Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Arden Toros
Gryffindor Sixth Year  x4  x1
|  A Poop * k8 *
The lesson was slowly morphing into a disaster, BUT PAUL WOULD KEEP IT GOING IF IT KILLED IT. He had put so much planning into it and ordering the dead mandrakes and….it had to go on.
Not that he didn’t feel bad for Derf.
Sigh. SPOILER!!: Jessa Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo 
Carefully she followed his instructions, cutting up the neck and making the triangular shapes. The flaps she pulled away to get a better look before her curiosity and the Professor's prompting took her to the plant's mouth. "Do they produce their own air? Using the lungs as the production centre?" It would make sense if they did since they apparently didn't breathe it in. Had to come from somewhere, right?
Back to poking she went, this time sticking her hand down it's mouth and watching it appear through the incision she made. Curious.
“The fact that you mentioned the word ‘production’ is very important, m’dear…” he winked. “Stay tuned….we’ll be revisiting that. Not completely wrong.” Jessa should put this much effort into ALL Herbology lessons. She’d be brilliant in no time! SPOILER!!: Tenacius Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelsheen
Oh there was a question. How do Mandrakes make sounds? The leonine lad mulled over the question, which nearly had him stumped-- because he did think that Mandrakes makes sounds like humans do. And then a thought. Up goes the hand “Professor…. Mandrakes dont inhale oxygen… they inhale carbon dioxide? And thats what they use to produce sound?”
OOOOHH SO CLOSE! “You’RE RIGHT THEY DO INHALE CARBON DIOXIDE! BUT BUT BUT---” he would wait to see if anyone else piggybacked off this idea? And finished it? Because they certainly didn’t breaaaathe really. SPOILER!!: Kane Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom Alright, now time to poke around the root! He took his scalpel and poked around - ewww, it was squishy, like a sponge! This was soooo cool man. He eventually just pushed everything out of the way with his scalpel until he found the lungs. They looked sort of like human lungs...but made of plant matter, of course. WEIRDDD! This was so cool!
He looked up at Myers' and his example and continued his incision. Two more flaps, this time, triangle shaped...he was getting better at anticipating how much pressure he needed to cut through the skin now. He made his margins a bit bigger than needed, since he learned that the skin was kind of tough on this guy. Then, once he had access to the throat, he went back to the lungs and followed the thorax up, which would lead him RIGHT to the larynx. Which it did! Cooooool! He moved things around, looking at the voice box, the epiglottis, and all the fun stuff up there.
He raised his hand to answer Myers' question about their screams, which he didn't really know the answer to but he wanted to guess anyways. "Well, I'm guessing there's some sort of...magic involved? I mean, their screams ARE magical. They make you pass out or even die, depending on how mature the mandrake is. So I'm guessing they are just magically able to produce the noise without the same biological makeup as humans?" he guessed. It was his best answer, really.
Paul chuckled at Kane. “Magic is...amazing, for sure. And magic plays a big role in the mandrake’s makeup...and how they work, in general.” Again, not entirely wrong. SPOILER!!: Isa Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Setting down her scalpel, Isa poked the mouth open on her mandrake. They had tongues and noses? Wow. It looked a lot like a human respiratory system. Mandrakes didn’t breathe? Then what were the lungs for? How did they get air in their lungs? ”Does something happen with the lungs when the mandrakes are out of a pot and exposed to air? Because they scream when they’re taken out of a pot? Maybe air flows into the nose or something?” Something to do with the mandrakes being out of a pot, maybe? The idea of mandrakes having lungs but not breathing was confusing. She needed to think more about this. The gears were turning in Isa’s head. ”Why do the structures in a mandrake resemble the human respiratory system? Just to produce sound?” Obviously it wasn’t the same and was made of plant material, but there were similarities. Maybe the structure had something to do with how it worked. Were there other ways of living things producing sound that didn’t involve lungs?
Oh no. Derf was upset. Friend having a meltdown alert. Isa didn’t want to overwhelm Derf with too many people around him and she knew he couldn’t hear anything with those earmuffs, so instead Isa wrote a note on a spare piece of parchment and brought it over to Derf. Isa hugged Derf and handed him the note. Maybe it would help him calm down. Hopefully he would actually read it, because she couldn't effectively communicate with him by talking to him while he still had those earmuffs on.
“Well to answer you question, it exists solely for the sound. They don’t need any of this for eating or anything.” And to her...guess. “Well they only produce sound when not in soil, correct? So...well, that does affect the sound, yes.” Might be more clear once he got into it. SPOILER!!: Etta Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady of Light Etta studied the diagram for a moment before carefully following instructions. Casting a diffindo, she created an incision down the centre of the neck of the mandrake, making sure the line was straight. Hm.. neat enough or so she thought. She moved on to make triangular flaps on either side of the incision she'd made earlier, basically wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. She peeked into its mouth as per instructions, trying to get a good look. She could see the tongue and leaning forward even more, she could see clearly see down the mandrake's throat as well. She sat back on her seat, considering the professor's interesting question. Um. If they don't breathe, how do they make such loud noises? Um. "Since they are magical plants and completely different from humans.. they probably have a body mechanism that lets it manufacture its own supply of air." Maybe. It was just a guess, after all. But she couldn't give it any more thought because DERF.
Producing air! Much like Jessa had said, but slightly different. “On the right track, yes, slightly!” Smart students. Paul was glad he had such a smart crew of kiddos.
Even crying Derf, honestly.
Which, he was figuring out how to handle it, Miss Kramer. SPOILER!!: Vivian Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimothy
Vivian gave Derf a tiny smile before looking back at Professor Paul to continue with the next incision. They were moving on to the NECK part, which sort of creeped the fourth year out. She sent a couple more severing charms to create the triangle flaps at the neck part of her dead mandrake as seen on the new diagram on the board. Once she had those triangle flaps made, she folded them back to reveal the larynx. The Slytherin poked it a few times. So thiiiiis was where all the shrieking originated from. Hmm. "Magic can do anything, Professor." She wasn't going to deny that, but it also seemed the best answer to the reason why mandrakes don't need nostrils to breathe. And as instructed too, Vivian opened the mandrake's mouth for examination. Look at that tiny tongue!
These things bite, right?
….well. “You’re...well, yes.” Ha! Paul laughed. Magic was amaaaaazing again, yes? SPOILER!!: Skylar Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising
RIGHT?
Also, what had Myers asked? About how the lungs help make their voice if they don't breathe? "Plants have a different way of breathing... isn't it like photosynthesis or something?" Okay, so that was probably completely wrong, but meh, she already had one wrong answer today, so may as well make it two.
“Photosynthesis is IMPORTANT in this process, yes.” He clapped a little. GOOD JOB SKYLAR. SPOILER!!: Oliver Quote:
Originally Posted by littledhampir Olly was busy poking the lungs when he heard Professor Myers speaking again. It was time to do more cutting and peeling. He listened carefully and watched the diagram so he was sure he knew what he was supposed to do. Everything made perfect sense to him.
The first cut was a small line straight up under the mandrake's neck. That was the easy part, but the next steps weren't too difficult. From the middle of the cut he had just made he made another cut going diagonally up to the right, and then another down. That made a triangular flap that he peeled back. Olly repeated the action but going to the left of the first line until he had two triangle flaps peeled back. That was right, right? Yes, it looked good. He set the scalpel down and used his fingers to open the mouth a bit and look in. That was the voice box. What the mandrake used to make its scream. He was glad they were working with dead ones because those were a lot less dangerous.
"They can still take the air in and push it back out, can't they?" That's what Olly was getting based on what Professor Myers was saying. "Even if they don't need it to live they still use it for other purposes. Like screaming." Except he said it sort of tentatively because it was very possible that he was completely wrong and actually didn't know what he was talking about. “Well, not EXACTLY...but you’re in the right way of thinking. Like…” and now was the time EVERYONE NEEDED TO PAY ATTENTION. “They use photosynthesis. They take in the CARBON DIOXIDE we produce...and create OXYGEN, right? They do the plant thing, but they release it in the plant way while in the soil, still. Once we pull them from their pots, they SHRIEEEEEEK out air. Oxygen.” Simple. Kind of. “So MANY of you had your thoughts in the right direction and I am VERY PROUD of that. “ Good job, kiddos. “And of course, magic plays a HUUUUUGE role in this,” he sent winks at both Kane and Vivian. Because lulz. “I know Derf is having a meltdown---which is perfectly fine, everyone--” He said, mostly to Jessa, ahem, “BUuuuUUut we’re going to continue---” The yelling. THE YELLING. WAS REALLY DISTRACTING AND PAUL was torn between just ending the lesson and continuing and he was doubting himself profoundly. “Now, let us explore another part of the mandrakes. Your next incision will be in the head. As the diagram shows,” And Paul placed the next picture on the blackboard. “It’s in the middle, there is a ridge, thankfully, you are able to cut along.” THEY COULD SEE IT, RIGHT? “Now, cut square chunks out of each side--” Paul gestured at the lines--- “about half an inch thick. And if you dig, or keep going, you’ll see….Mandrakes do not have a brain.” Which..they were now encouraged to do, obviously. “In fact, the only thing we have in common anatomy wise are our lungs, larynx, mouth, nose….they cannot make speech like we do. They just...y’know, scream.” And kill people. NBD.
Paul let that sink in...let them make their incisions, cut the squares out….find the lack of brains. All that...fun stuff. “Mandrakes are known for having personalities. But what makes...a being...sentient? Do you think mandrakes are sentient? Why or why not? THEY DONT HAVE BRAINS!!! So… GIVE ME DISCUSSION. LET’S GO!” More questions. Paul had his own ideas about mandrakes and their supposed sentience. “This is the last incision we’ll be doing! So you all got through this mostly okay!” Looking at you, Derf.
Which, speaking of, Paul had to...skip making his own incisions in the mandrake up front and….go next to Derf. Again. “Derf….are we okay? Do you need to leave?” OOC: O___O LMAO. CHAOS HAS ENSUED. HAPPY POSTING. WE'RE DOING OUR BEST. PAUL IS CONFUSED. MUWA! *KISS*
__________________ "You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough."
Roman Gellar ● 1st Year ● Slytherin |