Claudine couldn’t help but glance at everyone’s feet as they came in. Some had well taken care of toes and pretty polish on, some had unattractive feet. She tried not to judge the latter but it wasn’t easy. She watched Heath approach her and Fiona. “Hi, you.” His feet were feet she was familiar with. No judging happened there.

Soon enough Peralta was starting things. What did humans and creatures do with their feet? The answers were limited, weren’t they? Many of her classmates seemed to have zoned in on humans but Claudine was thinking along the line of creatures. Of course. Up went her hand. “Some creatures use their feet, or talons as they’re called in some cases, to capture their prey.”

A slight tint hit her cheeks at realizing she hadn't greeted their professor. Oops. Totally forgot to do that when the thought of everyones feet being on display occurred. "sorry Professor. How are you?" She hoped that Peralta knew she wasn't being rude on purpose.

Taking note of the other students answers she thought about her own. She smiled, "Ducks use their feet to swim basically." She loved watching ducks swim across water, it was so peaceful and perfect and man she really missed the small bit of nature she enjoyed. Where was Cooper at these days? She needed to go for another visit to the barns to see if he was there or not.

Neva trained her wand on the board, ready to record the students' answers as they shared them. She'd expected the the ones relating to movement, though there were a few others that surprised her. That always seemed to be the case, though.

SPOILER!!: Individual Replies

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

"Hiii!" Ash KNEW that Kayne would cheer her up! Well, as much as possible. So like, today was tolerable now??? It was hard to explain. Oooh! Nail art. "Those are so pretty. You're so good at doing nails, vice president..."

Hmph. How come Peralta was crashing their party??? WHYYYY. Bruh. She gave the professor her near-perfect grumpy face. She looked like a very angry Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. But like, a 13-year old girl. It was perfect.

She looked at her feet to avoid looking at the professor. You know what sucked? Her feet had a lot of scars on them from surfing accidents and the like. Now people would judge her and think she was stupid and reckless. At least her nails looked good.

Clearly, this class was going great.

"You can use your feet to kick stuff. But you need to be careful. You generally shouldn't kick with your toes tho because you'd hurt your toes. The other methods of kicking things are better." She looked at Peralta innocently. "Breaking your feet is painful, so you need to take good care of them." She wiggled her toes.

Ashley Fox talking about being injured and kicking things??? Being passive-aggressive??? No way! What??? Crazy... impossible... yeah. Totally. Never happened. The professor must be dreaming.

The grumpy face did little to Peralta, who was immune to this sort of acting out by now. She could make them all she wanted, but Peralta would remain firmly fixed on doing her job, which was to teach. Sorry, kid.

"Kicking things." Huh. Okay. Well, it wasn't a wrong answer. "Whether for sport, for protection, or for throwing a tantrum, feet can certainly be used to do that." With the whole grump face thing, something told her tantrums weren't off the menu for Miss Fox.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

The premise of all this was bizarre for a structured, classroom kind of class - shoes off was more like a yoga, pilates vibe, fit for a gym class. It didn't really seem like that kind of thing was appropriate for a charms lesson, but Teddy wouldn't put it past Peralta to have something fun on the agenda.

He had sat beside his sister, Kizzy, before class began, and chuckled at her question. With Peralta's reply, Teddy gave Kiz an encouraging nudge as if to say, Hey, it was a fair question. Seemed like they could never escape the bread, and this Ravenclaw would wager a galleon or two on a bet that bread would somehow, some way, make its way into this classroom today.

Looking down at his own bare feet at the professor's proposed question, there were a few obvious answers regarding basic forms of movement at the tip of his tongue, but he elected to leave those to the younger students. "For balance," he offered with a raised hand. "To keep ourselves upright and not topple over. Helps keep us grounded." Without feet, they'd have to balance on what would be peg-like appendages, which was probably a lot harder, he figured.

"Balance is an excellent example, yes." She smiled, flicking her wand to make the word appear on the board behind her. "More specifically, the toes on your feet help to keep you balanced as you move throughout your day."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles

Mamie wiggled her bare toes beneath her desk and raised her hand. "Dancing!" she said excitedly. Sure, walking, running, kicking things were all more obvious answers, but hers was more fun.

She looked over at Ashley, to see what she thought. Did she like her answer? Mamie wasn't a fan of Ash's answer, so she knew it wasn't important that her friend liked it, but still. It would be good to know.

"Need your dancing feet for dancing, yes. Good." Neva was a big fan of dancing, so she smiled at this answer. Despite the whole music thing, they wouldn't be doing much of it today. Maybe another time, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Fiona smiled at her closest friend and greeted her with a "Hey there, Claudine."
Fiona gave Heath a warm smile. "Hello, Heath."
Fiona thought for a very brief moment before raising her hand. "I know that some creatures such as the sloth use their feet in order to grip onto tree branches."

The creatures direction was where she'd hoped some students might go with their answers, particularly after their last lesson. She was pleased to see Miss Jenovick was on this track of thinking. "Very good. Feet can come in all different shapes and sizes and for creatures, the make of the feet help them to climb or jump or grip more easily."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

When the door to the classroom closed, signaling the start of the lesson, Lia wiggled herself back into the chair sitting up even straighter. Her legs were still swinging back and forth beneath her desk in time with the music playing but she was very much paying full attention to Professor Peralta.

Dahlia raised her hand. "Feet can be used to hold things. They can be used just like out hands with enough practice." When she had finished speaking she leaned down to take out a sheet of parchment, quill and some ink so she could quickly write down her notes. All of this could be important and it might come up on a test or something. Always best to be prepared.

Another good answer. Neva would be lying if she said she didn't drop a pen occasionally and use her toes to grab it. No judgements, okay? She was usually exhausted after a day of classes. "They can be, that's true. Many people who do not have upper limbs for one reason or another use their lower ones to master skills like holding things and picking them up. Even writing. Good."

Quote:

Originally Posted by natethegreat

Slyly smirking at Professor Peralta's comment about how this wasn't a nail salon, Kayne quickly put the notebook and nail kit back into his bag; and gave her a nod of acknowledgement. After which, he quickly found himself replacing the two with his regular notebook for class and a quill. Then turning back to Ash, he shot her a look of I'll just show you these later then. That gave something the two could do while hanging out back in their little secret HQ. But regardless, it was class time now, so the boy put his focus onto the Professor.

Listening while she spoke, the question posed to class was rather simple. At least, right now it was. Feet could only do a limited amount of things so obviously, the first people who spoke had it easier coming up with an answer compared to those who waited. Kayne would not be doing the latter of the two. Raising a hand in the air, the Slytherin said "One thing that feet can be used for is peddling a bicycle." A simple answer to a simple question certainly solved the trick. He wanted to continue on with more answers, but Kayne wouldn't just disregard the fact that the other students needed stuff to say.

"They can be used to peddle with some practice, that's true." She nodded, adding that answer to the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Misa raised her hand and offered the most obvious answer. "You use your feet for walking." All things with feet did that. They also ran with them. Jumped with them. Etc. This was a weird question.

Well, someone had to say it. "...Correct. Thanks for that, Miss Couture."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

Drats! She was going to say dancing. Everyone probably wanted to say dancing, though. Remy paused to think about another answer, that wasn’t immediately coming to her.

… “…pedicures.” All that thinking just for THAT. She decided to elaborate. “Or for other fashionable reasons, to wear nice shoes, to run a catwalk.” Remy sighed after her answer. How dare she talk about looking fashionable when her own toes were so boring and unpainted.

A girl after her own heart. "Feet can certainly be used to reflect someone's style and personality by dressing them up with accessories or polish. Good thinking." Professor Peralta's shoe collection was extensive, so she completely agreed with this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Violet caught the hint when the professor greeted her--had she not said hello when she came in? She couldn't remember. Ever since that pesky bread started appearing all over the castle, even in the classrooms, Violet found she was having trouble concentrating and remembering things.

Well, she would try to pay attention in this class and maybe get back in Professor Peralta's good graces. Raising a hand, she offrered, "A lot of animals use their feet to scratch themselves when they itch. Though I guess not many people do." Not unless your hands were full or something--Violet supposed a person might scratch the back of one leg with another without looking too weird.

"The image that this brings to mind for me is a dog scratching at its ear or a cat pawing at theirs. They do use them, yes."

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Feeling slightly discouraged, Kins nodded obediently in reply to her Professor's request. "Okay." She really would try to focus, even though she'd rather be munching on bread or making little breadmen with the doughy bits. Fortunately, Teddy's encouraging little nudge did just the trick. And all in all? Kiz was ready for class to start so she could figure out why the heck they weren't wearing shoes today!!! So weird. Maybe they'd get some bread as a mid-lesson treat.

When the first question was posed, Kinsay's hand shot straight into the air - she was eager. "Not just to stay grounded," she added after Teddy with a cheeky grin in his direction. "We can also use them to jump!" Hehe.

If she could answer with more than one thing, she'd offer up gymnastics as a second answer, but jumping was important in gymnastics too (especially when it came to vaults). So jumping was all encompassing. She was sure.

The James siblings were cute. Particularly when they were grouped together like this and Neva could get a glimpse at what life must be like for them at home when they were all together. "Jumping is definitely something you can't do without your feet. You can control your jump and get yourself back on the ground using both feet."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Claudine couldn’t help but glance at everyone’s feet as they came in. Some had well taken care of toes and pretty polish on, some had unattractive feet. She tried not to judge the latter but it wasn’t easy. She watched Heath approach her and Fiona. “Hi, you.” His feet were feet she was familiar with. No judging happened there.

Soon enough Peralta was starting things. What did humans and creatures do with their feet? The answers were limited, weren’t they? Many of her classmates seemed to have zoned in on humans but Claudine was thinking along the line of creatures. Of course. Up went her hand. “Some creatures use their feet, or talons as they’re called in some cases, to capture their prey.”

Neva nodded her head, thankful that another student had gone down the creature road. "Good. Creatures not only can catch prey with their feet, but a butterfly can actually taste with them." So no, the answers really weren't that limited. It just took a little thinking outside the box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson

A slight tint hit her cheeks at realizing she hadn't greeted their professor. Oops. Totally forgot to do that when the thought of everyones feet being on display occurred. "sorry Professor. How are you?" She hoped that Peralta knew she wasn't being rude on purpose.

Taking note of the other students answers she thought about her own. She smiled, "Ducks use their feet to swim basically." She loved watching ducks swim across water, it was so peaceful and perfect and man she really missed the small bit of nature she enjoyed. Where was Cooper at these days? She needed to go for another visit to the barns to see if he was there or not.

"Quite good, thank you for asking, Miss Rivers." Professor P was glad to see her mouth was working today.
"Swimming, yes." Neva nodded. "Many birds have webbed feet, which enables them to be strong swimmers. Muggles sometimes use flippers for swimming, which are quite like webbed feet, to replicate this. Something to ask Professor Schmoe about if you're interested."

With a swish of her wand, the last of the answers appeared on the board and Neva allowed a few minutes for the students to finish up their notes before moving on. "Thank you for your answers, everyone. As you can see from the list behind me, feet are important to humans and creatures alike, and one of the biggest reasons are their role in movement. For this lesson, we'll be focusing on the creature aspect." Creature feet were much cooler in her opinion. "Elephants use their feet to stomp,vibrating the ground and allowing them to communicate with other elephants. Fox feet are made for digging, enabling them to break up the ground more efficiently. Bats can hang upsidedown from their claws. But by far the coolest use of feet, in my opinion, are the geckos and their sticky feet climbing skills." She smiled a little, looking around the room. "The hundreds of tiny hairs covering a gecko's toes help it to walk up walls, or even across ceilings without falling. And with the spell you'll be learning today, you'll be able to do the same." It was a fun spell, okay? Neva might've done some experimenting with it to come up with the day's activities and she'd really enjoyed herself.

"Digiti Viscosi, or The Sticky Toes Spell, will enable you to stick and move across surfaces you wouldn't normally be able to, much like the gecko can. The question I have for you is, why? Why might a spell like this be useful to witches or wizards? What scenarios might you find yourself in where you'd use a spell like this?" She looked around as she perched on the edge of her desk, waiting to see what they came up with.

OOC: Hi friends! Next questions are up and they are: Why might the sticky toes spell be useful to witches or wizards? What scenarios might you find yourself in where you'd want to use a spell like this?. Please try not to repeat answers if you can! You'll have about 24 hours before we move on!

Okay, Ash didn't care if the professor was going to say "no nail salon in class" or whatever, but that tantrum comment was uncalled for. She put her face into "neutral". Which wasn't all that neutral, it was really just a mask. "Kicking is a good way to relieve stress. That is why practicing martial arts can be helpful." And in case anyone was wondering, Ash had never kicked someone on purpose. Because then the newspapers would find out and she would lose her inheritance. But also because it was rude.

Ash wasn't too hung up on it though. She decided to put her energy into focusing on the question instead. She wasn't throwing a tantrum, she was bottling up her emotions. Duh. And that meant ignoring stuff.

"I would want that spell if I were gonna cheat at football or quidditch. Which I wouldn't." She paused before looking up worriedly. "Professor??? Do they make sure that sports players don't use this before matches???" New thing to focus on. Because Ash liked sports!!! She wanted sports games to be fun... "It wouldn't be fair if they were cheating." And she was sure that they were cheating now, because she had thought of it and she didn't even mean to. Oh no. Now she was more sad than annoyed. Blah blah blah, nail polish whatever... forget that. What if her favorite sports players were cheating the whole entire time???

Yep. This was the most obvious answer. Other than wanting to climb on the ceiling, but the professor had already said something about geckos. And besides, knowing if her favorite sports team were cheating was more important than knowing what it would be like to be a gecko.

Wait. “Nevermind, professor, this spell is for your feet. Still applies to surfing tho.” Embarrassing, but it was okay. Hardly the worst thing to happen to her.

Her little toes wiggled as she listened to her classmates and thought about her own answer before sharing. They could use feet to ice skate. Yeah, that was a good one.

Moving on, they were going to learn a new charm! Now, that was exciting. It was also a charm that could come of use for her plans. Serena listened intently, gathering as much information that was being given.

"It could be used on a slippery surface," Serena contributed. "Would it work on ice? Like if someone casts Glisseo under your feet but you tried to counter it by using this charm?"

Ooooo, this was gonna be a fun spell to learn Kayne thought to himself. It wasn't the spell he was originally thinking of at the start of class, however, just by listening to Professor Peralta explain what the charm does, he was soooo ready to learn it. Climbing across walls and ceilings sounded like it would be a blast. Kayne also couldn't help but think of all the potential mischief that could come out of this. Or just look epic while essentially defying gravity. Either or, it was all the same to the boy.

Maybe with this, the boy could finally climb the Whomping Willow?

Raising a hand, Kayne answered "You could theoretically use this spell to climb trees easier in case you needed the high ground when fighting someone." Of course he added a bit of a wicked nuance to the answer; to just leave it at climbing a tree just for the sake of climbing it would be oh so very dull. And nothing, absolutely nothing, that Kayne Mordrake did, or will ever do, was boring. That just wasn't in his nature.

She was glad that her first answer didn’t get laughed at. So far all she had learned was to not assume that your feet would never need to be seen. Be presentable at all times.

Very, very random. It took Remy a while to think of a situation where she’d want sticky feet. “I don’t think it would be all that useful, Professor.” Just being honest. “I guess… if you were about to fall from a great height then you could use the spell to keep you from falling.” She tried to take the practical route with her next answer. Although there were definitely better spells to use in that situation.

"You could use it to scale a wall or a high cliff if you needed to," Violet offered. That spell would be really useful for an international jewel thief, she thought. That was the kind of spell her father had hoped she knew back in her second year (or what should have been). Unfortunately for him, she hadn't known many spells at age twelve.

Claudine blinked in surprise. Butterflies tasted with their feet? This was news to her, as one could tell from her reaction. She tucked this bit of interesting information away in her brain just because. As she made notes, her attention was also on her classmates’ giving their answers.

Oh! They would be focusing on creature feet? The Snakette was all too happy about this. True, the gecko’s feet were rather intriguing. Even more intriguing was the spell they were going to attempt. The Sticky Toes spell… no wonder they had to be barefoot.

Up went her hand. “Should something get stuck on the ceiling and if for some reason you’re unable to remove it.’’

Heath listened with rapt attention, filing the facts about creature feet away in his brain. He knew the ones about elephants and bats, but the gecko's sticky toes was news to him. Oh, so that's why they needed to be barefoot! He had to admit he was more than a little intrigued by the sticky toes charm. It sounded a lot more useful than dancing or walking a runway for sure!

As he copied down the spell in his notes, he considered what those uses might be. He immediately thought of balancing on slippery surfaces, but that was already said, as was every other scenario he could think of off the top of his head. Maybe there was something more he could do with his original idea. He thought of other instances when one might need extra balance, and his hand went up. "Could this spell be used to help you balance when walking on wobbly or uneven ground?" he said, phrasing his answer as a question, just as he always did when he wasn't 100% confident.

The Sticky Toes Spell name made it sound a bit gross, but it actually sounded pretty cool. Being able to stick to a wall or a tree and climb it like a gecko without a bunch of extra tools would be nice. Not that Ivy really had too much of a problem climbing trees normally, but still.

She raised her hand. "If you like rock climbing, I bet the spell would help a lot with that." Probably not a full replacement for all of the tools people typically used for that. But definitely helpful.

Well... he had not been entirely thrilled to see at the beginning of class they were ditching their shoes and socks, merely because he was entirely more comfortable in all layers of his necessary uniform, but whatever. He could hide his feet beneath his robe or something and pretend he was still wearing his shoes. So Evan had entered along with all the others, done as instructed and offered his greeting to Professor Peralta. And then the next question, what could feet be used for?

He didn't answer verbally, but he did consider all of his classmates words, thinking he could expand on those who offered that feet could be used essentially as hands. There were people who didn't have hands who he'd seen clips of using their feet for archery! One of the coolest things he'd ever seen by far! But he didn't raise his hand in time, so he kept this information to himself as they moved along.

A... gecko type spell? How COOL did that sound!? He liked all the answers people were providing for good reasons as well, but Evan couldn't get his mind off of the fact that it just would be awesome. Raising his hand though, he did offer a quick response - even if it was somewhat similar to others. "You could use the spell to reach books on the top shelf without having to lug around a heavy ladder!" Sure, you could float it down too but.. what if you didn't have the name of the book correct for accio?

Things Neva might've done with this spell when she'd been their age? Well, spying on people from a spot on the ceiling or high up a wall might be one. Or scaring the younger kids. Or pretending to be a super hero. One never knew when they might feel the urge to do any of these things, but this spell made them possible. She was a fan.

SPOILER!!: Individual Replies

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

Okay, Ash didn't care if the professor was going to say "no nail salon in class" or whatever, but that tantrum comment was uncalled for. She put her face into "neutral". Which wasn't all that neutral, it was really just a mask. "Kicking is a good way to relieve stress. That is why practicing martial arts can be helpful." And in case anyone was wondering, Ash had never kicked someone on purpose. Because then the newspapers would find out and she would lose her inheritance. But also because it was rude.

Ash wasn't too hung up on it though. She decided to put her energy into focusing on the question instead. She wasn't throwing a tantrum, she was bottling up her emotions. Duh. And that meant ignoring stuff.

"I would want that spell if I were gonna cheat at football or quidditch. Which I wouldn't." She paused before looking up worriedly. "Professor??? Do they make sure that sports players don't use this before matches???" New thing to focus on. Because Ash liked sports!!! She wanted sports games to be fun... "It wouldn't be fair if they were cheating." And she was sure that they were cheating now, because she had thought of it and she didn't even mean to. Oh no. Now she was more sad than annoyed. Blah blah blah, nail polish whatever... forget that. What if her favorite sports players were cheating the whole entire time???

Yep. This was the most obvious answer. Other than wanting to climb on the ceiling, but the professor had already said something about geckos. And besides, knowing if her favorite sports team were cheating was more important than knowing what it would be like to be a gecko.

Wait. “Nevermind, professor, this spell is for your feet. Still applies to surfing tho.” Embarrassing, but it was okay. Hardly the worst thing to happen to her.

Cheating at football or quidditch? Neva raised her eyebrows a little, not entirely sure how this spell applied to either scenario. It seemed Miss Fox realized this too, which the Charms Professor was relieved about. "This spell would definitely give you a hand while surfing by keeping your feet stuck to a relatively dry board, good."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Her little toes wiggled as she listened to her classmates and thought about her own answer before sharing. They could use feet to ice skate. Yeah, that was a good one.

Moving on, they were going to learn a new charm! Now, that was exciting. It was also a charm that could come of use for her plans. Serena listened intently, gathering as much information that was being given.

"It could be used on a slippery surface," Serena contributed. "Would it work on ice? Like if someone casts Glisseo under your feet but you tried to counter it by using this charm?"

"It can be used on ice, yes, providing you had bare feet. The thing is, you'd have to move across the icy surface quickly. Once your toes become wet, the spell loses its strength, much like water inhibits a gecko's ability to stick to surfaces."

Quote:

Originally Posted by natethegreat

Ooooo, this was gonna be a fun spell to learn Kayne thought to himself. It wasn't the spell he was originally thinking of at the start of class, however, just by listening to Professor Peralta explain what the charm does, he was soooo ready to learn it. Climbing across walls and ceilings sounded like it would be a blast. Kayne also couldn't help but think of all the potential mischief that could come out of this. Or just look epic while essentially defying gravity. Either or, it was all the same to the boy.

Maybe with this, the boy could finally climb the Whomping Willow?

Raising a hand, Kayne answered "You could theoretically use this spell to climb trees easier in case you needed the high ground when fighting someone." Of course he added a bit of a wicked nuance to the answer; to just leave it at climbing a tree just for the sake of climbing it would be oh so very dull. And nothing, absolutely nothing, that Kayne Mordrake did, or will ever do, was boring. That just wasn't in his nature.

"Your climbing skills could be much better, and your movement much faster, when using this charm, yes." Though after last term, she sincerely hoped there'd be no opponent they'd be fighting that would lead to something like this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

She was glad that her first answer didn’t get laughed at. So far all she had learned was to not assume that your feet would never need to be seen. Be presentable at all times.

Very, very random. It took Remy a while to think of a situation where she’d want sticky feet. “I don’t think it would be all that useful, Professor.” Just being honest. “I guess… if you were about to fall from a great height then you could use the spell to keep you from falling.” She tried to take the practical route with her next answer. Although there were definitely better spells to use in that situation.

"That's okay, Miss Gaeltheos. I appreciate your honesty." She hadn't expected this to be everyone's cup of tea. "You could, yes. Probably more useful in the event that you caught hold of something and then were able to swing your feet towards the surface of a solid object."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

"You could use it to scale a wall or a high cliff if you needed to," Violet offered. That spell would be really useful for an international jewel thief, she thought. That was the kind of spell her father had hoped she knew back in her second year (or what should have been). Unfortunately for him, she hadn't known many spells at age twelve.

"Precisely. I've read about a traveler using this spell to get away from a particularly angry bear he encountered on a herbology retreat."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Claudine blinked in surprise. Butterflies tasted with their feet? This was news to her, as one could tell from her reaction. She tucked this bit of interesting information away in her brain just because. As she made notes, her attention was also on her classmates’ giving their answers.

Oh! They would be focusing on creature feet? The Snakette was all too happy about this. True, the gecko’s feet were rather intriguing. Even more intriguing was the spell they were going to attempt. The Sticky Toes spell… no wonder they had to be barefoot.

Up went her hand. “Should something get stuck on the ceiling and if for some reason you’re unable to remove it.’’

"This would be a good use of the spell, yes. It could also help someone clean or dust high places, though there are simpler ways to do that as well."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

SPOILER!!: Question 1 catchup

Heath sat with his feet tucked under the desk as far as they would go. If only he wasn't so bloody tall, his trousers probably would've come down far enough to hide them from view, but it was what it was. He had just enough time to nod in reply to Fiona and Claudine's greetings and arrange his supplies neatly on his desk before the lesson began. He looked to the front as Professor Peralta spoke, hoping her words would shed some light on why they needed to be barefoot for this, but he was still lost. That was a rather vague question, wasn't it?

Nonetheless, he considered it carefully while listening to his classmates' answers. The mentions of dancing and running a catwalk made his heart drop. Please tell him they weren't doing either of those things today! He was an actor, not a dancer and definitely not a model! With many uses for human feet mentioned, his thoughts turned to creatures instead. He thought of the way his cat Rey used her feet to scratch herself, but that had been said too. From there, his thoughts went to the other pets in his family. and he remembered seeing his brother's owl use its feet to groom its feathers. He raised his hand and said, "Some types of birds use their feet to groom themselves."

Heath listened with rapt attention, filing the facts about creature feet away in his brain. He knew the ones about elephants and bats, but the gecko's sticky toes was news to him. Oh, so that's why they needed to be barefoot! He had to admit he was more than a little intrigued by the sticky toes charm. It sounded a lot more useful than dancing or walking a runway for sure!

As he copied down the spell in his notes, he considered what those uses might be. He immediately thought of balancing on slippery surfaces, but that was already said, as was every other scenario he could think of off the top of his head. Maybe there was something more he could do with his original idea. He thought of other instances when one might need extra balance, and his hand went up. "Could this spell be used to help you balance when walking on wobbly or uneven ground?" he said, phrasing his answer as a question, just as he always did when he wasn't 100% confident.

"I imagine it would, yes. It would enable you to move more confidently over this type of surface knowing that your feet were firmly stuck to it." It was a solid answer and who knows, maybe he'd use this spell in that exact situation some day. It could happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

The Sticky Toes Spell name made it sound a bit gross, but it actually sounded pretty cool. Being able to stick to a wall or a tree and climb it like a gecko without a bunch of extra tools would be nice. Not that Ivy really had too much of a problem climbing trees normally, but still.

She raised her hand. "If you like rock climbing, I bet the spell would help a lot with that." Probably not a full replacement for all of the tools people typically used for that. But definitely helpful.

"It could be, yes." She smiled. "There are sometimes areas during a climb that are harder to move across, so a witch or wizard could rely on this charm, though it could expose their bare feet to some uncomfortable surfaces."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chelliephone

Well... he had not been entirely thrilled to see at the beginning of class they were ditching their shoes and socks, merely because he was entirely more comfortable in all layers of his necessary uniform, but whatever. He could hide his feet beneath his robe or something and pretend he was still wearing his shoes. So Evan had entered along with all the others, done as instructed and offered his greeting to Professor Peralta. And then the next question, what could feet be used for?

He didn't answer verbally, but he did consider all of his classmates words, thinking he could expand on those who offered that feet could be used essentially as hands. There were people who didn't have hands who he'd seen clips of using their feet for archery! One of the coolest things he'd ever seen by far! But he didn't raise his hand in time, so he kept this information to himself as they moved along.

A... gecko type spell? How COOL did that sound!? He liked all the answers people were providing for good reasons as well, but Evan couldn't get his mind off of the fact that it just would be awesome. Raising his hand though, he did offer a quick response - even if it was somewhat similar to others. "You could use the spell to reach books on the top shelf without having to lug around a heavy ladder!" Sure, you could float it down too but.. what if you didn't have the name of the book correct for accio?

Neva nodded eagerly, smiling a little at his reply. "You most certainly could, yes. It would make the whole act a bit more entertaining, that's for sure."

"Thank you for your answers, everyone. It's probably obvious by now that there are some limitations to this spell. First off, you need to apply it directly to bare feet. Secondly, use on a wet surface of any kind impacts the power of the spell. This mirrors the way a wet surface messes with the many, many tiny hairs on a gecko's feet, making it harder for them to stick. What is very cool about it is that when your feet are firmly planted on a surface, they can stick well and hold your weight without a problem. But then you are just as easily able to unstick them as you move up or across a surface. It's amazing the way it allows you to maneuver when it's successfully cast."

Neva moved towards the back of the room and then raised her wand. With a swish and poke motion, two swings were freed from where they'd been secured to the ceiling. They swayed and then settled a few feet back from the back wall where Neva then revealed two large colored targets, one in front of each swing.

"We're going to move on to some practice, so please listen up. Remember that the incantation is Digiti Viscosi. Dig-iti Vi-scosi. The wand movement is a double tap on each foot after saying the incantation." She paused, allowing everyone to update their notes. "Now after you practice a bit on the floor, I want you to go over to one of the swings and cast it on your feet. Then get some speed by pumping your legs. When you're ready, launch yourself at the target and see if you can get your feet to land on the circle you're aiming for." Oh, oops! She'd meant to cushion the floor beneath the targets. She quickly did that before adding, "Don't worry. Should your spell fail, the floor is soft and will make for a comfortable landing." And watching the students work would make for some great entertainment. "Alright everyone, let's go."


OOC: Alright friends, we're moving on! Students need to practice the spell first, and when they're ready, go have a go at the swings & targets! The goal is for your charrie to cast the spell on themselves while seated on the swing, start pumping to gain speed, and then launch themselves towards the target and STICK! You can do this in as many or as little posts as you like! Falls are okay, but remember the floor is cushioned! You'll have until the evening of Sunday, the 27th before we move on!

Bears! Who knew studying herbology could be so eventful?

Then Violet heard the exercise the professor was proposing and sighed inwardly. This sounded too much like flying for Violet to have much confidence in it, and she predicted a number of falls in her immediate future. Good thing the teacher had remembered to do that cushioning charm.

She sat and carefully practised the wand movement and the incantation a number of times, so that she would at least be able to do that part right.

When she felt she couldn't put it off any longer, she walked over to one of the swings and waited her turn. When it came, tapped each of her feet, chanting "Dig-iti Vi-scosi!", and felt a strange sensation in her feet. Then she gingerly sat down and attempted to build enough speed to hit the target. When she thought she had enough, she tried to aim at the target in front of her and cast off, but she fell short and landed on the cushioned floor with a soft bump.

When Apollo first saw the sign on the board as well as Professor Peralta's bare feet, he got anxious until he read that there were charms in place to not worry about the stinky feet. Oh good. What did they use their feet for? Walking? Oh, that one Ravenclaw had said that.

Uh .... good question, WHY would they need to be able to move across surfaces they wouldn't normally be able to? Maybe if they were walking across a tightrope ... wait, was that how tightrope walkers managed to do so?? Were they wizards in disguise??? How many other things had he witnessed in his life thus far where magic was utilized and he had no idea??

But they were moving on it seemed to practicing the spell and swinging?? Okay, this was officially the best class ever now! First things first though, he needed to practice the incantation because otherwise he wouldn't be able to swing. "Dig-iti Vi-scosi" The second year rehearsed, realizing as soon as he said it that it was quite the tongue twister. "Professor, how sticky does this make our feet? Like, we'll be able to lift them up to launch ourselves, right?"

Kale Trent was flippin' thrilled that today's charm lesson was basically magic tossing themselves in the air. Like?? What a way to learn. By literally thrOWING YOURSELF AT THE PROBLEM! Dope, teach. Totally wicked.

He was so excited by the content of the lesson that he didn't really super pay much attention to the instructions, so he looked around the room and played he let's figure it out.

After some inspection, he sorted that he had to double-tap his shoes and say the incantation Digiti Viscosi. He didn't much know the intention, cuz again he wasn't listening, but he figured he'd give it a go. What was the worst that could happen? He'd fall on his face? Aw well. No harm done there.

So Kale tapped his feet twice and uttered the spell, "Digiti Viscosi." And then he started to ruuuuuuuuuun. WEEEEE!

O___O

The activity sounded dangerous despite the cushioned flooring. What if the landing was a little harsh and their upper body bent forwards? It was from her first assumption that they’d be dancing or doing some yoga today with their bare feet. Still, Remy was prepared to give it a go, mostly because the wand movement was easy and the incantation was… somewhat so.

With her eyes on her notebook with the written incantation down, Remy started to practise. “Dig… iti… vi… scosi.” Easy enough. “Digiti Viscosi.” The first year repeated it a few times before braving the practical part of the activity.

Remy sat herself on one of the swings and took a few deep breaths. She lifted her legs up and tapped each foot twice with her wand. “Digiti Viscosi!” Did it… work? Guess we’d soon find out. She started to swing, something she was pretty good at, if she would say so herself, and she was reaching quite a height. Mostly because it was fun, and she had to gain enough momentum to reach the target.

It took her a while to brave letting go, but when she did, Remy flung herself at the target. Eeeeeeep.

Talk about some useful instances for this spell! Claudine really did enjoy hearing about them and she made notes because aside from said notes coming in handy for exams, they could be handy for some real life situations she may encounter.

Claudine made additional notes regarding when to tap her feet and the amount of times on each. The activity itself sounded a bit intimidating and the Snakette found herself wondering what would happen to her feet if she happened to launch herself too hard at the target. Would the bones in her feet shatter?! With a lot of misgivings, she began practicing the incantation. “Digiti Viscosi. Dig-iti Vi-scosi. Digiti Viscosi.”

Right. That bit was easy but she’d hang back a bit and watch the others practice with the target before she gave it a go. You know… just to be on the safe side.

Lisa has been lost in her thoughts this morning, trying to figure out just how to get the potion that she had read about to work. The first two iterations HADNT worked and it was INCREDIBLY frustrating so what was she doing WRONG?!? Ugh… she tapped her fingers lightly on the desk as she looked at her notebook. As soon as class started, she huffed and closed her potions notebook. She’d come back to that.

So she tried to pay the best attention that she could to Charms class but her thoughts kept carrying her back to that problem. Fortunately her peers’ answers had kickstarted her imagination in a different direction and it became much easier to find focus once more. Plus the spell was VERY interesting. Maybe she could become like Spider-Man and walk on walls??? The possibilities of this application were endless in her mind.

She jotted down a few notes on the pronunciation and wand movement in her notebook.

Pronunciation: Digiti Viscosi. Dig-iti Vi-scosi.
Wand movement: double tap on each foot after saying the incantation.

“Dig-iti. Vi-scosi. Dig-iti. Vi-scosi. Dig-iti. Vi-scosi,” she repeated over and over again until it sounded just as the Professor had pronounced it. The wand movement made sense so that was easy enough. Now she just had to figure out how to do the activity. When one of the swings opened, she headed over to it and took a seat. With her wand, she cast the charm. “Digiti Viscosi!” Then she began pumping her legs. She always hated not having a push when she started swinging because that would have helped her go quicker. She wondered if there was a spell that made her go faster? That would be useful right now so she could build momentum. The incantation would have to be something like momentum? But faster? Maybe citius?

Finally, finally, on her third attempt, Violet managed to land on a target and fortunately, her feet stuck. At least she could do the spell right, if not flinging herself through the air. Her hair was in her eyes, her clothes were rumpled, and she was very tired of falling. She was starting to dislike this exercise as much as she did Flying, and pretty much any activity that involved her flying through the air.

She wondered whether she had to do this again, or if one successful attempt would be enough. She was still thinking of this as she prepared to end the spell on her feet that was sticking them to the target. Wait! when she released the spell, wouldn't that mean she would fall again? Wasn't there any other way to get off this target?! The teacher hadn't been very detailed on the getting off aspect (or Violet couldn't remember).

Oh, bother! Violet cast "Finite Incantum!" in a glum voice and plopped down once more on the floor.

Now this was something Kayne would definitely excel at. The Slytherin was a natural when it came to Charms; his wand being made of black walnut and veela hair had also helped strengthen his power when it came to these kinds of spells. Ecstatic, and ready to get to work immediately when the Professor had let them, he didn't even really bother to take notes on it. Mordrake had just wanted to get this show on the road.

Producing his wand from his bag, Kayne started practicing the pronunciation of the spell to himself. "Dig-iti Vi-scosi. Dig-iti Vi-scosi. Dig-iti Vi-scosi." He repeated the phrase over and over again until he was sure that he got it right. With that now being out of the way, it was time to move on to actually casting the spell.

Confidently strutting over to one of the swings, the boy was nowhere near scared of this challenge. That extra thrill of trying to hit the target after jumping from the swing only made it more exciting; and it only made Kayne wanting to do it more. Taking a seat on the left one, he uttered the words "Digiti Viscosi!" Then tapping his feet with his wand, a blue light began to emerge and wrap around his feet, as if it was a pair of translucent socks. Boy, did Kayne really love the extra flair that his wand gave to his spells. Once everything was set, the boy started to swing back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

At the moment that Kayne knew he built up enough momentum in order to reach the target on the wall, he took the leap of faith. "YAHOOOO!!!!" He exclaimed while going through the air. Then thump! The fourth year had landed right on the bullseye, and stuck there. First try! This was so awesome! Immediately, he struck a triumphant pose, his feet still clinging to the wall.

Okay… so it seemed as though no one was injuring themselves in the way that Claudine’s overactive imagination had pictured. That was a relief. Still, she’d be very careful with her attempt at the targets. Claudine did a few practice spell casting while she was on the ground and was pleased that everything went well. But she was still nervous about the swing thing as she sat on one of the said swings.

“Digiti Viscosi.” With her wand, the Snakette double tapped on each foot. The swing got moving and it was with great effort that Claudine tried to gain momentum. She kept eyeing the target apprehensively but in the end, grabbed and held onto her courage. Claudine Blaze never backed down from a challenge.

She eventually let go, launching herself at the target. Closer, closer… Claudine squeezed her eyes shut until her feet slammed into something. Her eyes opened slowly and one at a time. Oh, look. She’d landed on the target though she’d missed the bullseye by a mile.

Heath was hanging on to Professor Peralta’s every word as she explained the spell. He liked this spell because it sounded both fun and practical, so he wanted to get it exactly right. He furiously jotted down notes, only looking up from his parchment to listen to the practice instructions. Wait, they were doing what? He blinked, unsure what to make of the directions. As excited as he was to try the sticky toes charm, launching himself from a swing at a target sounded a bit... dangerous. Oh well, he supposed he’d give it a go anyway. What other choice did he have?

Pushing his worries aside for the moment, Heath focused on practicing the incantation. “Dig-iti Vi-scosi,” he said under his breath. “Dig-iti Vi-scosi, Digiti Viscosi, Digiti Viscosi…” That incantation wasn’t too hard! Neither was the wand movement, for that matter, but he still practiced it a few times, more to stall his turn at the swing than anything else. Double tap right foot, double tap left foot… Finally deciding he could stall no longer, he trudged to the nearest swing. Well, here goes nothing!

He sat on the swing, looking down at his bare feet. “Digiti Viscosi,” he cast clearly and firmly, giving his right foot a double tap with his wand and then his left. Did that work? Merlin, he hoped it did! There was only one way to find out. He began to swing back and forth slowly and deliberately. His speed gradually increased as he pumped his legs, and the target came nearer and nearer into view. He had to time it just right! As the target came closer, he let go of the swing and launched himself into the air, aiming for the bullseye.

He closed his eyes, bracing for a fall, but none came. When he looked, he saw his feet stuck to the target… the outermost white ring of the target. So he hadn’t hit the bullseye. That was mildly disappointing, but on the bright side, he landed somewhere on the target. And he got the sticky toes spell to work on his first try. He’d take that as a win!

"This has got to be the most fun activity I've ever experienced during my time at Hogwarts!" Fiona thought to herself as Professor Peralta instructed the class. After attentively listening to the Charms professor, the Snakette decided to practice the right pronunciation of the spell a few times.

Dig-iti Vi-scosi," she muttered under her breath repeatedly until she felt confident enough to perform the spell in full. Making her way to a swing, Fiona spoke clearly as she said, "Digiti Viscosi!" which she followed with a double-tap on each of her feet with her wand.

Fiona then began to swing as high as she could, remembering when she used to go to the playground as a little girl as a wave of nostalgic emotions came to be. The sight of the target was getting nearer so Fiona let go of the swing and silently hoped that she wouldn't make an embarrassment of herself.

Fiona had landed on the red circle much to her surprise.

It hadn't escaped Neva's attention that some of the children looked apprehensive and she gave an encouraging smile as she walked around, observing their work and offering help where it was needed. So far, they were doing wonderfully and while they weren't always hitting the target, or sticking their landings, at least they were trying.

"Listening ears on, Apollo." She moved over towards the second year to address him directly. "I did mention that the spell allows your feet to stick firmly to a surface, but the cool part is that you can unstick yourself to walk quite easily." So in short yes, he'd be able to launch himself off the swing without problem.

"Remember what I said about being able to walk easily along the wall once you're stuck," She said as she watched Miss Blackthorne's face as she let herself fall from the wall to the cushioned floor. She certainly didn't need to walk down if she didn't want to, but it would be good practice for the next portion of the activity.

"The swing-Mr. Trent, we're not runn-" Oh dear. Gryffindors.

Miss Gaeltheos was being brave and facing the swing and target in just the manner she'd hoped the kids would. Neva smiled watching her. "Great launch!"

Miss Nam and Miss Blaze seemed to be taking their time, practicing well before approaching the activity. This would've been her approach, too.

Mr. Mordrake seemed to really be enjoying himself and his little cry of glee as he let go of the swing had her laughing softly behind her hand as he stuck the landing. Mr. Jones and Miss Jenovick also had successful attempts and the brunette clapped in approval, pleased to see their progress.

After a bit more observation, the Charms Professor moved back towards the front of the room and pulled a box of balloons from behind her desk. Without a word, she used her wand to stick them up the wall on the right side of the room, starting at the bottom. Then she stuck a whole bunch all over the ceiling, finishing with a trail of them leading back down the left wall and ending where the wall meets the floor on that side of the room. Then she pulled out another box of black water balloons and just let those rest next to her. With a look of satisfaction, she nodded her head and then turned her attention to the kids.

"Alright everyone, it's time to move on to the final activity of today's lesson." She paused, allowing anyone who was finishing up a few moments to do just that. "As you can see, I've stuck a bunch of purple, orange, pink, and teal balloons going up one wall, across the ceiling, and then coming back down the opposite wall. Your goal will be to use the sticky toes spell on yourself to move around the walls and across the ceiling, popping as many of the balloons in your team's color with your hands as you can before time runs out." Fun, right? Well, mostly. "The floor will continue to be charmed so that any falls will be cushioned, so please don't worry about that. Have confidence in yourself and in your spells." And also she hoped they'd remember to have fun. "Now the trick is, these black balloons beside me are filled with water. You may arm yourself with as many of these balloons as you think you can carry and toss them at your opponents during the activity, keeping in mind that wet feet means the level of stickiness decreases greatly, or the feet stop being sticky all together." They'd be dropping like flies if the kids had good aim. "I've made sure the surface of the walls and ceiling won't get slippery, so the water balloons should only impact the target's feet and stickiness if they make contact." She wasn't trying to disrupt the activity too much, just make it a bit more interesting. "If you happen to fall to the floor, simply dry your feet using the hot air charm and get back up there." Easy, right? "I'll let you know when your time is up. In the meantime, you may pick the team color you'd like to play on and in a few moments we'll begin."

While the students picked a team, Neva cleared away the equipment from the practice activity so it was well out of the way.

"You may begin in five...four...three...two..one..GO!"

Hello everyone! Main Activity time. Some OOC notes here!

1. Label all posts with the color team your charrie has chosen to be on
2. Each post can EITHER be a popping balloons post OR a tossing a black balloon post. It CANNOT BE BOTH! Be sure to label your post with which your charrie is doing. Ex: "Pink Team- Popping 2 pink balloons" or "Pink Team- Tossing black balloon at ____"
3. Please do not RP whether or not a water balloon has hit the target. That is entirely up to that RPer.
4. If your charrie falls, they won't be seriously hurt. The floor is super fall-friendly thanks to magic!
5. You don't need to RP your charrie seeking out a team. In the effort to make the most of our RP time, just assume they did.

Let me know if you have any questions! We'll have until Wednesday, June 30th to RP (probably will close class late that evening)! If you're playing catch-up, feel free to do that as well!