Anna took a deep breath and slipped down in her seat a bit. The class had grown unusually quiet, and she was starting to fidgety. Anna absentmindedly flipped a few pages in her textbook, trying to amuse herself with what sort of topics may or may not be discussed next. She only bothered to look up again when Copernicus, who was seated right next to her, started talking. Wow. That boy was really brilliant. Anna liked the way he seemed to think outside the box and put a lot of thought into everything he said. Anna raised her eyebrows at him, smiled, and gave him a quick thumbs up sign.

Copernicus' polar opposite, and the boy who just happened to be sitting right by him, as well, was Plymouth. Plymouth's answers were honest, but hilarious at the same time. Anna had to bite down her bottom lip to keep from giggling at what Plymouth was currently telling the professor. He was such a...cutie. Anna smiled at the idea that suddenly came to her. She took the parchment she'd been writing on, rolled it up into a tube-like shape, and started playfully poking Plymouth, who was directly in front of her, in the back of his ears. When her actions caused her to start to get the giggles a little, Anna unrolled her parchment and put it back on her desk. She didn't want to get into trouble. Gryffindors were dying out there. Ravenclaw, on the other hand, could stand to lose a point or two...or fifty or sixty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Clifford's heart almost stopped beating when Miss Shackleton turned to look at him, and he felt his face heaten even further. Oh gosh, oh gosh. Everything he was meant to say just went poof from his brain and mouth hanging open ever so slightly he simply blinked.

"I ... uh ... would ... erm." Pull yourself together, man! He couldn't make a fool of himself even more than he already had ... okay, head in gear. Right.

"Well, erm ... obviously I'd be pretty angry that they'd took my new broom without even asking." He stated quickly, nodding his head. "So uhm ... I'd probably wanna confront them.." It was probably best not to go into detail about how he'd wanna give them a good ole' punch. Hmm. "I think a few good choice words would do the trick.. make sure they know not to do it again, y'know?"

Hah. They wouldn't after he was dome with 'em.

Professor Shackleton raised her brow, "I can only imagine what those choice words might be! Whichever you would choose, they would strongly convey your displeasure and their purpose would be to prevent the occurence from happening again, yes?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by SweetAussie

Agie cleared her throat dramatically and said. "Well, I'd be angry and want my broom back. Sooo, I'd hunt the so called friend down and pull the broom away from them, or get them off the broom by what ever means necessary. By using accio, or a curse or like what Curt wrote, using a bludger to knock them off. And if there is just ONE scratch, then they better run. Of course my broom would then be kept locked up at all times." That would show them. "The person wont be able to sit on a broom for the rest of the year when I'm finished with them."

Professor Shackleton looked a little awkward but still amused, "Well, that's very...forceful of you. Your gut reaction seems to be a whatever-it-takes to right their wrong. And then ensure they receive some sort of punishment for their offense." Perhaps Macadrian should be concerned with the aggressive natures of the young women in this class? They seem to have more violent tendencies than the young men!

Quote:

Originally Posted by druidflower

Tobi blushed. This was a common occurance. Expressing himself wasn't his stong suit. He and words... they weren't so goodly. He raised a hand again. "Actually ma'am that's not strictly true. I'd act promptly- I'd yell at myself in my head quite a lot and right away, because my first thought would be that I'd lost it, but when I found out that it hadn't just disappeared into Oblivion or wherever, I wouldn't be mad. My housemates aren't all that mean spirited, I don't think they'd take my things unless they felt they needed them. It doesn't bother me to share them in that case, though I'd prefer they ask first, I'm not always readily at hand."

Tobi squirmed a little, "Does that make any sense?"

It didn't occur to Tobi to include any of his kitchen implements among his 'Things' none of them were at Hogwarts, but if someone were ever to borrow those, he'd probably have spontaneously combusted.

"Oh, I see. Thank you for clarifying. Internalizing your emotions would be your immediate reaction and that is a fairly common one. Thank you."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oesed

I would go straight to that person and then slap some sense into them.

But that was not the kind of answer she should give a professor. For all she knew Professor Shackleton might take her seriously --which would be a very wise thing to do-- and then keep an eye on her. Shackleton was a very nice woman, and she was clearly very clever, too, but the last thing the girl wanted was to be watched like a five year old kid by a professor.

"I would force the person to go and see Professor Vindictus with me, and while we get there, I would yell at them not to touch my broom ever again." Not in that precise order, but that could work, too. The slapping part would definitely come first, though.

In reality, Willow would slap the person, yell, drag them to Professor's Vindictus office, yell again while they made their way to that place, and then feel quite pleased while Professor Vindictus scold the person.

In a surprised tone, "See my cousin? Really?" Oops. Maintain that confidentiality, would ya Mac?! But honestly, Max really isn't the best when it comes to discipline. He himself needs to BE disciplined half the time, even at his age! "So you would seek the advice of another, in this case, the Flying instructor and then verbalize your opinion in a loud fashion to the guilty party. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torchwood

Qaz raised her hand and replied, 'I beg to differ, Professor. When I confront the offending party, I wouldn't be emotional at all. I would just state, forcefully, the fact that the next time I would break her fingers. No emotion...just fact. Getting all emotional about it is a waste of energy. That's why I'd go to sleep instead of getting all upset.

and Professor, I discuss most things with my cat '

"I'm sorry for misinterpreting. I didn't realize it possible for a person to have the desire to break someone's fingers without having any emotion behind it. I merely assumed that since anger is an emotion and violence is an expression of that emotion, that the two would be linked in your case. I apologize if I misunderstood.

"Oh and class, since this is an exercise in theory, and you're listing your gut instinct, I'm not going to be concerned about any somewhat physically aggressive comments, since feeling like you want to hurt someone isn't the same as acting out on that feeling; however, I in no way condone violent actions and would obviously punish anyone using such methods. Just getting that disclaimer out there now."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

These people definitely had anger management issues and Copernicus feared for all of them if they really dealt with stress like this. Copernicus hesitantly raised his hand. "Professor, is it still considered your gut reaction if you had taught yourself to consider the situation before doing anything else? Because that has become your immediate response, although it is learned."

Professor Shackleton thought over Copernicus' question and replied, "The Balance Number really focuses on a person's internal reaction, and if a person's internal reaction was to force themselves to think the situation over, even if it was a learned behavior, I would say that is as close enough to a gut reaction as we need for our considerations, or maybe they've already mastered the suggestions of their Balance Number. Perhaps using the phrase 'gut reaction' was a bit of a misnomer, though."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Eye Touz

What in the name of Merlin's lost toe was Copernicus on about? Plymouth had this idea that Copernicus just liked to say big and important words in his know-it-all-voice, but didn't actually ever SAY anything. He was just pretending to say something important. Boring.


Plymouth looked around to all of his violent classmates. He raised his hand," I would just like to say that I don't need a number to know that stealing and/or borrowing brooms in this school is a serious hazard to one's health. If I learn nothing else, Professor," Plymouth rolled her title off his tongue, "I'm glad you taught me that lesson. Points to you, ma'am."


Plymouth then went to looking over Copernicus's shoulder to see what he'd written.

Professor Shackleton grinned. This kid was funny. "Well, I'm glad you've learned something practical and useful in my class. My career as a teacher has reached fulfillment. I can retire now." Oh man, let's hope this kid's homework is as entertaining as his commentary.


Walking back into the center of the circle, Professor Shackleton paused before Ludo and gave their second scenario, "Ok, write your internal response to this next situation. You can share with the class if you'd like, too. Here is the situation: You receive an owl from home that your favorite childhood pet has taken ill and passed away. How do you handle it?"

OOC: I'm going to pause the lesson here to allow for people in other timezones to participate. I will resume tomorrow. Please remember that while I may not be here OOC, Professor Shackleton still is present IC. Please no excessive chatting, unless it is about the discussion at hand. Goodnight!

Copernicus put his quill to the paper again, but the professor's words stopped his cold. A letter from home about... a death? That was rather... The quill slid out of his fingers and Copernicus let it lay where it fell. He knew exactly how he'd handle this situation, and he wasn't going to write about it. Instead, he folded his hands in front of him on the desk and waited for the next question, his expression blank and his face pale.

Hmm....this one was a bit trickier. She tried to picture Spock dying. Finally, she grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote.
Yep, that's what she would do. She knew. She was speaking from past experience, kind of. She raised her hand and shared with the class. This was kind of cathartic.

Cale frowned and shot a nasty glance over in Anna's direction. Why, WHY did she have to encourage that Plymouth fellow? Groaning a little bit, he looked back at his parchment and sighed heavily. Ok, what would he do if his mum owled him to let him know that Belle had died? To be honest, Cale would cry. She was his little Collie pup! He nibbled on the tip of his quill, wondering if he should write his true feelings on his parchment. Discretly moving his arm in front of his parchment, he started to write.

Anna thought about Charlotte, her snowy white owl, and Piccadilly, her baby crup. What would she do if she recieved a sudden owl that either of them had died? Dealing with separation of any kind wasn't really Anna's specialty. Especially if that separation dealt with losing someone or something she was really close to. Anna smoothed out her parchment and then began to write once again.

I don't deal well with separation. If Charlotte (or Piccadilly for that matter) were to die, I'd probably do whatever I could to close off the rest of the world for a while. I'd probably take a day off school and just lie in bed all day and think. I'm not sure what I'd think about, but I do know that being alone with just my thoughts would make me feel better than anything else. It'd probably take me a few days to really start to feel normal again, too.

I'm not sure if this is the normal, usual reaction people have, though. Like I said, I just don't deal well with separation.

Livvy rolled her eyes at Plymouth and grinned. That funny boy. Class wouldn't be so fun without him. She listened to what Professor Shackleton said. She quickly wrote:

If I were ever to receive such an owl... I would definitely be sad. If it was a very close pet, I would most definitely cry and be upset. But after some time, I would try and tell myself that I can do it and that possibly the death of my pet isn't the end of the world, but they would always have a place in my heart. I would most definitely try to get over such a loss so I can move on and not dwell on such unhappy thoughts. Such negativity and unhappifulness isn't healthy.

Livvy looked it over and remembered what had happened to her dog back at home. She looked down at the table and flipped the piece of parchment over, refusing to look at what she just wrote.

Karma stifled her laughter as Plymouth began to speak. He really needed to control his outbursts, and as well as his wandering eye for Professor Shackleton. That poor dear. Being chased by a student.

She looked over at Plymouth and smirked, as if to say, 'Nice try.'

Before Karma answered, she wrote her response on her parchment.

She raised her hand once again before answering.

"Instantly, I would be sad. There's no way I would be able to hold in the emotions. If that was a childhood pet, and I'd grown up with it, there's always going to be an attachment. If it was unexpected, I would be extremely sad. Yes, I would bawl like a baby. Even if it wasn't an expected death, and we knew for some time that the pet would die, sadness is still a part of the process. You have to accept that though. So yes, I would be extremely sad. But, eventually, these types of things happen. It's only a rational reason to be sad at first. Then whatever other emotion follows, will come."

Elizabeth looked up as Professor Shackleton stopped in front of Ludo to give the next scenario. Since he was near her, it meant the professor was also near her, and she started to wonder what was going on. But then she forced herself to apply herself to the assignment, and looked down at her journal again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by journal

Owl about pet passing away . . . I would probably cry. More so if I was alone, but I would probably have a hard time controlling it even if I was with others. And if I was with friends, I would probably not really care anyway . . .

Then she raised her hand. "Well, first, I have to say that the only childhood pet I've had is actually my older brother's cat. But even so, if I got an owl saying he had died, especially if it was the first I'd even heard about him being sick, I would probably be really upset and cry. And then have to talk to a friend or someone to help me control it." She really was attached to Snitch. And if it was Bella, she would be even more upset.

Emiliano listened and started to write, yet wanting to share his answer.

"I would be sad...mostly because the pet, had been there with me at the good and even bad moments...maybe I'll somehow lose some concentration on what I do after the news, thinking that I could have been there to see it go through it's last moments...but there has to be a moment soon for me to get over it and continue with life.." He said, most of it in a low voice.

Although he had never had a pet in his life, he would have loved to. Emiliano was interested in animals as much as her sister hated them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Anna took a deep breath and slipped down in her seat a bit. The class had grown unusually quiet, and she was starting to fidgety. Anna absentmindedly flipped a few pages in her textbook, trying to amuse herself with what sort of topics may or may not be discussed next. She only bothered to look up again when Copernicus, who was seated right next to her, started talking. Wow. That boy was really brilliant. Anna liked the way he seemed to think outside the box and put a lot of thought into everything he said. Anna raised her eyebrows at him, smiled, and gave him a quick thumbs up sign.

Copernicus' polar opposite, and the boy who just happened to be sitting right by him, as well, was Plymouth. Plymouth's answers were honest, but hilarious at the same time. Anna had to bite down her bottom lip to keep from giggling at what Plymouth was currently telling the professor. He was such a...cutie. Anna smiled at the idea that suddenly came to her. She took the parchment she'd been writing on, rolled it up into a tube-like shape, and started playfully poking Plymouth, who was directly in front of her, in the back of his ears. When her actions caused her to start to get the giggles a little, Anna unrolled her parchment and put it back on her desk. She didn't want to get into trouble. Gryffindors were dying out there. Ravenclaw, on the other hand, could stand to lose a point or two...or fifty or sixty.

Plymouth could feel his ears turning red. They felt so hot he actually worried about the hair in them setting fire. Boy, that'd smell, right? Burning ear hair had to smell worse than just regular hair. Sounded like an experiment to try later... He turned around and propped his elbow up on the back of his chair, partially using the desk behind his, and stared at the one, the only: Anna. "Did I do something to deserve a poke, doll?" She was probably just attracted to him now since he had weird hair growing out of his ears. Probably reminded her of her Animal-fur-toupee-wearing boyfriend. What a cheese that kid was, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemondrop13

Professor Shackleton grinned. This kid was funny. "Well, I'm glad you've learned something practical and useful in my class. My career as a teacher has reached fulfillment. I can retire now." Oh man, let's hope this kid's homework is as entertaining as his commentary.

Plymouth turned around quickly though when the pretty Professor started talking to him again. He didn't want to miss a BIT of that. Unfortunately, he did kind of miss her words because she was smiling at him and otherwise being a pretty older lady. Woowee!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemondrop13

Walking back into the center of the circle, Professor Shackleton paused before Ludo and gave their second scenario, "Ok, write your internal response to this next situation. You can share with the class if you'd like, too. Here is the situation: You receive an owl from home that your favorite childhood pet has taken ill and passed away. How do you handle it?"

Finally, since the Professor broke her tractor beam gaze at Plymouth, he could listen again. He started to work on this next inner feeling mushy gushy stuff. Plymouth wrote it all down first, and then read it aloud in a practiced sort of way.

"Ahem. I've never had a pet until recently (thanks to my dashing and rich younger brother Copernicus). I must have been deprived as a child. No new broom for someone to steal, no pet to die. Regardless, I have some inner thoughts on what my potential actions would be. As follows:

Ahem. I would request that the animal be owled to me (express due to decaying rates - especially if it's summer) and then perform a miraculous, never before done, healing spell. Or attempt to create one. Poke around with the organs and think up something brilliant.

Whereafter, I will win a big prize and become a household name throughout the world: Plymouth Glen Morgan."

With that done, Plymouth could go back to listening to everyone else.

Cousin? What was Shackleton rambling abo--Oooh. Was Vindictus her cousin? Huh. Who would have thought? Not her, certainly. Either way, why was the woman so surprised that someone would go to seek for Vindictus' advice? He was the head of the Ravenclaw house, after all.

Also, Willow had to admit that she liked how Professor Shackleton had trade the word 'Yelling' for 'Loud fashion.'

Hearing the professor's next question, Willow had to bite her tongue so she would not actually say what she was thinking. In truth, if her childhood pet had passed away, she would not care much. Saying that, however, would sound slightly insensitive.

And since she was not going to voice this thought... Willow decided to write it.

Tobi copied down the question and paused, trying not to snort. He was not a pet type of person. He didn't much care for fuzzy, feathery, or scaly things.

If he had to have a pet, he hoped the pet rock would come back into style.

But he thought he could see what the Professor was getting at. So he tried to think of something that he was emotionally attatched to, and then tried to imagine it suddenly gone. He thought of his friends. How would it feel a friend had died. He would be crushed. Inconsolable if Mrs. DeWitt sent him an Owl - maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Better be clear on the matter.

"Professor," he asked, raising his hand "I wouldn't get terribly upset over a pet. I don't like pets much. Does it have to be a pet or can I substitute with something else for the sake of the exercise? Or is the fact that I don't like pets the point in the first place?"

Daphne stared mindlessly in front of her, somewhat oblivious of the lesson going on. She was snapped back to the class as the Professor brought up another scenario. If my pet died? she thought, somewhat disturbed by the thought. It wasn't even something she wanted to think about, so she went about scribbling some ideas.
After writing her brief thoughts, she rubbed her bandaged right wrist. She was having more trouble writing than she thought she'd have. Her injury made even simple things difficult. She put her quill down and waited for the soreness to pass, which it would. She hadn't seen any of her Quidditch teammates around, but in front of her sat Willow, the captain. She wondered if she noticed Daphne's name missing from the tryouts. She was content to sit back and hope the girl didn't notice.

Zeke thought for a moment before picking up his quill and scribbling down on his parchment:

Zeke hoped that was adequate. He hadn't really known what to write down, so he just wrote as he thought. This prompt had depressed him a little, and he made a mental note to send an owl home and ask about Louie's health after class, as silly as it seemed.

Remembering back to her first year, when her friend Jen's penguin had died. Thinking back, she starts writing what she had felt, and would still feel, if happened again, to a friend, cousin, or even herself!

Picking up her quill she starts writing. I would feel very saddened. Very remorseful, for their pet having have died. I would want to be there for my friend or even my cousin as much as I could. I remember when my mum died in my first year, and I needed that comfort, from my friends, even though I knew they couldn't do anything to change it, it still was wonderful to have them there, when I needed someone.

Juniper's eyes widened at the next situation, and as she let the idea sink in, her eyes filled with tears. If she found out that her pet had died...unexpectedly. Oh, that would be just terrible. Juniper thought of her pets, one by one. Each pet that came to mind made it so much more difficult not to cry. If Nakato died... or Mosi. Or George the family owl. Even if her new iguana, Virgilijus Hewwo, died, Juniper knew that she would be heartbroken.

Pets were not just pets. Pets were family.

With a shaky hand, Juniper picked up her quill and began to write her reaction.

If I was owled that any pet of mine had taken ill and died, I would... I would... Juniper sniffed and wiped at the corner of her eye with her sleeve. She didn't want her pet to die. She didn't want to even think about her pet dying. Taking a deep breath, Juniper put quill tip back to parchment to write more. I would sob. And probably be unfit for company for weeks. I would need my best friend to tell me my pet was in a better place many, many times. And then I would probably end up sobbing some more and keeping my other pets in sight at all times. I would sleep with my eyes open so I could be sure they wouldn't die in their sleep.

Juniper exhaled in a huge sigh, her eyes still glistening with tears that threatened to overflow and roll down her face. Pets were family. She had no siblings, so she would not know what the relationship between siblings would be like, but Juniper felt for her animal friends quite similarly to how she imagined she would feel toward a brother or sister. And if one of them died... Shaking, Juniper mentally instructed herself not to cry. Surely if she told herself not to shed tears at an idea, she would not shed tears. Right?

Wrong.

Even as Juniper focused her attention on her quill and only on her quill, she felt the tears begin to flow down her cheeks. Letting out a tiny sob, Juniper lay her head down on her arms and tried to think happy thoughts of zoos suddenly returning all their imprisoned animals to their natural habitats.

Abby can't help herself. That has got to be the craziest, most conceited thing I've ever heard. As hard as she tries she can't stop giggling. Abby giggles so hard tears roll down her cheeks.

Sam listened to Professor Macadrian's question and thought about it. Wow. That question was deep. What if Jersey were to die? That cat was a brat anyways. But then again, she wouldnt want her to die. Ugh! That cat was so annoying at times, but she couldnt imagine what it would be like without her.

Satisfied with her response, she looked up to find Professor Macadrian and show her, her response, but landed on a curly haired brunette who seemed to be crying. Wow. Wow! What happened? The Gryffindor stood up quickly and took the open seat next to the girl.

"Hey Dude! Are you ok?" she asked cautiously. She tilted her head slowly and saw that she recognized the girl. Her name was...a planet...Oh! "Jupter? What's wrong?" she smiled softly, trying to cheer the little Ravenclaw up.

Ludo watched as Professor Shackleton paced around the room and stopped in front of his desk. Thinking he was about to be singled out, he was a bit releived when the second scenario was voiced.

"Hmm... he thought, dipping his quill into his ink and jotting down some lines on his parchment.

Upon completion, he raised his hand, which seemed a bit pointless as the Professor was within reach. "Professor? I think I'd find myself in denial, at least at first. As if it were a cruel prank. Then the sadness sets in and you must find a way to manage it."

Abby finds it difficult thinking about something like death when she has a case of the giggles. She writes her comments down and then raises her hand. "Professor Shakleton, I would imagine the first thing I would do is cry. After I've had a good one, I would probably spend sometime by myself remembering all the good times I had with Caesar, my crup."

Qaz thought for a moment. The only pet that she'd ever had was her tabby, HiJinx, who was here at Hogwarts. How would she feel if she found out he died....she began to write..


ooc: dang, this made me cry....

Balance numbers. Guidance on dealing with threatening situations. Perhaps this was a lesson that Dominic should be paying attention to since just maybe his balance number could offer him some guidance on dealing with the ancient one.

Hardly noticing the conversations around him, the fifth year finally glanced up at the sound of his head of house speaking of yet another scenario to record their internal response to. Hmm... Interesting definitely. Twirling his quill between his fingers, Dominic sighed thoughtfully before pressing his quill to his parchment and beginning to write:

I wouldn't. Sure it was a childhood pet and even if i did have one that I was really attached to, it obviously wasn't that important. For starters, crying is lame and wimpy and girly... But also, it was ONLY a pet; they have plenty more replacements you could get in the Magical Managerie or Eeylops. It's not like it's the end of the world... a pet dying. Pfft, whatever. Eat a lemondrop and get over it. No big deal.

Lillianna lookd down at her parchment for moment tears springing to her eyes before scribbling down her answer.

Well my cat which I had had for as long as I cn remember recently passed away and all I could do as cry.

Evangeline watched with mild interest as her classmates discussed with their teacher how they'd react to the horrifying news of her brand new boom being borrowed by someone without their permission. Yada, Yada. Booooring. But when Shackleton described the next situation, Evangeline felt more familiar with it. EEEP!

If Minerva were to die, Evangeline didnt know how she'd react. She had been incredibly attached to the cat, she still was, infact, ... but not as much as she used to be. After pondering on the situation for a few moments, she picked up her quill again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evangeline's parchment

I would be sad and probably even ... shed a few tears at first. Knowing me, I'd probably want to be left alone and shut myself from the outside world for a day or two. Then I think I'd move on.