Maintenance. Yaaay.

-____-

"Woohoo..." Ellie mumbled to herself. Dragging herself out of her chair, Ellie strolled to the back of the classroom and grabbed a nice and dusty telescope to clean and stood at the back table waiting for further instructions. Because cleaning a telescope was really, really difficult.

"That makes sense, thanks professor." K-Lee said with a smile. She finally understood it. Made Astronomy actually make sense now, which was good.

Cleaning telescopes? Seriously. K-Lee sighed. She better get a telescope anyway. She selected a telescope that wasn't too dirty and went to the back of the class near the teacher, standing near the front so her shortness wouldn't affect her not seeing anything.

Well at least they don't need textbooks. That was something.

Right so ... most have then had made there way back to the work space but .. what was that complaining she was hearing from Evelyn?! Of all people why was she complaining?! Strange. Shaking her head at the girl, she smiled at the class as she proceeded to explain the cleaning process.

"It's not a terribly long process but it is very important because of how delicate and expensive the parts of a telescope are... As a fragile piece of equipment, using a simple charm would not do justice to cleaning a telescope." Hadley explained. "Just think of it like a broom... You wouldn't use tergeo or something on your broomstick, would you? Same thing with a telescope."

Right. She was rambling. "Now, onto the cleaning process..." For this, Hadley used her wand to make the cleaning supplies materialize by them. As well as a large paper with cleaning instructions for them to follow.

SPOILER!!: cleaning instructions

1. Use the cleaning solution provided and apply with a soft cotton towel a light layer.
2. Allow to air dry for a minute, before applying another coat of cleaning solution and rubbing it onto the looking glass and all over the telescope. Keep the rubbing to clockwise circular motions and continue until you've done all over the scope.
3. Take a fresh towel and rub in the same direction to towel dry the scope.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 as necessary until dust and debris is gone
5. Once the scope is clean, spray a thin layer of holding cream over the scope to help prevent future dust outbreaks.
6. Allow the solution to dry fully before operating the telescope. This may take up to 24 hours.

ooc: I'm not sure how available I'll be today, Sunday, so I'm posting all the cleaning instructions now. Feel free to make separate posts for each step ... or include two steps in one post ... For full credit, at least five posts though are required =). Have fun with this!!!

Oh, this was going to be fun. Cleaning telescopes. Who doesn't like that?

...

Helena took the cleaning solution and studied it for a moment. No reason, though. She was just a curious little creature. She also took the really soft cotton towel and then looked at her dusty telescope. No worries, it's going to be SOOO shiny.

The girl put a bit of cleaning solution on the cotton towel (which was just too soft and nice) and applied a light layer on the telescope, just as the instructions said.

Emily listened as the Professor explained the process of cleaning a telescope... she wasn't looking forward to using 'elbow grease' she was much more of a clean-by-magic sort of person. But no matter.... it had to be done.

Taking one of the soft cotton towels Emily began to apply the cleaning sollution to her telescope... leaving it to dry for a minute. After it had air dried in that minute Emily applied another layer of cleaning sollution and began to rub it onto the looking glass, moving it in clock wise circular motions. Once this was done she did the same along the length of the telescope.

Okay, the second step.

Helena waited patiently until the cleaning solution was completely dried, then took the cotton towel and applied another layer of cleaning solution. She rubbed the telescope carefully, because she knew she had two left hands and surely didn't want to break this.

She also rubbed the looking glass, then the rest again and again. The instructions said clockwise circular moves, so in clockwise circular moves she rubbed. Untiiiil it was shiny. Hehe.

Luin looked at the telescope she had picked and then at the paper with the list of instructions. This was going to be somewhat tedious. Oh well. She got some of the cleaning solution and one of the cotton towels and began to apply a layer of the solution. She made sure to go slowly and carefully as she didn't want to damage anything. She consulted the sheet as she finished and stepped back to wait for it to air dry.

Kyle had been sitting there quietly, then she decided to clean her telescope during class - it made sense. First, taking a soft cotton town at the cleaning solution provided to spread a light layer over the telescope. She waited, slowly, agonizingly as it dried. Then, she applied another coat of the solution rubbing it deeper into the looking glass of the telescope and then all over it once more. She kept rubbing, rubbing, rubbing continuously in clockwise circular motions until it was all over the telescope again.

Dropping the old dirty towel onto the table infront of her she grabbed her other clean town, and rubbed the same direction onto the telescope as before, clockwise that is until the telescope was dry. Then, she did it again a second time repeating her first step of using the clean towel and the solution provided - then rubbing counter clockwise after waiting for it to air dry. Then as the dust and debris was now gone, she took her can of Holding Cream and sprayed a layer over the entire telescope.

She waited for it to dry, and sat there calmly waiting for the telescope to be dry. She'd have to work with it in a few days time - what a waist.

"Isn't the looking glass of the telescope the most important part of it?" she inferred, smiling.

Helena checked again the instructions for the next steps.

This time, she took a fresh towel and rubbed the telescope in the same direction to dry it. But... why clockwise? Was that important? Important or not, the girl did just the way the instructions told her to.

Checking step number four, it said to repeat the first three steps. Okay.

She took again the cotton towel and added some cleaning solution, then rubbed everything in circular clockwise moves, then rubbed it with the other towel, and so on. She also kept muttering a "Scourgify" for the towels, so they would be clean for the re-use.

There. The telescope looked really shiny now.

K-Lee started on cleaning her telescope reluctantly. Looking at the cleaning solution she applied it with the cotton towel gently. Leaving it to dry for a minute, K-Lee looked around, seeing all the others also cleaning.

She looked back down at her telescope. What a lousy class. After the full minute had passed, K-Lee picked it up and went on with step 2. She applied another coat and started rubbing it in a clockwise circular motion until she had done it all.

She understood the telescopes were dirty and all, but seriously, why did they have to do it?

Two more steps! Yay!

Now that her telescope was all clean and shiny and everything, Helena sprayed a thin layer of holding cream over it. To help prevent future dust outbreaks. That was a really smart idea.

She was also super careful with the telescope, now that it was so clean and covered in cream, so it wouldn't slip out of her hands.

Almost done.

K-Lee started on step 3 happily. She couldn't wait for this to be finally done. Grabbign a clean towel, she continued with what she was doing before, rubbing in a clockwise circle direction all over the scope.

Reading step 4, K-Lee groaned. There was a repeat step? Examining the telescope to see if it needed repeating, K-Lee put down the towel, holding the telescope to the light.

Last step!

Helena looked over the instructions, but... uh...

Allow the solution to dry fully before operating the telescope. Alright. This may take up to 24 hours. Say whaaat?

She raised her hand. "Professor? Are we going to wait... 24 hours?" Well, of course they wouldn't. But that would mean that they're not going to use the telescopes.

Well seeing as her telescope needed to have the repeat step, K-Lee set to work. She was not enjoying Astronomy. It had started off great, but then the cleaning thing happened and the whole class started becoming boring.

She was never one for cleaning. If she ever had to, she would have her dad perform a spell to clean it, secretly of course. Her mum wanted her to do it herself.

As K-Lee repeated the first few steps, she started humming. Music made everything better. Well, not really cleaning but it made it slightly more bearable.

Destiny was sooo ready to clean the very dusty and dirty telescope! By the time she was finished with it, it was going to look brand new!

And that was what she thought until she heard Professor Hadley tell them they couldn't use their wands. Fragile pieces of equipment!? If they were so fragile, WHY did they let them use them? Too fragile for some people to even be looking at let alone touch and use.

Well, whatever.

Destiny wasn't one of those clumsy people. Her telescope was not in danger. And she wanted to put her name on it. If she had to clean it, she didn't want anyone else touching it. She would ask about that later. First she had to see how clean she got her; if she saw someone else with a cleaner one, she would just..steal theirs. Easy peasy!

Reading the directions, Destiny picked up one of the cotton towels and waved it around a bit. Had to make sure it wouldn't fall apart. Once she was sure it was sturdy, she used the towel to apply a light layer of the cleaning solution.

Sweet Merlin! Was the cleaning solution supposed to smell so HORRIBLE!?

Emily looked down at her list of instructions... step three.

Emily took a clean, fresh towel and rubbed it over the telescope in the same direction she had done it previously. It was amazing to see the effect cleaning had on it already. The dust and grime as disapearing and was beginning to look new again.

Pausing for a moment to give her arm a rest Emily admired her work... then she continued until the telescope was nice and dry again. There was still some grime and dust in the crevises though... this disappointed Emily.

Cleaning the telescopes? Not exactly what Emily had expected for their first astronomy lesson.
Reading then re-reading the instructions, she first got up to get a cotton towel and the cleaning solution. She put some on the the towel and, doing as the instuctions said, applyed it trying to do it as lightly as possible.
Yeah. Fun.

Emmy grabbed a telescope, two cleaning cloths, a bottle of cleaning solution, and a spray bottle of holding cream.
Right! Let's get to work! she thought to herself, smiling.
First, she took the top off tthe bottle of cleaning solution, wadded up her first cloth and placed it over the top of the bottle, and upturned it.

Then, she began applying the solution over the telescope, taking great care to get into all the little creases and crevices. Letting the first coat dry for a while, she glanced round at her fellow students to make sure she was going about it the right way.

Step 4 still. Even though she had chosen a clean one... cleaner than the others, the telescope was still filthy.

On her 3rd time repeating the first 3 steps, K-Lee smiled as she saw that her work was paying off. Now on her 3rd attempt, it was all clean. Hmmm... Step 5 next.

Emmy turned back to her telescope. The first coat seemed to be dry, so she dabbed more solution onto her cloth, and applied it with gentle clockwise circular motions. It took quite a while to cover the entire scope, but eventually she got there.
Taking the clean dry cloth, she followed the same pattern as she had with the cleaner, to dry it.
Well, it looked better, but it wasn't clean yet!
Here we go again...

GAH!

If Destiny had any nose hairs, she was sure the smell of the cleaning solution would have burned them right out. But, she didn't have any nose hairs..not that she checked or anything because that was just weird.

Ahem.

Once the whole telescope had a light layer of the smelly solution on it, she placed the cotton towel down an let the the telescope air dry for a minute. Or two. She wasn't really counting how long she waited an she hoped it didn't have to be an EXACT minute before she moved on to the next step. Professor Hadley wasn't watching her was she!? That would be weird, too.

Pretty sure a minute or two or five had passed, Destiny once again picked up the cotton towel and applied the VERY smelly cleaning solution to the looking glass and telescope, using a clockwise circular motion all over.

Now, not only did her feet hurt, her hand hurt as well. Who would have thought Astronomy could be such a painful class?

Grabbing a telescope and a towel, Kurumi returned to her desk and applied a healthy amount to her towel. Holding the telescope as gently as she could, she ran the towel all around it, being very careful not to drop it. Was it just her, or were they all doing an awful lot of maintenance this term? Kurumi didn't mind it so much, but it was taking precious time away from actual learning. Wouldn't this cleaning time be better spent memorizing star names or something?

Having applied a thin layer, Kurumi set it down and waited for the layer to dry. When it did, she picked it back up again and repeated the process making tiny clockwise circles. Having covered the telescope with the solution, she reached for a dry towel and began to dry it off.

Kyle decided she would write the instructions down in her notes for class.

First Step:
Using the provided cleaning solution and a clean soft cloth rub cleaning solution into the and onto the looking glass of the telescope as well as the telescope body.

She looked at the notes, comparing the first part to the first part in the instructions - she nodded. That should be suffice for step one, she thought dipping her quil in the ink jar again as she moved to step two...

Glancing back down at her notes Emily read the next instructions....

So step four was to repeat steps one to three.... great.
Taking the cleaning sollution again and a cleaning cloth Emily started the cleaning process again.

This time she worked more carefully, ensuring she got into all the cracks and corners, and that there was no dust or grime ANYWHERE... once she finished.

It looked good... and clean and shiny...

Emily rubbed her shoulder, after all the rubbing she wouldn't be surprised if she had developed bulk muscles... in the one arm. Awkward much?

"But... but..." Jake had found himself mouthing the words as he STARED at Hadley.

This was NOT where she taught! She was meant to be like a gazillion floors down! Did nobody understand that people had their places, like Vindictus taught outside (though he'd ventured to the Herbology place which wasn't TOO bad because Jake didn't know any old Herbology person) and Hadley was... uhhh... the second floor? And ANTARES was UP HERE.

It was all backwards, Antares wasn't here and the fragility of the suddenly WARPED situation had Jake on the verge of tears. This wasn't fair.

Antares was... second only to Truebridge. It simply wasn't... fair.

Biting his lip, Jake stared at the other kids in the class, and he WOULD start cleaning. You know. Soon.

After he pulled himself together.