She did finally open her eyes when Peralta said there would be light, disappointed she couldn't get a nap but otherwise please class was going to begin. She wondered how her friends and non-friends had done. Mamie hadn't found it that hard to do the obstacle course in the dark?? She eyed the obstacle course. Like, yes, she had to walk differently than normal, but she'd navigated in darkness before. Like, going downstairs to the kitchen at home when she wanted water at night, or going to the bathroom when her family went camping. Was she just...very athletic? Maybe that was it.

She raised her hand. "You have to go slower if you can't see," she said. "Because...because you're using different senses, like the listening or feeling, to find your way, and it takes longer to figure it out because you're not used to doing it that way."

Evan was glad for the notice lights would be going up, if not so he could adjust to the light but also to make sure he was up and dusted off his robes as best as he could before his peers could see him again. Not that it really mattered, but for some reason it did matter to him a bit. With the lights up, he eyed the obstacle course in the room that had been set or them, amused and kind of impressed at the set up. Was Professor Peralta a parent? An aunt? He imagined she'd be really fun to have as either if this was what she could put together. Who wouldn't want a giant foam obstacle course?

Even he kind of wanted to go down the slides and everything now.

Hearing the questions, and most people sounding as if they were focusing on question number two, he raised his hand to take a stab in the dark - heh - at question number one. "Darkness is often a fear people face, and even if you're not afraid of the dark the loss of use of your eyes causes so much uncertainty for some, it can make your brain think a little less rationally. For an example, I started slow and gave my other senses time to make sense of what could be happening in the room. But then the uncertainty of being unable to see my peers and if they might run into me" Which could cause much more injury than the foam obstacles "affected my decision to go faster which caused more mishaps." He should have just ignored the uncertainty and kept going slow.

Might have made it across without going down.

Misa was fiercely opposed to the dark and would never volunteeringly enter such conditions. She wasn't sure why anyone would.

"The difficulty is humans are not meant to be nighttime creatures. Our eyes need light to work. Some people are even afraid of the dark because our ancestors were eaten by predators in the dark." Some people like her. She was afraid of the dark. Nope. No reason for there not to be light. Genetically speaking, it was against the natural order to be anywhere dark.

"Me too," Ivy admitted quietly. She might not have frozen the moment the door closed, but her heart was racing and a part of her wanted to make a run for it, even though that would likely result in her falling flat on her face.

But it was nice to know that she wasn't the only one feeling that way, and it was also nice that Phoebe kept ahold of her. Having someone else close by was reassuring.

Despite keeping her free arm outstretched, she did bump into a few things, but eventually they did reach their desks, and then, thank Merlin, Professor Peralta gave them some light. It made her feel a little silly now, seeing what the obstacle course actually looked like and confirming that it was only the students and the professor in the room, but...she wasn't going to dwell on those feelings now.

Though...maybe it tied a little bit into how she wanted to answer. "It's really overwhelming when you first go in," she said, raising her hand. "Even if you think you know what's there, you don't really know. So it helps having someone there with you to tackle it together." And she sent a small smile in Phoebe's direction.

Quinn hadn't exactly... made it to his seat in the allotted time. He squinted as the lights came up, and noticed... he had been walking towards the wall. He wasn't too far from it, either. He quickly made his way to a seat and sat down to draw attention away from himself... if he was the only one still standing that would be the worst.

He pondered over the professor's questions for a moment before answering. "The darkness didn't only make it harder to move, it also prevented you from knowing where you were moving. Like... it was hard to know which direction you were facing, and if you were going where you wanted to go." He knew from firsthand experience. "For me touch was definitely the most helpful, but it still, um, wasn't as effective as being able to see," he said, reddening a bit. Good thing no one saw him trip... well, the professor could've seen, but Quinn decided he would believe that she didn't see. Because he didn't want her to.

Misa's answer intrigued Quinn, though. Maybe they would be learning a Charm that let them see in the dark today. Was there a Charm that worked like that?

She covered her eyes as the lights were came back on. Lisa squinted. Gosh that was brighter than she expected but she was really glad that she had protected her eyes a little more with her hands. That was lucky!

Lisa slowly lowered her hands and blinked several times until they had become adjusted to the light once more. Then her eyes widened when she saw the AWESOME OBSTACLE COURSE! She wanted to go try it out again in the dark after getting to take a quick look at it. She liked a challenge and she thought that she could go quicker through it next time.

But first- a question and several answers. She nodded along as she listened to them. She shot her hand up to add. “I had to go slow too like Mamie!” Lisa was proud of that. “I also used touch too. I couldn’t smell anything different so I relied on touch. I also tried to tap on the obstacles that were in front of me to see if they were hollow or not... I think it worked but I think it could be bad if those obstacles were sharper...Maybe not the best method for courses...” But it helped her!

Speaking of which, genuinely curious questions “Say Professor, can we try the course again after the lesson? I think it would be interestingly to see how much we remember after seeing it in the light.”

"When you take away one of your senses usually you're others become heighten. So for me, I used my hearing and touch to try and make my way over here." Blake added as he stood up and adjusted his eyes to the light. Dusted off his clothes and got prepared for the remainder of the lesson.

Ash had just reached the desks when the lights were turned on. She had escaped without any major incidents. She had bumped into objects, but only softly. She had no problems walking through the dark, but still she was glad when the lights returned and she could see that there was nothing to be afraid of. "Obviously I couldn't see in the dark, but I could hear where other people were bumping into stuff, and I could use my sense of touch by gliding forward with my arms extended." Kinda like a zombie. "And I knew I couldn't..." ...short pause, followed by uncomfortable swallow... "... I couldn't hurt myself, because I could like, sense the obstacles and stuff." It was just darkness. Nothing to be afraid of... right?

Right?

Ollie bit the inside of her lip. Oops. Had she misread the notice? She didn't realize you weren't supposed to use magic in this activity. She hoped the professor wasn't too upset with Ollie. The last thing she needed was to get in trouble or lose house points.

SHe decided it probably was best to keep quiet for this set of questions since her experience was different from her classmates.

To make it clear, Emmerson did NOT appreciate having to find her seat in the dark. Fact was, she could sometimes hardly find her seat in the light, usually meandering toward one of her friends instead. Dark? Forget about it.

It wasn’t until the lights began coming on (as she hadn’t moved after tripping) that Emm got up and made her way over to her spot. They could all agree it was better when the room was lit.

“I didn’t know where anything was then I tripped and nearly broke my neck.” She offered, a certain disgrace to her Head Auror mother if she ever knew. There was no anything else kicking in, no feeling like she was suddenly super powerful in another way or like anything else was getting more useful—unless tasting the slide she went down counted...but she had a feeling it didn’t.

“You know, Professor, if you wanted to know all the things that can go wrong in the dark, I could always make you a list. I’ve got a TON of examples, some even you’d find useful—unless you don’t have a boyfriend, then maybe only half would be—unless you don’t have enemies either. Were you the mean girl or the victim?”

It was important to knowing what list was just right.

As they'd suspected might be the case, Nem encountered very few obstacles, clearly less than the others, judging by what they heard of collisions and scuffles and the occasional muttered curse. What they did encounter seemed to be soft and squashy and easily climbed over or shoved aside; the main curiosity was that the room seemed to be taking a lot longer to traverse than usual. Even factoring in the darkness, which could affect spatial awareness and judgement of distance in a lot of people who could usually see well, it soon became clear that this was not altered perception but a case of enchantment. Just a case of moving along the wall until they found the second corner, and knew they were up at the other end.

Which is what they did. Maybe it had taken them longer than other students - they couldn't tell for sure in the darkness, once they reached the desks - but Nem felt certain that circumventing most of the obstacles had more than made up for going the 'long' way.

When the lights went up, they kept their eyes on Peralta. Some of these answers were not unexpected, but no less impossible to relate to. Overwhelming. Afraid. Thinking less rationally. That last one did make more sense, seeing as it sounded like most other kids had barrelled right through the centre of the room.

Nem provided an answer of their own in a flat voice. "Some senses heighten automatically to compensate for deprivation of another. Using touch is a more conscious decision. I put my hand on the wall and followed that to the other end of the classroom."

Remy turned to face the front, after spending some time watching students behind her stumble out of the darkness. It was a little bit amusing. She was pretty pleased about her own attempt to go through the obstacles, and her stubbed toe wasn't hurting anymore.

"I stubbed my toe on something. That was pretty difficult." Remy commented after raising her hand. She wasn't being dramatic, she was only kidding. A stubbed toe wasn't the end of the world.

"I used my hands to feel for things that could be in the way. I did it without thinking." It was a pretty good method for the activity.

Heath nearly jumped out of his seat as Professor Peralta's voice in the darkness startled him, and his head turned in the direction of the sound. He was so glad when the lights came up, and he could see the obstacles, including the foam wedge he tripped over. Much longer in the dark, and he couldn't promise he wouldn't have used his wand. Apparently all that time in The Room last term gave him a thing about darkness!

Trying to push those memories out if his mind, Heath focused on Peralta's question. The first part was obvious. One if the difficulties he faced was a crippling fear of darkness, but there was no way in Hoth that he was mentioning that! He didn't want to look weak in front of his classmates, especially the younger ones. Instead, he chose to answer the second part of the question.

"As others have said, touch helped," he said after raising his hand. [b"I kept one hand out as I moved so it would touch the obstacles before the rest of me did."[/b] And it worked… sort of. "Then I sort if felt around until I couldn't feel the obstacle anymore, and that helped me know where it ended."

For the kids who hadn't made it to their seats in time, Neva wasn't judging. If anything it simply showed how disorienting it could be to try and navigate through an environment where visibility was pretty much zero. Humans relied heavily on light and when it was suddenly taken away, one had to find ways to adapt. Ways that took time and practice to hone. Or, as they'd soon find out, magic.

She watched their faces as they considered her questions, glad to see that they were making connections. Or at least they were acting like they were, which was also appreciated.




...................

Right.

"Though I'm not entirely sure Miss Cambridge's offer was appropriate, she has touched on the next thing I wanted you all to discuss in a roundabout way." She eyed the Gryffindor for a moment with raised brows and then continued on. "Navigating through the dark without a source of light or the ability to see what's around you is clearly not an easy task. There are some benefits to darkness, though. I'd like you to find yourself a partner and then think about instances where you'd want to navigate through a dark environment without using a source of light to help guide the way. Be creative, feel free to think outside the box, be appropriate, and then share one of your scenarios with the class." She eyed her watch. "You'll have about fifteen minutes to do this, so let's get to work."

OOC: Hi friends! If you're playing catch-up, that's A-Okay! The next part of the lesson requires your charrie to:
-Find a partner (Please claim an unpartnered charrie above your post when possible! This helps to keep things moving!!)
-Discuss different scenarios where you would want to move around a dark space without using a light source
-Pretend it's your pair's turn to share with the class and have them share one of their scenarios with the group
You'll have about 54 hours to complete this part of the class!

Remy was glad they had to partner up for the next activity, because she wasn't really sure about situations where being in darkness would be good. Darkness was scary, she thought for everyone. There was probably a really clever answer to it, but it wasn't coming to her at the moment.

Remy looked around for a potential partner, keeping eyes out for students who she knew were good at answering questions. Any takers?

The segue was certainly... interesting, but it seemed like it worked. And now they were to brainstorm different scenarios in which darkness could be a help rather than a hindrance? That shouldn't be too bad and he could probably come up with one or two on the practical side, and maybe even on the silly side. Did the Professor care if they went one way or the other? Seemed not as long as they were, as she had stressed, appropriate.

Looking around the room, Evan could spot one of the new first year's doing the same and decided to make his way over towards her, offering a small smile. "Hi, I'm Evan. Want to partner up?"

While still looking for the perfect partner, and as always, preferably someone older who knew their stuff more than she would, Remy got lost in her own thoughts about the question. It was a tricky one, but she wanted at least one idea under her belt so she wouldn’t want to embarrass herself in front of a partner and be mute.

Oh? Remy could feel her cheeks heat up as a boy asked her to be their partner. She let out a little giggle before replying. “Sure.” OH, introductions. “Hiii, I’m Remy.”

“So…” she started. “I can’t think of much, really…” Apart from sneaking into other houses’ common rooms… But she wouldn’t suggest that one. Remy tapped her chin with her fingers. “What about… if you needed to hide from something? Like a troll? They’re quite stupid, apparently, so if it was dark it would be easy to sneak by them.” Remy suggested to Evan with a shrug.

Claudine struggled not to laugh when Emmerson gave her answer. The whole boyfriend thing amused her, okay? She noted many students spoke about their sense of touch. She’d opted to not speak of that as she’d employed her sense of hearing more. See, listening was actually Claudine’s thing. Since she preferred to stay quiet, she usually listened to what was going around her.

But then…

Partners. Meh.

“Anyone want to partner up?’’ the sixth year asked in a disinterested tone. Don’t worry. She didn’t bite anymore.

Okay... after that smile Ollie figured she wasn't in too much trouble. She was thankful that Professor Peralta wasn't as strict as Headmaster Trent. She for sure would have lost house points if she would have made that mistake in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She looked around the classroom to see if any of her friends were open for partnering or anyone else that seemed available.

Noah was still half-blind from the foam wedge that made contact with his left eye when the lights came on, and the discussion started. Deep down he felt really frustrated by not thinking things through, and just went for the deep dive. Certain people in his life would not approve of his behaviour, especially now that he got hurt. Not life-threatening, but it could've been worse.

Right. Partner. For...whatever.

Blinking and pressing a hand to his left eye, Noah flagged down a girl in Slytherin robes who looked like she was looking for a partner. She was apparently nearest to him too. "Hey, hi. You. Let's give the discussion a go?" The faster, the better because he wanted his eye rinsed already. Oof. Stupid foam things.

"You're in luck, Blaze. I'm all yours," Phoebe turned in her seat and propped her elbows onto the desk of the fellow sixth year. She'd let Claudine take notes for them, if she wanted. It didn't necessarily seem like one of those topics that required detailed note taking.

"Now then... what are some things that might benefit from the dark? Maybe if we decided to become master criminals, it would be much easier to commit crimes in the dark. No one could tell who we are, no one could see what we're up to. So criminal activity! Good in the dark!"

It had taken Violet longer than she liked to make it to her seat and she was still feeling a bit embarrassed about it when the class had suddenly moved along to an activity. She hastily looked around, hoping she could find someone to partner with and make up for lost time.



(OOC: Sorry I was late to the party, I've been away a lot this week but am back now)

This was not at all where she thought they'd been going with the fake-midnight obstacle course. She thought they were going to demonstrate how useful light was, and then learn Lumos or something. Not...coming up with reasons darkness might be useful? This was literally the opposite of what she thought.

She fidgeted slightly, then looked around for a partner. She spotted Violet. She headed in the Slytherin's direction. "Will you be my partner?" she asked quietly. "I have some ideas." They might not be good ideas, but they'd be ideas.

Violet turned when she heard herself addressed. It was Mamie, offering to be her partner! That was a relief--Violet always had trouble finding partners in class, even in her fourth year, and it was nice to be asked first.

"Yes!" she replied, trying not to sound too eager. "I have some ideas, too."

Her method was unique...

UNQIUE.

Lisa beamed even more at the comment, taking it fully as a compliment and being very, very proud to be called unique. Oh why yes, she was unique. one of a kind and she was very happy the Professor noticed that. Hehehe.

And now they had to partner up. She scanned the room, looking for anyone that hadn't partnered up yet. "Anyone want to be partners?"

If she knew how to make cookies, she would have certainly offered cookies but she was not a great chef or baker.