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Yay, it worked! It wasn't a fancy paper airplane, but Jo was proud of what she achieved. She picked up what used to be a knife and smoothed out the creases on the paper. She could not remember if Professor Carton had instructed them to bring back their work, but if she did not have to hand it in then this paper airplane was most certainly going into Jocelyn Bryce's Portfolio of Magic. With more confidence in her spell work, the Slytherin was about to head to the left to transfigure more knives propped against a tree when she heard that time was up. She went back to the classroom, sighing in disappointment. Still, she did have progress to reflect on, and she added thoughts to her notebook before raising her hand (the one that was holding the paper airplane). "I didn't get to practice the spell on lots of knives, but I'm guessing smaller ones with simple designs would be easier to transfigure. Swords, for example, would be more difficult." |
Sorry he's such a brat! Honestly, Alfred was still musing over how a paper plane could be considered less dangerous than a knife. Aimed just right, a paper plane could take out an eye or at least scratch one's cornea. Not that he had any experience in this area or anything. But note that he'd much rather have someone coming after him with a butter knife than a paper plane. Also note he said butter knife. Others were much much more dangerous. He filed back into the classroom with the others, tossing a butter knife into the air and catching it, and retook his seat placing his feet on the desk with legs crossed at the ankles. "Something like this," he started, holding up the butter knife after another successful catch, "is much easier to transfigure than anything sharper would be. Like, say, those swords and things they used in ancient Rome. And anything moving, like say," he quickly transfigured the butter knife into a paper plane using "Scarpafors!" and threw it in a random direction, "that plane would be even harder because it could move or be moved out of the way of your aim." |
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It was quite a disappointment when Carton announced time was up. Jude cast another look around the room just because then headed out. He retook his original position on the floor, putting his wand beside him. How did he think he did? The fifth year thought he did pretty well all things considered. Jude listened to his classmates, watched Alfred’s demonstration {catching the plane in one hand when it came his way} then raised the same hand with the plane nestled in it. “I’m with Jocelyn, professor. The smaller ones would be easier to transfigure. Maybe that would explain partially why the first set of knives I transfigured turned into slightly wonky planes. A moving target, as usual, would be another level of difficulty especially if you usually have a bad aim.” |
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Mini Activity SPOILER!!: Individual replies When he saw no more hands in the air, Norman addressed the class once more, “Good answers! While there are a few other general factors to consider when determining the difficulty of transfiguring an object, such as concentration, wand power, and the viciousness of the object in question, you’ve hit the nail on the head. In the case of these knives, the most important ones to consider are size - or mass - and complexity of design.” HIs eyes searched the room for any signs of confusion so far. Everyone got that? Good! Moving on… “As for hitting a moving target, one’s aim and timing are important. Another factor -” one that hadn’t been mentioned. “- is distance. The farther your spell has to travel, the harder it is to hit your target. So you have to ask yourself, do you stand close to your target and risk being hit? Do you stand farther back and risk the spell not hitting its mark? It’s a trade-off… a trade-off that you’ll get to see for yourself momentarily.” With a flick of his wand, Norman revealed a row of wooden dummies at the back of the room, which had previously been hidden by a disillusionment charm. Another flick revealed a box at his feet. He reached into the box and pulled out a knife, a blunt plastic butter knife. “Your task is to guard the dummies from these knives…” he held up one to demonstrate. “These knives will be flying at the dummies; you’ll stop them by transforming them into paper airplanes. They’re not sharp enough to cause damage, so they’ll just bounce off if they hit. Still, not something you’d want to be hit with, so you’ll be practicing from behind the walls at the left and right sides of the room.” He gestured toward the nearest glass wall. “These walls are made of magically reinforced glass,” he continued. “Spells can pass from the inside, but no spells or objects can penetrate from the outside.” Just to prove his point, he poked at the glass with the plastic knife in his hand. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. “DO NOT step outside the glass walls until the activity ends! If you do, there will be consequences.” That should go without saying, but one could never tell with some of these kids! “Go ahead and take your places behind the glass. It doesn’t matter which side; this isn’t a competition.” He paused for a few minutes to allow time for the students to get where they were going. Only when he was sure that every student was safely behind the walls did he say, “You have the rest of class, starting NOW!” And with a wave of his wand, plastic knives began to levitate out of the box and toward the dummies. OOC: Thank you for sticking with me! We’ve reached the mini activity. Your character needs to use Scarpafors to stop as many knives as possible from hitting the dummies. You ARE allowed to rp the outcomes of your spells this time. As Norman said, the knives are blunt and plastic, so there should be no rping of any injuries! Your character must stay behind the glass walls at the sides of the room unless you want IC consequences for rule-breaking. You don’t need to title your post with which side, but please include the number of knives your character has hit. You’ll have ABOUT 48 HOURS for this activity. ^_^ |
1 knife down. Yes, Jude understood that all quite clearly, professor. He turned the plane over in his hands while he continued to listen to Carton. He was super interested in this tradeoff being spoken of. He supposed that will be happening in the form of a second activity. Yep. He was right. Jude set the plane down and surveyed the dummies with continued interest. Protect the dummies. Got it. Also, they now knew what that glass wall was to be used for. It seemed like a lot of information to remember and the fifth year thought he memorised them as best as he could. For that reason, he headed off for the glass wall - the left side because he favoured his left hand. His wand was ready even before the knives were out of the box. But then they were and started moving towards the dummies. Almost immediately, Jude had zoned in on one of the knives which was traveling at a moderate speed. The boy watched it zoom closer, the incantation on the tip of his tongue. The intention was to have the knife come closer so that there was less chance of missing. “Scarpafors!” Jude called out the incantation and flicked his wand when the knife as just about halfway to the dummy. And his gamble paid off! One butter knife turned plane! |
half a knife :o Hitting a moving target sounded super difficult, especially since Jo still struggled with transfiguring stationary objects. She thought that the best way for a first year like her to handle a flying knife would simply be: to duck. In the following tasks however, knives would be flying at dummies and not them, the students, so she felt much safer. Soon after she moved to take up a place behind the glass, plastic knives began to levitate toward the poor dummies. She raised her wand and ... realised that she had not come up with a strategy. So she flicked her wand quickly at whichever knife she could aim at, accompanying each flick with, "Scarpafors! Scarpafors! Scarpafors!" The third time was the charm (transfiguration). Or at least, she had hit the target. Jo watched as the blunt plastic knife began its transformation into a crinkly paper airplane, then stopped halfway through, just like her first attempt in the backyard. The knife-plane continued its journey, and bounced off a dummy's forehead. Ouch. Sorry, dummy! |
Total knives down: 2 There wasn’t any time to actually celebrate this win. Nope. There were far too many knives coming towards the glass and there were actually two that were zooming towards the dummy Jude had been working to save from any injury. Would it be wise to wait until they were close enough as he had done with the first knife? The Hufflepuff didn’t think so. “Scarpafors.” The wand was flicked, intended for the knife slightly ahead of the other. But things were happening too quickly and his spell hit the second knife. What went even more wrong was the fact that the plane was without a wing. Gosh. Talk about a silly looking plane. Flustered, Jude hurried to stop the other knife, which was now incredibly close to the dummy. “Scarpafors.” Flick and a miss. The knife hit the dummy with a tiny thud. Sorry, dummy pal! |
4 hits, 4 misses Ugh. Violet had gotten rather good at the new transfiguration spell, but found she was much less good at hitting moving objects. After her first miss, she opted to cast as many spells as possible versus waiting to aim at a particular one--she figured she had a better chance of beating the odds that way. But so far she had only managed to transfigure 3 out of 8 knives (and one of those hadn't even been heading toward the dummy she was protecting). "Bother!" she said to herself, as she aimed again, and actually hit the knife, though she admitted it had probably been by accident than by aim. |
Total knives down: 4 Was it just him or were the knives coming in very quick succession now? Must be him… “Scarpafors.” Flick. Yes! Another plane; this one at least had two wings and looked proper. There wasn’t time to do much celebrating, of course, since knives were flying left, right and center. Still, Jude found himself rather enjoying the activity. It clearly took his mind off of all the things that were bothering him. “Scarpafors.” This particular butter knife came ridiculously close to the dummy; it had literally been inches away from the dummy’s face. A quick flick sent it transforming into a plane - another perfect one. “Scarpafors.” This time, the Hufflepuff tried for one that was a much bigger distance away but like before, he had a difficult time with that distance. He missed the knife altogether which caused it to smash into the dummy. The fifth year imagined the poor dummy was not at all happy. |
That's a wrap! ^_^ Norman continued guiding the plastic knives with his wand, watching as they flew in a straight line from the box to the dummies at the back. Although his eyes remained locked on their course the whole time, he was very much aware of everything going on behind the glass walls. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anders and Blackthorne making excellent progress with their spellwork. If his count was correct, they each had four apiece. It looked like Bryce was doing a good job as well. A half-transformation was better than none at all. Not a bad start at all! Each of the three students got an approving nod, though he refrained from verbal praise for the time being so as not to break their concentration… or his own. Momentarily looking away from the knives just long enough to check his watch, he saw that class time was winding down. “And that’s time! Good work, everyone!” he called. The knives stopped flying, dropping where they were, and a flick of his wand summoned all of the untransfigured knives back into the box. Although the knives were essentially harmless, he didn’t want the students to get any ideas about smuggling them out of the classroom. “You may come out from behind the walls now and collect your things.” He waited a few minutes for the students to emerge before giving the homework assignment, “Your homework: practice Scarpafors on two different types of knives around the school. Class dismissed!” OOC: Thanks for participating! I’ll leave the thread open for up to 24 more hours for those who want to post their character leaving. ^_^ |
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