SENIOR PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

[goosemods]

SENIOR PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Exams might be over, but the Class of 2014 still has one last step to go through before they graduate: their senior project presentations!

SENIOR PROJECT OPTIONS
You can do several or only one of these options for presenting your senior project. Although ICly your character does have to submit a senior project in order to graduate; OOCly you are not obligated to post anything here. Life is short. You will all be dead soon!!!!

• Silent submission. You may submit a project to your Head of House, to be passed onto the assessment committee for grading. This is considered either the "shy kids" option or "I wrote this paper overnight and I'm too ashamed to look at it anymore" option. You can still get a good grade this way, but doing an actual presentation is known to net bonus points and/or extra benefits.


• Showcase in the Atrium. Space has been set aside in the Atrium as either gallery space or science-fair-style booths. All students are encouraged to spend time in the lodge today to see everyone's projects. Although it's not required, seniors who are present for their showcases (in order to answer questions or run their booths) will net additional points for effort, and likely get a grade boost in classes relevant to their project (e.g. a machine that mixes and dispenses potions might net you a grade boost in Potions and Artificing). You can have a showcase and a presentation in the auditorium if you're an overachiever.


• Presentation in the auditorium. Students will be allotted 15 minute blocks, by request, in order to use the stage to make a presentation on their hard work. Assume that students have booked their 15 minute blocks ahead of today, and have been given lots of leeway in what preparations they can make (e.g. a projector for a slideshow, lighting and music, musical instruments or objects they want set up onstage). This is the option is popular for people who are hoping their senior project will create opportunities for the future (see below).


• Headmistress Bloom is extremely well-connected and knows people from a wide variety of fields. Business leaders and influential Gooseberry alums will be in attendance. Every senior who booked the auditorium was required to write a short treatment on their project, and if Bloom believes an idea is promising, she's invited industry people who might take interest. (e.g. If your project is related to medicine, there might be Healers and people who run wizard hospitals; if it's a prototype, there might be people who can fund production or distributions; if it's a performance piece, there might be art patrons or recruiters for theatre troupes. Please feel free to say that your character got a really cool offer after their presentation!)

» The Atrium: Gallery space and booths have been set up for showcasing projects.

» The Auditorium: Participating students have been allotted a maximum of 15 minutes to impress.

» Other Projects: For those of you who wanted to avoid the spotlight but still wanted to talk about what you'd spent all year working on. Hopefully all year.

» OOC: QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & CONCERNS

Comments

THE ATRIUM

[goosemods]

ROBIN'S BOOTH

[hisshiss]

Robin's project has three main parts:

1. A classic conspiracy corkboard. Robin loves the classics! There's a large corkboard set up at his booth, with an alarming amount and variety of yarn stretched from pin to pin. A lot of the yarn came from Gord Cunningham, and it's a needlessly complicated amount. There's a legend tacked to the side of the board but there are just too many categories. There's yarn that rings like a bell (or like a hollow moon) and that's only used to connect incidents that occurred to redhead students after midnight. The stuff that glows when exposed to heat means an unconfirmed but probably pretty legit connection.
   Aside from so much yarn you can barely see what's underneath, the board is covered with things like: moon charts, Tess' artist's rendition of the thing in the woods, pictures of Chris' rock and the basket Virgil was returned in, and a map of the school with known incidents marked.
   
   
2. Anonymous Posts compilation and Spooky Shit Scrapbook. The Anonymous Post compilation is a collection of every interaction Anonymous had with a student on a New Moon post. Each month also has contextual notes, such as weather, time stamps for Anon's responses, things happening at the school that month, what prize followed (if known), any known incidents related to the post or anything notable. For example, the STAY AWAY post had a note about the smell being different. The rough draft version isn't here, but that version of this compilation has much snarkier commentary, edited out by Robin's smarter friends. It's fine, it was mostly "lol" and "lmao we basically told anon to kidnap kids."
   The Spooky Shit Scrapbook is where Robin has compiled all the firsthand experiences students have shared about the forest entity, plotted out along a hopefully correct timeline. Everyone has a fake name, even when the experiences are things everyone knows about. A lot of the fake names are really easy to guess. Remember when Uriah Snayle got woodsnapped? Or when Roger Dollywood got lost in the woods for like half a second with a bunch of freshmen? Robin's own encounters are written as happening to someone named Bruce Wayne.
   There are a lot of pictures in here, ones that didn't fit on the board mostly, and the lack of yarn is kind of sad. You miss the yarn, don't you? The pictures aren't always important--sometimes it's just the ground where something happened.
   There are also "SUSPECTED ANONYMOUS WRITER CONVERSATIONS" in which Robin shares the 20 questions conversation during the Anonymous Days, but also several other definitely not Anonymous Writer interactions. Anon is not the pregnant girl, Robin. This is basically a conspiracy blog in a handwritten format.
   He includes a transcript of Bruce Wayne's visit to the Sorting Cave, but he doesn't think there's anything helpful there.
   
   
3. Research notes. This is where the legitimate work comes in, really. Here Robin has basic information on the journal system, the creator (including the letter he wrote Tess), the timeline on New Moon posts, moon charts, astrology charts, any kind of geological surveys he could find online when back home. There are no pictures OR yarn in this notebook and it's frankly disappointing.
   
   Robin does not include his half a second of GoPro footage, because it's not useful and also his laptop wasn't charged so fuck it, and the info he got from the seance transcript given to Tess after her incident is only sparsely referenced, though Robin uses the info in there to jump to a lot of conclusions.
   
   There's also a section in the spooky shit scrapbook that one of his editors told him to take out but pretty much proves that Jesse McBride is the Anonymous Writer. If Jesse is the Anonymous Writer, Robin is going to be so pissed.
   
   I have no clue what class any of this could possibly fit under, but he's just hoping his effort is enough to get him a damn diploma.

Takeru's Escape Room

[sugiru]

Takeru's booth, from the exterior, appears to be a giant black box, big enough for several people to fit inside, with a doorway blocked off by a science-themed shower curtain. The interior is sparse, white and clean. Clinical. Although against one wall, his final project for art - a living portrait of Kazim and Mirabel - has been hung. (Takeru thinks this is hilarious)

The final project is an educational escape room, borrowing heavily from the plot of The Andromeda Strain. Groups of three to five are scientists operating in a remote, underground facility working on a cure to a mysterious new virus that is causing widespread death above ground. Puzzles involve utilizing Potions knowledge to formulate a cure and Artificing to devise a way to implement it on a wide scale. There's also a "hack the computer" portion that requires some basic History of Magic knowledge. It's quick, but actually pretty tough, particularly the artificing portion.

CECIL'S BOOTH

[choneychurch]

Cecil may not've been in his element during the presentation, but he is here! For his senior project, he created a magical sweet that restores clarity to happy memories and temporarily allows people to experience the emotions associated with those memories again. His booth is organized and comprehensive, outlining:

• The ingredients and the process of brewing the potion and how it differs from the less focused, less potent Memory Potion from which it was adapted. One of the ingredients is a very specific type of honey from a very specific type of magical bee species that might be difficult to acquire without a beekeeper for a father. Sorry kids of Gooseberry!


• The qualities of the potion (including its viscosity, color, horrible taste, and other properties) and the effects of the potion. Before consuming the potion, an individual must first focus on a happy memory. If this isn't done, the potion will not work. If this is done, however, the individual will immediately and temporarily (usually for thirty to sixty minutes) experience the emotions associated with that memory again. The memory will also become more clear in their mind, as if it had happened yesterday instead of weeks or months or years ago. While the memory will not remain perfect forever, it will fade as any other recent memory would.


• The recipe and the use of culinary magics to convert the foul-tasting potion into a palatable and convenient sweet! Because this is not taught at Gooseberry Alternative High School, he includes a long list of citations and resources for those interested in learning more about such magic.


• The limitations of the potion. For the sake of safety, the potion was designed to only work with happy memories and requires an individual to focus on a specific memory to work properly. If this isn't done, the potion will have no effect at all. Because this could be confusing or frustrating, an enchanted wrapper for the sweet was also created for the project. The wrapper is charmed to change colors (from blue to a shiny gold) when the individual holding it is in the proper state of mind to consume the sweet and have it function.


• The results of the clinical trials, both the early trials (which were conducted on himself, Mr. Elmasry, and Mr. Merrill with Healer Mufferaw observing) and the later trials (which were conducted on senior volunteers with Healer Mufferaw observing). This is mostly numbers and hard data, but does include some anonymous quotes about people's experiences with the potion. This section also includes the recommendation that additional trials be done for individuals with naturally or magically altered memories, like people impacted by false memory charms.


• While Cecil hesitated about doing so, he did bring samples! Anyone that would like to take one piece and try it (now or at a later date) is welcome to do so! Some seniors have already done this, but this will be a new experience for any juniors or sophomores that opt to try it.

Cecil will happily answer questions that people have and talk about his project: just ask!

QUINN'S BOOTH

[quinning]

After four years of digging through articles on hexes and singeing her eyebrows in the Artificing shed, Quinn sets up her academic magnum opus's showcase booth. The space includes two prototypes of the project, an extra set of everything inside for tinkering with, and a detailed outline of the creation process and project goals. The fifth copy of her cue cards might've been dropped in the fire by an idiot freshman but that doesn't mean that she's any less prepared. She's so prepared.

• Quinn created a first aid kit for magical users. Its small steel housing is about the size and shape of an Altoids tin, and when closed, is small enough to fit in your pocket. When opened, expansion charms unfold to reveal a three-tiered system similar to a sewing box.
  
  • The sections are labeled MAGICAL CREATURES, MAGIC GONE AWRY, MALADIES, MUNDANE AILMENTS, MALEVOLENT MAGIC, and MISCELLANY. Each section includes directions.
  
  
  • The kit has both magical cures and standard nomaj first aid kit fare. (Think this.) Magical cures include small amounts of common poultices and tiny vials of concentrated versions of useful potions (ex. pepper-up and wiggenwald). Aware that she lacks the aptitude, Quinn explains that future partnerships could create more effective potions and poultices. She's done research on how to create them in theory.
    
    She is very clear that no one should touch the poultices or drink the potions during the showcase. Like... really, guys?!
  
  
  • The user may not always be in a state where they are fully capable of treating their injuries. Some elements are able to perform certain tasks if prompted. This is limited to things that, if they misbehave, are unable to cause real harm. (i.e. Alcohol wipes can be instructed to swab a wound, but something lodged inside the wound would need to be removed by a person.)
  
  
  • Safety failsafes have been applied to the housing. As well as being air- and water-tight, the housing is (relatively) hexproof. The kit is small enough to fit in a pocket—if these fail-safes weren't accounted for and a hex or jinx hit it, the result on the wearer's body could be drastic. The metal itself is imbued with a number of charms to repel and prevent hexes, but the container is not a safety device unto itself.
    
    The kit is only protected against the most common hexes and jinxes. The failsafes are not comprehensive, and they have not been tested against curses. (This is intended for the everyman, not the Auror.)
• A paper is available of the planning and prototype processes, as well as future plans for the product. She acknowledges that not many people would actually want to read it, however, and makes herself available to answer questions.
  1. Assessing the needs of the kit: What are common mundane, and common magical injuries? What are the most common afflictions and hexes? Where do extant kits fall short, either in feature or function?
  2. Contents research, acquisition, and creation: What materials are best for the items inside? How can they be made more compact, and easier to use?
  3. Artificing: What materials lend themselves best to a structure that is hardy, but also readily manipulatable by magic? It turns out the answer is 'steel.' Artificing was used to create the container and embed it with spellwork to make it resistant to some of the most common hexes, jinxes, and charms-gone-awry. (Don't worry: the testing process was heavily supervised and they took safety precautions through the nose.)
  4. Future plans for the kit: For it to perform more of the functions on its own). Voice activation (somehow). More efficient Potioneering and poultices (she knows neither are her strong suit but she's confident it's possible). Addition of a distress beacon that could alert nearby hospitals and infirmaries of a person's whereabouts in case of an emergency. Making it easier and safer for to use, especially for children and those who need to tend to an injury but don't have the time (or ability) to read directions. A nicer-looking tin.
  5. Future plans for the product: Quinn always intended for the kit to become a real product and she's open about the fact that she hopes to make connections useful for its production and distribution. While there are plenty of first aid kits already on the market, she explains that they are costly due to elements such as long-established contracts, or a puzzling focus not on helping users remain safe and healthy, but on providing flashy visual presentations when in use. One of the project's key phases—which took nearly a year of work alongside other tasks—was to research how manufacturing costs could be lowered as much as possible. Ideally, with certain non-profit funds and donations, the kit could be distributed free of cost to those in need.

Dahlia's Massive Mural

[dollywould]

Dahlia made a painting. It's a very lovely painting and it's huge. HUGE. It's a damn mural, and if anyone is surprised that Little Miss Fleeting Interest actually stuck to this project long enough to finish it, no one's more surprised than she is.

The painting takes up a ridiculous amount of space, at least three Cecils long and one and a half Cecils high. It's supposed to be the Gooseberry Quidditch pitch, but it's much bigger than their pitch, and fuller than it's ever been.

There are hundreds of moving pieces, such as players flying, cameras flashing, a Snitch that flits past every now and again, audience members cheering and booing and generally living their lives. Even the clouds drift by slowly, and the trees in the background sway in the wind. The crowd also overwhelmingly supports Ebonhide.

Dahlia stands by her painting like a proud mama, and she resists the urge to take a paintbrush to some of the trouble spots she sees. Maybe she can just... stand in front of that tree that's too yellow.

CHRIS'S BOOTH

[bambae]

Chris’s project has many moving parts

The device is a stripped down bracelet with a gem stone in the center. This all very much looks like a science project, but this bracelet serves several different functions.

• The gem stone in the center utilizes some components of the rememberall. The mist in the center, the resting color of which denotes which bracelets are paired, clears to act as a compass, when you are inherently lost. Instead of working in time with the magnetic field to dictate direction, this compass leads to the other bracelet. The underside of the gem stone acts as a reflective mirror that can be used as a signal mirror. The stone itself acts reflective, amplifying sound spoken directly into it, much like a megaphone. This works for whistling, shouting, cries for help etc.
• Once two people are wearing both bracelets of a pair, they will realize that they can feel a faint vibration from the bracelet. Upon further inspection, it can be inferred that this vibration is in direct relation to the heartbeat of the person wearing the other bracelet. It will speed up, or slow down when your partner’s heartbeat does. And when their heart beat stops, so will the vibration of the bracelet. or when they take off the bracelets i guess
• The rest of the bracelet uses aspects of the expansion charm. Within the metal circuitry of the bracelet is miniature tools and gadgets, fishing wire, fishing hooks, snare wire, flint and striker, a pocket knife made of titanium, a couple sewing needles, thread. The bracelet itself can double as a sharpening rock, to sharpen the blade that it comes with, or any other blade found.
• The main component of this bracelet is that this is not an exhaustive list. Gadgets can be dropped or added to it. The purpose of the bracelet is to enable you to survive on your own with the necessities of survival, but almost as important is that this bracelet ensures that you do not have to survive in isolation. A very large component of the bracelet is to ensure that your friend, significant other, sibling, whatever, can survive on their own with the basic necessities - but are also never truly lost. You can track their heart beat so that you know when they die, but this bracelet alone will also lead you directly to that partner, no matter the distance, provided that they don’t lose the bracelet. And losing it is increasingly difficult, because the entire bracelet itself is heat resistant, fire resistant and water resistant. It will not come off unless you decisively take it off. Most of the tools inside of it will not degrade if fire is directly applied to it - that’s why titanium is chosen for the metal that composes the knife.


• The second part of his project is an exhaustive guide to the use of the bracelet. The bracelet registers body signatures. It adapts to it’s owner. It makes it difficult to steal or trade the bracelet. The guide is 52 pages long. It’s organized in chapters. It has a table of contents. Much like a car manuel. It breaks down every single spell used on the bracelet, it breaks down every single item already included on the bracelet and how to use them, how to remove them from the bracelet, how to replace them. It breaks down how to use the gemstone for it’s own purposes, plus suggestions on creative purposes. The guide even explains the artificing aspects that went into the bracelet in addition to actual, muggle scientific aspects even though science isn’t a class offered here, and Hermeticism aspects Chris utilized to inspire aspects of the project. This is a creative survival kit. This is not a product that’s sold as is. It’s a product that gives you the tools to make your own kit. Just with a little bit of help. It’s meant to manipulated.

There are four bracelets on display. Two of them have firey orange gem stones - for coppertale, two have Azurcrest blue. People can try them on, in pairs. They can feel each other's heart beats, talk into the gem stone, play with the tools they can pull out of them. Chris has set out a sheet of paper, where people can also write down their advice and complaints. Because hell yeah he definitely over thought all of this shit.

Dimi's Display

[evercretin]

A simple display of twelve photographs, arranged across three columns in four rows, hangs above a table with an album of more pictures. The nine evenly spaced photos on display feature Gooseberry students in their favorite spots on campus. At first glance, the photos appear to be simple still photos, but after fifteen seconds, there's subtle movement in the first photo, the subject moving slightly before returning to her original position. Subsequently, each of the other photos animate, as well, in a cascade, across and then down.

ZOEY'S BOOTH

[potionz]

This is the part where I have to admit that, despite months of having her slave over it icly, I have no fucking clue what Z's potion is or does. :s Let's just say that it's an improvement on an obscure medicinal brew -- the kind of thing that's used in very specific cases, and has never been overhauled or revisited because it does work, has a "tradition" behind it, and would honestly be a hassle of an endeavor. Y'know. Something like that.

Anyway, she's written a 25 page report, organized in your typical manner: abstract, some background research, methodology, discussion, conclusion, etc etc. There's also a ridiculous amount of included data from the brewing process and many, many, many tests. No samples, buuuuut she did bring her little cauldron with the potion bubbling inside for inspection (it's an intriguing sparkly orange color). There's also a series of illustrations of the moon phases (part of the formula/brewing process is related to it) that she drew and animated, along with a take-home chart featuring all the moons of the year (strawberry moon, flower moon, that kinda thing). ♥

She'll also be advertising her and Addy's little business, with cards, samples, and a menu! It's not the focal point, but it's there & she's happy to answer questions about it. :d

THE AUDITORIUM

[goosemods]

CECIL'S PRESENTATION

[choneychurch]

Cecil's presentation is straightforward but thorough, a fifteen-minute discussion of the magical sweet he'd created, how it impacts those that consume it (temporarily allowing people to experience the emotions associated with a past experience and restoring clarity to a faded memory), and the results of the initial trials.

While not comfortable on stage (he blushes and looks down at his feet at times), he comes across as earnest and knowledgeable. At the end, he takes a few questions and encourages those with more questions about the process, the potion, and other specifics of the project to come see his showcase. He looks a bit dazed once he's off the stage.

QUINN'S PRESENTATION

[quinning]

Quinn's presentation is an abridged version of the information available at her booth because we don't all have three hours to listen to her talk about a freaking first aid kit. She uses most of the time to demonstrate the spellwork in her project: the expansion charms and the fact that protection charms are actually combined with with the metal of the housing as opposed to merely applied to it.

Some items in the kit—in this case, alcohol swabs—are able to perform their rasks independently, and she explains this as she upends a little vial of blood onto her arm (it's safe and probably sourced from Mrs. O'Hare or something, I don't know, but I know she wouldn't be allowed to cut her arm on stage, so please just exercise your suspension of disbelief and assume she's gone about this Responsibly) and tears open an alcohol swab. The small cloth inches up her arm and wipes up the blood on its own while she explains some of the charms required.

She concludes her presentation with a brief demonstration of the kit's hexproof properties by fastening the kit to the side of a dummy on stage (dressed in one of her finest sweaters) and then casting engorgio on it... under strict supervision, of course. While the dummy swells to twice its size, the kit remains unchanged. Quinn seems pleased about this but she can't hide her distress when the growing dummy tears the sweater down the middle. RIP, lightning bolt jumper. You served well.

TY'S PRESENTATION

[tyhawkeswood]

Ty treats his presentation more like a performance than a project and spends the first ten of his fifteen minutes doing a dramatic reading from the Mermish epic he translated. He's emotive and enthusiastic as he tells (a very small fragment of) the tale of a clever merlad navigating a dangerous ocean! At times the story is beautiful, adventurous, and surprisingly funny; it's not hard to see why the boy likes it so much. Then...he stops abruptly, leaving the audience to endure a cliffhanger, and goes into a short discussion of linguistics, the value of both literal and literary translations (he did one of each for his project), and the value of literature in general. He also dips very briefly into the charms he used to preserve and restore the old Mermish book. He then bemoans the fact that human vocal cords can't get around the Mermish language and plays a recording of the strange, garbled, shrieking language. Isn't it like music?

Regardless of his inability to stay serious, he's obviously passionate about this work and seems proud of how everything turned out. At the end, he takes a moment to advertise for his sister's business, where he'll be working after graduation! Need a book -- any book! -- they'll find it! Even if they have to go diving for it. (Sabi would not back this up.)

CHRIS'S PRESENTATION

[bambae]

Chris's presentation is straightforward and surprisingly not all that showy. He uses the tone he used during hockey boot camp, where he sounds knowledgable but not cocky. He gives the run down, and breaks down his bracelet to explain exactly how it works, mainly the spells he used on it.

The final five minutes of his presentation is a demonstration on the bracelet in action, where he'll need two volunteers to play a short game of hide and seek, so the audience can see what the bracelet exactly does when attempting to track down it's partner. For that to work - the seeker can't know exactly where the hider is.

At the end of it, he'll take questions and give answers. His answers are simple and calm. Even if somebody asks a stupid, obvious question, Chris shows no reaction of his actual opinion of the person asking the stupid question.

Xavier's Presentation

[solveforx]

If you ever wanted to hear Ted Theodore Logan give a TED Talk, well, this is probably the closest you're going to get. Xavier comes on stage with a a stack of papers firmly clutched in both hands and a big, nervous smile on his face. Things start out rocky; he stumbles over introducing himself and his project - Developing Arithmantic Models for Numerical Animagus Prediction. - and dives into rattling off a brief history of Animagi, interspersed with a lot of ums and uhs. But that part concludes in just under two minutes.

Then, Xavier steps aside and pulls out his wand. With a quick flick, he projects a lot of numerical data up into the air, glimmering and green. Lengthy differential equations, mostly, in script neater than his own handwriting. From there, he launches into a confident discussion of his methods and the data, occasionally jabbing at the air to illuminate a relevant set of numbers. It's... very dense and pretty dry, but Xavier seems enthusiastic. As he draws closer to his conclusion, Xavier discusses specific cases of Gooseberry Animagi from this year and last. To make things a bit more interesting (and, really, to show off), Xavier punctuates each individual case by crumpling up the piece of paper he was reading, tossing it in the air, and transfiguring it into a large paper likeness of the animal that particular student transformed into.

By the end of the presentation, the stage is littered with origami animals and the conclusion is obvious: the measurable patterns in successful Animagus transformation can be applied to determine both chance of success and, possibly, illuminate just what animal a person might change into - at least, for this particular case study.

He wraps up by vanishing his mess of paper animals, delivering an enthusiastic, "Thank you!" and hurrying off stage, hands shaking.

LAUREL'S DANCE

[kingofthefairies]

Laurel's project has gone through many phases, which she details in an Artist's Statement released to the crowd as she prepares to take the stage (around 4 pages).

There was the initial intention to portray each House through choreography and costuming, but as the year progressed she found herself working through various emotions and experiences related to anony via her work, eventually embracing this as an overarching theme. In the end, however, it's become less about the entities and more about her own feelings re: the concepts of innocence, trust, and the relationship between growth and death. The Statement is very frank about this -- and perhaps slightly cliched -- and then goes into some discussion of her methods, thoughts about dance as art, and the general process of creating her costumes and experimenting with various charmwork.

The performance itself is something as follows:

- An extended entrance: 0.00 to 1.00 of Son Lux's Lost It To Trying. At first the stage is empty, then fills with pink and mauve smoke. There's a charmed backdrop of dark woods and dark water. Laurel enters slowly, moving disjointedly in an anony-inspired costume -- it covers the majority of her body, but she snakes her arms and legs in and out of the leaves in a way that makes them appear disembodied and strange. Eventually she kneels while still inside, letting it pool around her, then falls abruptly forward so that the skull hits the floor. Her arms skitter out from underneath, and then she drags her entire body out from beneath it.

- Some kind of cool choreography from there, lmao. Similar to this but more disjointed, wild. The moving backdrop starts cycling through visuals of noh masks, insects, plants, etc -- it's kind of violent and scary.

- Laurel's costume is a simple, shimmery white slip that starts out looking fresh and innocent, but that appears to bloom with blood the longer she's dancing. It looks like someone's stabbed her in the chest. Eventually the entire slip is red, and then the fabric starts to extend outward and down. She does some floorwork as it floods to cover the stage, then seems to "drip" entirely off of her and become a separate entity, looking rather like a pool of blood. The end of the choreography involves her being swallowed up into it again, fighting -- the fabric snakes up and down her limbs, coils around her neck, etc -- and then everything, Laurel and all, getting abruptly sucked back beneath the skull of the anony costume. It's an impressively weird special effect.

- Laurel stands again in her costume and ends the song standing perfectly still, pushing the skull back and up to the top of her head so that you can see her human little face staring defiantly out of it. When the music stops, the effects clear up almost immediately, and she seems to shrug instantly back into her normal self -- waving, bowing a little, pleased and breathless as she exits the stage.

♥

Leo's Dumb Project

[ninjaleo]

Leo's project is, essentially, a culmination of all of Leo's favorite things. (Auroring, wowing people with animagus transfigurations, and drills) (LEO+DRILLS 4EVER). He got the idea for this last year, when he decided to take animagus studies instead of occlumency, and was worried about the consequences he'd see from that when applying to Auror training. To prove he could still do it, he came up with a step by step way of proving that he could be an even better Auror with an animal form. Of course his senior project is a massive He Told You So.

The project consists of a (very) comprehensive training curriculum for training Aurors to use the components of animagus transformations (such as advanced transfiguration, familiarity with animals, possible occlumency advantages as animals, etc) to improve their performance. The first thing he did was break down what it took to train someone to be an animagus, and very painstakingly highlighted what each aspect would enhance in the field as an Auror. This is the large research paper portion of his project, and during his presentation he goes over highlights.

Then, based on those principles, he developed a whole guide to train Auror candidates in becoming Animagi, while also enhancing alternative communication, disguise, and even combat skills. The end result is even if the Aurors do not successfully transform, or even if they transform into an animal not itself useful in the field, they will have learned useful skills for searching dark wizards. There's an entire fake chase for a fake Death Eater (this is as evidence-based as he could, without having actually caught a fake or real dark wizard) that he outlines while using the methods he's developed. He demonstrates some of the activities that he's invented, and calls for volunteers so he's not up there doing it alone.

He is not the world's most natural public speaker, and that's being nice, but he remains calm and steady when discussing this, and at the very end,once he's sure it's not rude and there are no more questions, he very casually crawls off as a turtle.

OTHER PROJECTS

[goosemods]

OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[goosemods]

editing this just to make it clear i know this is a day late lol

I MISS BEING YOUR MOD :(

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[duelled]

it's 10pm and i'm ready to party

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[hisshiss]

It's 6 am and now I'M ready to party 😎🍾

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[solveforx]

I drive by a burial mound on my way to work every day and this morning there was a girl in a babydoll dress playing an acoustic guitar very animatedly (for the burial mound?????) at 8:15am which makes me feel like my party started at precisely 8:15 this morning.

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[quinning]

when you realize that your character names every one of her projects but you never gave her senior project a name. ooooops.

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[tyhawkeswood]

Found this today. Seems relevant.

Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

[goosemods]

Neither of us have time to comment on senior projects, IC or OOC, but I just want to say it warms my heart that you all care so much about your fictional children's fake school projects. :( When I came up with the senior project idea, I was like "people are going to hate this but I think it could give characters some self-defined goals/direction" and I hoped if just one or two people had fun with it, it would be worth it. We ended up doing MUCH LESS with senior projects that we'd initially planned but I'm still so happy that so many of you found things to do with it.

You're all lovely! Thank you for being so passionate. ♥