Module #2 - "MINGLING" - Spring 2021

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Welcome to the Module 02 "Mingling" thread! This is about getting to interact with one another as classmates, particularly about themes from the lesson and your corresponding class work if that speaks to you. Those who post their Monologue or Manifestation may provide helpful prompts for discussion points. While you're welcome to mingle as much as you like, each of your first three 50+ word posts you will receive 5 points. When submitting your work, please let me know if you've posted once, twice, or three (or more) times so I can confirm participation. As a fun option, you may choose to Role-Play these interactions though are not required to. If you do, please take a look at this RPGuidelines page for some helpful tips.

The Classroom has been decorated this month with various shades of green. Pitchers of Butterbeer have been set out and turned green with a few squirts of food coloring. Being a third Irish himself (and loving any old reason to celebrate), this month would typically offer him and his friends an opportunity to get together for St. Paddy's Day. Like any other Holiday, Sin isn't one for turning down any old option for spending time with loved ones while enjoying delicious food and drinks.

This isn't the only reason for the color choice, however. He and Carrie have spent a bit of time setting up the space with as many natural materials as possible. The greenery of various plants have been strung up, then down, and all around, giving those about to enter for their Muggle Studies lesson a lush setting for their school day.

Sin hands Miss. Warts the last piece of many long strands of vines which have been wrapped strategically throughout, perfectly groomed yet appearing just this side of WILD.

"Hello, all! Gather in, gather in." He pulls a chair out to sit down in front of the desk he set up toward the front, then collects himself ("Let me just grab ... yes, there's my quill.") before addressing the group again.

"The name 'March' comes from the God Mars, who is commonly associated with vibrations of War, though has previously also been linked to the energies of Nature, Spring, Fertility and Prosperity" Prof. Aloyarc peers around, srunching his nose with short little sniff and taking a sip of Butterbeer from the mug set behind him. "There are so many interesting pieces of information about this God, and I'd love for you all to take a moment to discover if there's anything you'd like to share from your own research or previous knowledge when it comes to this Month and the God of War and Nature?"

"Furthermore," Sindor continues, "You would be welcome to, in addition or instead, reflect on how this month's Power of 'Hope' and/or how it could be connected to these same concepts. How might our hopefulness be linked to Nature and Springtime, or to War? As always, these are merely suggestions. Please make yourselves comfortable, grab a chilled mug for the refreshments, and ponder if there's anything from the lesson today or these notions of Mars having a symbolic place in the month of March!"

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Returning to the classroom, Will smiles when he sees the pitchers of delicious-looking green Butterbeer. Helping himself to a full mug, Will takes a seat and begins reflecting. "In the times of the Romans," he begins, "the beginning of March, or Martius, used to mean the start of the new year. When the snow had melted from the ground, celebrations took place in honour of the Roman god Mars; these celebrations symbolised the beginning of the growing season for the year as Mars represented agriculture in addition to the better-known association with war." Will concludes by saying, "I think that new beginnings - and a new growing season - naturally correspond to hope when looking at what's ahead!"

[Carrie Warts]

Carrie finishes placing the last strand of the vine and looks back at the classroom in admiration. She and Prof. Sindor have done it! It looks fabulous.
She starts noticing the students coming into the classroom so she hints at the Professor that she's going to stay in the back of the classroom where she can get a better look at the panoramic scene. Takes a sip of the delicious green butterbeer noticing that there are green sports in her shirt *darn it! it was my favorite shirt!* she thought *oh well.. I'll ask Sin if he knows any stain-removing spells afterward*.
After the intro Prof. Sin did, we all started reflecting on it until Will said that

new beginnings naturally correspond to hope when looking at what's ahead!

and we all nodded because that was an accurate and amazing point!.
Carrie started thinking now as to why would it be War and Nature. *War makes sense, the roman God Mars was known for being passionate, violent, virile and of course the patron of warriors.* she reflected mentally *And nature also makes sense because - at least in the northern part of the world - winter starts to fade whilst making way for Spring... not in the southern part of the world tho, where Autumn begins... interesting*
She decided to wait and see if any other student had anything else to add, she was delighted with the atmosphere the students were creating.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Will continues to sip on his Butterbeer, reflecting on its flavour: he hadn't had Butterbeer that tasted quite like this in over a decade! Turning back to Carrie's thoughts about war - his next reflections are about Muggle war, then and now. "These days," he begins, "it's hard to imagine Muggle war being based on the seasons because Muggle technology has evolved so far from its natural roots that modern Muggle weapons have no need for 'cooperative' climate or seasons." "However," he continues, "back in the days of the Romans, fighting was much more dependent on the external elements, so it would make sense that the growing season and the war season would begin around the same time!"

[Carrie Warts]

"That's true! I totally forgot about that" Carrie says to Will after he pointed out the weather-war topic "That's an excellent observation.. Reflecting on it and with this month's power Hope I can't help but noticing the "destructive" nature of humankind (with natural death or caused by an external - virus, war, disease, etc) and nature (from season to season, especially autumn and winter) as well and the hopes that people, animal, and living forms have by the next season, or next life, or whatever it comes, everything will bloom, come back to life or become stronger, even tho, in general, it is said that only human can have the feeling of Hope... I will have to think about that a bit longer..."
Carrie looks up at the class and blushes "sorry, I went too deep on my thoughts and I don't know if what I said made sense" (nervous giggle)

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Listening to Carrie's ramblings, Will realizes that Carrie's words didn't just refer to destruction through war (which traditionally happened in a spring-to-fall timeframe) but also to forms of death and destruction that were more likely to take place in the winter. After all, the changing of seasons from winter to spring came with hope that the past winter was behind us! Thinking further, Will continues, "I'm wondering: hope is associated with the spring, where the winter plagues give way to growth, but also to war. Can the association of war with hope come from the fact that people fighting in a war are often fighting to achieve some sort of goal?"

[Iverian Gnash]

Ivey runs into the room a tad bit late for the lesson, but better late than never she thought. She noticed Sin, Carrie, and Will hanging out in the middle of a discussion, so she grabbed some butterbeer, found a comfy seat, and joined in. She tried to pick up on what the discussion was, but eventually gave up as Carrie and Will were so engrossed in it. Ivey interrupted with her own thoughts on the god of war though as her brain reminded her.

"I don't know much about the different gods, but there was this series my siblings would read and there was a god of war in it. He was rather.... scary and dumb at the same time, but definitely quick to an argument."

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Sindor loves hearing the different responses regarding war and nature and hope, sprinkled in with this particular god and springtime.

“Sounds about right, Ivey.” He chuckles, “That personality type is often associated with characters who represent war.”

Then, turning his head in Will’s direction. “Yeah, as beautiful and hopeful as a concept like Spring can be, there does seem to be a bit of warring about these new cycles of creative energy coming out of the cold, darkness of winter. The ‘birthing pains’ it would seem that are anticipated to making way for another round of life.”

To Carrie, Sin says, “I am so curious about those kinds of questions. Whether other beings experience hope and other similar types of sensations in a remotely similar way to us, or at all!”

Thinking again on what Iverian mentioned about how she’s seen the god of war’s personality represented, Prof. Aloyarc casually mumbles under his breath “Sounds like me when my Aries Moon starts getting a little too fired up.” His eyes widen slightly, the corners of his mouth tilting down with a faint expression of Eek!

[Iverian Gnash]

Ivey laughed at Sindor's mumbling, then offered her own thoughts on hopefulness connected to nature and springtime.

“I think springtime has a lot of hopefulness attached to it because people are anticipating the summer and all the new joys that come with it. Winter is gone and Spring is wrapping itself up, so people prepare themselves for Summer when the ground has thoroughly thawed for those farther up north. Spring brings along a sense of calmness since the school year is coming to an end and people are looking forward to a bit of a break for the Summer.”

Ivey paused for a second before adding, “Spring also has such nice weather attached to it that it always brings me a sense of hope that the cold or the heat can’t.”

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

“Well!” Sindor admits, trying not to snarf his current sip at an inside joke from a long forgotten childhood memory, “You’ve certainly hit my nail on the head when it comes to things these days, Miss Gnash.”

A moment of reflection prompts him to jot down a note before proceeding on, “Allbeit I typically fall into the Winter to Spring mindset. Likely it would be equally as beneficial for me to keep the Spring to Summer perspective in mind as well! This shouldn’t be too hard, given I love either side of this Hopeful approach.” Pausing, he adds, “Moreso now, after your comments, I think!”

Noting Carrie’s glances toward the green flecks on her wardrobe, Sin winks at her, intending to recall both the magic and muggle remedies which should easily smooth over the matter.

[Iverian Gnash]

Ivey got up to refill her glass of butterbeer and while doing so, was reminded of the God of War being related to Spring. Sitting back down and taking a sip, she thought about this connection. It was true that war was a time of change and Spring also represented change, so she told the others about this.

"Perhaps the God of War is being related to Spring because they're both a time of change. However, they're almost complete opposites as well. Spring time is a moment of peace whereas war is obviously not. It's interesting how the God of War can be linked to the energy of Springtime."

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Having just refilled his butterbeer himself, Will takes in the remainder of the conversation between Carrie, Sin, and Ivey. Thinking about what was just said, Will remembers a few words from primary school about the month of March: "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb." Reflecting on this proverb, Will says: "This used to mean that the beginning of the month of March was traditionally more warlike and turbulent, and the end of the month is more peaceful. And traditionally even the turbulent beginning of the month was considered springlike - though these days many would only lump in the peaceful end of the month with spring!" He continues: "Would it make sense if the month - all under the domain of the same traditional Greek god - featured a transition from turbulent war to the more peaceful part of spring?"

[Carrie Warts]

Carrie nods at Will's question: "I think it makes total sense since transitioning from one season to the other always comes with noticeable changes, especially now more than it used to.
From one season to the other you start noticing changes in weather, the leaves on the trees, the animals that come and go, the fruit and veggies that appear and disappear. This also relates to what Ivey said about spring being related to peace, I kinda see it that way too but with the changes, I can also see the 'war-ish' side too" - Carrie looks around thinking that maybe she took it too deep but in her head it made sense. She hopes it made sense for them too.
She looks at Prof. Sin with a question mark on her eyes.