You are a last resort

Orwell Brocken

Eco-Anarchist & Activist
 
Messages
793
OOC First Name
Emzies
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Interested in Somebody
Sexual Orientation
Destroying Capitalism
Wand
Knotted 14" Sturdy Pear Wand with Unicorn Hair Core
Age
12/2024 (37)
Orwell had a determined mind, he had books under one arm and his mission in the other, a brief discussion with his head of house had lead him to this room, to this specific professor, it had been him or the head mistress, and he figured best to stay out the headmistresses way, and instead go to the man whose class he would've gladly disrupted. Orwell, ever since that conversation with the girl from Gryffindor, when he had first arrived at the school had been thinking about it, reading all he could arguing with himself, Pia and just talking to Archie about it, but he had hit a wall. Morality aside the havoc being an animagus to a natural environment didn't make sense to him, he needed to know more, either ask someone or become it, though his own personal training hadn't exactly been going well. He'd read for hours and then stretch and follow the guide on how to do it, but he could only reach a certain point and as it turned out, it meant he needed a professor, if he could get answers to his multitude of questions without needing to become one then that to The king of flowers would be great but considering the professor he had to deal with, it wasn't going to be easy. Orwell knocked loudly on the door, a small hint of a glare in his eyes upon being invited to enter to the room, spotting the man with the cruel pet store in front of him, "Still keep animals in cages?" he greeted the man bluntly, no hint of respect despite the fact Orwell needed him, "I have some questions about animagus, and supposedly you are the man to see about this,"
 
Summer's life wasn't usually busy, at least by a professor's standards, but with Christmas around the corner and the discovery of an adolescent Whomping Willow on Kida's property, the wizard was busy planning for the holidays. He was stuck on the idea of decorating the sentient tree to match the seasonal traditions, which would make getting presents on Christmas morning all the more exciting, and with Emeric interested in joining on the festivities, it would be the first time he'd spend the holiday with family on his side, other than the Frosts. Of course, the segregation was by choice. He and the Lancaster side didn't particularly get along, but a small handful he found himself comfortable with. He wouldn't be joining them for any family dinners anytime soon, but they were always welcome to come to him.

While scrawling down holiday plans on a piece of parchment to work on with Kida, a knock sounded at the door, drawing the professor's attention toward it. While he had expected his cousin to stop by, by now she would have simply let herself in, which made him curious to find out who exactly would drop by. Aeon didn't get a great deal of visitors, aside from Esme, or the rare animagus trainee. "Come in?" He called, dropping his quill back into its inkpot as the door was opened. His smile faltered once he saw who it was. Ugh. This kid. No doubt stopping by to complain about his menagerie, or the fact the transfiguration curriculum required practice on living things. "Yep." The animagus responded to the boy's initial statement, giving up trying to argue with the Ravenclaw's unrealistic ideas. It was obvious there was no point trying to reason. Still, the question that followed took him by surprise. He didn't think Orwell wanted all that much to do with Transfiguration, let alone have an interest in animagi. "Right, supposedly, Like that was a tough one to figure out. Well, lay them on me. What do you want to know?"
 
It seemed to Orwell that this man was as happy to him, as he was to see him, but their mutual dislike in Orwell's mind would have to be put somewhat aside just so that he could focus perhaps on what questions he had for the man, and as soon as the man allowed him to lay it on him, Orwell placed the books he had brought with him down on the nearest surface not caring about what had already been on said surface, before taking the first book, and opening it at one of the many pages he had marked on it, and then looking up at the professor, "Look, I've spent a lot of time reading, but there is not much on the morality of being an animagus, is it morally right to assume the form of creature? We'd always argue that the use of poly juice potion is morally wrong, so could the same not be extended to taking on the animal form," he began with one long breath, pointing to one of the paragraphs In the book but not giving it to the man so he might see what Orwell was pointing to.

"All the books I've found describe the transition, describe how to do it, but none of them seem to go into what it feels like to be an animal, or how much cross over there is, and if it depends on the animal form, or even how other animals then interact with the human in animal form," the boy continued, "My community forbids interfering with animal life, a person should only take what he or she needs, never more and never so much as to disrupt things," Orwell knew that taking to his community would in this case be useless none of them, so far as he knew were animagus, "I've been trying, following the instructions about how to, but I think I need some answers or some help before I can do it," Orwell told him, no joy in the sentence he was saying and he knew that he was probably asking this man for a lot and this man probably was well within his rights to say no, "You are the last person I wanted to turn to, and coming to you with questions of morality was the last thing I wanted to do, considering how immoral you are, but here I am," Orwell absolutely made his dislike for this man known.
 
As Orwell placed down his books, the animagus shifted into a more comfortable position on his chair, figuring he'd likely be listening for a while, despite the fact he'd rather be listening to anyone else. The man chuckled at the boy's opening sentence regarding his time spent reading, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "You and every other Ravenclaw." He remarked quietly, but he continued to listen, not at all surprised by how at length Orwell went on about morality. He almost pitied him and how he was brought up, so narrow minded and out of touch with the norm of the present. His beliefs were primitive, yet he still acted as if he were better than the professor, and he couldn't stand it. Aeon had tried being nice when they first met, but by now, it was just too much effort. If Ava chose to expel the boy for any particular reason, the only con to his departure would be the lack of future, humorous star sign predictions in the student paper - his one redeeming quality, even if only as something to mock.

The Ravenclaw continued to talk, and Summers continued to listen, slightly straightening as he heard mention of animal life and not taking more than was necessary. He changed his position, covering the blatant dragonskin jacket on the arm of his chair as best and subtly as he could. The wizard, like most people, didn't like animal cruelty. He kept the animals he sold well fed and taken care of, and tried to make them as comfortable as possible, enhanced by his ability to communicate with them as an animal himself, but when it came to wearing animal skins...well, if it was already dead, and made into a fabulous new coat that happened to be on sale, he had no problem with buying it. If he didn't, someone else would.

Finally, the boy had finished, and Aeon considered how to address his questions. "I'll ignore that comment, if only because I like to see people taking an interest in this particular subject. The difference between this, and ingesting a polyjuice potion, is that the form you assume as an animal is individual to you, you aren't merely copying its appearance, whereas you become a person's identical with the potion, which gives you the power to do wrong in their name. Regarding the feeling, you are, mentality, yourself in every way - it's merely your physical form that changes, which is difficult to describe. I can only speak accurately for canines, as for some really odd reason, everyone I know who has learned to transform themselves all become dogs. Huh." He hadn't thought about it much, but practically every animagus he knew well could turn into some sort of dog or wolf. There didn't appear to be much variety in the people he met. "But I would say it's the same no mater what you become. You think and feel, emotionally, much the same as you do as a human, but you take on the senses, vision and capabilities of the animal you become, which is startling at first, but it takes little time to adjust. Everything comes naturally, as if you had been an animal your whole life. With that, comes the ability to communicate with other animals, depending on what you are, and depending on what they are. A fish isn't really going to understand a mole, for example, but I can understand a kneazle better than a mundane cat. That being said, unless they're magical, there's not a great deal of conversation to be had." He explained as best he could, but it was difficult to describe the particulars of being an animagus, it was always better experienced. "An animal isn't going to recognise that you're a human, and I doubt you'd cause much of a disruption if you were to become one, unless you were actively attempting to."

As eager as Brocken was to learn, Summers didn't know if he could handle teaching him. Then again, it could be interesting, and there weren't a lot of others capable of teaching it. He had the most experience teaching students with animagus transfiguration since Ava stopped taking classes. "Let's say I helped to teach and instruct you, can I trust that you'd listen and do as I tell you? The process is very specific, and for good reason. Transfiguring yourself into an animal isn't something you want to get wrong. There's more to it than you could ever learn from a few books."

 
Orwell had always loved animals, being around them, in their nature, or just watching, causing harm to them was one of the things he stood most vehemently against, why every lesson of transfiguration which caused undue harm to a creature was met with a raging internal struggle, so it was very natural for the king of the flowers to wonder about the morality and harm that could come to a creature, and though Orwell meant every word about this professor's morality considering he was there to try to get this man's help pushing that might not end well for him, and though he disliked the man and his practices, he met his gaze as the man replied, an intently interested expression sitting on Orwell's soft features, nodding along as the man spoke, remembering internally what Pia had said about polyjuice potion, and he wondered if the two were actually pretty similar branches of the same kind of magic, mimicking someone, become something else, being the same person you were, but in someone else, "In the polyjuice form you take on some of the aspects of the person you become, whether they have bad eyesight, or bad hearing," he muttered quietly a slight interruption but mostly an internal comment to himself, "But, how can you know it's not just a copy when in the animal form when an animagus? You become a copy of a creature, it's not an original new species, much like with the polyjuice potion you are yourself within them, merely a copy of the original person. In your canine animal form, are you colourblind like dogs are?" Orwell was thinking out loud, considering all the points that professor immoral had just said.

"I understand that animals do not have the ability to speak with other types of animals, but there is a primal aspect in a creature's natural environment, if say, I was to assume the form of a rat, and cross a cat who then chooses to chase me as cats do, where upon I then switch back to human form, could such an instance not have an impact upon a creature's mind," Brock stopped, considering his own point, "Perhaps that would require more than one person," the boy rubbed his face tiredly, he spent countless hours pouring over books knowing he couldn't go to his community about such questions, as well as the little nibbling desire to try it, to do it, become a creature to find out about it. He needed someone to assure him it wasn't immoral, he was looking for answer in the wrong place really, given how immoral he thought the man in front of him was, but this animagus thing was perhaps the only thing the man really understood, "Professor, do you see it as immoral? To assume the form a creature you have no purpose being? What even is the purpose of being able to change into an animal? Does it help in any way? Does it improve your life? Does it help you contribute more to society?" Orwell continued, taking a brief moment to just catch his breath, "If I manage it can you assure that it won't negatively impact my life?" The underlying problem for Orwell was that he had all these questions, simple questions that he couldn't turn to anybody for, his parents or community would never understand and he didn't want to be forced out, losing his home, his family, and everything he held dear.

The professor was agreeing to help and Orwell hated that this man had this power to make Orwell have to behave and listen or else he didn't get his answers. He had no where else to turn but here, and here was not where he really wanted to be. But, with reluctance written all over his face he nodded, "I'll listen, and do as you say," he hated speaking those words to this man he so thoroughly disliked and yet he had no where else to go for this specific problem he was facing.
 
Aeon let out a long, heavy sigh. "If you payed any attention to my classes, I'm sure you'd know that's not how Transfiguration works. We aren't copying an animal that already exists, as is the nature of polyjuice. The animal we become takes on our traits as humans, shown by the markings that an animagus tends to have in their animal form, as is the case with people who tend to wear glasses. Losing an appendage continues on into your alternate shape, too, whereas the potion would recreate whatever was lost for the duration of its effects. When in canine form, yes, I become colour blind, but I don't take the appearance of a pre-existing dog. I'm an entirely new dog of that species." He rubbed his temples with frustration. He taught a lot of this basic animagus education in third year, though he wasn't sure if Orwell had started learning there yet. If not, it explained how uneducated he was on the subject, despite supposedly reading about it. Anyone who checked the animagus registry could come to understand that they weren't just mimicking something pre-existing.

"I think you're under the false sense that most animals are just as intelligent as we are. If you could talk to them, as I can, mind you, I think you'd find that it's not the case. Which is why you have no place speaking for the ones in my shop, who are happy with their lives. Changing your form in front of an animal would surprise most of them, for sure, but it isn't about to have some deep, long-lasting impact. They get over that initial surprise fairly quickly. Unless you were intentionally transforming in front of a cat, after getting it to chase you countless times, it isn't going to stop hunting rats." This child knew nothing of the animal world, and seemed to treat them as if they understood everything around them. Only magical animals, which were fewer than the more mundane species, could possibly be impacted by an animagus. "I couldn't understand why it'd be seen as immoral. If anything it's natural, as each witch or wizard is tied to one specific animal. Magical folk have used this ability for thousands of years, it's been utilized in ancient tribes, both for hunting and spiritual purposes, using an animals heightened senses to find prey to feed a community, as animals naturally do, or to become closer to nature and animals in general. There's countless ways it can be considered useful, though in modern day society, there's no more need to use it for hunting, but that doesn't make it redundant. I believe its helped me. I have more of an understanding of the world than I used to, and it's changed the way I interact with people. Canines have a better sense of emotions than people do. All in all, it depends on you, and what you choose to do with it."
 
Orwell did not enjoy this professor, but fortunately he told him exactly what he really needed to hear, in the same way that he found mimicking a human absolutely horrendously bad, the same would be said of an animal, any kind of animal, he didn't want to just copy, mimick anything, really he didn't want to be an animagus if it meant that he would be immoral, and that copying would just be a terrible thing to do, so despite the man's tone, Orwell was actually considering and thankful for what he was saying. As the man continued he definitely disagreed with it, animal were not like humans but he didn't think that that made them less intelligent, it was a different intelligence, like Orwell was book smart, and Archie was quidditch smart, he would never say that his best was unintelligent or less intelligent, just intelligent in a different way. It was the same principal that he applied to animals. He had only, prior to the school, encountered animals out in the wild, the fish, the birds, the insects and for him seeing animals trapped in little cages had just felt so abhorently wrong, Orwell could admit that perhaps he hadn't been right about the man's store, though he himself could never imagine doing such a thing to creatures.

It was however again, what he needed to hear, he didn't think this professor had a good moral compass, but on this occasion he was more than willing to trust him, more than willing to agree that it couldn't be immoral because now he was down the road towards becoming one and he didn't exactly wish to turn back, he wanted to get to the end, do it, and just see what it was like. There was only so much that books could show him and he had done so much reading he just wanted it to happen, he didn't think it was much use to society but school was usually all about that and he knew that as an anarchist he should be against just being useful to society and not an individual, so perhaps he too would end up having a greater understanding of the world, or animals, of how he interacted with people. Orwell's gaze remained on the professor, a level of understanding playing into his features. Maybe this professor wasn't as clueless as Orwell liked to say that he was, "Can we get started?" the boy smiled at the professor, a slightly forced smile that indicated he'd taken it on board, "I know I'd need to register if I manage it and I will, but if I manage it, could you not tell anyone," the teen then added quietly. Really not wanting it to get back to his family.
 

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