I've finally received our Treasured ingredients on Cascade Hall

Professor Kiva Kijewski

January 19, 2006 11:57 PM

I've finally received our Treasured ingredients by Professor Kiva Kijewski

Kiva had spent many weekends sending owl after owl to her large contact list of friends from around the world. She had a list of rare ingredients that she needed to get her hands on in order to somewhere get the school back to the way it had been before the weather had been so terrible.

The snow had finally disappeared, but in its place were flooded pathways and plenty of sandbags set up by Simon on the Prairie elves. If he hadn't acted so quickly, the ground floor of the school would have surely been under a foot or more of water. And then where would they be? More cleaning. That never seemed to end. For this to be her first year of teaching, it was going horribly wrong.

So far, Kiva had been successful with contacting 13 of the 15 people she owled. Unfortunately, some were unable to help her for they were no longer in the area where the rare ingredient she was looking for could be found. However, with a bit of digging, Kiva had found solutions to those problems by having them contact someone who they know could get their hands on the ingredients.

It had been months since the flooding occurred and the school was coming to an end. Kiva desperately wanted the school to be right for the students still here so that they can go home with fond memories of this school and not the hassle they had because of the weather issues.

The good thing about it all was that everyone seemed to be working together. Including her friends. So far she had all the ingredients she requested except for one. The Eucharis plant. These plants take time to root and only thrive in certain temperatures. The only reason why her firend has taken so long with responding was because they had to be sure to find a suitable way of transporting the plant without damaging it and therefore, becoming a complete waste to their project.

But her friend had come through for her and created an echo-friendly enviornment containment for the plant during the transportation delivery and the owls had only just arrived moments before with the gift their legs. Kiva had grabbed at it eagerly and stood holding it as if it was the most treasured possession she had ever had the priviledge of holding. And, in a way it was.

Now Kiva was speed walking through the halls looking for Professor Connell so that the potion could be ready and finished. She wasn't in her office. Wasn't in her classroom. Kiva wouldnt' dare check her living quarters...And then she remembered that it was dinner time and the younger woman was sure to be eating.

As Kiva walked through the Cascade Hall doors, she easily spotted the other Professor and hurried over to meet her, in her hands was the echo-box that sustained the plants life, "Marian, the last ingredient has arrived."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Professor Kiva Kijewski I've finally received our Treasured ingredients 0 Professor Kiva Kijewski 1 5

Acting Headmaster Bulla

January 20, 2006 12:33 AM

that's wonderful - let's get this finished! by Acting Headmaster Bulla

Manfred wasn't sure how many meals he'd skipped in the last few months. If it wasn't one thing it'd been another. Paperwork for the school. Paperwork for the intrusive politicians. Paperwork for his classes. Paperwork for his (increasingly annoyed) publisher. And in between the paperwork there were classes to teach, a school to run, charms to research. In fact, the only thing he hadn't had time to do was work on his book. A fact that a recent howler had reminded him of.

Hours later, his ears were still ringing from the verbal lashing that the red envelope had given him. His publisher had let him go, and was demanding that he return the advance he had been paid in anticipation of this latest text. It had all turned quite nasty, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Sonora came first.

And he wouldn't be any good to Sonora if he collapsed because he had skipped one to many meals, so Manfred didn't brush aside the latest reminder from one of the prairie elves (sent by Tuppy, no doubt), and instead allowed himself to be sent to the hall without making a fuss. He did however bring along a book he had recieved from his father the week before. There was a spell in it that he wished to re-evaluate. There was something about it that made him wonder. A point that had been niggling him for the past couple of days. He thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a section within it that could be tweaked in such a way as to work along with the information that Reynolds and Connell had managed to squeeze out from the diary and the potion that had been found on the elf - Scurry's - hands.

A few others were at the staff table, and the food smelt quite good despite the continuing problems that the kitchens had been suffering with the flood. The school itself might have been spared, but the lower levels where the elves lived and worked had falled victim to leak after leak after leak. Nodding at a couple of the others as he pulled out his seat and sat down, he barely had time to start putting things on his plate before Professor Kijewski was hurrying over with what looked to be an echo-box in her hands.

He pushed his plate aside, and stood up again before casting a glance around the semi-crowded hall.

"Good news, Kiva. Marian," he glanced a little further along the table, "I think I've got the spell. Get Papp and tell him I've said for him to help you - we need this potion as soon as possible, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep out a goverment inspection. When do you think it'll all be ready?"\n\n

39 Acting Headmaster Bulla that's wonderful - let's get this finished! 2 Acting Headmaster Bulla 0 5

Philemon Papp

January 20, 2006 4:32 AM

I make an exceptional Igor by Philemon Papp

Philemon lacked his usual luster. He might even have been described as lackluster of late. It wasn't that his Hospital Wing lacked shine- it shone euphorically with pristine cleanliness daily. It wasn't that his mediwizard robes were slovenly and unkempt- each crease was pressed and starched to perfection. It wasn't even that his shoes were mudcaked and water stained- despite the snow, slush, water, and of course mud, his shoes were disgustingly spotless.

No, Philemon lacked his usual luster because he lacked purpose. He lacked direction. He lacked-

Oh forget it. Regardless of how well he dictated his internal monologues, the basic gist of them all was that Philemon was in desperate need of a guiding hand. Someone to order him to task and say, with all the carelessness of a broadminded leader:

"...Get Papp and tell him I've said for him to help you..."

Those few short words were more than enough for him to drop the piece of croissant that he had been dipping into his coffee and milk for the past thirteen minutes with an unpleasant plunk. Philemon had nearly forgotten: there was a calamity upon the school. A calamity that involved washed off potions, bizarre weather (he hadn't forgotten about that one, of course; he wasn't that self-occupied), scheming elves (although, to be fair, they weren't actually 'scheming' parse, just task-driven to the point of thoughtlessness), and a now missing Headmistress. A calamity that, if those words meant what he thought they meant (and of course they did!) now involved him.

It was enough to almost drive him to song- but only if he was one of those break-out-in-song-whenever-pleasantly-surprised sorts of chaps, which of course he wasn't.

So, instead of singing, Philemon merely raised his hand from his half hidden perch at the far end of the table and gestured his existence. "Actually, Headmaster, I'm right here. What is it you need my help for?"

He tried not to sound too eager and took a sip from his coffee. His perfectly white robes became perfectly spackled after the aforementioned dropped piece of crossaint fell from his lips and into his lap. Philemon pretended not to notice and hoped no one else did either.\n\n

0 Philemon Papp I make an exceptional Igor 0 Philemon Papp 0 5

Marian Connell

January 22, 2006 12:17 PM

It's pronounced "eye-gor" by Marian Connell

Marian had never been so happy for a school year to be coming to a close, not even as a student. Even though the staff had an idea about what they had to do to fix the weather problems, which was undeniably good, the workload had merely increased on them all. She couldn’t think of a single member of the staff that hadn’t been trying to do too much. Perhaps there was one or two that were hiding it well, but that was it.

For about a month after Manfred had brought the house elf to her, all her spare energy had been consumed by trying to figure out what the ingredients in the potion on Scurry’s hand and the walls were, and the quantity of them. She had had a bit of help from Philemon, the medic, with that, which was greatly appreciated. That had always been the most difficult thing for her to do, so it perhaps took a little longer than it could have, but she had managed to muddle through it rather well, she thought.

After those few things had been figured out, the real fun began. She was currently in a state of utmost awe for Kiva. The majority of the ingredients in the potion were some of the most obscure things she had ever had to deal with in a potion before. If she had been forced to find them all herself, it would have taken several months, or even years. Kiva, however, had managed to find all but one ingredient in a little over two months.

Marian wasn’t paying attention as Kiva came into the hall with a box, ironically wondering when exactly the last ingredient would show up. However, she crashed back down to reality when Kiva said her name, and began to smile broadly as she realized the wait was finally over.

“A few days. Three, maybe four,” she said in reply to Manfred’s query. “It doesn’t seem to be one of those potions where you have to add one ingredient at the full moon, another at the new moon, etc. It seems to be designed to be created in a hurry once the ingredients are all gathered.

“And you,” she turned to Philemon, “are with me to help recreate the potion. It’s hardly a job for one person to do alone, and we’re going to be making an obscene amount of it.” She looked back at the Acting-Headmaster. “I assume that you want us to make enough to keep in store in case this happens again, correct?”
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0 Marian Connell It's pronounced "eye-gor" 7 Marian Connell 0 5

Professor Dione

January 23, 2006 12:56 AM

My midnight oil is well and truly burned by Professor Dione

Dione sat with a slight hunch in her usually straight posture, which could only mean that she had slept a maximum of four hours the night previously. Perhaps even less since if one looked hard enough, they could see the circular imprint of a telescope’s eyepiece around her right eye. Cupping the mug in her hands, she slowly sipped the black coffee, hoping the bitter caffeinated contents would rouse her to consciousness.

At the mention of the time and moon phases, she quickly responded, since it did happen to be her assignment to decipher as to when the potion must be applied. “Speaking of which, the potion must be used during the phase of the waning gibbous, preferably during the hour when the moon is highest in the sky. Thankfully, it can be applied within the period of a few days, always during that particular hour. Just as long as it is still during the waning gibbous. If done any later, the potion will lose some of its potency.”

With that, she tossed a piece of parchment on the table. On it was a hand drawn sketch of the moon’s path across the sky as well as various measures of angles scribbled around the drawing, some scratched out while others were circled, retested, and scratched out again. On the edge of the paper, circled for emphasis, was the moon’s phase, the hour of the moon’s peak, and the dates when the particular phase would occur.

In such a situation, she couldn’t feel but a touch inadequate. Compared to the rest, it felt like she barely contributed at all to the solution. Connell and Papp were both going to create bulk amounts of potion, Kiva was sending owl after owl trying to gather rare potion ingredients, Tarquin had deciphered what the book actually stated, Tellerman was coordinating the application of the potion, Bulla had found the spell needed, and what was she doing? Doing calculations and stargazing. Fortunately, she had enough sense even without sleep to not voice her opinion. Instead, she focused on drinking her coffee, not wanting to have too much blood in her caffeine system.\n\n

0 Professor Dione My midnight oil is well and truly burned 0 Professor Dione 0 5