This would be easy if I wasn't afraid of animals... on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

April 29, 2005 3:23 PM

Year 1, Lesson 1 by Professor Kijewski

Kiva walked out of the school and down the pathways to where the class was assembled. She didn't mind being outside for class, she felt one with nature and more at ease during class time. A strong wind blew through her thick caramel curls and she gently swiped them out of her line of vision. She had to constantly swipe at it since the wind seemed persistant before she finally grew tired of it and just pulled her hair back into a ponytail altogether. It was odd how much the wind seemed to be picking up. The sun beat down on her and she had to squint in order to see properly.

Kiva was young, only 25, and could relate better to the students then most professors who were well into their middle ages. After she had left school, Kiva had traveled the world and studied many different creatures: Unicorns, dragons, bears, and gorillas. Didn't matter whether they were magical creatures or not, she studied them. This was her first teaching job and she wanted to make sure she did well in it.

Now standing in front of her class, Kiva couldn't help but smile. She never thought she would become a teacher and actually love it. Her thick curly brown hair was pulled high on her head and her freckled skin stood out beneath her royal blue robes. When it came to first impressions, Kiva was always thought to be only a teenager instead of a woman. Thoughts like that always amused her, and she wondered briefly what her students thought of her. Kiva shook her head to clear it slightly as she walked slowly to the front of her students and placed a crate down on the ground.

"Good morning class, my name is Professor Kiva Kijewski. You may either call me Professor Kijewski, Professor K. or Kiva. Any will be fine with me. I'm glad to see that everyone is here today.” She commented as her honey-colored eyes scanned those in front of her. Another strong breeze tore threw the air and she waited until it died down before continuing. ”I know this will be a rather boring lesson for you all, but as first years, we have to start small. In these crates there are enough flobberworms for groups of two. I would like for each of you to grab a partner, if you can't find anyone, I will be happy to assign a partner for you, take a flobberworm and study them." She paused and looked out at the class around her. During her pause, the strong wind russled in the silence, attacking her small ponytail and clothes. She noted some looks of disappointment from the students, which only made her smile grow, "By study, I mean, touch them, smell them, and listen to them. Learn what they eat, pick them up; try to see if they enjoy music or words. We will do this for a week or so. Studying a creature’s habitat can help us in our futures. It's always best to take our time with it. Most of you probably will find flobberworms to be useless, but they do hold of great value in the magical world. They are often used in potions and help keep gardens fresh and healthy. Now, if you need anything, please feel free to ask me."

OOC: Okay everyone, I'm looking for how well you write your reponses (make sure they are at least 2 paragraphs, 5 sentences each), grammar, and how well you develop your character. Take your time and have fun!
\n\n

Subthreads:

Enjoyable lesson? I should say not! by Fawn Summers with Dalila Bastet, Fawn

Flobberworms? Partners? by Bella Santoro with Lexi, Gwenhwyfar Carey

Wormy McWormington by Leonides Lockwin with Laura Keaton

Flobberworms by Rachel with Carillon Arksington

This would be easy if I wasn't afraid of animals... by Anne Wright with Robbie Bates

I don't like worms... by Jordanna Howard with Skyla

Gross, but oddly cool by Earl Valentine with Adam Whitney, Earl

Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Connor Pierce with Mckenna Fallen

Ending the Lesson by Professor Kijewski

0 Professor Kijewski Year 1, Lesson 1 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Fawn Summers

April 30, 2005 1:56 AM

Enjoyable lesson? I should say not! by Fawn Summers

Fawn sat cross-legged on the ground, waiting with the rest of the students. The wind was rather strong that afternoon and whipped her long black braid around her head. She was contemplating chopping the offending hair off with a pair of giant, Harpo Marx-like scissors after it had just whacked her in the eye for a second time, when a young woman arrived. She felt sure that it was just an older student who came down the wrong path. But the introduced herself as Professor Kijewski, and so therefore must be just very young-looking.

Fawn immediately stood up and listened, looking forward very much to this class. She loved animals and wanted to be a vet, so she felt that this class was very important and also that it would be very fun. Paying rapt attention, her heart fell to learn that they would be taking care of... flobberworms. Honestly, they were first years but give them a bit more credit than that! Worms? Fawn was sure that they could at least handle something with eyes or teeth, or maybe even a spine.

Apparently their teacher didn't think so, though, as she dropped the bomb that they'd be taking 'getting to know' their flobberworms and care of the large invertebrae for a whole week! She also told them to hold it, sniff it, talk to it, feed it, listen to it, and see if it liked music. What on earth was this woman smoking? It was most likely something that shouldn't be around young students, but it was apparently affecting her brain. If that lady thought that Fawn Summers was going to sniff a flobberworm, she was out of her head! Perhaps she'd sing for it a bit, though, but that's where she drew the line. And as for listening to it, she didn't even think that the things made a sound, unless you counted oozing.

Giving a sigh and straightening her forest green robes, she walked over to the crates. Turning to the person next to her, she said, "Sounds exciting, eh? It's just what I've always wanted to do, get better acquainted with a worm. Would you like to be my partner for such a fun exercise?" She hoped that the person would agree, as the Cherokee girl didn't much feel like being the one who had to sniff the flobberworm.\n\n

0 Fawn Summers Enjoyable lesson? I should say not! 0 Fawn Summers 0 5

Dalila Bastet

April 30, 2005 1:01 PM

Disapointment in the air by Dalila Bastet

Dalila stood readily in the warm sunshine and windswept air for her first ever Care of Magical Creatures lesson. This was the lesson she had been waiting for. To be able to pet unicorns, feed a phoenix, talk to a sphinx. But her hopes were dashed when the professor, a young witch with curly brown hair and a name she couldn't pronounce, carried a crate out in front of the class.

Flobberworms? Dalila was not the only one who looked disapointed in the group of first years. Flobber worm had no eyes, nothing even remotely cool abou them. They were just big, sslimy, pale worms. Dalila brushed a tendril of streaked hair from her face, wishing that it were long enough to tie back, and walked towards the flobberworm filled crate. She wasn't going to let this ruin her most anticipated class. Plus, it would be kind of funny to listen to people singing and sniffing these revolting creatures.

She was about to reach in for a member of the slimy mass, when she heard a voice aimed at her. It was a girl Dalila had seen around school. The long braid was the most noticable thing. Dalila smiled as she picked up a flobberworm. "It sounds fantabulous. Partners it is." She adjusted the flobberworm so she could extend her hand out. "Dalila Bastet from Teppenpaw at your service."\n\n

0 Dalila Bastet Disapointment in the air 0 Dalila Bastet 0 5

Bella Santoro

May 01, 2005 6:57 PM

Flobberworms? Partners? by Bella Santoro

Bella waited patiently for her COMC professor to arrive. She protected her face from the strong gusts of winds whenever possible and made sure her black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. She watched the other students for a bit. She only knew a small handful of them and she worried about how she would ever make any more friends as they all seemed to have already formed groups.

When their professor arrived, Bella was surprised by how young she looked. But, from their Astronomy Professor, to their Coach, this Professor seemed nice and friendly. Someone who would be more lenient on them and okay if they messed up.

Her excitement dwindled at the mention of flobberworms. She didn't have anything against the things, in fact, growing up with the twins, such creatures were bound to show themselves somewhere within her room or her sister's room. Still, she had hoped for something...bigger.

Bella walked up to the crate and selected a flobberworm. It was a bit odd to be asked to entertain the thing, but she shrugged and walked off the the side to wait for a partner. Or get assigned a partner if she was left alone. Somehow, she assumed the latter would be more likely to occur than finding a partner on her own.\n\n

0 Bella Santoro Flobberworms? Partners? 0 Bella Santoro 0 5

Lexi

May 01, 2005 9:14 PM

I think this is where we smile and nod by Lexi

Lexi had been looking foward to this class since she arrived at Sonora. She loved animals, as her brothers and the various bats, frogs, geckos, cats, hamsters, etc. living in her room could attest to, and so she had been ecstatic when she had learned that they would be taking a course about magical creatures.

The teacher seemed nice, too. Of course, Lexi usually thought that almost everyone she met seemed nice, something that made her twin brother, Ben, especially exasperated with her after a while.

So, she had a good class, and she had a nice teacher. Things seemed to be looking up for Lexi. That was, of course, until she learned about the first thing that they were going to be studying. Of all the potentially interesting magical creatures, it had to be...

"Flubberworms," she muttered almost inaudibly to herself. "Of all the wonderful creatures in this world, it had to be flubberworms." What Lexi liked about animals was that she could make friends with them, and have companions for whenever she didn't have anyone else. She had tried to make friends with a flubberworm once at her grandparent's estate in England, when she was around five. It hadn't turned out so well.

The thing had just sat there, no matter what she had tried to make it be more interesting. Honestly, if there was an award for most pointless creature, this thing would get it.

Knowing that she was going to have to find a partner sometime, she looked around, and saw a girl selecting a flubberworm. IF she could actualyl touch the thing, that was a good sign. Some of the more giggly girls probably wouldn't.

Lexi rolled her eyes in the general direction of that pack of ditzy eleven year olds, and walked over to the first girl. Pulling on her red hair slightly, she gave the girl a slight smile, and said, brightly, "Hey. My name's Lexi Stafford. If you don't have a partner already, do you want to possibly work with me?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Lexi I think this is where we smile and nod 0 Lexi 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 01, 2005 9:18 PM

Want to work together? by Gwenhwyfar Carey

The wind picked up as Gwen walked down towards where the Care of Magical Creatures class was assembled, sending a few strands of blonde hair blowing into her face. She ignored them after a few attempts to tuck them back. Care of Magical Creatures was one of the classes she was most apprehensive about, given that the only magical creatures she had ever come into contact with were family pets-her father's Runespoor, her mother's Fwooper, her own Crup, Morgaine's Kneazle, and Edmond's Puffskein, and the snake and bird were kept in their cages. She wasn't sure if animals that weren't accustomed to the idea that she was the second-nicest thing on the property would like her very much.

It wasn't long before the teacher, a young woman with a pleasant manner. Kiva Kijewski. It was a bit of a hard name to say, but no harder than Gwenhwyfar.She wasn't entirely sure what a flobberworm was, but it didn't sound very vicious or threatening.It was the partners thing that worried her most. She wasn't sure if Laura and Asher and Juliet still wanted anything to do with her after the Quidditch Pitch drama, and she wasn't sure if she should just walk up to someone. Glancing around, she saw a black-haired girl wearing Aladren robes pick up one of the flobberworms and move to the side. For a moment, she thought it was Anne, but a second look confirmed that it wasn't. There was, of course, no logical reason there shouldn't be two black-haired girls in Aladren. If the other girl could pick up one of the rather unpleasant-looking things, she obviously had some guts and it couldn't hurt to get to know more people. Reassuring herself that she wouldn't be intruding, she walked over.

"Hi," she said, extending her hand. "I'm Gwenhwyfar Carey. Call me Gwen, if you want. Have you got anyone to work with yet?" She immediately felt like an idiot, somewhere between assuming this girl would want to talk to her and the way she had introduced herself, but it was too late to not jump now. This was the part where she hoped there was a mattress at the bottom to land on. \n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Want to work together? 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Bella

May 01, 2005 9:47 PM

smiles and nods by Bella

Bella was a bit taken aback by how quickly someone came to ask to be her partner. For some reason she chose to believe that no one would want to do such a thing. Jake was always telling her to be more lively, to have more confidence, but when one is the seventh of nine children, Bella struggled to find a way to be like everyone else. Instead, she was always lost in the crowd. Now, she stood staring at the girl infront of her as if they girl had lost one too many marbles.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Bella smiled shyly at the other girl. Something about her name was nagging at her. What was it? How come she knew it before...and then it hit her Stafford. She had met Ben back on their first day here. This must be his twin, and he was right, they looked nothing alike.

"Are you Ben's sister?" She asked, but it was more of a statement than an actual question, "I'm Izabella, but I would rather be called Bella. And sure, I'd love to work with you." Bella replied, her smile widening a bit while her body relaxed. Okay, so she didn't have to worry about finding a partner, but that didn't tell her if she could make friends just as easily as that. She looked down at the worm and held it up so that Lexi could see, "So, erm, what shall we do?"\n\n

0 Bella *smiles and nods* 0 Bella 0 5

Leonides Lockwin

May 01, 2005 10:45 PM

Wormy McWormington by Leonides Lockwin

The searing Arizona sun blazed with brilliant intensity from its noonday pinnacle in the azure sky, proceeding, in all its innocent, sunlike obliviousness, to boil everyone beneath it into a gooey soup of hot, melted human. To anyone else, particularly those hailing from cooler parts of the country, this sun might seem like an evil, unrelenting force of fiery infernal doom, or maybe just something new to complain about; but to Leonides Lockwin, Nevada born and raised, this sun thing was old hat. In fact, the only thing brighter than the sun at that point were Leo's spirits. Being in wizarding school was possibly the most exciting thing he could think of, and believe you me, there are lots of exciting things a twelve-year-old boy can think of. It didn't matter how hot the sun was, or if an earthquake was shaking the world to pieces, or even if exploding frogs were raining from the sky (actually, that would be pretty awesome)- as long as Leonides was at Sonora, he was as happy as that old cliche about clams.

His pace as he meandered down the path towards his next class was relaxed, but jaunty, reflecting the aforementioned inner awesomeness he felt concerning this exceedingly fine, exceedingly hot day. He twirled the silvery chain of his pocketwatch around his pallid fingers in an expression of idle playfulness, the round timepiece flashing like an argent beacon in the sunlight. Its faceplate was covered in numerous dings and dents, most likely obtained when he swung it in a fashion... well, like he was doing, and he droppe- well, like just happened. Bending to pick it up, he stuffed the watch back into the pocket of his dusty jeans, once more hooking the chain around his belt loop, not wanting to further injure his rockin' silver teller o' time further. Besides... he was about three feet away from his class.

The wind had arrived with his fellow students, blustering through the clot of first years like a little brat running through a forest of strangers' legs in a subway station. Everyone seemed agitated by it, to say the least, and had begun an epic battle between good and evil, heaven and heck, cats and dogs, peanut butter and jelly - well, you get the point - with their long, wind-moltested hair. Leonides just whistled, not in the least minding as the sultry mistress of the air ran her windy fingers through his tussled ebony hair, which was carelessly pulled into a tangled, stubby ponytail at the base of his neck. He just kept whistling, and smoothed out the half-buttoned, oversized dress shirt he'd (lovingly) pilfered from his father.

Nor did he seem to mind how young his professor was, or the fact that they'd be working with flobberworms. In fact, to a young boy, mucus-secreting, wriggly brown awesome flobberworms were the coolest you could get. Really. Instead of disappointment, a gentle but charmingly boyish grin spread across his face, in anticipation of discovering this interesting new creature. Being a bit tall, he had a good view of his other classmates - they all seemed somewhat put off by the worms. Very well; if no one else would get excited about this, he'd make it his duty! With eyes full of purpose and vigor, he glanced about the crowd, determined to make the next person who made eye contact with him his partner. Boy, girl, winged flying snake, he didn't care! They were going to get a worm together, and it was going to be awesome.\n\n

0 Leonides Lockwin Wormy McWormington 0 Leonides Lockwin 0 5

Laura Keaton

May 01, 2005 10:57 PM

Are flobberworms even magical? by Laura Keaton

Laura was thrilled to have another class besides flying lessons outside. There was nowhere she would rather be, even in the Arizona heat. Today, however, there was a strong breeze which kept the heat at bay, which made it even better. A lot of the other girls seemed bothered that the wind keep tussling their hair, but Laura, eternally oblivious to how she looked, didn’t care.

Laura was surprised when the professor appeared, looking not much past high school, possibly college. Despite how young she appeared, Laura had a good feeling about this professor. She seemed very friendly is bight blue robes, almost the polar opposite from their Astronomy professor. Laura’s suspicions were confirmed when the professor told them it was ok to call her Professor K or just Kiva, instead of her mouthful of a last name.

Laura bit down a sigh when Kiva told them they would be studying flobberworms for an entire week. Flobberworms just seemed so dull, and boring, and not magical in the least. Not that she had studied any magical creatures in her Muggle school, so starting small was a smart thing, but still, Flobberworms? Laura thought she could at least handle Kneazles.

The professor had gone on to tell the students that they should partner up and take a flobberworm, which they should then watch, study… and smell? Ok, that was a little strange, and Laura had no intention of actually sniffing the worm on purpose, though the other things she could do, probably. The partner bit, however, worried her. She had always been last picked to be partners at her Muggle school; hence she had come to dread partner work. Laura started looking around somewhat frantically for Juliet, Asher, Gwen, or Anne, planning on pouncing upon the first one she saw. However, as she swiveled her head in all directions in search of her friends, she made eye contact with a guy she had never seen before. Moving on, she continued to look for someone she knew.
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton Are flobberworms even magical? 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Fawn

May 01, 2005 11:10 PM

Or maybe that's the smell of the flobberworms? by Fawn

Fawn smiled as the girl next to her picked up a worm and agreed to be her partner. Well, at least with a nice person to work with the class might not seem so dull! "Dalila Bastet from Teppenpaw at your service," she introduced herself.

"Wow, what a coincidence," Fawn said. "Fawn Summers, I'm in Teppenpaw as well." She shook the hand that wasn't grasping the flobberworm and said, "Glad to meet some people from my own House." This was a heartening thought, she could get to know one of her roommates. She already knew Juliet and Aricia and they were very nice.

But her slight joy was diminished as she looked at the creature oozing in Dalila's arms. "Well, what do we do with a flobborworm?" she asked, as if the short-haired girl might have a clue. Then she had an idea! "Do you think we should name it? It's only proper to give it a name if we're going to be taking care of it, right?"

Staring at the worm, the tan girl was trying to decide on what to call it. "What on earth do you name a flobberworm?" she asked. 'Oozey' and 'Slimey' would probably just give it low self-esteem. "He needs a name with character." she decided. "After all, we want our flobberworm to be confident, well educated, and unique." She poked it's side gently to see its reaction and it barely even wiggled. "Mister Flobberworm?", she asked, poking it again. Still it did nothing.

"Hmm," Fawn said, "It appears that we didn't get a very educated worm. Well, we'll have to change that! Maybe we could even teach him to read! Wait... he doesn't have eyes, does he? Well, that idea's out then." Giving a sigh, she considered what to do with the thing. And it still needed a name. "How about Rodolpho? Does he look like a Rodolpho to you?"\n\n

0 Fawn Or maybe that's the smell of the flobberworms? 0 Fawn 0 5

Leonides Lockwin

May 01, 2005 11:56 PM

Even if they aren't, I am... ;O (Wow... smooth one) by Leonides Lockwin

He had caught someone.

Like a fish on a hook, a fly in a web, a peanut on a caramel candy bar, a horde of children around a birthday cake... even if only for a second, that tomboyish girl had met his eye, and that was good enough for Leonides. Not wasting a second, he leaped over to her side in a bound of excited determination, tapping her shoulder lightly to get her attention.

"Hey there! You're from Crotalus, right?" he asked, eyeing the house badge pinned upon her shirt, the edges glinting in the light. "I'm Leonides Lockwin, from Teppenpaw. Nice to meet ya, miss..." He waited patiently for her to respond, shaking her hand with a hearty friendliness as she gave him her name, a carefree smile playing across his features. "Care to be partners? Come on!"

This time, however, instead of waiting for a response, Leonides charged straight for the crate of flobberworms that a few other students were already crowding around - Laura found herself being pulled after him, practically waving like a kite behind the boy as he clutched her hand. Before she knew it, a wriggly, slimy flobberworm was resting in her palm, the mucusy invertebrate probably wondering as to why in goodness' name it it was going to be subjected to poking and prodding and sniffing and off-key music by some preteen kids... oh well, this palm will have to do! Leaning over to get a better look at the worm, Leonides held his face just inches away from its lubricious body, watching it with a discerning gaze as it squirmed around.

"Isn't it cool?" He asked, his voice ringing with excitment. As for Laura... only she knew if she shared that same fervor for the creature in her hands, or her rather exhuberant partner. \n\n

0 Leonides Lockwin Even if they aren't, I am... ;O (Wow... smooth one) 0 Leonides Lockwin 0 5

Rachel

May 02, 2005 5:34 AM

Flobberworms by Rachel

Rachel stood there looking ather teacher. Kiva (the teacher) had said they would be studying flobberworms out of all the magical creatures she had to pick flobberworms. Rachel didn't know who to go with. Bella already had a partner and Anne well she couldn't see Anne at all. They were the only other firsties she knew so she was stuck.

She strolled over to the boxes. Hopefully she would find find a partner. She looked around hoping to spot someone she had seen before but had no luck. Oh well i'll just wait for someone to ask she thought. Hopefully they'll have somethings incommon. She picked up one of the worms and saw it had no eyes. This is going to be a fun week.\n\n

0 Rachel Flobberworms 0 Rachel 0 5

Carillon Arksington

May 02, 2005 10:34 AM

Aren't they great? by Carillon Arksington

Flobberworms? They were studying flobberworms? Carillon cast a disappointed look at the creatures when the teacher told them they were studying – of all things – flobberworms. They were brainless, spineless and hardly anything to look at. He look at them morosely. Here he was thinking about poisonous spiders and vampiric bats and they were going to study worms?!

It was only when the teacher enumerated it’s uses did Carillon brighten up, albeit slightly. Looking around for a partner, he saw a girl approach a box and pick up one of the worms. He would have liked to have a boy as a partner but if she didn’t mind picking up icky worms then he could probably stand her. Walking over, he asked, “Excuse me. But do you have a partner?”
\n\n

0 Carillon Arksington Aren't they great? 0 Carillon Arksington 0 5

Laura Keaton

May 02, 2005 11:03 AM

That should be in a book of bad pick up lines by Laura Keaton

Laura was still looking around her one of her friends, when she was practically knocked over by a very excited boy. Turned around to see who had bumped into her shoulder, she saw the boy she had made eye contact with before. Laura wondered if he had ADHD as he wrung her un-offered hand, introducing himself as Leonides Lockwin of Teppenpaw, before halting the conversation apparently for her to edge in with her name.

“Laura Keaton,” she responded, “and don’t call me miss anything, just Laura.” What was with the boys at this school suddenly being polite enough to call her miss, first Connor at the Quidditch pitch, then this Leonides kid? She was not a ‘miss’ type of girl.

Leonides was off and running again, literally. He had managed to spew something out about being partners, then started dragging her toward the tub of flobberworms.

“Umm, ok,” Laura finally responded, half way to the worm and already hooked into being partners with Leonides whatever her response. The boy was fast, as well, and Laura tried to keep up with him, since he still had her hand in a death grip. The bruise on her leg from where Juliet had ran into her on the Quidditch pitch was thumping painfully as she tried to run rather than just be towed along.

The crate of flobberworms was a welcome rest, and Laura breathed deeply several times in attempts to catch her breath. However, before she could even say another word to her kidnapper, she felt a slimy worm get thrust into her hand, causing her to draw a sharp, shocked breath instead of a deep, calm one. Lovely, it looked like she was in charge of their worm for the day. Laura had played with regular old earthworms before, but they were not nearly as slimy or as large as this worm. For a second, Laura wished Leonides would have captured one of the preppy girly to be his partner. She smiled widely while imagining their reaction to having to hold one of the worms.

Leonides was already studying the worm, his face just inches from Laura’s hand and the wiggly creature. Isn’t it cool?” he asked.

“Not as cool as, say a unicorn, but still sort of cool.” Laura didn’t want to completely burst the kid’s bubble. “So, want to go over there and, um, study this critter?” she asked Leonides while pointing to a grassy spot several feet away from the crate, which was starting to get crowded with students. “Oh, and can I call you Leo? Leonides is such a mouthful.”
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton That should be in a book of bad pick up lines 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 02, 2005 11:52 AM

Forget singing...how about punting? by Asher Tallow

This professor sounded so...nice that it made Asher immediately suspicious. Adults simply weren't nice. They were patronizing or bullying or rude or mean or distant- not ever nice. It had to be a ruse, she decided, a ruse to trick the students into complacency with the wriggling ten inch worms flopping about in the boxes. There was probably some secret weapon the flobberworms had hidden up their skin that would pop out the moment she tried to sing. Like...these flobberworms could be crossbreeds with miniature dragons and breath fire when hummed at. She eyed the stringlike creature with healthy suspicion.

Asher backed away from the box and decided to work on another part of Professor Kijewski's instructions- namely, find a partner. She saw Laura over aways talking with a boy from Pecari from the looks of his house badge. Thankfully, she didn't see Earl- not that she would partner with him, because she wouldn't. She was still mad at him, after all. Her eyes skirted over the next few groups, all people she didn't recognize and didn't particular want to go and be friendly with while having to deal with the possibly deadly flobberworms.

The wind yanked on her robes and she scowled in response. What a pain...stupid wind. That same wind sent a tuft of blond hair flying to her right and with a slight start, Asher recognized the hair as belonging to her housemate, Gwen Carey. Gwen was standing with two other girls who looked to be partners themselves, meaning that she had now found a partner for herself.

"Hey Gwen!" she called. "Come over here and help me see if kicking the worm makes it do anything!"\n\n

0 Asher Tallow Forget singing...how about punting? 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Dalila

May 02, 2005 6:29 PM

What's in a name? by Dalila

It was no wonder she had recognized Fawn. They were in the same house! Dalila mentally kicked herself for not knowing her own roommate, but then figured it was all part of her forgetful nature. She was brought back to the task at hand when the flobberworn wiggled in her arms; her green robes now covered in slime. She really needed to learn that cleaning charm her grandmother had tried to teach her.

Dalila gigled at the names Fawn was suggesting. Oozy? Mr. Flobberworm? Fawn was funny. Just the type of person Dalila could become really good friends with. At the mention of the name 'Roldolpho' Dalila shook her head vigorously. "That's the perfect name! Roldolpho the flobberworm...very elegant, very chic, very mysterious."

She lifted the worm to her face. "Isn't that a good name, Roldolpho? Yes, it is. Yes, it is," she cooed to the slimy thing trying frantically to escape her clutches in vain.

She tore her eyes away from the digusting creature to look at Fawn. "I suppose we should try to find out some stuff about it. Which do think Roldolpho would like better: classical or rock?"\n\n

0 Dalila What's in a name? 0 Dalila 0 5

Anne Wright

May 02, 2005 7:19 PM

This would be easy if I wasn't afraid of animals... by Anne Wright

Anne walked down towards the Care of Magical Creatures class almost as if she were her namesake Queen of England walking to the block. Not quite, though. Anne Boleyn had thought Henry VIII was going to grant a dramatic, last-minute pardon. Anne Wright knew that she was most definitely stuck in a class full of animals of an even more bestial variety than some of her fellow students. Between taking on a math final she hadn't studied for and doing this, she'd take math. Numbers didn't bite, secrete poisonous fluids, have stingers or spines, or in any other way pose a threat to her physical well-being. Animals did.

She laughed out loud at her own silliness. Everyone else was probably looking forward to this class more than any of the others, and here she was, in true geek fashion, dreading it. Once she realized that people were probably looking at her like she was schizophrenic for laughing for no apparent reason, she ceased in her merriment and turned her attention to the young woman in blue robes who had just introduced herself as the teacher. Standing on tiptoe to add a little to her already above-average height, she was able to recognize the woman as Professor Kijewski, the Head of her House. It would be her luck for the Head of Aladren to be the Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

She lowered herself back down to the soles of her feet when she heard the professor give them instructions to partner up and get a flobberworm out of the crate to study it. She wasn't entirely sure what a flobberworm was, but those picked up by a few brave students closer to the front didn't look very dangerous. Neither, though, did piranhas until they opened their mouths.

She looked around for Gwenhwyfar, and nodded briefly in approval when she saw that her cousin was still playing nicely with the other children. She had never known that a thought could carry such a sarcastic note. If Gwen, as she apparently liked to be called, was faking her reformation, then it wouldn't be long before she cracked and joined the snob club. If her reformation was for real, then it would be apparent by the prearranged date of Christmas. That wasn't Anne's current problem, though. Her current problem was finding a partner with the guts to actually go pick the thing up to prove it didn't bite or ooze something poisonous. Glancing around the class area, she thought it was more likely that her Head of House was going to have to appoint her a partner. Everyone else either had friends to work with or were making new ones, whereas everyone she even vaguely knew appeared to be paired up and she had never been the best at getting to know people. \n\n

16 Anne Wright This would be easy if I wasn't afraid of animals... 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Rachel

May 02, 2005 8:11 PM

Partner by Rachel

Rachel looked up at the boy who had asked if she wanted to be partners. As long as she had someone to talk to she was happy. "Sure, why not. Oh by the way i'm Rachel, Rachel Tibbs."

Rachel looked down at the Flobberworm, and had an idea. She shoved it at the boy wondering what he'd do.\n\n

0 Rachel Partner 0 Rachel 0 5

Robbie Bates

May 02, 2005 9:09 PM

why be afraid? by Robbie Bates

Robbie brushed away beads of sweat from his forehead- he hadn't realized it was going to be this hot. Well actually, it wasn't so horrible, he just happened to be wearing a black t-shirt, the color that soaked up the most heat. Really he was overreacting. It truly wasn't that bad.

Robbie sat in the back of the class, listening to the teacher. He was already liking this class. One, it was not evil science, like Astronomy, two, animals were cooler than stars, and three, there weren't any notes, it would be a hands-on type of class. Robbie honestly didn't see the point of making himself write notes. His handwriting was horrible, even he could barely read it. A practical class beat a note-taking one in his book anyday.

Of course, it didn't seem the whole class felt this way. Honestly, it was just an insect- it wasn't like it was harmful or anything. Could bugs be harmful? Probably, but he couldn't know for sure. All he knew was that when he was in pre-school with his friends, he loved playing with the bugs in the playground. He hadn't touched a bug since then, but now he guessed was his chance to "visit you childhood" as Jack might call it. Funny thing was, cousin Jack was only nine.

Robbie looked around the classroom. Right now he didn't feel like making new friends, so he looked for people he already knew. "Hey Anne," greeted Robbie, "Wanna be partners?"\n\n

0 Robbie Bates why be afraid? 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 02, 2005 9:18 PM

I'll sing it a lullaby while you kick it fifty yards. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen jumped, startled, when Asher called her. "Kick it?" she said, walking over and pulling out the pin that held her hair up. Her hair, already made untidy by the wind, came loose and billowed around her like a pale veil in another gust, making her look younger than she was rather than older for a change. It wasn't long before it was securely in place on the back of her head and out of her way again, though. "I'm not sure if Professor Kijewski will approve, or if it's wide enough to kick properly." She grinned to show that she was joking instead of being prissy. "I am pretty sure that it would do something if we do kick it, though. Fly through the air." Stating the obvious was one of Gwen's forms of humor, though she and everyone else found it tiring if she used it for very long.

She glanced into the box. The...creatures...inside looked strangely familiar. "Hey, I've seen these before!" she exclaimed. "My mother feeds them to her pet Fwooper, Madison." Gwen had always found it funny that her mother, who certainly counted as deranged if not psychotic, had named a bird that caused insanity by its singing for the county that had produced her. She hadn't been so amused by her mother's expiriments involving herself, Morgaine, and Madison. Neither had Great-Uncle Carey, meaning that Lorena's false interest in psychology and the advance of magical medical knowledge had been stopped nine months earlier. "She orders them in crates like these, though I'm not entirely sure they're supposed to be used to feed the bird. Natby-one of our house-elves-is the only one that actually feeds Madison, so he's the only one who knows if she's developed a taste for them. Must not be poisonous, since they haven't killed the crazy old thing." She was fairly sure that Asher didn't hear her mutter, "Unfortunately."

She prodded the crate with her foot. "Not very pretty, are they?" she asked rhetorically. "I was gonna try to sing lullabys, but I don't think that'll work, especially since the only one I know is the one I made up for my little brother,not to mention I can't sing. Do you think they would like poetry?" The question was only semi-serious. Kijewski had said to relax, which, from Gwen's point of view, meant she was allowed to make stupid jokes occasionally. She thought she might like this class for its dynamics in spite of its content. She certainly liked Kijewski, who was probably the nicest-seeming adult she had ever met.

\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey I'll sing it a lullaby while you kick it fifty yards. 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 02, 2005 9:56 PM

Ha...I have an even better idea. by Asher Tallow

Asher grinned as Gwen struggled to hide her blonde hair away from the wind's mischievous fingers. Her own too long hair was quite sensibly tightly braided back and tucked beneath the shield of her forest green robes. For all that the robes were inconvient otherwise in the current weather, they did serve as a handy block. She thought briefly of the Hens with their perfect little coiffs and her grin widened. It would serve them right.

Her smile lost a bit of its energy as she peered down into the container, the flobberworm twisting devilishly in its pen. Gwen offered to sing to it, and Asher certainly wasn't about to discourage her. Maybe take a few healthy steps back in case the worm decided to explode or spit acidic venom like magical creatures tended to do. Harmless her foot...she had read loads about the dangers creatures imbued with magic could pose. Oh, sure, a glumbumble might look like a simple furry bug, sort of cute in an insecty kind of way, but Asher remembered perfectly what happened when her brother Sams adopted one as a pet. The buzzed up bee stung Sams and the poor guy was depressed for a month! If a harmless looking, furry little bug could make her sunny, sweet brother turn into a brooding mess, then this brown worm probably had a whole slew of weapons coiled within its innards.

Gwen's half joking question registered slowly in Asher's hyped up mind, and she jerked in startlement. "Poetry? Yeah, I've got a bit of poetry for it. 'What makes a flobberworm die?/ Stomped, kicked, smashed, pluck out an eye?/ Just quick as can be/ How happy we'll be/ When the dear flobberworm dies."

Asher gave the container a small nudge with her sneaker; the worm flopped once in response and she backed away. "Even though the meter was a bit off, I'd say poetry was a failure. But, as it says on page 15 of Faunaura's Beastiary Guide, '...however, the flobberworm prefers to be left alone and do nothing.'" She shrugged the once. "Professor K probably has some kind of trick planned to spring up on us. Maybe we can find a willing vic- that is, friend, to help us out."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Asher Tallow Ha...I have an even better idea. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Carillon

May 03, 2005 4:20 AM

Look at the worm! by Carillon

"Nice to meet you, Rachel."

"Thanks", he blinked, taking the flobberworm. Maybe she was disgusted with it and wanted him to study it for the two of them. But she didn't look grossed out by it, he thought.

"So... where should we start", he asked, looking around the room for a clear space where they could study the floberworm.\n\n

0 Carillon Look at the worm! 0 Carillon 0 5

Rachel

May 03, 2005 5:56 AM

um it's looks? by Rachel

Rachel was glad, he didn't go all grossed out by it. "Maybe we should start with it's looks, that looks simple enough. Long, blind and kind of mucus covered creature. Right?"

"Let's call it Flob." She said looking innocently down. trying hard not to laugh at the ridiculous name. "It looks like a Flob to me."\n\n

0 Rachel um it's looks? 0 Rachel 0 5

Carillon

May 03, 2005 7:54 AM

Flob the Worm by Carillon

Carillon poked it. "And squishy", he added helpfully. "Don't forget squishy."

"Flob's a nice name", he grinned, watching it crawl across his palm. Flob made a gooey sound trying to crawl up his arm. Carillon stopped it and placed Flob on the tabletop. "Do you think he can talk? Well, not really talk, you know but do you think he can make cries or sounds?"\n\n

0 Carillon Flob the Worm 0 Carillon 0 5

Rachel

May 03, 2005 8:05 PM

Nah, Maybe? Don't Know by Rachel

Rachel had started to wonder the same thing. "Nah, Maybe? Don't know. Maybe it responds to our own sounds. Oggly Boggly!" It stayed silent but turned what looked like it's backside to her.

Bubble of laughter started at her throut and she lost control and fell to the ground giggling. Looking at her partner she swished her fawn hair over her shoulder.\n\n

0 Rachel Nah, Maybe? Don't Know 0 Rachel 0 5

Anne Wright

May 03, 2005 8:59 PM

It really isn't logical, is it? by Anne Wright

Anne glanced over her shoulder when someone said her name, then grinned when she recognized the speaker. "Hey, Robbie," she said, recalling her conversation with the Teppenpaw guitar player in the library. "Sure, why not?"

She swept her hair up off her neck and impatiently used the same handkerchief she had used during her flying lesson to put it in a rough sort of ponytail. It wasn't that the temperature bothered her too much-she personally thought the damp, malarial heat of a Charleston summer was more draining than this dry Arizona sun-but she wasn't quite accustomed to walking around in full uniform yet.At this time of year back home, she would have been going to school in shorts and cotton shirts, not full robes with long sleeves and jeans she had somehow managed to sneak into her trunk with all the frilly stuff her grandmother had sent her to wear."Gonna be hard getting used to a place where it doesn't rain," she said, half to herself and half to Robbie. "We get hurricanes at home-literally." She turned her full attention back to the real issue-flobberworms.

"Out of curiosity,do you have any idea what a flobberworm is besides a living form of Miracle-Gro?" she asked, remembering Professor Kijewski's introductory talk now that she was certain Professor Kijewski was not going to turn out to have a dragon just dying to fry her like a Kentucky chicken. "I've never heard of them-gardening never was really my thing." Understatement. She had planted a lima bean for a Science Fair Project when she was in third grade and it had died long before her project was done.

Miracle-Gro worms, what a thing to study. Still, if they were used to keep gardens healthy, they were probably a Wizarding form of earthworms, and earthworms had never bothered her-she had been the only girl in her elementary school with the guts to catch some and drop them down the collars of boys in retaliation for them setting a bunch of lizards loose in class. Since she was goody-two-shoes Anne Wright, the teacher hadn't belived the boys when they ratted her out. Wouldn't they be surprised to see me now, she thought to herself. Who knew, maybe this would eventually end up being her favorite class. Stranger things had happened.
\n\n

16 Anne Wright It really isn't logical, is it? 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 03, 2005 9:55 PM

Hey! Anyone willing to be our guinea pig? by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen couldn't keep from giggling at Asher's "poetry." She could tell her father that Care of Magical Creatures sparked creativity that could be translatd into cunning if he started trying to sue the school for having the class or something else as depressingly characteristic. "Pure Wyatt," she said, keeping her face straight by sheer strength of will. "I don't think the flobberworm is in a mood for the best of the Elizabethan era, though." She had read Thomas Wyatt poetry, and it wasn't the kind of stuff a worm would be interested in, since they were hermaphrodites.

She decided not to mention her surprise when Asher tossed out the name of a book, a quote, and the page number. It was none of her business if Asher memorized textbooks or not, and she wasn't going to stick her nose in other people's buisness. Well...not more than she could help, anyway.

"I'm sure we could find a friend somewhere," she said, putting extra emphasis on the word 'friend'. "I'd personally like to dump it in Howard's hair, but I think we might end up on the recieving end of some nasty hexes from her sycopha-er, friends-Raines and Dupree before the Higher Powers decend in a fury on us. Still, in the interest of scientific investigation..." She shrugged. "Maybe we couldn't actually drop the thing down some prep's blouse, but I'm all for finding someone else to stick their hand in to see what happens before I stick mine in."\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Hey! Anyone willing to be our guinea pig? 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Carillon

May 04, 2005 10:13 AM

That too.... by Carillon

Carillon grinned, "Or maybe it can hear us but it doesn't want to talk."

He poked it again. It still made a squishy sound. "Maybe that's the sound it makes. That's what Flob's been doing everytime I poked him."

He cast a look around the room for a spare piece of parchment. "We should write that down, don't you think", he asked after Rachel got over her giggling fits.\n\n

0 Carillon That too.... 0 Carillon 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 04, 2005 12:22 PM

You know, that makes me think... by Asher Tallow

The mention of the name Howard was more than enough to get Asher started on a rant. "Forget dropping it down her blouse. I'd like to find someone willingly to do an engorgement charm, cast it on Wormy," a quick gesture to the pathetic brown creature in the crate, "our pal here, and then we can convince it that Howard is a well known breakfast delicacy. Now, that would make me smile."

Asher bent to scoop a bit of soil with her hand and tossed it into the crate, notching off another requirement passed by Professor K. Wormy, much as she expected, did little outside of flopping a bit before promptly ignoring the new occupant in its domain. She stood and wiped the dirt off on the outside of her robe. "Seriously though, what is wrong with those girls? I would blame the house, but the second years aren't all like that, not that I can tell anyway. It can't be a pureblood thing, can it? 'Cause so far you and I haven't gone about sneering at the walls and claiming the need for better adobe."

She turned to her head to gaze at the three girls who had made it abundantly clear what they thought of both her and her friends. It made her so angry the other night when Jordanna Howard referred to being friends with Gwen and Laura as rolling about in the dirt. If it hadn't been for a convenient placing of the furniture and thus a clear path of exit, Asher might not have made it to the proper stairwell without crashing into something. She had literally seen red.

She clenched her jaw grimly. "What those girls need is a bit of plain old retribution. Mud in their beds, soap in their hair, and a couple hexes to their skin. Then, to top it all off, maybe a blackmail photo or two to threaten with disclosement."

Asher tried to picture the image in her head, and the promptly popped up scenario made her mouth spread into open glee. "I would sacrifice a kidney to pull that off."\n\n

0 Asher Tallow You know, that makes me think... 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Robbie Bates

May 04, 2005 3:42 PM

Not really by Robbie Bates

"Erm, worms?" he guessed, "I don't know a thing about them either. Doesn't look like they do very much, though. I'll go up and get one." He wondered what made them so magical anyway. Maybe they were used in potions. It seemed kind of gross, that a potion would have worms in it. He wondered if the magical doctors and nurses told their patients what was in the potion before they gave it to them.

Going to the front of the class, he picked out a worm. There was nothing special about it, it wasn't extra long or fat or anything. It just happened to be the closest one to Robbie. He put it down on the table in front of him and Anne. Even now that it was here, right in front of him, it didn't look like it did too much.\n\n

0 Robbie Bates Not really 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Rachel

May 04, 2005 7:45 PM

Giggling mad! by Rachel

"But that's rude. And I think Flob doesn't like girl's because it's fine with you, trying to crawl all over you and so on." Another giggle came out and this time she dropped onto the table.

Rachel looked up at him again when her giggles started to subdue. "Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, Sure why not." Rachel started fiddling with her bag, looking for her quill and parchment.

1. it's long, squishy, likes guys, mucus covered and blind. also seems to hate me.

Showing him think it's correct.\n\n

0 Rachel Giggling mad! 0 Rachel 0 5

Jordanna Howard

May 04, 2005 7:53 PM

I don't like worms... by Jordanna Howard

Jordanna had come prepared for this class. Her long blond hair was tied up in a loose bun, so that her hair would not get in anything gross. Under her school robes she wore a red tanktop and flared jeans. She didn't care for either the outfit very much, so it wouldn't be a bother if she got them dirty. Not that she wanted to get herself dirty. But there was always the possibility in a class like this.

She pulled out a bright red quill, and signed her name to the top of the paper. She was glad that at least this teacher was going to teach, and not give some crummy pretest. And her hair was kind of pretty.

In these crates there are enough flobberworms for groups of two.

It was at that point that Jordanna's grip on the quill grew too strong and broke. Her face paled. Why did it have to be flobberworms? Not only were they gross, she was allergic to them. When she had been younger, a pastime of her father had been fishing for magical fish. As bait, he would use flobberworms. When she was six, one of her older cousins had dared her to bait the worms for a week, and the older cousin would take Jordanna for a shopping spree. She went through with the dare. This kind of dare happened more than once over the months. Eventually, she developed an allergic reaction from putting the worm on the hook, because some of its goo got on her. She coughed, she sneezed, it was horrible. Now, whenever she touched one she would get itchy in her nose and sneeze a lot.

She took out another quill, a long and elegant black one. She didn't think Nicoletta or Catherine would handle the worm. She absentmindedly wondered where Skyla was. She hoped the teacher wouldn't notice if she opted out of the class, or got a partner who would do all the handling.\n\n

0 Jordanna Howard I don't like worms... 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 04, 2005 10:02 PM

The Conspiracy in Care of Magical Creatures by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen stared slightly at Asher as she went on about training enlarged flobberworms to eat Jordanna Howard. Apparently, the conversation between them that she had partially witnessed before being virtually attacked by Catherine and Nicoletta had been as antagonistic as she had believed, if not more so.

"I think it's mentality," she said, bending over and making a show of observing the flobberworm roll into the dirt. "I learned to play dirtier than those three ever did at home, but I always wanted out of the life-it's not enough, I don't guess. I think those three like the pureblood life in all its messed-up manifestations." She grimaced. "Raines and Dupree cornered me in the common room, where they tried their best to act all superior. I find them pathetic."

She glared at the flobberworm. Nothing could make up for the past, but it was hardly Raines and Dupree and Howard's place to try to ruin the present. They thought they were better than her, did they? She'd show them. She'd show them all, every prep, every Crotalus, everyone in the whole school if she felt it necessary. They'd laugh, then they'd pay for underestimating Gwenhwyfar Carey.

She was startled to hear Asher say something very like what she was thinking, startled enough to straigten up without caring if Professor Kijewski noticed that neither one of them was paying the least bit of attention to the flobberworm. "So I'm not the only one who's thinking they're gonna reap what they've sown?" she asked. "I'm going for Raines, personally, and it sounds like you have something personal against Howard." An idea was forming in her head, a crazy idea. Maybe just crazy enough to work. "There's three of us with Laura and three of them with two wild cards-Valentine and the other Howard girl, Skyla. Do you think we could take down the clique?"\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey The Conspiracy in Care of Magical Creatures 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Carillon

May 04, 2005 11:38 PM

Mad giggler by Carillon

Carillon laughed at her written assessment of their projects. "He doesn't hate you", he said defensively on Flob's behalf. "Maybe he's just shy and hasn't got to know you yet."

Flob was trying to wiggle himself off the edge of the desk and Carillon quickly picked him up by pinching the slimy loose skin and plopping him right in the middle of the desk.

"You also forgot to add that the only sounds he makes are very squishy ones", he added after a monent, after rereading Rachel's observations.\n\n

0 Carillon Mad giggler 0 Carillon 0 5

Rachel

May 05, 2005 3:21 AM

Duhhhh! by Rachel

"He does!" She said adding that Flobworms are shy of girls called rachel and liked boys called Carillon.

"Boys defend each other to the end. That even includes Flob. Does Flob want to die because he sure is trying to." She went to pick him up but instead grabbed air Flob had moved. She yet again laughed.

"See he does hate me." She then added that it makes Squishy sounds. "There like."

\n\n

0 Rachel Duhhhh! 0 Rachel 0 5

Carillon

May 05, 2005 5:41 AM

Yeah sure by Carillon

Carillon looked at Flob and gave it a look but it didn't work since Flob was blind. Flob was too busy wiggling his wormy body to the edge of the desk. Carillon picked him up and put him back iin the middle of the desk.

"And that he wants to be squashed", he shook his head. Flob was yet again trying to wiggle free of Carillon's fingers. "With the way he's trying to get to the edge of the desk, I'm not gonna be shocked if he's getting squished later."

"Do you think he's hungry?", he asked, after retrieving Flob from the edge, yet again.\n\n

0 Carillon Yeah sure 0 Carillon 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 05, 2005 11:40 AM

Brilliant minds do think alike. by Asher Tallow

Asher scowled fiercely, and Wormy seemed to shrink under her gaze. Oh, she knew all about mentality all right. You're thinking about this in the wrong way, Asher, her father would say. Or, You need to have a better mentality. She's not gone forever. Mentality, in her book, was some adult thing, and highly over-rated. If Asher didn't like something, it was because she didn't like it, not because someone told her to not like it.

That's what was wrong with those girls- they didn't know how to think for themselves. They were all so busy thinking about what sort of reaction would be proper that they miss out on what the real reaction would be. Well, Asher had a theory on that one. Given the right sort of circumstances, she was willing to bet a year's worth of chores that she'd get a reaction from them, all right.

Apparently, Gwen had the exact same thought. Asher motioned for the other girl to crouch down beside her, Wormy in his crate of boredom between them. "Taking down their clique? Let them keep that pathetic excuse for friendship. No, what we should do is get them where it hurts them the most. Because what is the worst thing to happen to an orthodox pureblood? What would be the absolute worst?"

The grin that slithered over her mouth was positively wicked. "I'm thinking winter holiday. I'm thinking the night before, when they'll have pampered and primped up a storm, all set to return to mommy and daddy. I'm thinking, we give them a make-over. A surprise one. And with Laura's help- she's really smart, you know- I bet we can find the right sort of sleeping charm or whichever in the library. Imagine them waking the next morning, and finding their skin spotted, hair frizzed out, and clothes handily out of reach."

She leaned in further, her appearence from afar being all that of intense study over the flobberworm. "Don't worry for a minute about Earl Valentine. He owes me a favor, and something tells me it won't be hard to cash in on it then."\n\n

0 Asher Tallow Brilliant minds do think alike. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Lexi

May 05, 2005 4:26 PM

Very good by Lexi

Lexi rolled her eyes as Bella asked her if she was Ben's sister. She was very pleased, however, to find that there was no incredulous note in Bella's voice. Most people, upon meeting the second twin, refused to believe that they were related at all.

"Yeah, Ben's my brother. I take it you've already met him. If he's done anything, please don't hold it against me." She grinned, to let Bella know she was joking, and continued.

"As for the flubberworm, well, I guess we just do whatever we think might help in making us understand it. I've dealt with flubberworms before, and they're exceptionally dull creatures, so I don't know how interesting that part of what we are supposed to do is going to be.

"But I bet we could talk for a while while we do it, to "see how it reacts to human voice," or whatever. So, where do you come from? And, since you know about Ben, and he doubtlessly told you about Patrick, our older brother, along with me, do you have any siblings?" She smiled at Bella. She seemed really nice. Maybe it wouldn't be as difficult settling in here as she thought.\n\n

0 Lexi Very good 0 Lexi 0 5

Rachel

May 05, 2005 8:01 PM

Huh? by Rachel

Rachel looked at him as if were from another planet made a face at her own folly and said, "I wonder what it eats."

Pulling out one of her sweets she offered it to Flob. He wandered over to the edge. Offering the sweet to Carillon she took one for herself "Sweet?"\n\n

0 Rachel Huh? 0 Rachel 0 5

Anne Wright

May 05, 2005 8:26 PM

Re: Not really by Anne Wright

Anne studied the worm skeptically. This was a magical creature? It was too long and thick to be an earthworm, but she didn't think anyone would have suspected they had a creature linked with wizards in their gardens. A parasite bent on destroying their roses and cabbage, perhaps, but nothing magical. Of course, Muggles did like complex non-magical explinations for things, but she thought they would have a point in this case.

"This is it?" she asked. She prodded it, and it slid away about a fraction of an inch. "Not the most enthusiastic critter in the world, is it?"

Pulling out a spiral-bound notebook, she flipped the cover open and wrote COMC-Lesson 1-Flobberworms at the top. There really wasn't much to observe about a flobberworm that she could see. She glanced at it again and scribbled down a quick summary of what it looked like-long, brown, slimy- and the fact that it didn't seem to have separate ends.

"What do you think we should do first?" she asked. "I don't think the flobberworm is gonna do anything on its own for us to observe." She started to number the paper to make recording the results of each expiriment Professor Kijewski had suggested and muttered angrily to herself when she realized the ink had dried on the quill. The virtues of ball-point pens were endless when you didn't have one on hand.\n\n

16 Anne Wright Re: Not really 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Robbie Bates

May 05, 2005 10:56 PM

what to do... by Robbie Bates

Robbie stared blankly at the worm. He was beginning to have his doubts about the insect. Had he accidentally taken a non-magical worm? No, all of the other groups seemed to have the same worms. But how could a worm this boring have magic in it? Robbie decided this was one of the times where he and the rest of the magical world just didn' see eye-to-eye.

He pulled out a pen and began writing on a slightly crumpled bit of paper. It had once been a perfectly straigh bit of paper, but that was before the paper ball war of astronomy. Now he was stuck using crumpled paper until midterm. Writing his name, the date, and the name of the class at the top of the page, he found that he really didn't mind.

Unsure of what to do next, he watched Anne write. She seemed to be having trouble with her quill. Robbie smiled a little, he had taken one or two quills for show, but mostly he had taken pens. That way, there was more of a chance of him being able to read what he wrote later on. He rummaged in his bag in search of another pen, and pulled one out.

"Here, you can take this. It'll make it easier," he said, rolling the pen towards her. He looked around the room, seeing what everyone else was doing. They were all prodding it, and some were trying to feed it sweets. Well, Robbie wanted to do something different. It was a pity he didn't have his guitar, otherwise he would have had an excuse to play it.

"Well, ever thought of serenading a worm?" he suggested, more jokingly than serious, "That would be interesting to see. It could be like, the affects of music on flobberworms- or something all smart-sounding like that."\n\n

0 Robbie Bates what to do... 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Skyla

May 06, 2005 6:30 PM

Re: I don't like worms... by Skyla

Skyla snuck into the class room unoticed. Her blonde hair was wavy instead of the usual straight, tamed hair. She didn't mean to be late but a bunch of muggle borns were teasing her and took Skyla's possession she uses all the time... her hairspray.
The muggle borns hid it somewhere and Skyla had to look all over to find it. As a result her hair wasn't the way she liked. But right now she couldn't think if that right now.
She found a seat next to Jordanna. "Sorry I'm late. Long story," Skyla looked at the flobberworms adn showed a look of disgust. "Ew flobberworms!" Skyla exclaimed. "You're allergic to them aren't you? Fine I'll handle them." Skyla sighed. \n\n

0 Skyla Re: I don't like worms... 0 Skyla 0 5

Earl Valentine

May 06, 2005 6:35 PM

Gross, but oddly cool by Earl Valentine

Each strand of hair stayed gelled in its place as the wind whipped around Earl and the other first years sitting near him on the first Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the year. Earl never liked classes, but if you had to go to class, a class with dangerous creatures was the only way to go.

He sat on the grass behind the other students, picking blades of grass up and crushing them between his fingers. He was looking down and didn't notice what was going on around him until, the idle chatter died down and all that was left was the wind pounding in his ears. He glanced up and saw the teacher, he supposed she was, anyways (she was the tallest among them). The wind was carrying her voice far beyond the reach of his ears, so he had no idea what she was saying until the sudents got up around him and began walking towards the crates he hadn't noticed before.

Earl shrugged to himself, walked to the crates and peered inside. A large amount of flobberworms stared blindly up him. He grimaced to himself as he picked up a rather beige-looking one and looked it over. It seemed perfectly useless and extremely disgusting. He had no idea what to do.

Earl shrugged again, lifted the flobberworm over his head and screamed loud enough for at least some people to hear him over the gust of wind. "DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THESE THINGS?"\n\n

0 Earl Valentine Gross, but oddly cool 67 Earl Valentine 0 5

Skyla

May 06, 2005 6:38 PM

revised post by Skyla

Skyla snuck into the class room unoticed. Her blonde hair was wavy instead of the usual straight, tamed hair. She didn't mean to be late but she lost something that meant the world to her... her hairspray.

It was hidden in a place where she got totally lost and took a long time to find her way back. As a result her hair wasn't the way she liked. But right now she couldn't think if that right now.

She found a seat next to Jordanna. "Sorry I'm late. Long story," Skyla looked at the flobberworms and showed a look of disgust. "Ew flobberworms!" Skyla exclaimed. "You're allergic to them aren't you? Fine I'll handle them." Skyla sighed. \n\n

0 Skyla revised post 0 Skyla 0 5

Jordanna Howard

May 06, 2005 6:46 PM

finally, some help by Jordanna Howard

Jordanna liked to consider herself to be very observant. She noticed that her cousin was unusually late, and her hair was unusually wavy. And Jordanna noticed she wasn't suffocating in the mist of hairspray that always seemed to follow Skyla. That was it- the hairspray. Something had obviously happened to her hairspray. She would have to ask her about that later.

"Duh, I'm allergic," she nodded, "Would you be a doll and go get one of those- those worms. You can experiment and all with it, and I'll write everything down. I do have the better handwriting of us, after all, it's only right."

Though she didn't voice it, she was glad that Skyla had come along. Skyla knew her very well, and so she didn't have to explain her condition. And she wouldn't want something like that to get out. Besides, one of the things that Skyla was good at was following orders. And Jordanna was good at giving them. They would make a very efficient pair, even if only one of them could touch the flobberworm.\n\n

0 Jordanna Howard finally, some help 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5

Skyla

May 06, 2005 7:06 PM

Worms are gross! by Skyla

"Sure," Skyla agreed and went to get one of the worms. Jordanna was right, her cousin did have the neater hand writing than she did. So it was only fair.

And Skyla knew about Jordanna's problem with flobberworms so Skyla was being kind to her cousin and helping her out right?

"Since when was I "nice"?" Skyla thought. She picked up the flobberworm and walked back to Jordanna.

"Ew gross. Why am i touching this? It's disgusting," Skyla was saying to herself.

"Here it is," Skyla told Jordanna and gave a phony smile.
"She is SO owes me for doing this. She is So gonna buy me so some more hairspray" she thought to herself. \n\n

0 Skyla Worms are gross! 0 Skyla 0 5

Adam Whitney

May 06, 2005 7:33 PM

Worms are WAY cool! by Adam Whitney

Adam sat fidgeting slightly in his spot in the grass waiting for his professor to get there. It was a rather windy day and his sandy blonde hair whipped about his head freely. It was short enough not to bother him, so he let the wind do as it wished.

While waiting (rather impatiently) Adam took to watching the other students. Some seemed bored, others anxious. Some chatted with friends, other stood off alone. Didn't really matter what or who they were, Adam just enjoyed watching them.

Finally, the teacher arrived. Adam tried to pay as much attention as he could, but his mind wandered over to where the crate stood behind her. What's in there? His mind stayed on it until he heard her say Flobberworm and his attention perked back up. They were studying worms. Cool.

Adam got up with the rest of them and made his way over to the crates, happy to have something to do with the rest of the time. As he was about to pick up a worm, the kid next to him shouted into his ears. Turning to the boy, Adam smiled widely and shouted back, "YES AND THERE'S NO REASON TO SHOUT, I'M RIGHT HERE!"\n\n

6 Adam Whitney Worms are WAY cool! 69 Adam Whitney 0 5

Anne Wright

May 06, 2005 8:42 PM

For every problem there is a solution... by Anne Wright

"Thanks," Anne said, gratefully accepting the pen Robbie rolled towards her. "I'm not used to writing with quills yet-I went to muggle school and they didn't exactly encourage us to live history through writing utensils." Uncapping the pen, she finished numbering her paper.

"Sing to the worm?" she said, laughing as she pictured herself in a long, sequined gown under a spotlight singing love songs to a flobberworm. Her imagination could get away with her, sometimes. "Professor Kijewski did tell us to see if it likes music..." it's official, she thought. I've lost my mind. Losing her mind wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. It was actually turning out to be sort of fun. "In the interest of science and GPAs, Robbie, I am about to start singing this worm a song," she said, unable to believe she was actually going to do this. "Too bad you haven't got your guitar-we could have done a duet."\n\n

16 Anne Wright For every problem there is a solution... 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 06, 2005 9:28 PM

Two heads are better than one... by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen moved quickly to join Asher on ground level, giving the appearance of studying their flobberworm. The irrelevant thought that the teacher was probably going to bust them any time now flashed across her mind and was gone. If she never learned to do anything else, she was going to learn to stop herself from having irrelevant thoughts when she needed to concentrate on something important, such as working out the niceties of an affair she had a feeling would turn Crotalus upside-down.

Having been raised an orthodox pureblood herself, Gwen's immediate idea when asked what an orthodox pureblood would consider the worst thing that could happen was finding out that you were not, in fact, truly a pureblood. Asher was still talking, though, and the more Gwen listened the more she found herself liking the way Asher thought. It was nothing she would have ever thought of on her own, and it was brilliant. Sometimes the only way to win was to play by another game's set of rules.

"I think you're right," she said finally. "If we made it a clique war, we'd lose. They've got resources we don't and probably won't, and they've got the power. People hate them already, I think, and those who are most hated are also those who are most likely to rally support because people will believe there's an off chance that they'll be accepted into the fold and everyone will hate them. I know from personal expirience that it can be very gratifying to have everyone hate you.

"Play it that way, though, then they'll never know what's hit them. Their sort doesn't know how to respond to anything more physical than a slap or a hair-pulling fight. That scenario..." she smiled herself as she imagined the reactions of the hysterical trio at finding themselves with their hair out of control and their perfect complexions marred. "Don't just steal their clothes, though," she said. "Mess them up somehow,too." She was starting to feel excited. "Christmas is perfect timing," she said, thinking out loud. "Yeah...so it's us, Laura, and Valentine against them. Do you think we should let Juliet and Anne in on it?"
Her mouth twisted slightly at the mention of Anne's name. There was something almost sisterly in the immediate animosity that had sprang up between them.

"Do you know who Anne is?" she asked as a thought occured to her. Asher hadn't been involved in the series of events that had lead to Gwen and Anne's deal during their flying lesson, meaning it was pure chance if Asher had a clue who she was talking about or why Anne should be considered as an ally.
\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Two heads are better than one... 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Connor Pierce

May 06, 2005 10:08 PM

Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Connor Pierce

Connor ignored the wind, though he couldn't stop himself from grinning at the sight of all the long-haired first year girls struggling with their wayward locks. He knew from Khrissy that nature was the worst enemy of girls who were overly concerned about their appearance, and the talk was that Sonora had plenty of that sort. Girls could be all right, but the ones who went around in a cloud of perfume and hairspray were to be avoided at all costs.

This class might not be half-bad, hairspray chicks aside. It was outside, which was always a plus, and he didn't think the teacher, whoever he or she was, would start unleashing dragons and manticores on them quite yet. As first years, they were at the bottom of the food chain as far as magical competency went, and in some other ways.

The teacher, a pretty young woman who could have passed for a mature senior in high school, told them they could call her by her fisrt name, Kiva, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He wasn't sure if it would be wise to address her as Miss Kiva to test her, though, or to call any female at this school 'miss' again. So far, the nicest reaction that had recieved was a threat to start calling him professor. Knowing full well he would forget it anyway, he made a mental note to break that particular habit.

He listened to the opening speech impassively, then went back to consider the main points. Something about the word 'flobberworm' didn't seem to suggest that the creature they were to study could be dangerous or very interesting. Still, it was probably magical if it was being studied in a class called Care of Magical Creatures, meaning that he felt an odd fascination in spite of himself. It was more than confusing, resenting the wizarding world at the exact same time he was attracted to its ways like a moth to a candle flame, and he had always liked keeping things simple and straightforward.

He shook his head slightly. Introspection was a decidedly girly thing, and it made things complicated besides. He had absolutely no interest in continuing to try to understand the way his head worked when he allowed it to work on its own, so he was going back to paying attention to the physical world where most things didn't involve all the touchy-feely psychoanalysis stuff. Picking a direction at random, he turned to the person standing closest to him on that side. "You need someone to work with?" he asked. \n\n

0 Connor Pierce Thinking too much is bad for the health... 68 Connor Pierce 0 5

Earl

May 06, 2005 10:09 PM

Totally by Earl

Earl almost dropped the flobberworm when the boy screamed in his ear. He looked over at him. The boy was smiling widely; Earl smiled back. He threw the flobberworm over his shoulder haphazardly and held out his hand.

"Hey! I'm Earl: first year Crotalus. And this," he patted the flobberworm, "is the flobberworm for which you," he jabbed his finger towards the boy, "are going to tell me what to do with it cause I couldn't hear a word of what the professor was saying." Earl began walking towards an empty spot on the grass.

"Who are you anyways?" he shouted over the wind and chatter and bad singing.\n\n

0 Earl Totally 0 Earl 0 5

Cari

May 07, 2005 9:37 AM

Hello....? by Cari

OOC: Since Prof. K said we're outside, we'll just say we put him on a flat rock.

Carillon retrieved Flob from his third - or was it fourth? - sojourn to the grass below. The flobberworm looks determined to fall down to freedom... Well, as determined a creature with his nonexistent facial structures could look.

Taking the proffered sweet, he munched on it. "Maybe he likes vegetables better", he mumbled, stopping Flob from wiggling to the edge, yet again.\n\n

0 Cari Hello....? 0 Cari 0 5

Bella

May 07, 2005 8:16 PM

bows thanks! by Bella

Bella smiled bashfully as Lexi rolled her eyes, "Yeah, he's in the same house as me. He seems nice enough." Bella looked around them for a moment, looking to see what everyone else was doing with their worms. She spotted Anne and remembered her fear of animals. I wonder how she's holding up. But then returned her attention to Lexi.

"I'm from Los Angelos." Bella answered her, but didn't remember much said about any brother named Patrick from her conversation with Ben, but she didn't say anything to Lexi about that, "I have loads of siblings. Actually, I have a brother who goes here at the moment. His name is Jake, he's in Teppenpaw and is a Second year. But, other than him, there's Sofia, Paul, the twins, Josh and Matt, John, Julia, and Hannah." Bella said, mentally checking off each name as she went.

She sat down on the ground and placed the flobberworm infront of her to study it. It wasn't doing anything spectacular, just rolling around and doing whatever it was that worms do. Bella poked it with the tip of her quill, but received no response, "Well, at least this is an easy lesson." She commented to Lexi.\n\n

0 Bella *bows* thanks! 0 Bella 0 5

Rachel

May 08, 2005 5:31 AM

NO way! by Rachel

Watching her partner stop their flobberworm from falling. She had to wonder he's sanity, "what likes vegies over sweets? It's un natural."

She pluck up a piece of grass and started fiddling with it. "Anyway we don't have any vegies!"\n\n

0 Rachel NO way! 0 Rachel 0 5

Cari

May 08, 2005 9:32 AM

You never know.... by Cari

Carillon eyed the blade of grass his partner was playing with. "That could work", he pointed. "It's green, grows from the ground and tastes yucky. Just like vegetables."\n\n

0 Cari You never know.... 0 Cari 0 5

Jordanna Howard

May 08, 2005 12:51 PM

I second that by Jordanna Howard

Jordanna didn't even look up at her cousin when she was speaking to her. She was decorating the paper with little hearts, stars, and smiley faces. They would definitely have the prettiest paper, that was for sure. She wasn't sure, however, about the research from observations of that gross little worm. But she was fine with that. As long as no worm touched her, she didn't care what grade she got on this particualar project.

"Well," she said expectantly, "Do something to it already. We don't have all day, you know." She divided the paper into two columns, the one on the left labeled "Actions" and on the right, "Reactions." Well, she was ready to do this project, but what about Skyla? She hoped that they could get this over with quickly, she was laready tired about writing about a worm, and they hadn't even started yet.\n\n

0 Jordanna Howard I second that 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5

Robbie Bates

May 08, 2005 12:58 PM

the hard part is finding the solution by Robbie Bates

"I'll have to take a raincheck on that duet," he said. He mentally slapped himself. The one class where he had an excuse to play his guitar, and he had left it up in his dorm. And he really didn't think that he would have enough time to go and bring it all the way down here before class was over. He wished he knew a spell or something that could just call the guitar down here right away. That would make everything so much easier. The one problem about magic was although there seemed to be spells for everything, if you didn't know how to do them, they were of no use to you.

"So we can test all sorts of songs to see what kind it likes, or something like that," he said, pen ready to write, "Let the testing begin." He smiled at her. They were bound to get extra credit or something, he didn't see anyone else trying to see what kind of song a flobberworm liked best. Besides, incorporating music into school was always fun.\n\n

0 Robbie Bates the hard part is finding the solution 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Rachel

May 08, 2005 8:08 PM

mine!!!!!! by Rachel

Rachel looked at her partner. her face took on a shocked expression. "Mine!!!! You can not have, get your own!!!!!!"\n\n

0 Rachel mine!!!!!! 0 Rachel 0 5

Adam

May 08, 2005 10:09 PM

Worms are boys best friend by Adam

Adam smiled goofily at the other boy, who called himself Earl. Well, at least Adam now knew the name of another boy, even if this boy wasn't in his own house. Adam followed the other kid to the clearing and sat down in the grass.

"Name's Adam Whitney. I'm a first year Pecari. As far as I can figure out, we just play with the things." Adam commented about the worm, looking over at other groups to see what they were doing. It didn't seem like anyone else was having fun.

"So, I reckon if you set it down, we can poke it, or feed it dirt, or do whatever to it and see what it does."\n\n

0 Adam Worms are boys best friend 0 Adam 0 5

Earl

May 08, 2005 10:33 PM

well, they're better than most girls, anyhow... by Earl

Earl set the flobberworm down in the grass, where it wriggled but didn't try to escape. These were really boring. Earl sighed and poked the overgrown slug to see what it would do. It wriggled more and moved a couple inches in the grass.

"Well, this is thrilling." Earl stated sarcastically. "Maybe we should, like, feed it something..." he said as he noticed the gaping hole he assumed was its mouth. "What'd you say it ate, Adam? Dirt?" He grabbed handful of dirt from a nearby bare patch of ground and shoved it in front of the flobberworm.

"Come on wormy wormy. Eat the dirt." The flobberworm seemed to ignore the offering. Earl threw the dirt at the flobberworm; it flinched and retreated a few inches from him.

"What d'you should we try now? Apparently dirt isn't good enough for these things."\n\n

0 Earl well, they're better than most girls, anyhow... 0 Earl 0 5

Cari

May 09, 2005 8:33 AM

no mine! by Cari

"Oh..kay", he said, drawing out the expression. It just occured to him that his partner was a bit weird. She was more interested in a piece of grass rather than a flobberworm.

Girls were weird, he decided, bending down to break off a blade of grass. Retrieving up Flob from another one of his trips over the edge, he put a bit of the grass in his mouth.

Confused, Flob gnawed on the tiny morsel of plant life before biting off a piece and suck it into his stomach. "Well at least we know what he eats", he shrugged, writing 'eats grass' down on the parchment.\n\n

0 Cari no mine! 0 Cari 0 5

Headmistress Marnett

May 09, 2005 3:20 PM

ooc by Headmistress Marnett

Hey hon, I noticed a few of your posts are what we call one-liners or below the two paragraph minimum. Carillon is already familiar with this rule I believe, but I wanted to bring it to your attention as well. The reason we have this rule is to promote better writing and shorter threads (a thread is a group of posts connected together).

Here's a link that explains the two paragraph rule in more detail:

Two-paragraph rule

Also, it's often helpful to read the posts of more experienced rpers when learning how to roleplay. This is actually how I learned to roleplay, and it has even helped me to improve my writing skills. Some rpers which I have known for quite a while include Tally, Zack, Stephen, Sorrel, and Ash. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at sonora_academy@yahoo.com.\n\n

0 Headmistress Marnett ooc 1 Headmistress Marnett 0 5

Rachel

May 09, 2005 8:13 PM

I wonder? by Rachel

Rachel looked at Flob eating the tiny morsel of grass. "I wonder?" Picking up another piece of grass she offered it to Flob, who quickly ate it. "Yay he'll eat grass from me!"

Then out of the blue she turned to her partner. "He'll eat from me but he will not let me touch him. Weird!!! What do you think?"

She sat on the ground and stared plucking up as much grass as possible. She put them next to Flob. "Eat up!"\n\n

0 Rachel I wonder? 0 Rachel 0 5

Anne Wright

May 09, 2005 9:55 PM

That's true... by Anne Wright

Anne returned the smile and cleared her throat. "Since I'm not warmed up yet," she said, "our first test will be how flobberworms respond to the scales." Unthinkingly, she ran through the three-major, minor, and chromatic using Solfege syllables. Three quick runs later, the flobberworm hadn't made much of a response to her scales and she thought she could carry a G without too much difficulty, though she didn't plan on going that high unless she could help it. It was the first time she had sang in months; her voice would thank her for not singing very high at first.

She bit her lip, wondering which of the songs she knew she should attempt to perform first.Traditional music didn't seem like the thing to do first, for some reason...racking her brain, she came up with a memory of when the local theater had put on its performance of "Grease" the year before and she had, one way or another, ended up memorizing all Rizzo's music while acting as the girl who played Rizzo's makeup and costuming assistant. "Ever heard of 'There's Worse Things I Could Do?'," she asked, tugging absent-mindedly on the ends of her hair. "Not sure who wrote it, I just learned it for a musical I wasn't even in.The local theater put on 'Grease' and had me as a makeup girl for Rizzo."

Hoping she wasn't going to make a complete fool out of herself, she gave herself three mentally counted-off beats and began to sing, controlling her high, clear voice as well as she could. It was a good feeling, getting caught up in a piece of music again. Without her fully realizing it, she began to sing out more. \n\n

16 Anne Wright That's true... 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Cari

May 10, 2005 8:27 AM

Sleeping Beauty by Cari

"Maybe he doesn't care who feeds him as long as his stoamch's full", he suggested. He watched as Flob gobble up every morsel of grass that Rachel gave him. Then Flob started going over the edge again.

Picking Flob up, Cari uprooted a handful of grass, dumped it unceremoniously on the table and plopped their flobberworm right on top. Watching Flob gorged himself, he asked Rachel, "Do you think food's the only thing he'll stop wiggling around for?"\n\n

0 Cari Sleeping Beauty 0 Cari 0 5

Rachel

May 10, 2005 7:58 PM

Sleeping Beauty????? by Rachel

Rachel looked at her partner why did someone smart have to be her partner? He was nice and funny and could take a pratical joke better then her, she was sure of that because she hated... no loathed them.

"Why mister smartie why on earth would he do that? Is it because he's just like guys?" Rachel asked looking all innocent.\n\n

0 Rachel Sleeping Beauty????? 0 Rachel 0 5

Cari

May 11, 2005 8:56 AM

Ever watched Disney? by Cari

Did she just call her Mister Smartie? He didn't look like candy and he didn't taste sweet or chocolate-y at all. Girls really are weird, he mused, the statement solidifying in his mind.

Flob just finished his second helping of grass and was sniffing about for anything that he might have missed. Carillon gave him another batch of grass and racked his brains.

"Well..." he trailed off, thinking of a possible explanation. "He's a growing flobberworm. He has to eat and he can't eat if he's wiggling around."\n\n

0 Cari Ever watched Disney? 0 Cari 0 5

Rachel

May 11, 2005 4:59 PM

I have seen it but why bring it up? by Rachel

Rachel looked at her partner. "Do you think you can't move while you eat. I can!" She got out another of her sweets, put it in her mouth and started walking.

"See. It's easy." She stuck out her tongue. "So what do you think of Sonora so far?" She was wondering what others thought of this place their school.\n\n

0 Rachel I have seen it but why bring it up? 0 Rachel 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 12, 2005 2:43 AM

Yeah, but three heads can be hard on the shoulders. by Asher Tallow

Gwen's reasoning made little sense to Asher. The way Asher understood things was that hate generally was something bad. How could it possibly be a nice feeling to have someone hate you? There were few things, let alone people, that she could claim extreme dislike for. Hate was totally out of reach in her book. She might get really mad sometimes and consider various ways of breaking someone's leg, but that was the limit. But Gwen seemed to understand this type of thinking. Even more than that, it seemed like Gwen might have practised it a bit herself.

That realization gave Asher a momentary mental rearing back. Gwen, for all that she was not stuck up like the Hens, was still kind of like them. Gwen thought like they did. She even spoke like they did, with that creepy sort of older voice that reminded Asher little of other girls her age she had known. Chances were Gwen probably would have become friends with the Hens had they offered it in the beginning. And, Asher realized as she threw a handful of grass to the flobberworm, chances were fairly strong that should the Hens suddenly open their arms, Gwen would probably stick with them.

Like calls to like and all that other stupid reasoning.

She pushed those thoughts from her head fiercely, though. There was no point in thinking about hypotheticals; after all, what Gwen did was Gwen's business. For the present, they were friends and they both wouldn't mind putting a few of their housemates into a roaring panic. She nodded and made a mental note on Gwen's suggestion about the clothing. She added find hexes for clothing to another mental list, the one for their eventual trip to the library to research.

Gwen's question gave her a second or two of consideration. She tossed Wormy a leaf the generous wind had driven their way and watched as yet again the flobberworm failed to respond beyond a slight flop or two.

"I don't know. I think this should stay in-House. I mean, it's not like Juliet could come in to the dorm and help us out." Asher thought over the second question. She had heard a few rumors about an Anne that had confronted Gwen out on the Quiddith Pitch during the first flying lesson, but beyond that she was clueless.

"I haven't met Anne, but same goes for her as for Juliet. And besides, the more people who know, the more likely the secret'll be told. Isn't there some kind of rule about secrets- a golden number or something?"

She braced herself as another strong headwind knocked fiercely from the west. "Anyway though, after class I'll dig up Earl, drag him to the library, and give him the general outline. You do the same with Laura, and then we can all meet up somewhere toward the back part of the library. Sound good?"

Her eternally delayed inner voice on tact and decorum chimed in with a strong mental cringe. The latter part of her reply sounded terribly bossy, but Asher shrugged it off. She could waste time and effort by acting all sensitive like, or she could just state the obvious. The latter was far more simple in her opinion, and if it bothered Gwen or anyone else, then they could feel free to tell her.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Asher Tallow Yeah, but three heads can be hard on the shoulders. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Cari

May 12, 2005 8:50 AM

shrugs by Cari

Cari watched as Rachel marched to and fro, showing that she could eat while moving. If he didn't know better, the girl must have escaped from the loony bin but he did know better and he knew that the Headmistress wouldn't let someone crazy into the school. So maybe he was going over the mountain with his loony bin escape theory.

"It's great! Everyone's nice.... Well, most of them", he amended, remembering that some of the purebloods were really snobby. "And then the lessons are kinda fun."

"How about you?"\n\n

0 Cari *shrugs* 0 Cari 0 5

Adam

May 12, 2005 5:27 PM

most girls? should I ask? by Adam

Adam didn't even try to surpress his laugh as Earl tried feeding the flobberworm dirt and then ended up throwing it at it, "I don't think they actually eat dirt. I know that they like lettace. But we don't have any here, so we can substitute it with grass."

He picked some grass in clumps and set them in front of what he could only assume to be the flobberworms mouth area. Losing interest in the worm rather quickly, Adam turned his attention to the other boy. The wind picked up once again and blew Adams short blonde hair widely about him. Squinting his usually wide blue eyes a bit, Adam looked around at the other groups to see what they were all doing. Most seemed bored with their worms and were doing something else entirely.

"So Earl, where are you from?"\n\n

0 Adam most girls? should I ask? 0 Adam 0 5

Earl

May 12, 2005 7:45 PM

You don't want to know... by Earl

He stared lazily at the flobberworm as Adam tried to feed it grass. It seemed to prefer it to the dirt, but Earl somehow got the feeling it didn't like grass either. Oh well. It was a flobberworm. Who cares what they eat?

He tore his eyes away from the flobberworm and looked at Adam instead. It took a moment for the question to register in Earl's brain, but he answered quick enough.

"I'm from Los Angeles...but not the bad part. It's not good either. Well, I live in Downtown, but it's pretty ok." Earl stopped, realizing he was just blabbing without think of what he was saying. It was a bad habit and his older brother had tried to break it by hitting Earl over the head anytime he would start up.

"So...how 'bout you? Where're you from?"\n\n

0 Earl You don't want to know... 0 Earl 0 5

Rach

May 12, 2005 7:58 PM

Oooo well by Rach

Rach looked at her partner wondering what he meant by most of them being nice. "Well i've only met 1 second year called Tyranthia and with you that's 3 first years. So i wouldn't know, and i'm finding it fun. I loved Quidditch class!!!!"

Rachel sat next to Flob and started to hand feed him "So who do you know?"\n\n

0 Rach Oooo well 0 Rach 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 12, 2005 10:27 PM

That's why runespoors bite off one... by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen nodded slowly as Asher suggested keeping it Crotalus against itself. "You're right," she said. "It keeps things...simpler. The simpler the battle plan, the better the chances of winning the battle. As for Anne..." she was sure the rumor mill had blown her and Anne's minor catfight into the Vampire Wars already, but that wasn't her concern. "Anne is my cousin," she said bluntly. "That's her over there-the black-haired Aladren working with the Teppenpaw." She looked around and realized the other black-haired Aladren was also working with a Teppenpaw. She wondered how to explain which one Anne was without actually pointing when she caught a snatch of-song?-on the wind. Anne had just broken into song. "The one who's singing," she finished. "She's making sure I'm a good girl until Christmas. Anne has her doubts about the sincerity of my break with...the other kind." She jerked her head towards the preps.

"As for secrets..." she gave a rare genuine smile. "The golden number is one, the way they taught me. A secret is a secret while only one person knows. It's a confidence when two know, a conspiracy with three, and a revolt with four. Any more, and it gets out. We've got four-revolt. Revolts can be kept secret for a time, if history's anything to go by. When it gets out, it's typically too late for the other side to stop the descent of the furies." She mentally slapped herself. She was sounding like a prep again.

Gwen listened to the plan, trying to sketch out a timeline and such in her head. "Sounds good," she replied. "I'll be there, unless some disaster outside of my control comes along. And I'll bring Laura." The library was a good place for a conspiracy. It was quiet, had lots of corners to hide out in, and would in all probability be close to empty. Plus, it was the middle of the day. They would come across as a study group. Not that far from the truth-they were studying, just not class topics.

It occured to her that she was taking this a litle too seriously, but as long as none of her co-conspirators turned out to be mind readers, it didn't matter what went on in her head. As long as she was in control on the outside, she could allow her brain to do as it willed. \n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey That's why runespoors bite off one... 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Cari

May 13, 2005 8:49 AM

Well what? by Cari

"Well... I only met two people so far, including you", he shrugged, remembering McKenna. He watched his partner handfeed Flob pieces of grass. Flob looked like he was enjoying the attention and was showing his appreciation by gobbling up everything Rachel was feeding him.

He watched them for a moment and and wondered how Flob could eat so much without bursting. And doesn't the worm choke with all the food he's been eating? Does he even chew?

Scratching the side of his head, he asked his partner, "Um, Rachel? Can you look if he has any teeth?"\n\n

0 Cari Well what? 0 Cari 0 5

Mckenna Fallen

May 14, 2005 8:05 AM

Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Mckenna Fallen

Mckenna stood lazily playing with her fingers, listening to the teacher. Wasn't good with animals, they made her nervous. Especially active animals. Its not that they scared her, no Mckenna refused to admit they scared her, but for some reason she just couldn't handle animals.

Mckenna sighed and shook her head, she already knew she would fail at this class.

'In these crates there are enough flobberworms for groups of two..'

Mckenna smiled, flobberworms she could handle. They had to be one of the most boring magical creatures on the planet.

”You need someone to work with?”
Mckenna turned to face the boy next to her and shrugged.
“Yeah, sure. Working with someone always makes flobberworms seem less boring” Mckenna prodded the long brown worm with her finger.
“Well I'm Mckenna, what's your name” \n\n

0 Mckenna Fallen Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... 0 Mckenna Fallen 0 5

Connor Pierce

May 14, 2005 11:01 AM

Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Connor Pierce

Oh, great, a girl. His resolution to quit calling girls 'miss' was being put to an unexpected test already. Glancing at her, he decided she didn't look much like the 'miss' sort anyway. Besides, after the way he had spoken before, it would look distinctly odd if he became overly polite now.

"I wouldn't know if flobberworms are boring or not, but the name makes 'em sound like it," he said. "Looks boring, too. I'm Connor Pierce." He looked at the long worm they were studying. It looked an awful lot like the worm Khrissy was supposed to have dissected in ninth grade, save for that it was alive and darker in color, not to mention it wasn't going to smell like his sister's perfume unless Mckenna pulled a bottle out and started spraying it the way Khrissy allegedly had sprayed her earthworm.\n\n

0 Connor Pierce Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... 68 Connor Pierce 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 14, 2005 11:11 PM

Sounds mildly masochistic... by Asher Tallow

The sun seemed to glare unbearably, and the wind only served to tease and mock its victims with slight touches of a cooler temperature. Asher felt the sweat pool on the back of her neck, and it was with unreasonable relunctance that she finally yanked off her school robes. The sudden wash of relief that swept over her body wasn't long in the lasting, and she quickly sprawled out on her robe, as if hoping that by increasing the distance between the sun and herself, the heat might abate.

She cupped a hand over her eyes as she peered up at Gwen, listening as the blond girl explained who her cousin was. Her dark eyes traveled across the open air classroom, its walls non-existent and its ceiling that of the sky, to a girl with features similar to Asher's own working with Robbie. Asher studied the girl Gwen proclaimed to be acting as a watchdog of sorts. Odd sort of cousin to have, but who was she to judge? The best she had to go by pureblood relative wise was her unmarried uncle. Her mother's family was never mentioned beyond the occasional pulling out of photographs of her long deceased grandparents, and what good were dead relatives?

Asher lowered her hand and plucked a piece of grass, working it into shreds with her fingers. The way Gwen spoke made her wonder about this strange universe the pureblood network seemed to live in. Her plot, at least in her mind, was nothing more than good old fashioned pay back. A secret night time raid with all the extra perks magic gave to such things- and yet, the way Gwen spoke seemed to make it larger than that. More serious-like, and it was confusing to understand.

She opened her hand and released the grass slivers into the flobberworm's crate, giving her head a slight shake to clear away the heavy thoughts. She reached for her satchel and withdrew a bound packet of parchment and her ready-rite quill.

"A revolt it is then," she said as she began to sketch out a chart on a blank page of parchment. Shielding her eyes again, she gazed back up to Gwen and added, hoping to relieve the tension that seemed to have gathered, "What are the chances our flobberworm here is going to break out in dance if we sing to it?"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Asher Tallow Sounds mildly masochistic... 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Fawn

May 15, 2005 2:08 AM

Well how else are you gonna look him up in the phone book? by Fawn

The tan girl giggled as Dalila agreed to the name of 'Rodolpho' and baby-talked to the slimy creature. Fawn knew that she had chosen a good partner! Perhaps this project wouldn't be so dull after all. At least they didn't have to babysit clams or something. The flobberworm, however, didn't seem to like their company. He was trying to flee, possibly he didn't like to be held.

Just then her partner asked a most amusing question, "Which do you think Rodolpho would like better: classical or rock?" Laughing and looking at the wiggling thing, she thought about it. Hmm, maybe he liked Aerosmith! But then again he looked like the type to maybe like opera. Then again he might like some good blues. Just then it hit her! "He looks like an Elvis fan to me," Fawn said surely, bending down a bit to be closer to their subject.

"Aww, widduw Wodowpho!" she said to him in a baby voice, tickling approximately where she thought his chin was supposed to be. "Does the widduw fwobberworm wanna heaw some music?" She then realized the problem. "One thing," she pointed out to Dalila, "Is that we have no music. What are we supposed to do? Does the teacher expect me to play the nose flute for it or something? Because, while surely interesting, I wouldn't find that too enjoyable. Besides, I don't play the nose flute."

She did play the harp and the violin, but had neither out on the lawn with her. And even if she did, she didn't think she could play with all the people around. What point would there be anyway? It's not like Rodolpho was particular to any one kind of music, was he? After all, he was just a worm. She didn't think he even had ears.

Sighing, as their starting idea didn't turn out to work to well, she looked at the squiggly flobberworm. What on earth were they supposed to do with them? "Maybe we should find out something else about him?" she suggested to Dalila. "We can save the music for a time when we actually have some music to play for him. What do you think he'd like to-"

She was cut off, however, by the large invertebrate finally achieving its goal and getting free from his holder. He landed with a 'plop' onto the ground and attempted to wiggle away. "No, Rodolpho!" the first year cried, comically diving onto the ground and grabbing on to the slimy critter. She had her arms wrapped around him, much to her disgust, and was trying to keep him from crawling away. It was tough, though, as it seemed that he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Bad Rodolpho!" she firmly told the gooey worm. "Stay!" He was not a dog, however, and didn't listen very well. The small girl was having a hard time keeping him still. She squickily started to pet him, trying to calm him down, while still keeping a tight hold. After a few moments it seemed to work and he stopped struggling.

"Hey," she said amazedly, "I think he's okay now! He's not trying to run away anymore! Well, he can't really run since he doesn't have legs, but you know what I mean. I guess he likes to be petted. Wow, who knew that a flobberworm could be so active? I thought they just sat there and oozed." Well that was odd. She hoped that he stayed calm after she stopped stroking him, as she didn't feel to keen on getting completely covered in slime. "What do we do now?" she asked the blonde girl, hoping that Rodolpho was happy and not just playing possum whilst planning an unexpected attack.\n\n

0 Fawn Well how else are you gonna look him up in the phone book? 0 Fawn 0 5

Dalila

May 15, 2005 12:22 PM

Do flobberworms even have a phone? by Dalila

Dalila watched as Fawn struggled with the worm. She tried to help, but there were two things that were preventing her. One, was that Fawn was covering Roldoopho and Dalila couldn't reach him. The second was that Dalila was laughing too hard to be of much help. Treating Roldolpho like a dog was incredibly funny.

A few minutes later, Roldolpho had calmed down, Dalila had calmed down, and Fawn was stroking Roldolpho like a slimy cat. Dalila finally spoke up about Fawn's musical ideas.

"Well, now that that's taken care of we can talk more about this music thing. We don't need to play anything. You got a voice don't you? We'll sing to our little Roldolpho!" Dalila grinned and cleared her throat. She bagan to sing Elvis.

"You ain't nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time. You ain't nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time. You ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine."

She wasn't bad, but nor was she any good either...at least Dalila had kept in tune. The really bad part was that Dalila had stood up and was trying to shake her hips like Elvis and failing miserably. It looked more like she was hoola hooping without the hoola hoop. Even Dalila was lasughing when she realized what she must look like.

Dalila crouched to the ground again, tears forming in her eyes from laughing so hard, and yelled out "That song and dance was dedicated to the love of my life- Roldolpho the Flobberworm!"\n\n

0 Dalila Do flobberworms even have a phone? 0 Dalila 0 5

Rach

May 15, 2005 7:56 PM

WHAT?!?!?! by Rach

A soft "Ohh," came forth from her lips. So he knew only her some one else. I'll have to cheer him then she thought.

Then before she could decide he asked her, her of all people to check if it had teeth. "WHAT?!?!?! If your soooooo interested sacrifice your own hand." She never put her hand in anythings mouth it was an unspoken rule.\n\n

0 Rach WHAT?!?!?! 0 Rach 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 15, 2005 10:00 PM

Though it's really just that the right head is so annoying. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen could feel the tension her...peculiar...way of looking at things had injected into the conversation. That's me, she thought bitterly. Gwenhwyfar. The White Shadow. Always to betray and be betrayed. Oh, it will be rich if it actually falls out that way. Her gaze strayed towards Howard and Howard, and her whole face tightened with a cross between fear and anger. Thank God I ruined things for myself. If I hadn't... Her train of thought was broken by Asher changing the subject.

"I don't think dear old Wormy will dance very much unless we get him some peg legs," she said, deliberately removing as much of the over-serious conspiratorial note from her voice as she could. She was satisfied to hear herself sound relaxed, easygoing. Not at all what she was. "That's gotta be the worst part of being a worm or a snake, not having any legs." Her grammar was disintegrating, but it didn't matter. It added to the impression she was trying to give, and she knew if she could hold it for five minutes she would actually be in that frame of mind. It was a useful talent.

She sat down and pulled out a sheet of parchment. "I hope she doesn't take anything up," she said lightly, observing that her grammar had improved without her going back into pureblood mode. "Heaven knows we haven't got much done." She scribbled down some notes based on what she had observed while staring intently at the flobberworm during the tactics discussion-it was impossible to fake that kind of concentration and not take in a little of what you were pretending to focus on-and glanced back at the worm to reassure herself that she hadn't missed anything. "Who's singing, me or you?" \n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Though it's really just that the right head is so annoying. 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Robbie Bates

May 16, 2005 5:56 PM

um... can worms hear? by Robbie Bates

OOC: Sorry I haven't been on in a really long time! The author's parents grounded her from the computer after a whole fight with her brother that started with him putting a sock in her oatmeal... anyway, she's now back on the computer and ready to type.

BIC: "Nope, never heard of that one before," said Robbie, then added, "I've seen the show before... I think." He wrote down on his paper the name of the song, and where it was from. He didn't really know too much about Grease, except that it was a musical. He figured he should probably add that too. Scientific reports always liked to have lots and lots of information.

Now all there was to do was watch the worm and its reactions. He wasn't sure if whether or not flobberworms could hear, so this would be interesting. Of course, if they in fact didn't have ears, their whole "scientific study" would be ruined. Ready to write, Robbie almost felt as if someone were watching him, but he quickly threw the feeling off. He had work to do, and worms to watch anyway.

As Anne began her singing, the worm didn't seem to do much. At first it began to wiggle away, but after a few seconds it decided to stay put. It seemed that the flobberworm was more suprised than affected by the sound of Anne's singing. Robbie, on the other hand, was a different story. Anne was actuallly sang the song well. You could tell, or at least, Robbie could tell when someone enjoyed what they did, because it made them all the better. He lowered the paper and pen to his lap, turning his attention from the flobberworm to Anne. He didn't think that they flobberworm had noticed, but Robbie thought Anne was a good singer.\n\n

0 Robbie Bates um... can worms hear? 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Adam

May 16, 2005 8:00 PM

Well, now I do by Adam

Adam's already large eyes, grew larger when Earl mentioned that he was from Los Angelos. How odd was that? two people from the same exact place (granted a rather large place, but if you were magical, you knew the families around you who were magical) have never met.

"I'M FROM LA TOO!" Adam shouted excitedly. "How have we never met?" He asked. Adam was full-blooded and had grown up with magic a constant in his life. He had gone to magical parties, gone to the ministry, gone to Quidditch matches, and even played Quidditch in a summer league. How could he not know someone his age who was from the same city as he was?\n\n

0 Adam Well, now I do 0 Adam 0 5

Earl

May 16, 2005 8:13 PM

Coincidence? I think not!... by Earl

Earl grinned broadly. "You're from LA too? This is so cool! I got someone who lives near me. Oh, I'm not really in the magical crowd. You see, my Mom was the witch in the family. My dad's a muggle. And when she died...well, we just sort of left the loop, except for when we go to visit my cousins."

Earl relapsed into thought for a moment before jerking himself into reality. The flobberworm lay motionless next to Adam. It was either sleeping or dead. Either way, it didn't interest Earl.

"What part of LA are you from? That might also be why we never met...it's a pretty big place."\n\n

0 Earl Coincidence? I think not!... 0 Earl 0 5

Anne Wright

May 16, 2005 9:58 PM

No idea, it's not in Fantastic Beasts. by Anne Wright

OOC: Don't worry about it, my author has been dancing and singing in a local production of Grease every day for four days, last show was last night. Now that the real show's over, however, the rp show must go on!

BIC: Anne was to the part about 'that's a thing I'd never do' when she remembered that she was in class, singing in front of everybody. Rather than go red and shut up the way some would have, she smiled a little defiantly and finished the song in a full soprano. Rizzo was a traditionally alto part, but Anne had never minded breaking a few rules when she had to.

"' 'Cause to cry in front of you...that's the worst thing I could do'," she finished, holding the final note the full three and a half beats Ashley always had, then dropping to her heels, a little flushed. "Well?" she said, glancing at the motionless worm. "Any luck?" The whole thing would have been for nothing if worms had no response to noise, but she thought she remembered something about them sensing vibrations, or was that only snakes?

She hadn't lost the old talent from lack of use. Her whole face was lit up with pleasure. She couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't a piano somewhere in Sonora; it would be pure heaven to sing and play again, preferrably something loud and Eastern Orthodox to let it all out. She considered dancing in the meantime, but decided everyone probably thought she was crazy enough without her giving them more proof of it.

\n\n

16 Anne Wright No idea, it's not in Fantastic Beasts. 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 17, 2005 2:35 PM

Anyone care to join? We need comparison. by Asher Tallow

She longed for a pair of scissors. Desperately. A pair of gardening shears even, or anything with a sharp edge that could hack through her hair and give the back of her neck respite from the heat that pooled and clung to her saturated skin. Her hair hadn't always been so unbearable. When Asher was younger, her mother would wake an extra thirty minutes early just to save time to do Asher's hair by hand. Asher would mark her mornings by the ritual: awaken, brush teeth, water the tomato plants, shower, dress, eat breakfast, and finally, a full half hour alone with her mother. It was their special time, and even with her mother off doing who knows what in who knows where, Asher still hadn't found it in her to cut off the source of those moments alone each morning.

Still, she and her hair had never undergone this kind of heat before, and the memory of those mornings held little of an empirical level to cancel out the oppressive warmth.

She laughed at Gwen's reply. Peg legs, indeed. Her mind conjured up the picture of a flobberworm dressed in pirate gear and sporting a peg leg for literal kicks. "I bet Professor K would be all for giving extra credit if we dressed the flobberworm up. It could make up for the lack of reactions it's giving us."

She gestured down to her chart, where next to the various stimuli were written the same responses every time. Flobberworm did nothing. "I think, though, I'd rather have no legs, than no arms. Imagine not being able to hold onto anything- at least with no legs, there are prosthetics and wheel chairs and stuff. Or," she grinned, "your peg legs."

Asher bent forward, setting aside her parchment book,and curled her toes backward in a nice, joint popping stretch. Her hands went almost immediately back to the collar of her short sleeved shirt, and she considered for a moment whether the amiable Professor K would be willing to slice off the lower half of her jeans. She made a strong, blaring mental note to never again wear denim during this class.

She coiled back in, and folded her legs into a more comfortable position. "I don't think we need to worry about who's going to sing. Your cousin Anne seems to have sung enough for all of us."

Asher looked down at her chart and then raised a hand to squint into the crate. Despite what she had read, there was always the chance that these were special flobberworms and a special kind of test Professor K cooked up to trip up her students. She shot the professor in quesiton a suspicious glance. It would be exactly the kind of thing a teacher would like to pull during the first class- a sort of gauge to test which students would need to be watched more carefully in the future.

"You're right though about lack of substance to our observations- but I figure a bit of comparison shouldn't do any harm." She stood up with that, wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans, and braced as another gust of hot aired wind struck from the north. She pointed to a nearby pair. "They look friendly enough, how's about we ask them to compare notes?"

She didn't pause for an agreement from her housemate, however, and cupped her hands over her mouth, calling loudly, "Hey! You there! Can we compare notes real quick?"

While waiting for a response, she added under her voice, "This way, we'll have a better idea of what kind of trick Professor K is trying to pull."

OOC- Yeah, so I don't want to hold up this thread or anything, Gwen, should no one jump in for comparison, so definitely feel free to post in reply. For whoever decided, if they should, to join in, do it however you like. And bring notes. *Peers suspiciously at Prof. K* Something's fishy about these worms, I'm positive.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Asher Tallow Anyone care to join? We need comparison. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Mckenna Fallen

May 17, 2005 4:29 PM

Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Mckenna Fallen

Mckenna Smiled “Hey Connor. Yeah, flobberworms are boring. All they do is eat, and occasionally spray you with mucus- which is kinda cool- but other than that, this is gonna be one dull lesson.” Mckenna prodded the long brown worm, As it munched on a leaf.
It was true flobberworms were exceedingly boring, There was nothing remotely interesting about them.
“So, what house are you in? I'm a Pecari.” Mckenna Prodded the worm once more, an almost hopeful expression on her face. Nope, still boring.\n\n

0 Mckenna Fallen Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... 0 Mckenna Fallen 0 5

Connor Pierce

May 17, 2005 10:01 PM

Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... by Connor Pierce

Connor raised an eyebrow when Mckenna said she was in Pecari. "Pecari here, too. That brings the number of Pecaris I've met up to two and the total number of people I've met up to seven." He wasn't sure if Anne Wright really counted, seeing as she had completely ignored him while yelling at Gwenhwyfar, but he threw her into the count anyway.

"Does it do anything besides eat?" he asked. "I read the books, but I forgot everything in them. It was all either over my head or boring." And here's to hoping she's not the academic type, he thought wryly. He was going to talk his way into trouble eventually.

"So, where're you from?" he asked, curious. It was interesting, having people from all over the country here in one school. He'd never met anyone who lived more than thirty or so miles from Austin before coming here. "I'm from Texas," he added. "A little way outside of Austin." He wasn't sure if twenty-five miles counted as a 'little' way in most people's minds, but it didn't particuarly matter at the moment.\n\n

0 Connor Pierce Re: Thinking too much is bad for the health... 68 Connor Pierce 0 5

Cari

May 20, 2005 9:49 AM

Hm..? by Cari

At Rachel's (in his opinion) unecessary reaction, Cari reconsidered the loony bin theory. It was a simple task and Flob wasn't big enough to bite her finger off.

"Okay" was all he said. Shrugging, he picked up Flob and checked to see if the flobberworm had anything that looked remotely like teeth. He didn't.

Returning Flob back to his pile of yummy greenery, Cari picked up a quill and wrote: Has no teeth.

"He doesn't bite", he told Rachel.\n\n

0 Cari Hm..? 0 Cari 0 5

Laura Keaton

May 20, 2005 6:36 PM

You mean your worm hasn't done anything yet? by Laura Keaton

Laura was officially bored. Her worm was boring, her partner was boring, as he was completely enthralled by the boring worm, and the class itself, so far, proved to be very boring. As an increasingly warm sun beat down on the class, Laura began wondering just how long it takes to flambé a flobberworm. If they were anything like regular old normal earthworms, they didn’t have too much longer before they would be crispy critters instead of wiggly, slimy ones.

From somewhere across the grassy lawn, Laura heard Asher’s voice yelling for someone to compare notes with. She seized her chance, pushing the slightly guilty feeling of abandoning the guy who had practically kidnapped her into being his partner to the back of her mind. Grabbing her notebook and quill then hastily capping her ink, Laura hurriedly said to Leonides, “Looks like Asher wants to compare notes. I’m going to take her up on the offer. Ok?” Laura didn’t wait for an answer, before hurrying across the grass to where Asher and Gwen were studying their own worm, which looked identical to the one she had left Leo in charge of.

“Hey,” Laura said to her friends cheerfully, plopping down on the ground by them, and with a goofy grin continued, “So, have you got your worm to start whistling yet?”
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton You mean your worm hasn't done anything yet? 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

May 20, 2005 10:14 PM

Nope, nothing at all. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen raised an eyebrow when Laura came over to compare notes and asked if their worm had started whistling. "Well, if it has, I haven't heard it yet," she said. "Of course, I wasn't paying very close attention,either, so no telling what it's actually been up to."

She closed her eyes and let the heat of the sun soak in. It made her feel lazy, but that was the point. "If the weather doesn't cool off I'm going to be sleeping through this class," she said, yawning. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the flobberworm again and scribbled down the words 'still inanimate'.

"What did you get on your worm, Laura?" she asked. "We've got doesn't respond Asher's poetry, doesn't respond to Anne singing, and doesn't do nothing on ours."\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Nope, nothing at all. 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 21, 2005 9:49 PM

I knew there was a catch...whistling indeed. by Asher Tallow

"Hey Laura," Asher greeted with a slight wave of her parchment pad. She gestured to an open space on her makeshift tablecloth. "Whistling, huh? I figured Professor K had some kind of trick up her sleeve."

She turned a newly suspicious gaze to the crate that held the still uncompromisingly boring flobberworm. It mocked her renewed interest by flicking the latter portion of its body in a half hearted flop. She quickly jotted down on her chart 'Flobberworm does not respond to addition of new observer.

She pulled at her collar again in response to Gwen's comment and wiped off her sweaty palm for the upteenth time on her robes. "I wish Sonora had a lake or something- I'm all up for skipping lunch and taking a dive into something deep and cool. I suppose a shower will have to do though..."

She briefly envisioned the swimming hole that she and her brothers practically lived in during the summer up in Waxonberry. When she and her two older brothers had left for school, they had all nearly finished a dam built from carted in stones and branches. She supposed Mikes and Sams were still working on it, despite the probably cool weather.

Asher leaned her head back and stared skyward. She vaguely heard Gwen ask about Laura's results and chimed in a lazy remark of her own. "And don't leave out the details of this whistling. It's far more interesting than anything ours has even dreamt of doing."

\n\n

0 Asher Tallow I knew there was a catch...whistling indeed. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Laura Keaton

May 21, 2005 11:31 PM

Hehe, we could use them to catch fish by Laura Keaton

Laura couldn’t help but laugh as Asher bemoaned the lack of a lake on Sonora property. “Yeah, I wish there was a lake too,” she responded, “that way we could see if these worms responded to being used as fish bait. Of course, we’d probably just find out the silly things could breathe underwater and that the fish were magical as well and know not to eat other magical creatures.”

Laura looked around at the other groups and their worms. No one seemed to be very excited about the flobberworms, and the flobberworms surely didn’t seem enthusiastic about being studied by a bunch of first years. The sun and the heat seemed to be more on most people’s minds than the worms, and Laura was surprised that the preps hadn’t forgone the worms and laid down to start tanning.

“Yeah, my worm whistles Yankee Doodle whenever it sees me,” Laura joked. “What, yours doesn’t?” She leaned over to peer at their worm, which, big surprise, didn’t start whistling. “Oh well. Ours didn’t seem too interested in anything else either, though I had no intention of singing to it. It certainly didn’t do anything when it heard our voices. It does wiggle more when you pick it up though,” Laura added, unconsciously wiping her hands on her jeans.
\n\n

0 Laura Keaton Hehe, we could use them to catch fish 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Asher Tallow

May 27, 2005 12:02 AM

I like the way your mind works... by Asher Tallow

Asher had no great inclination to touch the ten inch long worm and decided to take Laura's observations as her own. Carefully she wrote out in a sweat mired grip: Flobberworm wiggles when touched. She tilted her head back and crained her neck for a moment of relief from the sweltering heat. "I hope it's not this hot every class. I'm not used to weather like this. Montana's pretty mild, even in the summer, and it's always cool at night."

Her eyes fell down to her wrist, where the leather band of her watch chaffed unpleasantly against her skin. The minute hand showed that class was nearing its completion, and gingerly, she stood up. It was rather lucky that Laura came over when she did; now there would be no need to waste time seeking her out later on. Motioning for the two girls to lean closer, she acted as if inspecting the crate one last go.

"Okay Laura, Gwen and I have been talking and have come to an agreement on a few things. The biggest of which being that there are certain people in our house who need to be taught a lesson." She pointed discreetly in the direction of the over dressed Hens. Viciously, her mind gave a crow that in this heat, their fancy clothing was now most likely ruined. "Gwen'll tell you more as class is almost over, but can you meet us in the library after dinner? We need to strategize."

She pointedly left out Earl's eventual involvement. She wasn't sure whether Laura held the same grudge Asher did about that whole paper war in Dai Oni's class or not. Regardless, Earl was a necessary evil for the plot. They needed a place to stash any evidence after the attack without leaving the dorm, and the impossible to enter Boys' Dorm was by far the best place.\n\n

0 Asher Tallow I like the way your mind works... 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Skyla

May 30, 2005 3:22 PM

worms don't wear white after labor day!! by Skyla

"Let's see if it knows not to wear white after Labor day!" she said spontanously. Skyla reaches into her bag and pull out two ribbons. One pink and the other white. She put them down near the worm, equal distance from each other. She watch to see which ribbon the worm would pick.

"Go for the pink! Go for the pink!" Skyla exclaimed jumping up and down. She didn't want a worm with bad fashion sense. The worm inches towards the white slowly.
"NOOO! You stupid worm! You aren't suppose to wear white after labor day!!" She got so upset that she threw the worm and it landed on Jordanna's hair.\n\n

0 Skyla worms don't wear white after labor day!! 0 Skyla 0 5

Jordanna Howard

May 30, 2005 3:59 PM

Worms shouldn't be worn as accessories, either by Jordanna Howard

Jordan watched as her cousin laid out the ribbons on the ground. She was actually letting the worm crawl on hair ribbons? Gross! Jordanna could see now that what her cousin lacked most of all was good old common sense. Jordanna absentmindedly went to touch her loose bun, proud at how shiny and smooth her hair was.

Jordanna sat on a large boulder as she watched her cousin geek out over the stupid, slimy little worm. She rolled her eyes, then wrote for Action Gave worm choice of pink and white ribbon, apparently to see if it know what to wear after Labor Day. then for reaction, she wrote Cousin is being a total geek. The worm is stupid and it's going to the white ribbon. Flobberworms must be blind. Cousin is tampering with the project, picking up the worm- without gloves or anything, mind you, which is gross, and

She stopped there. She looked around for a moment, to see where the worm had gone All of the sudden she felt a strange weight in her hair. It was, it was, it was moving. Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. The worm was in her hair.

"AH! Get the stupid worm off me! Get it off of my hair!" she shrieked, not moving, or else it might get on her skin, which would only start up the allergic reactions, "Get it off of me right now!"

\n\n

0 Jordanna Howard Worms shouldn't be worn as accessories, either 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5

Skyla

May 30, 2005 4:33 PM

AHHH!! by Skyla

After hearing her cousin's shriek it hit Skyla that the worm on Jordanna was hers. "Merlin!" Skyla thought "Let's name the worm Merlin," she said outloud. "Now i must get Merlin off of Jordanna!"

Skyla went over to Jordanna and started looking through her hair. "Where oh where could Merlin be? Oh Merlin come out!" She looked and messed up Jordanna's bun and finally got the worm off her frightened cousin. She picked it up with disgust even though she named it.
"Good bye Merlin," and she threw the worm into the forest and luckily no one's hair.
\n\n

0 Skyla AHHH!! 0 Skyla 0 5

Jordanna Howard

May 30, 2005 4:49 PM

Right then... by Jordanna Howard

It was official. Her cousin was loony, positively insane! She had gone and named the gross little flobberworm! Why would anyone name a stupid, gross, little flobberworm? Jordanna had promised her father that she would look after her cousin, but no amount of money could keep her at it. Skyla had messed up her hair, after all. That was like, a tragedy that should be mourned over! Well, Jordanna would mourn over it. Well, actually, she wouldnt mourn, she'd seek revenge, sweet revenge.

Pulling the hairband out of her hair, she got up and yelled, "Skyla Howard, you are the biggest loser ever! I am not talking to you for like, the rest of the entire week. So you could just go on being a total loser until then. Goodbye." And with that, Jordanna got together all her things and stomped off. She didn't care about classes anymore, she had to get the gross flobberworm slime out of her hair! So it was straight up to the common room for her.\n\n

0 Jordanna Howard Right then... 65 Jordanna Howard 0 5

Rachel

June 02, 2005 2:56 AM

what by Rachel

Rachel thought about what she had said and realised she had been silly, "sorry just you never know with creatures they could be cute and cuddly but have claws or so on."

Getting up she started to examin one of her nails. "Soare you enjoying this as much as me or what?"\n\n

0 Rachel what 0 Rachel 0 5

Cari

June 02, 2005 9:29 AM

Re: what by Cari

All creatures cute and cuddly have claws, the thought popped into his head. But he could understand why Rachel was so hesitant but wasn't her reaction a bit too much? He sighed. Girls really were complex things.

"So are you enjoying this as much as me or what?"

Was she being sincere or sarcastic? he had to wonder. If so, then what was he going to answer to that? If he said it was good or boring then she might go loony on him again. So he settled on a neutral answer.

"It's ok", he shrugged, heaping another pile of grass at Flob.\n\n

0 Cari Re: what 0 Cari 0 5

Rach

June 03, 2005 7:20 PM

confused!!!! by Rach

Looking at him she wondered if he had realised she was being sarcastic or not. She guessed not after his answer was 'it's ok.' Why on earth had he said that she had no idea but if it was her she wouldnâ€™t of been caught dead saying that it had to be really boring didnâ€™t it, they couldnâ€™t look at anything spectacular no they had to look at an over grown worm with no eyes or teeth or anything remotely interesting.

She started to absent-mindedly pat Flob, even though he was trying heâ€™s hardest to eat and not be touched. She then whispered to Flob â€œwhy do you have to be so boring, why?â€ She knew he wouldnâ€™t answer but it let out some of the stress of looking after him ebb away. Looking at her partner she wondered if he had heard and hoped he hadnâ€™t it would have been so embarrassing.
\n\n

0 Rach confused!!!! 0 Rach 0 5

Cari

June 10, 2005 8:15 AM

so is everybody by Cari

Cari watched as Rachel started petting Flob, even if Flob didn't like it. Wordlessly, he started adding a few more things he noticed about Flob on their list before he forgets about them.

He added wiggly and hates being petted along with always hungry and needs constant attention. Brushing his a few strands of hair out of his eyes, he narrowed his eyes in thought, trying to think of anything more to add.

"Why do you have to be so boring, why?"

Startled, he looked up, wondering if she was complaining about him. Fortunately before he opened his mouth and gave her a scathing reply, he realized he was talking to Flob and not him. "I think it's for balance. You know - there are some boring and interesting animals. Ying and yang. Black and white and stuff..."\n\n

0 Cari so is everybody 0 Cari 0 5

Professor Kijewski

June 16, 2005 10:31 PM

Ending the Lesson by Professor Kijewski

Kiva walked around the classroom watching the students interact with their flobberworms. She was sure that some of the students most likely thought her attention was elsewhere, but spending her adulthood observing creatures, Kiva picked up on the little of details.

She knew most of the students didn't know what to do with their worm, some sang (much to her amusement and pleasure), some simply tried to feed it, others spoke to it, but most just ignored ther worms and the class assignment. She knew that the worms would be a bore to the students (even she found them to be uneventful), but flobberworms were of great use in the Magical world and Wizards and Witches needed some background and understanding of how their world, and the creatures within it, worked.

She stood at the front of the class, waiting for the wind to die down and for the students' activities to lull a bit. When she had both, Kiva cleared her throat, "Okay everyone! I want to say great job for your very first lesson in Care of Magical Creatures. I know this class was a bit stuffy having to only care for a flobberworm, but I promise that as you go along with these lessons, the creature will be more entertaining." Kiva smiled at her students with a great sort of pleasure and accomplishment at finishing her first lesson, "Now if I can just have you place your worms back in the box, you may head back to the mansion and to your next class."

Kiva watched as those who were elected to replace their worms, did so, while the others gathered their things and took off for their next lesson of the day. Once the last student had moved out of sight, Kiva sighed and turned to the slight mess left behind. Having only a few minutes until the Second years came, Kiva set to work at cleaning her area and making it presentable for her next class.\n\n

0 Professor Kijewski Ending the Lesson 0 Professor Kijewski 0 5

Professor Kijewski

Year 1, Lesson 1 by Professor Kijewski

Fawn Summers

Enjoyable lesson? I should say not! by Fawn Summers

Dalila Bastet

Disapointment in the air by Dalila Bastet

Bella Santoro

Flobberworms? Partners? by Bella Santoro

Lexi

I think this is where we smile and nod by Lexi

Gwenhwyfar Carey

Want to work together? by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Bella

*smiles and nods* by Bella

Leonides Lockwin

Wormy McWormington by Leonides Lockwin

Laura Keaton

Are flobberworms even magical? by Laura Keaton

Fawn

Or maybe that's the smell of the flobberworms? by Fawn

Leonides Lockwin

Even if they aren't, I am... ;O (Wow... smooth one) by Leonides Lockwin

Rachel

Flobberworms by Rachel

Carillon Arksington

Aren't they great? by Carillon Arksington

Laura Keaton

That should be in a book of bad pick up lines by Laura Keaton

Asher Tallow

Forget singing...how about punting? by Asher Tallow

Dalila

What's in a name? by Dalila

Anne Wright

This would be easy if I wasn't afraid of animals... by Anne Wright

Rachel

Partner by Rachel

Robbie Bates

why be afraid? by Robbie Bates

Gwenhwyfar Carey

I'll sing it a lullaby while you kick it fifty yards. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Asher Tallow

Ha...I have an even <i>better</i> idea. by Asher Tallow

Carillon

Look at the worm! by Carillon

Rachel

um it's looks? by Rachel

Carillon

Flob the Worm by Carillon

Rachel

Nah, Maybe? Don't Know by Rachel

Anne Wright

It really isn't logical, is it? by Anne Wright

Gwenhwyfar Carey

Hey! Anyone willing to be our guinea pig? by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Carillon

That too.... by Carillon

Asher Tallow

You know, that makes me think... by Asher Tallow

Robbie Bates

Not really by Robbie Bates

Rachel

Giggling mad! by Rachel

Jordanna Howard

I don't like worms... by Jordanna Howard

Gwenhwyfar Carey

The Conspiracy in Care of Magical Creatures by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Carillon

Mad giggler by Carillon

Rachel

Duhhhh! by Rachel

Carillon

Yeah sure by Carillon

Asher Tallow

Brilliant minds <i>do</i> think alike. by Asher Tallow

Lexi

Very good by Lexi

Rachel

Huh? by Rachel

Anne Wright

Re: Not really by Anne Wright

smiles and nods by Bella