For someone who's not here, I'm awfully distracting on Herbology

Professor Nathan Xavier

March 09, 2018 11:54 AM

Intermediates: Bubotubers by Professor Nathan Xavier

As was his norm, Nathan met the Intermediates at the door and returned their graded homework essays from last week with a personal comment praising their work or suggesting a visit to his office hours. Once everyone had arrived at Greenhouse One, and taken seats at the long worktable than ran down the center of the building, he moved to the south end where sunning racks were filled with enough potted plants for each intermediate student to have one, though these were less green and leafy than most of the ones they worked with.

"Anyone know what these are?" he asked by way of opening the lesson, and he waved his wand to start distributing them one per student. "Please don't touch," he warned, though he doubted any of them much wanted to, seeing as the plants looked like thick, black, giant slugs, even squirming a bit as they grew vertically out of the soil. Each plant was also covered with many large shiny swellings, filled with a yellow-green pus that emitted a horrendous gasoline type of odor.

"That's right," he confirmed when he got a correct answer, "Bubotubers. They are not very pretty to look at," he admitted, "but their pus is an important component in several healing potions. However, touching it directly in its natural state is not recommended because it will cause boils if it comes into contact with unprotected skin. Once diluted and processed, however, it is also very effective in curing acne."

"Today we will be harvesting the pus. If you didn't bring your dragonhide gloves today, there are some spares on my desk. You should each also have a large needle and a glass vial in front of you for collecting it. Poke a swollen area with the needle to make an opening, then use your wands to draw the pus out and into your vials. You can use the Hover charm for that, which most of you should know by now. Third years, you can just squeeze the swellings to harvest the pus if you haven't learned that yet. Again, do be careful not to get any of it on you."

"You may begin."

OOC - As you know, posts earn House Points based on length, relevance, creativity and realism. If you have any issues, please tag me in the subject line, particularly if you are about to get squirted with pus.

Subthreads:

I’m really hot right now and so is everyone else by Zevalyn Ives with Lily Spencer, Pecari, Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

For someone who's not here, I'm awfully distracting by Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw with Professor Xavier

Some reading for Ronin (or a leaflet for Lily) by Kir McLeod, Teppenpaw

Getting a bit off topic [Tag Emerald] by Victor Callahan, Crotalus with Emerald Brockert, Aladren

1 Professor Nathan Xavier Intermediates: Bubotubers 28 Professor Nathan Xavier 1 5

Zevalyn Ives

March 14, 2018 2:37 PM

I’m really hot right now and so is everyone else by Zevalyn Ives

Zev was feeling cold and she pulled her light jacket tighter around herself as she walked down the garden paths to Herbology. Ugh. She hated winter here. It was less than a hundred miles from where she grew up and acclimated to the kind of desert weather she considered normal, but some crazy wizards decided they wanted to reinvent the Irish climate in the middle of Arizona. It wasn’t even actually winter yet! It was still autumn! Dang wizards. She bet it was still practically summer in Phoenix.

She took her essay from Professor Xavier, knowing without looking at it that she did well, since he told her so. So she just tromped into the greenhouse, stuffed the essay into her bag, and scowled because this was a greenhouse so why wasn’t it any warmer than outside?

She rubbed her arms and grumbled at her neighbor, “I miss summer already. How’d it get so cold so fast?” It was a question with the potential to cause no small amount of confusion in the person so addressed because the outside temperature was actually still quite comfortable and the greenhouse was still noticeably warm.

And it was getting warmer by the moment. By the time Professor Xavier handed out the bubotubers and stopped talking it was getting close to hot inside the greenhouse, and as Zevalyn pulled on her dragonhide gloves, the temperature surged up to sweltering. “At least we get to wear gloves to keep our hands warm,” she remarked, completely oblivious to the heat everyone else was experiencing. She shivered. “I hope I’m not catching something. I suddenly feel a bit tired and achy, too.”

1 Zevalyn Ives I’m really hot right now and so is everyone else 380 Zevalyn Ives 0 5

Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw

March 19, 2018 10:09 AM

For someone who's not here, I'm awfully distracting by Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw

There was some kind of slug plant on all the desks. It was all black and squirmy and covered in these boils. Were they sick? They looked like they might be sick, and like their lesson was going to be nursing them back to health. She wondered how much of their appearance was due to whatever was wrong with them and how much they were just butt ugly horrible plants. Like, if they cured them of all the yellow blob things, would they still be disgusting black slug shapes, or was that part of the problem too?

’Does anyone know what these are?’

‘Freaking gross’ she suggested in her own head. The actual real name didn’t do anything to improve the plant’s image. And then it got even better. They were meant to be all covered in gross boils because their pus was useful, and they all had to collect it? And wear gloves cos it could burn? Wow. This thing was the gift that just kept on giving. And it was way too stuffy in here…

She really wanted to be anywhere else right now. Was it her, or was it getting warmer by the second? She could feel herself sweating, which was just so gross. She bet no one else was sweating. Proper Pureblood Ladies probably didn’t sweat, or get damp patches under their arms. It was a good job she never put her hand up for anything - was stupid as well as fat - because she bet if she did, everyone would see her gross sweat patches. But sometimes when you had to do really flicky wand movements, you had to life your arms up. Kinda. Would it be noticeable? Could she actually avoid lifting her arms away from her sides for the rest of the day, or would that make her look like some weird robot? And then even if they didn’t see, everyone would figure it out. How could it be getting so warm? Even if she didn’t get visible sweaty under arms, her hair was going to get all stuck down and gross. Was it just her embarrassment, or was it actually heating up by the second? She would have to sit in the back row again, with the troublemakers. She’d been avoiding it since the whole Jozua incident, but there was no way she could handle people looking at her.

Georgia gave a shriek. Or rather, the space where Georgia had previously been did. She could still feel her body - still feel the sweat trickling down her brow - but she could no longer see her hands on the desk in front of her, no longer see any part of herself.

13 Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw For someone who's not here, I'm awfully distracting 346 Georgia Kirkly, Teppenpaw 0 5

Kir McLeod, Teppenpaw

March 25, 2018 10:03 AM

Some reading for Ronin (or a leaflet for Lily) by Kir McLeod, Teppenpaw

Kir made his way to the greenhouse in distinctly cheerful mood. So far, this year was being pretty good to him. Ok, there was a decided amount of weirdness in the air, and perhaps more than was strictly normal even for a magical school, but so far said weirdness’ only direct effect on him had been a chance to make Amber-Zevalyn call him cute. He still smiled whenever that fact crossed his mind. He probably should have capitalised on that moment and asked her out there and then, but they’d been busy with their kneazle testing. He would though. It wasn’t like it had been with Kit, where asking her out had been so fraught with familial complications, and where he hadn’t been sure how she felt. Amber-Zevalyn had none of those complications - plus there was the ball, and she was a prefect, so she needed a partner, and she thought he was cute.

Whilst many an objective observer would have said that Zevalyn was not looking at her best that day, Kir was most definitely no longer objective. Unfortunately, the seat next to her was taken, so he had to sit a few places along from her. He fanned himself with a piece of parchment whilst Professor Xavier talked. He knew what the plant was but his mind was wandering over how damn hot it was in here and he didn’t put his hand up to answer.

Their task did not sound glamorous, but herbology rarely was. At minimum, you were messing about with soil. He pulled on his gloves, wishing they weren’t a necessity as he was getting warmer by the minute. He glanced in the non-Amber-Zevalyn direction and noticed another of his D&D buddies, Ronin (he habitually thought of them all by their D&D names, but them especially so seeing as ‘Lily’ really did not seem to fit the short haired, boyish person) sitting a few places down. He found Ronin… interesting, and he wanted to help them. Or to know whether they needed help. They were clearly very gender non-conforming and he thought they came from the kind of family that didn’t really approve of that kind of thing, i.e. exactly the kind of person his family helped. But he wasn’t really sure how to raise the subject with them, in case they were… just kind of a tomboy, or didn’t want to talk about it with someone they didn’t know. He carried McLeod foundation business cards and leaflets with him most of the time, but he’d had the specific one on gender (which outlined the idea of gender as a social construct, and the ideas of gender non-conforming, gender-fluidity and being transgender) in his bag, with the intention of giving it to Ronin at the first opportunity.

He was about to tend to his plant, when there was a cry of surprise from the other side of the table. He looked up to see… nothing. But a space of nothingness that seemed to be causing no end of confusion and distraction, alongside which he could swear that the temperature in here was just not normal right now. He regretted the fact that Ronin was a few seats down. There was certainly enough going on right now that he thought he could have slipped them the leaflet with a quiet ‘I thought you might want this’ or ‘Just in case you need it’ without anyone noticing. He glanced down as a movement in the corner of his eye attracted his attention. His satchel, which was on the ground beside him, was wiggling. It opened and he watched, as the leaflet (hidden beneath the height of the bench) flew across and tucked itself into Ronin’s bag. Well, that was… convenient.

He turned to his plant, trying to focus on that, but it was hard when it was so very warm…

“Do these things need a tropical climate or something?” he asked his neighbour, as he tentatively lifted the syringe. He poked one of the pustules carefully, making a small hole out of which some unpleasant looking goo began to seep. It was never a good day when the verb ‘seep’ could be applied. “Remind me never to become a Healer. Don’t think I could stomach it,” he admitted, his face backing up this assertion with a distinctly revolted look. He lifted his wand, siphoning the pus into one of the little vials. “Ugh,” he muttered.

13 Kir McLeod, Teppenpaw Some reading for Ronin (or a leaflet for Lily) 366 Kir McLeod, Teppenpaw 0 5

Victor Callahan, Crotalus

March 27, 2018 5:12 PM

Getting a bit off topic [Tag Emerald] by Victor Callahan, Crotalus

The ball. The ball, the ball, the ball. Victor liked to think of himself as a dashing young man, and liked to think that he could have the pick of the girls in his year. They weren’t all suitable, of course, and there would be a few young male purebloods in his year looking for dates to the ball. Still, all that meant was that Victor would have to be on the ball (no apologies for the pun) with asking, and could have a bit of friendly competition with his roommates.

Victor’s original choice for the ball had been Gwen Fintoc. She was pretty, down-to-earth, fun, pureblood, and he’d enjoyed spending time with her when they’d been paired in lessons. In other words, not far off ideal. However, Jehan’s little stunt had thrown a spanner in the works, and now he was having to reconsider. Gwen would be a suitable date, but Victor didn’t need just suitable now. He needed to aim higher, to make some kind of statement, to remind everyone that the Callahans were most definitely society. Something that might take people’s eyes off Jehan and place them firmly on him. Not that he wanted to be covered in eyes – he meant that in a purely metaphorical way, he’d like to clarify, before anyone got any ideas.

Jehan was perhaps the most frustrating brother there ever had been, but Victor loved him dearly. He’d never admit this to his friends (loving your brother wasn’t cool), but he wouldn’t change a single thing about Jehan. Sure, the boy caused him all manner of headaches, but that was what made Jehan Jehan, and to change that would mean Jehan was no longer his little Jehan. It was a confusing logic, but it made sense to Victor. What also made sense to Victor was that, as an older brother, it was his responsibility to make sure their parents, and by extension society, didn’t get mad at Jehan.

It was with all this running through his mind that Victor sat in Herbology, tuning out what Professor Xavier was saying. The giant slug plants were disgustingly awesome, the lecture on them less so. Victor wasn’t a natural scholar and, whilst he knew he had to do reasonably well in school, he didn’t always pay attention if he had something more interesting to think about.

Being in class also gave Victor the opportunity to look at all the girls in his year and work out which one would be an appropriate ball date, given his new criteria. Salali was obviously not an option, Gwen had been ruled out for the aforementioned reasons, Emerald…could actually be perfect. She was a Brockert (you didn’t get much better than that in pureblood society), she was pretty, and she was the Headmaster’s granddaughter. Looks, and influence, both within and without Sonora. All Victor had to hope now was that no one had asked her already.

With that vaguely worrying thought in mind, and given his somewhat impulsive nature, Victor walked over to Emerald as soon as they were given the go-ahead to get to work. He was too focussed on his new plan to fully notice the heat in the greenhouse yet.

“Miss Brockert,” he began, bowing slightly because yes, he could be charming! “I was wondering, would you accompany me to the midsummer ball?” He smiled in what he hoped was a winning manner, willing her to say yes. He was a Callahan, after all, a member of a respectable pureblood family. Surely she’d say yes?

OOC: Sorry Professor X, Victor's author thinks your lectures are awesome, even if Victor doesn't!

9 Victor Callahan, Crotalus Getting a bit off topic [Tag Emerald] 368 Victor Callahan, Crotalus 0 5

Professor Xavier

March 28, 2018 9:57 AM

If this keeps up, I’m not going to be here either by Professor Xavier

Nathan noticed the temperature rising as he gave his mini-lecture but didn’t think much of it. This was a green house and the sun was shining. It was perfectly normal for it to get warmer as the day went on. However, it kept rising and faster than it really should this late in the year. When he reached the point where he needed to wipe sweat from his brow, he started looking around for any obvious cause for the unusual temperature discrepancy.

He was just narrowing in on Zevalyn Ives, who was visibly shivering and huddled in on herself like she was somehow cold in this tropical heat when a surprised cry sounded through the greenhouse and he spun toward it. To see nothing unusual. He quickly realized, though, that what he wasn’t seeing was anything but usual. Just moments ago, Georgia Kirkly had been sitting there and now her seat appeared to be empty, while the sound of her ending shriek was coming from that empty space.

“Georgia?” he began, approaching her seemingly unoccupied work stool deciding this was the more immediate problem. Disappearing students took a slight priority over probably feverish ones, even if the feverish one was making everyone else sweat. “Are you okay?”

It was perhaps a stupid question, seeing (or not) that she had somehow become invisible or something, but he was mostly trying to gauge (a) whether she was even still there, and (b) whether any other harm had befallen her aside from the disappearing act. And to assess either of those, he needed her to talk to him.

1 Professor Xavier If this keeps up, I’m not going to be here either 28 Professor Xavier 0 5

Lily Spencer, Pecari

March 28, 2018 5:11 PM

Maybe remove your jacket? (leaflet received) by Lily Spencer, Pecari

After the devastating fever that sent her to the Hospital Wing, Lily had been feeling sprightly. Strange magical occurrences were still going on, but it didn't seem attached to her directly anymore. She was glad to be well again - Merlin knew Quidditch wasn't going to play itself and she was certainly not going to give her position as Seeker away.

Herbology was one of the most boring classes, but she enjoyed it because it was something her father had been interested in for a bit. If she knew the basics at least, she would be able to hold a conversation about it. Dull ones, obviously. The autumn weather was warm today, so she left her jacket in her room as she hurried to class. In a few months it would be snowing here, though she knew by now that the weather at Sonora did not reflect Arizona temperatures in the least. Still, she was looking forward to winter and the cold.

Lily took her essay from Professor X and glanced at it. She'd been doing rather well since her illness as well, as if the fever had addled her brain for the better. She sat down next to one of her DnD friends, though Zevalyn didn't seem very happy. "Is it?" she replied, slightly confused. "I feel rather warm, actually. I do miss summer, though, and the seaside."

The plant they were working with today was ghastly, and Lily scrunched up her nose at it. "Ugh!" She couldn't help the noise she made as pus oozed from one of the swellings. She, of course, had not yet purchased her own dragon-hide gloves, so Lily went to borrow one of the spares. She pulled them on and glanced at Zev. "You all right? You look rather pale," she said, her eyebrows coming together in concern. "Let me see if I've got any medicine. I usually carry it around just in case."

Lily removed her gloves and picked up her bag to rifle through it. She curiously pulled out a leaflet that was resting on top of her things inside. Someone must have slipped it in whilst she was distracted. It was about gender as a social construct and non-conformity. There was something on the back about being transgender as well. She found the information interesting, but the pressing need at the moment made her slip it back into her bag and search for anything that might help Zevalyn feel better.

"Damn, sorry, I don't have it with me," she said apologetically. "You might have a fever, I think it's been going around." Lily peered at Zevalyn's face. "Maybe you ought to visit the Hospital Wing? I could go with you." Anything to get out of doing this disgusting task.

40 Lily Spencer, Pecari Maybe remove your jacket? (leaflet received) 357 Lily Spencer, Pecari 0 5

Zevalyn Ives

March 29, 2018 9:33 AM

No no no. My coat. I’m not giving it up! by Zevalyn Ives

“That’s okay,” Zevalyn assured Lily when her new D&D friend failed to find any medication in her bag and offered to bring her to the Hospital Wing instead. “I don’t think it’s anything serious,” she said, as much to convince herself as Lily. “It’s probably just a cold. I’ll swing in there later for some Pepper-Up, or something,” she promised so the other prefect wouldn’t worry. Though, honestly, wizard potions were weird and she would much rather grab a DayQuil or something. Maybe even a NyQuil and then just sleep her way through this. Maybe she’d check her room for a package of muggle medicine first. The liquid capsules might not be a swiftly effective as a healing potion, but at least steam wouldn’t come shooting out of her ears. That was just plain disturbing.

“I can make it through Herbology first,” she promised. Then she looked at the slug plant and grimaced. “Though I can see the appeal of fleeing this particular lesson.” She shivered again, and it was only mostly due to the freezing temperatures in the room that everyone else would call sweltering.

“Well,” she said bravely, “we are Amber the Valorous and Ronin the Sneaky. We can defeat these bubotubers. We’ll hopefully get loads of XP for it, too.”

She looked at the ugly pus covered plant again. “Lots of XP,” she repeated. “And maybe treasure. We’ll need to give ourselves some really nice treasure for this.”

1 Zevalyn Ives No no no. My coat. I’m not giving it up! 380 Zevalyn Ives 0 5

Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

March 29, 2018 9:59 AM

Who are these Amber and Ronin people? by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

Jozua arrived at the Herbology room with less than a minute to spare, getting one of the last essays left in Professor Xavier’s hand. “You can do better,” the teacher scolded gently. “Maybe you should come by office hours to make up the classes you missed?”

Jozua grimaced. “Yeah, sure,” he agreed. There were many things he did not regret about skipping so many classes at the beginning of the year: not killing anybody with out of control magic; managing to wrestle his magic firmly back under his own command again through relentless practice in the MARS’ dueling arena, and avoiding the stares of his classmates after his pyrotechnics in Charms and Transfiguration. His grades dropping like rocks through water, however, was not an effect he was particularly happy about. “I’ll be there,” he promised and went in to find a seat.

There was one only one person away from Lily, so he grabbed that one, sitting on Zevalyn’s other side and giving his best friend, and the girl in between them (no need to be rude) pleasant greetings before the professor started his lecture.

He wiped sweat from his brow and gave the Aladren an incredulous stare as she commented - without irony, he’d have appreciated the joke if there had been irony, but she was totally serious - that she was glad for the gloves to keep her hands warm. And now that Lily mentioned it, she was looking a bit ill. Jozua scooted his stool a couple inches further away. He’d missed enough classes already; he didn’t need to get sick again and miss more now that his magic was finally cooperating with him.

But then Zevalyn was talking like she and Lily did adventure play together, and he was part curious, part intrigued, and feeling wholly left out, so he scooted back. “What’s this about treasure for doing classwork? And who are Amber the Valorous and Ronin the Sneaky?”

OOC: Assumes Georgia hasn’t screamed yet.

1 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw Who are these Amber and Ronin people? 348 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw 0 5

Lily "Ronin" Spencer

March 29, 2018 6:03 PM

It's a rather fun story. by Lily "Ronin" Spencer

Lily waved when Jozua sat by them, glad he wasn't ill anymore. Whatever had been affecting his magic earlier seemed to have stopped and she was glad for a sense of normalcy again.

Zevalyn seemed unwilling to visit the Hospital Wing, so Lily made a mental note to take some vitamins later to counteract any viruses that spread. She hoped that her immune system was strong enough to fight it, anyhow, but Jozua's scooting did not go unnoticed by her. Lily smirked at him, but said nothing. Zev reminded them of their current task, and she grimaced. The room was becoming unbearably warm - didn't the professor know to open a window? - and she loosened the top buttons of her uniform and rolled up her sleeves.

"That's right," she said, feeling more accustomed to the DnD vernacular today than when she'd started. "Treasure would certainly be nice.

"It's Ronin the Rogue, actually," she said confidently, though she'd only just learnt the definition of 'rogue' recently. "We're in a DnD group. I forgot what DnD stands for," she said, glancing at Zev for help. "It's like a make-believe adventure game, but we only talk about what we do as our characters. We don't actually run around and fight anything." It would've been more fun fighting pretend dragons and such in the gardens as she did a few years ago with her best friend, but this wasn't too bad. "Ronin's my character. He's a halfling who sneaks around looking for treasure and lurking in the shadows. I can be either good or bad, depending on what I choose or how I feel at the moment. Zev's character is Amber the Valorous. She wields a sword and is the warrior of our lot."

Lily was getting worked up talking about it and it made her sweat more. She wiped her forehead, wishing she could remove her uniform robes and roll up the bottom of her T-shirt. "You should join us sometime, it's actually quite fun. I was sceptical about it at first, but I like--"

Before she could finish her sentence, someone screamed and Lily jumped in her seat. "Who was that?" she asked, bewilderedly looking around her. There wasn't an obvious culprit, but she looked at her friends to see if they'd spotted anyone in obvious calamity. She wished for someone to light something on fire - preferably her plant - so she wouldn't have to collect any pus.

40 Lily "Ronin" Spencer It's a rather fun story. 357 Lily "Ronin" Spencer 0 5

Georgia

April 02, 2018 9:37 AM

This isn't fair by Georgia

Was she ok? Seriously? Georgia raised her eyebrows, giving Professor Xavier her best Are you freaking kidding me? look before remembering he couldn’t see he because-

“I’m invisible!” she replied, obviously somewhat panicked, so even if she was on a par with him in terms of stating the obvious, her tone of voice did make it clear that she was not really especially ok with this. “Why- how- what?” she began a series of questions but she didn’t even know what she really wanted to ask.

Ok, she’d never exactly liked her body - she’d always wished she could lose a few pounds, but as diets went this was sort of on the extreme side. She didn’t want to be stared at, and she didn’t want to be fat, but she missed herself now that she was gone - not having a body at all was weird and frightening. She didn’t want to cease to exist!

“Am- am I going to disappear? Like.. I mean, pop out of existence disappear? What’s going on?” Or was it just a prank, again, like with the teacup? And if so, who hated her so much all of a sudden, and why? Was it because she was prefect? That was the only thing that was different this year. She’d always been fat and a halfblood and whilst it hadn’t won her many friends, it hadn’t exactly given her enemies until this point. Unless it was one of the third years… They hadn’t been in classes with her before. But the cup thing had happened in the hall… It had to be the prefect thing… So who had wanted it that badly that they were picking on her? Or was it a friend of someone who’d been overlooked? Or just someone who thought it was funny cos she was a “teacher’s pet” for having it? Merlin, that stupid little badge was a lot more hassle than it was worth!

13 Georgia This isn't fair 346 Georgia 0 5

Professor Xavier

April 02, 2018 10:39 AM

I sympathize completely by Professor Xavier

Invisible, yes, good. Well, not good, but she was at least still present and he now knew her location based on where her voice was coming from, so while she was spilling a stream of half-panicked questions. Two problems. An invisible girl. Skyrocketing temperatures. He hoped his strongest finite would take care of both of them, but if Zevalyn was still in the room, she might just keep trying to warm herself up.

The first thing then, was to get her out. "Jozua," he said, pointing at one of the students sitting nearest to her, "Take her to the hospital wing!" he pointed at Zevalyn, then turned back to Georgia, drawing his wand, and cast, "Finite Incantatem!" with a sweeping motion that took in Georgia's last known location and the greenhouse as a whole.

The oppressive heat broke. And Georgia ceased being invisible.

He let out a breath of relief, glad that he hadn't needed a more specific counterspell to end either effect. "You won't disappear," he promised. "And I don't know what's going on, but it seems to be over for now." He looked toward the door to check that Zevalyn and Jozua were on their way out and added, "Though I think at least the heat half of today's events was accidental and induced by a high fever. Why you turned invisible, on the other hand, I have no idea." He frowned around at the nearby students but couldn't pick out anybody who seemed to know more about what was going on than they did. He sighed, "I guess the prankster took advantage of my distraction with the rising heat to strike again." This was twice now that Georgia was targeted. "Have you thought of anybody who might have anything against you?"

1 Professor Xavier I sympathize completely 28 Professor Xavier 0 5

Jozua Sparks (with Zevalyn Ives)

April 02, 2018 11:02 AM

Love to hear it, but first, a chance to read leaflets by Jozua Sparks (with Zevalyn Ives)

OOC: As I already wrote Jozua escorting Zev to the Hospital Wing before Lily replied here, Nathan had to pick him, though I think they would have all preferred that he'd picked Lily. :) BIC:

Jozua jumped a bit as his name was called out right after the girl's shriek. He sat up straight, assuming he was getting blamed for whatever had just happened, and was ready to shoot back words of defensiveness when he realized he was being ordered to take Zevalyn to the Hospital Wing. He looked at Zevalyn doubtfully, and gave Lily a look too, that plainly read, "You're the prefect, why do I have to do this?" But the professor had specifically called out Jozua's name, and he was in enough trouble this year with the school's teachers to ignore an explicit order.

"Okay, let's go," he told Zevalyn, and shrugged apologetically at Lily for leaving her alone with three slug plants. "I'll be back as quick as I can," he promised her. "We'll defeat the plants and get the treasure then," he grinned, and then shivered slightly as the temperature abruptly dropped about twenty degrees. But it was all good. It had been way too hot in there.

Though Zevalyn seemed to deflate in on herself with cold, and he urged her up and toward the door. Getting outside didn't help her any either, so he gave her his school robes, hoping to make her look a little more comfortable because he was getting cold just looking at her, even though it was perfectly fine day out here. He hustled her along, hoping a quick pace might get her blood pumping and warm her up but she was still shivery when they finally made it to the Hospital Wing.

Jozua gave the healer the requisite information she had asked for on his last visit, and then left when she informed him he was no longer needed. He hurried back, not wanting to leave Lily alone for too long. Plus, well, he wanted to ask more questions about Ronin the Rogue and their game. It sounded interesting.

"Hey," he said when he got back, dropping into the seat previously occupied by Zevalyn. "So what's a halfling?" he asked, looking doubtfully at his slug plant, and wondering where they were even supposed to start. He poked at it with his wand.

1 Jozua Sparks (with Zevalyn Ives) Love to hear it, but first, a chance to read leaflets 380 Jozua Sparks (with Zevalyn Ives) 0 5

Lily

April 04, 2018 5:41 PM

Anything is better than harvesting pus. by Lily

Whilst Lily would’ve loved to get out of Herbology to escort Zevalyn to the Hospital Wing, she preferred to not catch her illness. As soon as she left, the room suddenly became cooler and she felt chills from the drastic change. The sweat felt chilly around her neck now and she wiped it off with a handkerchief she kept in her bag. The leaflet fell out once again as she replaced her kerchief. She picked it up and decided to give it a quick look. Professor Xavier wouldn’t notice with the current post-scream situation on his hands.

It was about gender, which she’d already surmised. Gender was a social construct, being transgender was all right and so forth. Lily read it carefully, wondering who would’ve slipped this into her bag anonymously. It was certainly clear why they would. Lily had never imagined herself as transgender. Though she’d longed to be a boy as a child and be like her brothers, she felt less inclined to be seen as a wizard these days. Instead, she was proud to be a witch who refused to conform to most pure-blood standards. Lily didn't know what she thought of the idea of completely transgender individuals, however. That idea was foreign to her. It felt unnatural stating oneself as anything else no matter how they dressed.

She put the leaflet away and slowly slipped on her gloves to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Jozua’s voice made her jump and she smiled at him as he picked up their conversation.

“Um, I think it’s supposed to be half human, half… you know, I’m not sure what the other half is.” Lily shrugged. “I just visualise Ronin to be mostly human-looking, but I might be wrong. I’m still learning as I go. It’s a lot of information all at once and I have trouble keeping up sometimes. I feel like I need to study D&D knowledge alongside my CATS.” She shook her head. “How’s Zev by the way? She all right? You’re not ill anymore either, are you?”

40 Lily Anything is better than harvesting pus. 357 Lily 0 5

Emerald Brockert, Aladren

April 23, 2018 2:28 AM

But a rather good change by Emerald Brockert, Aladren

Emerald looked down at the Herbology essay that she'd just been handed back and smiled. She had recieved an O. Getting good grades brought the fourth year great pleasure and were a source of pride for her. She put the paper aside as Professor Xavier started the lesson.

She tried not to grimace at the rather unpleasant thought of harvesting pus. Actually, come to think of it, pus was an inherently disgusting word. Maybe that was just because of what it was though and if it had a different name than that word would be the disgusting word. Anyway, she got a plant and put on her gloves. After all, Emerald did not want boils-another unpleasant sounding word-or quite frankly, to touch something so revolting with her bare hands.

It was interesting though, how something so nasty, that in it's natural state could harm someone, could help if diluted. That was the thing about subjects like Herbology and Potions. With Potions, one could create amazing effects out of just the right combination of ingredients but if you didn't do it right, it could be disasterous. It was all fascinating.

The Aladren got to work on her plant and Victor Callahan walked over. She blinked, slightly surprised at his question since she hadn't really spent much time with him. Actually, Emerald hadn't really expected to get a date at all given the rather limited amount of suitable boys at Sonora. Or boys period. Still, maybe it would be more fun to have a date than not. Plus, it wouldn't be too long before she had to start thinking about men in general. Might as well. "All right." Emerald agreed, giving Victor a friendly smile.

OOC-Sorry it took so long

11 Emerald Brockert, Aladren But a rather good change 358 Emerald Brockert, Aladren 0 5