Nathan Xavier
July 26, 2020 7:15 PM
Beginners: Pepper-up the Peppermint by Nathan Xavier
Nathan's second child wasn't even born yet and was already costing him sleep. Or rather, they were costing Isis sleep. And he woke up every time she got up to use the toilet, so neither of them was sleeping entirely well anymore. It was a kind of training for them, he supposed. It would get much worse than this once the baby was born and he'd be called upon to do more than mumble something vague as he commiserated with her frustration with the squashed size of her bladder and her inability to find a comfortable position to lay in, despite the body pillow and cushioning charms. At least the nausea had largely passed, or else the crackers and water next to her side of the bed were doing their job sufficiently that it was a negligible problem.So he was reacquainting himself with a coffee habit (that, too, would surely worsen later, but he was currently at a single habitual mug every morning now, up from the occasional one he used to get only when Dora slept poorly or he was up half the night harvesting under the light of a full moon). His students were probably noticing he was looking slightly more haggard sitting at the staff table now than he had been prior to the midterm break, particularly the beginner ones who didn't know what a Truly Haggard Looking Professor Xavier looked like. To the advanced students who would remember when Dora was born, though, he was most likely still looking pretty normal once he'd imbibed his daily caffeine.
The good news for the Beginners was that their class was situated right in the middle of the day, after he was fully awake, after he'd gotten the energy boost from enjoying his lunch break, and before he started to crash again. During their class, he could almost still feel normal.
So today he met them at the door to Greenhouse One with his usual smile and the homework essays he'd graded and was returning now with personalized comments about their work or letting them know when his office hours were.
Once everyone had arrived, gotten their homework back, and taken seats at one of the two long work tables that ran down the center of the larger of Sonora's two greenhouses, he began his lecture. "So today, we're going to talk about a plant everyone here should have heard of before. It's an interesting one, in that it's used in a number of potions but doesn't actually have much of a magical effect. Though it can be used to help with potions dealing with alertness and improving memory, it's usually there for just one reason: It's got a very powerful taste that can cover up some of the less appealing ingredients in elixirs intended for ingestion. So."
He used his wand to float trays of fragrant leafy plants in front of each student. "What you've got in front of you are some peppermint plants. They're getting too big for those trays, so we're going to moving them into larger planters until it warms up enough outside to move them into the garden. We learned repotting techniques just before the break, so this follows the same pattern. Get your pots from that shelf over there," he pointed over to the shelf full of orange ceramic pots.
He then reminded them all of the steps involved, because the first years had only done this twice before, and the purpose of this lesson was equally as much to review the re-potting process as it was learning anything about peppermint. "Fill the pots with soil, dig your hole, pop the peppermint plant out of its tray, tuck it into the hole, fill in more soil, pat it pretty tight but don't crush the plant, then water it. Repeat for the other two plants in your tray. If you want, you can add fertilizer either on top after its planted or to the hole right before you add the plant. Second years, you should be getting to be old hats at this, so if you see a first year having trouble, please help them out, if you can. I'm also available for questions if you have any or run into trouble. You may begin."
Subthreads: I...understand? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers with Valentine Duell
With plenty of pep! by Theo Spurn with Quincy Wright
Even for wizards. by Alexander Pierce-Beales with Josephine Clyde
This sounds so much easier on paper. by Graham Osbrook
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Nathan Xavier
Beginners: Pepper-up the Peppermint
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
July 27, 2020 5:15 AM
I...understand? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Sadie took her homework, cautiously reviewing the average grade and accompanying over enthusiastic 'Good job, Sadie!' She wasn't struggling enough to be called to his office hours but there was a ceiling on grades that she just couldn't seem to break, and she wasn't sure it was a high enough one to warrant the praise and the jaunty verbal exclamation mark. He was probably just being nice.She took a seat, brushing a hand through her dark blonde hair, even though it was already well secured in a mermaid braid. Herbology often got pretty messy and, whilst she liked her hair loose, she would prefer it to be well styled if it was going to have to be tied back, rather than ending up in a haphazard ponytail that would be the result of doing it in class. And Jessica had complimented her braiding skills last year.
She was hesitant as he said they should all have heard of today's plant, worrying that he was seriously underestimating her capacity to not know stuff. Prior to getting enrolled here, she thought she could maybe recognise and name nine plants, tops, and all of them ones that were common in floral arrangements or just like… daily life. Roses, lilies, tulips, daisies, sunflowers, daffodils, um those wedding buttonhole ones, and was she allowed to count different colour roses cos she might actually have to to even get to nine… Oh, and she could recognise poison ivy in order to not touch it. She was pretty sure none of those tasted great, except you could use rose to flavour things (she didn’t like it, but you could, and she guessed it was preferable to tasting bug guts), and that was what he seemed to be getting at even if she didn’t quite follow the phrase 'elixirs intended for ingestion.’
She was pleasantly surprised when she did in fact know what he was talking about. Peppermint! The flavour of candy canes and toothpaste and all sorts of things. Oh, it was also what Peptobismol tasted like, so maybe that was what his indigestion comment had been about (that had been what he’d said, right?). So, she was now like… almost one hundred percent following a class? That had to be too good to be true. This was going to turn out to be magical peppermint that would get grumpy if they mishandled it or that they needed to list twelve different uses for.
But no. It seemed like… like they were just repotting? Sadie could do that. It had been new to her when they’d done it last year but like… It was dig a hole, put thing in hole. It was pretty easy, but also weirdly satisfying and nice. She wondered if this was the kind of thing magical children did all day seeing as they didn’t have youtube and stuff. She wasn’t quite sure why anyone was willing to give her a grade for being able to do this, but she was certainly not going to complain about being in a class where she felt like she basically fully knew what was going on. And which, if you leant in close and tried to ignore the sting of manure in the air, actually smelt pretty good too. That was not a thing that could be said about most of their classes.
She pulled her gardening gloves out of her bag. She wouldn’t have relished the thought of dirt under nails anyway, but she currently had a really nice #ModernTwist on a #FrenchManicure going on. It had dark green tips, accented with little gold edges and a star shaped sequin on each. She’d had a blue and silver version for #NYE (#IcePrincess) but her mom had redone her nails more times than she’d had hot dinners during the break. Okay, that wasn’t literally true, but it felt like it. Since the influencer wedding in summer, it felt like she’d slid a bit more into her old role. Her face wasn’t being plastered all over the place as much as before, only in a few family shots, but things like nails which were a little more anonymous, or artsy close ups of her mom working on a detail in her hair… … She didn’t love it, but it was easier to let it slide, especially given that she did quite like the end results. She might have been making ugly projects in class, but she still quite liked being pretty herself. And sure, it had been overkill to have her nails repainted twenty different times (she hadn’t looked but she couldn’t believe their followers would want that many similar posts in a two week period), but it had at least been something to do together, especially as he mom really didn’t get school stuff. Sadie did though, and she was happy to be back - she had been allowed to choose for herself for the final repaint, and had chosen Sonora colours.
She collected a pot, and was just pulling on the pink floral gloves to get to work, when her neighbour spoke.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
I...understand?
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Valentine Duell
July 28, 2020 6:52 PM
Understanding is the first step. by Valentine Duell
Valentine didn't think that her head of house and herbology professor looked particularly well. He generally looked better during class, as he did today, but she still sensed that there was something wrong. She didn't like it. She suspected it may have something to do with the new baby rumors that were going around. Professor Xavier was one of the nicest professors they had and she wanted to do something to help him. Unfortunately, she didn't know what, so she just tried to be as nice and helpful to him in class and whenever she saw him.As such, she returned his smile as she accepted her homework and wished him a cheery 'Good afternoon!' On her way to one of the open seats, she looked over the results of the assignment. It wasn't terrible, but there were some very obvious things she had missed. Why was it always so obvious after someone pointed it out? She sighed and put the paper away and looked around while waiting for class to start.
She'd found a spot next to Sadie. That was good, with homework scores like hers, being next to a second-year was not a bad thing. The older girl had always struck Val as a bit glamorous and a little aloof. Maybe now they could talk a little, that would be fun. Before that could happen though, Professor Xavier began his lecture. They were going to be replanting peppermint? Okay, she can do this, easy stuff.
Since each plant was going to need its own pot, she stacked up three of them and lugged them back to her spot at the bench and set them down with a bit of a clatter. Maybe she should have just gotten them one at a time as she needed them. Oh well, to late now. She pulled out her herbology tools and started putting on her gloves as she turned to smile at Sadie. Now they could talk!
Sadie was pulling her gloves on as well and Val gasped at what she saw. "Our gloves match!" she exclaimed, holding out her hand encased in a pink flowery gardening glove. "Almost," she added looking a little closer, "I guess the flower pattern is a little different." She shrugged, "Do you have any good re-potting tips?"
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Valentine Duell
Understanding is the first step.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
July 30, 2020 4:16 AM
To what? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
"Oh yeah, they do," Sadie smiled as Valentine compared their gloves. It was nice to have pretty things, after all, so much of school was kind of icky, or there were their robes which were kind of plain and sack-like. She contemplated the various merits of saying this out loud, but was pretty sure her mom had said something similar when buying the gloves, and Valentine obviously liked the style too. "It's nice to have something pretty to brighten up the day," she added as cheerfully as she could.Sadie had taken careful stock of the incoming first years. It was hard not to notice everyone given that their classes were so small. Valentine was bright, chatty and seemed to have an easy time talking to anyone and everyone. Sadie susepected that the first year had picked up more friends in the weeks she had been here than Sadie had acquired in over a year. Though quality over quantity, right? And maybe, just maybe, Jessica liked her, which would count for a lot.
Repotting tips. Uh... Sadie contemplated the task in front of her. It seemd pretty simple, and she wasn't sure what she could say that wouldn't be utterly redundant.
"Make sure the hole's big enough?" she tried. In some senses, that was good advice. You could pop a plant in a too big hole and then gently work the soil around it, but if you had to keep putting it back and forth between its current little pot and the hole as you worked, that was bad for it. Too big was easier to correct than too small. It was just it had sounded pretty stupid as she'd said it, and she was sure if she tried to explain she'd only dig herself in deeper.
"Do you have tools?" she asked, unrolling a little bundle a bit like a jewellery roll only chunkier. It was made of matching fabrics to her gloves and held a neat little trowel and fork set with matching handles. Hopefully she could distract Valentine from her weak conversation skills with pretty objects.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
To what?
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Valentine Duell
July 30, 2020 6:57 PM
That's a good question by Valentine Duell
Valentine smiled at Sadie's observation. "It is nice." She agreed, "This class can get a little.. grungy?" She wasn't sure if that was quite the right word, but it seemed to work, "with all of the dirt and fertilizer and such." So far she liked herbology. It was fairly simple and straight forward. Here is a type of plant, here is what you can do with it, here is what you don't do with it. It was so much easier than tranfiguration.Sadie gave her some requested advice. She nodded thoughtfully as she said it. That did remind her of one of the problem she had run into last term when they had first learned about re-potting. Her first attempt had gone poorly to say the least. The hole she had dug was a component of the problem. "Thanks!" The first year responded.
Then Sadie pulled out her tools. It was one of the coolest tool sets Val had ever seen. It was all rolled up neat, everything matched even with her gloves. "That's awesome!" she exclaimed. Then she grimaced a bit, "I do have tools." She reached down and pulled up a smallish gardening bag. It had some wear and tear on it, but it was still in good enough shape to fulfill it's purpose. That purpose was to hold a set of tools that certainly looked newer than that bag. Being a set, they matched, but they were more common functional tools.
It had been Papa's herbology tool bag, with newer tools purchased for her school work. "I've got to say," Val said while she still admired Sadie's tools, "I'm a little envious. But, I guess mine will still work." She smiled, "What's our next step, fill the pots with dirt?"
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Valentine Duell
That's a good question
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Theo Spurn
July 31, 2020 6:00 AM
With plenty of pep! by Theo Spurn
“Thanks! You too!” Theo told Professor Xavier with a cheerful smile when the teacher handed back his assignment with a ‘good job.’ Professor Xavier was rounder and squishier than most of the other professors so Theo sometimes gave him hugs as he took back his assignment. Today was one of those days. He was pretty sure that everyone needed to hear nice things and be hugged as much as possible.Theo took a seat near the front because he liked seeing what was going on. He pulled on his gloves so thathe was ready. A lot of times, Herbology was not very nice to touch. He did not love it. Dirt was gritty and small and unpleasant. But with gloves on, sinking your fingers into dirt was squishy. It was a sort of weird alarming but not bad experimental good. The outside of the gloves were not soft enough for it to matter that dirt got on them, and there was no reason to think the dirt would get inside. He did not like the thought of it trickling down his skin between his glove and his hand, but plunging his fingers into it from the outside was intriguing. It was one of those textures that varied depending on how you interacted with it.
Today they were repotting! There were pots over there! Theo bounced up, going to get some. He became vaguely aware as he returned to his seat that Professor Xavier was still talking but he mostly just seemed to be saying things Theo already knew. He turned to his plant, considering where to begin.
“Hello!” he said cheerfully to it, because it was always nice to start with introductions. Luckily, Professor Xavier had finished talking by this point. “I’m Theo, and I will be your repotter today! And you are a peppermint! Pep-pep-peppermint!” he grinned. It was fun to say, so he continued to chant it. After a while it evolved into a little song. There weren’t really any more words but there was just something rhythmical and nice about pep-pep-pep-pep-pep-pep-pep--pep-peppermint that wanted singing and repeating. Plants liked being talked to. They probably liked being sung to too. Singing was fun.
He remembered that he was supposed to be repotting, and began heaping some earth into one of the pots, continuing to sing as he did so.
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Theo Spurn
With plenty of pep!
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 02, 2020 2:35 AM
Huh, first time for everything... by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
"Yeah, definitely," Sadie agreed. She perhaps wouldn't have used the word 'grungy' outside of a nineties party (#PartyLikeIts1999) but she got what Valentine meant."You're welcome," she smiled, as Valentine seemed to also actually be thanking her for her monumentally obvious advice and Sadie felt herself relaxing just a little bit. Valentine seemed pretty outgoing, sure, but she was easy going with it, and nice. Valentine was the kind of person who talked happily to everyone, which made Sadie's life much easier as she liked being talked happily to much more than talked grumpily to or sitting in awkward silence. Probably Valentine wouldn't particularly notice or remember her - that would require Sadie to have something notable or memorable to say - but at least it might not be too awkward. It already felt easier than the conversation with Graham at the feast had.
Valentine was successfully distracted by the tools, though as usual Sadie wasn't quite sure what to do with admiration. Luckily, it was being pointed at the tool set rather than directly at her, so she just sort of smiled and let Valentine have a look, and then happily they were back to planting as a subject.
"Yeah, the bottom half anyway," Sadie nodded when asked about filling the pots with dirt. They could scoop some in, and then work on their little Goldilocks plant beds - not too big, not too small, just right.
"You like herbology?" she asked.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Huh, first time for everything...
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Valentine Duell
August 02, 2020 11:25 AM
And when there is a first, there must be a second. by Valentine Duell
Dirt was next, but only bottom half of the pot. Valentine did remember that part of the potting lessons before break now that Sadie had mentioned it. She grinned with just a touch of friendly mischief, "I'm glad it's the bottom half that we need to fill." Giving her new friend a wink, "Filling the top half would be tricky..." As she said it though her face sort of melted into a more neutral, then almost concerned expression. "You.." her brow furred a bit and she tried again, "You don't think that at some point we are going to learn about some strange magical plant that needs only the top half of the pot filled with dirt, do you?"She considered Sadie's question for a few moments. She certainly like Professor Xavier, he was nice and good at teaching, but while he was a heavy influence on the class, he wasn't the subject of the class itself. "I think so?" Valentine voiced a little uncertainly. "Professor Xavier is a good professor with it. But, herbology itself is learning about the plants, right? How to take care of them, how to use them, how to not be hurt by them. Those are good things to know, and I like knowing those things." Particularly how not to be hurt by strange plants. Big plus there.
"So..." she continued a little slowly, "It is a good class, and a necessary class. It is certainly going better for me than tranfigurations and DADA. But I'm not sure if that still covers whether or not I like it." She thought for a moment while she put some dirt into her first pot. "I think I like it though, or at least there are parts about it that I like." She looked back at Sadie, "What about you? Do you like it?"
2
Valentine Duell
And when there is a first, there must be a second.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 02, 2020 7:56 PM
Don't hold your breath by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Right, bottom half was obvious. She had just meant... not the whole pot. Valentine was winking so maybe it was a joke but Sadie was never sure with jokes whether they were with her or at her. She was blushing slightly at Valentine's comment when the first year pointed out it might not always stay that way. Cos magic. Though perhaps that was a joke too. Other people seemed to find it easy to do that."Maybe," she said softly, with a non-commital shrug as Valentine asked about plants that only needed the top half of the soil. Or needed it first - they were filling the whole pot here after all, eventually. Maybe something in this world grew upsidedown or backwards. It wouldn't really surprise her.
Valentine chattered away, weighing up all the different classes. It was like seeing inside her head, all the weighing up that Sadie would normally do privately was out there in the open. Perhaps that was what you had to do to keep conversations going but she wasn't sure how you could just...do that and not care what the other person thought.
"I like it okay," she said evenly, "It's better than transfiguration or defence for me too," she added, because those were respectively pretty difficult and pretty scary. She wasn't sure what to make of Valentine's comment that even though she was better at this class, it didn't necessarily mean she liked it more. Why would you like a class that you were struggling in? She might have previously ranked charms as higher than herbology, she quite liked using her wand and feeling like she was in a fairy story, and she mostly liked Professor Wright, although the more she got to know him, the more she thought that he probably thought being clever was terribly important and that he therefore probably didn't think much of her. And that had been prior to the whole 'despacito' incident last year. So, thoughts on charms were probably best left unexamined. "Professor Xavier's nice," she agreed, sticking to the parts of her thoughts that echoed Valentine's. Sadie was quite enjoying Care of Magical Creatures too, but Valentine hadn't particularly mentioned it, so Sadie decided not to either. She had heard people saying that those and herbology were doss classes cos they didn't involve any real magic. Maybe that was why Valentine liked the other subjects better. And therefore, as usual, Sadie found herself feeling it might be best to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself, even though it had been so easy for Valentine to share hers.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Don't hold your breath
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Valentine Duell
August 03, 2020 5:27 PM
That sounds like a challenge, *inhales deeply* by Valentine Duell
Oh no, she'd messed up! Valentine could almost see Sadie withdrawing from her at her attempt at humor. "I'm sorry Sadie," She pleaded for forgiveness, "I didn't mean for..." for what? For it to hurt you? For it to look like I was laughing at you? She certainly hadn't, but saying that sounded so... terrible. What if she wasn't really hurt by it, suggesting otherwise could just make the situation even worse. She really didn't know Sadie all that well, and maybe she just didn't like bad humor. The sentence was still hanging in the air and Val had to do something with it though. She visibly slumped, "I'm just sorry." She would need to find another way of bonding with Sadie.Valentine listened intently as Sadie briefly talked about the class. It was interesting. Well, it was interesting in that Sadie had mainly just repeated back Valentine's own thoughts. What does that mean? Sadie hadn't liked the (possibly bad) joke and now she was agreeing with her? Maybe this was how Sadie bonded, slowly finding similar things as a building from that. Well, that's as good a way as any, and probably better than a lot of other methods. Well, Valentine could work with that.
"What do you think of Care of Magical Creatures so far?" Val inquired, "The jackelopes are a neat project. I named mine Bunhorn, after a stuffed jackelope toy I used to have when I was little." Val plucked her first peppermint plant from the tray in front of her. "I'm not sure how much she likes me yet though. How is yours doing?"
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Valentine Duell
That sounds like a challenge, *inhales deeply*
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 05, 2020 7:11 AM
Oh no by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
“Oh. No. It’s not you. You didn’t…” Sadie shook her head. Great. Now she’d made Valentine feel bad. It’s not you. It’s me. I just don’t know how to not be massively awkward with everyone. That sounded so cringe even inside her own head. She was torn between wanting to make sure Valentine really didn’t think it was her own fault and knowing that exposing her flaws like that, however obvious they must be at this point, could hardly make it better or any less awkward. “It’s fine,” she repeated somewhat pathetically.“You had a toy jackelbunny?” Sadie asked, her intrigue momentarily over-riding her shyness. “So, you knew about this stuff before?” she added, putting two and two together. She had called hers Jack-Jack. The first thing that had occurred to her deeply unoriginal brain had been ‘Jack’ but then she’d remembered how much she’d enjoyed ‘The Incredibles’ and Jack-Jack had seemed fun. Of course, most people here probably didn’t get it and thought she was just stupid or unimaginative. Which wouldn’t exactly be wrong… “I think he likes me okay?” she ventured, it coming out as a question in spite of the fact that Valentine could hardly be expected to confirm or deny this. “He doesn’t seem to mind hanging out,” she suggested. “But I don’t know that he’s learning much from me,” she added softly, slightly self-conscious. Valentine too, could probably put two and two together and work out that, when it came to teaching something to talk, Sadie probably wasn’t the greatest example.
She picked up a peppermint plant, placing it gently in the little nest she’d made for it and smiling slightly. The plant, it seemed, would be happy enough with its home whether or not she knew what to say it. There were probably plants that would be opinionated about that, but for today, she didn’t have to worry about it.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Oh no
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Valentine Duell
August 05, 2020 5:24 PM
Mmmhmm.. . hhm...mmmhmm. by Valentine Duell
Sadie dismissed the slight readily enough and Valentine smiled hesitantly back at her. "Okay, but please believe that it is alright to tell me if something I do or say bothers you. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, and that's easier to avoid if I know. Oh, and you don't have to tell me why it bothers you either. It doesn't matter." She nodded matter-of-factually."I did!" Valentine grinned as Sadie asked a question. She was getting somewhere! Nodding at the next question, Valentine noticed the way it was asked. Sadie must be a muggle-born. "Yeah, Mama and Papa both came here to school. It was all new to Mama, and Papa had a parent in each world." She tilted her head and considered the situation, "I guess that technically makes me three-quarters muggle? So, don't hesitate to ask me anything, I may not know the answer, but I can make something up that sounds convincing!" She grinned in a friendly manner. It was a line that one of the performers had used at the renaissance faire they had gone to a little while back and it had amused her no end.
Val nodded and worked on her plant while Sadie talked about her jackelope. She seemed a little uncertain as well. That made her feel a little better. Whenever she took care of him, and watched Philippe with Heliotrope, she was sure she was doing something wrong. "Maybe," she mused, "we should talk to Philippe a bit for some pointers. He is doing very well with his."
2
Valentine Duell
Mmmhmm.. . hhm...mmmhmm.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 05, 2020 9:55 PM
I asked stuff! Please breathe! by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
"Oh-kay. Thanks," Sadie nodded, as Valentine said she could just say if stuff made her uncomfortable, and didn't have to explain why. She supposed, in theory, she could do that. She also could stand up on the desk and start singing. It didn't mean she was going to because both of those things sounded like ways to mark herself out as a weirdo and to cause her to die of embarrassment. What was she supposed to say? I don't really like jokes. That was sure to make her popular... She also didn't really have many experiences of venturing her own opinions or feelings. Her mother tended to tell her what to think and, if Sadie tried to disagree, her mom was ready with a bunch of reasons why her way of doing things was better. It was just easier to go along with what other people wanted and expected her to be. Of course, if Valentine expected her to be outspoken and direct, that was going to be a challenge. "I'll do that," she agreed cheerfully, pretty sure she was never, never going to do that. Maybe she could just train her face to not betray her by going tomato red all the time? Rewiring her basic biology had to be easier than standing up for herself, right? Especially when Valentine hadn't done anything except try to be nice and it was Sadie's fault for not being very good at this kind of thing.She managed a smile at Valentine's comment about making things up. The other girl was grinning, so it was safe to assume that was an appropriate reaction, and she was both fun and funny (in a good way) to talk to, even if Sadie was envious of her easy confidence. She had never been the best at maths, but to her Val sounded one hundred percent magical - yet she was also apparently three quarters Muggle. Sadie was gonna have to trust her on that one - maybe numbers worked like potting dirt did, and didn't have to make logical sense. Heck, a lot of numbers hadn't made sense even before magic got involved.
"How much Muggle stuff do you do? Or your mom?" she asked cautiously. Partially she was anxious any time the Muggle world came up that people were going to know who she was or could easily find out, and she was also just shy in general of venturing the question in case it wasn't a good one. However, she was also curious what life looked like in mixed families. The worlds felt like they were kept very separate, which for now suited her just fine, but she wasn't sure what that looked like when she grew up and left school. Were there no TVs here cos there were such a lot of magic people and most of them were a bit unstable, or was she like... never gonna own one as an adult.
"Yeah, he seems to be doing well," she agreed regarding Philippe, who had given his jackelbunny a name Sadie could barely pronounce but already seemed to be making headway with getting the animal to say it. Presumably the tricks were simple things like 'be confidant' and 'know what to say.' She had a feeling she would be asking Philippe for help about the same time she started opening up about things that bothered her...
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
I asked stuff! Please breathe!
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Quincy Wright
August 07, 2020 10:31 AM
SO much pep. by Quincy Wright
Quincy loved Herbology. It was hard to say whether this or Potions was his favorite. Care of Magical Creatures was definitely his third favorite, although he liked Professor Marsh. He liked animals, too, but he liked them better to study as a specimen than to get pooped on, kicked, squirted at, oozed on, or some other horrifying atrocity of magic kind. Plus, COMC was sometimes less hands-on than Quincy preferred, as they were often observing creatures, or doing chores for them. He liked it well enough - it was still third place, after all - but herbology and potions took the cake.Today's herbology lesson seemed weirdly easy, but he supposed not all of his classmates maybe weren't as comfortable. They'd already studied repotting techniques last term, so this sort of felt repetitive, but that was okay. Although Quincy generally didn't like tedious activities that much, he could appreciate that they were helpful. Plus it gave him time to think and he could do it quick, which gave him time to look at the plant, check out the soil, etc. Which he began with, because he took a small vial from his pocket to collect a sample of the dirt that was near the roots of the peppermint plant already, intending to study it later. First, though, he had to get the plant out.
His neighbor seemed to have another way to do that, although Quincy wasn't sure that talking the plants out of their pots was going to work very well. At least he seemed vaguely interested in the thing though, so Quincy took up the spot by his side. "Did you know it's a hybrid?" he asked curiously. "Peppermint is from watermint and spearmint. It's called peppermint because it's peppery." Technically, it was called peppermint because it was mentha piperita, but it was called that because it was peppery. Except . . . it wasn't really. "There is some wild peppermint now, though," he added.
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Quincy Wright
SO much pep.
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Alexander Pierce-Beales
August 07, 2020 11:01 AM
Even for wizards. by Alexander Pierce-Beales
It turned out that life had gotten better but no less complicated since Alexander had found out he was a wizard. That had continued to be true over break, although Alexander was feeling much better about his own sense of existence at this point. He was worried about a lot of things, and he didn't have high hopes that repotting a peppermint plant would be enough to blot those out. At the same time, though, he found that he rather enjoyed this sort of task. Perhaps it would be enough after all. If it wasn't, he could just go faster, or do better, or help someone else. If none of that worked and he got done early, he could draw. He'd brought his notebook (as he always did) and was ready to turn to his personal hobbies if academic pursuits weren't up to snuff. Perhaps he would draw a giant peppermint plant eating his brain or something. That would be nice.Peppermint was one of those smells that he loved and he hated all at once. It was the smell of candy canes and fancy gum that he normally couldn't afford, but it was also the smell of a foster parent trying to cover tobacco and smoke on their breath. Luckily, that wasn't anything he'd had to smell for a long time now. In fact, in a few months, it would be a year since he'd had this foster family. He'd never had one before at all, not for more than a week or two, and it was nice. It was almost weird that it was so nice, because it was really super easy to be at home and to think of the house he shared with Mab and Bel as home now. He could say "Oh, I live in Boston," even though he'd only seen a little of the city. He got the feeling that that was more normal for wizards anyway, who might live one place and Floo or apparate all sorts of other places anyway. It was nice to live in this world now because he was well and truly sure he hadn't lost his mind, and that was a pretty nice thing to be sure about.
"Smells like candy canes and tea," he told his neighbor, figuring that he should make small talk since he was in a world of busting violently out of his comfort zone and barreling into new territory as a regular pastime. "Do you like peppermint?"
22
Alexander Pierce-Beales
Even for wizards.
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Josephine Clyde
August 08, 2020 2:04 AM
It's difficult even then by Josephine Clyde
What was Josie’s relationship with peppermint? Practically non-existant. Her father told her that she had a severe allergy and she tried as much as possible to stay away from it. Peppermint? Evil. But…she could have sworn that her mother used to make peppermint desserts for Christmas. And she distinctly remembered enjoying peppermint candy canes when she was younger. Maybe she was only allergic to the peppermint plant? But when would she have had run into a peppermint plant? There was no ‘when Josie was young’ story to explain it and neither of her parents had been gardeners. But Minnie was. She liked to have certain plants readily available was her answer and one of them was peppermint. She couldn’t remember which one was peppermint, but she remembered spending enough time in the garden with Minnie. Enough time to at least touch each plant once and lo and behold no deadly allergic reactions.This class would tell her the truth. She’d read that some people formed allergies when they got older. One of her cousins said they used to love eating seafood, but then they suddenly couldn’t eat it anymore once they got to college. She wasn’t that old, but either way this class would be able to help her figure it out once and for all. If it wasn’t the plant then maybe it was something about the candy, but she’d find out today. She would. As soon as she stopped staring at the plant like it was going to eat her. Any second now. Yup. Soon. Ugh.
Josie slumped forward and her forehead hit the table with a silent thump. It was just going to be a test. She wouldn’t die if she touched it, would she? Had she really touched the peppermint plant in Minnie’s garden? Were there peppermints in her garden? Should she tell the professor about her maybe allergy? But then what if nothing happened and she was healthier than a horse? What then?
The question was a very welcome distraction. Her neighbor was a Teppenpaw she remembered seeing last year, so he was at least her year. What was his question?
“Oh, um, yes? I did when I was young. Haven’t had a lot recently. Do you want to work together? I’ll do the filling and digging and you can do the planting and tucking.”
She was most definitely not afraid of a plant. She was just being careful. Maybe her father was right and she was deathly allergic. Or maybe she was just remembering things wrong. It didn’t matter. Hopefully her neighbor would help her avoid all of those things.
44
Josephine Clyde
It's difficult even then
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Valentine Duell
August 08, 2020 6:48 AM
*Releases air* See, that's.. *gasps* not so hard.. *wheeze* ..is it? by Valentine Duell
Val smiled at Sadie's response. "Great!" Hopefully she could avoid making Sadie's life any more uncomfortable. Sharing things like that could be uncomfortable, it was true, but better to have a moment of that than to need to suffer through years of misery because nobody knows. She knew, from observation and this little bit of interaction, that Sadie was a reserved person. That was fine, but that was no reason to force her to wallow in loneliness if she didn't want to. Sadie just may take a little while to warm up to her, but Val could be patient and slowly make friends.She brightened at the chance to answer questions. The way Sadie had asked made her think this may be an important topic, and If she was Muggleborn, then this had to be all sorts of crazy for her. Valentine considered herself fortunate, she and her family bridged the gap nicely between the two worlds.
"We do Muggle stuff," She started then paused, "We may actually do a little more Muggle stuff than most mixed families thanks to Papa. He works for a magical research company trying to make Muggle and Wizard stuff work together better. Home looks pretty much like your average Muggle home I think. We've got a TV and refrigerator and such. Microwaves still don't like us much though." She giggled a bit at the memory of the third microwave that had gone berserk and caught itself on fire causing Papa to give up on them.
"We've got our potions alcove as well though, and your other normal Wizarding things." She shrugged. "Mama..." how could she put this? "Pop, that is Mama's Papa has been very good trying to learn all of the Wizarding things that he can. Aunt Paige, Mama's Muggle sister..." her voice drifted off for a moment, "We don't see a lot of Aunt Paige. I don't think she likes the wizardy things very much."
This was getting sad. She couldn't let that happen, she had to do something. "What kind of Muggle things do you like to do?" Val asked trying to swing the conversation back around to happier things. "There is a fair amount of crossover, I'm not sure why the wizard people shun the Muggle stuff so much."
2
Valentine Duell
*Releases air* See, that's.. *gasps* not so hard.. *wheeze* ..is it?
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Theo Spurn
August 09, 2020 6:03 AM
Whoop whoop! by Theo Spurn
There were words happening nearby. Theo continued to sing a little bit, but he was also listening. You could listen and sing at the same time. A lot of people thought you couldn’t and didn’t like it if you did anything except hold your body in this weird, rigid perfect silence whilst they talked. Very stillness was stiff and itchy and he didn’t like it. He kept thinking about how he wanted to move or touch something or do things with his hands and he often ended up thinking about how uncomfortable he was way, way more than he was listening to what they were saying.“COOL!” he beamed enthusiastically when the words next to him stopped. They had been some pretty interesting things. Including that there was wild peppermint! “Wild!” he echoed cheerfully cos that was a slang word for cool and it fitted here and he was imagining like some grooving 1960s peppermint just getting its freak on and also people said werewolves were wild by they totally weren’t they were just people.
“I’m doing werewolves for my charity,” he explained to Quincy, forgetting that without having been along for the rest of that ride, he might not have known how they’d got to this station. He might think Theo’s thoughts were off the track but they weren’t. Just cos you couldn’t see the tracks didn’t mean they weren’t there. Though to add to the confusion, he hadn’t actually lifted his eyes from the work in front of him whilst he said this.
“Welcome to your new home!” he grinned enthusiastically, this time talking to his plant again as he transferred it from its old small pot to its new nice and spacious one. “I prefer being all snuggly closely wrapped up but you do you, my peppy little friend.”
13
Theo Spurn
Whoop whoop!
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0
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Alexander Pierce-Beales
August 09, 2020 8:36 AM
It does seem so. by Alexander Pierce-Beales
Alexander had been concerned when his neighbor's head hit the table, but he was glad to see that it seemed to be more an expression of some emotion that he didn't understand rather than some medical complication he couldn't help with. Probably.He nodded, although he was a bit surprised. They were just coming out of candy cane season. And tea season if she wasn't the sort to drink it all year. So if anyone was ever going to have had peppermint recently, returning from the winter break seemed the time to have done. Perhaps she didn't celebrate Christmas. There were religions and non-religions that didn't celebrate Christmas, right? He didn't know what they were but there probably were some. He still thought it was weird that so many wizards seemed to celebrate the distinctly non-witchcraft-centric holiday.
"Sure," he agreed to her plan for working together, a bit surprised there too. "But are you sure you don't want to work together on both parts? Repotting might come up again later with something harder," he pointed out. He shrugged, showing how little he was invested in either option, prepared to fellow her lead. "I can help get the supplies and stuff. We need dirt and some pots."
22
Alexander Pierce-Beales
It does seem so.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 10, 2020 3:45 AM
A little. But I'm trying. Really. by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
“That’s cool. Your dad must be really smart,” she commented, wondering how you went about just… reinventing tech stuff. Valentine really did seem to have a pretty normal existence. In some ways, it was strange - it was also strange how strange it was to hear words like ‘TV’ and ‘microwave’ dropped into conversation so casually. She’d gotten used to those being things that she whispered almost clandestinely with other Muggleborns, for fear of offending or being not magical enough. Valentine really seemed to have a foot in both worlds though.“TV, I guess,” she answered, when Valentine asked what she missed, “Not as much as I’d thought I would though,” she added. She missed the ability to just Google things too, or to watch hair tutorials on youtube. The girls’ magazine her grandma had subscribed her to was helping a bit with that, but as it was a non-magical magazine, it often referenced online stuff that she couldn’t look up. Still, it sometimes had step-by-steps. However, she was reluctant to bring up the world of the Internet. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage Valentine to spend more time on that, or ask her about her own online habits.
“I don’t miss stuff that much right now. I guess I was busy with like getting my head around all the magical stuff?” Admittedly, she’d also found herself with a lot of time to spare and wasn’t sure what to fill it with in the absence of technology, but she was worried that sounded sort of pathetic. It certainly spoke to not really having any friends. “I just wondered. I haven’t met many people who know both,” she added. She patted some earth down around her repotted peppermint. It looked kind of small and lost in its new home, but she guessed that was the idea. It would grow into it, with time.
13
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
A little. But I'm trying. Really.
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Valentine Duell
August 10, 2020 6:31 PM
You are, and you're doing great! by Valentine Duell
Val smiled and nodded, "He is. He's nice too, when he was here he got sorted into Teppenpaw, not Aladren. So not all the smart people are sent to the same house." She'd picked up on the idea going around the school that 'the smart people were all in Aladren', and that wasn't at all true. There were plenty of smart people that weren't in Aladren. Like Papa, and Alexander, and Lavender, and plenty of others."Yeah, I could see that. " Val smiled a little apologetically, "Muggles really seem to like their TV. I did as well, still do I guess a little." She shrugged, "A lot of it just doesn't seem relevant though does it? It's not aimed at us.." She blushed a little, it had been a thought that had occurred to her the last time she had flopped down in front of their TV and tried to find something interesting to watch. Nothing had appealed to her. She'd ended up reading a book instead. Books were always good.
Valentine's first plant was looking pretty good, so she started on her second one and listened to Sadie talk about the changes she has to deal with. "That must be hard," Val said sympathetically. "I can't imagine living your life for eleven years and then suddenly everything is different and bizarre." She smiled at Sadie again, "I'm always around if you need someone to talk to."
2
Valentine Duell
You are, and you're doing great!
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0
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Graham Osbrook
August 13, 2020 9:15 PM
This sounds so much easier on paper. by Graham Osbrook
Herbology was, as far as Graham could tell, the easiest class at Sonora, and he appreciated it very much for being that way. There was as much tedious memory work as occurred in any other class, maybe more than any of the others except Potions, but at least if he got it wrong in Herbology, nothing was going to explode. At least, not as a rule. He had gathered that some of the plants he might interact with in the Intermediate class might pose more dangers than the ones he was working with right now, but he still had a year and a half before he really had to worry about that. For now, the class was nice and straightforward and rarely had the potential to go disastrously wrong, and this made it easier to please his parents and get on with it.Neither Mom nor Dad had, of course, said anything negative about his grades. Dad, in fact, probably hadn’t even thought that much about it. Mom, though, had responded almost too perfectly, and therefore, Graham couldn’t shake the idea that she was a bit disappointed that there hadn’t been any Os on the midterm report.
He had no evidence for this whatsoever, of course, outside of the As in Potions and Transfiguration, which he had been mildly chided to bring up if he could. Somehow, though, he just had a Feeling that she wasn’t too happy with the Es, either. The problem, as always, was that it was so hard to guess what Mom was thinking most of the time that Graham could only speculate based on what he knew about her; in this case, he knew that she spent her other life, the one where she was Dr. Greene instead of Mom, trying to make people the best possible versions of themselves, which left him to speculate what she’d think of Graham not being the best he possibly could be.
Could he be an all-O student, if he worked really, really hard? He honestly didn’t know. Claire probably could, but though Graham and Claire had always been close, they weren’t the same person. Claire could very well be smarter than him as well as more of a perfectionist than him.
Herbology seemed to be a good place to see if he could be a little more perfectionistic, anyway, along with Potions, so that if his guess that his mother was lying to him was correct, he could put his own mind at ease about it by doing better this time around. This peppermint lesson, though, didn’t seem like it was going to be the best place to test out anything with, since it was really, really straightforward.
Maybe if he didn’t need one of the second years to help him, that would constitute doing well? He thought he could pull that off. At least, he was pretty sure of it until he actually started trying to remove the peppermint plant from its current tray, whereupon he remembered how crumbly potting soil was, and how fragile roots on most things were, and what a mess it all made….
“I have to assume there’s a reason he doesn’t just put an Engorgement Charm on the pots instead of all this,” he said blandly, noticing a classmate looking at his work as he finally, with some scrambling that involved trying to get a good grip on the plant without crushing it in one hand while the other tried to hover under it to minimize the amount of potting soil falling down onto the tables, got the peppermint plant into the new planter. It leant sideways in its hole, looking rather bedraggled to his eyes. He hoped he was imagining it. “Or it’s something to do with the dirt not being good anymore or something.”
16
Graham Osbrook
This sounds so much easier on paper.
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Sadie-Lake Chalmers
August 18, 2020 8:02 AM
Oh. Thanks by Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Sadie merely nodded in agreement with Valentine’s assessment that the smart people were well-distributed. She’d certainly noticed plenty in Crotalus, definitely not including herself. She felt pretty much stupid whoever she talked to here. Less so with Valentine so far though. Not that she though Valentine was stupid (oh gees, thank goodness she hadn’t said any of this out loud, how awful would that have sounded? And this was why it was safer for her not to open her mouth!) - just Valentine seemed really kind and gentle. The potion had definitely got her house right.TV wasn’t aimed at them? Some shows weren’t, sure. Like, the kind that were violent or gross and needed parental guidance but plenty were. As a comfortably affluent white girl, Sadie had never had any difficulty switching on the TV and finding it full of relatable experiences. Apart from the thing where the kids moved around in these easy, snappy friendships, and where anyone socially awkward at least had the benefit of being a genius. But she had never considered the purpose of TV to be realistic, and had never thought too deeply about issues of representation. It was sometimes hard to get into it because she missed so much being at school, but it wasn’t like she had that many people to talk to about what had happened. And she got fewer spoilers this way. So, she could just kind of Netflix through whatever she wanted in her own time during the holidays, which was actually pretty fun.
“What else do you like to do?” she asked instead, deflecting the conversation away from her own internal disagreements or differences of opinion.
“Thanks,” she smiled, when Valentine offered to be around to talk to. “It was pretty neat finding out magic was like… for real,” she admitted, “I mean, it’s sort of weird too sometimes,” she agreed with a shrug but there was also plenty she didn’t miss.
13
Sadie-Lake Chalmers
Oh. Thanks
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Quincy Wright
August 18, 2020 12:28 PM
I'm glad you're excited. by Quincy Wright
This dude was so loud. Like, he was pretty okay, but he was so loud. Quincy found himself looking around automatically, wondering whether they were drawing attention from others in class. He sort of hated when people did that to him, though, so he cut himself short and focused on his classmate. Well, actually he focused on his plant, until his classmate said he was doing werewolves for his charity. Which could mean a lot of things but he suspected that this guy wasn't someone to start a charity in favor of werewolf eradication."That's awesome," Quincy said, genuinely excited. "Werewolves are really cool." Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing the werewolf charity post last term, but he'd signed up for a different one and hadn't thought too much about it. He hadn't been sure it was serious, since all the other ones - except one in Spanish - seemed really serious for the most part and he couldn't be sure whether this one was or not. "Do you still need people?" he asked, letting his curiosity lead him into what just might turn out to be a friendship or something. He wasn't really looking for friends but it was silly to block them out on principle.
He moved his peppermint plant at about the same time as his classmate, and he wondered at it as he listened to the older student talk to his. Quincy wasn't really sure he had enough experience to say whether he liked being snuggled or not, but he definitely liked space. It was good that this guy was willing to let the peppermint do its own thing. "You're kinda weird," Quincy told his classmate matter-of-factly, not seeing this as either a good or bad thing. "But I think you're nice. Some people like space," he added, looking again at his own peppermint. "It's good to respect that."
22
Quincy Wright
I'm glad you're excited.
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0
5
Valentine Duell
August 18, 2020 8:09 PM
So, what's next? by Valentine Duell
"Hmm…" Valentine had to stop and think about Sadie's question a moment. What did she like to do? "Hang out with people mainly I guess." She replied with a smile. "That doesn't really sound like a good answer though, does it? It is a lot easier to do at school than at home.""Here I've got lots of friends to do things with. I'm in the gaming club, the dueling club, the gardening club…" she gave Sadie an inquiring look, Val didn't think she remembered seeing Sadie at any of them, but she couldn't be sure. "Have you looked into any of them. You're doing better than me with your peppermint, you'd be great in the gardening club."
"Doing things like that at home is trickier," she continued. "There it's just me, Mama, and Papa." And Aunt Giselle for a while… "I wind up doing a bunch of reading when Papa is at work and Mama is busy. When we can though we play some Qudditch skirmishes, or play some games!" She eyed up the slightly older girl again, "Have you ever played D&D or Pathfinder? It's mostly a Muggle thing, but nothing stops Wizards from playing it as well."
Valentine listened as Sadie talked about learning about magic. She couldn't imagine what that transition must be like. Accidental magic growing up was always a bit of a wild time, but to have no idea what was going on? Then, surprise! Someone shows up at your door and says the world doesn't work like you thought it did.
She gave Sadie another smile. "I think you're doing a great job adjusting. What's your favorite magical discovery you've made so far? What's the coolest thing you've learned that isn't in the Muggle world?"
2
Valentine Duell
So, what's next?
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Theo Spurn
August 24, 2020 7:22 AM
Me too!!! by Theo Spurn
Theo’s head snapped up from his plant, eyes staring at… person, and shining with excitement. Most of the time looking at people wasn’t as big a deal as other people made it out to be. He could kind of take it or leave it. He could especially leave it when they started going on at him to look. Theo looked when people were interesting. Being told to look was not interesting so he generally didn’t. But this person was being enthusiastic about werewolves!“Yeah they are!” he grinned happily about werewolves being cool, “And yes, you can help if you like. Or you can just be someone who comes to our booth. We need those too. It might be a treasure island. My dad’s one and he’s the best,” he chattered away, mixing up the different threads in his excitement without really noticing that he was doing it or thinking about how it might not make sense to this guy.
“Yeah, I am,” he agreed when boy-o called him weird. That was fine. It was true. “I am an oddity,” he added happily because that was another word for it that was just more playful to say. There was nothing wrong with being weird. He liked being him. His mum and dad liked him being him too. They always made sure that he knew they wouldn’t change him even if they could. And he had lots of other people who seemed to think the same way or at least be willing to make dens and roast marshmallows and respect boundaries about bad textures. “Yes,” he agreed regarding space. That was a fact that he had learnt even if it was baffling, “That’s why there’s a no-touching-without-asking rule if you’re not friends,” he nodded. “I didn’t hug you by mistake did I?” he checked. He didn’t think he had but he was sometimes excited and forgot, and people usually only brought that up if he had hugged or looked like he was in danger of hugging unwantedly.
“Today is a good day,” he declared cheerfully, pressing his fingertips into the ends of his gloves and rocking them back and forth on the table to feel the softness for a minute before he moved onto the next plant. Good days were good and soft things were brilliant and when you underlined happy moments with soft feels it just made everything even more his favourite. He loved the world! The greenhouse was all sunshiney and this dude was being really nice and nothing was rough at the edges. “You’re nice too,” he stated. "You might be weird as well. I just don't know yet," he added, in a tone that very much conveyed there was hope for this person, and that just because his weirdness could not be immediately identified didn't mean he should worry that he didn't have any.
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Theo Spurn
Me too!!!
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0
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Josephine Clyde
August 30, 2020 2:59 AM
It IS so. by Josephine Clyde
The Teppenpaw’s suggestion was a good one for sure. Josie bit the inside of her cheek. Would bringing up her maybe allergy sound more like an excuse to get out of work than the actual maybe medical excuse it was? Might as well try. If he believed her then at least one of them would.“My father,” she began a bit unsteadily, “Said I have an allergy to peppermint, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m remembering it wrong. I definitely had candy canes when I was younger.”
And she had, hadn’t she? Christmas events at her primary school had practically revolved around the striped sweets. The entire holiday revolved around that candy. The entire winter season was represented by the candy cane just like how the pumpkin was the representative of fall.
Josie looked around the room at the other students working away. None of them were crippled by fake diseases and awkward partnerships. Obsessing over her maybe allergy wasn’t going to get them anywhere. They needed an alternative.
“How about this? I’ll get the dirt and you get the pots. Then maybe we can put the peppermint in together. If I die…well, I guess I die then.”
At best, he’d laugh, at worst, he’d look at her strangely and never talk to her again. That was fine. Her step-brothers had definitely prepared her for being ignored.
“Oh, I’m Josie, you’re a second year, right? I remember seeing you around last year.”
44
Josephine Clyde
It IS so.
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Alexander Pierce-Beales
September 01, 2020 10:12 AM
Does it have to be? by Alexander Pierce-Beales
Alexander blinked, not sure what to make of the girl's tone. That being said, he hated when people read too much into what he said or how he said it so he wasn't about to pry into her personal life. "Maybe it's different because of how the extract is processed for candy or something," he suggested, not wanting to say she was wrong, even though it sounded like maybe she was wrong.His reaction was not so neutral when she spoke nonchalantly about her own death. That was dark. And a bit . . . not random? That was the sort of thing people said because it came from some other thought, even if it wasn't anything so serious as really meaning it. But happy people didn't say things like that. There had been a time when Alexander felt the same way in a sort of que sera sera sort of way, but he wouldn't say that now.
"I won't let you die," he promised, wondering if it was just anxiety that made her say it. "Not because I'm great at this," he clarified, realizing how it sounded. "But because I'm real good at yelling and I'll get the professor's attention. I am pretty sure they've got something better than epi-pens here."
He nodded at her introduction. "Nice to meet you," he said. It was a bit odd to go a whole school year through a school this small and never really getting to know everyone, but it could happen obviously. Still, he was pretty sure he would have known the girl's name if he really thought about it, just from hearing her be called on or something. Maybe. "I'm Alexander," he said. Their year had an Alexander and an Alexandra and they were in the same House, but he was pretty sure Josie didn't need him to clarify that he wasn't the girl one.
They went their own directions to get the pots and dirt and then met back at their desk. "Do you wanna touch a little bit of it before you dive right in, so you can see?" he asked hesitantly, not sure what would be most helpful.
22
Alexander Pierce-Beales
Does it have to be?
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Josephine Clyde
September 07, 2020 1:12 AM
Maybe it's just me? by Josephine Clyde
Alexander’s reassurance did make Josie feel better. She was being so silly! The professor was nearby enough and a little brush with a peppermint leaf wouldn’t kill her. His explanation definitely made sense too. Leaves were leaves and candy was candy. There were loads of chemicals added into candy, maybe that’s what she was allergic to. Yup, that made total sense.At least Alexander was being nice and understanding. She wasn’t sure if she’d be as patient with someone who was getting in the way of her schoolwork. No point in prolonging the inevitable. It was best to just get it over with. With the pots and dirt on the table it was time for the star of the show to make its appearance. There was no reason for all this nervousness! Her fellow second year’s suggestion was a good one.
Nodding at him Josie reached out a hand to pet the plant. She tried to think of it as kind of wary animal that might bite her, so she needed to give off a calm feeling. If she was feeling neutral then surely the plant’s possible poison would feel the same way. Her other hand came to wrap around the stalk as she continued her exploration of the peppermint. This wasn’t so hard. Actually, this wasn’t hard at all.
One leaf slipped between her fingers and curved around them. It almost felt like the plant was shaking her hand or rather her finger. How cute. With that simple thought the plant lost all of its scary mystery and just looked like what it should: green, leafy and waiting to be put into its new home.
“Hey,” Josie turned to look at Alexander with a big smile, “That wasn’t so bad! Let’s get to re-homing them. I think it’s okay. Thanks Alexander.”
She pulled one of the pots in front of her and filled it with soil, put a layer of fertilizer on top and stood over it with her little gardening shovel. She gave Alexander another smile and began digging her plant’s new home.
“Are you the only Teppenpaw boy? There aren’t that many boys in our year. Or maybe there are and I just haven’t them yet.”
44
Josephine Clyde
Maybe it's just me?
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0
5