Nathan Xavier

January 01, 2021 7:45 PM
Nathan stood just inside the door to Greenhouse One as the students began to arrive, returning the marked exams they had taken at the end of fall term. Each exam was accompanied by a greeting and personalized remark on the student's progress, ranging from "Excellent work," to "As a reminder, I offer office hours all day on Wednesdays." Most of Wednesday, of course, was spent grading papers and supervising Zeus and Dora digging holes since the students generally had other class obligations for most of it, but he tried to make himself especially available between classes, over lunch, and after classes ended. He was also willing to write excuse notes to other teachers if someone was really struggling and needed some one-on-one instruction and the other professor approved the absence ahead of time, though that didn't come up very often.

Now in early January, the warmth of the greenhouse was a welcome relief to the cold outside, and robes could be worn comfortably without risking heat stroke. Winter was one of his favorite seasons for that reason, given that he consistently spent a good portion of his day inside greenhouses all year round. It was infinitely more pleasant in here now than it had been in early September or would be in late May and early June.

Once all of the students had arrived and taken seats along the long work tables set up down the middle of the greenhouse, he spoke to them more generally, "Welcome back to Herbology. I hope you all had a good break and are ready to start learning about magical plants with defense mechanisms. As this is a beginner class, we're not going to look at anything truly dangerous yet, so be aware that this is the mild end of the spectrum. Plants in the magical world can get quite terrifying, and just because they are - usually - rooted to the ground and - generally - unable to move under their own volition, does not mean they are harmless. We're going to look at two herbological cousins today called the Spiky Bush and the Spiky Prickly Plant, which have very similar features."

He pointed his wand one of two bushes he had sitting at one end of the greenhouse, far enough away from where the students were sitting that they were not at risk, and cast a spell to flash light on it so they knew which one he was talking about. "That one is the Spiky Bush. As you can see, it is a bush that has large spikes growing out of it. If something gets too close, or it otherwise senses harm, it will shoot those spikes out around it. It can only shoot them about two feet out, so you're all safe where you are at. They are generally considered a nuisance plant - not unlike wild muggle pricker bushes and they grow like weeds - so most people don't want to care for these guys but take them out. The safest way to do that is stand well back and light them on fire. The incendio charm works very well on these bushes. They will shoot off their spikes when they catch on fire, so do remember to stand far enough back that they can't reach you."

"Next, I'll ask you to turn your attention to the next bush over," he invited, and cast his light charm again on the other plant to draw attention to that one. "This is called a Spiky Prickly Plant." He made a slight expression of distaste for the informal name given to the bush in question. "As you can see, this one has quite large yellow thorns growing on it. There are two variants of these plants that often grown together in the wild, but its the ones with yellow thorns you need to be most careful of. These are the ones that can also shoot their thorns out at nearby people. If they have brown thorns, those are just normal thorns that can't become projectile weapons. The Spiky Prickly Plant also happens to be fire resistant, so they best way to get rid of these bushes is to just cast a severing charm on the stems to cut them down."

"Neither plant features in any common potions, though a small handful of very specialized brews may make use of the yellow thorns or the Spike Bush's spikes, but neither ingredient is one you will ever find in your potions kits as there just isn't much use for them, and when they are used, they are most effective if collected fresh."

"Now, for the practical part of the lesson, I'd like the first years on this side of the greenhouse, and second years on that side. First years, you will be setting fire to the Spiky Bush." The fire starting charm was a little easier to master than the severing one. Professor Wright had also said he'd covered the Incendio charm already this year, but not the severing one yet, though the second years would have seen it at the end of last year. "Second years, you'll be cutting down the Spiky Prickly Plants. Not everyone needs to cast a charm, so if you don't feel comfortable casting in front of your peers, that is fine. Quite frankly, I don't have enough bushes for everyone to have a turn anyway."

"Please stand here where I have marked a line on the floor a safe distance away but where you should be able to both sets of bushes. You will take turns." He did not envy Grayson for needing to oversee a class where children who were just learning to control a wand were shooting fire around, and he did not want to have to explain to Selina that he had accidentally let his first years burn down his greenhouse, so they were going to do this one at a time. "Please observe how the bushes react to the threat, and how effective the charm is at eliminating the bush. Feel free to take notes on your observations or discuss what you see with your classmates. Now, line up and can I have a first year volunteer to cast the first fire starting charm?"



OOC: You can post about casting the appropriate spell, or talking about the plants with your neighbors. You are welcome to god-mod Nathan requesting volunteers or asking you to cast the spell on the other plant to demonstrate its effectiveness there or summoning a fresh bush from the back of the greenhouse. The information about these bushes is pretty sparse, so don't feel bad about making things up, so long as you don't completely contradict something another post has already established.

Nathan won't let anything get too out of hand, so if there is a potentially dangerous situation, tag me before it gets too bad.

Reference for this comes from this page about the Spiky Prickly Plant and this page about the Spiky Bush.
Subthreads:
1 Nathan Xavier Beginners: Defensive Plants and Projectile Weapons 28 1 5

Billy Cobb

January 01, 2021 8:34 PM
Billy liked Herbology a lot better than most of the other classes. It felt more like something he'd do back home. It was like learning to avoid poison ivy or which mushrooms were okay to eat. Those were good things to know and very practical. Sure, learning to make fire in Charms class was good, just like learning how to fight monsters. How to turn one useless thing into another useless thing didn't seem great so far... but if it became turning useless things into useful things, that would be better. The thing those classes had against them, was that the was all inside. This was was outside.. well, almost. These greenhouses were a strange mixture of inside and outside. He'd wondered about all the magic that was used to make them work. Ma would love to have a house for her garden that was always summer inside.

He wasn't really much for note taking, but he did scribble some notes as the Professor talked and tried to draw each of the plants. He was not a great artist. However he did perk up more when the professor mentioned they'd be using that fire making spell to burn down these plants. He also make sure to note down that the other one didn't care if it was set on fire. Maybe it had learned from the other plant. Then the professor asked for him to come up and give it a try. Well, he'd asked for a first year, and he was going to try this before his roommates got a chance. This would be fun!

Taking the position indicated he looked at the plant in front of him. Other than those spiky bits, it look like an ordinary plant. He debated stepping closer to see how exactly it threw the spikes, but remembered the Professor say they would do that once it was on fire. Great. He looked over his shoulder at the first-year behind him, "Ready to take notes?" he asked, "Imma gunna make some fire." He grinned and turned back to the plant and tried to remember everything he could about the fire charm. Then he flicked his wand, "Incendio!" The fire erupted from the end of his wand, and nearly made it to the plant. It must have sensed the heat or motion or something because spiky bits shot all over the place and landed short of him, just as his fire had done to it. He gave it an unhappy look. "Dangnabit," he said as he turned back to the person behind him, "Alright, you give it a shot."
2 Billy Cobb Fire? 1519 0 5

Oz Spellman

January 02, 2021 8:42 PM
Oz took his test back, hurriedly folding it and shoving it in his bag out of sight as soon as he got to his desk. He hoped no one had overheard Professor Xavier's remark as he handed it back.

Good work.

If they had, they would assume he was talking to someone else, right? Or that he was just being nice because that was kind of his jam? Oz hoped so. He wasn't sure whether he was imagining it or whether there really had been a note of surprise in Professor Xavier's voice. His test was a lot better than most of the homework he had turned in. He knew that. And his chest tightened a little at the thought of being asked to explain. But tests were easy. You took them in class time, and everyone had to be quiet and work by themselves, with the teacher watching. He put his test score out of his mind, deciding there was no point worrying unless someone brought it up, and tried to pay attention to class.

His mouth dropped open as Professor Xavier explained two plants which honestly sounded straight up like something from a video game. Oz liked video games (he had spectated a lot of them at the arcade) but he had never exactly dreamed of meeting things from them in real life. There was a reason you took a shutgun or a karate to kick to most things you encountered in those worlds. They were bad. 'This thing shoots spikes at you' was however quickly followed up with 'you shoot fire in return' which had him firmly back on board - a fact underlined by the fact he had whooped at the mention of fire.

He scrambled forward eagerly when Professor Xavier asked for volunteers, though funnily enough he wasn’t the only one who was keen to get going, and Billy got there before him. He let out a ‘whoa!’ when the plant totally did the thing that Professor Xavier had said it would do. He was already jumping forward with a ‘my turn, my turn!’ when Billy handed over.

“Incendio!” he cast. The swing lost a little precision in his excitement, but one thing Oz was good at was simultaneously feeling a rush of adrenaline and co-ordinating his movements. It was like when it was your turn to bat in baseball - you were stoked, and hyped, but your body still focussed because it knew this was your shot. He was not quite as well practised with his wand as he was with his baseball bat, but some of the skill in aiming was transferable, and one of the areas he’d found he excelled at was getting his spells to go where he wanted, even if he didn’t always get them to do what he wanted. This time he got both, because after all, who wouldn’t study the heck out of fire spells? It was a little weak as a jet, he could produce more fire power when he concentrated, and it wasn’t right on the heart of the bush, but it touched it! There was a distinct smell of singed plant, and another shower of spikes.

“YEAH!” he grinned, “Ten points to me!” Ten was a nice round number. Probably in a game you’d only get five for hitting the edge or something but five sounded cruddy. Ten was awesome. Whoever hit it in the centre could get twenty.
13 Oz Spellman WOO! 1514 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

January 03, 2021 10:46 AM
Okay so real talk, Professor Xavier was a chill guy and all, but Stanley wasn’t especially impressed by Herbology as a subject. At first, he had been excited because he was expecting a lot of just playing in the dirt, slapping seeds in the holes you dug up, and then seeing what grew. However, he had quickly realized that Herbology was actually just a lot of work, and for a class about playing in the dirt, it had a ton of rules and safety precautions, and those things just weren’t Stanley’s style. He didn’t know why Professor Xavier had to make gardening so complicated, but hey, the man was the one with the degree, and Stanley had a healthy respect for teachers drilled into him by his former teacher mom, so he didn’t outwardly question it. He wasn’t mad, he was just disappointed. How’s it feel in reverse, ADULTS? he thought to himself, amused even though no one else could hear how funny he was.

Today’s lesson was about a Spiky Bush and a Spiky Prickly Plant, two separate designations that to him sounded completely arbitrary, as they both were gonna stab you, but one would apparently just stab you slightly less. The coolest factor about them was something they shared, which was that sometimes, if you got too close, they just shot their spikes right at your face, which was easily the most badass thing Stanley had ever heard a plant do.

The next greatest disappointment in Stanley’s young life, however, came in the announcement that the second years were going to be cutting their plant while the first years got to light theirs on fire. Arguably, this was the most exciting thing to ever happen to anybody, and not getting to partake was the most tragic slight in history. Not cool, Professor Xavier, not cool.

In his mourning, Stanley didn’t hear the part about first years lining up on one side and second years on the other, and so he ended up on the wrong side of the classroom. When he was about halfway down the line, he noticed the head in front of him was lower than he expected of his yearmates. Was this person tiny, or…? He glanced across at the other line and made brief eye contact with Wally, who looked confused but not surprised by Stanley’s antics, as often Wally did. Stanley gave a shushing gesture and a wink, and Wally rolled his eyes before returning to face forward.

Stanley bent his knees a little to blend in better. He wasn’t especially tall, but he definitely fit in better among twelve year olds than eleven year olds, especially with his thirteenth birthday just a few months away. (Okay, it was like six months away yet, but whatever, get off his back.) realizing he might look silly to the person directly behind him, he turned his head awkwardly over his shoulder and smiled a sheepish, “Your lesson is cooler than mine. Don’t tell, mkay?”
12 Stanley O'Malley Blending in 1491 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 03, 2021 11:16 AM
Valentine greeted Professor Xavier warmly as she arrived, and accepted her exam from him. She looked over it as she found her way over to the tables and sat down next to her boyfriend. Because that was the sort of thing that girlfriends should do, unless they got to class first in which case the boyfriend was supposed to sit next to her. At least on occasion. She still needed to sit with Bonabelle and Lavender and Philippe and everyone else on occasion as well. This time though, she'd sit next to her boyfriend.

Her exam had gone okay, not perfect, but mostly right. It was a normal grade for her, she sighed and wished she could do better. Why did some of these things have to have names that were so similar? Oh well. She flashed Stan.... oops, she'd missed. She was sitting next to Wally. Well, she flashed Wally a friendly smile as Professor Xavier began the lesson and then turned back to her notes. As the lesson progressed she momentarily gave Professor Xavier a disapproving look at the plant names. Talk about similar names. However, she caught a similar look of his own and realized that he hadn't named the plants, it wasn't his fault, and it didn't look like he liked those names either. So she quickly changed her expression into one of sympathy for him.

She, as well as the other second years, would be trying to cut down the Spiky Prickly Plant. Yes, that was the one, the one that was fire resistant. Val remembered learning about the severing charm last year, she had taken notes on it last year. She didn't have last year's notebook with her at the moment, she hadn't realized she was going to need it. A mild case of panic set in as everyone was getting up to get into lines. Bonabelle would know, but she could spot her friend in the chaos of lining up. She turned to Wally instead, "Do you remember the severing charm? I don't have last year's notes with me. What..." her voice stopped abruptly as her frantic searching eyes landed on someone. Her boyfriend was crouching down in the line of first years. "..in the world is your brother doing?" she finished with mystified confusion.
2 Valentine Duell What is he doing? [Wally] 1490 0 5

Billy Cobb

January 04, 2021 6:42 PM
Billy stuck around to see how Oz's attempt at burning the bush went. He wound up cheering right along with his roommate as the flames singed the plant's leaves. He may also have taken an unnecessary, involuntary step back as the plant exploded once more with thorns. Then he gave Oz a most likely, all to familiar inquiring look. "We're allowed to give ourselves points?" Well, shucks, if he'd known that Pecari would probably be doing a whole heck of a lot better. It must of been in one of them books he hadn't gotten around to reading yet. "Now I really gotta try better when I get another turn."

He cast his eyes about the green house for other possible targets he could practice on until he got back to the front of the line again. "How do the points work out? You get ten for hittin' the thing? Do you see anything we could practice on while we wait fer our turns again?" There were plenty of plants around, but he was pretty sure Professor Xavier wouldn't take to kindly to them burning down all his greenery. If only.... Then his face lit up and he snapped his fingers, "I got it!" Billy turned to Oz with a grin, "The professor said that other plant the second years is working with is fireproof, right? So, if'n we can find another one of them settin' about here, we could practice on that without worryin' about burning anything down!" It was a fantastic idea, "Do ya see any more of them?"
2 Billy Cobb Nice! 1519 0 5

Wally O'Malley

January 09, 2021 1:26 PM
While maybe not his favorite class, Wally actually really liked Herbology. He wasn’t much one for getting his hands dirty - not that he had any trouble about doing so, but it wasn’t an activity he particularly felt inclined to seek out - but there was something relaxing in what was, in essence, gardening. He had tried to keep a vegetable garden at home one spring when he was seven or eight, but he hadn’t had much knack for it. He had picked the wrong veggies for their climate, and Stanley kept stepping on it accidentally. Wally was pretty sure the only reason they had any harvest at all was because Mom had run some magical interference and did something to keep the plants alive.

But doing something relatively independent and quiet was something the Crotalus found quite peaceful, especially compared to the magnitude 7 earthquake that was Stanley. Wally loved his brother, of course, but it was nice to branch away for a little peace here and there.

Trimming a spiky prickly plant with a severing charm wasn’t exactly the low-energy solo move Wally tended to like best about this class, but even he couldn’t really object to it. He had to admit, it sounded pretty cool. So he got in the correct line and patiently stood, awaiting his turn, when someone spoke to him. And yes, of course it was Valentine. She was specifically asking a class-related question, though, so that made it a bit easier to swallow the lump in his throat. He was about to answer and offer a quick demonstration of the wand motion, but Valentine seemed to have noticed something across the way.

“What… in the world is your brother doing?”

It was a question that was never good, but one that Wally had often heard in his nearly thirteen years of life. He followed Valentine’s gaze over to the line that was supposed to be composed exclusively of first years, and there was Stanley, hunkered down between them. The twins’ eyes met briefly, and Stanley gave a wink and a shushing motion. Wally couldn’t help but roll his eyes before he turned away. “I have no idea, but he’s apparently set on doing it,” Wally sighed. “He clearly doesn’t want us to say anything.”
12 Wally O'Malley Who ever knows? 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 09, 2021 5:28 PM
Valentine watched the exchange between the boys with mild confusion, and wasn't sure what to do. Was Stanley doing something he should be? Well, he was because he was in the wrong line. Should she do something about it? Wally said he didn't think Stanley wanted them to say anything, and since Wally has undoubtedly had the most experience interacting with Stanley, he was the expert. So, if he thought Stanley didn't want them to say anything to anyone about him being in the wrong line, he was probably right. However... just because that was what Stanley wanted, was that what they should do? She still wasn't entirely sure where she fit into all of these dynamics.

Once more, Val fretted a moment that she hadn't had any sibling or even other kids her own age to interact with while she was growing up. It seemed like one should tell the person in charge if there was something going on out of the ordinary at least that was the idea she'd always gotten from Mama and Papa. However, if one of your friends was having fun and not hurting anyone, what was the harm? If Stanley didn't want them to tell anyone, he'd be mad if they did. On top of that, she was now his girlfriend. Did that change things? Should she be rooting for his antics? They seemed a bit strange to her, should she be finding this charming? It was a bit funny to see him over there. What would the Professor's reaction be when he got to the front of the line? She stifled a bit of a giggle at the thought.

What if he got into trouble though? Does a good girlfriend look out for her boyfriend's best interests? Should she be trying to convince him to come over to the right line? Should she be distracting Professor Xavier so he doesn't notice? This was hard... she was going to have to find someone else that had a boyfriend to talk to later. Who did she know? Evelyn had Heinrich, maybe she would have to find Evelyn the next chance she got. But... that didn't solve the immediate situation.

She turned back to Wally. He was still the expert in this situation and by his demeanor had dealt with this sort of thing on occasion. "What should we do? Do you think he will get into trouble?"
2 Valentine Duell I thought you may have a clue 1490 0 5

Ian Malone

January 10, 2021 4:55 AM
Ian was not all that excited about coming back to school. He was doing well with his studies but he really had been happy seeing his family over midterm and was not all that happy to be away from them again. He'd been homesick all last term and now he felt that dull empty ache he'd felt all last term coming back. A dull empty ache he'd been so far unable to manage to fill with making friends. Ian liked his roommate well enough and there were others he knew a little bit the same way he'd briefly met Tommy prior to Sonora but...pretty much everyone else intimidated him.

In some cases, he didn't know why. For example, the Aladren girls seemed pretty nice and Isla Brockert was even somehow related to him, though unlike Wally and Stanley and that whole group, he didn't recall ever meeting her. Or Jasper, a second year in his house either. It was just...that Ian was rather shy. Other than those times when Stanley and Wally had birthday parties and he got included, he hadn't socialized much with other children growing up. Both his sister and his first cousin Nadia were so much younger than him. They were so lucky that they would be growing up together along with Aunt Melanie's new baby.

It wasn't as if he was actively kept away from other kids, it just hadn't been a priority and mostly, Ian was all right with that. It wasn't as if he always had to play by himself, because his mom would play with him and anyway, he really didn't mind playing alone sometimes. Also, the Teppenpaw very much enjoyed playing with his little sister too.

That was another thing about Sonora, there were so many more people than he was used to and it scared him. Some of them scared him as individuals. Not like he'd be scared of say, some dangerous creature who wanted to eat him, but more that they wouldn't like him or would be actually nasty to him. That they would eat him alive metaphorically rather than literally like a bear would or something, because he was quiet and shy and bookish rather than a rough and tumble jock like some seemed to be.Actually, had Ian not sort of known Stanley at all, the second year's loud and brash ways probably would have probably intimidated him too.

Of course, the Teppenpaw was intimidated by most of the second years anyway-other than Wally, Stanley, Lavender and Val- just because they were older than him. Not to mention even older students. If he had a problem, he wouldn't go to the prefects as from his perspective even the ones from his own house were big scary people,he'd go to the few older students he vaguely knew.

It was nothing personal, Ian was just easily intimidated and not used to socializing. That was all.

Now he was in Herbology which was taught by his HoH, whom he found more approachable than most of the other staff members. Although, the first year did overall find adults less scary than other kids. He trusted them to be wise and mature and Professor Xavier was warm and friendly. Plus, Herbology was an incredibly useful subject when one wanted to be a Healer. Actually, Healers generally needed most subjects taught at Sonora besides COMC-animal Healers might need that but Ian wanted to heal people , specifically specializing in immune deficiencies like his mom had-and Divinations. Which was unfortunate as he wasn't a huge fan of DADA.

He wasn't too fond of this lesson either. Ian figured the way to deal with a dangerous plant, particularly one that had no use for potions ingredients was to avoid it. And how on Earth was fire ever a safe way to deal with anything? Especially with eleven and twelve year olds, some of whom probably weren't the most safety conscious.

Naturally, the person who volunteered to demonstrate was Billy, one of the Pecaris. Ian never volunteered to do anything in class, even when he knew the answer to something as he generally wanted to avoid drawing attention to himself, even when the thing in question wasn't something dangerous and involving fire.

And of course, Oz enthusiastically followed his roommate.

Ian sighed with resignation as he got in line with the rest of the first years. He didn't really want to do this. What if he screwed up and hurt himself or others? Or someone else hurt him by mistake?

Then, he blinked as he realized that he was standing directly behind Stanley. Wasn't the Pecari supposed to be in line with the rest of the second years? Had the older boy made a mistake and misunderstood the directions? He was debating with himself whether or not to point this out to his cousin when Stanley turned to him and said,

“Your lesson is cooler than mine. Don’t tell, mkay?”

Ian nodded. He might not have been the most socially skilled but he knew tattling was wrong and the older boy was someone he wanted to like him."All right." Cooler? Was Stanley making a joke? Like, because fire was involved and fire was hot and not cool in multiple senses of the word. It didn't seem so but the Teppenpaw was enough of a nerd to find that choice of words mildly amusing and maybe if he wasn't so overall anxious about fire and his classmates using it-and he hated to admit because he so wanted to be part of Stanley's group-the second year using it, he would have cracked a smile at the probably unintentional irony of Stanley's remark.


11 Ian Malone I usually am doing just that. Probably with success. 1522 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

January 10, 2021 10:02 AM
Oh, hey. Stanley knew this kid. That was convenient. A random first year might be less likely to aid and abed him compared to an x times removed cousin of some sort. Stanley did a pretty bad job keeping track of who he was related to and how, but Ian was, one way or another, related to him. Ian’s mom, Aunt Valerie, was maybe Dad’s cousin? They had too many god dang cousins. At least Mom’s family was a bit smaller. It sounded silly out of context to say that the side of the family where there were two god-grandfathers(?) made more sense, because wow was Dad’s family massive.

“Thanks,” he grinned, grateful that Ian had agreed not to out him. “I mean, I dunno how Professor Xavier can let you guys play with fire and expect us to be okay with just cutting. So lame.”

Stanley glanced again at the other line, and this time, he noticed that Wally was right by Valentine. That was good. It was important that his brother and his girlfriend get along, so Stanley patted himself on the back for orchestrating this opportunity for them to chat thanks to his absence. He couldn’t believe how well this whole thing was working out.
12 Stanley O'Malley Got any tips? 1491 0 5

Wally O'Malley

January 10, 2021 10:10 AM
Oh. Valentine seemed a little distressed, definitely more worried than Wally expected her to be. But then again, he supposed that she was still getting used to Stanley’s antics. The Pecari wasn’t exactly a troublemaker, but Stanley could be a bit silly, and he didn’t always think his actions through before executing them. Sometimes that did get him in trouble, but he was never, like, in trouble in trouble. Just a gentle scolding here and there.

So when Valentine asked what they should do, Wally sort of just shrugged. “He might,” he answered truthfully. “But I don’t think being in the wrong line is a big enough thing that Professor Xavier will really be mad. He’ll probably just assume Stanley got in the wrong line by accident.” Professor Xavier wasn’t Wally’s Head of House, but he seemed really nice. He was in charge of Teppenpaw, after all, which was where all the nicest people went. Nice people like Valentine, with her beautiful hair and bright eyes…

None of that,, he mentally accosted himself, forcing back on topic. “It’s probably best not to do anything. Stanley is very…. Stanley.” There was simply no better adjective. “It’s usually best to just kinda let him do his thing.”
12 Wally O'Malley He's impossible to predict 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 11, 2021 6:10 PM
Valentine's gaze flitted between Stanley and Professor Xavier as Wally talked. He had a point, Professor Xavier was nice and wouldn't do anything terrible to Stanley. She was probably just worrying about nothing. Still... she felt like she should be doing something, she just wasn't sure what. She nodded slowly at Wally's point of Stanley being Stanley, and just letting him do 'his thing'. Then she turned back to look at Wally.

She looked him over a bit with a bit of a nervous smile. "You've had a lot of experience with this sort of thing, haven't you? Has he always been so..." she searched for the right word for a moment, "Pecari-ish?" It was the best word she could come up with, and it fit, and it sounded so silly at the same time. Of course he was Pecari-ish, he was in Pecari, that was where the Pecari-ish people went. "Sorry," She apologized, "That didn't..." she wasn't quite sure how to end that sentence either, so it trailed off with a weak apologetic smile and a sigh.

Valentine notice their line was moving a bit which brought her back to her original problem. "Oh!" she exclaimed, her expression brightening again. "You were going to help me with the cutting charm we need to do! How does that work again?" She had the distinct feeling that at the moment she was a bit glad she was standing next to Wally instead of Stanley. Her boyfriend might have remembered the charm, but his brother certainly did.
2 Valentine Duell That has to make for an interesting life 1490 0 5

Wally O'Malley

January 16, 2021 5:22 PM
Wally couldn’t help but chuckle at her description of Stanley as “Pecari-ish,” but then he felt bad because she seemed embarrassed by it. “No, no, it’s a great description,” he reassured her quickly. “Stanley has always been exactly who he is.” In some ways, he envied that about his brother. Always so confident and so bold. Stanley was so full: of life, joy, energy, and maybe sometimes bullcrap. But he bursted with a spark that Wally didn’t seem to have. They had been that way literally since birth. Mom always joked that Stanley had practically run out, whereas Wally took a bit more coaxing and was the more arduous labor. It was no wonder Stanley was the older one: he had probably shouted, “race you!” in the womb, whereas Wally wanted no part of that horrible and bright outside world.

“The cutting charm! Right!” Wally exclaimed, snapped back to reality by Valentine’s memory of the task at hand. “It’s Diffindo. And the wand motion is kinda like this,” he added. The Crotalus gesticulated the motion with his index finger, not wanting to pull out and wave around his wand in the close proximity of the line. He was definitely closer than a foot away from both Valentine and the second year on his other side, and his wand exceeded that measurement.
12 Wally O'Malley It's yours now too. 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 18, 2021 5:34 PM
Valentine flushed a bit red when Wally laughed quietly at her comment about his brother. She felt a bit better when he agreed, but it did make her think of a question. "Stanley has always been who he is?" She repeated, "Are you who you are?" That sounded like some sort of super-deep philosophical type question. Was she who she was? How did you know? Maybe she was thinking about this to hard. "Or do you mean he hasn't changed much?" Her eyes twinkled with a hint of mischievousness, they way they did sometimes when the players at her table said something 'interesting'. "Would he say the same thing about you?" Wally seemed like a really nice boy, and slightly less... Pecari-ish than his brother. Which was fine. Everyone was different, and that was good.

She looked back over at her boyfriend. He seemed to be convincing Ian to go along with things as well. Still not quite sure what to do about the whole situation, she gave Stanley a smile and a thumbs-up when he looked over their direction again. Girlfriends and boyfriends should be supportive of each other, right?

"Diffindo! Right!" Valentine exclaimed as Wally. He had a good memory, that was good. She mimicked his finger motion with her own finger. That did seem familiar now. "Now I think I remember that one." She smiled brightly at Wally, "Thanks! It's a good thing you're here, I may be in trouble otherwise."
2 Valentine Duell Yeah.... 1490 0 5

Ian Malone

January 29, 2021 2:47 PM
"You're welcome" Ian replied, smiling politely at Stanley. He didn't really think agree that this lesson was better, fire was a dangerous thing that could easily get out of hand and cause massive painful injury....and he didn't especially trust some of his classmates around it. And, to be completely honest, the Teppenpaw was not entirely sure he trusted Stanley around it. He was pretty sure the older boy wouldn't want anyone to get hurt but careful wasn't really an adjective that Ian associated with the Pecari. Or Pecaris in general, really.

That said, they were not necessarily bad people and he was sure that none of them really wanted to hurt people either. Why would anyone want to harm someone else on purpose? It was just that people-and Ian was sure this applied to some people outside Pecari too-didn't always think of the consequences of their actions, especially at their age. He just happened to personally be more cautious, even though he wasn't a Crotalus. Ian didn't know exactly why he was like that. Maybe it was because he wanted to be a Healer so he thought about all the myriad of ways people could get sick or injured, or perhaps it was just how he was wired.

And obviously, not how Stanley was. That was why the first year was not about to mention that he would have happily traded places with his cousin. Which wouldn't even make sense anyway, because cutting was a spell that first years hadn't had yet and therefore, Ian wasn't about to attempt, and even though Stanley had had it, he'd obviously decided he wanted to do the first year lesson instead. Ian personally would never go against what he'd been instructed to do anyway, even if it didn't mean the possibility of humiliating himself in front of everyone by trying a spell he was not perfectly prepared for. After all, the Teppenpaw really wouldn't want to get in trouble either. That would be even more embarrassing than failure to do a spell correctly. No punishment the staff could think up was worse than looking foolish in front of his peers-and this was taking into account the rumors that Ian had heard about the Headmaster having a collection of medieval torture implements in his office.

Basically, the Teppenpaw just didn't want to stick out in any way. Well, maybe academically, but that would be between him and his professors. After all, if he stood out that way, it wouldn't necessarily impress his classmates. It might make people feel bad if they were doing poorly and they might even resent him for doing better than them. At the same time...he wanted to impress his professors. Basically, Ian just wanted approval, and failing that, not any disapproval.

Which was the main reason, of course, that he was not going to tell Stanley that he was less than enthusiastic about the possibility of playing with fire. Although, the Pecari might already know that Ian was of much more cautious temperament than he was. Which was likely, from what the Teppenpaw remembered of the older boy, not saying much but then, Ian thought he might be more cautious than most people. Then again, he remembered Wally being so too.

The point was that the first year wanted Stanley to like him and he worried that if he openly disagreed with the older boy, the older boy wouldn't like him. And while Ian generally didn't think he'd find much common ground with someone like Stanley and assumed that that kind of person wouldn't like him, the second year was his cousin, was someone he sort of knew, and was someone connected to his roommate so while Ian was unlikely to expect and/or try for the approval or friendship of people like Oz or Gus or Billy-which, indeed,would make him avoid them- Stanley was different.

And right now, Ian didn't know what to say-and the other boy seemed a little distracted. "Is something wrong?" He asked, worried. What if the Teppenpaw was being too boring for Stanley to pay attention to?
11 Ian Malone Well, first you have to be quiet... 1522 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 01, 2021 5:40 PM
Ian was a sweet kid, as evidenced by the shiny, yellow Teppenpaw badge on his chest, so it wasn’t really surprising that he was making sure everything was okay. Stanley wasn’t, like, super close to Ian, but they were cousins, and they had been around each other for a long time, so the boys knew each other pretty decently. And he liked Ian’s mom. Aunt Valerie was sweet and gentle. Something about her made Stanley want to protect her. He told Mom that once, and she told him that he was a good boy, and that she was proud. Stanley had puffed up his chest so big, even though he didn’t really understand why. But he liked that feeling. Stanley liked to look out for the underdog. He was a protector. Just like he was always gonna protect Wally. Stanley would definitely punch a kid in the mouth for Wally.

And speaking of: “All good, just making faces at Wally,” he informed Ian, grinning. “He’s over there talking to my girlfriend. Hope there’s not any funny business over there.” He stuck out an accusatory finger in his brother’s direction, but then he laughed. “Just kidding. It’s cool they’re getting along.” Not that it seemed likely that Wally or Valentine would ever not get along with someone. But still. It was important that they liked each other. Gosh, he sure hoped the rest of the family did! He really hoped she won his parents’ approval, but at the end of the day, there was only one person whose opinion on girls was ever really going to matter: Charlotte. That was his number one girl.
12 Stanley O'Malley Error: Does Not Compute. 1491 0 5

Ian Malone

February 03, 2021 5:57 PM
"Oh." Ian replied, once again not knowing what to say. It seemed like he never really did. Aside from Stanley, Wally, Gabriel and Lavender somewhat, he did not have lots of experience socializing with other kids his age. Nor did the Teppenpaw have a natural gift for conversation. What if he had trouble being a Healer because his bedside manner wasn't any good and nobody wanted to him to treat them? Ian had always thought that the best traits for a Healer to have were to know what they were doing and to be kind and caring towards their patients. He'd never really thought that meant having to be super outgoing. Outgoing and nice were not synonyms but some people thought they were.

More importantly, or least, more pressingly, how was he going to survive seven year at Sonora? Most of his classmates intimidated him and right now Ian was having difficulty even thinking of things to say to someone that he actually knew. How was he ever going to make friends? Everyone was going to forget he existed....or worse, pick on him for being quiet.

It's not like Ian could change. It would be worse, for example, to make himself talk and say something dumb and come across totally awkward. That might open him up to ridicule too. Or he might accidentally offend someone. The first year would never do that on purpose but one never knew what could hurt someone's feelings or insult them or make them angry. He would generally prefer to avoid conflict and he definitely would never, ever, ever want to make someone feel bad. However, while it was a behavior that didn't make sense to him, he knew that sometimes, other people-though nobody Ian knew-didn't hold that same value.

He nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I would definitely want my sister to like my girlfriend, if I had one. I mean, hopefully some day, when I do, they'll get along." Olivia wasn't even two years old yet, so it wasn't as if she had a lot of opinions regarding people. Of course, she also didn't really know very many.

It didn't matter right now anyway, because Ian didn't think he was ready for a girlfriend. Or that he would have an easy time finding one since he didn't even have a very easy time talking to people.

"And I definitely hope I get along with her boyfriend." He added, frowning. The Teppenpaw really did not like the idea of his little sister having a boyfriend that he didn't like. In fact, at the moment, he didn't like the idea of her having a boyfriend period. Of course, that was a long way off. Like twenty years from now or something. Or more. Preferably more.

That was something Stanley had to understand right? He had a little sister of his own and Ian got the impression that the Pecari cared as much about Charlotte as he did about Olivia.
11 Ian Malone That does not surprise me 1522 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 07, 2021 1:35 PM
Ian brought a thought to Stanley’s mind that he had not encountered thus far: his siblings dating. Wally getting a girlfriend eventually was whatever. He was only a few minutes younger than Stanley, so if one of them was old enough to date, the other probably could too without it seeming weird. But Ian mentioned the possibility of his sister dating someday, and that made Stanley have a minor crisis. Sisters dating. Stanley had one of those.

Oh, god! “I hope Charlotte never dates,” he said as the thought dawned on him. Boys were terrible! Well, not him and Wally, obviously, but no way in hell did he trust some snot-nosed punk to be good to his baby sister. Not unless maybe he got to pick the guy out. Yeah, that was it. Time to start scouting out potential husbands for his little sister. But what boys did he know that were Charlotte’s age and not related to him? Hmm, a backburner project, for sure.

“I mean, I guess she probably has to someday,” he added a moment later, more in control of himself. “But that just sounds terrible. I mean, can you even imagine?” Stanley couldn’t. He wouldn't. He didn’t want to. He refused.
12 Stanley O'Malley Beep boop, resetting 1491 0 5

Ian Malone

February 07, 2021 7:10 PM
"I know exactly what you mean." Ian replied, which was something that he had never thought the he would say to Stanley and was probably unlikely to ever say to him again. While he liked the older boy fine, they were incredibly different from each other in most ways. Stanley was gregarious and loud and adventurous and confident. Ian was...none of those things. The Teppenpaw was quiet and shy and cautious and constantly nervous around pretty much anyone he didn't already know. He had a hard time approaching his classmates which he doubted was ever an issue for Stanley.

However, in this one way, they were alike. They were both big brothers and they agreed completely on this subject. "It truly does sound horrifying, I don't want Olivia to date either. Ever. " He knew it was a long way off, for both girls, but right now nothing sounded better to Ian than locking his sister up like Rapunzel and throwing away the key. And making sure her hair didn't grow long enough for some guy to climb up it. Not that hair could do that, it wasn't strong enough, which was a very good thing in his opinion.

Stanley was right though. Olivia and Charlotte would both some day meet guys that they liked and want to date them. And when that day came Ian would have to make it very clear to this guy that he was supposed to treat his little sister like the princess she was. That she was going to have to be the most important person in the entire world to him. That she was very special and he had better understand that.

The problem was that for this to work Ian would have to come off threatening. Menacing. And he was not sure he was going to be capable of that. He didn't think he had a scary bone in his body. "When and if" He refused to accept that it was inevitable that Olivia would have a boyfriend someday. "it happens, can you give me advice on appearing threatening? Not that you are in general." He assured the Pecari because he certainly didn't want to offend him. "But you're sure to be better at it than I am."Ian was more the type of person who was terrified than the one that was terrifying to other people.

Which brought another scary thought to mind. What if he some day fell for a girl who had a really scary older brother? Or father? Or mother ?
11 Ian Malone Does that mean you're now capable of being quiet? 1522 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 12, 2021 5:33 PM
It was good and helpful to be understood, and Stanley appreciated being understood so emphatically. He wasn’t always the best at explaining himself, so Ian’s strong agreement was a useful tool for him to know he made sense. Stanley had a tendency not to explain things the best. Either he got distracted and changed subjects abruptly, or he forgot to include the segueways that led him to another train of thought. Or sometimes he was just plain old not listening and started talking about something completely different. He wasn’t quite as far out there conversationally as Theo could be sometimes, but there were still decidedly some “Stanley”-isms that most people in his life had to get used to if they planned on sticking around for long.

He couldn’t help the instinctive puffing up of his chest at Ian’s comment. The younger boy was quick to clarify that he hadn’t meant anything bad, but Stanley took it as a compliment, anyway. And he was definitely more intimidating than Ian. Ian was a Teppenpaw for Merlin’s sake. They were notoriously gentle and not especially scary. Stanley had some beef behind him, at the very least. He had firepower and energy, and the spunk to utilize them. Intimidating seemed a natural progression.

“We can definitely work on it,” he agreed, chuckling lightly. “Good thing it’s a ways off yet.” He couldn’t remember offhand how old Olivia was - heck, he’d forget his own birthday if he didn’t have Wally there to remind him - but he knew that she was pretty young still. “Lesson number one is weaponry. I am so excited about this fire spell.”
12 Stanley O'Malley It's mostly a lot of screeching and humming. 1491 0 5

Ian Malone

February 12, 2021 9:43 PM
Ian nodded. "Thank Merlin." Making him seem scary was going to take an impossible amount of work, and probably several years. So by the time Olivia was thirty or so and a point where she might start dating, maybe he would be prepared. Well, maybe, he'd be prepared to be scary and intimidating, he would never be prepared for her to have a boyfriend.

"Weapons?"Ian managed to choke out, hating how his voice squeaked. He did not like the sound of that . Being scary was going to be even more difficult than he thought initially. After all, he was a Teppenpaw . It wasn't a thing they were and his goal in life had always been to help people. To heal them, not harm them. "You think I should threaten them with being burned ?" The thought was horrifying. Burns were painful and disfiguring.

Plus, wouldn't he be breaking some Healer code if he injured guys who went after his precious baby sister? And was being intimidating something that Ian would even be able to learn successfully? Wouldn't that be too much like the very nature of who he was as a person? Not only that, but considering how long it would take, Stanley would probably lose patience or interest in teaching the first year how to intimidate people. The Pecari did not seem to have a very long attention span and Ian was not going to make it easy for him. Not because the younger boy wanted to make it be that way-he liked making things easier on others-but because being scary just was not who he was.
11 Ian Malone That is not quiet 1522 0 5

Jasper Brockert

February 22, 2021 5:34 PM
As far as classes went, Herbology was....okay. Jasper didn't love it or hate it. He liked Professor Xavier a lot, because he was really nice but the subject itself was just so-so. He'd never been all that interested in plants. He still tried to do his best in it though and seemed to do all right. In all honesty, there had only been one class that Jasper had not tried his very hardest in and that was Flying Lessons.

Although, he supposed, to be more accurate, he actually had tried his hardest in Flying Lessons too, it was just that his hardest didn't yield the same results there. After all, the second year had a lot of hang-ups around flying so he'd only ended up doing enough to pass it-and yet, it felt like so much more effort than he spent to get good grades, Es and Os, in his other classes, possibly, in part, because Flying involved physical skills rather than academic or magical ones. Jasper was just glad that Uncle Eustace had no access to his grades at all. There would be no end to the belittling he'd have experienced then.

Professor Xavier began the lesson and Jasper frowned. This sounded like sort of a Defense type lesson, which was another class he didn't really always care for that much. Of course, unlike with Flying Lessons, he could see a purpose for Defense. Unfortunately, he needed to know how use some of the spells from that class because of having Topaz for a sister. Not that it usually did him any good since Jasper wasn't able to use magic outside of school and his sister could now.

Honestly, he wished there wasn't a need to be taught Defense. He wished there were no such thing as Dark Arts to need to defend against. That there weren't dark creatures and bad people in the world. It wasn't as if someone had created a whole magical discipline only for the purpose of protecting people from Topaz and Uncle Eustace which meant that the problem of evil was far more widespread. Which he hated to think about.

However, what Jasper was more worried about regarding today's Herbology lesson was the idea of eleven and twelve year olds getting to play with fire. He had every confidence that Professor Xavier could prevent things from getting too far out of hand, but the thought still made him nervous. Not everyone was all that cautious. Fortunately, he could stay away from the first years wielding fire. He joined the rest of his yearmates in the second year line and waited for it to be his turn.






11 Jasper Brockert I don't like the sound of this 1496 0 5