Nathan Xavier
January 01, 2021 7:45 PM
Beginners: Defensive Plants and Projectile Weapons by Nathan Xavier
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: Fire? by Billy Cobb with Oz Spellman
Blending in by Stanley O'Malley with Ian Malone
What is he doing? [Wally] by Valentine Duell with Wally O'Malley
I don't like the sound of this by Jasper Brockert
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Nathan Xavier
Beginners: Defensive Plants and Projectile Weapons
28
1
5
Valentine Duell
January 03, 2021 11:16 AM
What is he doing? [Wally] by Valentine Duell
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
Wally O'Malley
January 09, 2021 1:26 PM
Who ever knows? by Wally O'Malley
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.”
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Wally O'Malley
Who ever knows?
1492
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Valentine Duell
January 09, 2021 5:28 PM
I thought you may have a clue by Valentine Duell
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
Wally O'Malley
January 10, 2021 10:10 AM
He's impossible to predict by Wally O'Malley
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
That has to make for an interesting life by Valentine Duell
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
It's yours now too. by Wally O'Malley
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
Yeah.... by Valentine Duell
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
