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
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Stanley O'Malley
January 03, 2021 10:46 AM
Blending in by Stanley O'Malley
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?”
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Stanley O'Malley
Blending in
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Ian Malone
January 10, 2021 4:55 AM
I usually am doing just that. Probably with success. by Ian Malone
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.
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Ian Malone
I usually am doing just that. Probably with success.
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Stanley O'Malley
January 10, 2021 10:02 AM
Got any tips? by Stanley O'Malley
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.
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Stanley O'Malley
Got any tips?
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Ian Malone
January 29, 2021 2:47 PM
Well, first you have to be quiet... by Ian Malone
"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?
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Ian Malone
Well, first you have to be quiet...
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Stanley O'Malley
February 01, 2021 5:40 PM
Error: Does Not Compute. by Stanley O'Malley
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.
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Stanley O'Malley
Error: Does Not Compute.
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Ian Malone
February 03, 2021 5:57 PM
That does not surprise me by Ian Malone
"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.
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Ian Malone
That does not surprise me
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Stanley O'Malley
February 07, 2021 1:35 PM
Beep boop, resetting by Stanley O'Malley
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.
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Stanley O'Malley
Beep boop, resetting
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Ian Malone
February 07, 2021 7:10 PM
Does that mean you're now capable of being quiet? by Ian Malone
"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 ?
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Ian Malone
Does that mean you're now capable of being quiet?
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Stanley O'Malley
February 12, 2021 5:33 PM
It's mostly a lot of screeching and humming. by Stanley O'Malley
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.”
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Stanley O'Malley
It's mostly a lot of screeching and humming.
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Ian Malone
February 12, 2021 9:43 PM
That is not quiet by Ian Malone
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.
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Ian Malone
That is not quiet
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