Intermediates: The Thorny Krakenbush on Herbology

Nathan Xavier

September 15, 2023 10:27 PM

Intermediates: The Thorny Krakenbush by Nathan Xavier

OOC: This is a made-up plant and there are no references for it. Feel free to embellish as you see fit. BIC:

"Hello, intermediates," Nathan cheerfully greeted the intermediate class on a bright and sunny spring day. He was in a good mood, because the weather was finally getting nice enough that he could actually spend time outside again and not need warming charms after just a few minutes. As cozy as the greenhouse was, even in winter, there was a lot to be said for fresh air and wide open spaces. "You should have gotten your essay back as you came in this afternoon. If you have any questions about your grade or my comments," he was starting to grade a little harder now as the third years were solidly into the Intermediate swing now, and the fifth years would be held to RATS standards next year, "please ask me after class or during my office hours tomorrow."

"In honor of the lovely weather today, we are going to start by taking a little walk in the Gardens to see a small thicket of Thorny Krakenbushes we have here on our property. They are in a slightly more restricted area of the labyrinth, as they are well, thorny, and also they bite, so do try to keep your distance. This is one of the most advanced plants we study in Intermediates, and it will be on the CATS exam," he added with a slight wince of apology for mentioning those again even when it wasn't a CATS review day. "You will hopefully be reassured to know they are relatively harmless to humans, other than the sharp bits, which hurt of course, but aren't inherently dangerous. Soap and a bandaid are generally sufficient medical treatment if you get pricked or bitten."

"You can leave your things here, but do bring a writing implement and something to write on as I'm going to be having you take some field notes. We will return for a more indepth lecture and discussion, but I do want you to all see the plant before we do that. If you will all follow me."

He led the way through the Gardens, following fairly large and well defined paths until they reached a latched gate with a sign 'Restricted Access - Thorny Krakenbush - Enter at Your Own Risk' to advise those passing through to not go this way. "Does anyone have any guesses why we keep a thicket of Thorny Krakenbushes here on the grounds instead of clearing them for public safety and a more cultivated appearance?"

He called on a few students.

"Potion ingredients, yes, good guess, the crushed thorns of the Krakenbush are used in a few potions. Five points."

"Habitat! Yes. Several magical birds like to make nests in the krakenbushes because it provides protection for their eggs and young from predators that might be detered by the thorns and teeth, and we do like to support a healthy ecosystem here in the Gardens. Five points."

"Pest control," he repeated another answer and waggled his hand. "Yes and no. Unfortunately, it doesn't really eliminate any particularly troublesome pests. I said it bites, but it is not a carnivornous plant. It bites to defend itself, not for eating. It will however, keep small burrowing animals out of its immediate area, so if you surround a vegetable garden, for example, with krakenbush, I suppose you would have less wildlife pilfering your produce. It's not why we keep it around, but it could be used that way. I'll give you two points for that."

"Because it's cool," he repeated one of the final guesses. He chuckled, and nodded. "I'll give a point for that. I think Krakenbushes are pretty cool, and it does let us have a little field trip so you can see them in person."

"A deterent," he nodded as he got the final answer he was looking for. "Yes, five points. People do not want to cross a thicket of Thorny Krakenbushes. So when there's an area of the labyrnth we don't want people to go to, these bushes block the way very nicely. On the far side of the Krakenbushes, you will see a Whomping Willow in the distance, which we will study in Advanced, if any of you chose to continue, and that is something we definitely do not want anyone to accidentally stumble upon."

"Alright, let's go in and see them. Remember, do keep your distance and stay near the gate." He opened the gate, and passed through. There was a clear area about a dozen feet wide before the thicket began. At first glance, it just looked like a mess of pricker bushes, and that was all a muggle would see for as long as they looked it, but for wizards, after a few moments, they'd see what looked like viney krakens swimming through the intertwined pricker vines.

"What you see moving around is a part of the plant. Early American explorers who first discovered the bush thought it might be an animal that lived among the prickers, but when one was eventually caught, they found it was almost like a tumbleweed, except it can move of its own volition, and it is very territorial, hence the biting if you venture too close. They cannot leave the thicket, and become entirely inert - effectively dying - if forcibly removed, and that is why several warding potions used for containment do have crushed krakenbush thorns in them."

"Go ahead and get a good look. You can get a little closer if you like, but do not touch. Take some notes and sketches about what you observe and any theories you might have. You have a few minutes to do that and discuss what you see amongst yourselves. Does anybody have any questions about the Thorny Krakenbush or what you should be doing?"

Subthreads:

The thorny sibling tangle by Robyn Lundstrom with Samara Crosby

At least we are not touching dirt this time by Nausicaa Scapetello

Heya, Leviosa! by Xarryn Bavol with Leviosa Scurlock

The Thorny Student by Olaf Brockert with Lyla Holland

1 Nathan Xavier Intermediates: The Thorny Krakenbush 28 1 5

Robyn Lundstrom

September 22, 2023 11:44 PM

The thorny sibling tangle by Robyn Lundstrom

The grade levels at Sonora were weird, but at least the gap between Robyn and Xavier meant that she never had to share classes with her brother. His shadow felt big enough to hang over her without having to be in the same room, and it was even harder not to be reminded of him in herbology, given that his name bounced around the room every time someone called the teacher. Ditto Charms, given that Professor Wright was his mentor. Ditto Transfiguration, given that Professor Skies had been heavily involved in his pastoral care. It felt like almost every teacher was deeply invested in or associated with her brother, given that he was such a time-consuming train wreck of a human (with an annoyingly coincidental name).

She’d been doing well with all her intermediate classes, completing all the third year assignments easily within the class limits. She had checked a few times with teachers that she didn’t need to attend their office hours, more to draw their attention to that fact and make sure they had noticed it than because she thought she might actually need to. Robyn was not her brother. She didn’t share his problems, which had turned out to be a gift, which had turned out to be a curse. She was normal. She showed up, did spells and homework and didn’t need help.

Herbology was one of the classes where it was harder to demonstrate the difference between herself and Xavier, as it didn’t always involve magic. Sometimes it just involved looking or drawing or scooping fertilizer. Xavier’s only exceptions to coping with herbology had been the classes he missed due to migraines. Robyn was pretty sure that Professor Xavier liked her, but only in that default way that he liked everyone, and kept a personal eye on all the Teppenpaws outside of class.

Today sounded interesting in a magic-is-weird, nature-is-weird, magic-and-nature-is-super-weird way, even though what they would be doing wouldn’t challenge Robyn or allow her to set herself apart from her brother. They were both equally okay at drawing and noticing stuff. There were at least a few questions, and Robyn kept her hand raised throughout, disappointed when the pool of answers dried up without her being called on.

She took notes as Professor Xavier spoke, and then settled into watching the Thorny Kraken bush. Her first question was whether the thicket around it was something else that it chose to inhabit (grow?) around but her notes answered that… It was all the same plant, all part of the Thorny Kraken Bush, it just had a moving part. She stood up on tiptoes, craning to see the wiggling tentacles more closely.

“How attached are they, do you suppose?” she asked her neighbour. “It’s all part of the same plant, so they must be connected somehow, but they look pretty free roaming…”

13 Robyn Lundstrom The thorny sibling tangle 1558 0 5

Samara Crosby

September 25, 2023 2:56 AM

Family can be complicated by Samara Crosby

Lately, friends had been on Samara’s mind quite a bit. Or maybe, to be exact, friendship dynamics? However, in her pubescent brain that was hormone-filled and not completely developed and therefore not as capable of being so precise, that translated to having friends on her mind.

There were, however, things that she understood and believed very clearly.Samara knew that Lyla was her best friend. Someone that she genuinely cared about. The fact that she had problems with the idea that wanting to get prefect would mean wanting the other Crotalus to fail was a sign that meant that her friend was more important to her than an achievement.

Even though Samara knew full well that if she didn’t get it, Mother was going to take it personally, have a cow and probably write angry letters to the school administration, not to mention giving Headmaster Brockert a hard time if she ran across him. The Crotalus still remembered when Martin had not been awarded the title-and it was not an especially pleasant memory. Mother had been angry-more so than her usual base level of anger-but not at Martin.

And the fact that Samara felt this way confused her. While she’d never thought achievement was the be all end all, the fact that a person that wasn’t herself, her significant other or her child (or even her parents or brother) mattered enough to her that she was bothered by the idea of wanting her to fail just so Samara could succeed personally, was not…something that the third year thought was natural to human nature. Mother had actually liked her competition for prefect, but the Crotalus knew her mother well enough to know that there was absolutely no way she was okay with losing. Maybe more than she had been about Head Girl, since up until losing that she’d only hated the girl who won the regular amount that she felt for most people.

Also, it wasn’t as if Samara actively didn’t want to be prefect, she just was uncomfortable wishing for Lyla’s failure, which was what would happen if she got prefect. Maybe she’d feel differently if she was the one that Mother would be mad at.

Still that was all a year and a half away. There were more pressing concerns. Like the fact that Lyla was also friends with Robyn, whom Samara sometimes didn’t think liked her. Even though the Crotalus had always believed that disliking people was the norm, she had discovered that not only was that actually not the case, but also, she really didn’t like feeling disliked.

Now, the way Samara was inclined to deal with this situation decidedly made her not her mother’s daughter. Mother would have seen the Teppenpaw as a rival and tried to destroy her. Not even just drive a wedge between her and Lyla, but really make her suffer. Because how dare she not only steal her friend but also not like her! Mother came from a place of hurt, anger, jealousy and revenge. In fact, the Crotalus existed because of those last two motivations.

Anyway, that wasn’t the case with Samara, who was going for the opposite tactic. Which was to try to bond with and befriend Robyn. For many reasons, some of them being practical considerations like that it would make things easier on Lyla, whom Samara obviously cared about and that destroying someone was a lot of work and could backfire, but mostly because well, she just did not really feel comfortable with the idea of hurting someone.

The thing was though, Samara didn’t really know how to go about making someone like her. She knew that common ground was something to bond over, but she was unsure what precisely they had in common besides being friends with Lyla. The only other thing that she could think of was family dysfunction, even though what that looked like in each of their cases was different

And it wasn’t something that Samara felt was going to work. She actually feared that the Teppenpaw might bite her head off if she tried to relate or empathize with her on that, more than telling Robyn how sorry she was about what happened last year. Like, Xavier seemed fine now and the other third year might not want to even talk about it. Of course, if she did, Samara would listen but she didn’t foresee that happening when they didn’t exactly have that kind of relationship.

Still, maybe all the Crotalus could do was try to like, spend time with her, maybe without Lyla there as a buffer. Like pair off with her in class. So that day in Herbology, she had decided to do precisely that.

Unfortunately, today’s lesson wasn’t one of those frequent partner ones. Still, once they were released to observe the Thorny Krakenbush-a plant that sort of reminded her of her mother, come to think of it-she joined Robyn anyway. “I am not exactly sure.” Samara admitted, in response to the Teppenpaw’s question. “Like, maybe they’re like a puzzle, where they’re parts of the same thing but can become pretty detached. I can take a puzzle piece into two very different locations, even different buildings that are far away from each other but they’re still part of the same puzzle.”

11 Samara Crosby Family can be complicated 1563 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

September 25, 2023 8:16 AM

So can friends by Robyn Lundstrom

Robyn had ended up with Samara. That was probably good. Samara was someone that Robyn needed to fit into her life, she just hadn’t worked out quite how or where. Samara needed Robyn to have a big enough space for a normal person and lots of happy, normal friend stuff. And it wasn’t like Robyn wouldn’t have liked that—to talk about boys and paint their nails and whatever else it was people did when their brother hadn’t basically driven himself off a cliff edge. But Robyn didn’t have a space like that. She had all these little fragments of messy life, and it was hard enough fitting Lyla into them, making sure Robyn was being honest but also being fun, and trying to make sure Lyla got both so she wouldn’t get bored of her, and then… Between all the jagged, broken pieces, Samara was this… big whole person, and it was like there wasn’t room to squish her in without chopping her up or breaking her too, and that wasn’t fair.

Class was a good start. They could do normal, and friendly, without it being fake—because Robyn always held it together in classes, no matter what she was feeling on the inside. And it let Robyn hang out with Samara without taking from Robyn’s time with Lyla. Not that she didn’t want the three of them to hang out sometimes, but Samara and Lyla got roommate time, and Robyn needed to not feel like her bestie came with an additional better-than-you friend every single time…

So. Class. Good.

“Yeah,” she agreed with Samara’s example, a small frown creasing her brows as she thought it over. The counter argument was very obvious in Robyn’s mind, but the debate was whether or not to make it. It might not seem friendly. But this was class and they were meant to talk about it. And she wasn’t sure what else to say if she didn’t… “A puzzle’s not alive though.” She could think of hundreds of things that Samara’s analogy applied to if they took that out of the equation. “I can’t think of anything else alive that behaves that way. Like, even things that seem it, like flowers… They live for a couple of days, but really they’re going to die once you’ve picked them. And I guess there’s some animals that shed a body part as a defence, like lizards that drop their tails, but the tail is definitely dead after that. I can’t think of anything where part detaches and both parts continue living.” Which was sounding weirdly creepy to think about in this much depth now that she’d said all that out loud… Crap. Hopefully Samara didn’t think she was too morbid.

13 Robyn Lundstrom So can friends 1558 0 5

Samara Crosby

September 27, 2023 3:09 AM

Yup. That was the other title that occurred to me. by Samara Crosby

“I suppose you’re right.” Samara agreed. Agreeing tended to be her default state as it was a bit of a coping mechanism for her to do so. So often she was afraid to disagree because if you did, people-by which she meant her mother- got mad at you. People being mad at her was terrifying, she did not want to face anyone’s wrath, even if theirs could not come close to Mother’s. Mother was basically anger personified and the Crotalus did not dare disagree with her.

Well. at least not out loud. Samara had come to realize that her mother was not right about everything.Like about most people being horrible as the third year had quickly realized that wasn’t true. Of course, she kept that to herself around Mother, because she was terrified of making her mad.

Samara was also terrified that if she did not agree with someone, they would hate her. Like, she lived in constant fear that her mother would turn against her, that she would do something that would make her the kind of person her mother complained about. Like being compassionate, caring and sweet. Samara didn’t want Mother to put her in the same category of being “disgustingly wholesome” that Aunt Pippa and Aunt Melanie were in. Or letting on that she actually really liked the latter. Because she was sweet and kind.

Honestly, sometimes Samara did wonder what it would be like to have a mother more like her aunts, Aunt Melanie in particular. And she felt terrible for this, like she was being terribly disloyal to her own mother whom she did love, despite how difficult she could be.

So she agreed with people, even if that wasn’t how she truly felt. Samara didn’t want to lie or be fake, but sometimes, for your own self-preservation, it was better to do so. Granted, she hoped she didn’t grow to resent having to repress her opinions, since she was truthfully afraid that she would become like her mother and be angry at the world. As it was though, the third year was much more likely to internalize and doubt herself and whether or not what she thought and how she felt was right and acceptable.

However, she did not want people to be mad at her or to be hated by anyone.And Samara was already worried about Robyn hating her so she certainly did not want to make matters worse. So she agreed and said the Teppenpaw was right.

In this particular case, she did see the other girl’s point. Even though truthfully, Samara was sort of proud of the puzzle analogy. Still, puzzles weren’t alive and the plant was and she felt kind of embarrassed and stupid. Especially since she didn’t really have an explanation for it. “Sometimes, magical things don’t have an explanation. Or they do, but it’s long and complicated and boring. However, I’m sure that Professor Wright would be happy to tell you all about it.” She chuckled, hoping that Robyn would at least appreciate a joke about one of their professors and one of his less positive traits. The Crotalus liked him, but sometimes he could be long winded about things that she did not care about.

Although, there was always the possibility that Robyn would get all offended, either because she was somehow super attached to him, like Connie Melcher seemed to be-small school, people picked up on things-for some reason or because she was the sort of person who couldn’t stand to hear a negative thing about anyone, the sort of person that Mother would find to be a goody-two–shoes and therefore, someone to not like. Robyn didn’t seem like that but Samara was still worried the Teppenpaw would think that she was mean.

11 Samara Crosby Yup. That was the other title that occurred to me. 1563 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

September 29, 2023 10:25 PM

But there's also some movement by Robyn Lundstrom

I suppose you’re right. Did that mean something different to ‘You’re right?’ or was that Robyn over-analysing? She couldn’t shake the feeling that Samara didn’t really like her, but she was never sure whether that came from anywhere stronger than her own imagination. Perhaps it was just a lack of familiarity with each other. After all, she couldn’t honestly say that she liked her either. She didn’t dislike her. Robyn just didn’t know her well enough to feel totally comfortable—to not worry about every thing each one of them said. Of course, the only way to get past that was to spend more time together, but given that they didn’t know each other super well, spending time together could be uncomfortable. It wasn’t quite a vicious circle, because it got a little better rather than a little worse with every interaction, but it was much easier to take the short term win of running away and keeping to herself, even though it perpetuated the long term problem… Still, Samara had come up to her today. That was good. Robyn should probably make sure she returned the favour sometime.

Samara’s follow up comment was easier to digest. At least at first.

She gave a small smile at the point about Professor Wright and his long-winded explanations. The thought that Samara was trying to make a point about what Robyn didn’t know as a Muggleborn plucked at her nerves, the way it almost always did. But Samara had called the knowledge ‘boring’ too. She probably didn’t know any better and didn’t care to and didn’t care if Robyn didn’t. Right? The second thought was that Professor Wright probably wouldn’t have time for her even if she did want to know.

“I think his office hours are pretty full,” she said. The comment stuck a little in her mouth, like it was dry and chalky. “Hopefully if the ‘why and how’ are really important Professor Xavier will explain them. In a much shorter way.” She quirked the same conspiratorial smile that Samara had given her back in the other girl’s direction, trying to stick to the fun, if a little mean, subject of their professors’ various merits and teaching styles.

13 Robyn Lundstrom But there's also some movement 1558 0 5

Nausicaa Scapetello

October 02, 2023 9:17 PM

At least we are not touching dirt this time by Nausicaa Scapetello

Nausicaa had, of course, done very well on her essay. Anything less would be unthinkable. However there were some comments that the professor had written on her sheet that she wondered about. She debated briefly about asking him about them during the times he cited, but in the end decided against the idea. They were most likely just rambling nonsense of an aging man. It was a little sad really. Oh well.

This was after all the same man who had just used the words 'honor' and 'Thorny Krakenbushes' in the same sentence. As suggested, she left most of her things at the greenhouse and brought along her quill and notebook. This was a class, and they were supposed to be learning, why he thought such things might have been thought of as optional, she couldn't imagine. Herbology was not one of Nausicaa's favorite classes, however that was mainly because the professor made her keep touching dirt and there were only so many ways to avoid it. From an academic standpoint, the subject matter could be interesting enough, now that they were into the intermediate subjects. As such, this may not be a terrible class period if it only involved visiting a plant and then a lecture afterwards about it.

Generally, the parts about this class that interested her the most, were where potion ingredients came from and how to deal with or use some of the more interesting plants that existed in the magical world. They were the same reasons she tolerated Care of Magical Creatures.

When the professor began asking questions, Nausicaa was quick to assert her knowledge. Obviously the plants were kept here because they had potion ingredients. She said as much and got five points for Aladren. Not that those points really meant much, but at the same time she wasn't going to let others get them if she could. She did need to control herself when someone answered with the most impractical, ridiculous 'Because it's cool' answer. Then the professor even gave a point for that? This exchange was not doing anything positive for her regard for the school and it's staff.

The professor mentioned the Whomping Willow in the advanced class and it intrigued her a bit. She had been planning on dropping this dirty class as soon as she was allowed to, but.... what very interesting things might they cover in the advanced classes? Would it be worth the dirt? Probably not. There were most likely books that contained the same information that wouldn't require her to scrub filth from under her fingernails for days afterwards.

As they entered the restricted area Nausicaa had no intentions of getting close enough to the plant to get assaulted by it. However, she also did not want anyone to get any sort of impression that she was purposefully avoiding it. Plus her absence at the front of the class may be noted as well, and that would not do. So she found a spot near the front of the crowd, yet safely out of reach of the plant. It afforded her a good view, and she could indeed see the plant shifting back and forth within it's own boundaries. It would be an interesting challenge to sketch.

She began with a cluster of the thorns on the edge of the plant that did not move. She could see more of the clusters within the plant as well and the moving bits might be using them somehow?

2 Nausicaa Scapetello At least we are not touching dirt this time 1561 0 5

Samara Crosby

October 04, 2023 8:33 PM

I'm glad to hear it. by Samara Crosby

Samara caught Robyn’s smile and breathed a small sigh of relief. There. She had made the other third year smile. That was progress. Maybe that didn’t mean the Teppenpaw liked her and wanted to be friends but at least it was something. At the very least, Robyn hadn’t,like, told her off and said she was a terrible person who was disrespectful of a teacher or a terrible person who said something mean about someone. The latter sounded more Teppenpaw to her. Of the two options, that was. Not that all Teppepaws-or even many-would be like that, but having a problem with disrespecting a teacher sounded more like a thing an Aladren would have an issue with.

Nor had Robyn openly disagreed with her. That would be bad too. Not that Samara thought that she was automatically right about everything, but it was that same thing where she would assume the other person would dislike her and she so badly wanted Robyn to like her. The Crotalus generally wanted to be liked as she was learning that not only were most people not unlikeable but that they also didn’t all hate everyone. Well, Olaf seemed to, but that didn’t seem to be the case with everyone else. Plus, other people who did hate most people-by which she meant her parents-liked her which had previously meant she’d been convinced she was extra likable. That Robyn might not like her had shaken her belief in herself, just a little.

So, Samara supposed it wasn’t just to make Lyla’s life easier that she wanted to be friends with the Teppenpaw. Apparently, she just generally wanted to be liked. Which, considering her parents, was either completely ironic or made perfect sense. Plus, who wanted to be hated? Olaf, for example, seemed to not care if he was liked or not but who said that they did not want others to like them. Not caring about something and actively wanting or not wanting it were obviously very different things. If not caring about being liked was obviously different from wanting to be liked then it followed that not caring about it was also different than wanting people not to like you.

And wanting people to dislike you made no logical sense. Even the idea that Robyn might not like Samara was deeply upsetting to the Crotalus. Especially as she actually did like the other third year.

Still, that hadn’t happened. Robyn had smiled and that was good. Although when the Teppenpaw mentioned that Professor Wright’s hours seemed pretty full, Samara was a little worried that she might have stepped in it, because she doubted her classmate was talking about Connie. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Xavier got extra tutoring from the Charms professor and while Samara was not sure exactly why her not thinking of that would annoy Robyn, she still worried about doing so.

But then Robyn returned her smile and she felt a little better. “That sounds like a much better idea.” After all, if someone gave you more information than you needed, then how did you know what was important?

11 Samara Crosby I'm glad to hear it. 1563 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

October 04, 2023 10:02 PM

Heya, Leviosa! by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn had been thinking about the ball in bits and spurts for most of the year. Generally this happened when he was looking at a blank sheet of parchment that was supposed to get an essay written on to it, but it also came up during tests and while Professor Wright was talking. The essay he got back from Professor Xavier today, for example, had the sentence *I wonder what Liesl will wear to the ball? I bet it will be really cool.* circled in red and a comment written *Off topic, but I'm sure it will* and Xarryn winced a little bit because that was why he was supposed to reread his essays after dictating them, but it was just so tedious and boring, so he usually didn't. There was also another comment for *Rambling narrative; try to be more concise* and Xarryn felt somewhat vindicated that someone else hated reading long essays, too. Though for someone who hated reading essays, Professor Xavier assigned an awful lot of them.

His conclusions about the ball so far were many and varied including, but not limited to: Liesl would surely look awesome, cake might be served, there probably wouldn't be a pirate attack (mores the pity), shoes were likely required, and superhero costumes could probably be hidden under formal robes really easily.

His conclusions about the day's Herbology activity was a cheerful whoop, because walking around the gardens beat sitting around in the stuffy greenhouse any day.

He grabbed his notebook and pencil and trailed along with the rest of the group. He had to be told to keep up a few times as he stopped to look at something that caught his interest, but he was mostly even paying attention when the professor stopped them in front of a gate and asked why Sonora kept a thicket of Thorny Krakenbushes on the grounds.

With a name like 'Thorny Krakenbushes' there was an obvious answer, and he was surprised nobody else was saying it. Finally, he raised his own hand and got called on. "Because Krakens are super cool and so are plants named after them!" Not that he'd ever seen a real Kraken - and that was a good thing, because he'd probably like them a lot less if he had - but a lot of sea tales included them and they were always a fun plot feature.

Xarryn beamed when Pecari got a point for his answer.

Then they went in to see the Thorny Krakenbushes and they were as cool as he'd thought they'd be. He crept up real close, staying just out of range (he knew he'd reached that point because Professor Xavier said, 'Xarryn, don't go any closer') and watched them in awe and wonder that a plant could be that interesting.

After a little bit though, they lost their mesmerizing appeal, and he backed up again, and rejoined the crowd of students. Finding himself next to Leviosa, he remembered another of his ball conclusions: he should probably find a date! Leviosa was his first choice because she was awesome and did the sword fight at the concert with him. "Heya, Leviosa! I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me?"

1 Xarryn Bavol Heya, Leviosa! 1560 0 5

Olaf Brockert

October 07, 2023 2:07 AM

The Thorny Student by Olaf Brockert

Currently, Olaf was completely disgusted with the majority of the people around him. Okay, to be fair, he usually felt that way. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that he was even more disgusted with those around him than usual, which he hadn’t thought was possible. The Aladren was almost impressed though he wasn’t sure if he should be more impressed with the ability of others to be irritating or his own capacity for irritation.

He probably should never have been surprised by the former. However, he’d also never realized how consumed those around him would be by something as inane and ridiculous and utterly pointless as a school Ball. Olaf could not for the life of him figure out the appeal. Maybe it was because he’d grown up in a society where balls were a normal and completely unappealing part of life. Fortunately, his parents wouldn’t even allow him to attend them until he was sixteen. Although, allow suggested that it was something Olaf wanted to do in the first place, which he didn’t so to say he wasn’t allowed to attend society balls was like saying someone wasn’t allowed to have dental work done or do their taxes, only dental work and taxes were far less painful.

And none of his classmates were constantly talking about dental work or taxes or seemed excited by the idea of doing either. At least Olaf didn’t know that they were excited about doing those things. Arguably, a classmate who was excited by having a root canal or getting their wisdom teeth removed at least possessed one interesting trait. Instead, they were all fixated on the most banal topic there was.

Truth be told, Olaf did not understand the point of a school Ball either. From what he gathered, the point of society balls was “networking” but considering that the people at Sonora were A.teenagers, B. not all purebloods and C. stuck with each other all year long so they had plenty of opportunities to do so, he didn’t see how that applied. All it seemed to be was a bunch of hormone-addled teenagers being whipped into a frenzy of drama. Actually, Olaf might have appreciated it as a social experiment if it wasn’t so annoying.

Honestly, perhaps he should have been disgusted with himself . Because he should have expected this. Olaf knew full well that the vast majority of people cared way too much about the most mind-numbing of things. The continued popularity of Quidditch was a testament to precisely that. He had far overestimated the ability of people to not sink to the lowest common denominator and that was taking into consideration that he’d estimated that ability to be pretty close to none at all.

Classes were a welcome change from the stupidity of his so–called peers. At least they were an opportunity to hear about more interesting topics. Olaf didn’t even mind hearing about a test that he didn’t have to take for another two years.

And when Professor Xavier showed what they were studying today, the third year perked up. Not that anyone would ever say he was perky but…he liked this plant. Even though he rolled his eyes when his classmate said it was there because it was cool, Olaf grudgingly agreed. After all, the Thorny Krakenbush was basically the Aladren in plant form.

Plus, he was very interested in the deterrent suggestion. Someday, he would plant a bunch of these around his house to keep people away.

11 Olaf Brockert The Thorny Student 1564 0 5

Lyla Holland

October 09, 2023 12:50 AM

Steering clear of the thorns...hopefully by Lyla Holland

Herbology had been one of Lyla's favorite classes since her first year, and her love of plants only grew as they dove into more dangerous and more interesting specimens. The Thorny Krakenbush was no exception, and Lyla instantly knew she'd be looking it up in the library later.

Lyla went to look closer at the viny bush, wondering if it were more a bush than a vine, and how one made such a classification. Unfortunately, everybody else was also taking a closer look, and she got stuck behind Olaf.

Actually...if anyone knew which book would hold more extensive information on the Krakenbush (other than Professor Xavier, that is), it would be Olaf Brockert. Her fellow third-year normally kept to himself, but it seemed like he always had a book in his hands. He'd probably read the whole library by now. Lyla just had to figure out how to broach the subject.

"Excuse me, Olaf?" she said, trying to be as concise as possible, "Two questions, First, do you mind scooting over a little so I can see? Second, do you have a book recommendation for more information about the Thorny Krakenbush? You seem to read a lot. I can ask Professor Xavier if you don't," she added quickly, "I just thought you might."

64 Lyla Holland Steering clear of the thorns...hopefully 1559 0 5

Olaf Brockert

October 09, 2023 8:59 AM

Exercise an abundance of caution by Olaf Brockert

Olaf had to admit, he was silently in awe of the Thorny Krakenbush. Aside from Grandfather, he had never felt such kinship with another living creature. Generally speaking, he felt people were hard to relate to (and annoying) Granted, he supposed that it was sort of intertwined. He found the behavior of most of them-in particular this year because of the ball-so baffling and unrelatable and because of that, it was annoying.

Not that he was annoyed with his own lack of understanding-even though he loved to understand things-just that Olaf sort of wished more people were like himself, well-read, interesting and uncaring about moronic things like Quidditch and the Ball, though the latter was more of an issue right now at school while the former was more of an at home thing, due to Uncle Eustace but the Aladren was pretty good at shutting him down or ignoring him. His uncle never got to him as much as he did the rest of the boys, even Uriah, seeing as he didn’t get to Olaf much at all. Although the third year had to admit to himself-and only to himself-that he didn’t like the way his uncle treated his brother and male cousins. Not to mention Honora and Aunt Helena. Merlin only knew what sort of issues Honora would end up with.

Anyway, right now he had to deal with being surrounded by a bunch of idiots talking about what was second only to Quidditch as the most inane topic ever. And then he was going to have to put up with this again in four years. If only Olaf could have been a year older so he only had to put up with it once–and even that was truly one time too many. Especially given that by that time he was also going to be pressured to attend society balls. Ugh. And deal with those the rest of his life. Ugh. Olaf had every intention of bringing books to them all as well as probably having to develop a taste for bourbon when he got older like Grandfather had.

Truth be told though, it wasn’t just those who constantly talked about mundane, trivial, boring things that he wasn’t interested in spending time with, he just generally preferred reading and being alone to even talking to his more intelligent classmates like Nausicaa and Desmond. Olaf was an introvert through and through and that was why he had a limited capacity for people and socialization. It was not just because he was a cranky old man in a fourteen year old boy’s body or the human equivalent of a Thorny Krakenbush. Even though those things were true.

And they were generally a deterrent to his classmates. People mostly left him alone and he usually left them alone unless he absolutely had to pair with someone. This was how Olaf liked it.

So, he was a bit surprised when Lyla Holland approached him. He didn’t remember ever speaking to her before, a fact that most people would have found sad, since their year group was incredibly small, but being that socializing was not a priority for Olaf, he was completely unbothered by it. Nothing personal, she was simply the average amount of irritating that most people were, no more, no less.

“Oh all right” Olaf stepped aside, it was a perfectly reasonable request though he certainly did not offer any warning not to get too close. After all, while he was not actively rooting for his classmate to get hurt, if she didn’t heed Professor Xavier’s warning, that was not his problem.

Her next question surprised him. A book recommendation? Olaf didn’t expect anyone to, well, want to read anything, let alone something of substance. Of course, his expectations of people which were usually not great were at an all time low. “Well, there’s the book, Dangerous and Deadly Plants, which is the standard, of course as well the Encyclopedia of Potion Ingredients, which talks a lot about the potions this is used in. Oh and I love Plants of Pain, which talks about all sorts of plants that can be harmful. It’s very informative and possibly my favorite on the subject.”

11 Olaf Brockert Exercise an abundance of caution 1564 0 5

Lyla Holland

October 18, 2023 3:14 PM

Caution is my middle name by Lyla Holland

Despite being antisocial, Olaf hadn't ever struck Lyla as a mean sort of person; he just liked to keep to himself. Therefore, the three sentences he spoke about his book recommendations were the most Lyla had ever heard out of him. Treading carefully, she asked for more information.

"Plants of Pain, you said? I hadn't heard of that one. Is it in the library, or will I have to special order it?"

Lyla was at a loss for any other words. Three sentences wasn't much to go off of, and she didn't want to be a pest by letting her mouth run away with her like she normally did.

"Maybe that's what I'll do instead of dancing at the ball. It's not like I have a date, anyway, and I'm not much for dancing, besides. Here's hoping for a quiet alcove!"

She held up her crossed fingers. Olaf didn't seem like he was much for dancing, either, so hopefully she wouldn't have offended his ancestors or something by bringing up the ball. Truthfully, Lyla did wish she had a date, despite her two left feet, but was too shy to go and find one, so she'd resigned herself to sitting alone already. Unless, of course, Samara and Robyn wanted to join her. Her friends would always be welcome. And Olaf, if he wished, though Lyla wasn't going to hold her breath for it.

64 Lyla Holland Caution is my middle name 1559 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

October 19, 2023 8:14 AM

That's me! by Leviosa Scurlock

Herbology not only gave Leviosa permission to get her hands dirty, it actively encouraged it. To the point of probably failing if she didn’t. Okay, more often than not it was technically her gloves rather than her actual hands, but Professor Xavier didn’t dock points if the dirt ended up on her cuffs or her cheeks, so she didn’t really take much care to make sure it didn’t. It reminded her of her Scurlock grandparents, who were much more into tending the garden and making home-knitted cardigans than they were attending museums and fancy concerts. Levi liked the cosy-Welsh-countryside half of her life much more than the glitzy side, which was why herbology was one of her favourite subjects. It helped that it was run by Professor Xavier, her own Head of House and all round nice guy, but it was the plants and the dirt and the just being that she liked the most.

Today they were on an outside adventure, which was great, and going to see a Thorny Kraken Bush. She had come across them in stories, but she wasn’t sure how realistic those depictions were. It did seem like the kind of plant that people might exaggerate about. But then again, some things really were just as weird as they sounded. In fact, sometimes writers had to tone down the weird because the reality was so weird that if they reported it just as it was, people would say they were being silly and exaggerating.

Her first inspections of the Thorny Kraken Bush suggested it was about as strange as described. She didn’t believe it could actually chase down a wanted criminal, as it had done in one of her grandpa’s adventure books (the ones Mama didn’t think she should read because they were ‘for boys’ but which she had done anyway). Based on what Professor Xavier was saying, that could only happen if the wanted criminal stayed within its perimeter, which they would be very stupid to do.

She was tapping her quill on her parchment, not sure that writing down comparisons to all the fictionalised accounts she’d read was a good idea, even if it was what she was thinking about, when Xarryn approached her. She enjoyed his company, and had enjoyed his contribution to the class discussion, so she prepared herself for some kind of comparison of wild tales or some fun real-Kraken-related facts, because those were the most likely things for Xarryn to tell her.

That wasn’t what came out of his mouth.

“The ball?” she repeated. “Me?” Even though that had been very obvious. There was a little guilty bubble in her chest that said she shouldn’t abandon Lenny and Piper. But whether it was because three minus one was actually a much more even number, or whether it was because the excited bubble was bigger than the worried one, she grinned and said “I’d love to!”

13 Leviosa Scurlock That's me! 1545 0 5

Olaf Brockert

October 19, 2023 3:16 PM

And I thought mine was bad. by Olaf Brockert

“Yup. That’s it,”He confirmed “ Plants of Pain. They don’t have it in the library here though. You’d have to order it.” Olaf had his own copy, of course, but he did not lend out his books! While arguably Lyla was much more trustworthy than some-he didn’t know how trustworthy she was but there were people, such as Leo or any of the Pecaris other than maybe Tissena or Alexei, that he would prefer not to allow in the same room as his most prized possessions,so there was a low bar and the Crotalus had never shown the same level of unsavoriness as some others or he would have noticed by then-Olaf still didn’t lend out his books. It was a personal policy that he would never make an exception to, not least because he might want to read them and then he’d have to find the person and get it back, which meant social interaction so nope.

Which would be especially unpleasant interactions-as opposed to just regular interactions which tended to be unpleasant largely because he would prefer to be reading rather than have them- because Olaf would already be irritated that someone had his book and that they hadn’t given it back, and he couldn’t read it. So if he had to hunt them down to get his book back that would be unpleasant for them both.

And woe be it to them if the book wasn’t brought back in the same condition that it had been lent to them. In that case, Olaf would probably have the urge to do something to the offending party that Topaz might think went too far. Granted, what his cousin thought went too far was an utterly terrifying idea and he wasn’t even remotely easily terrified. After all, the third year wouldn’t put anything past her short of the Unforgivables.

At the very least, doing the things that he would want to doto people who ruined any bit of his personal library would likely get him expelled from Sonora. Olaf wouldn’t want that as he would never want to sacrifice his education and ability to use magic. After all, having to live basically a second class existence was not worth revenge on someone who had committed the gravest of wrongs. That might sound snobby but Olaf didn’t care. He was a Brockert and he was used to a certain standard of living and prestige. Besides, as much as he didn’t like to spend time with people, it would probably bother him just a little not to have his parents and siblings in his life if he was disowned or imprisoned. Although that solitary confinement thing didn’t sound so bad.

So obviously, it was better all around if nobody borrowed his books.Heck. he’d buy Lyla her own copy before he’d let her borrow his.

What the other third year said next, however, shocked Olaf to his very core. Someone else wanted to read rather than dance or socialize? Either he had really underestimated the Crotalus, this was a dream or she was messing with him. If she was messing with him then he supposed that he had overestimated her. Though if that was the case, it wasn’t really wasn’t his problem as it reflected worse on her than him. He wasn’t going to get his hopes up that she was someone to grudgingly tolerate. “That was my plan.” Olaf replied.

11 Olaf Brockert And I thought mine was bad. 1564 0 5