Some like it hot! [Years III-V] on Potions

Professor Sophie O'Malley

January 07, 2017 2:39 AM

Some like it hot! [Years III-V] by Professor Sophie O'Malley

With January well under way, the school was overall now back into the swing of things. That was always relieving for Sophie. She remembered from her not that long ago (thank you very much) school days that readjusting to school after a break could be difficult; she had never even thought to consider how it must have felt for the professors. Now the table was on the other foot - forgive her mental phrase mangling, she was very tired like ninety-seven percent of the time and spent more energy on not exploding anything and keeping her kids alive than being cautious of her thoughts - and she was the professor. Life was weird like that.

“Hey there, everybody,” she greeted when her Intermediates were situated. Unlike other times, when she was forgetful and didn’t give advanced notice that their textbooks would not be required in class, Sophie had managed this time to inform them in the previous class that they didn’t need to bring books today. “On your desk you’ll find a full tray of seeds. Do not touch them yet! You can probably feel the heat from a safe distance, so just take a second to imagine how hot they are to actually feel.”

“Hopefully it’s obvious, but can anyone tell me what kind of seeds those are?” She called on the first hand raised she happened to notice and continued until the right answer - fire seeds - was procured. “That’s correct, have five points,” she smiled. “Now, that name is quite apt, you see, based on not only the heat you feel but their tendency to occasionally spark flames.”

“We’re going to be using these little wonders to brew with next time we meet, so today, we have to prepare them. I’ll be honest, it may get a bit boring, but it’s a very important precaution. Can anyone guess at the best way to cool fire seeds down?” The correct answer was acquired in the same process as always. “Great job!” she cheered. “It’s the Freezing Spell.”

“Now, you may or may not have covered this spell in your Charms lessons before now, but just in case you haven’t, let’s talk about it briefly. The incantation is Glacius, and the wand movement is a simple point at the target.” As she spoke, as always with lectures, all important points appeared on the chalkboard behind her. Sophie slipped on a thick leather glove that had been previously sitting on her desk, her dominant hand then pointing at a seed she held in the gloved hand. “Don’t worry, the leather’s charmed for extra protection,” she added. “You should all have them on your desks, too. Ready? Glacium.”

A blue light shot from the tip of her wand, crashing over the seed, smothering its red glow beneath a layer of ice. “Just like that. Everybody got it?” The small blonde professor looked around eagerly. “Okay. Go ahead and get started. Unless you happen to not have gloves, in which case, come see me first. The gloves are definitely important!”

Subthreads:

Some like to not be bothered. by Jax Donovan (Aladren) with Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

Some need it cool. [Tag: Jack Spencer] by Barnaby Pye, Aladren with Jack Spencer, Aladren

Some are insufferable (Open thread) by Laila Kennedy, Arne Reinhardt (Crotalus) with Louis Valois, Aladren

I don't but I might be in for it by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw with Angelique Brockert, Crotalus

12 Professor Sophie O'Malley Some like it hot! [Years III-V] 34 Professor Sophie O'Malley 1 5

Jax Donovan (Aladren)

January 07, 2017 10:17 PM

Some like to not be bothered. by Jax Donovan (Aladren)

Jax was not in a good mood. Most people probably thought he was never in a good mood simply because he was never one for smiling easily, but those who thought that would be incorrect. Jax was usually content with things despite his facial expressions. He was just a naturally quiet person who felt very little need to draw attention to himself. Today though, today he was in a bad mood. His dark brows were furrowed and the corners of his mouth were turned down as he listened to Professor O’Malley discuss the lesson for the day.

He didn’t know what was annoying him more. Was it all the second guessing regarding certain things in his life, was it the fact that the full moon had just passed and it had been a particularly difficult change for him, or was it the fact that this potions lesson wasn’t a potions lesson at all? This was more of a Charms or a Herbology lesson than it was for potions. Yeah he understood that knowing the ingredients and how to handle them was important, but that was what Herbology was for. Or something that they should learn while working on a Potions. Instead he was wasting an hour and a half of his time sitting here cooling off seeds.

Sometimes he really worried about the curriculum of this school…

The only positive to this lesson was the fact that he would not have to work with a partner. Normally, Jax really didn’t mind working with someone as long as they pulled their weight, but he was in no mood to be polite and he really just wanted to get through the lesson and then go to his bed and sleep. Or at least, go to his room and lay down with the curtains closed in case John wanted to do his weird stuff in the dorm room. Jax didn’t want to prevent him from his studies and didn’t want to be an interruption to his roommate in any way since he knew his presence had been forced upon the sixth year due to his issues with Barnaby. He tried to make himself as invisible as possible while he was in his dorm room. It wasn’t as though John made him feel unwelcome but that Jax knew it was probably difficult from him to go from having no roommate for five years to having one.

Jax sighed internally as they were set the task of icing the seeds. He pulled on the gloves that were provided to him and picked up one of the burning hot fire seeds. After a moment of looking angrily at it as though it was the fault of the seed that he was having a bad day, Jax picked up his wand and spit out the incantation to freeze it. Not to his surprise, the seed began to form a shield of ice around it. Setting that seed down, Jax continued onto the next seed and then the next one until he was interrupted by his neighbor. Jax took a breath and turned his icy glare onto his neighbor. “What did you need?” He asked stonily.

6 Jax Donovan (Aladren) Some like to not be bothered. 296 Jax Donovan (Aladren) 0 5

Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

January 08, 2017 5:01 PM

And some are just naturally bothersome and rather silly. by Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

Caelia loved Potions. It was by far her easiest class, there were simple instructions laid out and all she had to do was follow them. She didn’t have to worry about theory tests or mispronunciations of anything because it was relatively easy. All she had to do was memorize and she had gotten quite good at that over the years. It was like society ettiquette, certain steps that had to be followed in order to achieve the desired end result. In society, it was a proper husband. In Potions, it was to keep her cauldron from melting apart in a very unladylike way.

That day, however, they were not brewing a potion but rather preparing for something they would be brewing the following class. As she started in on it, she found that Professor O’Malley was right—it was rather tedious. But once she got into the rhythm of things it was calming. Routine, that’s what Caelia liked best. She didn’t like it when things jumped out and surprised her, she didn’t like it when someone decided to change the rules of the game.

She didn’t like it, she realised with a blush, that someone other than Matthew was catching her eye just as she didn’t like it that Matthew himself had caught her eye in the first place. In fact, she had chosen her seat that day with the sole reason of avoiding He Who Must Not Be Named because there wasn’t anyone who she wanted to like more than Matthew. Matthew was kind and nice and older and he worked hard and he cared about her and her image and he was going to find a way for them to be together. He had told her this himself!

Caelia frowned and shook her head, blonde curls bouncing as she tried to clear her head of thoughts of him. It was ridiculous, really, she thought, because she had a perfectly nice secret boyfriend and then he would come along and smile and she would have to think of something else in case she decided that she could be disloyal to Matthew as she pleased since he was kissing Saide from the teashop whenever he could as a favor to their relationship. But that wasn’t right. Just because Matthew did it meant that she could and she liked him enough to overlook that particular part of his contenence. Besides, he promised that he was working on a way for them to publicly be together without bringing shame to her family. And that was rather sweet of him so really she couldn’t cheat on him at school, it wouldn’t be right.

“Boring, isn’t it,” she commented to Jax Donovan who she’d sat beside because of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on reminding her of her older brother. Jax and Emrys really couldn’t be more different when she thought hard about it. Emrys was fair and sunny, he made awkward jokes and fidgeted his left hand in a way that really bothered her when he was nervous. Jax was dark and kind of moody, he spoke in a clipped way which Caelia wasn’t sure if it was due to his accent or personality, but either way he wasn’t nearly as openly kind as her brother. Yet there was something about him that made Caelia feel safe.

He kind of snapped back and Caelia colored a little. It was kind of silly of her to think that after taking shelter behind him in one terrifying Care of Magical Creatures class that made them friends. She thought of the handmade bookmark in her trunk in the Crotalus common room, something she’d purchased from the shop Emrys used to work in on a whim with Jax in mind. It had been a Christmas present but when they got back she’d found herself too afraid to approach Jax and give it to him and so it sat, unused, between two prettily folded sweaters which always made Caelia feel nice when she wore them.

“I um, I have something for you,” she said instead of repeating herself, not really positive why she blurted that out at all other than that she was uncomfortable all of a sudden and all similarities between him and her brother had vanished and suddenly she found herself wishing she was somewhere, anywhere else. “I had bought it over the Christmas holidays, it’s an, um, Christmas present, but I guess not anymore as it’s not Christmas…”

Merlin, she was an idiot. Why had she thought Jax Donovan needed her friendship? He had his friends and she had hers and other than the odd classroom encounter they would probably never meet or speak again. Which was looking nicer and nicer the more she thought abut it. “It’s nothing big,” she continued, still babbling. “I don’t know why I haven’t given it to you yet, only I feel rather silly mentioning it now.”

10 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus And some are just naturally bothersome and rather silly. 307 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus 0 5

Jax

January 08, 2017 7:26 PM

And some are just cranky werewolves. by Jax

When Jax realized who it was that had spoken to him, he immediately regretted his reaction to her. Caelia Lucan was one of those pretty girls from a good family that probably had everyone drooling after her. He always thought of her as a bit of a shallow and possibly daft person but that was based on little knowledge of her and just from seeing her generally around. She was friends with his former roommate though, but considering Jack had gotten along with Barnaby, Jax wasn’t one to trust that guy’s opinion on other people.

However, after working with her (well, standing next to her anyway as they weren’t partners by any means) in Care of Magical Creatures, Jax had second thoughts about his initial opinion of her. He still thought that she likely needed assistance with things and that was of no fault of her own (some people were just not as quick to understand things as others were), but she did not seem as shallow as he had initially thought. Her friends definitely were. He couldn’t imagine someone like Kelsey having anything to do with anyone other than her own reflection. Alistair was likely the male version of Kelsey, but since Jax spent little time with either of them, his opinions were only surface deep.

He could tell that his bite had surprised her as she blushed and made her blurt out her comment. Jax’s anger faded quickly to be replaced with guilt and confusion. She had something for him? Why would she have anything for him? Unless she had papers that the professor was handing back, but he saw none in her hands. His blue eyes stared at her for a moment as she worked out what she was trying to tell him.

A Christmas present? She had gotten him a Christmas present? But why?

His confusion over her statement was evident on his face as his brows furrowed and his mouth turned slightly as he looked at her. He understood exchanging gifts with Sammy and Laila as they were friends, but he never thought that Caelia would even think twice about him after the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. He racked his brain to try to remember if there was anything remotely memorable that occurred where they went from casual acquaintances to something a bit more where gifts were exchanged, but he couldn’t think of anything. It had just been a normal lesson.

It made him feel even worse though. She had apparently thought more of their exchange than he had. His opinion of her was steadily increasing and it twisted his insides a little. He facial features softened a bit and he gave her a bit of a smile. “That is very kind of you to think of me.” He said in his usual quiet voice. “I apologize for my rude tone before. I have not been feeling very well and I can sometimes be short with people when that happens.” He explained, hoping that it was enough to not make her feel upset with him for the moment. He didn’t know why this people thing was so difficult for him when his sister breezed through it.

“How are your seeds coming along?” He asked politely.

6 Jax And some are just cranky werewolves. 296 Jax 0 5

Barnaby Pye, Aladren

January 10, 2017 5:35 PM

Some need it cool. [Tag: Jack Spencer] by Barnaby Pye, Aladren

Potions was one of Barnaby’s preferred classes because it had steps and so long as one was diligent in reading and following said steps, it was impossible to mess up. His favourite class over all probably had to be Transfiguration because it required quiet and concentration so his classmates were less likely to be talking which provided less distraction for him. Lately he’d found that he needed more effort to concentrate on his work. Part of his inability to focus well, he thought, was due to his realisation that Jax Donovan was actually quite fit. It had been easier when they were just slightly at odds, back when each gave the other enough space, but ever since Jax had switched rooms, Barnaby found that he was actually missing the older boy. And since Barnaby wasn’t one to spend much time in the common room… classes and meal times were pretty much all he had.

He looked over at the table where Jax and Caelia Lucan were working together and felt a familiar tug of jealousy when he saw the pretty blonde receiving all of Jax’s attention. Caelia was the sort of witch he imagined Father wanted him to marry, she was the sort of witch his mother was anyway. Pretty without much substance, the perfect accessory for a powerful wizard. But Barnaby had never been interested in their fairer sex. To be completely honest, he had never been interested in the sterner sex either until one day he had woken up and suddenly realised his longing for Jax’s arms wrapped around his, their bodies pressed together, lips moving—

Barnaby cut off his thoughts and blushed, squirming slightly in his seat as he tried to flush out the inappropriate thoughts. He picked up a fire seed and cast the Freezing Spell on it, the cool sensation leaving his wand and seeping through his thick glove which held the fire seed until he felt calmer. He reached for the next seed, finding a soothing rhythm in the process, enjoying how the red of the fire seed was encased in ice so much that he barely remembered Caelia and Jax working together. It was kind of monotonous, but, he said as he turned away from Jax and Caelia to his desk partner, “sometimes it’s good to have a break from brewing, don’t you think?”

Barnaby had been studying a lot over the past few weeks and to be able to do something as mindless as prepare fire seeds for a class was a nice break for him.

10 Barnaby Pye, Aladren Some need it cool. [Tag: Jack Spencer] 298 Barnaby Pye, Aladren 0 5

Caelia

January 10, 2017 7:00 PM

My grandmother told me never to talk to werewolves. by Caelia

It seemed Jax’s bad mood had nothing to do with her in particular but rather that he just hadn’t been feeling well at all as of late, and now that she thought about it she had noticed that he hadn’t been present in class recently. In fact, he seemed to be missing in classes quite frequently. Before they had ever talked, she never thought anything of it, not being one to give much thought to the presence of people she didn’t have a particular affection for one way or another. But if she thought back, it was becoming clear to her that even if he didn’t look the sickly sort (his roommate, Barnaby Pye would have been higher on her list to be the kind to always take ill) he obviously was not a very healthy wizard. She kind of felt bad for him.

“Of course,” Caelia said, eyes darting back to the seeds she had stopped working with only moments before. “I, um, I just saw it and it reminded me of you, I don’t know why.” She shrugged and looked down at her hands. “I hope you’re feeling better now, and that you stay healthy for awhile, being sick isn’t any fun. And I’ll, um, bring that present to you at dinner tonight, if that’s okay?”

Did she sound like a class idiot or what? Caelia busied herself by picking up another couple seeds. “It’s going alright,” she replied to his polite inquiry about her work. “A little slower than I’d like and a bit boring but…” She shrugged again, feeling very out of her element and not at all confident like how she usually felt when talking to, well, anyone really, because she was Caelia Lucan from a very good family and didn’t have to worry about anyone looking their nose down on her because why would they? Even if she wasn’t the smartest person around she still had everything else. “I guess it’s nice to have a little break, we’ve got CATs next term so I’m sure sixth year is going to be really busy.”

She felt eyes on the back of her head but when she turned around she only saw Barnaby Pye talking with Jack. She had never understood how Jack could get along with Barnaby—she supposed the bespectacled wizard might have treated her friend more kindly than others for being both an Aladren and from his home country, but Caelia had always gotten weird vibes from the standoffish younger Pye anyway. There was none of that warmth that Professor Pye despite his strictness had. Barnaby Pye was cold and awkward and didn’t seem to know how to talk to people.

“Anyway,” she said, turning her blonde head back to Jax and the fire seeds on the table in front of them. “I’m, um, I was glad to drop some classes at first, but now, I don’t know, I, uh, well, um, I can’t decide. Howaboutyou?” she rushed out, wanting to put the attention back on him now that they seemed to have navigated away from the earlier awkwardness so that she could have some time to breathe and collect herself.

10 Caelia My grandmother told me never to talk to werewolves. 307 Caelia 0 5

Laila Kennedy, Arne Reinhardt (Crotalus)

January 10, 2017 10:58 PM

Some are insufferable (Open thread) by Laila Kennedy, Arne Reinhardt (Crotalus)

Laila had been minding her own business, freezing fire seeds in order to prepare for the next potion they were going to be learning like Professor O’Malley had asked them to, so really it was in defence of the sanctity of the mind that she’d done it. She wasn’t the sort of student to go around hexing people for fun and she didn’t think she’d ever hexed another student before unless it was by accident or because they didn’t block properly in a DADA class. Laila didn’t think she was going to be making a habit of it either but he’d just been sitting there talking in that infuriatingly annoying way and she’d already been in a bit of a bad mood because it was her brother’s birthday and she knew she was missing out on a delicious cake back home and besides that, it was…her full moon so to speak.

And so, without even a pause or a flinch, as she was putting one frozen fire seed down in order to pick up another one, Laila gave Arne Reinhardt a cursory glance, and cast Silencio with a quick flick of her wrist on his yabbering mouth because she really didn’t want to hear another word out of him, before continuing on with her assignment as though nothing had happened at all.

Arne, for his part, barely noticed. At first. He hadn’t really even been listening to himself and the idea that Laila would ever stoop to using magic on another student had never crossed his mind so even though he saw her point her wand at him and even though he heard those words, he didn’t really register what it all meant until he noticed—quite a few moments later, that he was talking and she wasn’t even paying attention.

“Hey, did you hear me?” he asked. Laila didn’t even look up. “Hey!” he said louder, and that’s when he realized that not a single sound was coming out of his mouth. Now that’s just rude, he thought to himself crossly, huffing a bit and flicking some of the fire seeds from frozen pile around the table until she looked back at him. He pulled a sheet of crumpled paper from his backpack and with a dull pencil scribbled on it.

How am I supposed to complete the assignment, Kennedy?

He shoved the paper in her face. Laila reached out and placed a handful of fire seeds on the paper which quickly went up in flames. Arne reached out with his protective gloves and stamped them out before any more damage could be caused and Laila gave him a look as though to say: what? Arne raised an eyebrow at her and waited patiently.

She sighed and spread her arms out in the universal sign for an apology. “I’m sorry, Arne!” she said. “I can’t remember the counter-curse!”

10 Laila Kennedy, Arne Reinhardt (Crotalus) Some are insufferable (Open thread) 318 Laila Kennedy, Arne Reinhardt (Crotalus) 0 5

Louis Valois, Aladren

January 11, 2017 1:49 PM

I prefer to be referred to as hot by Louis Valois, Aladren

Louis was disappointed that they weren’t actually brewing anything today. He found it fun, chucking a load of mostly disgusting ingredients in a cauldron and ending up with a working potion. However, he was aware that ingredients also had to be prepared. As much as he wished someone else could do the preparation, he wasn’t surprised that Professor O’Malley had decided that her students could help. If he were the professor, he was sure he’d use the students as minions for the less appealing tasks.

He put his hand up to answer the question, deciding to be a good student and win his house points. His answer was, of course, correct – it wasn’t a difficult question, and Louis was almost always up to date on what they’d been learning. Occasionally he got side-tracked by some other interesting topic, but most of the time he managed to stay on topic long enough to prepare for the lessons.

The glove was definitely useful, Louis found, as he picked up his first seed. He could feel the heat coming from the pile, and he reckoned they could probably do a fair bit of damage to him if he held one in his bare hand. He had a slight urge to test that theory out, but managed to resist. He wasn’t actually stupid.

However, freezing the seeds was tedious work. Louis tried to add some amusement by arranging his pile of frozen seeds to spell out his name, but even this didn’t really relieve the tedium. Pausing in the creation of his chef d’oeuvre, he turned around to see what everyone else was doing. Maybe there was someone he could annoy?

And bingo! His attention was distracting by the brief sight of flames over by Arne and Laila. What were his friend and the pretty Crotalus witch up to? They were only a few desks over from him so, after a sneaky glance to make sure Professor O’Malley wasn’t looking straight at him, Louis slipped out of his chair and moved to sit in one by the duo. He arrived just in time to hear Laila announce that she couldn’t remember the counter-curse, and, oh, this was brilliant. She’d cursed Arne? He wondered what curse she had used.

“What’ve you done, Laila?” he asked, grinning widely. “Was it the sponge-knees curse? The jelly-brain jinx? Not that we’d see a difference there, given that it’s Arne…”

Arne seemed to be suspiciously silent despite Louis’s arrival and subsequent insult. This suspicious behaviour gave the Aladren a fairly good idea of what had actually happened.

“Cat got your tongue, Arne?” he asked innocently, ruining his innocent act by winking at Laila.

9 Louis Valois, Aladren I prefer to be referred to as hot 314 Louis Valois, Aladren 0 5

Jax

January 11, 2017 9:59 PM

You're grandmother is a fool. by Jax

Girls who were nervous or embarrassed were always adorable in Jax’s opinion. It made him feel bad to think that way because they shouldn’t need to be in that state of emotion for him to see them as adorable but that was just how it went for him sometimes. Caelia was a pretty girl, she knew it, he knew it, and the majority of their class knew it. But being pretty was not the same as being adorable. He supposed it was the same way that he always felt the need to calm girls who seemed distressed or protect them if they ever needed it. Right now, Caelia was adorable to him and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that, so he just ignored it.

“Well, I appreciate the thought and dinner would be fine.” He wouldn’t look forward to any of the looks the girls would throw his way (or Joella if she happened to be sitting with them that evening) when Caelia came up to the table baring a gift for him, but he would deal with the questions after the fact. He didn’t usually have people thinking of him or were kind enough to purchase something for him as a gift, no matter how small the gift was.

She had a point. The break in having to learn another potion was nice and since Jax wasn’t in the best of moods where a potion would have likely made him work with another student, it was probably better that he didn’t have to deal with the extra stress of it. Even so, this still felt more like a Beginner’s lesson than one that he should be learning during his CATS year. At least he had time to not think about things for the entire class. That rarely happened for him and sometimes when he was feeling this way, that was exactly what he needed.

When she looked around, Jax did too and found Barnaby in his line of sight. He frowned, but since Barnaby wasn’t looking at them or anything, Jax returned his gaze to Caelia and to his seeds. There must have been some reason for her to look, so he would keep his eye on Barnaby and how he interacted with Caelia for a little while just to be sure he wasn’t planning on anything. Jax still didn’t know his end game for Neveah, but he was keeping an eye out for that one too.

He gave a chuckle, a smile grazing his face as he did so, lighting it up for a small moment, as she seemed to stumble over her words. He didn’t mean to laugh at her, but again, it was that feeling of her adorableness that made him feel a little bit better and he found it cute. It was a natural reaction and he felt bad about it immediately afterword. “Sorry, I did not mean to laugh.” He said quickly. “I probably won’t drop anything, if I’m being honest. I do not really know what I want to do after Sonora, so I have to make sure I have enough credits for various options.” Jax explained. “Is there anything that you want to do that certain lessons my help with making it happen?” He asked her.

6 Jax You're grandmother is a fool. 296 Jax 0 5

Caelia

January 13, 2017 12:20 AM

Is this the path of pins or the path of needles? by Caelia

Caelia smiled, still embarrassed over the whole Christmas present thing especially as it was nowhere near Christmas time now, and nodded. “Great, I’ll see you then,” she said to his hands, feeling a little awkward for not having looked him in the eye but not really wanting to amend that because she was perfectly happy looking at his hands, thank you very much.

Jax had a nice laugh and a nice smile too, and it surprised Caelia who had only just begun to recollect herself after her earlier embarrassment. But these sorts of social surprises were the sort of the thing she knew how to handle—when other people did the unexpected it was always easy to smoothly move on. It was the graceful, classy thing to do and Grandmother had taught her the importance of that. When Caelia herself made a mistake, however, like earlier with assuming more about Jax than she obviously should have, she was at a loss.

So, instead of blushing again or stumbling over her words, Caelia only nodded, a friendly smile on her still flushed from earlier cheeks. It was a curse of having pale skin, she thought. Blushes just didn’t seem to fade easily. “It’s okay,” she replied. “Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t have taken it badly even if you hadn’t apologised.” And why would she have? It hadn’t been a mean laugh, just surprising, and exactly the sort of laugh that occurred when someone was happy.

His questions about what she wanted to do after Sonora sobered her slightly though and she looked away, almost ashamed of herself. Jax was a wizard, he didn’t understand. He had all the choice in the world, even if he didn’t know what he would do once he left Sonora he still had a future, a future which his coursework would apply to. Caelia was going to have a future too, she’d always known that. But recently she wasn’t sure if she wanted that future anymore. All kinds of things were starting to make her question that.

“I don't know if I'll have much choice in the matter,” she finally said plainly, her cheeks hot even as she turned back to look at him. All she was was a pretty face and everyone knew it—why should she try to deny it? “I'm expected to marry well and have lots of children, especially an heir. A career won't be in the cards for me so it doesn’t matter what I want.”

OOC: Title credit goes to: The Story of Grandmother, a lovely oral telling of Little Red Riding Hood because I couldn't decide which of these lines to use:

-Little girls, this seems to say / Never stop upon your way / Never trust a stranger friend / No-one knows how it will end / As you're pretty, so be wise / Wolves may lurk in every guise / Now as then, 'tis simple truth / Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth.

-Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.

-You pay too much attention to your granny. She knows a lot but she doesn't know everything. And if there's a beast in men, it meets its match in women too.

Obviously they were all too long, but I was trying to decide which parts to cut from. Those are all from The Company of Wolves, the film adapted from a short story of the same name in Angela Carter's collection The Bloody Chamber.

10 Caelia Is this the path of pins or the path of needles? 307 Caelia 0 5

Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

January 14, 2017 6:50 AM

I don't but I might be in for it by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

Raine sat in Potions class, keeping quietly to herself as usual. Her performance in the class was hit and miss. She was a careful person by nature, but sometimes the more complex interweavings of the directions got away from her a bit... She had patience, but it seemed to serve her better in Charms (and other wandwork classes, but she was better at Charms than the others) where you had to practise over and over again until you got it just right. That was like the circus. Potions, you had to be patient to make sure you'd done everything thoroughly and to wait for it to brew, but it oscillated between a calm and tranquil nothing-much-happeningness and moments of sheer panic, where a mistimed or miscounted stir could result in utter disaster. Luckily, Professor O'Malley seemed nice about it. Raine wasn't a trouble maker, never had been, but she was used to people treating members of her family as such. 'Random' stop and searches by the authorities always seemed to land on them. If they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were always assumed to have been there with clear criminal intent. She expected people to see her mistakes as deliberate disobedience because that was what she'd been raised to expect from authority. Sonora was definitely softening her on that. She didn't fully trust The System yet, but she trusted individual people, like Professor O'Malley much more than she had on first meeting them.

She couldn't quite believe her ears as she heard the assignment for the day. Not only was it actually Charms rather than Potions but it was something she knew how to do! Her family took long trips, and moved all over. They also had a penchant for scavenged food and herbal remedies. Although there were seasonal and geographical variants for most of these, her mother had definite favourite varieties. Preserving their foraged goods for later use was a valuable skill, and in her family, magic that was useful was taught as you went along. From a young age, she had been allowed to handle her relatives' wands for practise (and learnt how to sleight of hand them out of her possession should a law enforcer turn up – perhaps there was some justification from both sides for their mutual mistrust of the other) – formal schooling hadn't entered their heads at that point, and it had been assumed that life would just be one long learning process.

Raine slipped on a glove, happily picking up a fire seed and aiming her wand.

“Glacius,” she neatly and confidently cast, freezing the seed. Her family dried most ingredients, but freezing could be useful for things like berries. She picked up and completed another one before she remembered that, as a third year, she might not be meant to be very good at this spell. Normally she was more cautious with allowing her talent to shine, but she had just been so excited at the prospect of an hour of good work instead of tension and potentially misery that she had got carried away. She paused, glancing out of the corner of her eyes at a couple of neighbours to see if she could assess how any other third years were getting on. She was reasonably good at Charms, so perhaps it wouldn't seem that odd. Her performance in all subjects could be hit and miss, mostly based on which spells she'd had chances to practise outside of school, though she tried to keep a low profile and frown and hum and har a bit if she knew the spell, to try to deflect from how easily she was doing it. However, she was more consistent in Charms than anything else, so maybe this would just pass as her having one of her good days, in one of her better subjects.

She didn't get much chance to evaluate her neighbours' performance before one of them took the opportunity of her breaking off from her work to strike up a conversation.

13 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw I don't but I might be in for it 327 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jax

January 16, 2017 3:12 PM

My tiny huntress, do you know what you've done to me? by Jax

He couldn’t help but feel as though they had just made a date for dinner even though logically he knew that it was just her stopping by to give him the small gift that she had purchased for him. He would have to write home to his mother to find out what he was supposed to do in response to a gift from one of the more ‘popular’ girls in the school. She would be impressed and quite possibly alarmed if it came to light that a Lucan was vaguely interested in him because it could cause issues for them, but his mother didn’t dig so deeply into their personal lives as she felt they were responsible enough to make the correct decisions.

If he could have, he would have written to Shelly instead. She had taken it upon herself to begin giving him advice on his life. She even advised that having any sort of casual relationship with Joella was just cruel for him to do to the girl who had been open about her feelings for him. It made him feel rather guilty for everything over the past couple of months, but he hadn’t gotten up the courage to discuss this with Joella. Plus, he really enjoyed spending time with her and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to give that up just yet. That was a selfish thought to have, he knew, but he couldn’t help himself.

Shelly would have given him the appropriate response for his situation with Caelia. He was really flabbergasted that the pretty blonde who could have had any male in the school wrapped around her finger was thoughtful enough to give him a small gift for Christmas. Her gift could have been anything, something as small as a button, but the fact would still remain, she was much kinder than he had given her credit for and he felt guilty for thinking so little of her before they had really spoken. He supposed that was just an example of why a person should never judge a book by its cover. He guessed he could be placed in that category too; don’t judge a werewolf by its teeth, or something along that line of thought.

Jax frowned when he noticed Caelia’s reaction to his question. Had he said something wrong? He didn’t think so since they were simply talking about futures and the like, but her reaction seemed to be an odd one to him. But her explanation put an end to his thoughts and it clicked in his head. She was Pureblood with expectations. These same expectations that would have befell him and Gia had things gone the way they should have. He watched her carefully as she explained her situation and that sad pull in his stomach gave him a tug. His life wasn’t really in his hands either. People who were werewolves really didn’t have much say in their futures either. The prejudice against them often left them as nomads traveling around the world just trying to find some work. Maybe he would get lucky, but his life was never lucky.

“That’s nonsense.” Jax replied quietly, looking put off by her words. “You should have a say in your own life. Let’s say that you do, what is it that you would want? What would you want for yourself?”

6 Jax My tiny huntress, do you know what you've done to me? 296 Jax 0 5

Angelique Brockert, Crotalus

January 20, 2017 6:15 PM

Taking a chance by Angelique Brockert, Crotalus

Angelique sat in Potions trying hard not to look as sullen as she felt inside. After all, such looks marred her attractive features. It was just that she hated being at school so much. All she'd ever wanted from the time she'd understood such things was to come to Sonora and be popular .

Mother had always taught her that there was nothing more important for girl than to make the right friends and grow up to get married to an important pureblood man, have lunches with ladies of similar status and throw fabulous classy parties. Angelique had pulled off the last with a fair amount of success but a lot of those were children of western pureblood families who went to other schools. Of all of them, there were only Daniel and Tasha in her class invited. And Tasha hadn't even been able to attend.

It wasn't fair, it really wasn't and truth be told, it made Angelique angry. Not that her cousin couldn't come to the party but her day to day situation. She shouldn't be the one with no friends. Okay, yes, there were people in her class she personally had no desire to be friends with but why on earth were they preferred to her? What was so great about them? Angelique had had the same exposure to them as everyone else and saw no reason why they would be better liked.

And she was stuck in Potions too. Such a dull, dreary class. Everything had to be so precise, no room for imagination whatsoever. Angelique tried not to frown, as it would just cause wrinkles in the end.

However, when she heard that today's lesson was going to be using cooling charms on fire seeds, the Crotalus cheered up slightly. Charms was one of her better classes and it beat toiling away. Finding herself seated next to Raine Collindale, one of the more acceptable people in the third year class based on the fact that she wasn't a jock, the third year made a decision. She was going to show the Teppenpaw how worthwhile her company was. She spoke. "Isn't this a nice change?" She asked.

11 Angelique Brockert, Crotalus Taking a chance 332 Angelique Brockert, Crotalus 0 5

Raine

January 28, 2017 12:21 AM

On me? by Raine

Raine fidgeted nervously when she realised who she was sitting next to. Angelique made her uncomfortable for a couple of reasons. First, she was from a wealthy, Pureblood family. The kind that probably kept politicians in their pockets and thus effectively ran the country. Raine was more afraid of the figures of The Establishment that she came directly into contact with, such as officials from MACUSA whose ‘random spot searches’ always seemed to “randomly” target people like her, or the Professors of Sonora who had it in their power to issue her with failing grades, detentions or otherwise just humiliate her in front of the class. But she knew people like Angelique were on the other side of some great divide that existed in society. They were the Haves, whilst Raine was one of the Have nots. In terms of money, she didn’t care, but the power wielded by The Haves scared her.

Then there was the fact that Angelique showed up to pretty much every class looking flawless and model like. Her brown hair was always neatly styled, in sharp contrast with Raine’s - about the biggest thing you could say they had in common was that they were both shades of brunette, but Raine’s locks permanently looked like she’d been assaulted by a Venemous Tentacular, no matter how thoroughly she brushed them. Raine normally didn’t mind this. She quite liked her hair, in its own odd way. There was nothing wrong with being wild and spirited and, whilst most people might not have said that about her, they were definitely the nicer ways of describing her hair, and she liked that. It was just that, however much you liked your differences, or knew it was what was on the inside that counted, there was just something about sitting next to Angelique Brockert that made you feel those things in a bad way, like you were a bit of a mess that hadn’t really tried hard enough to look like a civilised human being, because she was pretty sure that was what Angelque must be thinking looking at her (even though she had tried, her hair was just like this).

As Angelqiue spoke, she prepared herself for either some probing enquirey about how she’d got quite so good at this spell, or a snide remark about her appearance. Neither came. Instead, Angelique seemed to be interested in making small talk with her. At least, she was pretty sure that was what it was.

“Mm, I guess,” she nodded with a slight smile. If Angelique had noticed Raine at all (something Raine rather doubted) she would know that she was fairly close-mouthed and that, in spite of her finding Angelique a bit intimidating, this really wasn’t personal. She just wasn’t all that good at small talk. Or big talk really. Or any of the sizes in between. On the whole, she pegged herself more as a sympathetic listening kind. Although because she doubted Angelique did know that much about her, and she didn’t want to come off as rude, she made an effort to think of something else to say, to try and keep the conversation going. “Uh, you like Charms then?” she asked, a little awkwardly.

13 Raine On me? 327 Raine 0 5

Jack Spencer, Aladren

February 04, 2017 12:21 PM

Some need it just right. by Jack Spencer, Aladren

Jack had been feeling slightly pathetic recently - a feeling quite unfamiliar to him - so he'd been throwing himself into his studies more fervently than before. He enjoyed making conversation with his classmates and whoever sat at his table during meals, but making friends he could hang out with and have drama with and etcetera seemed to evade him, other than his Quidditch mates. However, when he did hear snippets of the dramas his room-mates went through, Jack was somewhat glad he wasn't particularly close to any of them to be an invested participant. Classes and studies were consistent unlike people. He just wished he didn't desire human interactions so much.

Since Caelia was his future brother-in-law's sister and one of his only friends here at Sonora, he watched out for her just as he did for Lily. She was pretty to look at as well, and he was certain if their siblings weren't romantically involved, he would've been much more attracted to her. However, as it was, Jack tried to see her simply as family. He didn't know what sort of drama was going on between Jax and Barnaby, but it was clear there was something. Jax had moved out - not that Jack had noticed, really - and things seemed odd whenever Jack saw the two together.

Instead of thinking idle thoughts, Jack focused on his Potions assignment for today. It was going to be dull, but necessary for whatever they were going to brew next. He slipped the thick glove on before picking up one of the fire seeds. He could feel the heat on his face even at a distance; it was fascinating how these seeds were harvested. "I suppose," replied Jack. "Glacium." The fire seed was encompassed by a layer of ice which was already quickly melting. "I wish it was a bit more exciting than cooling down fire seeds though." Jack picked up another.

"Are you and Jax all sorted?" he asked, having noticed the looks Barnaby was sending his way. If Jack looked deeper into it, he would've assumed Barnaby was interested in Caelia, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. "Last I heard you two were having a row of some sort."

40 Jack Spencer, Aladren Some need it just right. 299 Jack Spencer, Aladren 0 5

Laila, Arne

February 13, 2017 1:34 PM

You <i>would</i> say that. by Laila, Arne

At first, when Louis came over, Laila thought he was going to upset with her for having silenced their...well, she supposed after all these years Arne was her friend. Instead, he joined in the fun and she giggled as he poked fun at Arne. Arne, on the other hand, did not find it quite so funny and his scowl only grew deeper as Louis asked if the cat had gotten his tongue.

“It’s true,” Laila said, shaking her head as though it were completely tragic. “Arne really does have jelly for brains, that’s why he struggles so much with things and it seems like the jelly has gotten the best of him—he can no longer speak. Tragic, really.” She placed a hand over her heart and Arne reached for a pen and paper, scrawling a message down for them to read, but he was so annoyed and was writing so fast that what came out was completely illegible.

"Sorry, what was that?" Laila asked, finding Arne's predicament a little more than a bit funny now. "I didn't quite catch that. Did you, Louis?" She offered the handsome Aladren a grin and turned back to her fire seeds. “Hop to it, Arne,” she said as she cooled several seeds with ease. “These seeds won’t cool themselves, you know.”

Arne stamped his foot and gave Louis a pleading look. He hadn’t started learning non-verbals yet but the moment he did know them he knew exactly what it was he was going to do. Curse the crap out of his two so-called friends!

10 Laila, Arne You <i>would</i> say that. 318 Laila, Arne 0 5