For real? on Herbology

Nathan Xavier

June 12, 2021 9:21 AM

Beginners: Magic Beans by Nathan Xavier

Nathan welcomed the beginner class to Greenhouse One from well inside of it. It was cold outside and he wasn't wearing his heavy robes. Inside the greenhouse, it was quite comfortable in his normal ones. He returned the essay from the latest homework assignment - it was much easier to keep on top of his grading now that the kids were getting a bit older. Otto was still small, of course, but he was past the sleep deprivation stage, and the boy had an obvious preference for his Mama that Isis was only all too happy go along with. Nathan would have liked to be able to help a little more but there was an obvious division of labor when one of them could make the toddler's cries stop just by walking into the room and the other only made him scream louder because he wasn't Isis.

But it did mean Nathan could get his papers graded.

He returned them with the personal comments he normally accompanied such returns with, and told the students to go find a seat around one of the two long work tables that ran along the center of the greenhouse. In front of each seat there was a tray of dirt about three inches deep and a cup full of beans. It was a lidded cup. The beans inside were not all sitting still like good little beans, and the lid was there to keep them from escaping. "Don't touch anything yet," he cautioned, though that was mostly so nothing got lost before the lesson began rather than because anything was remotely dangerous.

Once everyone had arrived and taken a seat, he stood between the two tables and began the day's introduction. "Hello, class, in front of you there is a cup full of magic beans. Has anyone heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk?" he asked. When several hands raised, he smiled at them, and let them down as gently as he could, "That tale is, unfortunately, entirely fiction. We will not be getting beanstalks into the clouds by morning just from throwing these out of a window. There are no magic beans that do that." Sometimes it was best to clarify these things. So many muggle fairy tales had at least a grain of truth to them, and Jack was no exception. There were giants. There were magic beans. They just weren't remotely related to one another. Also, giants don't live in the sky.

"These magic beans, you'll notice, are several different shapes, sizes, and colors. That is because there are several species of beans that qualify as 'magic beans', all of which do something a bit different than the others. The most famous real magic bean is, of course, the jumping bean. There are a few varieties of jumping bean, and not all of them are even magical, but the ones in your cup today are. They can jump much higher and farther than the ordinary muggle variety. You will need to be careful to not to let them get away from you. Once they're in the dirt, though, they should stay there. Those will be the easiest ones to identify in your cup. They're the ones that are moving around the most."

"Another one that moves is the climbing bean. That one will probably be at the top of your cup. You may also need to replant that one several times before it stays down. It has a tendency to climb back up to the surface of the tray."

"Others seem like normal beans but will grow much faster - those will give you a full grown beanstalk by morning, just not up to the clouds. Some have other magical properties when ingested or used in potions. Some of you will have a large purple bean in your cup that is one of the ingredients in the sorting potion we use here at Sonora. If you eat it by itself, it will turn your skin a different color based on your mood. Please don't eat the beans. We're just planting today."

"The magic beans unit starts on page 312 in your text. You're job today is to identify the beans in your cup, plant them in your tray, and label where you planted each type." He'd be lenient on the grading for wrongly labeled jumping beans and climbing beans, as those were not guaranteed to say where they were planted, but the rest would stay put. "Gloves are optional as nothing here is toxic or dangerous. You may, of course, talk amongst yourselves as you work."

OOC: You can assume a cup with about twenty beans of various kinds. Feel free to make up additional types of magic bean. Not every cup will have every kind of bean. Some cups may have multiple beans of the same type.

Subthreads:

For real? by Xavier Lundstrom with Augustine Reed-Fischer

I've heard of these... trouble. by Iris Cobb with Isla Brockert

1 Nathan Xavier Beginners: Magic Beans 28 1 5

Xavier Lundstrom

June 12, 2021 11:04 PM

For real? by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier entered the greenhouse, feeling less than stellar. He’d spend the previous day’s afternoon in the infirmary. It had been time for round number four of ‘will this magic potion help Xavier’s migraines?’ He had to admit that most of them took the edge off a little, compared to the remedies he’d been given at home, but the strange blue potion he’d ingested yesterday had come with some pretty weird dreams when it finally won out and knocked him unconscious. And today his head felt fuzzy and raw. It was like the migraine had somehow carried on while he was sleeping, and now he was dealing with the after-effects of it banging around inside his skull.

He slid into his seat, wondering what Miss Katey was going to say to his Mom. Mom had been worried about the fact that he seemed to be having more migraines, although he thought she might be just as likely to write to Professor Skies or Professor Carter-Xavier as she thought he was stressed by his lack of academic progress. Which he was. He just wasn’t sure there was a link with his migraines. They’d never really seemed to be triggered by stress in the past.

Still, it was time for a class he didn’t suck at, and question one was weirdly relatable, so he raised his hand when asked if he’d ever heard of a common children’s story. And then was promptly told not to think about it because it was nonsense. Well, okay then. That was a fun way to play things… He crossed his arms in front of himself on his desk, trying not to feel resentful. Professor Him was usually a pretty chill, nice guy, and probably wasn’t trying to make them feel like idiots. It wasn’t his fault that Xavier felt like an idiot without much extra help these days. Or that he felt like his head had been run over with a steamroller.

At least the class task sounded do-able. He didn’t need to use magic, just his eyes. They’d had days when they were in better working order and more connected to his brain, but he trusted them more than he did his wand.

He started by grabbing the obvious jumping bean and ramming it firmly into the earth without much further analysis, hoping it would stay there. He figured the climbing bean wouldn’t really be able to go much further than the rim of the cup, and if it did it would just fall onto the table, where there wasn’t much to climb, whereas if he put it in the earth, he’d need to worry about whether it was escaping again.

He opened up his book to try identifying the rest of the beans. There was a very vivid blue one, which matched only one of the pictures.

This bean is used in its diluted form in some pain relief potions, especially those to do with the head or brain. In its raw form, it is used in some traditional Native American rituals to aid with entering trance states.

Well, that explained the side effects he had experienced. He added it to his tray, just as his climbing bean toppled its way to freedom.

“Hey, back you go,” he stated, picking it up and popping it into the earth this time. “The bean, not you,” he added to a neighbour, noticing they had looked up at him when he spoke.

13 Xavier Lundstrom For real? 1529 0 5

Augustine Reed-Fischer

June 16, 2021 7:19 PM

For real. by Augustine Reed-Fischer

Gus never raised his hand in class, often because he wasn't paying full attention anyway, but he was pretty sure he could actually have said something about the question Professor Xavier asked today. He'd read fairytales at home, although they weren't all the ones that his peers were most familiar with because he also heard fairytales from his mom's home country. Also, fairytales had been a bit hush hush since everything came out with Jezebel anyway. His mother had always been hesitant to include any mention of magic in their lives just because it went against her beliefs but it had only increased since it turned out Jezebel basically was a fairytale, if a sort of bummer one. Now it was Gus' turn and he was determined to be a hilarious side character in an awesome adventure fairytale. Today, that adventure was about magic beans, which were apparently nothing like the magic beans most people knew and loved, and Gus was about to go hard in the comic relief trope.

When his neighbor reassured him that his comment thus far was about the beans and not Gus himself, Gus took it as his first chance to be hilarious and he totally nailed it, he was sure. Backing up in a robotic, dance-like fashion and then rewinding himself forward, he grinned at his classmate. "I'll stick around then," he said. He thought of asking whether Xavier was going to stick around since he was pretty sure the dude was out of class like all the time, but he didn't really pay enough attention to be sure of that and he didn't know him well enough to think it was his business. Maybe he had some personal problems; that wasn't Augustine's business. Instead, the Pecari just grinned and then glanced in his cup. Moving past the obvious jumping and climbing beans, he grabbed another one that was making itself known. "Marching bean!" he said before humming his best John Philip Sousa impression as the little gold bean marched across the table when he set it down.

22 Augustine Reed-Fischer For real. 1509 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

June 16, 2021 8:03 PM

But why? by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier laughed as Gus pretended to have taken his words literally. Xavier didn’t know his neighbours super well, but ‘fun’ seemed like a good word to describe them. Occasionally ‘loud’ as well. He was pretty sure there had to be some solid soundproofing (soundproofing magic?) going on because he was basing this more on what he saw of them in daily life than on ever having been disturbed by them, even though he was pretty sure they didn’t instantly become model citizens the second they went into their room.

Gus then put one of the beans down and hummed the president music for it. Xavier was starting to get used to the idea that, when people knew the same cultural touchstones as him, that most likely meant they were Muggleborn too, but this one didn’t really register. It was the president for crying out loud. Everyone knew who the president was, and it was too big a leap for him to think there might be more than one. The only person he would have expected to not know might have been Alexei – it felt much more like a foreign vs American difference than a magical vs non-magical one.

“Why does that exist though?” he asked, watching the bean. It was funny, sure, but what was the point? “Like, what’s useful about getting a bean to march? Surely it just makes them easier to lose?”

13 Xavier Lundstrom But why? 1529 0 5

Augustine Reed-Fischer

June 17, 2021 12:37 PM

That's not for us to know I don't think. by Augustine Reed-Fischer

Xavier's laugh basically counted as a success for Gus, so he checked that off his mental to-do list for the day (he tried to make someone laugh everyday but it wasn't usually too intentional because he was naturally hilarious and didn't have to try very hard or anything) before getting into the work. The younger student brought up a great point about the bean though and Gus cocked his head at it.

"Yeah, I've got nothing," he finally decided. "Maybe if you get a bunch of 'em together, you can put a big chair on top and ride around like a king on a tiny sea of marching beans?" It didn't seem like a terrible idea. Way better than walking all over this giant friggin' mansion, although it was a pretty dope mansion so he wasn't all mad about it.

He glanced at his now partner's work and raised his eyebrows. "Woah, that's a cool color," he said, pointing at the blue one on Xavier's tray. "What is it?" He dug around in his own cup only to find he didn't have that one. "I've got a little white one that looks like a bone, and a fat green one, but no blue ones."

22 Augustine Reed-Fischer That's not for us to know I don't think. 1509 0 5

Iris Cobb

June 19, 2021 11:37 AM

I've heard of these... trouble. by Iris Cobb

Iris entered Greenhouse One happy. It was time for her favorite class again! She loved working with the plants, it was almost like working in the garden back home. Even if there were some really odd plants and things, they still mostly followed the basic plant rules. They wanted dirt, light, water and such. Even when there were some really strange things about them, they still were plants.

She gave Professor Xavier a pleasant smile as she accepted her paper back from him. She had been doing fairly well in the class so far, and didn't expect the results on this paper to be much different. She found a seat, glanced at the cup and tray of dirt and then looked over her paper. She wished she was able to wonder why the Professor would give such a warning as people were sitting down. Why would someone touch things before they were instructed to do so? However, she suspected that the comment had been mainly directed at her brother. She sighed and read down over the results of her paper, nothing very out of the ordinary there so she tucked it away.

Iris naturally raised her hand at the Professor's question. It had been one of the stories in the book of tales on their bookshelf. As he continued though, she was glad to hear that there were no such beans. She was perfectly fine not causing giants to rain down from the sky. The task for the day sounded straight-forward enough. Again, she assumed the 'don't eat the color changing bean was for her brother's benefit', although she wasn't sure he'd actually follow those instructions. She would not be a bit surprised to find him some strange color after class.

Once released to work, Iris decided that step one was to open her book to the bean chapter and glance through it before opening her cup. If some of them were jumping and moving around, she wanted to be able to identify them as fast as she could. After perusing the bean chapter a few moments, she felt prepared to open her cup, and glancing at her neighbor she smiled. "What all did ya get in your cup?"

2 Iris Cobb I've heard of these... trouble. 1526 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

June 23, 2021 6:48 AM

But I have the Bean of Perception by Xavier Lundstrom

“That is what my life has been missing,” Xavier supplied dryly when Gus talked about being carried on a chair borne by tiny marching beans. “Maybe they’re useful in some kind of movement potion?” Were there even potions to do with movement? That seemed more of a charms thing. And the properties of potions ingredients didn’t always seem to relate to what the mixture did. But thinking laterally, and trying to answer the ridiculous questions this school posed seemed easier for him than anything with waving a wand. “Though which came first… They bred the bean to get the result, or they made use of a naturally occurring property? Maybe they’re just like that.

“It’s… got a bunch of names,” he gestured to the open textbook when Gus asked about his blue bean. The book had the Latin name as well as the default Western name, but having been used in rituals, the Native American name and a rough translation (‘The bean of perception’) was also given. “We smush it up and put it into headache cures. Other people use it for like… seeing stuff I guess? It makes you hallucinate like crazy basically, even when it’s diluted down in medicine,” he added, his tone having just that slight note of over confidence that suggested personal experience. “And it’s moderately effective on migraines,” he added, definitely sounding like he wasn’t reading from the book any more. He pushed the bean into the earth, labelling it with ‘Perception Bean.’

13 Xavier Lundstrom But I have the Bean of Perception 1529 0 5

Augustine Reed-Fischer

June 24, 2021 5:32 PM

P E R C E P T I O N by Augustine Reed-Fischer

OOC: CW Vaguely dirty joke left mostly unsaid. BIC:

Augustine grinned. He agreed wholeheartedly that his life had been missing bean thrones more than almost anything else, but he was pretty sure Xavier didn't actually mean it. Clearly the kid had his priorities wrong but not everyone could have a bean throne so maybe it was for the best if not everyone wanted one either. Xavier had a bunch of other questions though and he suddenly reminded Gus more of Jazz than anything. They were the sort of questions that Gus didn't mind thinking about but he just . . . didn't think about. Even now that they were posed, his mind was mostly wandering to the possibilities of movement potions more than the breeding history of marching beans.

"Maybe they're smashed up into shoe polish," he suggested with a shrug. "Although I guess magic people don't have to march as much as us huh? Or as much as non magic people," he corrected himself; as much as he had accepted the wizard world as totally dope and way cooler than anything else he'd seen, he still forgot sometimes that he was part of it. It was like getting backstage passes to Disney World and then finding out once you got there that you were a cast member.

He glanced cursorily at Xavier's open textbook before nodding. Another grin crossed his face, this one more mischievous. He wasn't supposed to know about the non-magical blue pill that came to mind so he didn't say anything about it but he did chuckle some at the idea of a magic blue bean pill. His eyebrows came together in confusion though a moment later.

"Wait, these people have literal magic and they can't cure headaches without a bean that makes you hallucinate?" he asked, incredulous and disappointed. "What the heck? No one here has heard of Advil or something?"

22 Augustine Reed-Fischer P E R C E P T I O N 1509 0 5

Isla Brockert

June 25, 2021 3:39 PM

Only some of them by Isla Brockert

Isla had been born into the magical world and she knew that when someone told you not to touch something-or in the case of Topaz, if she told you to touch something-the best idea was to not touch it. Although it might also be a good idea to listen when the older Aladren told you not to touch something because it might be something that belonged to Topaz which meant touching it might be deadly-because the seventh year might kill you. Yeah, Isla was definitely looking forward to her cousin graduating from Sonora for her own personal well being.

She was pretty sure though that Professor Xavier wasn't threatening them as he was more or less the opposite of Topaz. Either they were going to be doing something dangerous where they needed to take precautions or there was some other very good class related reason to listen. Besides just not getting detention. Which would be bad enough regardless of what detention ended up being. She was an Aladren, so it be a great shame. Getting detention wasn't really considered cool in her house. Of course, it probably wasn't considered cool in Crotalus or Teppenpaw either. Isla couldn't imagine Esme or Amethyst approving of the sorts of behaviors that got one detention. Come to think of it, the fourth year might be more horrified if Isla acted that way than their Aladren father.

Professor Xavier started the lesson. Although Isla much preferred Pinocchio-it was about a puppet- to Jack and the Beanstalk, this sounded like an interesting and fun lesson. She'd always liked Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, in particular some of the weird flavors such as hot sauce and garlic- which was Owen's favorite flavor, of course-and shrimp and beef jerky and taco and olive and pepper and cheese. All the ones that most people thought were disgusting,were her favorites although she did not like flavors like mud and earwax, Isla did have her limits.

Anyway, this was sort of Bertie Bott's bean sort of lesson, although they apparently were not going to be eating any of these beans. She took the lid off of her cup as carefully as possible just in case any of them tried to escape and looked through it. "I have one of those purple beans that goes in the sorting potion and a climbing bean." Isla replied to Iris's question. She was going to have to figure out how to keep that one from getting loose. "What about you?"

11 Isla Brockert Only some of them 1521 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

June 26, 2021 7:21 AM

Yeah, that by Xavier Lundstrom

OOC: CW illness/vomiting (passing mention) BIC:

Gus was like him then. He’d had a vague idea that was the case but, seeing as he hadn’t been totally sure where he’d gotten that from, it was good to have it confirmed.

He laughed a very bitter laugh at the mention of Advil. The first sign of people not understanding what the heck he was going through was when they told him to take one of those. Not that Gus fell into that category, because right now they weren’t discussing Xavier specifically – or, if they were, Gus didn’t know it.

“Not all pain can be conquered with Advil,” he sighed. “I’m sure they’ve got a pretty close magical equivalent. Don’t worry, if you end up with a headache, they won’t start you off on the hallucination juice.” Only when it was your fifth time visiting and nothing else had worked, and you were minutes away from spiraling into mind-bending pain where all anyone could do was leave you completely alone in absolute darkness and absolute silence. At that point, it was worth risking making you a little loopy. Worth giving you medication that… He wasn’t even sure. He knew the images had been vivid, but they had been hard to cling to. He didn’t remember anything truly mind-bending, like.. out of this world imaginary. He was pretty sure people from school had been involved. The one image that stuck out clearly was Oz Spellman with his shirt off. That was… confusing. Not in that he was thinking about boys. His parents had moved churches because of his tendency to say other boys were pretty. And not that he knew whether he meant anything by that, but they hadn’t wanted other people telling him what he ought to think about it before he even knew what he was thinking. But apparently, his subconscious had decided they were at the point where other boys with their shirts off was a thing they wanted to think about, though he wasn’t sure why it had honed in Oz when a lot of other boys were cuter than he was.

“You got any others that might escape?” he prodded Gus back towards his pot of beans. He was never sure how to deal with the subject of his migraines when it came up. He generally preferred that they didn’t. He didn’t want to discuss what it was like being physically sick either because the pain in your head was so bad or because the rest of your body had decided to join in on the act of trying the pull you apart from the inside, or the fact that no one could ever quite work out which of those was what was happening to him, much less how to make it stop. When other people started talking about this, it was so much harder to forget that this kept happening, that there was no way to stop it, and he didn’t know if it would ever get better. He also didn’t want to discuss that apparently when he got pepped up on bean juice he thought about ogling Gus’ roommate.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Yeah, that 1529 0 5

Iris Cobb

June 27, 2021 4:27 PM

Some are okay then? by Iris Cobb

Iris very cautiously opened the lid of her bean cup. It was a good thing too, also good she looked over the chapter a bit first. Her eyes had quickly identified both the climbing and jumping beans doing their best to escape their imprisonment. She quickly snapped the lid back into place. "I've got a jumping bean and a climbing one," she reported back to Isla. "There are a bunch more at the bottom, but I think it's best to deal with those two first. I didn't see a purple one though."

Pulling her planting tray over in front of her, Iris poked a hole into the dirt for her two trouble-maker beans. She should really talk some more to Isla, she was a Brockert, well connected and knew a lot about magical stuff. Plus it never hurt to be on friendly terms with your roommates relatives either. Iris liked Amethyst and Isla as well. The only trouble was what to talk about? Iris was usually okay once a conversation got rolling, but starting one she found difficult. She supposed they could talk about beans, but that didn't seem to have much substance to it. Hmm... oh... she brightened.

Iris popped the lid of her cup quickly and deftly grabbed the jumping bean before closing the container once more. She held it tight while turning back to Isla. "Do you have any ideas what you are going to do once you graduate?" She buried the bean into the first hole she had made and covered it quickly. It seemed satisfied. "I know we've got some time to figure it out," Iris continued, "but I like to plan ahead."

2 Iris Cobb Some are okay then? 1526 0 5

Isla Brockert

June 29, 2021 12:09 AM

Yes, but not climbing beans. by Isla Brockert

"That sounds like a good idea." Isla replied, eyeing her climbing bean warily. She was curious about the others, like the totally awesome bright orange one that she'd spotted, but she sort of wanted to get this out of the way. She followed her classmate's example in digging a hole for her climbing bean, wishing that if she had to get a problem bean it had been the jumping one instead, as that one sounded like a little less of a problem. Oh well, this was what she'd ended up with, she was going to have to deal with it.

Isla removed the climbing bean the best she could and put it into the hole she had dug."Well, I probably will just get married and have kids and do like socialite and charity stuff." She replied. "That's sort of what girls from families like mine do ." In all honesty, she didn't mind that much since it saved her the trouble of figuring out a career that she liked. Isla wasn't as anxious as Allegra or as prim and proper as Esme but there wasn't really anything that she was...that put out not to do and she probably could do something if she really wanted to.

Still, she really hoped Iris wouldn't judge her for the fact that she probably wasn't going to work when she grew up. The Aladren knew there were people that looked down on stay at home wives and moms or socialite types. That they thought it was old-fashioned and that being old fashioned was inherently bad. And yes, perhaps pureblood society was a bit behind the times but having a career wasn't for everyone. She could not see Allegra or Sapphire doing well with one. "Besides, I want to be there for my kids and be more hands on, like my mother is." Isla felt that was better for a child's well being.

She continued." Besides, the only thing I really feel that passionately about is puppetry and that's a very specialized field. It's unlikely to be something I can make a career out of." The Aladren spotted the climbing bean climbing out of it's hole and she put it back down. In some ways, the beans could be a good metaphor for children. The more boisterous noisy ones got a lot of attention and the others got overlooked. Isla was lucky that her siblings weren't like that and she got enough attention.

"Still, if there's something you especially want to do, you should go for it." She added. The second year didn't think there was anything wrong with a girl wanting to work, it was just uncommon to girls in her position. Besides, Isla knew very well that not everyone was as lucky as her and most people outside her world had to. "It's impressive that you want to plan. My cousin Jasper is a third year and he doesn't know what he wants to do yet, but my cousin Chris whose coming next year wants to be an architect. What were you thinking of doing?"

11 Isla Brockert Yes, but not climbing beans. 1521 0 5

Iris Cobb

June 30, 2021 8:38 PM

What about the jumping ones? by Iris Cobb

Iris had popped open the lid of her cup once again and this time snagged the climbing bean from it's perch at the top of the cup. Once this one was planted, the rest should be relatively simple if she could identify them all. That part didn't bother her much though, she had no reason to believe she wouldn't be able to. That was the assignment for the class and it would be rather poor for the professor to have given them an impossible task.

She gave her partner a little bit of a surprised look in response to her future plans. She wasn't entirely sure what 'socialite and charity stuff' was exactly, but it didn't exactly sound like the kind of work Iris was used to hearing about. She stuck her climbing bean into it's new home while she processed the information and Isla finished talking.

Girls from her family worked one way or another; growing crops, teaching, some hunted and doctored, whatever the community needed. It was the same with the men, but somethings girls were just better at. "So, what exactly is the socialite and charity stuff you'll do?" Iris was curious now, maybe this was a job she could do that she hadn't heard of yet. "As for your puppetry, you might make a job out of it back home." she offered helpfully, "They're always looking for ways to entertain the young'uns that aren't big enough to get stuck with schoolin' yet."

Iris shrugged at Isla's question. "I'm not sure yet. I'm not quite sure what all is out there really. I like gardening and drawing." She paused before adding, "More flowers than crops though." Crops were necessary and alright, but not nearly as nice as flowers. Unfortunately flowers weren't much use on the mountain other than to keep the bees happy and making honey.

2 Iris Cobb What about the jumping ones? 1526 0 5

Isla Brockert

July 02, 2021 7:14 PM

Those also suck, but they at least stay down by Isla Brockert

Iris seemed surprised by Isla's answer. The Aladren supposed they were from very different worlds. She knew the younger girl was not from a magical background-which meant Isla was happy to teach her about it and help her adjust-and it seemed she might not be used to rich pureblood people. Which was fine, after all, why should she be? Although she did share a room with Amethyst, the epitome of Rich Pureblood Girl.

She considered Iris's question. "I think a socialite is someone who attends and throws fashionable parties, for the most part. Most of the time it's rich women. My cousin Angelique primarily does this and I think Amethyst is planning to do a lot of it. My sister Esme is going to make a good one too. I'm a tad iffy on this aspect of Pureblood Ladydom." While people like Amethyst, Esme and Angelique relished it and people like Allegra and Sapphire dreaded it, Isla could take it or leave it. She didn't expect to have very interesting conversations since she was on the odd side and therefore, going to have a difficult time finding people with common interests. Maybe the second year would cultivate friendships with other unique and interesting people.

Isla continued."The charity stuff...well, that's like supporting and organizing events to raise money for various causes.So that...is basically making money to help people. It can overlap with socialite stuff because people...throw parties to raise money for charities and it's generally good to be seen at these things because you look like a good person." Her family was generally involved in plenty of charities with lots of causes that nobody could really object to like helping poor people and abused children. And of course, Aunt Madeleine was involved in a charity for people with allergies because of how many allergies Miles had.

Out of the corner of her eye, Isla spotted her climbing bean worming its way out of the soil. Putting aside a red bean that she knew to be used in hair dyes and shampoos for redheads, she grabbed the climbing bean and shoved it back in its hole. "I do love doing puppet shows for my little cousins. I always planned to do them for my own children and nieces and nephews and my cousins' children some day." An idea occured to her. "Maybe I can do charity puppet shows when I get older. Like, put on a puppet show and charge money for tickets and donate the money to a good cause." That sounded like a lot more fun than some snooty party.

Of course, her own children would come first. Isla wanted to be more like her own mother than like Aunt Opal. She genuinely felt that it was better for them. Her cousins seemed to have some complexes regarding her aunt's parenting style. Although, some of their issues-or rather, a good portion of them-came from the fact that Topaz was a psychopath who made their lives miserable. Allegra had issues around that as well, but she didn't have the ones that stemmed from an inattentive mother. And Jasper had issues about flying and Quidditch because of Uncle Eustace, so not all of the problems her cousins had were because of Aunt Opal. And her sister and her cousin Chris (who also had issues because of Uncle Eustace) had mothers who paid attention to them and still came out with problems. Still, hopefully her siblings wouldn't have a psychopathic child the same age as one of hers and she knew neither of her brothers were anything like her uncle. Olaf was more likely to stick his nose in a book and not pay attention to his nephews than force them into playing Quidditch. Especially since he wasn't fond of the game.

"You could be an artist." Isla suggested. "Or an illustrator. My cousin Owen's wife, Jemima does that. She illustrates the books that he writes." She thought for a minute. "And if you like flowers and plants, you could be an Herbologist or Herbology teacher. Or if it's just flowers you like, you could be a florist and have your own flower shop."

11 Isla Brockert Those also suck, but they at least stay down 1521 0 5

Iris Cobb

July 03, 2021 10:53 AM

I'd think they'd be just as bad by Iris Cobb

Iris listened to Isla explain her world while she put her climbing bean into it's hole. Then shoved it back down into it's hole, then shoved it down into it's hole again. Finally she just held her fingers over the spot where it was planted while she replied to the slightly older girl.

"So..." she drawled out a little slowly, "A socialite's job is to go to and throw parties?" That didn't sound like a bad job to her. There were a few celebrations on the mountain, birthdays and holidays mostly, but there really wasn't anyone's job to organize the parties. The task just sorta fell to whomever was the least busy with their normal tasks at the time, or whoever had a bigger stake in the party. The charity stuff sounded like more of the same sort of thing but with a different purpose. Iris knew that charity was a good thing, and that helping out people that had it worse than you was something that you should do. That was generally how they all lived up on the mountain, everyone worked to make sure everyone had the things they needed to get by.

"Those sound good," she considered, it sounded like she would just need to figure out how to become a rich, pureblood lady. How hard could that be? She nodded to herself satisfactorily, it would go on her list of things to look into. "A charity puppet show could be a good idea," she agreed. She wasn't quite sure how many adults would be interested, she couldn't quite imagine Ma or Pa giving money to watch a puppet show, but adults might pay money to have their kids entertained at one.

It turned out that Isla was full of other ideas as well. "Hmm..." she thought about it for a moment, "Then I would need to find an author to marry." Marriage was something else all together, that she would worry about later. "An herbology teacher like Professor Xavier?" she looked at the man presiding over their class. "Maybe? The flower shop sounds kinda nice as well, but I'm not sure a lot of folk back home would buy them."

2 Iris Cobb I'd think they'd be just as bad 1526 0 5

Isla Brockert

July 05, 2021 11:20 PM

I suppose they could be by Isla Brockert

Isla nodded. "From what I can tell, that's about it. I think there's also a lot of being photographed at the 'right' events and appearing in society pages." Truth be told, she didn't know everything about it because she was only thirteen. She was too young for most of it and her parents were the sort that believed in keeping their underage children away from the press. Not all people within that particular career had the best of intentions and the last thing her parents wanted was their children being damaged from being too much in the public eye.

Of course, to be fair, Isla couldn't see why anyone would be interested in the exploits of her or her little brothers at this point. Would they honestly be interested in Olaf reading-because that's basically all he did for the most part-or Uriah eating cookies and playing with toys? As for her older sisters, Allegra was actually now an adult but didn't seem to want to be photographed and be the center of public attention while Esme seemed to want to be in the society pages, and seen as a fashionable young socialite but their parents still limited her exposure because of her age.

Personally, Isla could take it or leave it, just like the rest of being a socialite. She wasn't too sure she wanted to be subject to public scrutiny. Fortunately, she had been raised in such a way that she was unlikely to do something truly scandalous and shameful

The Aladren grinned when Iris complimented her idea. "Thanks. It would be something parents could bring their kids to see and then raise money for a good cause." Although the idea that anyone could ever be too old for puppets was beyond her. Esme claimed to be too old for them but Isla felt that she was ever too old for puppets, then she might as well lie down and die. She sincerely hoped that wasn't something that hit her in a few years. Of course, the fourth year had been saying that for several years and Isla had yet to experience it and continued to find it a puzzling concept.

She continued" The year before I came to school, my sisters and cousins participated in a charity fair here at Sonora, I would have loved to have done one then, but like, obviously I wasn't here yet." The second year wanted to incorporate her puppets into her life at Sonora the best she could. It worked well for the concert but there wasn't anything she could really do with them for the bonfire where they might be ruined-especially given the possibility of Topaz pitching them into the fire-or the ball. Even Isla wasn't strange enough to take one as a date. Not only would that possibly lead to her being bullied and reflect poorly on her family, it would be unfair to the rest of her puppets.

"Not necessarily." Isla assured the first year. "That's just how it happened for them. My cousin is a writer and he just happened to fall in love with someone who was an artist and asked her to illustrate the stories he wrote. Then they grew up and decided to do that professionally. I'm pretty sure most illustrators are not married to the writers who they illustrate for."

"Yeah, like him." The Aladren continued. "Or you could study different plants and their uses or grow them for potions ingredients. Maybe you'd be part of making a new potion that cures some horrible disease."

Iris seemed to be a bit focused on her community back home and Isla supposed that she could sort of understand that, because arguably it was the same for the second year. She viewed things sort of through a lens of being a pureblood and the magical world. Hence not worrying about a career too much. "What is your community like? I mean, at the parties I was talking about-the ones socialites go to and throw-there's always a need for a florist. Except some of the parties with the allergy charity my aunt does stuff for, they use fake flowers." Actually, for some of her family's parties, such as Emerald's and Ruby's weddings, they also used them so Miles would not have an allergic reaction, but others still used real flowers.

11 Isla Brockert I suppose they could be 1521 0 5

Iris Cobb

July 07, 2021 8:41 PM

Maybe there are others that are even worse? by Iris Cobb

Photographs and society pages were almost entirely new concepts to Iris. There were photographs in some of the few books they had, but she'd never really questioned how they had been made or gotten there. Nobody back home had a camera, and she couldn't imagine what anyone there would do with one if they did. Why bother taking a photograph when you could just see the real thing? Now, if not everyone lived so close together, it make a bit more sense. Like the photographs in the books. They were easier to move around and show folk then the things or places themselves.

Society pages, and well, newspapers in general were in the same boat. On the rare occasion that someone brought one back from their trip into town, it got passed around for weeks until it was illegible. Iris herself had never really been interested in them when they showed up. These things sounded important to the calling of rich pure-blood ladies, so she may need to look into them more sometime.

Iris nodded along as Isla talked about the charity fair and her cousin. She marked down her planting locations for the Jumping Bean and Climbing Bean and felt safe to finally open her cup to see what else she had to work with. "Hmm.." Iris considered Isla's thoughts on becoming an herbologist. "Maybe," she replied with a little bit of uncertainty. It sounded nice, but she wasn't quite sure if she the sort of person to find new things in order to cure horrible diseases. It was a good thing to do, but it somehow didn't seem like something she would do. It was possible, she wasn't going to discount it, but...

"We don't really have parties that need flowers back home," Iris replied with a wistful tone. "I mean, everyone is family and we all do our part to get by. We have parties on occasion, there are some decorations and music and food." The girl shrugged a bit. "But it's not like anyone is really looking to impress anyone else, it's just for fun and something different to do."

2 Iris Cobb Maybe there are others that are even worse? 1526 0 5

Isla Brockert

July 09, 2021 1:16 AM

Probably by Isla Brockert

Isla snickered. "That must be nice. Almost all our society parties are about impressing people and looking nice." She wished that wasn't the case. For all that those like Angelique thrived and Esme and Amethyst would, there were those like Allegra and Sapphire for whom it was torturous and anxiety inducing. As far as how well Isla personally would fair, well, she wasn't really....the sort that was into those sorts of things. To her, these parties sounded...tedious. Like nobody was talking about anything interesting and it was all very surface level.

She continued. "I mean, it's less so with family parties of course." With the exception of Uncle Eustace and Topaz, her family got along very well. Yes, Grandfather was on the grumpy side, but he did love them . Isla got along with her siblings and most of her cousins and parents and pretty much the rest of her closer relatives. And they mostly got along with each other. Her dad got along with the rest of his brothers and her mom was friends with her aunts regardless of what she probably otherwise thought of Aunt Opal's parenting style. They were all arguably each others' allies on the social scene. They had each other's backs even if there was sometimes differences between them. Like the second year was sure she and Amethyst wouldn't really spend much time together if they weren't cousins. She knew her cousin thought she was strange.

It was interesting how Iris mentioned that everyone was family where she lived. It seemed like despite all their differences, they did have some similarities as well. "So, you spend a lot of time with your family then?"Isla was happy to bond with someone over whatever they had in common and learn from the differences. She tried her best to get on with everyone, even though she knew there were some people that were just impossible. Still, those like Topaz and Uncle Eustace were not the majority of the people out there and Isla was willing to give just about anyone a chance. And if they turned out to be like her cousin or uncle, then....she didn't need to talk to them again. Much as she tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, Isla did not like bullies. Or psychopaths.

"It's similar with me." Isla added. "Even though I live in a city, I've spent most of my time with my family. My somewhat closer family that is." She amended. "Parents, siblings, first cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. I don't know what Amethyst has said but like, there are a bunch of more distant cousins that we don't know as well. Like Ian and Lydia and Connie are all somehow related to us. Although some of my dad's first cousins' children we know, like the one I mentioned before who is a writer. What's your family like? Is it just you and your parents and brother? Or is it like a huge extended family with third cousins and the like that you find hard to keep track of?" If it was just Iris, Billy and their parents, that didn't sound like a huge community so Isla had a feeling it was the latter given the way Iris made it sound.

11 Isla Brockert Probably 1521 0 5