...and the Monster of Amristar VI
Apr. 25th, 2008 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subplotkudzuChapter 6: The Second Day
Juliet rushed to Herbology class, catching up with Castor & Jasmyn. The students were milling around the front of the greenhouse waiting for Professor Sprout to let them in, giving her an opportunity to share the news. None were thrilled but before they could discuss it the doors opened and they were ushered into herbology.
Professor Sprout gave a quick lecture on the value of Herbology before breaking the group up into their lab teams - in the spirit of cross fertilization this is boy-girl, Ravenclaw-Slytherin. Juliet was dismayed, even more so when she teamed with Grendel Green. Castor partnered with Roberta Resquiat, who showed considerable pre-science when she detected an aura of death around their plants, as Castor had been killing his mother's garden for years. Jasmyn is paired with Zane Zane, a clumsy, slow fellow whom she hopes takes direction well. The initial class experience was watering, soil tilling and dead leaf removal of Wrinkled Puffballs. Each plant had several large seed pods quivering as if under immense pressure - Castor wondered how long his poor puffball will survive and Jasmyn had to ward off Zane's oafish hands with a rake to keep theirs intact.
Grendel spent the class chatting with a distrustful Juliet. He asked what she had been sharing with the others before class and she dissembled, saying that it was a finance article, of interest because of her father's position as a banker. When he pressed for details about her father's work she minimized its importance. After a while she was distracted by the giggling coming from the next table: Peri had engaged in pantomimes of Juliet's sorting banquet dirge that had other students in stitches. Juliet lobbed a pencil giving the Slytherin girl a point first graphite mark to the forehead.
Before Peri's squawk could summon Sprout, Castor made his (inevitable) error, causing one of his puffballs to explode. That set off the remaining two, and his and Roberta's scramble for cover jostled another plant, making two more seed pods burst. Castor and Roberta were covered head to foot in fine white powder that, as Castor observed, seriously wrinkled his skin. Roberta huffily complained until she noticed the looks of horror on her classmates’ faces - a quick glance in a mirror at her deeply-wrinkled visage produced a primal scream. Professor Sprout feds them both Thrun, a fruit that reverses the puffball's desiccating dust, so it's clear the professor was prepared for student error. The class was dismissed with Peri & Juliet enmity etched in stone.
Meanwhile, in potions class, Daisy took a moment to commiserate with Regan Undulata. The two shared the dual problems of prefect workloads and overseeing siblings, and Regan makes it clear that Peri is far from obedient to her prefect's guidance. Neither is Jasmyn, Daisy replied, but then, Daisy has too much experience with her sister to expect she might. Regan proposed a trade: if Daisy helped in Magic History, Regan would share Slytherin techniques to keep "the little rugrats" in line, plus a soporific charm Regan researched that sends her charges into immediate slumber. Daisy demurred, wondering where Regan would have found such a spell.
In Pollux's History of Magic class he found a repeated use for Mentat Acutia, and Binns’ limited concern for his students even let him clearly annunciate the spell with no fear of being noticed. This left him the only student fully aware at class end (Lachlan snored like a broken pool skimmer). After class he approached Binns with a question: this is the study of the history of magical culture, is there a study of magical development? Binns informed the young man in portentous tones that there is no difference between the two. "Indeed, as the culture undergoes the upward sweep of progress thus does their magic improve. Un-improved cultures have poor, blunt magic, improved ones have complex and subtle magic. By studying a people we can apply a standardized set of rules laid down a century ago to see how advanced their magic is."
Not doing much to hide the incredulous look on his face Pollux was diplomatic enough to request more detail. Binns informed him that it would represent a considerable, unacceptable deviation from first year curriculum, but he would be happy to direct Mr. Dee to appropriate texts in the library and explain them in office hours. Pollux eagerly awaited the list next class, hoping that it will point him in the direction of some broader views on the topic.
The quintet met for lunch and Pollux was brought up to speed on Woden's escape. Juliet fumed about Peri's mockery in Herbology, and listened with great interest when Jasmyn revealed that she has a bottle of "Flaming Hot Sauce", accidentally pocketed in Gambol & Japes. The label shows someone running around madly with their head on fire. Juliet wanted to use it immediately, but Peri is too well protected in a scrum of other Slytherin. By the end of lunch her shyness had overcome her ire and the bottle was stored for later as the girls tried to get in some library time. Their search is inconclusive: Jasmyn learned nothing about Woden, while Juliet took out a huge book on arachnids, natural and magical.
And after that it was time for DADA class. Professor Briar was enthusiastic & impressive, with just a few moments talking about her past –how she had been tutored and, not having attended Hogwarts, had no house affiliation to color her grading – before moving on. Her initial focus was the lure of the Dark Arts, and how Power is not always the path to them; curiosity, recklessness or the urge to preserve something can take one there. No house is immune to them, and some practitioners might dispute the label to their dying day. The belief that the line between allowed magic and the Dark Arts is always clear cut is a trap of the simple mind – one that recent events reinforced - but educated minds can divine right from wrong. Over the years she will teach them not just how to stop the Dark Arts, but how to see that grey area in themselves.
Still, ethical questions are for later – for now she’ll be focused on teaching them what they need to know to delay or dispel naturally occurring creatures that use the Dark Arts. A moment’s definition: a creature must be intelligent for its magic to be considered a Dark Art. A dragon might roast you alive, but its flame is not dark art, and they are covered in Professor Kettleburn’s class. A Vampire, on the other hand, thinks, plots, plans. To defeat the dark arts, you must out think it. Juliet interrupts to ask about eight legged monsters, leading a digression on Acorantulas.
Briar then began teaching the class the basic rules of how one hexes and counter-hexes. At class’ end, she asked the PCs to stay behind to tell them about Woden and stress that it is critical that they keep the Mentat Acutia counter-charm ready to hand, that they should come to her immediately if they see Woden in their dreams or daydreams, and that she is accelerating her creation of the warding tokens. Not that she suspects anything will happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Juliet raises the issue of her mysterious shadow and Briar tells them she will investigate that as well, and if they learn more on that they should also tell her. Juliet still doesn’t fully trust the DADA professor, but has no one else to turn to.
Finally the students had a chance to hit the library. Daisy & Jasmyn delved into the newspaper files to learn what they could about Woden. The last year of Daily Prophet mentioned him, but not in great detail: a large man, an Oneiromancer who drives men mad in their dreams, he has a skill as a diviner that impeded his capture. A Durmstranger. One obscure article provided a list of all of his crimes in England (many) and ended by saying that he is continuing a five decade long career as a dark wizard and one of the great threats of Europe.
Castor did research on Oneiromancy, producing a text with the basics of the ability and learning that the library's main text on the subject was missing. He suspected that Briar had it, but couldn't be sure.
Juliet looked through her text on arachnids, finding nothing that matched the shadow she saw. While the elimination of giant spiders as a threat was a good thing, it left her no closer to figuring out what she did see, and more research was obviously called for.
During all this, Pollux did his homework, despite his brother's claims that the sudden burst of inspiration directly before the due date will produce better results.
Juliet rushed to Herbology class, catching up with Castor & Jasmyn. The students were milling around the front of the greenhouse waiting for Professor Sprout to let them in, giving her an opportunity to share the news. None were thrilled but before they could discuss it the doors opened and they were ushered into herbology.
Professor Sprout gave a quick lecture on the value of Herbology before breaking the group up into their lab teams - in the spirit of cross fertilization this is boy-girl, Ravenclaw-Slytherin. Juliet was dismayed, even more so when she teamed with Grendel Green. Castor partnered with Roberta Resquiat, who showed considerable pre-science when she detected an aura of death around their plants, as Castor had been killing his mother's garden for years. Jasmyn is paired with Zane Zane, a clumsy, slow fellow whom she hopes takes direction well. The initial class experience was watering, soil tilling and dead leaf removal of Wrinkled Puffballs. Each plant had several large seed pods quivering as if under immense pressure - Castor wondered how long his poor puffball will survive and Jasmyn had to ward off Zane's oafish hands with a rake to keep theirs intact.
Grendel spent the class chatting with a distrustful Juliet. He asked what she had been sharing with the others before class and she dissembled, saying that it was a finance article, of interest because of her father's position as a banker. When he pressed for details about her father's work she minimized its importance. After a while she was distracted by the giggling coming from the next table: Peri had engaged in pantomimes of Juliet's sorting banquet dirge that had other students in stitches. Juliet lobbed a pencil giving the Slytherin girl a point first graphite mark to the forehead.
Before Peri's squawk could summon Sprout, Castor made his (inevitable) error, causing one of his puffballs to explode. That set off the remaining two, and his and Roberta's scramble for cover jostled another plant, making two more seed pods burst. Castor and Roberta were covered head to foot in fine white powder that, as Castor observed, seriously wrinkled his skin. Roberta huffily complained until she noticed the looks of horror on her classmates’ faces - a quick glance in a mirror at her deeply-wrinkled visage produced a primal scream. Professor Sprout feds them both Thrun, a fruit that reverses the puffball's desiccating dust, so it's clear the professor was prepared for student error. The class was dismissed with Peri & Juliet enmity etched in stone.
Meanwhile, in potions class, Daisy took a moment to commiserate with Regan Undulata. The two shared the dual problems of prefect workloads and overseeing siblings, and Regan makes it clear that Peri is far from obedient to her prefect's guidance. Neither is Jasmyn, Daisy replied, but then, Daisy has too much experience with her sister to expect she might. Regan proposed a trade: if Daisy helped in Magic History, Regan would share Slytherin techniques to keep "the little rugrats" in line, plus a soporific charm Regan researched that sends her charges into immediate slumber. Daisy demurred, wondering where Regan would have found such a spell.
In Pollux's History of Magic class he found a repeated use for Mentat Acutia, and Binns’ limited concern for his students even let him clearly annunciate the spell with no fear of being noticed. This left him the only student fully aware at class end (Lachlan snored like a broken pool skimmer). After class he approached Binns with a question: this is the study of the history of magical culture, is there a study of magical development? Binns informed the young man in portentous tones that there is no difference between the two. "Indeed, as the culture undergoes the upward sweep of progress thus does their magic improve. Un-improved cultures have poor, blunt magic, improved ones have complex and subtle magic. By studying a people we can apply a standardized set of rules laid down a century ago to see how advanced their magic is."
Not doing much to hide the incredulous look on his face Pollux was diplomatic enough to request more detail. Binns informed him that it would represent a considerable, unacceptable deviation from first year curriculum, but he would be happy to direct Mr. Dee to appropriate texts in the library and explain them in office hours. Pollux eagerly awaited the list next class, hoping that it will point him in the direction of some broader views on the topic.
The quintet met for lunch and Pollux was brought up to speed on Woden's escape. Juliet fumed about Peri's mockery in Herbology, and listened with great interest when Jasmyn revealed that she has a bottle of "Flaming Hot Sauce", accidentally pocketed in Gambol & Japes. The label shows someone running around madly with their head on fire. Juliet wanted to use it immediately, but Peri is too well protected in a scrum of other Slytherin. By the end of lunch her shyness had overcome her ire and the bottle was stored for later as the girls tried to get in some library time. Their search is inconclusive: Jasmyn learned nothing about Woden, while Juliet took out a huge book on arachnids, natural and magical.
And after that it was time for DADA class. Professor Briar was enthusiastic & impressive, with just a few moments talking about her past –how she had been tutored and, not having attended Hogwarts, had no house affiliation to color her grading – before moving on. Her initial focus was the lure of the Dark Arts, and how Power is not always the path to them; curiosity, recklessness or the urge to preserve something can take one there. No house is immune to them, and some practitioners might dispute the label to their dying day. The belief that the line between allowed magic and the Dark Arts is always clear cut is a trap of the simple mind – one that recent events reinforced - but educated minds can divine right from wrong. Over the years she will teach them not just how to stop the Dark Arts, but how to see that grey area in themselves.
Still, ethical questions are for later – for now she’ll be focused on teaching them what they need to know to delay or dispel naturally occurring creatures that use the Dark Arts. A moment’s definition: a creature must be intelligent for its magic to be considered a Dark Art. A dragon might roast you alive, but its flame is not dark art, and they are covered in Professor Kettleburn’s class. A Vampire, on the other hand, thinks, plots, plans. To defeat the dark arts, you must out think it. Juliet interrupts to ask about eight legged monsters, leading a digression on Acorantulas.
Briar then began teaching the class the basic rules of how one hexes and counter-hexes. At class’ end, she asked the PCs to stay behind to tell them about Woden and stress that it is critical that they keep the Mentat Acutia counter-charm ready to hand, that they should come to her immediately if they see Woden in their dreams or daydreams, and that she is accelerating her creation of the warding tokens. Not that she suspects anything will happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Juliet raises the issue of her mysterious shadow and Briar tells them she will investigate that as well, and if they learn more on that they should also tell her. Juliet still doesn’t fully trust the DADA professor, but has no one else to turn to.
Finally the students had a chance to hit the library. Daisy & Jasmyn delved into the newspaper files to learn what they could about Woden. The last year of Daily Prophet mentioned him, but not in great detail: a large man, an Oneiromancer who drives men mad in their dreams, he has a skill as a diviner that impeded his capture. A Durmstranger. One obscure article provided a list of all of his crimes in England (many) and ended by saying that he is continuing a five decade long career as a dark wizard and one of the great threats of Europe.
Castor did research on Oneiromancy, producing a text with the basics of the ability and learning that the library's main text on the subject was missing. He suspected that Briar had it, but couldn't be sure.
Juliet looked through her text on arachnids, finding nothing that matched the shadow she saw. While the elimination of giant spiders as a threat was a good thing, it left her no closer to figuring out what she did see, and more research was obviously called for.
During all this, Pollux did his homework, despite his brother's claims that the sudden burst of inspiration directly before the due date will produce better results.
