Paul decided to mosey around the cave, see if anyone needed help, see if anyone was causing TROUBLE. He could hear bits of chatter, bits of conversation. He didn’t mind it as long as they could work at the same time without catching anything on fire.
No catching things on fire!
Looking at you, Gryffindors.
It was then that he overheard one of the first years speaking so very kindly to her fire seed bush. SO kindly that Paul felt his heart well up. Oh goodness ;__; It was just too precious.
SPOILER!!: Zara
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DH Vixen 
Zara alternated practicing the correct wand movement and saying the incantation aloud for a few more minutes until her attention was brought back to Professor Myers. Giving him all her attention, she nodded as she listened to all the things. They NEEDED to have their gloves on and she again glanced down at her hands, checking to make absolutely sure they were on securely and were not going anywhere any time soon!
Gloves, Check!
Reaching for her wand, in the corner of her eyesight she noticed Derf and his hug with Thereos. It made her giggle a little. Refocusing on her task, she stood in front of the bucket and pointed at the bucket. First, she quietly recited the incantation to herself as she rotated her wrist. She was a bit nervous about getting it right! Practising it a few more times, she finally felt ready and took a deep breath. Casting with a firm and confident voice, she rotated her wrist at the bucket. "CHAW-DEN-SIS"
Looking at her bucket, she examined it with her eyes for a moment before she took it with her to the cave. The moment she entered the cave, her eyes grew larger. All the bushes were glowing and she stared in awe for a moment before stepping forward toward one. It glowed brightly and she admire it for a bit before reaching forward with her gloved hands. "Hello, Mr or Mrs fire seed bush. I’m Zara and I hope it’s okay if I pluck some of your seeds." she voiced quietly to the bush. She didn’t want to offend the bush and even if the bush didn’t understand her, she felt better asking. With much care, she plucked one seed from the bush and placed the seed in her charmed bucket.
Turning back to the bush, she nodded to it. "I only need two more and that is all. Thank you for allow me to have them," she smiled as she reached for another seed with care. She could feel the warmth through her gloves as she set the second seed in the bucket. Reaching for the last seed, she bowed her head slightly to the bush. "Thank you again for allow me to pluck these seed. It is greatly appreciated." Her parents always taught her to be polite to all things and she felt it was right to gave the bush that respect as well. “You glow so pretty. All of you are pretty,” she added with a small giggle as she stepped away.
….so precious that Paul stood behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I am so touched by your enormous respect for this plant...so touched indeed, that I give you a point,” he smiled. “Very good, Zara, very good.” He pat her head as he walked away.
There was NOT A TEAR IN HIS EYE. IT WAS DUST. FROM THE CAVE. CAVES WERE DUSTY.
SPOILER!!: Brent
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anna Banana Olivia was going to stick close to him? Awesome! He had literally just thought about the fact that this walk would be boring without friends, and now he had not one, but two girls to hang out with. Brent was loving Herbology class! "Well, hopefully I don't disappoint you," he jokingly said. Because if there a Nundu or something in there, he couldn't promise he wouldn't take off and run.
"Yeah, of course I'll teach you some stuff. I've been wanting to get in that dueling arena anyway." Plus, it'd give him an opportunity to hang out with some people his own age and get out of the classrooms and the common room. He looked over at Etta when Olivia introduced her. "What's up, Etta?" he said, giving her a small wave.
He shrugged when Skylar said the Acromantula invasion was before her time. He wouldn't know either way. He'd just heard about it from some other kid. So she wasn't scared? Or, if she was, she was doing like Brent and not admitting to it. "Just checking," he said with a grin, "I know you girls like to shriek over things that go bump in the night and all that stuff."
So it was him and three girls, and if he wanted any sort of reputation as a guy that wasn't a wimp, he should probably go in first. Or at least not last. With his eyes on the fire seeds and his hand gripping his bucket tightly, he went in. He leaned down by the nearest bush and observed the firey insides. Duuuuuude. Was this going to hurt? He slowly reached a gloved hand inside and lightly gripped a seed. With a tiny little pull, he plucked it off and dropped it into his bucket.
Paul did not know the context of the conversation. He did not know that maybe Brent was joking or kidding. But he heard what Brent said about girls and--
“MR. WESTWOOD,” he boomed. “How dare you provide such an ignorant and sexist opinion?! Do you know any girls at all?!” he asked. “You apologize to Skylar right now!” He wouldn’t have this gender-based-rudeness in his classroom.
nOPE.
NOT TODAY.
“I know you’re a nice young man!” So he was CONFUSED WHY HE WOULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
SPOILER!!: James
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Symphora James kind of wandered off a little away from the group so he could do his own plucking. But he wasn't actually going to pick fire seeds just yet, he kind of wanted to take a look around. They didn't come all the way to the forbidden caves without actually exploring a little bit. He put his ugly metal bucket down, picked up a rock to throw and catch with. Where were all the creatures at? He wanted to see something exciting at least and not just some ...fire seed bushes. It looked cool and all but...not as interesting like Mr.Centaur over there.
And THIS ONE.
Paul stared at him for a bit, wondering if James would notice.
And, ah, no.
He snapped his fingers in front of his face. “HELLLLOOO ARE YOU HOME?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
He called out, seeing as most people looked to be about finished, “OKAY once you have three seeds in your bucket--you can follow me in the next cave over!” He smiled and waited for the majority to be finished.
***
Once everyone WAS finished, Paul led them into the next cave. It was dark, and Paul’s wand was the only source of light. “It IS dark in here so be careful!” Hold on--Merlin, Paul had prepared for this--
He had asked Thereos to bring a torch, and Paul had to go GET it and light it before they continued.
Torch-bearing Paul now stood in the center of the empty cave. “NOW...comes the more delicate part,” he grinned excitedly. “First thing to do is to dig a hole where you want to plant your fire seed. It is important to note that if you were to put the seed into the hole right away, the soil would put your fire seed out. The soil is cool right now--” Paul bent over, careful to hold the torch high, and gave the soil beneath their feet a pat. “It is COOL to the touch. SOOOO to fix that little problem, you’ll be putting some of the soil from the hole you dig out INTO your bucket. The bucket will IMMEDIATELY warm the soil up, thus making your seed comfy, cozy, warm, and happy!” he grinned.
Could they follow that?
“You can mix the soil around with your gloved hand if you want in order to ensure it all gets equally as warm! But after you’ve done that, you dump what’s IN your bucket into the hole, making sure the fire seed is somewhere below the soil now.” Paul grinned. Not too hard, eh? Just a matter of not letting your fire seed go out, really.
“Next, you must add, and this is VERY important, children, so LISTEN--BOILING WATER to the seed.” BOILING WATER WAS FUN. “Now, to boil water, you simply use
aquamenti to get water into your BUCKET. Then, you want to heat your bucket again until the water is positively BUBBLING with boiling.” He grinned. “Any young ones that might need help, you can ask me or an older student! I suppose that goes for some older students too!” he grinned kindly.
“Your seed won’t need much water, so make sure to use only a small amount and not to OVER water it, please!” Paul gave his wand a wave, and the instructions appeared in fiery letters in the air. The older instructions appeared again, too, just to make it easier. And also in case anyone happened to be taking notes.
Quote:
Harvesting Fire Seeds:
1. Heat up your bucket using the Chaudensis Charm
2. Pluck [up to three] fire seeds from the bushes and place them carefully in your bucket
3. Dig a small hole where you’d like to plant your seed
4. Put some of the soil into your heated bucket that contains the seed
5. Dump the contents of the bucket into the hole
6. Boil water!
-Aquamenti some water into bucket
-Heat bucket using Chaudensis charm
7. Pour water onto the planted seed
8. YOU’RE DONE GIVE YOURSELF A HIGH FIVE.
Paul grinned. “Does everyone get it? I’ll be walking around to make sure we’re all…...safe….and stuff….” He was very surprised nothing had gone terribly wrong thus far.
It was still a little too soon to tell, Myers.
OOC: Y'all have around 36 hours until I move on <3 Maybe longer, depending. Have fun! This has been an interesting lesson in which to read all the posts xD I am enjoying it majorly.