This seemed... unusual but not strongly so, and Mo was eager to get started with the project. He drew the supplies on the work table closer to himself and then watched Bentley closely. It actually seemed fairly straightforward, and the moment Mo could, he sprung into action.

With gloves still firmly tucked in, Mo grabbed up his swab and examined it. It didn't look like it had anything on it, but it wasn't like he could identify fairy DNA on sight or anything. Moving toward one of the flowers without a fairy, Mo swabbed the column with fairy DNA and waited for the resin to start flowing.

It was purple. Pretty, too, and Mo watched in fascination as it glopped from the flower. Maybe not pretty, but fascinating, he decided, sliding his jar directly beneath the lip of the orchid. How much of this stuff could one plant produce, anyway?

He continued prodding at the column until the resin began to go hard, and then Mo removed his swab and settled back for more instructions. Who knew plants could be so interesting?

It didn't surprise her that the question was repeated. Seren chalked this down to being shock related... or curiosity and distractedness if nothing else. When it came to Lex, it was hard to tell, she didn't appear to be shocked, so Seren could only hazard a guess that the prefect had been off in her own little world... off with the fairies so to speak. "Simply by rubbing the swab on them," she replied with a nod. Easy peasy.



Grinning at his thanks, Seren opted not to comment any further on the matter. No. No harm had come to the fairies... but considering the nature of most of the plants in the greenhouse they were standing in, did it really matter? Hadn't they just sacrificed other creatures and insects to the plants for feeding. Was a fairy so different?

...

Yep, moving on.



...

....... Seren watched curiously, her own resin perfectly solid now that she'd let it stand idle.

Was Arista asking something of the fairy? A fairy? The preserved fairies?

She was just going to continue observing... .... or well, considering everyone looked about ready to continue.. that too.




"Because there are only trace amounts of the dna on the swab, the resin isn't as free flowing as it would otherwise be, however, there are tips and tricks to extracting greater quantities." Which is what they were learning how to do. Exciting, no?

Taking up her scalpel and holding it up in front of her, she then set about demonstrating the next step. "So the next thing we need to do, is make an incision along the length of the hardened resin, get as close to the column as you can without cutting into it. If you do cut into it, it's not the end of the world, but please refrain from being heavy handed...." Holding the orchid flower in the palm of one hand, Seren used the scalpel in the other to make a careful and deliberate incision through the drying thick resin, almost as if she was cutting into flesh itself. Nothing oozed, it was solid, but the cut could be clearly seen.

"Do this, and then we'll move on," she instructed.

OOC: Next step to follow in approx 23 hours.

Jasmine watched carefully as the Professor cut into the hardened resin. She took notes as she went along, hoping that she was able to capture all of the important details. So it was time to do surgery. Jasmine was ready for this step as long as she didn't have to think about the fairies.

Jasmine picked up the orchid and positioned it in her hand so that she could best access the hardened resin. Then she picked up the scalpel in her other hand. Trying to keep her hand steady, Jasmine gently placed the blade against the resin. This called for a light touch and she tried to keep it light as she pressed down to start her incision. When she felt that she had gone deep enough, Jasmine extended her incision to the end of the thickened resin. Satisfied with her work, Jasmine put the scalpel down and carefully positioned her flower.

Adi paid close attention to Professor Bentley's next demonstration. Refrain from cutting in resin. Right, go it. Scalpel in hand his left hand, he held the orchid in his right hand while he applied a light force but it was enough to cut along the length of the hardened resin. And he didn't even cut into it! Awesome!

Okay, so what's next?

Okay, so things were coming along fairly well now. She listened to the professor talk about trace amounts of DNA on the swab and made mental notes of that. Right. Not-so-free-flowing resin. Got it.

Sophie picked up her own scalpel so as to follow along with the professor. Sophie eyed the column as she brought her scalpel closer. She probably wouldn't have cut into it, but since the professor brought it up and told them not to, Sophie was extra careful about it.

She ran her scalpel through the resin just as the professor had demonstrated. She watched with wide eyes as a cut formed. She thought she was doing everything okay, but then again, she didn't always have perfect grades in Herbology either. This looked like what the professor had done, though. Mmkay--all ready for the next step.

Ohh, okay, that made sense, thought Simon as he copied down the previous statement. So they were going to learn how do extract greater amounts with different techniques? Sweet!

Next incision, right? Light hands. Light hands. Not heavy. He picked up his scalpel and made an incision along the length of the hardened resin, trying to get as close as he could to the column without cutting it. He eyed he cut. It looked like a neat enough cut or so he supposed. He placed his scalpel up and looked up as he was ready for the next step.

Ethan watched carefully as Professor Bentley demonstrated the next step. Light hands! That's the key to carry this step successfully, yeah? After she was done showing the group , Ethan's attention went to Simon beside him.

Hmm. Not bad, not bad.

Now it was his turn! Ethan had the tip of his tongue sticking out as he concentrated on his flower. With his scalpel he carefully made an incision along the hardened resin, without cutting through the flower's column.

Light hands. Light hands.

Norah eyed her scalpel. That thing was shaaarp! Grateful for her thick gloves, she lifted the scalpel gingerly and placed its tip on the hardened resin just as Professor Bentley had. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and pressed the blade gently into the hardened resin, careful not to cut the fairy-killer-orchid's column. Inspecting the resin, she placed the scalpel back down on her workstation and admired her handiwork. So, what's next?

As Professor Bentley demonstrated how to remove the rest of the resin from the orchid, Cris paid careful attention. Then he quickly noted what he had seen into his journal before putting down his quill.

Picking up the scalpel, he carefully fingered its edge. Yes, it felt sharp. Holding the scalpel in one hand, he gently held the orchid with his other, slowly raising it up a little so that the column was visible and easily accessible to him. Keeping his hand as steady as possible, Cris slowly lowered the blade of the scalpel and gently inserted the tip into the hardened resin. Then when it broke the surface, he slowly moved the scalpel across surface of the hardened resin, making an incision in it.

Gently, ever so gently, he pulled the blade out and placed the scalpel on the work table and waited patiently for Professor Bentley to give further instructions.

That answer was far less epic than she thought it'd have been. Just rubbing it? That was it? No infusing? No mixing with hard spells? No years of experimentation? Pfft, who said the easy way was always the wrong way? Clearly it got good results and as long as you didn't tell anyone how you did it, you could still look all kinds of impressive. The illusion was now ruined for her of course but that was life and she'd resolve to ask less questions in the future. Keep the magic alive.

There was a scapel.

The Professor was holding out a scapel and for a split second Alexa let herself believe they'd be hacking into and disecting these plants to their heart's content but then this was Bentley and she'd quickly run into the explanation. Hardly any time for the lies to sink in and get the Gryffindor excited. The Professor needed to work on her timing, either that or the way she phrased things and got people's hopes up. Though really, she supposed she should have known better. This was the woman who was more concerned for the exploded man-eating plant than the actual students it nearly killed. That was the first indication she had a very....er...special Head of House but it was neat.

Taking a scapel then a plant, she carefully cut along the dried resin, trying not to cut too deep even though it wouldn't be the end of the world if she did. Still, if you were gonna do something, had to do it right hence her extra care in avoiding the column until she'd cut through. Done.

Lucy grabbed her scalpel and holding the orchid flower in the palm of right hand, she used the scalpel in the other to make a incision through the drying resin..
Lucy did a lot of attention because she was afraid to cut the column of the flower .. Keep calm .. Keep calm .. keep calm

It was all really interesting, this. Or at least, it certainly caught Toby's attention and kept hold of it. He'd been a little later than the others, due to his frankly appalling memory and the fact that this workshop wasn't on the timetable he kept beside his bed. It was only when he wandered into the common room and took a cursory glance at the notice board that he suddenly remembered, but he was here now, racing to take down notes before he tried to catch up. It was cool though; Herbology was the one lesson Toby seemed to have a curious affinity with, and reading about this kind of stuff in his spare time really helped him out.

Toby finally picked up the swab in his gloved hand, flexing his fingers slightly first to make sure he had a decent range of movement, and leaned in a little closer to the orchid. He did as Bentley had said, carefully rubbing the swab against the column of the orchid, and watching closely so he was aware of when it started producing resin. In his other hand he held up a little jar to the lip of the orchid, just like Bentley, and when the resin started oozing out it was already there and collecting it.

Fascinating really. Toby couldn't help but it lean in super close to watch everything that was going on with the orchid. As soon as the surface of the resin solidified, like Bentley said it would, he did just as the professor had instructed and removed the swab from the plant.

Right then, scalpel time. Toby picked up the scalpel at his workstation and leaned closer to the orchid again, very carefully of course, as he didn't want to accidentally decapitate the plant or something.

When it came to actually making this incision, Tobias knew he'd have to be careful. He had a steady hand, sure, but was much more used to large and extravagant movements and flailing rather than tricky little things like this. But that didn't mean he couldn't do it. Tobias veeeeeeeeeeery carefully moved his scalpel closer to the resin and made an incision down the length of it.

That... seemed to do the trick. Right? RIGHT? COOL. Toby set his scalpel down again, looking pretty pleased with himself at his success so far.

Maddie had her jar held securely under the oozing flower, watching as the resin slid into it slowly. She wondered how badly it would burn her if she got it on her skin and whether or not the fairies experienced said burning when the flower encased them. Rather than asking, she made a mental not to stop by the library later for some independent research.

The brunette set her jar and swab aside when Professor Bentley spoke again, brown eyes resting on the older woman intently. She glanced at the fairy orchid and found the spot where the dripping resin had hardened, noting she'd need to be careful with the scalpel in order not to harm the plant. Good thing she had steady hands. Years of being forced to help her mum paint her nails would pay off now, apparently.

Carefully placing her free hand at the back of the flower, as if cradling it, the first year leaned in and very slowly began to put pressure on the dried resin with the scalpel. She moved the instrument downward, making an incision along the length of it as Bentley had instructed. She only let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in when she set the scalpel down. There, it was done.

She hadn't harmed the plant, right?

Holding a scalpel made him feel quite powerful and, frankly, dangerous. He held it up and steady in his hand as he watched the demonstration take place, almost expecting something spectacular to happen. Even probably for something to ooze out of the cut that Bentley had made. But nothing like that happened soooo...........

................ he'd better get started.

Still holding onto his scalpel in his right hand, Grayson leant closer to the hardened resin. His left hand went around the flower itself, just to hold it into place. It'd be like cutting onions, except gentler and would be done more carefully and, hopefully, wouldn't result in tears leaking out of his eyes. Jeez, that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?

Carefully, very carefully, the boy placed his scalpel near the hardened resin before cutting into it. He ran the scalpel along the length of the resin slowly, trying not to cut into the actual column. When he was done, he placed the scalpel down before smirking to himself.

Marigold held the scalpel carefully to not hurt herself. That would be bad. So she scooched closer to the resin and held the scalpel carefully over it. She made a small incision, then widened it a bit. She tried to keep the same depth, but she made a long gash along the flower.

Neeeext??

Listening, listening, listening... that was what she was doing. The next thing they were to do wasn't all that exciting, but she got to cut something open so it kind of made up for it. "Time for surgery," she murmured under her breath. Grabbing her scalpel, she tried her hardest to be easy with it, but she would be making no promises here. As carefully as the first year could manage, she made a cut along the length of the resin. Too bad nothing oozed. That would have been pretty wicked to see. The young lion even managed not to cut into in too bad! Small victories here!

Her patient column hard resin thingy was already ready to go. Next step please, and let it be cool.

Okay not so free-flowing resin. Got it. Trace amounts of DNA, okay. This was a lot of information for a workshop. Zander was actually pretty relieved that they weren't just about to collect tons of the resin. That would've probably taken way more time. And effort. Which Zander did not have enough of at this point.

Zander took his scalpel in hand and brought the orchid flower closer to himself. Careful incision? If only Zander was more artistic. He did his best to cut along as carefully as he could, as to not cut through the column. Perfect! Well, almost perfect. But it looked pretty close to Bentley's so all is well, right?

Not bad, Zander. Not bad.

They were cutting into the resin? Mo squinted at his orchid, at the individual flowers, and at the hardened resin on the stalk, trying to figure out exactly where they were going with this. Why not just collect it before it hardened?

It was hard to use a scalpel when wearing gloves, but Mo didn't dare remove them after the warnings they'd received. Instead, he snugged them tight again and picked up the scalpel, applying it directly to the resin as directed. Or to the stalk just beyond it. It was difficult NOT to cut the stalk, and, in fact, Mo was sure he'd damaged it a bit as he sliced down the stalk.

Caleb had noticed that the resin was drying up, and was relieved to know that that was what was SUPPOSED to happen. So when the professor said that they had to cut the resin, Caleb took his scalpel in hand and began to carefully move aside the petals. Once he had a good view of the resin, he reached forward and slowly cut into it.

No oozing, just a nice, long incision. Cool, that was easy!

Watching Professor Bentley carefully, Lux made a mental note of everything that the woman was doing before writing it all down. Who knew if something like this would come up later on. It was always good to be prepared.

Taking her scalpel in hand, Lux carefully positioned the orchid so that she could easily access the resin. Slowly, she cut into it. The going was not so smooth, as it was hard to avoid slicing into the column, but she was pretty sure that she had done a good job.

Watching as a bit more of the resin oozed into the jar, Beverly strained an ear to catch whatever else Professor Bentley was saying. So the next thing was to basically seal the incision, yeah? All she had to do was cut the hardened resin. That didn't sound too difficult.

Positioning the scalpel to the point where the resin hardened, Beverly carefully made an incision as instructed. She was good at willing her hands not to tremble. The plant might not be a creature, but that didn't mean Beverly wanted to chop it. No. She was nice and gentle. Although, she did breath a sigh of relief when she finished and made sure she didn't cut into the plant. Phew!

She had abandoned her own specimen for a short period to watch the students complete the task themselves, she paused and stood idly every so often, tilting her head from the left to the right and ensuring they didn't put the scalpel to anything other than the resin. Such a wonderful and motivated group this one was...

But alas, they appeared ready to continue!

"Wonderful work, this will increase the surface area of the resin and will give us access to resin that that hasn't been exposed to as much oxygen and therefore it won't be as difficult to work with." Seren moved back into position behind her own workstation and this time withdrew her wand.

"Now what we want to do, is heat up the resin enough to get it flowing more freely, and this is achieved with the hot-air charm.... ventus," she supplied, demonstrating the wand movement separately with a complicated little wave. Well... not so complicated... "If you're not familiar with the charm give practice it first, a little wave, and ventus," she replied, conducting the charm, hot air flowed from the tip of her wand, appearing to shake the air in front of her.

"Once you've got that, apply that heat to the resin, and where it was cut, it should start oozing away more easily and into your jar."

OOC: Hot air charm and oooozzziiinggg commence! The workshop will continue in approx 20 hours.

Angel had been going about with her work quietly, she didn't see the need to speak or do anything other than work until now, this time she was a bit confused, she wasn't sure why magical folks needed to use magic all the time with plants she thought it was best when you cared for them by hand though maybe with these sort of plants this was best since well they were flesh eaters.

"ventis" Angel decided to practice the spell because she had no idea how to say it, "ventus." Angel wasn't sure which sounded right they both did but maybe the second one just edged it, she wasn't sure though.

After making an incision along the length of the resin, Kevin vagualy wondered why they were doing this the muggle way. Weren't they witches and wizards? Why wouldn't they use magic instead of a scalpel? That was what that thing was called right?

But when the his Head of House continued talking after they had all made the cut, the Gryffindor was more excited to be using magic again. And it was a new spell! Or atleast, new for him... He grabbed his wand out of his wrist holster but before he began to practise the incantation first he heard Angel ...

"It's Ventus with an U..not I...DUH" he said and rolled his eyes. Wait, why was he even helping her? Ignoring her again, the Gryffindor turned his attention on practising the incantation for himself.

When he was done, Kevin pointed his wand at the resin and said. "Ventus!" He was really suprised that the spell had worked on the first try. As he usually had to practise a couple of times. So he grinned when he watched the resin started to ooze out and in to the jar below it.

The Professor presented the next step and Jasmine wrote down the instructions as she spoke. She was familiar with the Hot-Air charm, but figured that it couldn't hurt to practice it a few times before using it on her plant.

Taking out her wand, Jasmine gave it a complicated wave and said, "Ventus". Warm air blew from her wanted and she tested it on her arm just to make sure it was fine. It felt good so Jasmine repeated the spell once more.

Now Jasmine was ready to try the Hot-Air charm for real on her orchid. Again giving her wand a wave and saying, "Ventus", Jasmine pointed the tip at the resin. Moving the wand slowly back and forth, she noticed that the resin hard started to ooze from the incision once again. Picking up her jar, Jasmine placed it as before and allowed the resin to slowly drip into it. She held the jar there until the oozing appeared to stop and then removed it. Thinking that she had captured as much as possible, Jasmine put the jar down and waited for the next instructions.