How long she had her hand extended was beyond her because time wasn't registered when there were unicorns around. All she knew for sure was that she never wanted this class to end. More sniffing happened, and AJ only hoped that before long the unicorn would lick her hand. If the unicorn ended up turning its head up and leaving her she would be able to cope. Please don't reject her, unicorns.

Before long she felt the wet sensation on the palm of her hand and this meant that she was accepted. Of course she was. It was much easier to be cocky about the situation now that she knew the outcome to be good. AJ blew out air that she didn't even know she was holding in.

"Hi there you precious beauty." AJ began to pet her unicorn. This was officially the best day ever! Man, they were soft. She already knew this, but this was the first time that she was actually able to enjoy her favorite creature without someone, eyes on you Thompson, ruining her fun. "Did you know that I LOVE unicorns. You guys are my favorite creature." Fun facts, she had them.

Norah stood still with her fruity-smelling palm held out for what felt like 300 years before the silver unicorn began to approach. She had to zip her lips real tight, but only in her imagination 'cause her hands weren't free for lip zipping, to keep from squealing as the ickle unicorn came closer and closer and closer until "Ooooh!" The sound was soft and whispery, but she couldn't just not make a sound, okay, there was a REAL LIVE UNICORN sniffing her fingers! She watched with wide eyes and an even wider grin as it snuffled around on her palm, making her all tickle-y but she couldn't laugh or else her new friend would be scared away.

The unicorn stayed with its tickle-y nose on the palm of Norah's hand for ANOTHER bazillion years, but this time it wasn't boring at all because she'd never been so close to anything so supermega awesometastical. She kept on watching in awe until she felt a funny wetness on her hand and saw a real live unicorn TONGUE licking it. COULD SHE HUG IT NOW? COULD SHE PLEASE?

As Kace was just observing the creatures he noticed one unicorn was coming close to him. Uh....is this supposed to happen. He needed to remain calm and not to fidget. He took a deep breath and relaxed. The unicorn was coming closer and he needed to raise his palm. He slowly began to raise it and he might have stunned the unicorn a bit, but he kept calm. The unicorn kept looking at him and turning it's head. I guess it was attracted by the smell of the lotion. "You can come closer.." he coaxed the scared one.

As it went back to the others, I guess it more of a observer there was another one behind him. It kept sniffing the back of him. He remained still and tried not to flinch. I guess the unicorn was trying to find where the smell was coming from. He still had his palm raised and didn't move an inch. The unicorn sniffed his palm and he felt it nibble on his fingers. It didn't hurt it was like a playful bite. I guess it was testing him.

The unicorn wouldn't win though. He was gonna pet one, he tried to keep his heart rate leveled. It was surreal to be this close to one though.

Being a statute was horrific. Toby was not designed to stay still, okay? He even moved constantly when he was asleep, for Merlin's sake.

But he was doing okay so far, standing stock still as the unicorn approached him. Toby tracked it with his eyes, unable to really look away from it nor understanding why anyone would want to. It really was kind of amazing. Even though it was technically a horse, it looked somehow completely different from one, aside from, y'know, the big horn on its head.

The unicorn began to circle Toby, moving behind him and almost out of sight. At that point, he gradually raised his palm up, moving slowly and cautiously so as not to alarm the creature or give it any cause to distrust him. He wondered vaguely whether he'd put enough of that lotion on, but as it was too late to add anymore right now, he swiftly pushed that though aside.

Toby stood there, hand outstretched, palm skyward, as the unicorn came back into view. It DID look like he was smelling him, and it wasn't shying away. Again, Toby found he couldn't look away even if he wanted to; it was certainly helpful in the sense that it was distracting enough that he didn't have to think too much about not moving.

Slowly and deliberately, the unicorn moved its mouth to Toby's hand and opened its mouth. Toby was ready, so when the creature gave his index finger a sharp nibble, he didn't jump or yelp or anything, even though it kinda hurt. Nope, he just stayed totally still, instead marvelling at the beautiful mane and horn and those shining golden hooves while he awaited the unicorn's judgement.

Why was Kace looking at him like that? Oh he knew …hehe. Giving the Hufflepuff a wink, just to annoy him, Kevin stepped through the hedges when it was his turn to say hi to the unicorns. Once he stepped through, he walked closer to the water and then stood still , trying not to move an inch.

His eyes tried to watch every movement of every unicorn and one on the right caught his attention. It was a silver unicorn who had started to walk towards him out of curiosity. Excitement went through him but he kept quiet, not wanting to scare off any of the unicorns.

As the creature got closer and started circling him, Kevin turned his head to see what it was doing and upon doing so the unicorn stopped, walked backwards and away from him. “oh come on! Come back, I’m lovely!”

………..yeah that totally scared the unicorn and he watched it going back and stand behind another unicorn. Stupid..beautiful…creatures.

Lotion? All it took was... Lotion? Zander was dumbfounded. Lotion. REALLY?

Huh. Who would have thought, right? You know what else was a weird thought? That he was actually agreeing with Zahra for once in his life. What in the name of Merlin was going on here?!?! It was probably just the lotion smell getting to him or something. Most likely. WEIRD. Giving himself a moment to shake off that strange thought, he walked over to the lotion bottle thing and welp.

It had a really strong smell... Sweet Merlin. He was going to smell like a girl.

Taking the lotion, though rather reluctantly, he smeared it all over his hands, and neck, and a bit on his arms too (for good measure). This stuff was weird. And he was most definitely making a face. ALSO internally cackling at Kevin Hirase trying to reason with a unicorn. Ok Kevin. Ok.

As Kace was eyeing Kevin he noticed he winked at him? He just winked? He furrowed his brows and shrugged it off. He would deal with him later. Right now they needed to focus on the activity. I mean there was a unicorn nibbling on his fingers and it didn't chomp them off yet. It seemed to like the taste of his hands because it was licking them. He smiled and was glad the unicorn was warming up to him.

He wondered if he could pet the thing? He still let the unicorn lick his hand and he moved very slowllyy to pet it and it didn't notice. He smiled and was amazed at how soft the fur was. He was still in control of his emotions which was a good thing yeah? Next thing he heard was Kevin screaming at the unicorn telling it to come back to him. That he was lovely? He smirked to himself and couldn't help but chuckle. Lovely isn't the word he would use but all the same least he was petting a beautiful creature.

There you go.

Benny had managed to garner the attention of one of the nearby unicorns, the silvery white creature slowly making his way towards him. The Gryffindor had to remind himself to breath as he did his best to remain still. His eyes the only thing truly moving as he kept his gaze on his animal companion as much as possible. The unicorn slowly moved past him before coming around as if wanting to investigate him all the way around. It was only then that he slowly lifted the palm of one hand ti tentatively offer it up to the creature to check out as well.

Come closer...I wont hurt you, he said in his mind, not trusting to say it aloud. They were supposed to be relatively quiet at first...right? Come smell the fruity sent of the hand lotion rubbed into the skin.

It took a few moments but it seemed the unicorn got the hint or was filled with curiousity. Whatever the case, Ben felt the rush of the creatures breath upon the skin of his palm and hand. He couldn't help the smile that graced his face as it moved closer and sniffed him a bit more. A nibble or two soon followed and the Gryffindor did his best not to react too much. Thus was expected when dealing with creatures and he was well aware.

Surely working with dragons would lead to far worse.

Angel looked at the unicorn and waited to see if the creature would sniff her arm, she waited and waited and waited and finally it decided that it would sniff her hand, now she just had too.

O______________________o

Why did she have to keep waiting, this was going to be really long and bored and this was one reason why she didn't like animals you had to wait until they let you go anywhere near them whilst the plants you could just look after them all the time.

Angel waited and waited until the unicorn licked her hand, it had felt like she had been waiting for about an hour but it was nowhere near that long in fact, she smiled as she gave the unicorn a nice stroke. "Your an amazing animal are you, you look so lovely. My sister AJ totally loves unicorns, I've thinking of getting her a stuffed one for her birthday." Angel said truthfully she thought that it would be a nice thing to do.

They got to play with the unicorns. Janelle was super excited........until she found out about the fruity lotion. She made herself all clean to put on some lotion made of unicorn dung? Yuck. That was pretty disgusting, but what could she do? If she wanted to play with the unicorns, she'd have to pay the price.

With a sigh, Janelle went over to get some of the lotion. She reluctantly put some into her hand and rubbed it over both hands and wrists. It was fruity all right, enough to make her gag.......almost. Janelle followed Professor Thompson and her classmates to the unicorns. Then she watched the Professor show how it was done. "I can do that.", Janelle thought. That was until the unicorn bit the him. Now that would be a problem.

Janelle waited her turn and finally, she was ready to give it a go. Spying a beautiful unicorn who looked a bit lonely, she began walking toward him very slowly. "Patience", Janelle told herself. Must be patient.

So unicorns then.

Grayson's opinion of them? WELL. They were alright, really. Not one of the creatures he'd want to keep as a pet or anything. Besides, growing up, unicorns had been on all kinds of clothing for girls and so, naturally, the boy had kinda assumed that girls would be the preferred people to go and befriend a unicorn. Shrug. Didn't sound like his cuppa, frankly. They were UNICORNS. There wasn't anything remarkable about them.

Unlike dragons. Dragons were dead cool.

Grayson eyed them carefully as he rubbed a tooty-fruity lotion onto his neck and hands. Dude was gonna end up smelling like he'd come out of a freaking spa or something along those lines. Where was the rock and roll in that?

Smelling like blueberries, the boy set eyes on one particular unicorn. It wasn't gold so he as kinda safe. Kinda. If unicorns COULD sense your personality then LOL, he was kinda doomed. Just saying. No unicorn will wanna come up to a sassy Slytherin who couldn't give two knuts about anything. Still, this Slytherin went ahead and started approaching one of the unicorns.

Carefully.

Slooooooooooooooooowly.

Okay, c'mon, notice him already.

Norah let the unicorn lick her fingers a couple more times before slowly getting to her knees so the her head was just under the unicorn's, and moving her hand up to pet it's silvery head. "Hey there," she whispered, putting her other hand on its mane too, because the soft and shimmery stuff was the best thing she'd ever petted EVER. "Aren't you the beautifulest creature in the whole entire universe!" Because it WAS. The third year got to her feet again and and moved her right hand to behind its ears, grinning down at it now because holy bananas she was sure she'd never seen anything more pretty.

The thirteen year old stepped to the side and kept talking quickly, not whispering as much because they were friends now right? "We're gonna be best friends now, right?" The unicorn said nothing, but it was totally thinking the same thing. Totally. Norah could just TELL. "We can play--I mean hang out--all day long and have matching sparkly crowns and EVERYTHING." Pet pet pet. They could keep doing this forever, right? Good.

...................... Okay that didn't take too long. Had he put on too much of the lotion? Or did unicorns just like the smell of blueberries?

Grayson stopped still and waited for the unicorn to come to HIM. Made him feel kinda important and all, having a unicorn come up to him like that. When it was close enough, the Slytherin gradually raised his palm up so that the creature could lick him.

LOL.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

Okay, none of this sounded right to his teenage boy brain but he tried to remain as neutral as possible. These creatures could tell what you were like, after all, and he needed to build up that level of trust, even if it happened to be fake. Whatever means necessary and all. Long as he got the job done, he didn't care much for the small details like the method.

And the unicorn? Currently circling around him. Slowly. And not just once either, multiple times at that. Jeez, was he THAT much of a bad person?

Don't answer that.

When Janelle got close, but not too close to the unicorn, she stopped. Trying to look as unthreatening as possible, she stuck out her hand and froze. She was getting better and better at this "be very still so as not to scare the animals" game. And so Janelle waited, watching the unicorn very closely. Hopefully this one did not have a desire to bite. That must be hard to resist, given that she smelled like a nice, big, fruity snack.

This unicorn did not seem particularly interested.......for a while anyway. Maybe he wanted to test her. At any rate, Janelle continued to stand very still. Finally, when she was about to give up hope, he moved a little closer. Yep, this was definitely a test.

Apparently the unicorn deemed her worthy because he came closer still and took a big sniff of her hand. Unfortunately it was one sniff and nothing more so Janelle continued to wait. This patience thing was definitely a challenge.

LOL, turns out he was a bad person, then. Why else would the unicorn be taking so long to circle around him like that? Sure, he was good to look at, but unicorns weren't his type, yo. He'd be MORE than happy to give this one a picture if it so wanted but he had a funny feeling that it wouldn't last long at all, which would be a shame.

And. It. Was. Still. Circling. Him.

WHY?! He was being NICE, hello?! There was a smile on his face and everything, jeez. Learn to appre--

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

FOR THE SAKE OF--

Calm, Whitty. Keep CALM. But MAN, it was hard to stop the tirade of swear words flying through his brain as his exterior remained more or less neutral. Nothing much had changed other than the fact that his eyes widened a little and he bit down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying out.

And the unicorn was getting weird, biting him like that. He was gonna report it.

..........

........................

And then it was licking his palm. Actually licking him.

This was too freaking weird, mkay?

"Come on, lick my hand already", Janelle thought. This unicorn was definitely not in a hurry. He was clearly savoring the experience and operating on his own time schedule. He finally did sniff her hand some more, but gave no sign of wanting to do anything else. Did she not put on enough eau de fruit? We're her hands not soft enough or was the unicorn just toying with her. Janelle did not know, but she wished there was something she could do to further entice the animal.

But there was nothing she could do. She had to remain still and quiet until he decided to accept her. Sigh. Well she couldn't move, but Janelle could put on her friendly face. She tried to channel all of the positive energy she could. She tried to say, "I'm a nice person, play with me, without actually saying it. The unicorn must have sensed her positive vibes because after the twenty seventh sniff, he licked Janelle's palm. She was so happy, she didn't know what to do. For a moment, she continued to stand still. Then she decided what to do next.

She had two unicorns string her down, but Brooklyn didn’t move. She stood still as a statue, the only thing moving her eyes as she tried to keep them on the pair who was slowly moving toward her. The golden foal was just ahead of its mama, and it took every bit of self-control not to lift her hand before they got close enough. She knew better than to startle the mama, after all, especially when the mama proved to be taller than her. She wasn’t about to risk her life just to connect with a unicorn or two.

She raised her hand slowly as the baby got closer, holding her open palm out and trying not to giggle as the baby sniffed it. Its nose tickled, so it was hard to stay quiet. “It’s okay,” she said quietly as the mama approached warily, reaching her other hand out, palm upward, for her to sniff. The other was still occupied by the baby’s sniffing. Neither had licked her yet, so it meant more waiting. That and more trying not to laugh as the mama sniffed her other palm. No startling of either unicorn was going to happen. She refused to fail at the activity, or to get bitten.

It seemed as though Toby passed the test, because next thing he knew, there was a unicorn licking his hand.

This... this was one of those moments where Tobias had to stop and look at his life for a moment, because of how surreal it felt (also... why did that keep happening in Care of Magical Creatures class?) There he was, standing there, covered in strong fruity-smelling lotion, while a unicorn licked his hand. It was... awesome.

The pain from the bite went away immediately, though it hadn't really been hugely painful in the first place. No blood drawn or anything. Tobias stood there watching the unicorn, very aware of the horn and making a mental note to duck out of the way if need be so as not to get impaled.

That went on for a while, the unicorn licking his hand and Toby watching. Or more like staring. He was enchanted by the unicorn, whether it was the beauty of the thing or its purity and innocence or something else that he couldn't place. It WAS beautiful, though. Almost kind of sad in a way, though Toby wasn't sure if that actually the effect of the creature or just his own mind being weird.

When it finally stopped and looked at him, Toby reached up and tentatively pet the unicorn's neck. It leaned into his touch, so he kept on with it, more confidently now that he was quite sure it didn't mind him.

"You're beautiful," he whispered to the animal, with eyes only for it. Understatement, yeah, but Tobias had no idea what else to really say. To be honest, he was really resisting the urge to give it a hug. Instead he continued petting the unicorn, occasionally softly murmuring to it and more or less totally tuning out everyone else around him.

Play time! Janelle couldn't just jump into playing with he unicorn though. She had to ease her way into his good graces. First came the talking. "Hi there little unicorn. I'm Janelle and I'd like to be your friend. Is it OK if I pet you?" Not hearing a no of any sort, Janelle slowly reached out and began to pet the animal about the head and back. "You are so beautiful", Janelle said to her new friend. So far, he seemed accepting of her attention. so far so good.

Of course if Janelle was involved with an animal, it had to have a name. As she continued to stroke the unicorn's back, she thought about a fitting name for him. "You need a name.", she said seriously. Standing back to take a good look at him, Janelle said, "What should I call you?" After giving it some thought, she began to smile. "I've got it. Why don't we call you ......Sunshine?" Janelle knew that that was probably a ridiculous name for a unicorn, but she liked it. "Well you brightened up my day.......so Sunshine it is." She guessed that Sunny didn't mind the new name because at that moment, she got another lick. Janelle took a chance and gave her friend a hug. "You're sweet. You just like to take your time getting to know a person, don't you?" Janelle could appreciate that.

After a few more minutes, it was getting harder and harder for Brooklyn to hold back a reaction to the feeling of the mama and foal sniffing at her hands. She’d never really been entirely patient, after all, but a smile crossed her face when first the baby and then the mama stopped sniffing and licked her palms. See? She knew she wasn’t going to fail. Now she just had to decide who to pet first, which was really a hard choice. The foal had moved even closer, almost nudging her side as if trying to beg her for attention, but she chose to turn to the mama. It seemed like the better idea, if she wanted to be trusted. Having unicorns on her side could be just as useful as having professors like her after all.

“You’re so pretty,” she said softly, stroking the mama unicorn’s nose lightly, moving slowly toward her neck. She knew better than to just assume she could go straight for the neck and the unicorn’s side. She was slowly going to gain her trust, although a soft giggle slipped out as she found the foal poking its horn and then its head under her other arm. “Mama, I think your baby really wants attention,” she added, still stroking the mama unicorn’s neck. The baby kept nudging, licking her neck under her hair and causing another giggle to slip out. “I can’t pet both of you.”

Janelle was loving this. She could spend all day with the animals and be totally fine with that. The unicorns might just be her favorite so far. She and Sunny had been bonding and it was going well. Janelle wondered if he would still be her friend if she didn't smell like dessert. Would she have to lotion up every time she approached him, to get his attention? She would have to ask Professor Thompson about that.

Janelle hoped that they would be allowed to spend more time with the unicorns. Looking at Sunny, Janelle continued to talk to him. "I hope that I can come back and visit you later, if the Professor will let me." She wondered what they would be doing with the animals next. Would they get to goom them? Feed them? She would have to wait and see, she guessed. Sunshine nuzzled against Janelle's arm and she smiled. Rubbing his nose, she said, "I think you will be my newest, bestest animal friend." One thing about animals was, you could talk to them about anything...........and unlike people they would always listen. That's why Janelle loved them so much.

Okaaaay... So now that he had put on all that lotion... Time to approach the--wait. Were boys allowed to approach? Or did they have to just wait to be approached. All this unicorn stuff was hard. There were just way too many rules about this stuff.

Taking a few careful steps forward, Zander looked around.... Okaaay still. He was going to stand still. Really really still. And OH a unicorn! This meant the lotion was working, right? Yeaaaaah! Wait...

He was supposed to raise his hand right? Forgetting the do it slowly part, the Gryffindor quickly threw his hand in the air--WAAAAAIT where was the unicorn going?!?! Man. How come he always managed to scare them away? Unicorns were weird.

They surely were beautiful creatures. Even more pretty up close which he certainly was with them at the moment. At least the one that was beside him as a partner in exploring each other. Geez...AJ had to have been in heaven when she had her chance with her beloved unicorns. Probably felt like bliss to be so close and personal with them even if she couldn't have one of her own...yet.

Benny bit back a chuckle as he was brought back to the present by the ticklish feeling on his hand. It seemed the unicorn was repeating the gesture the one with Thompson had done...treating the small wound it had made. Once it was sure what he was wasn't food that was. Maybe that was a downfall of the lotion they were using. Or maybe it was a test to see if the human would go all violent in response or not.

Whatever the case, the unicorn was being nice...and tickling and the Gryffindor shifted slowly to be in a better position with the creature. "Hey there..." Benny greeted ever so softly, chancing his voice now. When he didn't seem to scare his companion off so far, he chanced moving a hand to touch the unicorn whom after a step back at first, allowed it. "I'm good people...I like creatures."

Professor Thompson could only smile a little at one of the comments, "That would indeed sound like a fun experiment, Miss Kettleburn." Sound being the keyword. He then went on to address the concerns of their necks, "Not to worry Mr. Hirase, placing some on your neck has the same effect as cologne does with masking the front of your body with the scent. Having it on the hands stops them from searching up north." He answered this calmly while gently stroking the silver Unicorn he had. The white companion of this one later joined, leaving his other hand busy with petting it too.

Just about everyone who had attempted had success or at least showed the characteristics on what was needed to be done. Very nice indeed. Now then, "Alright now. I believe we're nearly done for the day.." Except, "Walking back unfortunately might have you all late for your next class."

Which could only mean one thing, "Let's have a race back to the Creature Housing. I believe your new Unicorn friends will be okay with giving you a ride if you ask politely enough." Did he need to demonstrate that? He would hope not, but for those who actually needed an example.. He turned to the mature pure white-coloured Unicorn. This one definitely looked like he could handle the Professor's size. "You're too lovely to mess with. I have some treats back at the barnyard if you would so kindly take me back please?" Saying this in a very soft tone. Almost as if talking with a child of his own. Hm.

The Unicorn seemed to have appreciated this as it lowered itself enough for Javier to swing his legs over. "Thank you." Once it raised up to its original height again. "The first three to make it back will earn some extra points." Lightly clicking his heels against its skin, the Unicorn sped off.

---
OOC: Nearly done, now you just have to convince your new Unicorn friend to take you back to the barnyard. Through the trek of branches, trees and hedge obstacles this should take at least three labeled posts.

You will have until February 22nd 11:59 am EST to complete this.

Okay, he was NOT going to die. No dying. The unicorn was not going to eat him alive, he would live to see another day. Truth be told, once the biting was done, and the licking happened... it was kinda ticklish and nice. He giggled lightly as he endured it. "You're cute," he observed of the unicorn.

And... say what?

Lesson was already almost over?

Sheeesssshhhh... time flew when you were rubbing lotion into your hands and neck.

But the mention of RACING back to the barnyard sounded too awesome. HE LOVED RACES! Beaming, he stroked the neck and mane of his unicorn before placing a hand on each side of its face. "You really to show them how pretty and graceful and fast you are?" he asked lightly. Keeping his voice low on purpose so as not to spook the creature felt a great deal like keeping his voice low in the library so he wouldn't spook the nerds. HAHAHA. So funny.

"Will you let me ride you? Please? I promise you'll get treats for this," he said gently, working his way along the side of the unicorn, his hands along its back.

It didn't take too long, and eventually he was mounted on top. Sitting with his head held high on this FABULOUS creature. It was surreal. Riding a unicorn - or just sitting on one. But alas, racing time!

"Let's go, beautiful," he whispered in its ear as he leant forward, spurring it forward with a gentle tap of his heels. Please go. Please go....

And they were off!