So was he supposed to go on now or what? Heath had no idea what to do, so he stood off to one side, looking lost until the headmaster spoke again. Before he could forget the instructions again, he hurried to the nearest lit candles and blew them out one by one. Okay, that was done, but wasn't there something else that he needed to do? What was it? And come to think of it, why was his cloak on sideways?

Oh, that's right! Heath remembered now. He was playing the title roles in Jekyll & Hyde, and there were scenes in which he'd have to play both characters at the same time. The odd positioning of his cloak must be to distinguish his Hyde side. He looked around the room for some hint of what to do next and saw several people gathering around Headmaster Trent with flashlights turned on. Hmm. That seemed… counterproductive.* There wouldn't be much of an element of surprise to Hyde's attacks if he was shining a flashlight all the while, but who was he to question the director?

Heath flipped the switch on his flashlight, holding it not up to his face but sort of off to the side. He joined the others just in time to overhear someone (Nem) ask a very strange question. What did they mean "we"? Did nobody but him know the plot of this play?! He was playing Hyde, so nobody else should be killing anybody! He blinked confusedly but said nothing. Poor kid must've thought they were cast in the lead roles instead! Hopefully Headmaster Trent would let them down gently.

That question made Heath think of something, though. It looked like the dummies were going to be stand-ins for Hyde's victims, and if that was the case, did it matter which order he (as Hyde) attacked them?

What in the world were they doing? This was shaping up to be a bizarre lesson indeed. After finishing sewing another cloak, Avalon took to blowing out some candles. The Ravenclaw had briefly considered helping with the moon, but it looked kind of heavy, and she certainly didn't have a lot of arm strength. Best to let the older kids handle that one.

She had just extinguished a few candles when she heard a loud rendition of Happy Birthday. It was someone's birthday? And why were they singing about it during class? Headmaster Trent definitely wouldn't be happy about that.

After she blew out a few more candles, Avalon headed over to the dummies. It seemed like her classmates had handled the curtains and corn, so she decided to go with the fake people. Grabbing two at a time, she dragged them to the middle of the room and placed them in the middle of the grass and corn. Finally, she grabbed a cloak (one she had sewed herself, thank you very much), flashlight, and mask, and made her way back over to the Headmaster.....who was holding his light under his chin like he was about to tell some sort of creepy story. That, combined with his translucency, was a strange sight. Avalon kept her supplies in hand, not wanting to make herself look any more pale than she already was by shining a light through her face.

Cole was definitely a part of a tug of war game when he on Islas signal began pulling on the rope together with her and Carsyn. They were supposed to raise it as high as they could get the moon into the air. Islas question startled him enough so that he turned his head from the rope to look at her. "Potions class? This most definitely is COMC class, can’t you see we are hanging these arts and crafts up for the creatures benefit. It’s supposed to increase their mental stimulation." Or something but oddly enough Professor Williamson wasn’t there to see their efforts. Turning his head and attention back onto the rope Cole pulled some more from his end until he got cramp in his fingers. “Do you guys think its high up enough yet? Or should one of us climb the rope to make sure the moon is high enough in the air?" It was perfectly logical right and safe too?

Er......"Settle down Thiese. I'm about 75% sure it's not your birthday and those corn are not yours to offer." They were for the field. They added to the ambiance. He couldn't use illusion charms as he was accustomed to. This was the best he could do, okay??

Malachi's head turned in the direction of Enemy. No, no that wasn't right. It wasn't a name but even then, it wasn't that name. ANYWAY. "We didn't kill anyone. The being we'll be covering today did." It would make sense in a bit, if he still remembered it then. Yikes.

"It's not necessary Morin." He offered, seeing the girl flickering her own flashlight about her face like that. The Headmaster spared a glance at Renaldi, just to be sure she was alright before Yoon's outburst, then Grandman's question caught his attention. "Um..." Were they having story time? Was that why they had flashlights? Merlin's beard it was all making such sense! "Um....yes.....?" Children of the corn? They were the children of the corn. No need to retell their history.

Malachi watched Rosebud, Vandermuffin and Bellcharmer raise the moon, pausing when the Slytherin decided she too must sing. "It's no one's birthday while we have Defense Against the Dark Arts." New rule he'd just made. Totally. They couldn't afford further distractions. The special emphasis was especially because Vanderbilt was saying this may be CoMC. This was not. Then there was James. "Next new rule, no one's allowed to be murdered. That means it never happened by default."

And there were more lights on. Jones? Sinclair? Was that them? Huh.

"Okay everyone, settle down. The set looks perfect." Both on and off the stage as they'd be using the whole area. "But before we move to the main activity....I...Grandson said--I mean I know we're having story time." And they thought these were for nothing. Hah. Though now he had the feeling they were for something else?

Nah.

"Everyone get in a circle. Only one light on at a time now. We're going to tell a story about..." The being....which was...OH! Yes! "the bubak. I'm sure you've all done your readings." Not that sure, actually. "Now I'll test your knowledge through storytelling. It's easy, the info you give has to be in line with the traits of the bubak. I'll start. Once upon a time, there was an entire class of extremely questionably behaved students who liked riding kelpies into the sunset." Malachi flicked his flashlight off and waited for the next person to pick up. He couldn't wait to hear what happened next while he scrambled to remember what indeed was next.

OOC: Moooooving on. I had a question to ask but then Bernie went and distracted Trent so storytime instead? This is basically like a one sentence story, where everyone contributes a sentence or two towards the story. It can be anything really, the story just has to be about an encounter with the being known as the bubak by the time it ends. You can post more than once if you so wish. We'll be moving on in 24 hrs or so.

With a nod, she clicked the flashlight off. She thought the professor might be more irritated than usual, with these new rules that did not make much sense, but then the class was a big big mess at the moment so she could not blame him. She had a feeling that the whole-class storytelling would not go well. She flicked her flashlight on and shone it from under her face again, forgetting that it was not necessary, and continued the story.

"On a full moon night, the entire class of extremely questionably behaved students were hanging out in a cornfield." Like what they were pretending to do now! She turned her flashlight off, interested to hear the next part of their story.

.... Story time? Nina wasn’t sure she was a fan of this, but in trying to remember what she had learned from the reading.... she came to the horrifying realization that she didn’t remember! Which meant, she needed to get her part of the story in before they reached any of the babuk business! Headmaster Trent could NOT know that she didn’t remember the reading. She had a reputation to uphold. One that was already at risk with these embarrassing slippers on her feet.

And once Jina added to the story, Nina found her own hand shooting into the air. ”Not all of the children were questionably behaved. There were some who were perfect students, but the questionably behaved were the ones causing trouble for them in this cornfield...” Because she would NOT be lumped into the same category as everyone else! She never wanted to ride a kelpie!

Care of Magical Creatures class? Huh? What was Cole talking about? "Trent teaches Care of Magical Creatures. That's Noble," she said, gesturing toward Trent. "We're most definitely in Potions." She was only a second year, but she definitely knew Noble's face by now. She still didn't understand why Noble wanted them to hang arts and crafts projects in class, but whatever.

Cole had said something about getting the moon a little higher, but Noble said the set looked perfect and was now calling everyone into a circle. Isla made her way into the circle of people. Storytime. Okay...Potions class just kept getting weirder by the second. She also didn't know what a bubak was, but whatever. She was pretty soon she could mumble a little something and get most of it correct.

...then suddenly, it was her turn. "Uhh...on this particular night, a few of the questionably behaved students had decided to pull a few pranks on the well-bahaving students," she said, pretty much making up random stuff as she went along. "Shenanigans were about to happen!"

Oh, waaaaaaaaaaat! Bernie was RIGHT about STORYTELLING and the CHILDRENS of the CORNS! She was SO GOOD at Divinations. Someone tell that professor who liked to snap a lot!!

The third year nodded solemnly and clicked off her flashlight as Kale's dad spoke, making up new rules as the class went along. It was a good thing they'd already celebrated Flora's birthday, since now that was illegal, and also, poor Phoebe couldn't even be properly murdered in class. Bernie sent a sympathetic LOOK her friend's way, just because. She'd already said she GOT BETTER, Kale's dad, gosh. SOMEBODY liked making up rules for no reason.

When it was her turn to jump in the story, Bernie clicked her flashlight on her face and added on to what Isla was saying, remembering just in the nick of time that Kale's dad wanted them to reference the bubak. Oh yeah. She could do that. "The perfectly well-behaved kids, who WEREN'T suck-ups but who LIKED a little fun, decided to dress up like a scarecr---er, a bubak, to frighten the annoying bootlickers, who were about to go on a... on a corn maze. Because it was October."

There, yes. Bernie had added LOTS of good details. 10/10, 100%, go ahead and give her an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts & Crafts & Storytelling, Kale's dad. Thanks.

Wait, so they weren't doing Jekyll & Hyde? Then what was with the cloaks, masks, and set? Heath shook his head. Nothing about this class made sense anymore! He was relieved when Trent said they only needed one flashlight on at a time; the darkness would hide the disappointed expression on his face. He flicked his flashlight off as he joined the circle, listening carefully to the headmaster's instructions. Storytime? So that was basically improv, aka his least favorite form of acting.

He listened silently as his classmates set the tone for the story, struggling to remember anything he'd read about the babushka. Babadook? No, bubak! The more he heard, the more it sounded like playing a bubak wouldn't be all that different from playing Edward Hyde. Both attacked their victims at night, and if the state of the dummies was any indication, both attacked in a bloody, violent manner. Hmm… maybe there was a way he could still have fun with this!

He remained quiet, just waiting for the right dramatic moment to jump in, and that Gryffindor girl who'd just spoken (Bernie) gave him the perfect opportunity! "What the prankster children didn't know," he began, speaking in the same quiet, subdued voice that he normally did when answering questions in class, "was that there was a real bubak lurking nearby, watching them, just waiting for the right time to…"

"ATTACK!" He practically bellowed the last word. His flashlight clicked on at that exact moment. He held one arm up so that the bottom half of his face was hidden by his cloak, but his eyes gleamed menacingly in the light. He turned to whoever was beside him with a snarl, reaching out as if to attack. Sorry, person! He was just acting. If he was going to play a bubak, he might as well go all out!

could someone come and give this kid a trophy? Islay just watched Heath as he leaned toward her and bellowed ATTACK at her face. Her face lighting up in excitement as he gave that menacing look. Bravo kid. If she could she’d shoot a glitter cannon at him and throw him a little awards ceremony for that act.

“the Bubak, didn’t attack yet, it waited. It stood there in the field dressed as a scarecrow that seemed to be made out of bones – like someone had collected them and intended to scare even the most frightening of crows away” her voice was low and whispery as she spoke, as if she were trying to add a chill to the air with the way she spoke. “the only thing that could be heard in the field was the sound of a crying baby” of course, she had read the books and had fun with it.

After she had finished her telling she looked over to Heath and gave him a tiny thumbs up and a slight, nice job chin nod.

Aboli had grabbed a cloak, a flashlight, and had gathered near Trent when...what...who had a birthday and why should Aboli care? Like really...she didn't care unless it was someone she liked. But for now, she didn't join in because WHY would she???

Story time?

Merlin. She was growing less impressed with the lesson as it went on, but was mildly amused that they could ADD to the story themselves. So...there were questionably behaved children AND well-behaved children..and there was a bubak dressed like a scarecrow and BABIES WERE CRYING? She thought she had gotten that all correct. To be frank, she was having trouble following along, honestly, but when it got to be her turn, she cleared her throat.

She HAD done her reading. Bubaks were rad as heck, and Aboli wanted to meet one. Her obsession with bones notwithstanding, she thought they were cool. "The crying caused ALL of the children to wonder where in the WORLD it was coming from...." she added her bit with a nod. "And so...they started seaaaaarching around for these poor, poor babies."

HEH.

The fact that Professor-What’s-His-Face was calling everyone weird names went unknown to her because to her, well… she didn’t know their names either. No matter how much she tried, Claudine couldn’t so she eventually gave up. The girl simply proceeded to watch all the happenings without much interest until they were called to gather around in a circle.

Sure. She could do that, and so she did without any hesitation. This was unusual, was it not, given the fact that the child was an introvert. Oh? Story time? Lovely.. But there was an issue. She hadn’t done any of her readings for the bubak. See, she had forgotten to. It seemed that there was no other choice but to wing it when her time came.

And then her time was upon her after Aboli finished speaking.

“Closer and closer they wandered to the bubak as it stared hungrily at them as it bid its time to pounce on them.”

There. That was an ominous addition, yes?

This was allll weirddddd..... Isla thinking this was potions, Cole thinking it was care of magical creatures? And before she had any confirmation as to if the moon was high enough, Trent was doing a STORYTIME about a ... what??? What's a bubak? She'd done the reading, she thought did at least, but then again she was forgetting a lot lately and honestly, Carsyn wasn't sure exactly she'd done or not done.

But back to the fact of the matter... storytime?!? They weren't five years old... were they? Wait, had she suddenly time traveled back?? Was she not at Hogwarts anymore? She glanced around and down. Nope, she was definitely still sixteen. At least she still felt sixteen. Wait, had she missed her birthday?? Was she of-age? What month was it now?

Oh was it her turn to speak? OH was a bubak like some kind of dark creature??! That must be it!

"But the questionably behaved children had listened to their Professor when he told them to use common sense and strategy and knew there was something lurking ready to pounce on them."

There.

Naya was totally confused. One minute they were making cornfields and painting dummies and hoisting the moon toward the imaginary sky. The next minute, they were gathering in a circle and preparing to tell ghost stories. All that they were missing was a campfire. This was definitely not what she had expected to happen in class.

Holding on to her flashlight, cloak and mask, she joined her classmates as the story was beginning. This was going to be interesting. They were making up the story as they went along. Ok. She could do this.......maybe. Naya tried to think of what she knew about the bubak......something that she could weave into this ever evolving story.

When it was her turn, Naya began to speak. “The full moon was shining on the children and the bubak wondered which one he should eat first.”

Well, that was terribly dismissive of her murder and recovery. Phoebe clicked off her flashlight and stuck her tongue out at the Headmaster before her obedience took over. She seated herself with her friends, smushing in next to Bernie because she was SURE Bernie would care if she was murdered.

Bubak? Phoebe was having trouble remembering her own name, let alone what she'd read about the bubak, but she was definitely into this story. Except the part where Nina and Carsyn were ruining it by making it full of boring, well behaved children. Gross. Phoebe gave a loud shriek when Heath yelled, maybe out of actual surprise and maybe at the pleasure of being scared, and when it was her turn, she flicked her flashlight on her face.

"The bubak decided that FIRST he would eat the soul of the dumb girls who thought they weren't troublesome but were actually very silly and annoying. They tasted like cotton candy to him."

Well, that was terribly dismissive of her murder and recovery. Phoebe clicked off her flashlight and stuck her tongue out at the Headmaster before her obedience took over. She seated herself with her friends, smushing in next to Bernie because she was SURE Bernie would care if she was murdered.

Bubak? Phoebe was having trouble remembering her own name, let alone what she'd read about the bubak, but she was definitely into this story. Except the part where Nina and Carsyn were ruining it by making it full of boring, well behaved children. Gross. Phoebe gave a loud shriek when Heath yelled, maybe out of actual surprise and maybe at the pleasure of being scared, and when it was her turn, she flicked her flashlight on her face.

"The bubak decided that FIRST he would eat the soul of the dumb girls who thought they weren't troublesome but were actually very silly and annoying. They tasted like cotton candy to him."

There was a lot going on, and Ivy observed it all. It was someone's birthday, and also another student was being murdered, which seemed like a tragic turn for that other student's birthday. But then it also wasn't their birthday? Then whose birthday was it? Did anyone know?

Either way, she had finished covering her dummy's chest with the red paint, and she'd forgotten exactly what they were doing, so she'd also painted a little red flower in the dummy's hand, and theeeeen she dragged it into the cornfield with the others like the Headmaster said.

And now they were moving on, so after grabbing a cloak, a mask, and a flashlight as well, she sat in the circle with everyone else.

Wait, uh, had she done the reading? What in the world was a babuk??

Thankfully she wasn't the one who had to begin the story, and some of the others apparently knew what it was and were filling in those details. So it was some kind of scarecrow monster thing? And-

She squeaked when Heath suddenly yelled and Phoebe shrieked. Merlin, she hadn't been expecting loud noises like that. But at least it kept the story interesting, and...

...what was the story about again?

Oh, a bubak. Right. Um...

It was her turn? She turned on her flashlight. "And even the children with common sense wanted to help the crying baby, especially if there was something dangerous around! They didn't want it to get the baby either, so they kept searching while the bubak prepared for the best time to strike."

Sure, Headsman. You just roped a bunch of kids in to bring a brutal end to a bunch of defenceless dummies, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

Story time? Really? ... Well, why not. If recent trends were anything to go by, it seemed unlikely they'd remember anything from this lesson even if it was taught in a way that meant actually learning anything new. They shrugged and clicked their flashlight off, so their translucent face more or less disappeared from view.

And Nem listened. And... kind of listened some more. And then stopped listening. Not only was this not interesting in the slightest, but they couldn't even remember how the story had started, and even whatever had been said roughly two students earlier was fading. Pointless. All pointless.

Well, Nem was just going to do whatever. Old habits, and all.

After the girl beside Nem had spoken - Grim or Gromit or something - Nem clicked on their own flashlight and held it below their face again. "But then the children realised that their adult overlord, Stalactite Tent, had been trying to distract them from the fact that the world was legitimately ending, so that everyone would die and nobody would be left to snitch that he'd totally let it happen. Some realised the crying baby was him, because duh, but the rest stupidly denied it." They clicked the flashlight off, and then back on once more. "And that's when they all turned on each other."

And off again.

Wait, was that the moon?

Some of these students were reminding him why they couldn't have nice things. No name calling--mostly because he wasn't confident he'd get them right--but they probably knew who they were and what they'd done. The man could only hope.

"The crying was a lie, Trent was never there. He wouldn't accept liability for kids walking through a dark cornfield. The end." Just like that, the story was over. For the briefest moment, Malachi thought he'd remembered why he had them set the room up and grab cloaks and wanted to hop to it before he forgot again.

But first.

Some information.

"Let's recap. The bubak is a dark creature," No doubt they already knew that, "which, depending on culture, can go by many names. It's said that it appears to take away the children who disobey their parents but has also been known to take adults who also break rules. It--" Hang on, "You might want to take some notes--it takes the form of a scarecrow and has a skeletal appearance as well as a black cloak that it hides its victims in before taking them away. Usually, it lures them in with the sound of a crying baby."

So don't try to be the hero, basically.

"They prowl in dark places and are most common on nights of the full moon." Here, he paused to turn the light of the flashlight onto the moon they'd hung. See? It made sense.

"Some say it eats its victims, others say it steals your soul. I trust none of you will try to find out for yourself in unsafe ways." Not that they currently could. "It's also said that it travels between the realm of the living and the dead in a cart drawn by black cats and the only real defense is, as you may have guessed...or read....a patrnous." Lights. Flashlights. Hmm? Hmmmmm? Making sense?

"That's what we'll be simulating today. If you look at your flashlights, you'll see they have a number. Even numbers put your masks on and keep your lights off, you're the bubak. Odd numbers, you'll be the wanderers to start. Rules." Because there had to be a few. "If your bubak classmate manages to get hold of you before you can shine a light--the patronus--they've taken your soul and you are now the bubak. They will become a hapless wanderer in your stead. No shoving. No screaming. No rough grabbing. Wanderers, you may not have your light constantly on, it must be off until you feel threatened. Trust your instincts. Even though there's no magic, I expect you to use the incantation; expecto patronum. You'll go through the tall grass in the cornfield we've created. It's pretty high so don't expect to see over it. Happy hunting...or...er.....surviving, I guess. Go."

OOC: Tiiiiime for the main activity guys!! It's all as Trent says. You can choose if your character got an even number or an odd number, just try to keep the field balanced please <3 I'll wrap this class up on June 21 st

So we're clear, in the dark, one group is wandering and the other is hunting them. The hunting group (bubaks) will have to find a way to sneak up on the wanderers. A touch is enough. They will then switch places and become the wanderer. The wanderer will become a bubak. You may not decide if your character has caught someone else's, you may only RP the attempt. The final decision is left to the person being grabbed.

Any questions, feel free to gimme a nudge

Bernie couldn't help it; she had to snicker, nice and low, at that one Slytherin's involvment of Kale's dad in the story. That was why Stalactite Tent was ending the story, right? Was she following it properly? HE actually WAS a big baby, who made up rules on the spot and ended storytime just when it was starting to get good???

Still smirking a bit, she did her best to pay attention as the headprofessor gave directions, and turned her flashlight over in her hand to check the number. OOOH number TWELVE! Lucky twelve. Bernadette loved the number twelve because it has the word 'elve' in it, so it was almost tweLF. Anyhow, she snapped her mask on her face now and got up to start acting like a, er, a bubak, in a field.

This meant that she stood in the dark somewhere in the classroom with her hands sticking straight out from her sides, like a scarecrow on a pole, flashlight OFF but cluctched tightly in one hand.

Now, would the others please play along before she got tired of holding her arms out like Rose standing on the front of the Titanic? kthxbye.

And that was the end of the story time. The Bubak was bad and Claudine decided that she never, ever wanted to meet one. Her gaze switched back to Professor What’s-His-Face. Notes, yes. Where had she dropped it again? Dark eyes searched here and there until she noted that it was lurking by the wall where she had been standing by with Curtis. Now in possession of her DADA notebook and a pen, Claudine began to make her notes, the pen flying across the page of the book as she wrote as much information as she could.

Once done, the book and pen were returned to her bag. Wait. What? Flashlight? What flashlight? Cue the confused blinking from the girl. Sure enough some students were in possession of one so that meant that she had been too. But where- ah. There it was- sitting next to her bag. It was picked up and inspected. Sure enough, there was a number there. Her’s read 19. That meant she was a wanderer.

As for the rules, Claudine hoped that she’d be able to remember them. She knew she had to make her way to the cornfield though. That alone, plus the lack of mask, should be able to tell the others she was a wanderer and not a bubak.

Bernie was doing a GREAT job of being a scarecrow, in her humble opinion. But as soon as she saw a green-clad classmate with NO mask take off into the cornfield, she made her move. For some reason, which she couldn't quite remember, she had strong feelings about this classmate. Wasn't her name Claudine? It was either Claudine or Jolene, and Bernie did NOT get along with her.

But why? Did it matter? Bernie tried not to breathe too heavily as she put her arms down and started creeping along behind Jolene. No roughhousing, the Professormaster had said. But was it really roughhousing if she just ACCIDENTALLY caused Claudine to pee her pants from fright? Hehe.

Sneaking up behind her, Bernie bared her teeth and leapt forward, both arms aiming to tag Claudine on the shoulder blades. She ALSO may or may not have made a big RAWRRRRRR sound, as Gryffindors (and maybe Bubak?) are wont to do.

Oh the storytime was over?? And now they were acting out? Bubaks were dark creatures then?? Not bad presumptions for someone who hadn't done her readings. Wait sooo this WAS drama club??? Because they were simulating something, so it was kind of like a play? Glancing down at her flashlight she frowned. It was an odd number, which meant she had to start off by wandering around and try not to get killed by one of her bubak!peers.

She was a seeker. She didn't do well at the hiding thing.

Carsyn's eyes widened at the sound her younger housemate and mentee made... Figures. Well, maybe it was just as well that Bernie wasn't on her side because that meant Bernie could be on her side without being on her side??? Cause surely her younger housemate wouldn't try to do anything to harm her?

Crouching down in mock cornfield, the sixth year waited, listening.

Boo. This guy was so touchy. Also a bit of a narcissist, inserting himself into a story and usurping poor Stalactite like that. Poor example to be setting, really.

But Nem didn't say any of that. Or much of anything else. They were busy reflecting on the absurdity that anyone could be lured towards the cry of a baby. Nem had enough experience with infants to know that they were most likely to walk in the opposite direction of their squalling, and that would probably have also been true even if the brats hadn't been brought into the world.

People were just... wild.

After squinting through the gloom to look at the number on their torch - a six - Nem pulled their mask down and over their face, and withdrew further into the darkness of the tall grass to lurk and watch, at least as much as they could watch. Mostly they were relying on their ears for the moment.

And maybe also repeating to themselves on a near constant loop exactly the reason they were lurking in the first place.

And just like that, the story was over. JUST LIKE THAT. "My part was the best part," Phoebe muttered as she flipped her flashlight around and around and around, wondering how she was supposed to shine the light on the flashlight to see the number when the light was inside that flashlight and the number was on the outside. And then someone else flashed their light nearby, and she caught sight of her own.

Number fiiiive. Perfect. She got to keep her flashlight and someone was going to attack her in the dark. Sounded like a nightmare in the flesh. Bloody flesh. OH RIGHT. "I'm going to get murdered again. Yay." Phoebe flickered her flashlight and pushed into the cornfield.