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SPOILER!!: responses! Answers in, Mia paused for any last minute thoughts. She was surprised, no one said they’d had to use the murtlap essence themselves. Maybe these students were much less accident-prone than some people she knew, including herself. Still, they had good answers. “Alright, so as we’ve heard, murtlaps aren’t particularly dangerous in handled properly, but they will bite, and bites can have some uncomfortable side effects which we want to avoid,” she said, with nods to Evan, Serena, and Claudine. “They are carnivorous, and they obviously live in the sea. And, murtlap tentacles can be very useful! They are used for healing, in murtlap essence, or pickled and eaten.” Though not eaten too much, else one would encounter the purple ear hair that Dahlia had mentioned. Now, it was time for them to get started on the actual caring for murtlaps. This was the fun part, she hoped. “Now, we’re going to be feeding the murtlaps today,” she announced. “There are several murtlaps in each aquarium. I’d like you to pair or group up, or not, and catch yourselves a murtlap. They can breathe outside the water, so that’s how we’ll be feeding them today.” It was just easier if they didn’t have to hold the murtlaps in the aquariums to feed. It would be much easier to see them, too. “I recommend wearing your gloves, so you don’t get bitten by the murtlaps or stung by the anemones or pinched by the hermit crabs, but…” she shrugged. The gloves could be bulky underwater. She’d leave it up to them if they’d rather be protected or be more agile. Those murtlaps were fast and slippery, once they even found them. “If there’s no questions, let’s go ahead and get started! Let’s catch some murtlaps.” Ooc: Okay! Mini activity time!! You’ll have about 48 hours to do this before we move on, and your characters can work alone or in groups of 2-3. Dragonhide gloves are optional but recommended, for the reasons Professor Paszek mentioned. Feel free to ask any questions or have trouble, and you don’t have to do this all in one post. Here’s the task…
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How Claudine saw it, since practically all of the answers regarding the use of Murtlap had already been volunteered, she opted to go another route rather than stay silent. Though she was still focusing on Paszek, the Slytherin’s gaze was still on the aquariums. Yes, she was hopeful of spotting a murtlap. Oohh! Feeding them? How exciting! Claudine was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get started. “Anyone’s welcome to work with me,’’ Claudine said to anyone close to her. Or not? She was perfectly happy going solo as always. The dragonhide gloves were already being pulled on. There was no way she was looking to get an injury today, thank you very much. Once done, she stepped up to one of the aquariums and peered into it. A look this close should help. Hopefully. |
Feeding the murtlaps today, then? Evan definitely did not want to experience any of the side effects previously mentioned, so he reached into his bag for his gloves as well, pulling them over his hand before making his way over towards Claudine at the open invitation. Naturally, he should take advantage of the time he could still partner with his favorite Seventh year. Plus, he knew Care of Magical Creatures was as equally important to her as it was to him. "Can I take you up on that offer?" The fourth year offered a small smile, before also moving closer to the aquarium and peering inside of it. All the sea anemones definitely made it difficult, though he was still looking for any movement in the tentacles - as he wasn't sure a tank would have the same type of undercurrent to keep the anemones moving. Spotting one little cluster that looked suspicious, he pointed it out. "Maybe in that group?" |
SPOILER!!: Evan bby <3 Claudine was thankful that Evan was one who took her up on her offer. She happened to like him. “You sure can,” replied the Snakette, sparing him a pleased look and a smile. Like the Ravenclaw, Claudine was also looking for tentacle movements. Merlin knew if murtlap usually stayed still for extended periods of time. Her gaze went to Evan’s group. “Worth a try.” Already she was squinting looking for signs of the little creature. “Question for you, Evan Nam. Are you afraid of getting up close and personal with murtlap? If not, we can try to flush one out together.” Claudine dunked her right, gloved hand into the watery depths. She aimed it for the area Evan suggested. Oh? What was that? Was that some movement? “I think at least one’s hiding there.” The movement had been subtle but it looked like tentacles, yes? Tentacles that had moved when she had disturbed the water. |
Lisa liked Care of Magical Creatures so she was happy to listen along and was just chilling until she heard something about MURTLAPS BEING …. CARNIVOROUS? :whaa: Okay so she was lowkey freaking out in her mind at the prospect of meeting one but the Professor’s words calmed her down. She never used to be that flighty but Lisa didn’t want to part with her toes… Their task became clear. They’d be feeding murtlaps today. Their toes would be safe. She glanced around, looking to see if anyone wanted to partner up. She did notice her brother making a beeline for Claudine which was smart. Claudine was brilliant and so was he. “Anyone want a partner?” |
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It wasn't until he heard Maya's sister asking for a partner that he perked up. Uh... what were they doing again? Murtlaps? Making essence of murtlap? Wasn't that potion brewing? Maybe the youngest Nam knew and could help correct his course. "Please, yes, partner." Okay, can you be any less coherent, Adara-Stark, honestly. It didn't take him long before he was by her side. "So uh... murtlaps." Duh. |
Okay, but first of all, her question wasn't slightly off topic! It was the topic Kins wanted to know about and class is all about learning stuff - how was that off topic? Professors are always so quick to call things 'off topic', but there were so many good topics they never talked about. So actually. Kinsay was really only helping. But Professor P's answer really fell short of anything convincing. Magic is what adults said when they couldn't think of a better answer. Professor P was defending the murderers at this school. It was truly terrible. Kins scowled to show her disbelief. She was even upset enough not to answer the question about murtlaps (even though they were really cute and she wanted to take one back to the dorm with her). She did, however, get moving as they were told to get started on this murtlap catching business. Because. Because even though she was sad about Sir Henry, she still wanted a pet murtlap for the dorm. Emm would like it, she was sure. Artemis could use a friend. Kins knew how lonely he got sometimes. So. So she slipped on her gloves and stuck her hands straight into one of the aquariums without much of a plan. "Hi, little murtlaps. Swim to me, I'm nice!" Actually. This was her plan. |
SPOILER!!: Claudine! Evan was quite pleased with the fact Claudine didn't seem to hate his company, it was nice. He offered her a small smile back, finishing a last tug of his dragonhide gloves before letting his hands drop to his sides. He kept thinking he was seeing some movement, but then he wondered if it was a trick of the light and he was wrong. Was he wanting to find one so badly he was imagining it? That was a common thing people could end up doing. The correct answer to that question probably should have been yes, he was afraid given the listed reasons from before... BUT he loved creatures. And he had his protective wear on. So no, he wasn't afraid in the slightest. His smile grew, turning a little impish in the process as well. "Not in the slightest. What do you have in mind for the best way to snag him?" He had no issue just diving his hands in there as an effort. But they might also be able to try levicorpus or something to lift it out of the water to grab. He watched the cluster as Claudine disturbed it, nodding when she said she thought there was one in there. "I think I saw it too!" |
Sooo, they had to catch murtlaps and feed them. That sounded like fun!! She considered noting down what the professor was saying - that was a lot of information but she was too distracted by the aquariums. She quickly slipped on her gloves and started to search for the sea creature - it really wasn't easy to spot one - they seemed to be extremely good at hiding. Oooh wait. Val thought she saw some tentacles so she quickly stuck her hand into the water. It would be a lot easier to catch it without a glove because it felt gross and super heavy but - uhhh. Nothing. No murtlap. "Come on, come on." She muttered under her breath. |
Mia watched closely as the students grouped up and attempted to gather up murtlaps for feeding. She wasn’t sure how long they would need to find and corral the murtlaps. But, they did need to feed them, before the creatures got any ideas about their aquarium-mates. Or student fingers. But it seemed like some students were close to having their murtlap buddies ready to feed, so Mia strode off to the corner, returning with three small buckets. She didn’t want to rush any that were still trying to coerce the creatures out of their hiding places, but maybe getting out the food would help them along as well. “All right, I know some of you are still tracking down your murtlaps, but when you’ve gotten them, it’ll be feeding time,” she announced, glancing around to make sure everyone heard. “I’ve got here some small fish,” like anchovies and sardines, “as well as some seaweeds and prawns.” She set the buckets down in a row. “I’d like for you to offer a sampling of foods to your murtlap, and observe how they react to each one.” Ooc: Ok, the main activity is up! You’ll have until at least 8 PM Central (GMT-5) on September 30th to complete this activity. If you haven’t completed the mini activity already, that’s OK, you can wrap that up and go straight to the main activity. If you haven’t gotten the chance to post at all in class, this is a great place to jump in! |
SPOILER!!: Dear Evan Nam <3 “Oh, a simple grab and lift,” Claine replied cheerfully. CoMC always put her in a good mood. “Using magic is my backup idea. In my opinion, a hands - on experience is best when it comes to creatures. A hands - on experience wherever we can manage it, that is.” Just a little tip there for you, possible future magizoologist. Right now, she was focusing her energies and concentration on gently easing the murtlap up because yes, it was indeed one. It escape from her gloved hand repeatedly. “Look, it’s coming closer to you,” the Snakette remarked, quite calm despite having just dealt with a particularly frustrating murtlap. Her general love for creatures never made her lose patience. “Want to take a shot at grabbing it? If we can’t, we’ll use magic.” |
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She slipped her gloves on and then eyed the nearest tank. “First we need gloves but I think they may be trying to hide or blend in with the amenonemoneme…. It’d be smart so they don’t get caught by their predators.” she explained before slipping her gloved hand in the water and slowly moving it towards the anemone. “Where else do you think they could hide?” |
Attempting catch-up SPOILER!!: Catch-up Heath listened carefully as Professor Paszek went over the next activity. He had to admit, feeding the murtlaps sounded pretty fun - but wait! They had to catch them first? That sounded difficult. He wondered why they couldn’t just feed the murtlaps while they were still in the aquarium, but he was sure there must be a reason. Otherwise the professor wouldn’t have told them to do it that way. As everyone split into groups, his eyes flicked toward Claudine, but he saw she was already partnered with Evan. Did they need another person? Probably not. It looked like they were pretty far along…. As was nearly everyone else. He decided to go solo for this one and made his way to the aquarium where he last saw the murtlap, but it was no longer there. Where did it go? His dark eyes scanned the tank in search of anything that looked like legs or teeth, and he spotted something in the far corner. Was that the murtlap? He couldn’t tell for sure, but just in case, he didn’t want to spook it. He remained still, giving the murtlap (wherever it was) time to get used to his presence before making a move. So how was he supposed to catch it without scaring it? He thought and suddenly remembered that murtlaps go for people’s feet. Maybe the same applied to fingers. If so, maybe he could use that to lure it out and grab it while it was distracted. He cautiously dipped a gloved finger into the aquarium near the place he thought he saw the murtlap and wiggled it back and forth. “Come out wherever you are,” he whispered. “Get the finger…” |
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Just as Professor Paszek was giving them more to the activity to complete. Oh, so once they found a murtlap, they had to feed it. That sounded easy enough, except... "Couldn't we just lure it to us with the food?" You know, since they liked to hide and all. It worked with his cat. Whenever he wanted it to come out and play, he just had to offer treats. |
SPOILER!!: ashdiogjo we see what you did there "Grab and lift sounds good to me." Sometimes simple was the best route to take. He had no qualms with doing things without being reliant on spells, with magic school it just always seemed necessary outside of Muggle Studies. The reminder that most things in Care of Magical Creatures could be accomplished without as well, it was a welcomed one. He watched her hand movement in the water, seeing the murtlap a lot more clearly as well now. He stood a bit taller on his tiptoes, giving himself better reach as she spoke. The creature was in fact moving quite a bit closer but he waited a bit longer for it to get even closer before ... splash. He thrust his hand in, probably scaring a few others in the container (sorry creatures) and getting a splash of water on himself, though he did not see if it got Claudine as well. The important thing was though, the quick movement seemed to have worked as his fingers gently closed around the creature and pulled it out of the water. "Got him!" Was it just him or was it kind of cute? "Want a snack, little buddy?" And no, Evan did not mean any of his digits. He was quite glad for his dragonhide gloves. "Which food do you think we should start with?" He was leaning seaweed, but for no real reason. He didn't know much about what a murtlap's diet was so if she had any insight to what it might prefer, he was all ears. |
SPOILER!!: hehe it's gonna be a thing now <3 Go, team. See, this is why Claudine liked Evan. He was such a no-nonsense kind of person and was actually helpful. She grinned in delight as he caught the slippery little murtlap. She hurried over to Evan, her attention fully on the creature. “Hi, there. You can be awfully difficult to catch, little fellow.” Oh wow. It really does look like a rat,” she thought to herself as her gaze took in the creature. Right. Food. “Um, how about prawns?” The Snakette moved over to the buckets to scoop one of the big shrimp up. While Evan held the murtlap, she put the prawn to its little mouth. “Here you go. Eat up.” Or not? Which was very cool too. |
Prawns to start (and been here all along, I have...) Violet, looking a little worse for wear, had finally managed to track down and grab a murtlap, though getting herself wet and slightly muddy in the process. Now, holding it with both hands (sensibly encased in dragon-hide gloves), she admired the anemone-like growth on its back. She really wished she could get some of those to pickle and try brewing with, but she supposed there was no discreet way to do that in the middle of class. So--food. Violet herself hated sardines and anchovies, and wasn't much excited by seaweed, so she tried first the food she herself would most like to have eated--prawns. "Here you go," she murmured in a sing-song-like voice, "here's a nice fat prawn for you, fella..." and she gingerly held out the prawn to her murtlap. |
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"Why not? I think that's brilliant, Apollo," she nodded and removed her gloved hand from the water. "Do you want to do the honours of luring with the treat? It's carnivorous so maybe we do a fish or prawn?" |
SPOILER!!: Evan Nam and Claudine Blaze The murtlap wriggled in the boy's hands, its little nose sniffing about now that it was out of the water. Something smelled tasty. Were those fingers? No, prawns? The murtlap strained as it reached for the prawn, opening its little mouth as wide as it could to snatch the crustacean from the girl's hands. Clinging to the prawn with its paws, it nibbled away, wiggling its tentacles, tails, and toes as it munched. YUM. Could it have more? SPOILER!!: Violet Blackthorne Violet's murtlap wasn't happy with being held. Biting at the air and wiggling as much as it could, it didn't notice at first that its captor was speaking to it. What it did notice, however, was the most tantalizing-looking prawn in the world, suspended in front of its face by some sort of weird-looking rock. Oh, that was a hand? It didn't much matter, the murtlap took a big bite out of the prawn, chewed a little, then gobbled up the rest. Prawn gone, it went after the prawn holding hand-rock. Oh, that didn't taste as good. It returned to biting at the air, in the hopes something tasty would materialize in front of it again. |
After another few minutes of searching, giving up, feeling irritated and searching again - valentina finally managed to get one. She held the little creature tenderly, super worried that it was just going to jump off any second. But, it seemed to stay put. She slowly walked over to where the buckets were - wrinkling her nose a bit. Now, to feed the murtlap. She awkwardly held it with one hand as she picked up a fish and slowly moved it towards the murtlap's mouth. "Hope you are hungry." It had to be, right?? This activity wouldn't make sense otherwise. |
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He felt his cheeks growing warm. Brilliant, what!?!? "Oh.. uh ... sure, i guess I can. Maybe we try prawn first." Taking a couple he plunged his gloved hand into the aquarium, wriggling the prawns around to maybe get the attention of the murtlap. Just uh ... as an after-thought, Apollo realized it probably wasn't the best method? |
SPOILER!!: Valentina Nichols Here was one sleepy murtlap. It lay comfortably in Valentina's hand, dozing until the strong scent of fish reached its little nose. Wiggling its nose slightly as it investigated the scent, the murtlap sniffed the fish, then took a tentative bite of fish. SPOILER!!: Lisa Nam and Apollo Adara-Stark ATTACK!!!! The murtlap sprung from its hiding place among the anemone, going straight for the gloved hand invading its home. This murtlap didn't want to be taken like the others! It batted the glove angrily, then noticed--PRAWN! Disregarding the imminent invasion of its anemone, the murtlap scuttled over to the prawn and started nibbling. |
Heath waited patiently for a murtlap to come out of hiding, moving only his finger. When one came close enough, he reached into the aquarium with his other hand to grab it. Somehow he managed to keep his grip on the little creature long enough to get it out of the tank. "Hello, little guy," he whispered, holding the murtlap gently yet firmly enough to keep it from escaping. "Don't be scared… I won't hurt you." He didn't know why he was talking to the murtlap! Maybe he thought it might calm down if it got used to his voice, or maybe it was because animals were easier to talk to than most people. Whatever the reason, he kept talking to the murtlap. "I'm sorry for taking you out of your tank. How about I make it up to you?" Still holding the murtlap, he made his way to the buckets. He glanced from one bucket to the next, debating which snack to give the murtlap first. He initially thought to save the prawns for last, fearing that the little creature might turn its nose up at the offerings of fish or seaweed later. Then again, if he was going to make a proper peace offering, it should be something the creature would most likely enjoy, right? He picked up a prawn. "Would you like a snack?" He said, offering it to the murtlap. |
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Well, let's see if it likes other fish. Holding the murtlap away from her as far as possible, Violet awkwardly grabbed some of the small fish--anchovies, from the smell of them. Not her favorite thing, but maybe the murtlap would like them. Finding it awkward to hold a murtlap in one hand and offer it food in the other, Violet finally manged to offer three anchovies, holding them by the very, very ends to try to avoid more biting (sure, the gloves seemed to work, but no sense in taking chances). |
SPOILER!!: Heathcliff Jones The murtlap would like a snack. Tentacles quivering nervously, it stretched its head toward the delicious looking prawn. Gingerly biting the crustacean, the murtlap pulled the prawn toward itself, then pinned it down with its paws so it could eat. Nom nom nom. This giant human was a good one. It wouldn't try to eat his fingers or toes. This prawn was much tastier. SPOILER!!: Violet Blackthorne At first the murtlap thought the anchovies were more prawn. And it loved prawn. It licked an anchovy. Hm. Not prawn. But, much tastier than the weird gloved hand. The murtlap took a tentative bite of anchovy. Definitely not prawn. But...it was still hungry, so it took another bite. Okay. Two bites were enough. Maybe if it didn't eat the fish, and didn't bite the hand, then the hand would deliver more prawns. ooc: You've got a few more hours to try feeding your murtlaps before we wrap up! |
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