At least the practice bit didn’t last long, for which Jude was grateful. He was kinda, sorta eager to get to working with the little plants, you see. So when Devries told them to collect one, the boy did just that, taking his time to retrieve it and walk back to his workstation. He did, however, eye the nose plugs apprehensively a bit before putting them in. Immediately after, his dragonhide gloves were pulled on.

Now for working on extracting the ‘stinksap’!

Jude wasn’t really looking forward to it but hey. He was here to learn even if he was sure this was never going to aid him during his career as a pianist/songwriter/dancer. Having located a trowel a bit earlier, the boy used it to copy Devries’ earlier demonstration. With the same apprehension he had had with the nose plugs, he eyed the plant as Jude quite expected the knob he was working on to offload a whole deal of stinksap.

Fortunately for him, no such thing happened since the stinksap seemingly casually oozed from the plant.

It was not difficult to understand how uncomfortable Luther was by looking at his face and the slight scowl that marred his face. 'I really don't like smelly plants.' thought Luther as he walked slowly back to his seat with a Larrylechia Perlatum. Ensuring his gloves and nose plugs were properly equipped, he started to prod the knobs as gently as he could. Even though he knew that the smell could not pass through the plugs, he felt the smell completely wash over him as small drops of sap started to pour from the knob. 'I need a hot shower right now.' he thought as he continued gently prodding the knobs with his wand ready to cast Scourgify if he needed it.

Jude wondered if he should really press his luck by trying to extract more stinksap. In all honesty, this was not one of his favourite Herbology lessons, no offense to Devries. It was just that stinksap was not his thing. He squinted at his little plant as he tried to make up his mind, as though the plant would help him with that. Maybe it did for Jude grabbed the trowel again.

After picking another knob to work with, the earlier steps were repeated. For a moment, the Hufflepuff thought that he was doing something wrong, or that the know held no stinksap. None of the goo was oozing even after a good couple of minutes. It left him baffled but he wasn’t about to give up just yet. It was the right decision to make.

It might have taken some extra time but there it was - stinksap. Jude resisted the urge to pull a disgusted face.

Dealing with a stinky, messy plant.

Not exactly something everyone would want to deal with. Raj though, with his love of creatures wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with working which things. I mean hello, dragons and hippogriffs didn’t exactly make pretty smelling fertilizer. Though he wasn’t not grateful for the nose plug, having put it in and slipping his hands into his gloves. Just as long as he didn’t have any sudden water bursts he should be okay. He doubted wet larryleachia perlatums smelled any better than dry larryleachia perlatums.

He had practiced his scourgifying, so he was good in that department. The sixth year getting up from his spot to retrieve his plant and gingerly carrying it back to his work area with a trowel, taking the professor’s advice. Now he just had to coax the plant to release the liquid it was charmed to produce. “Come on little fella…” he said quietly, talking to the plant like it was a creature he was caring for. Gently echoing the professor’s example on one of the protrusions. It took a few tries, but then Raj hit paydirt, the liquid flowing for a second before he remembered the vial and started collecting.

YES!

Ash wasn't particularly pleased to be dealing with a plant that could squirt you with foul-smelling substances, especially since she wasn't an expert herbologist. She was also confused as to why the professor was petting the plant- did she miss it while she was drawing? She diligently practiced scourgify -verbally and nonverbally- just to make extra sure that she wouldn't smell bad for the rest of time. She hated smelling bad. She actually smelled really good most of the time and she got upset when she didn't have her exact calming scented shampoo on hand. She put on her gloves and nose plugs, then carried her pretend mimbulus mimbletonia back to her work space.

(One thing that Ash liked about the real plant was that it made flowers sometimes.)

How to deal with this plant? She knew that it was very important not to startle it. She could do that... Ash may not have been a great herbologist, but she knew how to be gentle with things and not upset them. This might be easier than a person or an animal to deal with.

She took a vial in one hand, and carefully stroked the plant with her other hand. She even hummed under her breath, like she'd seen the professor doing. She was very gentle and patient as she waited for the fake plant- no, the Larrylechia Perlatum- to start producing sap.

Tapio carefully watched the students as they made their attempts and was pleased to see that most everybody was at least trying, even those that he knew didn't particularly like Herbology or at least didn't like dealing with smelly things. Jude Anders, Luther Stariver, and Rajesh Atreyu-Rehman were all successfully drawing some sap, and Ashley Fox was at least trying very hard. Looking quietly at his dented pocketwatch, Tapio saw that they still had some time left and decided to propose a further challenge.

"Very good, everyone," he began gently, so as not to startle either the students or the plants, "keep up the good work. And be patient if your plant is slow to start producing sap--some take a bit more time than others. But now, if anyone of you feel confident (and lucky), I'd like to invite one or two of you to come up and try it on the real thing." Here he pointed to the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which was now sitting proudly in its select spot on the greenhouse racks. "No one has to if you don't want to, but it is a rare chance for those who might be interested." Tapio was taking a chance here, because the real Mimbulus was more finicky, and had stinkier sap, than the practice plants. But, he thought, you have to start some time, and most students would never have the chance to work with, or maybe even see, a real Mimbulus Mimbletonia again.

(OOC: For anyone who wants a bit of further roleplay, try it on the real Mimbulus--it may or may not squirt you. I will be around during the American Thanksgiving and class will continue until Sunday if you want to catch up.)

Despite his disgust, Jude was quite pleased with himself for collecting a few vials of the sap. At least he now knew that it had nothing to do with him when his plant had been seemingly reluctant to break out in the substance, as Devries had now explained that some plants were just slower. He arranged his vials neatly on his workstation, wondering how much was enough when it came to extracting sap from his little plant friend here.

That was when Devries actually announced that some of the students could work on the Mimbletonia. Jude’s eyes darted to the huge plant. Immediately he was torn about what to do. On one hand, it meant working with more stinksap but on the other, it meant an opportunity he would probably never have again. After a bit more debating internally, the Hufflepuff indicated to Devries that he’d like to have a go. This was another memory to add to the Hogwarts experience, after all.

Jude stepped up to the Mimbletonia and got to work.

Mimbulus .... what??? Sure Apollo had heard of the plant before, but didn't mean that it couldn't be a mouthful to say the plant name. Why did wizards - uh, life - have to be filled with such complicated sounding names? LIKE couldn't things just be SIMPLE?? And then the muggle alternative that they were going to be working on was an even more difficult name. larryleachia perlatum. Yea. No. He would not be attempting to pronounce that one. Fortunately though they didn't need to pronounce any names and just needed to extract some stinksap.

Watching Devries first, he inserted the nose plugs, wincing at the feel of them and put his dragon hide gloves on. Gently the sixth year touched one of the knobs before withdrawing his finger quickly just to see if it would react any. Nothing. Okay back to stroking, as he would his cat. A few moments later the liquid started to come and trickle down the side of the plant before Apollo remembered the vial. "oh right..." He reached for it and uncapped the vial, scooping it against the plant at the bottom of drip. Oh, they could try on the real thing now if they wanted??

He watched Jude step up there first, trying to decide if he wanted to or not. Actually, maybe he should and he could maybe take a little of the real stinksap with him?? He would wait for Jude to finish first and then decide ...

Tapio continued to watch the class; everyone seemed to be making good progress, and no accidents--so far. Then he noticed Jude Anders take him up on his offer to work with the real Mimbulus and moved over a bit nearer to that area, just in case. But so far, Mr. Anders seemed to be doing all right. And Tapio thought he noticed signs of interest from Apollo Adara-Stark, too. It was gratifying to see the pupils taking an interest in unusual plants; not all of them could be pretty and sweet-smelling, after all.

So…

This wasn’t so bad. With each passing second Jude felt his forebodings melting away. Wait. Was that the Mimbletonia actually emitting the crooning sounds like it had with Devries? Uh huh! It was! And now the Hufflepuff decided his decision to come up here hadn’t been a bad one after all. He’d better get a vial or two ready because that disgusting stinksap would be making an appearance soon surely.

It did. Just not in the way Jude had hoped.

Instead of oozing out like it had earlier, a whole load of stinky goo spatteredall across Jude’s face and the front of his clothing. Dear Merlin!!! What a stench!!! Jude thought he was going to pass out from the rancid odor.

This was not cool, man!

As Tapio was watching, he suddenly noticed that the Mimbulus Mimbletonia was becoming just a little too excited and that Jude had fallen into the common trap of getting too comfortable and letting his guard down. Before Tapio had a chance to step in, it happened--a stinksap explosion! "Oh dear, well, sometimes that happens." Tapio gently drew the boy away to a safe distance from the plant and then cast the Scourgify charm on him to remove the worst of the sap. He had had them all practice it, but he knew that it was difficult to remember magic when smelling Stinksap. "Ah, perhaps that's enough practice for you for this lesson," he said consolingly to the student. "And you'd better have a bath after class. Here," he went on, pulling a bottle containing a clear blue liquid from a pocket deep within his long robes. "It's recommended that one bathe for 90 minutes after a Stinksap accident, but I've developed this special soap designed specifically to remove the odor of Stinksap, so if you use this, it will only take about half an hour. Go on, take it, it doesn't smell bad at all, and neither will you after you use it." He hoped this wouldn't discourage Mr. Anders from his interest in Herbology.

"Well, then, does anyone else want to have a go at it? I think the Mimbulus has calmed down enough by now." Tapio tried to sound as encouraging as he could, but he was afraid that this accident would turn off any other potential experimenters.

Luther heard Professor Devries inviting those who are willing to try the real Mimbulus Mimbletonia and watched Jude trying to extract some sap from the plant. Just as he thought Jude managed it, the plant suddenly burst. Watching Jude covered with the weird sap, he thought 'No way! I am very happy with my own less stinky plant, thank you very much.'

Tapio sighed inwardly--he supposed it was to be expected that no one else would volunteer to try working with the real Mimbulus Mimbletonia after Jude's accident. "Well, it's getting near time to end our class today, so everyone please replace your plants on the table and tidy up your areas. And for homework, write a parchment about the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, including your observations from this stinksap extracting practice."

While he waited for the students to clear up, Tapio stepped quietly over to the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which still had some stinksap seeping from the knobs Jude had been working on, and caught the remainder in a small vial which he had had ready nearby. He then moved toward the Anders boy to make sure he was all right after his experience. "All right now, Mr. Anders?" he said gently and quietly, so as not to draw more attention to the student, who might possibly still be embarrassed about the stinksap. "You really did quite well for the first time. Look, we did manage to get some stinksap!" Stinksap other than what had been squirted all over Jude, that is. "If you like, you can take this vial of it and offer it to Professor Hernandez for his potion-making. Or I can do that for you, if you'd prefer." Because Tapio suddenly realized that Jude might not particularly want to have anything more to do with stinksap that day.

(OOC: It's time, and past time, to wind up class. You have about 24 hrs. to finish up anything and then I'll be closing the thread tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for joining us!)

Indeed it happened sometimes but Jude had NOT wanted this to happen to him. He followed Devries away from the offending plant and stood there while the man assisted by using the Scouring Charm. He felt like a child again when he had fallen and injured himself while playing outdoors with his siblings, leading to his mother or father tending to his wounds whenever he got injured. “Thanks, professor,’’ Jude said gratefully. “For the quick action.” Gross, he still smelt horrible so he gladly accepted the blue liquid. Anything to help him get this odor from his person! “Half an hour. Got it.” But did this little incidence detour his mind from Herbology? Certainly not! If anything, it detoured anyone else from having a shot with the plant. “Sorry if I ruined your lesson, professor,’’ the Hufflepuff commented regretfully.

He went off to jot down the homework and collect his belongings. Poor Jude felt quite bad that no one else wanted to try with the Mimbletonia. “I’m okay, professor.” There was a smile on his part to prove this. He had survived worse and bounced right back! “Oh, that’s something positive that came out of this then!” Perfect! Jude liked a good silver lining. “I can do that.” He took the vial. “Thanks for your help. I’ll be sure to go have that bath now. I’ll get this to Professor Hernandez afterwards.” With another smile, he started to head back for the Castle.

Everyone had better stay out of his way!

Tapio saw the last member of his class depart. Ah well--class didn't go quite as he had planned it, but he was still super excited to have been able to add a Mimbulus Mimbletonia to the Hogwarts greenhouses. He turned back to the plant, which had resumed quietly pulsating in its corner as if nothing untoward had happened. Tapio pulled a small vial of centaur's tears out of an inner pocket--he had been saving this for after the class, in case the plant was agitated, though it seemed quite calm now. "You see the trouble you've caused?" he crooned softly to it as he carefully watered it. Both plant and professor seemed to fall into a mutually agreeable trance-state in the afternoon sunlight of the greenhouse. The Mimbulus seemed quite at home there.

(OOC: Class is over--thanks for playing! See you next time.)