23 Sep 2019, 13:40
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
Reducio
Janus didn't have a passion for Potions. Actually, that was an understatement; he found the subject positively annoying in its demands for absolute precision and adherence to instructions. His usual luck and intuition had only avoided him disastrous outcomes so far but didn't deliver any of the good grades he managed to get with some of the other professors. And the thing was, it was just his fault; Price looked serious but was a good teacher, and he really tried to make them learn and improve. Janus on the contrary didn't really make an effort, and as a result he was currently floating on an A average.
He wasn't really bothered about his grades as long as they were passing ones however, and as much as some of the effects of those brews sounded cool, he had no interest in mastering the subject. This feeling of mild boredom brought his memory back to his last years in Durham, when it looked like a film of banality and impatience had covered his whole daily life. Now he was finally where he belonged though, and he reminded himself that there was no reason to mull over those grey years.
He focused back on the lesson as Price finished his explanation, leaning back against his chair and staring at the text on the blackboard: Babbling Beverage. That would have been fun, if only they'd have been allowed to test their potions.
He sighed, letting his head fall to the side and eyeing the little black cauldron he'd have to heat up in a minute. The air inside the dungeons was humid and pleasantly chilly, and it had the welcome effect of clearing his mind; he remembered that his usual Potions partner had had a bad cold that morning and so he'd need to pair up with someone else. He wasn't worried; if he didn't find another Ravenclaw there were always the Hufflepuffs attending the lesson with them. In his short time at the castle he'd found out that the Sorting did have a certain logic behind it, and the Badgers were usually nice as far as lesson partners went. He yawned.
Sta 4 | Eva 6 | Str 3 | Wis 7 | ArP 4 | Acc 6
-----------------Seer-------------------
•In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni•
24 Sep 2019, 17:06
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
In many parts of her life, Asteria was not a cautious person. It wasn't that she was reckless, no, it was simply that for most things she did, she lacked any real sort of filter or impulse control. If she wanted to do something, she'd do it, consequences be damned. It was what made her, in most aspects, glaringly honest. It was why she believed that she had been put into Hufflepuff, with her need to be absolutely honest to herself and her wants.
Potions was one of the few exceptions where she actually thought things through. It was a bit like baking, she thought, as she made her way into the classroom, feeling the chill of the dungeons overcome her, and she wished she had brought a sweater. Returning to her previous stand of thought, she realized that there are patterns and logic behind potions, and one can find themselves getting lost in them. There was a sense of control in it, a sense of control she currently felt lacking in in her own life, and so she was drawn to the topic like a moth to a flame.
Walking into the room, she noted the subject of the day scrawled onto the blackboard: Babbling Beverage. As she slumped into her seat (a good spot, not too close to the front of the room, but close enough that she could still follow the lesson clearly), waiting for the lesson to begin, she noticed something, something rather important: her partner wasn't there. She craned her neck around the room, attempting to spot where her normal partner had gotten to, when she noticed something, well, someone else: Janus Lumley. The boy had found her sobbing in the library, and the interaction between the pair had been... awkward to say the least. She prayed that he wouldn't notice her, at least not today. In the future? Sure, she could handle it then (she hoped).
As that train of thought came to an end, the professor began the lesson and she began to scribble out her notes, following the explanation of the potion intently. She wondered who she might get paired with, but considered it a bridge that she'd cross when she got there - for now, the sound of scratching quills and the calming dark of the dungeons lulled her into a state of absentminded concentration on the topic at hand.
everybody crashes - you take a little damage, you'll spit a little blood, but we'll always manage love, cause everybody does
28 Sep 2019, 18:37
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
When Price finished talking Janus put down his barely used quill, watching as some of his classmates started edging imperceptibly closer to their usual partners. He unconsciously stared at the professor's scars, not really registering his words as he told them to pair up to try and brew the potion. What eventually knocked him out of his trance was the flurry of movements made by the other students in order to sit together and retrieve their cauldrons.
Janus looked around, trying half-heartedly to spot a lonely wizard or witch in the room, but while slumping over his few notes his glasses had made a slow descent towards the tip of his nose. His near-blinded search apparently managed to draw the professor's attention, because Price was quicker than him at scanning the class and found him a partner in no time. He addressed Janus rapidly; "Mr. Lumley, you'll work with Ms. Kurokawa. Go on then."
Janus finally repositioned his glasses with his index finger and followed the potioneer's gesture all the way to his new partner. His eyes widened slightly in recognition; that was the crying girl from the library! Astra or something. That encounter had been unnecessarily awkward, but brewing together would hopefully turn out to be easier; there weren't many people worse than him in that subject (and those ones he remembered thanks to their explosions) so maybe the girl would end up doing most of the brewing like his usual partner did.
Janus curtly nodded at the professor and retrieved his book before going to sit next to -Kuroawa? He'd assumed they would use her cauldron. They'd been given the ingredients at the start of the lesson so they already had them on their workdesk, so at least he wouldn't have to search for them in some cabinet of sorts. After a short pause he turned towards the girl; he couldn't remember her name so he simply chose not to mention it. "Well, hello. Do you know where we have to start?" he asked lightly, starting to leaf through the book for the extended recipe.
Sta 4 | Eva 6 | Str 3 | Wis 7 | ArP 4 | Acc 6
-----------------Seer-------------------
•In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni•
5 Oct 2019, 03:33
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
A vague sense of ire filled Asteria at the whole situation, as she was assigned a partner. It was less towards Janus, her new partner, and more towards the prickliness of fate, which contrived to make messes of lives. As he settled next to her, she pointedly ignored him, instead sorting out the ingredients that lay in front of the pair. She was particularly cautious of the Alihosty Leaves, having read about their effects beforehand.
Finally, the silence was broken as her new partner, the boy she had had an... awkward encounter with, asked "Do you know where we have to start?" A flush of annoyance crossed over her cheeks; those who are embarrassed tend to remember better, and her, with a memory of an elephant towards embarrassment, had a hard time forgetting anything. Still, it wouldn't do to be rude outright, at least not now, especially since he didn't seem to remember anything of the situation. Glancing at the ingredients, she gestured towards the first item placed in front of her. "I think we need to start with these."
Was he not paying attention in the lecture? she wondered, her annoyance increasing a smidgen. There are times in your life when you are filled with a broiling pit of emotions, where you want to snap at any and everyone in close proximity to you. At those points in your life, it can be difficult to restrain yourself, to not get angry over the slightest thing. Asteria was not at this point quite yet, but she could feel that tug, that tendency towards rudeness, pulling at the back of her mind and she forced herself to swat it away. As she flipped through the potion book, still avoiding the gaze of the boy next to her, she demanded herself to make small talk. "So. How have you you been?" Not the smoothest statement, for sure, but it would have to do in the moment. Luckily, she was saved from her awkwardness, as immediately after, she found the page that the potion lay on. Shoving a handful of leaves at Janus, she added "Oh, uh- also I think you need to prepare these."
everybody crashes - you take a little damage, you'll spit a little blood, but we'll always manage love, cause everybody does
12 Oct 2019, 00:39
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
Janus noticed the girl wasn't very talkative, probably a part of her character as he didn't remember her saying much in the library either. He was nonetheless thankful when she provided him with the right ingredient, those sick-looking leaves with dark red spots. Janus didn't have a green thumb but he really felt like that plant had had something wrong, maybe the vegetal equivalent of chicken pox. As it was though, he only needed to worry about following instructions so he roughly grouped the leaves together and began to work with them, casting a cursory glance at the recipe on the page.
In the meantime he set out to answer Astra's (he'd call her that until he remembered her name) small talk. It was a generic and boring question, but Janus was confident he had enough to tell about his first weeks at Hogwarts. "I've been good. We had a dodgeball game the other day, dunno if you saw it. It was on an ice pitch over the great lake and I managed to eliminate a Gryffindor before being hit." He smiled. In his eyes he had said enough, but he supposed the polite thing was to address Astra as well; he remembered about another sporting event she may have followed and known better than him.
"That, and there's Quidditch starting; I didn't apply for the team because I'd have to learn everything about it and train from scratch, but I bet it'll be fun to watch. Or at least better than this-" his eyes focused back on some of his leaves that were now a mush not even vaguely resembling what was described on the book. He let out an amused snort. "Guess I should have put more attention into what I was doing. Well it won't change the potion much, right? It's only a part of them and they're still the same leaves, just erm, treated differently." Even as he was finishing talking he started looking at the recipe on the book; there was just another ingredient in it. Worst case, they'd have to change the second ingredient a bit too to compensate the ruined leaves.
Sta 4 | Eva 6 | Str 3 | Wis 7 | ArP 4 | Acc 6
-----------------Seer-------------------
•In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni•
14 Oct 2019, 22:56
Quaquaquaqua with White Beard
Oh god. The mundanity of small talk. Still, she had led them down this path and down this path she would persevere. The dogeball game... No, she hadn't heard heads nor tails of it- how had she missed it? It shouldn't have been that easy for an entire sporting event to pass her by.
Now Quidditch though, Quidditch was something else, something she could latch onto. The sport was wonderful, something that the wizarding world had gotten right for once, in her not so humble opinion. "I'm so excited about Quidditch!" She all but yelled this, the passion palatable in her tone. "I'm on the Hufflepuff team- I'm the Keeper by the way, but you lot have the first game of the season, yeah? Someone, I can't remember who, said you all have a super team. Makes me glad that I don't have to face your team first. Poor Gryffindor though, I guess." The last statement was accompanied by a slight shrug. She was beaming now, distracted from the potion recipie by the thought of life threatening activities undertaken in the name of house pride, and so she didn't notice the boy's mistake with the leaves and was unable to correct it.
The mess of leaves truely was a sight to see - blended into a paste that was well, disgusting. Sticking her tongue out slightly in concentration, she pulled the motar towards her and began to hem and haw over the mixture. "Yeah, yeah I think it will be fine," she said finally, looking up at the other boy. "And what's the worst that could happen? One of us will get poisoned? We're in a potions classroom. With a potions master. It'll be finnnne.".
Inside, she wasn't so sure, but she wanted to put on a strong face for this boy that had already seen her at her most embarassing. "We just need to measure out this much of the Hemlock," she tapped on the page, "and it should be a-okay. I think." Continuing to smile, she nugged the boy with her shoulder. This was how you acted cool, right? He seemed nice, and the mistake couldn't be considered his fault, she had done her fair share of distracting after all. Handing over the vial of the ingredient, she continued on: "Do you want to do the honors? With uh- measuring it out I mean."
everybody crashes - you take a little damage, you'll spit a little blood, but we'll always manage love, cause everybody does