Closed Alchemy 3: A Plantiful Fieldtrip PV Alchemy Club

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@.Liana Kerr

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----Uncharacteristically of the young girl, Vale was calmly following the directions given to the group when it was time to work on using a mortar and pestle. Her silence and purposeful avoidance on peeking at Avery would only be broken when he requested her assistance.

"It's stargrass, Avery." She made the point clear to him. Avery's lack of attention span was taken anote by her. "Surely Maggie isn't taking up that much of your mind now. Magbobs are supposed to be the smartest after all." Salt was not an ingredient they were to use that day in the club, yet Vale was eager to dish it out post-haste. But before Vale could continue on her sideway insults that could be taken as compliments instead, her attention was brought to someone quite new to the existing group. And her tense mood was replaced with that of cheerfulness, forgetting already as to why she felt frustrated with Avery's very existence.

"Oh! More victims!" A large smile pressed onto Vale's face. "How terrible it is to meet you! May all your enemies be eaten alive by hags!" In Vale's mind, that was a delightfully polite greeting. It was across her whole family tree. The young girl was pulled from her excitement when Avery questioned the late comer of the group on her interest in plants.

Vale was baffled. Already Maggie was a past thing. Was he going to replace Maggie with someone new now? Just because she liked plants? Well, Vale liked worms, and plants were cool and all. But that's besides the point. Maybe if she wears a dress with plants and worms on it, prehaps Avery will recognize his mistake and ask for forgiveness at the next ball. Vale doesn't think Maggie would be interested in being played twice at a ball like that Matthew Gray did to her and Liana.

Then both Maggie, Vale, the new girl, and Avery could explore and participate in more things next time. And Liana, and also that Enrico boy can even come and they can all have ice cream together. Why, everyone can be there! Hunter, Clair, Hildegard, Mr. Rabbit, Lucky, Hui Ming's girlfriend... Wait, would older years even want to spend time eating ice cream with first years?

Ah well, the plan was in motion. It was foolproof in Vale's mind.

"I think everyone here like plants to some degree, Avery. Isn't that why you joined too?"

Interactions | @Avery Chen
Mentions | @Mireia Sangre-Tenebri

Action |N/A.

Mireia was very happy to be so quickly accepted into the partnership with Hunter and Cade, as well as seemingly welcomed into the club as a whole. She had some social anxiety, who didn't now a days, honestly. And she figured this club would be filled with higher years who did not want to be around a First Year like herself, but perhaps the older students simply took Alchemy Class, and had not need for an extracurricular club to learn more about what they were probably already learning. So this club, now that she thought about it, did make sense to be filled with lower underclassmen.

Mireia happily took over the mortar and pestle job from her partners. She thought it was a good impression to offer to do the hard work, but also she truly did not mind it. She did want a closer look at the Stargrass itself, as she would need to be able to identify it out in the wild in the future. Thankfully, crushing the pods was not a task that required much focused eyesight, so she could grind away while taking a gander at the plant nearby.

She did take the job seriously, though, and really put all her strength into the grind as her partners continued to fill up her molcajete* with the stargrass seed pods. She felt the plant itself, as she studied it, was rather easy to identify, and came to the conclusion that this was likely not a plant native to the UK, since she had certainly not seen it before herself. She wondered where it was native then.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another partnership of students breaking away from their own task to greet Mireia as a newcomer. Well, that's very nice, Mirieia thought. The boy introduced himself as Avery, and his partner as Vale - both fellow first years. Mireia was not sure she recognized either, but there were so many faces in Hogwarts. By the sound of it, perhaps Cade was new to the club as well - or at least Avery did not seem to know him. That made her feel a little less alone.

Following closely after Avery, Vale made her own greeting to Mireia - and a strange one at that. Her first reaction was shock and confusion. The words the girl spoke sounded threatening, but her tone was completely harmless. It took Mireia a moment to recover - worried, for a moment, that she was not as welcome as she thought. But then concluded, mostly by the fact that the others did not seem to react to Vale's strangeness, that maybe she was just a little bit of a weird one. There were weird ones in Hogwarts - and Mireia was sure some people put even herself into that category - especially with the stained black fingers.

"I do love plants! I work with them a lot with my mom. To be honest, I don't know much about Alchemy besides there being a class for it here in the later years. I hate to admit it," and she did, she felt it made her look like a fool, "but I really don't know what Alchemy does." Avery mentioned the word 'longevity', which, of course, she knew the definition of, but couldn't quite gather what it meant in this context, or how it related to Alchemy. "But, like I said, I love plants and Potions is my favorite subject! So seems like I belong here too." She reasoned, mostly with herself.

When Hunter then spoke to the Professors, a few moments later, Mireia grew a little saddened. She would like more time with this Stargrass, she did not feel completely fulfilled with knowledge about it. But she was excited about the other plants on the roster. She quickened her grinding pace, as she still had a few pods to grind in her molcajete, and she did not want to hold anyone back. She was late after all.

OPEN TO INTERACTION

───Interactions─── Reducio @Kim Sato

OUTFIT Reducio Eudon Choi Spring 2022 Collection

────Mentions──── Reducio n/a

A good students who followed ALL the rules.. If Evelynn had any less self control, she might have snort. Sure. She would believe it when she saw it. As far as she was aware, it was a logistical impossibility for any student to follow all the rules. The current first years in particular seemed to have a particular penchant for rule-breaking. Surely her own class hadn't been nearly as unruly during their early days. As it was, one eyebrow lofted along with a nearly imperceptible shake of her head in response, at least until the conversation had taken a turn to her care for those beneath her.

"That seems a touch snobbish, no?" She commented, brow flaring further as she side-eyed her partner. Perhaps he hadn't meant to suggest that she thought those of younger years to be less than her, but that was the way his choice of words would have been interpreted were it not for the gentler tone he had used. "I do care for them," came her agreement, focus returning to her share of their current work. "I certainly would not consider them—or anyone—beneath me, however. Do I display that sort of arrogance?"

Another glance would be afforded him to gauge his reaction to her question before dropping back down the length of her nose to monitor her task. "That is a shame to hear, however.." she went on, reflecting on one particular sentiment. Not many seem to possess what you have. A quiet and seemingly innocuous notion that screamed volumes to her. It was no wonder that students seemed so rebellious and anti-authoritarian. Perhaps if there were more caring authoritative figures to build students up and make them feel welcomes and supported, there wouldn't be such a trend to break the rules and ultimately put themselves—and others—in danger. "Perhaps your year will prove to fill that apparent gap and offer guidance for next year's students.."

As for tutors, it seemed as though this one took after her own inclinations. Academically inclined, Evelynn had also been the sort to naturally gravitate to a mentoring role both for peers and students of younger years. "I might offer you my services if you are so inclined," she suggested, surprising even herself with so easy an offer to give away even more of her precious time.

Transfiguration had never been her strongest class. She would even go so far as to say it was among her least favourite and most challenging. That said, he was a younger year, and she diligently put in the hours and work to master the content. Tutoring a peer in her own year would likely be out of the question, but doing the same for previous content should prove no great challenge, she reasoned. If anything, it would help to further cement the concepts. After all, her mother had always insisted that the best way to master a subject was to take on the challenge of teaching it.

As the last of the pods was deposited into the mortar, Evelynn gingerly dusted off her fingertips. "I would not necessarily say I have always had an interest in herbs or plants, no," she considered thoughtfully. "But I have a healthy appreciation for them. My mother is a healer—" There she went again, side-stepping a muggle heritage by using terms more appropriate to the magical equivalents. "—and makes use of them for remarkable treatments. But I seem to have an affinity for potions. It is my easiest subject, at any rate, and I enjoy the process of brewing. I find it soothing. Yourself?"

ACTION: Chattering away pleasantly

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"It's stargrass, Avery. Surely Maggie isn't taking up that much of your mind now. Magbobs are supposed to be the smartest after all," Vale said. At first, Avery couldn't tell whether Vale was praising him or being sarcastic. However, her lack of enthusiasm when she spoke, and the coldness of her tone, seemed to tell him that she was upset about something. "Right, stargrass," he repeated after her, now resigned to memorizing the name of this plant they were working with. Did it irk Vale that he wasn't paying attention and giving enough respect to the plants she loved? And why did she even bring up Maggie? Was it because Vale knew that two of her friends were on the quidditch team, and anticipating their upcoming match? That must be it. "Maggie and I are still working on perfecting some quidditch drills together during practice, since she's a chaser and I'm a keeper, but I'm not worried about us -- she's a really talented player!" was what he offered in response, hopefully to quell any of Vale's concerns that quidditch season was taking up too much of his mind-space.

Quite confident he had now resolved any murky air between them, he turned his attention to the new faces he hadn't met before. As expected, Vale gave them her usual horrible greetings, and Avery smiled as well, finding her glee infectious.

"Well, Mireia, it sounds like you and Vale have lots in common! Vale, didn't your mom teach you a lot about plants as a healer?" he responded, hoping to highlight some common interests between Vale and Mireia. Wouldn't it be nice if they all became friends together? Perhaps Vale and Mireia could even lead them on a foraging expedition on the Grounds one day! Wasn't Hogwarts full of mysteries to explore, anyway? From all of the days that Vale returned to the common room with dirt on her dress and leaves in her hair, it sure seemed so.

"Hmm, Hunter might be able to explain this better than me, but I think Alchemy is originally the science of seeking solutions to eternal life, or something."

When Vale asked about why he joined the Alchemy Club, Avery froze for a bit but continued to crush stargrass. Well, he didn't really have a good answer, did he? He'd only signed up because he saw Vale's name on the roster, he supposed. But that didn't sound like a very valid reason, and would likely make him look stupid. "I- uh, I like plants too," he fibbed, because that was the only thing that came first to his mind. "And especially transfiguration," he added, in case his supposed love for plants was not enough to persuade anybody. This wasn't very accurate, either, since the coolest classes were obviously Charms and DADA for our young muggle-born.

He continued to pause for a moment, gears turning rapidly in his mind to come up with a new topic of discussion so people had less time to question his intent on joining the club. "What do you guys think about the idea of living to 600 years old, like Nicholas Flamel? What would you guys do with an extra 500 years in your life?" He wondered what his fellow club members hoped to achieve. "I guess I could compose many symphonies in my lifetime, and listen to music all day, which would be great. But I don't know, is being that old even appealing? I feel like I'd be so sore, old and tired that I'd just be in bed all day." He shrugged nonchalantly, but beads of sweat formed on his brow as he desperately hoped everyone would move on to the new topic of discussion.

OPEN TO INTERACTION

───Interactions─── Reducio @Kim Sato

OUTFIT Reducio Eudon Choi Spring 2022 Collection

────Mentions──── Reducio n/a

"I refer students of a lower year to mine as junior to me," she answered succinctly, adding, "Or 'of a lower year'." And then to extrapolate, "Conversely, those of a higher year are senior to me."

While Evelynn had vaguely heard Argentum's inquiry with the professors, she hadn't really paid it much mind given the engaged conversation she was having with her partner. Her gaze had glanced up towards the professors to gauge their reactions and to prepare for a shift in task, but until they actually asked they stop, she could continue working on their current efforts. Instead of a verbal reply, Kim would simply see her step away from their table to that which had stored the bundles of Stargrass. Having completed their first bundle, she would have to replenish their wares if they were to continue.

"Well, that is kind of you to say," she had replied on her return, already working to strip the pods. The query on her arrogance had been a rhetorical one. There had been no expectation that any comment would be given towards it at all, yet she could hardly be upset by the response. Not only had Sato denied that sentiment, he had gone on to praise her performance. It may not have been a compliment in the way that many would consider the word, but to Evelynn—who took her praefectorial obligations quite seriously—he had practically sang her praises. Responsible and strict, but understanding: the model of a good and just student if ever there was one.

And when it came time to his agreement to take her up on her offer of tutorship, she simply nodded with a, "Very well." Of course he had raised a valid consideration: if you have the time. Did she? She supposed she would would have to find the time now that she had offered. A few of the clubs for which she had signed up hadn't had much recent activity. Withdrawal from some to condense her agenda could provide that needed freedom. It also wasn't as though she couldn't cut back on her lakeside reading during lunch hours. If he was willing to dedicate part of his meal hour to study, that could be an ideal time. Though could discuss the details another time.

When the mortar had been emptied of its current load of paste, the prefect would resume her task of funnelling seeds into its depths. She listened quietly to the explanation of lavender and vanilla, smiling internally at the coincidence. They were two of her own favourites as well as evidenced by her usual scent which featured lavender and lemongrass (courtesy of her shampoo), and vanilla and shea butter (undertones derived from her body wash). All of these would likely have gone unnoticed in the moment, though. Given the lack of open circulation, the dank humidity of a green house often did have a way of suffocating any wayward fragrance. Not to mention the aroma released by the crushing of the Stargrass.

"Plant," she agreed, picking up on vanilla where the Sato had left off. "Vanilla is the genus name of hte plant. What most people call vanilla is actually extract from the fruit pods. Which is why the bottle labels do actually say "vanilla extract" rather than just vanilla. My mother said the Vanilla extract from one place she used to frequent in Mexico was among her favourites. Personally, I am not able to tell the difference between the varieties."

It occurred to her while she was loading the mortar that perhaps the boy might require a bit of a break from grinding. "We could exchange places if you would like," holding her hand out in an offer to take the pestle.

"But yes, I do find the process of potion-making quite interesting. In particular, I find it remarkably similar to baking. You might make use of the same ingredients, but slight adjustments to their relative quantities, how they are prepared and the order in which they are combined can vastly impact the outcome. It also strikes me as more accessible in a way. Some people seem to struggle to tap into and control their magical ability, but potion crafting seems to be more of an art form for the patient and detail-oriented."

Until now, much of the conversation seemed to have been tailored with questions for her to answer. While unafraid to answer and share innocuous information about herself, she did not want to come across as conceited. Balance in all things, including conversation. Besides, the more they talked, the more she desired to get to know this person with whom she had decided to share her afternoon. "You do seem to know quite a bit about plants. How did you inherit your appreciation and knowledge of them? Are your parents in related fields of employment?"

ACTION: Chattering away pleasantly

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