4 Oct 2023, 19:05
the quill accident
september 20th, 2023.
interacting with @Damian HillsDESPITE HER INITIAL EAGERNESS, potions quickly became one of her most disliked lessons. Juliet felt stupid for it, because of just how badly she wanted to be good at it. She put a lot of effort into her homework, mind you. She paid attention in class, never hesitated to ask a question, double-checked everything, careful with her handwriting, to make sure what she handed in was perfect... but it never was. Even if her notes made sense, and were organized, she always messed up somehow.
It required a lot of concentration, and that was something the poor lioness struggled with.
As she walked into class, Juliet tried to keep her head up, smiling politely to the professor before taking her seat close to the blackboard. The students chatted with their partners, preparing their cauldrons, excited for another day of learning. And she was too.
Juliet was determined. Today was the day she wouldn't mess up! She would make one decent potion and feel a little better about herself.
Waiting for the lesson to start, the girl organized her belongings on top of her desk, grabbing her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. The pages were covered with doodles and random notes from the times she lost track of a lecture and started daydreaming. She grabbed parchment, a quill, and an inkwell, straightening her back.
Her round brown eyes followed the professor. Juliet didn't even acknowledge the student sitting right next to her.wordcount: 243
STAM - 5, EVAS - 6, STRENG - 5, WIS - 5, ARCPOWE - 8, ACC - 6
4 Oct 2023, 19:40
the quill accident
"The quill accident" - 20th September 2023 - Outfit: school robes - Interacting with @Juliet Ashbrook
Another class of Potions, one of Damian’s most liked subjects for its rigourness and precision required to make a successful potion: he had excellent grades in all subjects, but some of them were particularly appreciated by the young Gryffindor. His behaviour in class reflected the quality of his homeworks: perfect notes, splendidly brewed potions, always full of interesting questions to ask the professor.
Exactly as any other day, Damian took one of the front seats to better follow the lecture and also to be seen by the professor as one of the top and most interested students in the room, and started unpacking his belongings with order and grace. He had arrived early, so he had no rush taking out of his leather bag his copy of the textbook, his notes from previous classes, some clean paper to write on, along with a quill and a new bottle of ink.
His plan was to revise the notes already taken before the start of the lesson, not that he needed that, since he was spending nearly every minute of his free time studying and revising in order to always be prepared for any sort of quiz or question; his eyes briefly fell on the student next to him, and in particular to her own copy of the textbook that was apparently been doodled on in previous times. Keeping any sort of reaction for himself, he quickly returned to his notes, not wanting to interact again to scold another student: he was bickering way too frequently, and school had started since not even a month.
He intended to behave well, brew his potion and call it a day, and nobody was going to stop him: that’s why he rapidly glanced again the other student, almost as he wanted to check on her and on what she was doing, or if she could have been a danger to his class; finally, he returned on his own notes, ready to start the daily lesson.
✿ Damian Christopher Hills ✿
5 Oct 2023, 02:04
the quill accident
interacting with @Damian HillsAS SOON AS THE LECTURE started, Juliet was quick to take notes of everything she considered important coming out of the professor's mouth. You could see the concentration (and stress) on her face: thick brows furrowed, cheeks puffed and lips pursed together in an almost displeased expression, similar to the ones she'd made back home when she got grounded for something her cousins had done.
Her calligraphy was careful at first, making sure every word was readable. However, as the ingredients they'd use for today's potion were listed, appearing on the blackboard, her quill refused to write any of it down.
In a hurry, Juliet dipped it in the inkwell, squeezing the quill, to see if that would work - and it did. It worked... Just not how she wanted. Black ink spilled all over her parchment, staining everything she had written down, ruining her work and dedication.
Juliet moved back, but it only caused the quill to cry out more ink, droplets touching the desk, her cauldron, uniform, and of course, her hands.
"Oh my God," Juliet gasped, eyes blown wide, following the mess she'd made. "OhmyGodohmyGod..." She turned to the boy sitting right next to her. "Um-..."
The fellow Gryffindor had curly dark brown hair, and freckles covering his nose and cheeks. He seemed focused on what he was doing, but she needed help.
"Hey, um, can you... you wouldn't have a wipe or something, right?" Juliet winced at how small she sounded, a red flush covering her face. She motioned to the quill and the mess she'd made, hoping the boy would take pity on her and help fix her situation. Bad move.
More spurts of black ink followed, splashing over the boy's parchment. Juliet gasped, freezing in place. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh no, um, I didn't mean to,"
Before she could think about it, she reached for his parchment, using the sleeve of her cape to clean it...wordcount: 322
STAM - 5, EVAS - 6, STRENG - 5, WIS - 5, ARCPOWE - 8, ACC - 6
11 Oct 2023, 21:23
the quill accident
"The quill accident" - 20th September 2023 - Outfit: school robes - Interacting with @Juliet Ashbrook
The lecture was flowing smoothly and quickly as Damian kept taking notes, paying great attention to the professor and to the potion they had to brew; his work was impeccable as always and his mind sharp and clear while working on the potion. Maybe another O was just around the corner, he simply had to keep up and finish brewing, then he could have shown the professor the result and for sure another top mark would have been added to his records.
His flow of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by the cries of his neighbour: Damian turned his head and assumed an annoyed expression trying to understand what was going on with her; all he could see was ink everywhere, an image of messiness that made the young Gryffindor shiver.
At her help request, he instinctively made a step back to protect himself from the possibility of getting stained too: after all, the last thing he wanted to happen was to stain another set of robes because of others’ messiness.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything, you better hurry and-” he started replying to her in a very distant and almost arrogant tone, as if he was immune to those kinds of situations, and looked at her from above.
His reply was interrupted by the sight of some ink landing exactly on his notes, his precious and perfect notes he was always so proud of. The words were cut sharply by that event, and still speechless Damian turned again to face the other student right in the eyes, and even if she was trying so hard to say sorry he was already deadly staring at her.
He remained silent for a good ten seconds before finally talking. “Bloody hell! What’s with you Gryffindors and the innate ability of ruining my notes or bringing chaos?” he loudly screamed, almost as if he wasn’t a Gryffindor too.
It was almost funny how his days were being constantly ruined only by other housemates, and most of the time involved his notes: maybe he had some sort of hex on him that threatened his school records and wanted him to fail classes. Anyway, as soon as she tried taking his papers and cleaning them from the ink she had just spilled he placed his own hands on them and tried to take them away.
“Don’t touch them, I’ll rewrite everything after the lecture! You’ll only make it worse if you try to wipe them!” he added, continuing to pull.
✿ Damian Christopher Hills ✿
16 Oct 2023, 01:50
the quill accident
interacting with @Damian HillsAT THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE, Juliet's shoulders went up, and she froze. The girl shrunk like a scared cat. Not very Gryffindor-like, sure, but she couldn't help it. Juliet had bursts of courage every now and then like the time she stood up for herself against Winona. She was able to find that true lion recklessness deep inside her sometimes...
But today wasn't one of those days.
Looking around, she felt her face burn. A couple of students watched the interaction - snickering and whispering about her, thankful they weren't in her position.
Juliet's wide eyes locked on his face, hoping this wouldn't make him hate her for all eternity. She watched how he pulled his notes to himself, and she decided to let go - bringing her dirty hands back to the sides of her body, just in case the parchment ripped. She didn't want to make her classmate angrier.
"I'm sorry..." The words continued to spill out of her mouth all throughout, a string of pathetic apologies. Hopefully, it'd make the situation better. "I really didn't mean to. I... I can help you, after the lecture, if you want... I'll feel bad if you do everything by yourself - I, I can even write them for you myself,"wordcount: 211
STAM - 5, EVAS - 6, STRENG - 5, WIS - 5, ARCPOWE - 8, ACC - 6