brutal
| 001. | FEMME FATALE ; BRUTAL. |
| xxxxxxx | xxxxxxxxx“𝕬re you ever going to tell me what’s wrong or are you just going to flip through your textbook in a fit of rage until the pages rip off?” Avina’s voice rang through the room, somehow evading Violence’s ears as she burned holes in her textbook with her eyes. A piece of parchment lay next to the textbook on her bed and Violence seemed to be searching for something. Suddenly, she looked up, grabbing the parchment and roughly passing it to Avina, followed by the textbook. “Take a look at that. Question 3, the one about the burning plant. Look at the textbook.” She watched as Avina’s eyes darted between the parchment and the textbook. “I’ve written Fire bush, the textbook says Fire Seed bush. HOW IS THAT ANY DIFFERENT? It is common sense that there’s no bush that’s just… well, fire. Obviously, it’s the seed. That rotten, new professor who literally looks like he’s going to terrorize the shit out of his students deducted 2 marks for that. 2 MARKS! FOR ONE WORD. How is he a professor again? What was the Headmaster thinking when he appointed that measly professor? Seriously, I’m so done.” Violence’s face had turned red and Avina was doing her best to not crack up as she saw Violence get up to pace around the dormitory. “You still have an ‘Exceeds Expectations’, what’s the big deal. It’s one grade and it’s not even finals. Chill, Vi. And give him a break. He may be stern but he’s actually a good teacher. I quite enjoy his lessons.” Avina got up, took a bottle of water and held it infront of Violence’s face. “You know you need it. Drink up” Vi rolled her eyes before grudgingly having a sip, “His lessons are not enjoyable! And you know potions is my best subject, right?” Sighing, she slumped down on her bed, laying on her back as she stared at the ceiling. Violence was good at potions. Excellent, even. She had been learning about potions ever since she learned that she had magical powers. She knew the ingredients of the Dogbreath potion by heart. She did not deserve to have her grade go down from Outstanding to Exceeds Expectations. She had no interest in exceeding anybody’s expectations, for Merlin’s sake! Her fingers drew circles on her waist as she thought about the homework. She really had made no mistake, done no wrong. For her, it wasn’t so much of an issue if she missed one word. One word which didn’t make any difference at all. The previous potions professor might have actually understood. It was just this Mr. Sauber who seemed to have made it his life’s mission to make the students’ life hell. Granted Violence may not have been paying attention in classes ever since she met Azzure, but she just had things going on. She couldn’t just live in Hogwarts and just study. And the teachers met, right? And it was not as if they didn’t gossip. Violence being good at potions must have come up at least once. A consistent ‘Outstanding’ in most subjects couldn’t be ignored by anyone. Violence got up, looking at Avina, “I need a better grade, Av. I can NOT take home an E in potions. I just can’t.” She seemed to be thinking for a while before her eyes widened, “You know what, I’m just going to go and talk to him. Maybe try and understand why he thinks a ‘seed’ is worth deducting two points.” Avina glared at her, “No no no. You are not doing that. God I’ve never seen you this worked up.” But it was too late, Violence had already picked up her bag and ran out of the room with the test parchment and her textbook. She couldn’t imagine the look of disappointment on her mother’s face if she got a bad grade in potions. As much as she loved potions, she hated going down all the way from her tower to the dungeons. It was an extremely long walk and would take her 15 minutes to reach at least, if the stairs weren’t moving. Which never seemed to be the case for her. She sighed as the staircase she was on took her from the fourth floor to the fifth floor again, but she quickly spotted another staircase which seemed to be connecting to the second floor and ran to it. It was when she reached the dungeons that the second-guessing crawled up her mind like vines. What if, instead of getting a better grade, Samuel deducted her marks even more. But he couldn’t do that, right? She was just there to get her doubt clarified and hopefully get marks increased. There was also the possibility that Samuel just wasn’t in his office. In which case, she would have to return later (never). A small part of her hoped for that scenario. But she knew she had come too far, from the top of her tower all the way down to her dungeons, to turn back now. As Violence neared the door, she saw a plaque above the handle that read, “Please knock once, then wait.” Her knuckles sounded sharp against the door and she lowered her arm, waiting for the door to open. Violence’s eyes quickly scanned the room, a large desk stood in the center, on one side were two chairs, both green. Walls were lined with shelves and Violence could see books on potion craft, the titles embossed in the spine. If only Violence could get a hand on one of those, she could do wonders in potion-making. Her eyes followed the light towards the hearth, a fire kept the room surprisingly warm, uncharacteristic for a room in the dungeons. A table with a kettle stood near it. For a split second, Violence could imagine herself taking tips from the professor about potion making, Samuel actually conversing. As much as he seemed rude, his classes made apparent that he was well-versed in the knowledge of brewing potions. At the desk, there was a parchment sprawled out with a quill and an inkwell and Samuel seemed to have been working before Violence came in. She walked over to the desk but stood near it, taking a seat without an invitation to do so was considered impolite. “Evening, Professor. I apologize for disturbing you this late in the evening.” Violence gave Samuel a small smile, trying to figure out if he wasn’t in a very bad mood. That would not bode well with her intentions of trying to increase her marks. Samuel, however, was unreadable. Violence could not tell if Samuel was in a good mood or a bad one so she decided that letting Samuel know the purpose of her visit would be better. “This is about the homework that you gave back to us after grading. The one about the Muffling Draught and the Dogbreath Potion. I’m afraid my marks have been deducted for no apparent reason, at the risk of sounding too sure of myself.” Violence let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. She felt much lighter now that the weight was off her back. Now to only get back her marks and leave the room. Hopefully, Samuel wouldn’t make it extremely difficult and she could be out of the room in five minutes. | xxxxxxx |
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x | ─── STA ◦ 6 | EVA ◦ 9 | STR ◦ 2 | WIS ◦ 7 | ARC ◦ 2 | ACC◦ 9
☽ code and graphic made by elena clark ☾  PRODIGAL POTION LEANER ◦ CHARMER ◦ ABILITY ───
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