Skyler blinked a few times trying to think of an answer. Ahe didn't like Wayland anymore but she cared about housepoints so she forced herself to participate as much as possible. She raised her hand.
"Perhaps a gient laser pointer on the ground professor?" I've heard of muggles using normal sozed laser pointers to play with their house cat."

It didn’t surprise him much that his presence hadn’t been noticed for he wasn’t the type to sit around and chat to his mates at the beginning of class and he was sat by himself after all. He was paying attention, the thought of meeting this potentially dangerous creature being far too exciting for him not to. Caolan wouldn’t describe himself as a risk taker but he did enjoy pushing his personal boundaries sometimes and he liked the adrenaline pumping through his veins. It was one of the reasons he finally built up enough courage to leave his home and his Ma, move schools and do something so different to what he was used to.

Caolan couldn’t help but let out an audible snort at all the ideas the students were coming up with to get the Zouwu’s attention. All of them were pretty funny and as to whether they would work was another matter but he couldn’t help but to raise his hand and join in. “How about a big cardboard box?” Cats LOVED sitting in boxes especially if they were too small for them. These magical cats might be no different. He knew that Zouwu’s despite their scary appearance were sometimes described as being just like big kittens so there was potential that his ridiculous answer could have some truth to it.

Malachi thinks, he’s never really heard of a Zouwu so he answered based on what he knew about cats in general, and his own cat soot. "You could shine a light in front of it maybe?"

Though at first he'd been a little nervous at that raised eyebrow, in the end Abra grinned at Professor Wayland when he sort of praised his answer. Yup! Creative. That's what Abras were, you know.

The next question was right up Abra's street, too. He was such a cat person, he could easily have owned dozens of cats if it wouldn't have felt like such a huge betrayal to his Squigs. But the point was, he knew how to get a cat's attention, and one thing that came to mind was...

"Catnip!" Abra exclaimed, hand thrust up into the air. "Squigs goes mad for it - that's my cat." Mr. Squiggles, actually, but nobody needed to hear that. He'd named the poor thing when he was pretty young. "If there's some nearby, he'll look for it." And find it, always.

Patrick listened to the other students answers about magical and non-magical cats. He was really kicking himself over saying a wolf. What was he thinking? Shaking his head he began to think about ways to get the attention.

Well the cats on the farm were usually lured in by treats or the cold weather. He was fairly certain that weather wouldn't bring the Zouwu out. "I agree about a laser pointer or catnip type things." He could only imagine a Zouwu chasing after a laser on the floor.

Hanna was pretty amazed at just how many cat-like creatures there were. So many. The word 'discovered' almost caught Hanna in a thought of all the creatures that might not have been discovered yet. But that thought would just take her down a long path of thinking.

She thought about how one would distract a gigantic Zouwu, and surely there were some great ways of doing it. Raising her hand, she said "Professor perhaps some food? Something strong and delicious smelling." Although she wasn't sure what would be delicious smelling for the Zouwu.

When Tina saw the eyebrow raise her answer had earned, she half-expected Professor Wayland to say her answer was wrong... which would've really caught her off guard. She'd seen the matagots in the French Ministry before, so she would know they looked like black cats! But that didn't happen. She breathed a silent sigh of relief as she returned the professor's grin with a slight smile. A future leason on matagots? Yes, please!

But today they were talking about zouwus instead, so Tina refocused her attention. She considered the next question carefully, thinking back to all the things that attracted Nem's attention... but would a zouwu be attracted by the same things as a normal cat? It stood to reason that they might,
given their catlike nature, but there was also a massive size difference to consider. After several minutes of overthinking things, she raised her hand. "Some cats, like mine, like to play with feathers," she said, smiling to herself at the mental image of Nem attacking her feather toy, "so maybe the zouwu would too? You could attach feathers to a stick or string and dangle them in front of it..." Her answer made sense in her mind, but she was feeling less confident after putting it into words.

There were potentially countless items one could use really and each feline tended to have a preference, though there certainly were trends and his classmates were addressing those. Scratching the back of his hand idly and eventually moving to his elbow, Derf was taken by surprise by Natalie's hand on his knee and the hand he hand been about to raise steadied in favor of glancing over at her.

This was all confusing new territory for him...and he knew most of the people she had, erm, established a relationship with - so to speak - had gone cold turkey after. He had done that with Abey...and it had scarred their friendship terribly. He wasn't sure he could do that again. So, the Hufflepuff merely smiled and then returned his attention to the professor.

"Felines have superior hearing to our own and favors higher-pitched sounds...because from an evolutionary standpoint they associate those high-pitched prey. Birds and rodents and those sorts of creatures. So using a sound like a whistle or a bell would assist in the effort."

And likely why the device in Newt Scamander's book included a bell sound on top of its feathery small creature-like appearance.

A ZOUWU. Chloe clapped her hands in delight, and the very idea of seeing that big gorgeous beast absolutely distracted her from the intense itch at her shoulder. It had moved around to her shoulder blade, and there was no way she could politely reach the spot anyway. Definitely a hay allergy.

The nice thing about the zouwu, as far as Chloe understood, was that they were just great big kittens at their heart. Dangerous, to be sure, but also playful and curious and darling. Her hand shot up in the air. "I would be very curious to see how the zouwu reacted to catnip, sir." She agreed with her classmates on that one. "Although it might rile one up, rather than cause it to be calm and playful."

Realizing there were no more hands in the air, Tristan turned to look at the barn door just as a loud purr emanated from it. With a smirk he turned back to the students, "Someone is just as excited to meet you as you are to meet her. But before I bring her out just some information about the Zouwu that you may need for exams." He paused and paced a moment to get his mind right.

"The Zouwu is a very powerful cat like creature that is found in China. Many people describe them as 'elephant sized cats' but in my personal opinion they are thinner, and have very long beautifully fluttery tails." He paused for a moment. "They are typically five different colors, have four fangs that curl on the outside of their mouths, and they have very sharp claws that you need to be very careful with." He said looking around pointedly. "They also have a mane similar to a lion but much more scraggly, and borderline unkempt. They also have stripes." As he paced around in front of the students all these things showed up on the blackboard.

"Very important information to know about these creatures is their magical abilities. They are extremely powerful, strong, and ridiculously fast. They are so fast that they can travel a thousand miles in one day. So catching them is particularly difficult if you don't know what you are doing." Which they would have a very good lesson on here in a few minutes.

The next bit was very important so he hoped his students were paying attention. "Now as many of you said, and Derfael explained so eloquently, the best thing that distracts a Zouwu is any kind of cat to in existence. Especially those with feathers, strings, and bells on them." He paused and slowly backed away towards the barn door.

"Now if you look under each of your hay bales you will find a cat toy. Everyone should have one. Pull it out and keep it in your lap. When I let her out she might find someone's scent particularly attractive. If she comes and sniffs you stay calm and let her." Tristan stopped in front of the barn door. "Your task is to try to distract her with your cat toy. If you catch her attention and she comes to you put your cat toy down and let her sniff you until she is satisfied and moves on to the next distraction. Remember to stay calm. She is just a big curious cat. She is around humans all the time. We borrowed her from a sanctuary and is fed and played with by Witches and Wizards constantly so you have nothing to fear, but always be careful and cautious when working with any creature." He took a deep breath and grinned at his class.

"Ready?" Tristan looked out at all his students with a small smile. "Oh, by the way, her name is Li mei." Another loud purr and the sound of large paws rubbing against the barn door emitted from the barn. She was restless and excited to meet them all. Tristan turned and with a flick of his wand the lock fell off and the doors swung open revealing a beautiful Zouwu. She wasn't quite and adult yet. She still had some growing to do but she was still huge.

She peeked her head out slowly, and noticing Tristan, gently rubbed her face over his head. He gave a quick chuckle and whispered, "Go meet them." That was all she needed. The reassurance from him to race out to the group of students. Though her movement was more liquid and flowy at the moment. She was shy and trying not to scary anyone. Soon she was distracted by the scent of a student. One second she was floating around Tristan, and the next she was in Natalie's face, sniffing at her hair and purring something fierce. Apparently she liked what she smelled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

The Zouwu

Native to: China

Characteristics:

• Large cat like creature
• Elephant sized but thinner
• Fluttery long tails
• 5 different colors
• 4 fangs curling out of mouth
• Very sharp claws
• Unkempt mane
• Stripes

Magical Abilities:

• Powerful
• Strong
• Ridiculously Fast
• Can travel 1,000 miles in a day

Distractions:
- Any Cat toy ever. Best if with feathers, strings, and/or bells.

OOC: Alright! Thank you all for being so patient with me; this sickness is really kicking my butt! So this is your mini activity! You have to distract the Zouwu with your cat toy and get her to come to you until she is distracted by someone else. You can chose what kind of cat toy you have. You can describe it or you can link a picture of it. You may do this in one large post or multiple small posts. Whatever you feel like doing! Just have fun and get creative! If you need help or have questions please PM me. You have until 5 pm on the 27th to get this part done. Good luck!

It sounded like there were a whole lot of types of cat like magical creatures that she had never heard of before or had never studied in depth. Maybe they would learn more about some of those creatures in other lessons. Hopefully not with a live nundu though, because the professor said those were the most dangerous magical creatures ever. She had never heard of a matagot before, but those sounded like they would be really interesting to learn about. Now, what would distract a zouwu? Cordelia listened to all the ideas that people came up with in response to that question. Perhaps zouwus weren’t all that different from normal cats after all.

Cordelia listened attentively to everything the professor said about the Zouwu. Elephant sized cats? Maybe they weren’t so much like domestic cats after all. Sounded more like a very colorful lion than a house cat, really. Could it really travel that fast? A thousand miles in one day meant…. Over 40 miles per hour! That was amazing! Under her hay bale, Cordelia discovered a cat toy. It was a thin rod of about a foot long with string tied to the end of it. Blue feathers and tiny silver bells were attached to the other end of the string. Bells, feathers, and string, exactly what Professor Wayland had said would distract the zouwu! For the time being, Cordelia kept the cat toy in her lap as the professor had instructed. When Professor Wayland mentioned that it might be distracted by people’s scents, Cordelia wondered if she had any distinctive scent. Would the zouwu be able to smell her high blood sugar? She knew that dogs could be trained to alert for high and low blood sugars based on smells that were undetectable to the human nose, so maybe the zouwu would also be able to pick up on her high blood sugar scent. Cordelia was amazed by the beauty of the creature when it came out of the barn. This was almost as good as getting to see a unicorn. When it was time to start trying to distract the zouwu, Cordelia held the end of the rod in her right hand and extended her arm towards the middle of the semi-circle. She wiggled the stick around in front of her to make the bells jingle and the feathers dance around playfully. ”Here, kitty kitty. Come here, Li mei.” Would the zouwu come to her?

Alright Zouwus. Giant cats. Natalie couldn't imagine the amount of cat hair a zouwu would produce. Kneazles already shed a LOT. An elephant sized cat? Merlin. Natalie tried to imagine what that would even look like as she wrote down her notes on the creature. Four fangs, sharp claws, scraggly mane... Sounded dangerous, but the tone of Wayland's voice was implying that they didn't have to be too worried.

Apparently she was nice.

Natalie reached under her hay bale and grabbed her cat toy as Wayland went to go let the big kitty out. And before she knew it, the big giant kitty was right in her face. Before she could even think about freaking out, there was a big wet kitty nose sniffing her hair and tickling her ears. Instead of freaking out, like she usually would, a delighted bout of giggles erupted from the Prefect and her face scrunched up as she grinned ear to ear. "That tickles!"

Must have been the strawberry shampoo.

"Hi, kitty," Natalie said, surprisingly calm, as her fingers found some of the Zouwu's fur. She had already forgotten her name. And obviously had also forgotten the instructions to try and distract the Zouwu. Could she just cuddle it instead?

The thought of a gigantic magical cat being attracted to her scent and sniffing her was slightly terrifying. But okay, she would stay calm. Try to. Or else, run and hide behind Professor Wayland. As she reached under her hay bale she pulled out a toy. It was a stick with a long string on the end. Attached to the end of the string was a bundle of feathers, in varying colours and sizes. Well, at least she would be able to have her hands away from the Zouwu.

There was Li Mei. Hanna blinked a few times, and even though she had handled plenty of creatures that were large, there was just something about her that frightened Hanna. But she watched it snuggle up to Professor Wayland and it didn't appear just as frightening.

Still, she didn't want to go very close to it. She wiggled her toy around in the air, far enough back from beautiful Li Mei that she wasn't near her.

Malachi watches with fascination and a huge smile as a huge cat like creature comes into the classroom, having been told her name is Li mei. He takes the toy he was given to see what looks like a regular ribbon but as he moves it it starts changing color and making a soft swish sound. Of corse he wanted the big cat to come and sniff him like it had done to the girl Natalie but he was honestly fine watching as he decides to sit on the floor crisscross trying to make himself seem as unharmful and gentle as he can. I can’t help giggle as I hear Natalie say “hi kitty."

Tristan chuckled at the interaction happening between Natalie and Li Mei. He watched as the creature rubbed her mane all over Natalie. Apparently she really liked the way the prefect smelled. Li Mei was marking her territory. Soon enough the great cat was distracted by another student. She gave one last nuzzle to Natalie before bounding away.

Where was she going? Who was on her radar now?


OOC: Y'all are doing amazing! Just need to mention, we don't have a Zouwu account so you can RP for the Zouwu (which is to say you can RP the Zouwu coming to your character and interacting with your character)!! You have 2 more days so have fun with it!!!

Skyler blinked and looked under her hay seat. She took out the

cat toy. It was a flexible plastic pole about 91 centimeters long. She saw a string attached to it and a felt mouse on the other end. It was nothing special. Skyler looked up as she saw the large magical cat looking at her intently.
"Hey baby," She smiled and stood up. She let it sniff her hand first. The cat didn't say anything or act threatening. She looked distracted wondering what Skyler was going to do. Skyler smiled and swung the cat toy a bit letting it swing back and forth like a pendulum.

So the Zouwu WAS basically a giant playful kitten? Caolan couldn’t help but to chuckle at the other responses and the Professors clear amusement too. Laser lights, cardboard boxes and cat toys? That was all it took to get this giant potentially dangerous beast to become subdued?

How cool!

And then there she was peeking her head out from the barn and greeting the professor. Despite not calling himself a cat person, he couldn’t help but to GRIN and look on in amazement as the Zouwu greeted another student with a muzzle just like a domesticated cat and quite frankly he was excited for it to be his turn soon. But first there was something he had to do..

He reached under his haybale to pull out the cat toy that had been chosen for him. It was pretty basic but he had seen so many cats going crazy for it that it didn’t matter much to him. It was essentially a long stick for him to hold and attached on the other side were three ribbons of feathers like a skinny feather boa.

Bright colours? Check. Feathers? Check. Zouwu..?

Where were you kitty?

Chloe might have been quiet through the questions, it wasn't that she didn't want to answer but she was taking notes like crazy so using a hand to raise and answer just didn't happen. She wanted to get everything down about this creature. It was fascinating and exciting. They were going to meet it soon.

As the feline came out Chloe gasped at how pretty. Her little cat roaming around the castle was beautiful, but teacup could not compare to this one. Taking one of the cat toys that she knew was a favorite at the McCarthy house with their cats she began to move the stick up and down making the little bells jingle.

She watched as the Zouwu went to different students, it was so neat to watch. Sniffing the older Slytherin's hair Chloe wondered if it smelled pretty to the creature. Chloe jingled the toy a little more not sure how the cat would notice with so many students calling it and moving toys around, but she was determined. She wanted to touch it and see how soft her fur was.

"Here kitty kitty"

It might work... .

How could Abra be expected to take notes at a time like this, when they were about to meet a giant CAT? He couldn't, so, he didn't. Perhaps one of his friends would be okay with sharing their notes later. He was listening though, so he was taking into account all that about their teeth and claws.

He was excited, thrilled, absolutely ecstatic to be able to meet a zouwu in actual real actual life, so Abra was very quick in retrieving the cat toy from under his own hay bale. It was a weird, brightly coloured feathery thing on the end of a string, obviously intended to look and swing around like a bird in flight. Something else Squigs went mad for.

Then the zouwu was out, and it was just as cute and downright impressive as Abra had expected. He was stunned by it. So stunned that he didn't immediately try to get its attention.

She. Was. So. COOOOOOOOOL.

And breathtaking. Literally actually Abra was holding his breath and watching as the creature interacted with the others, keeping his own cat toy held in hand for the moment. It seemed almost criminal to try and distract Li Mei while she was gracing another student with her attention, he would feel so guilty for doing so. But also... he wanted a tuuuurn...

Could Professor Wayland tell just how excited she was?! The fidgeting that was happening was unreal and it was so hard to stay focused when she knew that any moment now she would be meeting a Zouwu! True she had meet one during the summer at the street carnival and had even taken a ride on its back with Stefan but this was different. Getting to truly interact with one was going to be epic!

Already wiggling on her hay bale, she did her very best to take down as much of the notes as she possibly could. When all her notes were taken right back into her bag went her parchment and quill.

Now it was time to see the Zouwu. Well after getting the toy from under her hay bale that is. The toy was a bright purple and white plastic type ball that had a jingled when she picked it up. Okay so there was a bell or something inside it. And it had several brightly colored feathers attached to it. If her cat Lamb saw this toy he would be in love! Good thing he was still in her dorm.

Setting the toy down on her lap, Rylee stared with wide eyes as Li Mei came slowly out of the barn. A large part of her wanted to just run over and give it a huge cuddle! She knew better though and remained where she was. Waiting with baited breath for the huge fluffy creature to come her way.

Toy under his bale of hay? No one needed to tell this 17-year-old twice to take a peek - which really meant that he had slid off his to to his knees to completely flip it over backwards to reveal his random cat toy of unknowing choice. It was a pretty standard one, a slender white wooden stick with plastic red coverings on either end with a sturdy long string coming out of the top. Attached a the end was a collection of colorful plumes - though to Derf they all looked about the same shade of blue. And it was then that he remembered the glasses - which looked like normal reading glasses - Stephanie had gifted him - and he quickly paused his efforts to remove them from his pocket.

And then, timidly, he slipped them on.

He hadn't gotten used to the rush of vibrancy that came with these color correcting glasses just yet. He imagined this must be what it felt like for Abey on a daily basis since his Gryffindor was so in tune and sensitive to colors, and the feathers alone had an impact on the Hufflepuff. Colors were almost too much for him, having lived 17 years with such a narrow scale of understanding comparatively. He could see that now that the beads that moved up and down along the string when you swished it around were of each color of the rainbow and that the little bell the feathers were protruding from was a vibrant cherry red. He gave the toy another swish, more for his own benefit, and was almost like a cat himself in batting at the feathers.

And then he heard the exuberant scratching and movements of the zouwu as she moved about, and the Head Boy's undivided attention moved towards the barn. When Li mei made her appearance, Derf felt his heart skip several beats - as though he were in love at first sight - and his eyes instantly watered. She was beautiful. The color of her hide like liquid gold and bronze, as far as he was concerned at least, and the stripes the perfect contrast. Five colors...he could see all five of her colors, and if it weren't for being so pulled in by her warm playful eyes he would never let his own leave that breathtaking fin-like tail of hers that flowed like fine pink silk.

He couldn't even bring himself to wave his toy to draw Li mei's attention to him. He was more than content watching her lank about and wiped his eyes now and then at her sheer majesty. Did they all see how brilliant her mane looked when it lit up like that?

Chloe froze in the process of looking for a cat toy in one of the hay bales. Not because she was hesitant to stick her already itchy hands and arms into hay, but because the zouwu had finally emerged from inside the barn. She was beautiful, and Chloe sort of collapsed halfway against the hay bale in front of her, overcome by all that sinewy grace and power.

Oh, right... the cat toy. Without taking her eyes off the zouwu, she swam her hands through the hay until she grabbed hold of the end of something long and thin and plastic. When she pulled it free, the toy was a long thin stick made of black plastic, very much like a very springy wand, with rainbow feathers fixed to the top. When she swung it a little, the feathers made a bright streak of blurred color as it they sprang back and forth.

"Here, kitty." Chloe clucked her tongue and waited for the zouwu to notice her.

Tristan watched with a huge smile on his face. He wasn't surprised that his students were mesmerized by this beautiful creature. Zouwus were such interesting and lovely creatures, it was hard not to be enchanted. But he did need to remind them of something.

"Please, remember that Li Mei is a tame and domesticated Zouwu. If you were faced with a wild Zouwu you would need to take more precautions. Zouwus can be very dangerous when provoked. But just looking at this beautiful creature in front of you," he paused with a sigh, "why would you ever want to hurt them?" He stared at her for a good minute before continuing. "But if you ever do meet a wild Zouwu the best thing you could do to not startle them or make them get defensive is to either stay completely still and let it check you out or capture it's attention and then feed it. As long as your intentions are innocent, they will not harm you." With that little speech over, he checked his watch for the time.

"You have about ten minutes before we need to move on. I hope you can catch her attention." Tristan said with a grin.



OOC: You guys are doing awesome! You have until about 5 pm tomorrow so about 18 hours to go!

Well, when Skyler heard that, she turned back to the Zouwu. She smiled a bit and whistled to try and get her to look at her.
"Hey," Skyler said and swung the mouse on a string. She heard a bell that it had in it. Li Mei turned to her.

Still wiggling her toy around, standing a distance, Hanna moved closer to Professor Wayland. He was talking about how beautiful they were. Well, she couldn't disagree. They were scary, but scary things could be beautiful too. And Li Mei was beautiful. "P-Professor... why would.. why would anyone hurt them?" She wasn't about to use Zouwu eyes in a potion or something was she?

After slowly getting more comfortable being in the presence of this huge creature, Hanna tried to be brave by going slightly closer. Slightly. A step, another step. One more. She could reach out and touch her! Just after taking another five steps or so. Still, extending her arm with the stick added on was plenty of length. Hanna waved the feathery toy around and almost backed up when Li Mei looked at it. But she froze. The toy froze, too. Without the feathers bouncing and waving around, Li Mei seemed to get bored and moved her attention to someone else.