Yes...perhaps the lesson had been a bit too much of a series of emotional whiplashes for the students, but he was steadfast and unapologetic in his methods. Carefully circling the cage as students moved about, Mathys took particularly interest in checking the state of the tail feathers of each phoenix. None had lost their luster just yet, it still being far too early in the process for that, and it was possible that should students perform to a reasonable standard that this flock would be willing to indulge each in a flight around the castle. Or at the very least the grounds and back.
He would wait and see.
Deciding that waiting in stoic silence was no way to conduct a class while students shuffled about finding appropriate partners, the French man opened his mouth to provide a light lecture when the words were robbed of him.
SPOILER!!: Monsieurs Dakest & Whitlock
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tegz 
Flynn stared in utter dismay at the dying bird, the sounds echoed through his ears even muffled by his hands and he felt a bit ill, like being on a merry-go-round after eating too much candy floss. The discordant music notes were particularly jarring, and he was SURE that was a baby cry (something he knew well thanks to his little brother), and then the unmistakable sound of something hitting flesh, like a punch in the face (another thing he unfortunately knew quite intimately). The sounds of backwards laughter, happy humming, and running water were unsettling in context of everying else.
Flynn was still processing..... all of that, feeling nauseous and frozen in place when the professor spoke again. Normally he would be writing down all the notes and eagerly jumping into whatever activity was being called but.... he missed it entirely and just stared at the dead bird, and then its white shrouded cage once the professor had covered it.
Finding a group? Nope.
Leaning over to one side and vomiting up everything he had eaten so far that day? Yup.
How embarrassing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hermionesclone The overwhelming feeling only grew as he continued to watch the bird and everything it was doing. While he couldn't register the sounds properly, the changes in movement didn't go unnoticed and is what caused the fifth year to break out of his thoughts. This was...... this was the moment?
It was weird to see the moment when someone - or, uh, a bird - die and was probably the reason why Lucas was staring so much. What else was he supposed to do? This wasn't anything like what he'd experienced before. Not when he was told that one of their pets had died, not when he came back to his dorm to see Dani the elephant wasn't moving. This time, he was watching it happen and somehow, that felt a little too real.
It took some time to focus back into the lesson and by then, Nostredame was talking about the Elixir of Life and Burning Day. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes - a little harder than was necessary, mind you. The Gryffindor would normally hate the idea of working in a group but, for once, he didn't care and didn't show any change in his facial expression.
That is, until he heard the sound of vomiting.
.......... Uh??
Lucas immediately glanced over to see one of the younger kids (Flynn) leaning over and vomiting to one side. He instinctively recoiled, even scrunching up his nose at the sight of the vomit. Poor kid. That was embarrassing. Was this the after effect of seeing the ~thing~ they had just seen, or did he just have something funny to eat?
Whatever the reason, the Prefect found himself gathering up his things and getting up to move over to him. Again, instinct. He didn't say anything as he sat down next to him, and didn't even bother with the, uh, very clear sign of vomit on the ground. But he did reach into his bag and pull out a half-empty bottle of water that he held out to him.
Pause. "Uh, you okay there?"
Oh, Mon Dieu.
Mathys vanished the vomitus from the ground with a swift wave of his hand before producing from the pocket of his luxurious robes' pocket a small vial which he uncorked and offered the young Hufflepuff. Pleased to see that Monsieur Lucas was already close at hand and with a bottle of water at the ready, Mathys offered the Gryffindor prefect a soft look of appreciation and praise. "
Have a few seeps of watair and zen drink ziss. It will help settle your stomach furthair," he instructed Monsieur Whitlock before turning his attention to Monsieur Dakest. "
Prefect Dakest, I would like you to form a group with Monsieur Whitlock..."
Quote:
Originally Posted by
love-for-HP Now that the cry of the bird was finish, Blake perked up a bit at the thought of working with a phoenix. Those birds were so cool, and some how even though it was going to be burning day for them soon, he loved the idea that unlike the bird in front of him, they would be reborn from their own ashes. Now that was a magical creature!!
Looking around for partners, he took a step up near a bird and waited to see if anyone wanted to join him... if not.. well meh ... he would be find just him and the phoenix.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ArianaBlack The moment Nina uncovered her ears, she heard a noise that was perhaps even worse than the screaming bird from moments ago. It wasn't just the noise. It was the noise and the sight. Flynn's sudden onset of ... vomit, immediately made Nina's eyes widen in horror as she lifted her hand to her own mouth. Gag. Nina Castillo was a sympathetic vomiter. She knew this about herself. Perhaps her only weakness.
So just as quickly as Flynn began to barf up his last meal, Nina turned her entire body away from him. If she didn't see it or smell it.... it'd be FINE.
She hoped the Professor felt awful. None of this would have happened if they had just read from the textbook. As for finding a group? She was slightly preoccupied and focused on NOT vomiting.
"...as well as Monsieur Ryan and Mademoiselle Castillo," he concluded, raising his voice a bit to ensure that both students could hear him and approach thanks to his beckoning.
His attention turned back to the prefect and Hufflepuff. "
Ziss activity can be done sitting down. Take your time, Monsieur Whitlock." He then gave the boy an gently squeeze on the shoulder before providing Monsieur Dakest with a few sturdy pats on his own.
Moving away from the two young men and back towards the ornate cage, Mathys pulled several small rectangular wooden boxes with sliding covers from beneath a velvet sheet and began walking around to distribute them to the groups.
"
As you all know, phoenixes are herbivores. In ze wild zey are content weeth eating little and zey naturally favor magical plants ovair mundane ones. Zey have ze innate abeelity to discern poisonous plants from ze edible ones as well. Howevair, if zey find zemselves unable to digest plants, zey will regurgitate small pellets which are excruciatingly rare and often possess magical traits similar to invoked runestones or may contain gemstones." Some of this was information they may not have stumbled upon in their readings but were true none the less. "
Zese particular phoenixes have been raised on gold leaf since zeir previous Burning Day. You will find both ze gold leaf and tweezers used to feed ze phoenixes with in zese boxes. Zey can become rathair eagair when zey see ze gold leaf, so as an additional precaution please wear your dragonhide gloves. Each membair of your group may attempt to feed gold leaf to your phoenix, zough zey may not accept it if zeir stomach is full."
Once he had passed out all the boxes, Mathys swiftly returned to the cage and made a grand spectacle of turning so the tails of his robes billowed out as he did.
"
On ze count of trois I will open ze door and a phoenix will fly to each group. I recommend you clustair yourselves around one hay bale or crate for ze phoenix to perch itself upon." He paused a moment to allow for this to be executed. "
Un ... deux ... trois!"
And with that he threw open the doors and the phoenixes took flight...
OOC: Welcome to the main activity! Tasks will be divided into several posts so that there is not too much information being thrown at you at once.
Tasks so far:- Create a group (5-6 people is preferred)
Groups thus far; (?) beside RPers who have not since grouping task began:- Firehart, Hey Ju (?), siriusblackliveson, Yaya
- Cassirin, BanaBatGirl, TakemetotheBurrow
- Anna Banana, Bazinga, DaniDiNardo(?), Fearlessleader19, Felixir
- MadMadamMalfoy, Weasley174
- ArianaBlack, hermionesclone, love-for-HP, Tegz
- accept the box of gold leaf from Professor de Nostredame (anyone in a group may do this)
- RP a phoenix landing on the bale of hay or crate the group is clustered around (anyone in the group may establish this).
- Feed a sheet of gold leaf to the phoenix using the tweezers provided in the box (up to you whether or not the phoenix accepts the offering)
Additional tasks will come in approximately 24 hours from the time of this post. As always, catch up is welcome at any point during the lesson.