Herbology Class: The Sandbox Tree

[MadAlice]

Upon walking down to the greenhouses this cold and sunny December day, students will see a sixth building sitting out behind the others. Yes, Professor DeVries has erected yet another temporary greenhouse for his class today--wonder what he's up to now?

The greenhouse looks ordinary enough, but once inside it's immediately clear that it is much taller than the outside of the building seemed to be (ah, magic!) It is very tall and very long, and down at one end stands an extremely large looking tree with a cluster of branches covered with dark green leaves way up high and a bunch of spiky-looking things all over the trunk. Dotted here and there are strange, orange-red, round looking things that very much resemble small pumpkins.




A whiteboard standing immediately inside the entrance bears a message in large letters:

Text Cut: Whiteboard

STAY AWAY FROM THE TREE!
Please sit down and wait for class to start

There are a number of stools set up at the other end of the room from the tree, and
Professor DeVries is in a corner nearby bending over some trunks, checking to make sure everything is there.


Greetings and Question 1
Answers and Question 2
Mini-Activity
Main Activity
Class has ended! [Thread will remain open until 6/16 pm]

[FearlessLeader19]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Immobulus is the magic word that will make this Tree be still, and still it is, and should remain so while it's being harvested.

Sweet mercy.

The tree froze, making Charlie one happy Hufflepuff. Any residual fear that lurked in his chest went bye-bye. This meant that he could do the harvesting now. Would it be okay if Keigh worked with him and they harvested together? Or did DeVries want everyone to really freeze the tree on their own? Yes, Char was still being a protective boyfriend. He was quite tempted to motion to Keighley to come up to the tree with him. Then he remembered: the girlfriend was a determined one and would appreciate trying to get things done on her own. Uh huh. This is exactly what she would say.

“Diffindo.” With the same firmness and intent in his voice, Char cast the Severing Charm on a chosen pod. He aimed to work quickly, not wanting to stall the process of his classmates having a go at their own harvesting. The pod cut open quite easily, leaving Charlie to have a pretty easy time in scooping out the seeds {after swapping out the shield and his wand}. Feeling pleased with himself, every seed was removed then carefully placed in the pouch. Once done, he backed away with his shield in place from the tree. Backed away since he didn’t trust it to come unfrozen and shoot seeds at his retreating back.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Spotting a fruit that looked promising, she aimed her wand at the tree and quietly cast, “Immobulus!” She held up her shield as she waited to see if the spell worked, Better safe than sorry!

The Tree's leaves seemed to shiver at Desiree's approach, but being slow and cautious pays off, apparently, because it did not fire off any missiles until it was stilled by her charm.

[Cassirin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Maybe it was the speed with which the footsteps approached, but something seemed to bother the Tree, because several of its pods suddenly shot out a batch of squishy seeds at Mercer just before he cast the spell.

Maybe this side of the tree was broken? Mercer jerked his shield up to block the seeds shooting in his direction, but he peered around the edge of the shield in consternation. He did the spell and EVERYTHING, but maybe he was still too far away for it to work? Or... maybe the tree was broken. Maybe maybe.

"Listen, my tree bud, we're gonna have to come to terms here. I'd rather hug you than cut stuff off you, but at the very least, you can't just go shooting seeds at people," he whispered as he lowered the shield. Time to try the spell again. "Immobulus."

[sweetpinkpixie]

She would never admit to embarrassment, perhaps she couldn't even entirely acknowledge the feeling considering Mitsuki did live 1000% authentically herself regardless of opinions (mostly), but there was an incredibly unsatisfactory tingle that spread through her and caused her heart to beat almost unbearably fast. Uncertain where the miscommunication had occurred or how logic had been blinded, she had nearly glared at Mercer. Whatever it was was hardly quelled as Desiree suggested a single cookie for her dinner while she used her time more efficiently shopping. It was perplexing and the Ravenclaw chose to ignore further analysis.

For now, she had a tree induced explosions to attend to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

The Tree was indeed docile enough, until it felt the touch of magic. Then the pumpkin-pods next to the severed fruit suddenly split open and shot their squishy seeds in the direction of the disturbance.

Mess was the point.

Ironically, exploding pods and flying soft squishy seeds felt like an efficient way of catching seeds. Particularly since they were already equipped with the Freezing Charm and the professor's affirmation that the seeds were no threat once an explosion had occurred.

Her wand already at the ready and with superior reflexes, Mitsuki neglected her shield and flicked her wand towards a couple of seeds that were zipping through the air towards her. "Immobulus," she spoke as if soothing a frightened creature. The seeds immediately before her froze in place save for a slow roll as they came to a complete stop. It was regretful that her spell had not ceased all propelled seeds' movements, but there were still enough set adrift in the air for a plentiful harvest. There was also a seed or two that had stuck to her thick black boots, but she did not notice those just yet. Seeds plucked from the air and into her satchel, she continued forward towards the tree and repeated the Freezing Charm once again - on the actual tree this time.

There was a little bit of sticky residue on her goggles...perhaps a little something on her cheek as well. Pity she was too focused on the task at hand and not looking at certain people to do anything about either.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Listen, my tree bud, we're gonna have to come to terms here. I'd rather hug you than cut stuff off you, but at the very least, you can't just go shooting seeds at people," he whispered as he lowered the shield. Time to try the spell again. "Immobulus."

The Tree, perhaps satisfied to have gotten off a volley of seeds, now stood quiet at the touch of Mercer's wand.

🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Once done, he backed away with his shield in place from the tree. Backed away since he didn’t trust it to come unfrozen and shoot seeds at his retreating back.

The Tree, however, remains quite still, and will do so until the freezing spell is lifted (or at least until after class is over).

🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Her wand already at the ready and with superior reflexes, Mitsuki neglected her shield and flicked her wand towards a couple of seeds that were zipping through the air towards her. "Immobulus," she spoke as if soothing a frightened creature. The seeds immediately before her froze in place save for a slow roll as they came to a complete stop. It was regretful that her spell had not ceased all propelled seeds' movements, but there were still enough set adrift in the air for a plentiful harvest. There was also a seed or two that had stuck to her thick black boots, but she did not notice those just yet. Seeds plucked from the air and into her satchel, she continued forward towards the tree and repeated the Freezing Charm once again - on the actual tree this time.

The Tree, with a sense of quiet outrage at having its lovely volley of seeds frozen in midair, quietly subsides into immobility.

🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

Tapio looked at Mitsuki's novel approach at protecting herself from the seeds and raised his eyebrows--now that was one he hadn't seen before. He was keeping a careful eye on the class to make sure no one got into trouble, reaching out with his wand arm to cast Finite Incantatum on the tree to un-freeze it after each student's attempt. "Very good, everyone, keep it up," he called out during a lull in the action. "Those of you who haven't taken a turn, keep at it. Those who are finished can go over to that corner put your seeds in one of those containers, then put the lids back on. And be sure to put your name on it." There were a couple of rows of long, shallow earthenware boxes with lids standing on a table in Tapio's supply corner, looking rather similar to some sort of medieval Tupperware containers. Next to them was a large black pencil and a roll of self-sticking parchment.


[OOC: We have one more day of this, so keep on keeping on till tomorrow afternoon/evening]

[MadMadamMalfoy]

So was that a yes to her skipping the promised dinner? Desiree momentarily glanced in Mitsuki and Mercer’s direction, trying to gauge their reactions. This whole situation was incredibly confusing! She tried to handle it as gracefully as she could, just like any princess should do!

Compared to… that, dealing with the Sandbox Tree was relatively straightforward. Desiree cautiously peered over her shield, half-expecting a barrage of seeds to fly at her any second, but none came. Her spell had worked, yay! She beamed, unable to help feeling pleased with herself for freezing the tree on her first try, but there wasn’t time to dwell on her success for long. She still had to extract the seeds!

She glanced at the tree, searching for a pod hanging low enough for her to reach. Spotting one near the back, she aimed her wand and cast, “Diffindo!” Any other time, she probably would’ve attempted the spell nonverbally, but she didn’t know how long the tree would stay frozen. She wanted to get the job done before it started spitting seeds at her! As the cut appeared, she took a quick moment to inspect her dragonhide gloves for any holes. She knew the pods were safer to touch than the sap, but she still wasn’t taking any chances!

Only when she was sure her gloves were intact did she gently scoop the seeds out of the pod and place them in the pouch slung over her shoulder. She gave the pod one last look when she was done, just in case any seeds were left behind. Looked like she got them all!

[MadAlice]

Tapio saw that Desiree seemed to be successfully collecting her seeds and, looking again at his watch, he realized that it was time to end the class. Just as well, the Sandbox Tree was looking a bit confused, what with being frozen and unfrozen so many times. He waited until the last student had cleared the working area, then reached over and ended the freezing spell one more time.

"Thank you all very much, I think you've done a fine job, and these seeds will come in handy for potions or healing. Just make sure you put your name on the containers so I can grade you properly, return all the equipment you borrowed to the proper bins, and then that's class!"

Tapio decided he would raise the temperature a few degrees in the temporary greenhouse to allow the poor Tree to recover a bit, before he sent it back to its home nursery in the Machu Picchu rainforest, making a mental note to send some sort of gift to the Peruvian herbologist who'd lent it to him for the class. But for now, both he and the Sandbox Tree would take a well-deserved rest.


[OOC: That's class, folks! Thanks for playing! I'll leave this thread open till tomorrow for people who want to finish up, tie up loose ends, or rp their character leaving.]

[sweetpinkpixie]

🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

The Tree, with a sense of quiet outrage at having its lovely volley of seeds frozen in midair, quietly subsides into immobility.

🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳[/quote]
Waste not.

The tree now still, Mitsuki paused another couple of seconds before striding forward a bit more to perform a Severing Charm on one of the the lower hanging fruits. One of the few (read: the only) charm that she had become proficient in performing nonverbally, Mitsuki breathed out an unsteady sigh as she performed the slicing motion and then methodically plucked the seeds from inside and dropped them into her pouch along with the rest. She wasn't sure what exactly encouraged her to do so, but rather than leave the fruit essentially butterflied on the branch, the Ravenclaw preformed a mending charm to seal it back up. Perhaps this was some of the practice from Healers of Tomorrow coming into play or perhaps some unwarranted sense of pity, but the deed was done before she could question her actions further.

Moving away from her tree, Mitsuki delivered her harvest as per the professor's request all while still wearing a bit of gunk from the first fruit explosion on her cheek. Offering the man a tight little bow, Mitsuki gathered the rest of her things and then stood off to the side to wait for Mercer to finish his clean up so they could walk back to the castle together as they usually did in spite of her usual resting...er...~stoic~ features were a still a little harsher than usual.