Petted?! Petted?! Esme folded her arms across her chest. She didn't pet animals and it was a plant. Bubotubers has their uses but she wasn't about to pet one.

Putting up her hand, she asked " If you get that stuff on your skin undiluted, you'll get nasty boils. Sir, are we going to be harvesting the pus today?"

Because if we are, I might just be sick. She finished silently.

Bahaha! Whaaa?

He wanted them to pet a plant!?

Normally, Evelyn didn't mind Herbology class, considering she loved plants herself, but she never...pet...a plant before. Especially one like this bubotuber plants. Taking out her gloves, she cast a glance towards Marie for a moment, a smirk appearing on her lips as she covered her hands and wrists with the gloves. "Not sick, Marie." she said, taking a quick peak towards the professor before leaning over slightly to talk to her. "Just a little twitchy in the mind."

Snickering, she sat back up, not yet touching the plants. They were, actually really disturbing to look at. "Is it possible to wear like...other gloves on your hands when handling these plants and still be protected? Or are dragonhide gloves the only ones that will really protect your hands..."

Who knew if the pus stuff of this plant seeped into materials or such.

hee hee we get to pet one of those? cool! she reached out her gloved hand and pet the slimy bubotuber hehe that was fun.

Kita looked at at the plant in front of her. She certainly understood why she had her gloves on; she didn't want to end up in the hospital wing from the Bubotuber that was sitting innocently in front of her. No way! The professor talking about shiny protrusions, she bent down to have a closer look and noticed what looked like spots. Shiny spots that needed popping. And boy did she want to pop those spots.

The only thing that made her shocked was the fact that the professor had told them that they can pet the plants. Who would want to pet these plants? Kita closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, she bit her lip and held out a hand protected with her small dragonhide gloves. She tried, with all her might, not to say anything as she touched the Bubotuber. It felt slimy and gross but at the same time, her caring-ness kicked in and, soon enough, she found herself petting it as if it was her pet. The weird thing was, she didn't even find it weird.

"That's it," Sage encouraged, glad to see someone that wasn't afraid to give it a go, "easy does it."

"That's correct, Mister Fletcher." The Champion had managed to get through that cave which had apparently been full of plants and stuff.. he must've been a natural with Herbology! "The pus can cure acne, you're right."

Someone else that wasn't scared to touch the plant! He might've been strange, but Sage smiled at the young Slytherin. "If one of them were to burst, the pus inside would ooze out! Cool, huh!?"

More good answers.

"That's right. Sounds like you've all had a read of your textbooks," the professor nodded. "The undiluted pus has a horrible affect to the skin but you'll be fine with your gloves on." A somewhat wicked smile crept to his lips, which was strange for him.

"You'll notice the pustules on these bubotubers are particularly swollen. They're ready for harvesting." In other words, yup. They were gonna be on pus extracting duty today.

...

"Plants have feelings too, you know."

That was all.



Both eyebows rose in clear surprise.

He'd been here over a year and not one student had spoken to him quite as rudely as this one did just now. "Five points from Slytherin, Miss Salazar. For blatant rudeness." Sick little man? He disliked removing points, but he wasn't going to stand for that no, sir! "You'll have the chance to earn them back if I see you working hard this lesson." And that meant touching the bubotubers.

With a hmph, Sage turned back to the rest of the class.

"Now, these plants need to be handled with care. Squeeze at them too hard and the pus might just erupt somewhere you don't want it to." Like the face. Noone wanted boils on their face. "Harvesting the pus is easy enough," he explained waving his wand to reveal scrawled handwriting on the blackboard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackboard

1. Dig around the bubotuber, gently loosening it from the soil. - Extracting the pus is easier when it's not planted!

2. Find one of the pustules and carefully massage the area around it. - Don't mind if the bubotuber squirms a little!

3. Using a cocktail stick, prick a tiny hole into the surface of the pustule. - Right in the middle would be best.

4. Squeeze from the sides. Confidentally but carefully continue to massage at the pustule. - It might look gross, but don't give up! Your gloves will protect you!

5. When you see the yellow-green liquid ooze out, get your vial at the ready. Hold it below the bubotuber and aim the pus into it. - This stuff is special, try not to let any go to waste!

6. Massage and squeeze till you're sure no pus remains. Complete steps 1-6 for all pustules on the plant. - Most bubotubers have 4-5 pustules.

7. Replant the bubotuber in the hole you extracted it from. - Pat the soil around it so it's nice and snug!

"Cocktail sticks and vials are up here," Sage said, pointing at the pile on his desk. "If you're having any trouble, don't be afraid to ask. And remember, gloves on at all times."

Yeah, he was just going to let them get on with it. Marie Salazar had left him slightly peeved.

And in answer to Evelyn's question.

"The pus of the bubotuber is extremely strong and acidic. Gloves made from other materials would have some protection.. but not 100%. Dragon-hide is one of the strongest and so, it's what we advise when handling these plants. Now chop chop! They won't harvest themselves!"

Ellie raised her eyebrows.

Plants had feelings?! "Do they?!"

Well, in that case....the young Ravenclaw donned her gloves and began approaching the plant. Slowly. Very slowly.

Ever felt like petting a sluglike plant was disgusting...yet cute. "Aww, they like to be petted." She repeated to herself, stroking a bobotuber plant with a gloved hand. She was slightly afraid that people would think she was gross for following the directions immediately, and somewhat enjoying it, but she almost didn't care.

*snicker* Yes slytherin finally had gotten some much needed points taking away. She still didnt understand how they had gotten so much anyway . But her smile disappeared as she heard what their lesson for today would be. "Nooooooooooooo" was all that was ringing inside of her pretty little head. She sat motionless for a few minutes working herself to moves and get the materials she neededfor the task. But it didnt really matter because she ddnt even know if she would be able to do it. After what felt like... forever!!! She finally got up and retrieved the Cocktail sticks and vials and returned to her seat next to Em. But she didnt start.it would take heranother few minutes for that

Eben stopped petting the bubotuber plant as the professor explained that they would be harvesting the pus. He started to read the board and set to work with extracting the pus as needed.

Using his hands, Eben began to dig at the dirt around the plant to loosen it up a little making it easier for him to extract the pus later on.

He went up to the desk to get the cocktail stick and a couple of vials that he would need and returned to his station, massaging one of the pustules. Eben paused when he saw that the pustule began to squirm and he waited, getting his concentration back and continue to massage it while reaching for the cocktail stick.

Looking up at the board, he read the next step and thought to himself, 'In the middle? Where is that?' Looking down at the pustule, Eben stuck the cocktail stick into the pustule, thinking that it was the middle and hoping for the best. He placed the cocktail stick down on his table and looked up at the board.

Ergh, here came the uncomfortable part. Eben took in a deep breath of fresh air and started to squeeze and massage the pustule watching the pus come out in an oozing manner. He felt his breakfast roll over in his stomach and he paused thinking that he was going to hurl.

Reaching out with a shaky hand, Eben got a vial and watched the pus ooze down into it slowly. After the first pustule was complete juiced, he continued on with the next one, and then the one after that. On the fourth pustule, Eben had become overconfident and squeezed a little too hard, swearing under his breath as he watched a little bit of pus get away from the vial.

Setting the vials full of pus to the side, Eben began on his last step of replanting the bubotuber, carefully patting the dirt around the plant.

"Erm Professor!" he called, raising his hand in the air for the teacher to come and see his progress.

HE WAS PETTING IT!

"SIR! IT COULD SQUIRT AT YOU AND IT HUUUUURTS!" She knew this because the ruddy thing had squirted HER during the task. *GRUMBLE*

"..they're evil. They squirt pus at you which can result in boils.. they look like slimy black slugs and they're the ruddy most disgusting things ever.."

AND HE WAS STILL PETTING IT!

o______0

They had to WHAT!?!?!?



Cameron grumbled a little more and then got a vial from the shelf. HMPH. She wouldn't touch this little thing EVER but her NEWT marks depended on it.

*GRUMBLE*

She put her dragon hide gloves on and started poking at the soil. It was the most disgusting thing watching the thing squirm. EW.
Now.. to find a pustule.. the little pimple thing? She shuddered. She was grossing herself out like whoah but she started to.. *shiver* ... pet it. It squirmed. EWWWW. Why were they doing this anyway?

Using her left hand, she took a cocktail stick from the bench and poked it right in the middle. She tried NOT to do it to hard but she had a vengeance against this species.

DIEDIEDIE.

Control yourself, Cameron.

*deepbreaths*

Blehh.. she kept on massaging it, watching it utter disgust as it started to drip the pus. BLEHBLEHBLEH. Grabbing her vial, she kept massaging, feeling like she wanted to retch as it started oozing out. That was the most disgusitng thing ever. The vial collected about half full from the single pustule and Cam gulped. Disgusted with herself and ICKY PLANT FOR BEING SO ICKY.

And that was ONE done.

Yay.. to do the other six..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Both eyebows rose in clear surprise.

He'd been here over a year and not one student had spoken to him quite as rudely as this one did just now. "Five points from Slytherin, Miss Salazar. For blatant rudeness." Sick little man? He disliked removing points, but he wasn't going to stand for that no, sir! "You'll have the chance to earn them back if I see you working hard this lesson." And that meant touching the bubotubers.

With a hmph, Sage turned back to the rest of the class.

"Now, these plants need to be handled with care. Squeeze at them too hard and the pus might just erupt somewhere you don't want it to." Like the face. Noone wanted boils on their face. "Harvesting the pus is easy enough," he explained waving his wand to reveal scrawled handwriting on the blackboard.

"Cocktail sticks and vials are up here," Sage said, pointing at the pile on his desk. "If you're having any trouble, don't be afraid to ask. And remember, gloves on at all times."

Yeah, he was just going to let them get on with it. Marie Salazar had left him slightly peeved.

Neptune giggled behind her gloved hand at the Slytherin Marie. She kept it quiet, but GIIIIIIGGLE! Really. Funny. Slytherins were funny. Considering they lived in a DUNGEON, with rats and leeches and other horrors, how bad could a plant be?

La la la. Neptune shadowed after the Professor, keeping him close always. If he moved, she stayed near. Simple as.

"Will you be my partner, Professor? Show me how real professionals harvest ... the..." PUS "... useful substance?" Cue eyelash batting. "Pleeeeeeeeeeease?"

After writing down the information on the blackboard and a few other notes on her parchment, Kurumi slowly approached the nearest plant and *gulp* petted it. "Nice plant....please don't squirt me," she said as she massaged its squishy surface. She jumped about 10 feet backwards when it moved of its own accord under her touch. Breath! Just breath! It was suppost to react that way.

Approaching the plant again, she should probably give it a name....Squishy! Yes, that was perfect. Kurumi approached squishy and began digging around the roots very gently to remove the dirt. Squishy, who seemed to find the movement to be ticklish, began to shiver and squirm around. It was almost cute....almost. "Nice Squishy....just wait a little longer...."

And step one was now complete. Kurumi secretly wished that the plant was back in the dirt because it looked even less cute out of the dirt than it did in it. With her hands shaking a little, she found a pustule and began massaging it. Squishy began to squirm a lot. "D-d-does that tickle, Squishy?" She reached over for a cocktail stick and ever so slowly pricked the center of the pustule while she continued to massage the area. She hated getting shots, why would Squishy be any different?

Ew! ewewewewewewewewewewewewewewewew!

Kurumi tried to hide her disgust with the green-yellow pus that was coming out and almost forgot to continue to massage Squishy. Squishy began to move like they were in pain a little, so Kurumi immediately stopped squeezing and massaged only. Once Squishy had calmed down, she returned to squeezing and massage.

Squeese-massage-squeeze-massage

With her first vial filled and no more puss in pustule number one, she covered her vial so no of the pus would spill out and turned Squishy over to begin working on the next pustule. Squishy, who seemed to like all the attention, began to squirm around as Kurumi continued to massage the plant.

She looked around at her classmates and then at the professor. Was she doing everything correctly? "Professor is Squishy, er, I mean bubotubers ticklish?"

Wait, they are supposed to do what? Man, the magical plants were weird. Emmaleigh gave a little shrug, couldn't be worse than some of her chores on the farm. Well, unless you got it on you, but she would be careful. *nod* Before she started to mess with the plant, she took her gloves off, and picked up her quill. She wrote down the instruction on the blackboard, word for word. They were kinda complicated, and she wanted to make sure she could do this again, if the need arised. She then placed her gloves back onto her hands, and headed to the front of the class to retrieve the vial, and cocktail stick.
She sat down next to Brit, and said, "This is SO cool!" And the girl began digging out the plant. Too bad I have to wear these gloves, though, Em thought. She really wanted to feel the dirt!

Simon had remained at the side of the classroom as the professor had mentioned going up to one of the bubotubers and touching it. I'm sure I'll be touching them soon enough , he mused to himself as he listened to the answers the rest of the class gave. And soon came sooner then the Gryffindor thought as Professor Dodson proceeded to tell the class what his plans for class were.

See I said it would be interesting, he reminded himself with a soft sigh as he moved to the front of the classroom to retrieve the cocktail stick and vials. No sense putting off the inevitable.

Coming back to the planters, Simon picked out a few plant and knelt beside it, his items beside him as he started to dig up the slimy slug-plant. Once he was through, he worked on massaging one of its pustules for a bit, thankful for the gloves when the bubotuber started squirming. The feeling it created was weird enough through the heavy hide. Gently poking the center of the pustule, Simon moved on to the squezing and massaging step, awaiting the pus to be ready to collect.

Evan had been enjoying the class as much as he could. Since this was herbology, he had a feeling he shouldn't be here again, just like the past flying and potions class, but his legs had dragged him here. How nice. So, he was stuck with plants again, sitting with Evelyni Destiny and--

...a troubled Marie?

Frowning at her when she talked like that to the professor, he shook his head. They'd lost a HUNDRED points already, leading only with 6 points, and she'd just lost 5 of them. Pretty. Now, he too had to participate actively to gain those points. Which meant he had to touch those... those horrible stuff too. Even more pretty. Muttering under his breath, he nevertheless turned to the all of the three girls. "Wanna work as a group?" he asked them hopefully. Because he was NOT going to be alone with a plant. Uh-uh.

Wow.

Now that was speedy.

"You're a natural, Eben." Sage complimented the Ravenclaw with a nod of appreciation. He picked up the small vial full of thick, yellowish liquid and held it eye-level to admire it. Healer Moretti was going to like this surely. Lots of acne ridden teenagers could be be cured!!! "Perhaps you can help ..."

His words were disturbed by the loud tones of a certain Gryffindor. It was understandable Cameron would be wary around the bubotubers after what had apparently happened in the caves.. but this was a harmless Herbology class!

"That's it, you're doing it well," Sage said in what he hoped was a soothing manner. He didn't want her going crazy or something.



Sage didn't like fluttery eyelashes, and so.. he immediately grew uncomfortable under the gaze of Neptune Bott. He didn't much like giggling either. This girl was too much flutter flutter and giggle giggle for him to muster.

"Uhmm.. perhaps you should partner up with Eben," he muttered, nudging her in the direction of the other Ravenclaw. "He's pretty nifty at pustule popping." Yup.

Yep, time to be sick.

Looking around at some of the girlie over-reactions that were going on, Esme steeled herself. Rise above, she told herself rise above.

She collected her cocktail stick and vial and made doubly sure that her gloves were on properly.

She grabbed a trowel, gently lifting the bubotuber from the soil, muttering under her breath about re-launching some of her shelved escape ideas. She found one of the pustules, pricked it and started to squeeze.

Why would anyone enjoy this? She asked herself as she massaged the plant, trying to find more pustules.

Soon enough she found one and went on with her squeezing, trying not to look too hacked off about it.

She noticed that Eben and Neptune had been paired up and grinned evilly. Neptune was just his type.

Eben smiled. "Thank you Professor." he replied, happy for the compliment. And now he had to help someone? Was it going to be with some oddbod?

No. He paired him up with a giggly girl. Awesome, awesome.

"Uhm, hi." Eben said, giving the girl a little wave and stepping closer to her. "Ready to get started?" Or did she want to keep flirting with the professor for a little while longer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Sage didn't like fluttery eyelashes, and so.. he immediately grew uncomfortable under the gaze of Neptune Bott. He didn't much like giggling either. This girl was too much flutter flutter and giggle giggle for him to muster.

"Uhmm.. perhaps you should partner up with Eben," he muttered, nudging her in the direction of the other Ravenclaw. "He's pretty nifty at pustule popping." Yup.

AWWWWWWWWW POUT.


The professor didn't want to be her partner? TRAGEDY. There was lip wibbling and toe staring and general full-body pouting.

SNIFF. Fine. Neptune Bott didn't want partner with a dirty OLD man anyway. He probably didn't know how to do it right anyway.

She scouted out this Pustule Popping Professional. He seemed eager enough to help her. Sooo.... "Eben." GIGGLE, " The Professor said you have to do mine since you're soooooo good!"

So basically, they were squeezing pimples.

You'd think as teenagers the majority would be pretty professional and willing at this, but Jack could see on people's faces, which he was mirroring, that the class weren't impressed. And why should they be? It was freakin' pimple popping! Oh, sorry; pustule popping.

Okay, so the first instruction seemed fine. Jack already had his gloves on, which wasa good start, and he carefully dug around the plant, making sure not to go anywhere NEAR the pimples pustules.

Yucky plants are yucky.

She had to admit it, Esme liked Neptune's style. She looked around, wondering if any of the other boys were stupid enough to fall for that ploy.

She looked back at Eben, barely able to contain her mirth.

Eben actually winced with the girl giggled and let out a breath. "Yeah, looks like it." he replied smiling briefly and pulling his gloves on again. His ears heated up because she had complimented him to.

'Stop it. Stop it.' he instructed himself to calm down before looking to the blonde.

"So could you go get the cocktail stick and the vials and I'll start massaging the pustule?" the boy suggested. Team effort, he could do this.

Kita listened intently to what the professor was saying. She couldn't believe that they had to pop the "spots" on the plant. A part of her was glad; the "spots" were getting on her nerves! The fact that she had to pop these pustules grossed her out.

She walked away from the plant and towards the professor's desk. Grabbing a cocktail stick and a vail she walked back to the Bubotuber she was working on.

Kita looked at the board and then down at the Bubotuber. She started digging as quickly as she can. It wasn't easy work but she was happy about the results; especially the way her digging reminded her of a badger digging its way through a tunnel. Or something like that.

Hehe, she knew Marie was going to have points taken for such a comment, and Evelyn had tried to soften up the rudeness a tiny but, oh well.

It was hard to know that they now were even closer to second place however. Couldn’t Marie hold in the rudeness just for a bit longer? Hmm? Until Slytherin can get their lead again.

Glancing up to the board, her snickering subsiding, her eyes flew across the words as she fixed her gloves again, making sure they were covering as much skin as possible, before pulling down her sleeves even more. There was no way she was getting this on her skin. And if anyone else happened to get THERES on HER skin, they were going to be in for a very hard night once she got out of the hospital wing.

So, she had to make sure these gloves were on extra good then. Pfft, chop chop. Wish she could just chop the plant. It was gross.

Standing up, the Slytherin went over to front desk and pick up some vials and a cocktail stick, keeping her mind focused on anything else but the disgusting task they had to do. Smiling BRIGHTLY to the professor, Evelyn went back to her part of the table.

Probably, the most disgusting thing she must do in her entire life. "Are you sure there is no way to get this stuff…with magic?"

…

EVAN!

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise when she saw the Slytherin there. Must have not noticed him when she herself came in. "Depends…" she smirked, leaning against the table and looking at the slug like plant in front of her. "Are you going to do this ‘collecting’ job for us?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Mannequin

Eben actually winced with the girl giggled and let out a breath. "Yeah, looks like it." he replied smiling briefly and pulling his gloves on again. His ears heated up because she had complimented him to.

'Stop it. Stop it.' he instructed himself to calm down before looking to the blonde.

"So could you go get the cocktail stick and the vials and I'll start massaging the pustule?" the boy suggested. Team effort, he could do this.

Neptune Bott was not so sure about his choice of words. Massage the pustule??? Perhaps Eben was a BIIIIIIIT too close with the plants. Neptune enjoyed them and all, but.... well. Alrighty.

"Your ears are very pink. Did you know?" GIGGLE. "They are. Are they usually?" She waved at him, silly boy, and skipped off to get him sticks or whatever. La la la. She came back with TWO sticks, one for him, and one for her to poke him with.

Which she did. GIGGLE. hehehehe Poke. Poke. "Your stick," Poke, "Massage King." Poke.