Sufficiently distracted by his tarantula being right in front of him, Atlas sort only half paid attention to where the conversation went next - his answer would not have been particularly helpful anyway. He wanted to know what Araneus was thinking and wanted to convey all the time. In fact, the first year was still tracing his finger along the outside of the cage for one of the tarantula's legs to follow. Or kind of follow. Sometimes Araneus just wasn't in the mood to play games.

His attention WAS drawn once he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and then he saw movement and people holding their pets. Best lesson EVER! Just bond with your pet? Feel safe? Professor Varma was quickly becoming his favorite adult for the time being. Wetting his hands as instructed, the Gryffindor was quick to pull the lid off and then his hand was lowered into the cage. Araneus was never one to be in much of a hurry and half the time to practice had already gone by by the time the tarantula was lazily walking over to the 11-year-old's hand and climbing on to his palm. Grinning from ear to ear, he took another minute just to let Araneus stretch their limbs and crawl over his hands and arms. He couldn't really tell if there were any hairs that had fallen off or not...but he took the vial, uncapped it, and then scrapped the top along both of his palms to hopefully collect something. Most likely his own dead skin cells BUT attached to those should be some remnants of Araneus, right? His hand serving as a vehicle, Atlas guided Araneus to his shoulder and once again waited patiently for her to slink off his hand and on to his shoulder. Thankfully she perched there long enough for him to down the potion - which did NOT taste great and was now an unpleasant room temperature thanks to clutching it in his hand - and then he waited.

"So..." he hummed, setting the empty phial down on the table and then scrunching his neck up to look at Araneus. "Hi."

...............................

Nothing.

"Hey, Araneus."

Still nothing.

Was it possible that his familiar was thinking about nothing? Surely Araneus should at least be thinking about food...

Delaney watched as the potion vials floated throughout the room before one landed on her desk. Ignatius watched her with curious eyes as she stood up and retrieved some treats from the front of the classroom. Back at home Delaney would always try and sneak Ignatius some of her dinner from her plate by “accidently” missing her mouth so this shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. The first year returned to her desk with a handful of cheese chucks and Ignatius could be heard meowing incessantly. She unlatched the crate her cat was in and started handing out the goods.

Puuuurrrrrrrrr

Delaney smiled softly at the animal. If she couldn’t write or contact her parents this year at least she still had her cat. As Iggy continued to scarf down the cheese, the Slytherin started to scratch behind his year and give him the best pets, from head to tail. She raised her hand as her professor made her rounds, “Professor Varma… how long does it usually take to bond with an animal. Like a wild one you’ve never met before?”

With a hand full of cat hair, Delaney grabbed her potion sample and unceremoniously shook her hand out over the vial hopping a few would make it inside. The bubbling eventually died down and the young girl closed her green eyes as she tipped the liquid down her throat. Blagghk. That was gross.

Iggy had finally finished off the remainder of the cheese and was now sitting calmly, staring at Delaney expectantly. Delaney stared back… trying reeeallly hard not to blink. She sat there for at least two minutes in silence

“Iggy,” she whispered, “Are you there?”

…..

“Iggyyyy!”

Yes. More cheese?

Delaney’s eyes widened, “You can hear me!?”

Yes. I can. Is there more food?

She rolled her eyes, “I’ll get more food later. I promise. How is life as a Hogwarts cat?” She had considered leaving Ignatius at home with her mother, but she hadn’t wanted Eleanora to get her tiny little three-year-old hands all over him.

A cat’s life is the same here or there. But for you… you must be careful…

Delaney furrowed her eyes before giving her cat a wistful smile, “I know…”

Mystery potion. Right. Nem remembered. Though it wasn't necessarily all that mysterious; relatively few potions in the world - almost definitely none taught at Hogwarts - were not published somewhere. If someone knew how to search Potions texts effectively, they might have solved the mystery. Even if it wasn't written down somewhere, Nem thought a little brain engagement could go a long way in analysing ingredients and combinations, order and context of introduction, et cetera, meaning a person could figure out, or at least theorise, what a potion might do based on recipe alone. This approach had informed much of their own... work.

That being said, Nem hadn't tried. Had never looked into the potion Varma was referring to, not beyond silently mulling over the ingredients and brewing process as they'd all gone through it in class. After the lesson was over, they had put it out of their mind, focused on other things, and that had been that. It didn't matter anyway, because all had been revealed. Allegedly.

Thing was, Nem wouldn't be drinking it. On principle, you know? Yes. They had those. Look at them, being all principled, with morals and stuff. Nem was still very much a vegan, and could not in good appearance conscience ingest the potion. Brewing was fine though - the ingredients were already there - and they'd been operating on that basis all term. They would still engage with this activity up to a certain point, the owl feather was not an issue. Grantham could take it over if she wanted. No harm, no fowl foul.

Disregarding the gloves, Nem wet their hand with a dribble of water, opened the cage, and gently smoothed down the barn owl's chest feathers with the backs of their first three fingers. It opened one eye, stared at them, opened the other, and hooted softly, just once.

Though Nem had no intention of drinking this potion, they were perfectly content to show a little extra engagement to make up for it. "Professor," they said, raising one hand while the other still stroked the feathers, maintaing eye contact with the barn owl, but glancing at Varma as they spoke. "Would you say this potion is similar to using Legilimency on animals? I've just always wondered if that would actually work, or if their thoughts would be too abstract, or exist in a way most people cannot process, depending on the animal, not to mention the verbal language thing. If a person can hear an animal's thoughts with this potion, as opposed to just... understanding feeling or instinct or vibe or whatever... that means the potion has a dual effect - telepathic link plus translation, right?" They paused, considered the line of thought they had been entertaining earlier, and continued to not share it. But wait, there's more. "Would it work on a human, seeing as they're part of the animal kingdom, or is it dependent on something else? Classification or complexity or whatever."

Oh. Look at that. A few feather barbules. Nem sprinkled them into the vial and set it to bubbling, and... just went right back to petting the owl.

As soon as the potion finished doing its thaaaaang, Aboli took a sip and waited. How would she know she was ready? Had she bonded enough with Grace to hear specific thoughts??? She was so concerned after hearing nothing for a few seconds that she reached out to pet Grace again, but then -

No.

Aboli pulled her hand back and stared at the owl. "You don't want me to pet you?" she asked gently.

Treat. Now.

Merlin...this owl was bossy, wasn't she? Aboli grabbed one and offered it gingerly to her. She could hear how pleased eating the treat made Grace, but she wasn't really getting like, full on thoughts or anything. She supposed it had to do with her not being Grace's owner. Grace was just a school owl. And maybe she was still mad at Aboli for the light feather plucking....hmmm.

It was lucky that Phoebe already knew Beans, because she figured that she didn't have to work too hard to bond with the tabby. She fed and bathed and pet and spoke to this cat every single day. Most spoiled cat in the world, honestly, and that had to speak for something.

She leaned her forehead against Beans' little snout and whispered comforting words, promising all the treats in the world and a chance to chase mice later and time on her pillow. In return, the cat gave Phoebe a vigorous forehead bath and clawed her hand. "Okay, ouch. No time on the pillow, then."

The petting had accumulated enough fur that Phoebe could add it to the potion, and she let it sit for a while so Bean could get more cuddling. Phoebe got more scratches for her trouble. "Why do you do that? I want to give you love." With a sigh, Phoebe took the potion and focused her attention back on the cat.

More pets.

See? She did want love. Phoebe gave Beans a scratch, and Beans swatted her.

No pets.

"Why are you LIKE THIS?" Communication was NOT MAKING IT BETTER.

At her second pass around the room, Shreya noticed that Bernadette seemed a bit hesitant to collect a specimen. "If you're unsure, you can always use a pair of clippers to snip off the tip of a feather. It won't hurt them," she said gently. Not all students were fans of touching animals, she supposed. Thankfully, Ashley seemed to be calming down. Perhaps her pet had a soothing effect on her.

Devin got a thumbs up as she passed his workstation. The Gryffindor was completing the steps perfectly. Shreya was quite excited to see how he communicated with his owl. The two seemed to be very close. Atlas, on the other hand, seemed to be having a bit of trouble. "Be patient. Sometimes, it takes a bit of time to work." She gave the young boy a reassuring nod. And he could always collect another specimen and try again if it didn't work. He appeared to have a strong bond with his tarantula. Shreya couldn't imagine the potion not working at all. Phoebe seemed to be having similar trouble, or at least a rather uncooperative pet. "Is Beans usually this....combative?" Shreya asked with a chuckle. The poor girl was covered in scratches.

Delaney certainly had an interesting question. "Wonderful question, Ms. Whittle. It strongly depends on the type of creature. Some are naturally more trusting and open to human connection. But even if you have no bond with the animal, you are likely to still have some degree of communication. The thoughts will just be incredibly muddled." The Slytherin got a smile as she appeared to succeed with hearing her cat.

Speaking of interesting questions, Nemesis had an intelligent one as well. "Well, I'm no expert in legilimency, so I might not be the best one to ask. My inclination is that a skilled legilimens would be able to see an animal's thoughts, but incoherently. Creatures process information much differently than humans. So their memories and languages are encoded in a completely different way—meaning that we would be unable to process them ourselves. This potion works in part by temporarily modifying our own neural pathways to understand our animals better. But you are correct that there is also a telepathic link at work." She paused, collecting her thoughts for a moment. Nemesis would be a wonderful one with whom to converse about in-depth potionmaking topics, indeed. "The potion has not been approved for human-to-human use. I imagine there would be complications, as we already have the proper neural pathways to understand other humans. It may temporarily create a telepathic link, but there are too many dangerous variables—such as overloading or 'doubling' your neural pathways—for it to be worth trying." It was a complicated answer, but Potions was an equally complicated subject.

Another glance around the room (and at her watch) showed that the potions should be wearing off. "Wonderful work, everyone. I hope you were able to hear at least a little something from your pet." After all, this was the easy part of the lesson. The next part might be a bit more challenging. "If you could place your pets back into their cages for now, that would be wonderful." Shreya knew it would be difficult for the students to part with their pets, but rules were rules. At least the pets could stay in their cages for the remainder of the lesson....before the house elves came to collect them again.

"Now that you've practiced communicating with your own pets, you're going to try to communicate with some others." Their own pets, and the school owls, were already so used to human connection that the potion should have worked fairly easily. The next round of creatures could be trickier. Shreya waved her wand toward the back of the classroom. The blankets flew off the cages to reveal a collection of kneazles and puffskeins.

"The house elves were kind enough to bring us some creatures from the barns. With your remaining potion vials, you will be attempting to communicate with some kneazles and puffskeins. When you're ready, you can come collect one from the cages. You will repeat the same process—bonding with them first and then collecting a specimen." She stressed the word bonding. That would be critical. "These creatures are not as connected to humans as your pets were, so it make take some patience. There are plenty of creature-specific treats and toys on the back table." Cat toys, tunafish, puffskein treats, and other various items were scattered over the back workstation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by List of Available Creatures

Kneazles
Sasha - A beautiful female kneazle, who is very conscious of her appearance
Simon - A wise, proud kneazle, often with his head held high.
Mirabelle - A gentle and matronly female kneazle
Phil - Let's just say that he's a rather.....slow kneazle....if you get what I mean

Puffskeins
Penelope - A hyper, quick-moving female puffskein
Basil - An hesitant, anxious male puffskein
Pancake - A large and lazy male puffskein
Lilly - A dainty female puffskein with pink streaks in her fur

OOC: Moving on to the main activity, although catching up is still allowed! To get full credit, you should RP your character bonding with, collecting a specimen, and attempting to communicate with a kneazle or puffskein. The creatures (kneazles played by me and puffskeins on the creature account) will be periodically responding to your characters' attempts. Please specify which kneazle or puffskein your character is working with somewhere in your post. And more than one person can work with a creature at the same time—we'll just assume it's not happening concurrently, if that makes sense.

You only need to try to communicate with one creature to get full points, but feel free to talk to more if you wish! You have until February 6 to complete the main activity. VM me with any questions, and of course, Shreya will be walking around to observe and answer any!

Bernie continued her owl-like staring at the... well, owl, like, in her possession. She creaked open the door of the cage and reached in, GLOVES ON, MIND YOU, to gently stroke the owl. Just one. One stroke. A pat-pat, more like, somewhere the owl (Harry) could see her hand at all times.

Because it was eying her right now, it really was. Could owls read thoughts even without the aid of a potion? Speaking of questions about reading thoughts.... Bernie slowwwwwwwwwly stared at Nem for a bit, asking all those questions like they were, obviously thinking of doing something with such thoughts, and then looked to the professor when she moved on.

Hah. Well. Bernadette was absolutely not going to SNIP OFF A FEATHER! How dare the professor suggest that! That would be like pulling a hair from your own head! Only probably worse!!!! Even Harry agreed, with a soft but disapproving hoot of their own.

She would, however, immediately abandon this task (read: actual assigned activity) and go get herself a kneazle. A KNEAZLE!!!!!! That was basically a BIG CAT!!!!!! Like ALL SHE'D EVER WANTED!!!

Bernie nearly skipped to fetch a kneazle and then skipped back to her desk. She plopped the kneazle down (oh, hello, Phil) and began petting him, her owl all but ignored for now while she commenced cuddling with Phil. Phil Phil Philburt. What a soft kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Noooooooooooooooooo. This was TRAGIC. They had to put the owls back. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS? This was a crushing blow, causing Ash to be surprisingly dramatic. Crazy, because Ash was hardly ever dramatic. She was in MELTDOWN MODE now. She put Maggie back in the cage, ignoring the creature's thoughts of comfort. They were all lies anyway. She sulked over to Simon the kneazle and brought him back to her seat. "Hello. Your name is Simon, no? I'm... I'm... You can think of me as Ash. You are a cool kneazle and it's cool to know you. Can I pet you? You look.... really.... really soft." And then she started to cry again, and buried her face in her arms. Why was this so stressful? Why was it so sad? Why did she really wanna pass out? The stress and sadness and just everything kinda just piled up and made her really wanna take a long, long nap. And go home. And maybe pet the kneazle too. Actually, no. She wanted to do two things: go home and give her best friend a really big hug. Forget sleeping or petting kneazles. But maybe.... maybe she could pet the kneazle? Maybe? She peeked back out at it through the cracks in her arms, trying to get a read on it.

Despite any and all previous reservations, Kinsay was looking forward to this next part of class. Maybe hugging a kitten would help get rid of all the sads. So she didn't hesitate in running to the back to get her first pick and she chose YOU, Sasha.

The prettiest kneazle. And what better way to bond other than ALL the squishes. that's what Kinsay was going for. She squeezed her kneazle all the way back to her workstation and even then, she continued squeezing.

She was going to hug this cat until there were no more hugs left to give. This would probably take a while. Hopefully no one else wanted alone time with Sasha because uh, Kinsay was going to hug and never let go. It was already helping loads. She nuzzled her chin against Sasha's little head. What a GOOD kneazle. SO MANY SQUISHES !!!!!!!!!! So fluffy, Kizzy might DIE.

Quinn managed to have an.... interesting conversation with his owl. Truthfully, it wasn't very happy yo be in a cage. And it wasn't happy with any of the Alliance people. It had some, er... words. Words that he usually only heard his parents use when they were angry. Or stuck in traffic.

Either way, when the Professor unveiled the kneazels and puffskeins, Quinn wasn't sure what to think. They were kinda cute, but also wild barn animals. Maybe bitey. He wasn't the biggest fan of bitey.

Quinn approached the cages and picked out Basil the puffskein, bringing him back to the work station (and grabbing some treats and a little jingly bell toy along the way). Quinn set Basil down, then rested his head on the workstation so he was level with the cage. "Hi, Basil," he spoke softly, "I'm Quinn. It's very nice to meet you."

Patient and Atlas were not exactly words that lived in harmony when in the same sentence. Or thought. Or same planet. Maybe even same universe. He swallowed nervously and nodded his head at the professor regardless, not wanting to disappoint her because...well...he found himself really really liking her ... do disappointing her was not something he wanted to do. Maybe it was time he included her in his little triangle of trust. Which would then make it a square.

Right. Being patient and trying to hear his pet's thoughts...which really was just not working and the Gryffindor found himself frowning as time ticked on. It was only when he heard Nem Upstead ask some very insightful things and the first year found himself gawking. And blushing? Mostly gawking. So much so that even if the potion kicked in and he finally become privy to Araneus' thoughts...he didn't notice. He was hanging on every word between the older Slytherin and professor.

In the end, Atlas had heard nothing from Araneus - maybe he hadn't actually collected enough from the tarantula to be able to create a connection with essences this go around. Oh well. You win some, you learn some? He was a little too satisfied from that little bout of question and answer to be too bothered by this not working out. He felt like he and Araneus understood each other well enough without the potion anyway.

And then it was time to move things along and Atlas was wetting his hands again before heading off to collect his next attempt, which in this first year's case was a very sizeable puffskein. "Hello," he greeted before scooping him up and cradling him in one arm while his other stroked the creature as he made his way back over to his desk. He didn't yet grab any toys or treats because, well, Atlas was kind of hoping that THIS time maybe he would make a connection and then he could ask what the puffskein wanted and then he could fetch that. Now back at his seat, Atlas continued to hold and pet the puffskein and THIS time noticed that some fur had attached itself to his palm. Much more promising than with Araneus! Uncapping the phial, Atlas repeated the scraping of his palm and plucked an additional hair from between his fingers to drop into it. After a little swirl swirl swirl, the Gryffindor downed the potion (wow it TASTED different this time ... and he wasn't sure if that was good or bad) and then...waited.

"I'm Atlas, by the way," he added

For the entire first half of the class, Phil had been halfheartedly pawing at the back of his cage.....because that was obviously where the door was, right? Upon being picked up by the eager girl, Phil did not seem to register that he had been removed from his cage. Not yet, at least. So, he sat on the workstation and continued pawing at the air, a rather bored look in his eyes.



Oh, thank heavens. That cage was starting to get quite cramped. Simon peered around the room curiously, tilting his chin up ever so slightly at the sight of all the other creatures. And then, the human was crying. Goodness, there were certainly many more enriching ways to be spending his time right now than this. When would this nonsense be over? He side-eyed the girl—a bit judgmentally, if that, before taking a tall seat on the table....though he'd certainly accept some treats or pets once she composed herself.



The squeezes! Too bad Kinsay hadn't taken the potion yet, because if she had, she might be hearing that the squeezes were not opportune for the fur volume. Sasha fidgeted a bit, trying to wriggle her way free. After a rather loud meow, she was able to leap out of the human's hands. (Though she hoped the girl knew it wasn't anything personal. Sasha had just spent quite a long time preening this morning, and she didn't want it all to go to waste.) The kneazle perched herself on the table and began furiously grooming herself. Normally, she'd save her baths for more....private settings. But her fur was certainly ruffled by now, and that was unacceptable.

Basil folded into himself in fright as soon as the human reached his hands into the cage. Where were they going? Why did he have to leave his cage? His beloved, dark, beautiful, safe cage? He started shaking as the boy placed him on the table, peering only one eye out from under his fur. He looked up at the human hesitantly.



Must they always interrupt the naps? Pancake had been right in the middle of an afternoon snooze, when his cage rattled open and a human tugged him out. He was rather perturbed at this, though his interest was piqued by the smell of food. His eyes lazily scanned around, landing on the tunafish and the owl treats before resting on the boy. If he was listening carefully, he might hear a subtle thought. "Hungry." No, this Gryffindor wouldn't be getting much more out of the puffskein unless his appetite was first accommodated.

Ash could feel the vibes radiating from the judgmentalness kneazle. So instead of crying LOUDLY, she cried quietly instead. "Stop looking at me like that." Great. Now she was grumpy, instead of sad. Well, at least she wasn't crying anymore. Nope, she was just staring suspiciously/pitifully at the judgmentalness kneazle. She reached out a shaky hand. "Here is.... a ..... treat...." She stared at Simon the judgemental kneazle a little more, and then she started petting him. "Yay. Fluffy." And Ash just might have set the record for the most depressing way ever of saying 'yay. fluffy.' Great. "Are you smart? You look smart. You also look like you're judging me." She frowned. Judgement was the worst.

Quinn frowned at the little fuzzball, feeling suddenly very nurturing. "Awh, are you scared? I'm sorry about that. I get scared too, sometimes, so I understand. I'm not gonna hurt you, though. I just wanna talk."

He set down one of the treats he picked up in front of Basil, making sure not to make any sudden movements. "Do you want a treat?" he cooed.

The fifth year was proud of the compliment paid to her by Varma. “Thank you, professor,’’ came her happy reply, along with a beam. It was difficult not to be happy and go the extra mile when she was involved with an animal. Did she mention that she was enjoying every aspect of this lesson? Because she was. And that thumbs up? It was returned.

Claudine eyed her pet, that rat whom she very much adored. Who knew he was so full of sass? Certainly not her but now, it was good to be enlightened.

“I learnt it from my human momma. Meaning you, Blaze.’’

#Dead

Claudine was absolutely deceased {figuratively, duuuh}and speechless. And there was Varma addressing the class, so the girl half fixed her attention on the professor, half on Samm. Ooh. Another chance to bond with another creature! She was game. Samm received one last look before she hurried off to wet her hand and to retrieve a Puffskein.

Lilly and her pink streaks attracted Claudine’s attention. Gently, the puffskein was scooped out of her cage. “Hallo,’’ Claudine crooned, already beginning to pet her gently and soothingly. “Love the streaks, ma’am.’’ If anyone observed the girl, they'd easily distinguish she was a lot mellow with animals than most humans. Upon examination of her damp fingers, she found that there were puffskein hairs there, including a few pink ones. They were quickly dropped into a vial of the potion which was then swished and swirled a bit before the contents were consumed.

“It’s nice to meet you,’’ Claudine continued her chatter, and waited for the potion to hopefully work.

Aboli stroked Grace some more, hearing spurts of thought here and there...she wondered if she had done the potion wrong. It wouldn't be that big of a surprise - afterall, she was much better at spellwork than at potioneering. She wasn't bad at Potions, but she wasn't as serious about it as her spells.

So she finished up "chatting" with Grace as the professor went on to explain they'd be communicating with either a kneazle or a puffskein. Aboli's choice was easy: PUFFSKEIN, DUH. They were soooOOooo incredibly cuuuute! Puffy and CUTE. As she let the connection between herself and Grace subside, she gently clasped Grace's cage door shut and waited her turn with the puffskein. She was aiming to get Basil, and so when he was free, she made her way up to gently take him in her hands from his little cage. He probably would hate all of the attention he got today O_O

Aaaaand she cradled him. "Hi there, Basil. You're really cute." She said in the smallest, most comforting voice she could manage. And she was wearing her gloves, so the velvety feeling of them might feel okay on his fur??? Maybe????

Bernie LOOOOOOOVED this kneazle already, she really did. She kept petting him soothlingly, even as he pawed at the air, looking.. spacey? Confused? How could she help him? Was she supposed to put a hair or whatnot in a bit of potion?

Right right right right. She... well, she could keep petting him for a bit to get some of his fur stuck to her hand! "Aren't you just the CUTEST," Bernie practically SQUEALED. Oh, also.

She popped her free hand in the air for the prof. "Can I keep this kneazle after class? For.... potions................. research purposes?"

Yes. Nem thought they might know a better person to ask, but the circumstances made that a bit complicated. Then again, they had a brain of their own, and everyone who was an expert had accumulated their knowledge some other way, and built on it or used their own critical thinking to expand it; they could easily do the same.

Anyway. Something to think about. "Thank you, professor. I'll keep all that in mind." Ez probably wouldn't mind being a test subject. Well. He'd probably mind, but he wouldn't do anything about it. (Read: Nem did not particularly care about dangerous variables.)

Once the next activity started, Nem didn't bother fetching a creature, as they wouldn't be needing one. They could have grabbed a puffskein to bounce around for a bit, but it was probably best to avoid the kneazles. Nem still wanted one of their own, but they needed to get it in its kitten form, so it could be calibrated or whatever. It was possible. They were sure of it. The money was the main problem, but hardly an obstacle which could not be overcome.

Grantham had grabbed a kneazle though, and for a moment Nem had to fight off some mild irritation that she'd had the audacity - perhaps the deviousness - to bring one over here... but then they watched the creature for about three seconds, and slid back into neutral. Evidently, it was not the sharpest tooth in the maw.

Shaking their head in mild amusement, Nem shut the barn owl's cage door and picked up their quill. Instead of fussing around with creatures, they sat and wrote out some detailed notes about their question to Varma, the answer they'd received, plus follow up ideas and extensions or extended thoughts. Every now and then, they would watch Grantham's progress out of the corner of their eye.

"She's playing, Professor. It's okay. I know how to heal the scratches." Phoebe let Beans headbutt her a bit and gave her a cuddle, but it was apparently no longer time to play with kitties. Back to her little crate for now, and they could cuddle again later.

For now, though, Phoebe very much wanted to try bonding with a creature who wasn't going to scratch her. She scooped the docile little kneazle and returned to her seat, grabbing treats and toys along the way. Gentle scooping. She seated herself on the floor by her desk and lowered the kneazle Mirabelle to the ground, letting her explore a little and sniff her fingers and knees. "Hi, sweet girl. That's my Beans you smell on my hands. Can I give you a little pet? Oh, or maybe we start with treats. Do you want a treat?" She offered several across her palm.

Simon blinked at the girl. Once. Twice. Three times, before bending down to retrieve the treat. He chewed it purposefully.

Was he smart? What sort of preposterous question was that? Was it not obvious from the sage look in his eyes, the intelligent way that he carried himself? He was a kneazle after all, creatures that were particularly known for their intellect. He turned up his nose at the girl as if to say, Of course I am. To both of her comments.

Another treat would be preferable.



Phil continued pawing at the air, until about two minutes after the girl had stopped petting him. He followed her other hand up into the air, where he fixed his gaze. Was she holding something? He swatted his paw in the air, just in case.

Shreya chuckled a bit at Bernie's eagerness. While she had been a bit hesitant with the owl, the Gryffindor was obviously getting along much better with the kneazle. "Now that's something you'd have to take up with Professor Williamson." She leaned onto the workstation, resting her chin on her hand curiously before asking, "What sort of potion research?" You know, just for kicks.

She also happened to notice Nemesis, who was not partaking in the activity. That was the thing about Potions. It was a bit of an ethical concern—at least for Shreya. While she could require students to brew a potion, she couldn't exactly force them to ingest it. It just seemed...a bit unscrupulous. Which was why she didn't make any comments to the Slytherin. They seemed to be observing Bernadette every so often, which was acceptable enough to the professor.



Mirabelle slowly made a circle around the girl, sniffing out her new surroundings here and there. She finally took a seat, staring up at Phoebe with large, loving eyes. The tip of her tail flipped up and down merrily as she graciously accepted the treat and leaned into the girl's palm for some pets. What a polite human—asking before she touched. She must have been raised right. Polite youth always made Mirabelle beam with joy.

Treat? Hmm. That did sound appealing. And it smelled very good. Basil was certainly tempted. He weighed his options for a moment before hesitantly making a move for it. He stayed far away, using his long tongue to quickly snatch the treat. After he swallowed, he rolled a bit closer to the human.



Oh, now look at this lovely girl! She was a good one—the puffskein could just tell. Lilly hummed in delight at the compliment of her pink fur and watched with expectant eyes as she downed the drink.

This puffskein didn't need much convincing. She liked this girl already. Which was why the Slytherin would quickly hear a high-pitched, dainty "Nice to meet ya too! I'm Lilly. What's your name? You have pretty hair too." She rolled in a circle before perching in the girl's palm. "Do you wanna know where I got my pink fur from?"



Oh, no. Another one? Wasn't one enough? Basil contracted his fur at the girl's touch, reducing himself to half of his normal size. Thankfully, this one had gloves. That was a little better, at least. And she was talking quietly. He liked that. He re-puffed his fur at that realization, ever so slightly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PUFFSKEIN!

Must they always interrupt the naps? Pancake had been right in the middle of an afternoon snooze, when his cage rattled open and a human tugged him out. He was rather perturbed at this, though his interest was piqued by the smell of food. His eyes lazily scanned around, landing on the tunafish and the owl treats before resting on the boy. If he was listening carefully, he might hear a subtle thought. "Hungry." No, this Gryffindor wouldn't be getting much more out of the puffskein unless his appetite was first accommodated.

Stroking stroking...maybe he should offer a nuzzle of the cheek to the puffskein too? At this point Atlas was not entirely sure he cared about the Potions activity and more about the fact that this pudgy puffskein was quickly turning into a comfort creature. Much softer and warmer than Ore-son Welles. The Gryffindor was juuuuuuuust beginning to lean in to rub his cheek along the top of the puffskein when all of a sudden there was an obscure sound that echoed in his head. Was sound even the right thing? He couldn't help but briefly mull over, again, the response the professor had given to one Nem Upstead and...perhaps sound was accurate in phrasing? But there was SOMETHING and there was a message received.

It was working? IT WAS WORKING?!

"Food?" Atlas cocked his head down and looked at the lazy puffskein. "You hungry?" That second question was more of a rhetorical one seeing as the blonde had hopped out of his seat and was now carrying the puffskein over to the options. "Okay...I'm going to hold you over each of these so...let me know what you want." Starting from one side of the food to the other, Atlas hovered the puffskein over each option for approximately 5 seconds each and waited for a response. When he received one...he would pull the item to carry back over to his desk.

Ash passed Simon the judgmentalness kneazle another treat. "You're kinda full of yourself. But I'm okay with that, because you're fluffy." Cue monotone. "That's a good life lesson for us. If you're fluffy, you can do whatever you want, but if you aren't fluffy, everyone hates you forever, inherently. I'm not fluffy, apparently, because if I was, nobody would be trying to hurt me. Logic." It was kinda an analogy for blood status. Funny that Ash was a muggleborn "Do you know everything? Do you think you know everything?" She stared at him curiously. This kneazle reminded her of so many people. Feed me. I'm smart. I hate you. Feed me. I'm better than you. Food please.

Ooh! Some fur had rubbed off. She prepared the potion. And then she ingested it. "I'm supposed to hear your feelings now apparently. I guess I'll find out what that means."

"D'awwww!" Bernie coooooooed at the kneazle, swatting at her hand. She needed a string for him to play with. "Nem, Nem," she turned to her tablemate, not even caring that she was interrupting their notetaking and whatever, and gestured at the kneazle. "Conjure me a feather or something so Philbert here can have something to play with." Bossy, that Bernie was. She'd also (typical of her, honestly) missed the part where the professor had said there were cat toys on the back counter.

Back to the kneazle, and the professor. Bernie had decided to start putting the hairs in the vial with the potion from earlier, and then should she... shake it up? What? She kinda stole a glance at Nem, who would know this information, but felt too prideful in her kneazle at the moment to bother asking. Back to the professor, and the kneazle, again. "Ew," she muttered under her breath about the old man that ran the barns. Again, not interested! But potions research, yes! She needed the help!

"Isn't there a potion that goes along with becoming an animagus?" she asked lightly, innocently, though it was doubtful she'd enjoy that much.