| Details for Face Plant |
| Summary: | Gabby and Kiefer talk before break and Jackson tangles with one of the Trio |
| Date: | Dec 18th, 1937 |
| Location: | Greenhouses |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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On the side of the castle are the greenhouses where the Herbology classes are taught. Set all in a row the three greenhouses have statues of long, serpentine dragons running along the peaked roofs and are made entirely out of glass. They are home to many exotic and magical plants including some that are extremely rare, difficult to cultivate and maintain, or even dangerous. Greenhouse One is used specifically to teach first year Herbology and because of this it contains no dangerous plants of any kind. Greenhouse two is a multipurpose greenhouse. At times it is used for classes but mostly it's used by the faculty and staff to grow ingredients necessary for classes other than Herbology or even herbs and spices for the kitchens. Greenhouse three on the other hand is used for advanced Herbology classes and houses dangerous and hard to cultivate plants like Venemous Tentaculas, fully grown Mandrakes, and Devil's Snares.
It's a drizzly day. One of many in a row. Many students have already packed their things together in anticipation for the holiday break. The Hogwarts Express will be pulling out in just a few days time, and for most, today and tomorrow marks the last class before two weeks of freedom. Kiefer has had his last class today and is finishing up a few last minute preparations here in the greenhouse. The pots of his flytrap plants have been wrapped in scarves, and he's currently pressing the tip of his wand to the soil of one of them, murmuring to himself as he glances at the wand tip a moment, then presses it in again.
Gabrielle comes in, not really dresses for the weather, but the green house is always warm enough….She'll immediately go over to grab weeding tools . She seems in a rather good mood, she's humming some unknown tune and bopping her head back and forth.
Kiefer glances at his wandtip again and nods. "That's what I thought. And you're fine. A few weeks won't hurt.." He moves on to the next one, this one a little smaller than the other two, and his brows knit. "It's you I worry about." He presses his wand into the soil of this one and waits with a faint frown, expression a little anxious. He hears someone coming in, or at least he thinks so, and only spares a glance that way. Probably another one coming to check on their project before the break! .. Nah, he doubts it. "Hello Gabrielle," he says upon seeing who it is, eyes turning back to the smallest flytrap a moment.
Gabrielle will turn, smile not quite dropping, but it's not as bringht as before, "Oh!Hi Kiefer! how's it going?She'
Gabrielle will turn, smile not quite dropping, but it's not as bright as before, "Oh!Hi Kiefer! how's it going?She'll make her way over and glance at the traps, "Still having problems with the soil on that one?"
"Yes," remarks Kiefer who eyes his wandtip that now glows a bright blue. "Too acidic. Still.." He slips his wand away and moves to a table of pots, earth, and a few vials he's set out. "I'd hate to leave it that way. It hasn't remedied itself so I'm doubting it will suddenly do so in the next two weeks. I don't want to come back to a withered plant," he says, all the while moving some moist soil into a pot with his hands, then, after giving them a quick wipe, carefully dropping a bit of pink liquid into it from one of the vials. "What are you doing here?"
Gabrielle nods to the acidity talk…she follows it enough to know it's an issue.Her herbology, while not awful, isn't nearly that complex. She'll give him a smirk, "Just cause everyone's leaving doesn't mean there's not weeding to do…." She'll laugh softly, "If you want, I can come check on them….send you updates." She'll raise her hand and motion to the trio.
Kiefer glances at her and blinks. "Ah, right. You're staying for the holiday…" He glances from her, to his toothy traps, then (after a moment's consideration) shakes his head. "Ah, I'm afraid they'll be moody with my absence. The liklihood of getting bitten is multiplied this next week and the one after. Nah, don't worry. I know house elves tend to the plants on break. They'll do well enough til I'm back. I hope."
Gabrielle , again, not sure if he's just insulted her or not(again), will shrug,"Ok, just offering." She'll smile and offer , "When I come in to weed, I'll take a glance though. Anything out of the ordinary, I'll let you know."
Kiefer gently smiles and nods to her. "Thank you." He mixes the earth with his hand, kneading in the whatever it was that he dropped in carefully. "Are the Ravenclaws ready to go? I know my house has gone stir crazy a bit in anticipation of leaving." He smirks a little, beginning to repot the plant. "Have you been alright?"
Gabrielle nods, and laughs softly, "Yeah…it's part of the reason I"m out here. Better to be out of the path of the first years …I can't imagine the Hufflepuffs. Seamus has you all so hyped up on sugar, I bet your poor first years are vibrating!" She'll tilt her head when he asks how she is, "I am. Figured some stuff out.So…that helps."
"That's good. Figuring things out is good. If not, you'd feel lost all the time. And the first years are how first years always are their first trip home," replies Kiefer. "Most are just getting over homesickness and are now double eager to see their families again, which will probably bring their homesickness back the moment the get back to school in January." He gets the plant situated in its new pot with treated earth and goes about carefully covering its roots. "Have you made plans of what you're going to do while you're here?"
Gabrielle still thinks it may have soemthing to do with Seamus supplying them all with a constant sugar supplies. She'll smile softly, "I don't really know. I have enough side projects, that if I don't pick up any work in Hogsmeades, I think I'lls till be busy."
"Are you still painting and drawing?" Kiefer asks as he brushes his hands off, ridding his palms of some but not all of the dirt. The pot is replanted, and he seems content enough with his work, though really he won't know if it made any difference until he's back. "And have you heard from that fellow that you spoke with that first Hogsmeade weekend we had? The broomstick fellow?"
Gabrielle blinks, "Laurence? Not recently. I sent him work, haven't heard back."She'll chuckle, "For all i know, he threw it out." she'll kinda scruff her foot into the ground for a moment, "I'm painting Gab's radio, but beyond that, no art. It's….just not there."She'll shrug again.
Gabrielle and Kiefer are standing near, but not /too/ near 3 large potted venus flying looking plants.
"I doubt he threw it out," Kale says, who moves again to re-cork his vial and place it back on a high shelf with a plethora of others. He approaches the third plant now and presses his finger into the soil, ignoring the nibbling to his hair. This one seems as healthy as the first. A good thing for Kiefer, who probably would feel as if Christmas may have to wait til his plants were better! "Not inspired, huh?" he says, glancing over at her. "Painter's block? Wait.. artist's block. I doube Laurence threw out your work. That'd be rather unprofessional. Not to mention mean. Isn't his shop in Hogsmeade? You might be able to find him over the holiday."
Gabby will put her hands in the air, "I have no way of knowing . His shop's in Diagon Alley, I think. " She'll nod, "I haven't really drawn since…." Her eyes unfocus , trying to remember, "Since before Halloween, really."
Out of the way, a single head peeks out from above the potted plants, looking left to right. Low crawling along the row of plants, the ninja moves along his desired path with skill and deliberation. Rounding a corner, the ninja hears voices. Familiar voices. He tosses himself across a gap, rolling across the floor of the greenhouse. Moving slowly towards them, his head peeks up over the rows of plants at various times, edging closer… and closer… until he strikes! Or rather, until he missteps, falls forward and plants his face into one of the fly traps. Jackson's voice is fairly clear when he starts mentioning off-handedly, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." As the trap begins to close, Jackson uses his hands and his strong back to right himself, barely escaping the teeth closing in on his head. Such is the force of repelling himself away from the table, he knocks himself to the ground. When the dust settles, Jackson remains lying down on the ground, staring up through the glass roof of the greenhouse while quietly mouthing the words, "What in Merlin's syphlitic stick was that?"
"That's a long time to…not do what you love doing," remarks Kiefer who brushes his hands together again, then begins to swipe them against the sides of his trousers. "I told you about trees, right? Drawing a winter tree? Maybe you should.." he begins but is cut short by sudden movement and sound rather close by. Startled, he turns, and brown eyes widen at the sight of a person being eaten by his plant! Well, almost eaten. And not by just any plant, but by his sickly one! "Hey!!" he rushes forward, arms wrapping around the scarf-wrapped plant to yank it away, backpeddling a few steps. Saving the student, or saving the plant? "What in the blazes are you doing!"
"Merlin!Jackson? Are you ok?"Gabby will rush over and kneel next to him and make sure he still has a face, then look up to Kiefer, "Is it ok?" She sounds about as worried about the plant as she did Jackson's face."
Jackson reaches up quickly to rub at his face, making sure its still there himself. He looks around quickly, seeming to be regaining his composure by the second. He looks up to Gabbrielle, blinking, "Are you ok?" Maybe he's still a little disoriented. Kiefer receives the same shell-shocked look from Jackson, "I tripped on…" He looks back behind him, along the path he fell, "Something. I don't know what." He looks around again, "Is everyone alright?"
Kiefer sets the pot down and does a visual check of the plant, which still remains closed for a while (likely wodnering .. uh, where is my juicy meal??) All seems well enough, but that doesn't seem reason enogh for him not to do a thorough check of leaves, stem, soil, spines, etc. He mutters to himself meanwhile, too busy with his mental checklist to answer either one of them for a while. It's a moment, but soon things are deemed OK. He exhales a breath, muttering something foreign beneath his breath, then turns to face the others. "It's alright. Thankfully, no injury to any of its parts, and it wasn't uprooted." He pauses, then, almost as an afterthought. "Were you scratched?"
Gabrielle will glance between the two boys and after Jackson start to respond,she'll look even more worried. "Did you hit your head when you fell?" She'll gently try to check the back of his head for any bumps or cuts. She has no medicine, so she's not likely to find anything, but she tries. She'll glance to the plant again and give Kiefer a small nod before bringing her attention back to Jackson, "Do you need to go to the nurse?"
Jackson looks around for a moment longer, looking up to Gabrielle, "Oh, no. I had the common decency to tuck my chin and not bounce my head on the ground." He reaches behind his own head, taking Gabrielle's hand, "Give me a lift up, will you?" He looks towards Kiefer as he sits up, "I don't think so. Even carnivorous plants think twice about consuming me. Standards, you know." He makes his way up to his feet, looking around, "I didn't break anything else did I?" He didn't. "How unusual."
"I don't think it would've liked the taste of your head anyway," remarks Kale who goes about replacing the flytraps one by one in their usual spot. A spot sanctioned just for them by him for this very reason. And if any student was not aware that these plants are not to be messed with, the "TOUCH AT YOUR OWN RISK AND KEEP IN MIND IF YOUR FINGER IS BITTEN AND PAINFULLY SWELLS YOU WILL NOT BE GIVEN SYMPATHY" notice he oh so carefully wrote out as a warning hopefully is warning enough! "Far too hairy, and likely very salty. Would take weeks to liquify, I'm sure."
Gabrielle tries to still make sure Jackson isn't bleed profusely out the back of his head by leaning back some, which is just awkward, as he's still got her hand in his. She'll make yucky face at Kiefer's talk of liquified heads .Satisfied that Jackson's not going to fall over dead, in her professional opinion, "What were you doing?" She just sounds puzzled, he's never seemed clumsy before.
Jackson blinks once at Kiefer, "This is my head we're talking about, here…" He shakes his head, as its still perfectly (eh) where it should be, and then looks towards Gabrielle. Jackson seems to take a few moments to formulate a response, maybe cause of head trauma, "Well… I was eh… scouting." He then looks towards Kiefer and then asks point blank, "I need to knock out a room full of malcontents. There wouldn't happen to be any adolescent mandrake about, would there?"
"Yes. Your luckily un-liquified head," says Kiefer who returns to the two of them once satisfied that his plants are no longer in harm's way. Which, likely, they never were in the first place. Jackson's request is replied to with a hearty stare. Perhaps searching for signs of joking. Perhaps staring just out of true disbelief. Whatever the reason, he stares, and he continues to stare til .. he blinks. "Half have been harvested for potions. The other are probably not meant to be used for students or whoever your malcontents are," he replies, head slightly tipping. "Besides. If they are students, there are probably less troublesome ways to deal with them. Have you tried traveling with a mandrake? It's probably akin to traveling with a bomb of sorts."
Gabrielle eye's bug out slightly, Mandrake? Is he serious? she'll look to Keifer and gets an answer that's /not/ going to stop Jackson.Especially when he says bomb. "I think keeps Beery track on numbers on the mandrake." And then she'll blink and raise an eyebrow at Jackson, "Wait….you cliff dive, and sneaking in the GReenhouse lays you out?!?"
When Kiefer mentions bomb, Jackson shakes his head and is quick to point out, "That doesn't bother me." He then glances towards Gabrielle, his eyebrows knitting together for a moment. He looks back to Kiefer, nodding his head, "I'm sure, but I need to knock a room full of malcontents out with as little personal involvement on the part of myself as possible. A rope and a mandrake fits the bill the best. Trust me, I've looked into other options…" He looks towards Gabrielle again, blinking, "Are you going home for the Christmas holiday?"
"And that," agrees Kiefer as Gabrielle gives the more practical answer. "And so, it's ill-advised you take any. The holidays are nearly here, anyway. Won't you be free of them soon enough?" With his hands still wrought with dirt, he brushes them off yet again and glances between the two of them. This sounds like idle talk. Friendly conversation. There are times when he's good at such things and welcomes it. And then there are times like these when his one-track mind is starting to feel derailed. Time to refocus! He jerks a thumb behind him. "I've work to do before I run out of time. Have a good day, and good holiday in case I don't see you again before the break, Gabrielle," he says kindly.
Gabrielle just blankly looks at Jackson and then shakes her head, "No…I"m staying here with Cillian."She'll give a small smile to Kiefer, "Happy Holiday to you to Kiefer.Leave your address…" She'll point with her free hand, "Somewhere near the triplets and I'll write to you to tell you how they're doing." She'll start pulling on Jakson's hand to try to get him to walk with her.She'll weed later.
Jackson nods his head, "I see. Shame." He then looks towards Kiefer, "What malcontents do you think I'm referring to?" He adds after a moment, "I want to knock my parents silly so I can get out of the house and avoid family gatherings!" He sighs as he is stonewalled by the single-track-minded student, "Alright, alright. Happy Christmas, Vaughn." He is pulled along by his hand connected to Gabrielle. After a moment of tugging, he offers a quick wave to Kiefer is begins being dragged along in the most pleasant way he can think of being dragged anywhere.
"Sure," replies Kiefer, who will try to remember to leave his address somewhere able to be found. Glad to see them walking, he remains in the greenhouse to recollect his thoughts and reorganize that mental list of things left to do. pH levels, soil contents, watering, bug supplies..
Gabrielle will shiver slightly, "Back inside?" again, she's not dressed really for the weather.
Jackson smiles and then rolls his eyes to Gabrielle, "Someplace we can be alone?"
Gabrielle blushes and starts walking towards the owl tower.