Closed Grunt Work

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a slow breath to calm himself before turning to address the students gathered together for today's detention. The fact that he'd had enough trouble this semester to need to start putting together group detentions did not bode well for Angel's tenure as Head of House. How was he supposed to be the cool, relaxed professor when his students apparently seemed dead set on causing problems the second his back was turned. With any luck, this experience would be unpleasant enough to discourage a repeat performance.

"Right, you lot. None of us want to be here and you all know what you did, thank you for gracing me with your presence," Angel said dryly, facing the gathered students and checking they were all accounted for before motioning to the stack of dragon dung fertilizer he'd set by a nearby flower patch. It was warm enough that the smell of it was already starting to permeate the gardens and Angel was grateful he didn't have to deal with it more than he already had. "I thought perhaps we all needed a little time to cool of and think about our actions this semester, and nothing gives you time to think like a little manual labor," Angel explained, conjuring a set of gloves with a flick of his wand and passing to each student. "So, for the next hour, you'll be sprucing up the gardens here. Might as well hop to it; lots of plants to fertilize and I've got some more bags by the greenhouses if we run out," he said, content to hang back and let the kids get to it.

 

[Seamus Reid]

Seamus didn't mind getting detention he knew he had done something wrong, so he wouldn't want to skirt away from it or from being caught by anything. He wasn't unhappy about having detention but he would've rather not do it. He was at least with Avery and apparently another girl which he wasn't familiar with it. He looked to the head of house as the man explained what they would be doing. It wasn't Seamus was very good at but he'd manage. He took the gloves as it was handed to him. He wasn't sure what they were to do, just spread fertilizer...he glanced at Avery and shrugged. "This isn't too bad, I bet the old Styx would've hit us with a stick," he whispered to the other boy. ​

 

[Jenna Irons]

Jenna couldn't believe this was happening to her. She didn't deserve detention, and she wasn't interested in taking part in it. She hadn't done anything wrong, and she had only showed up to point that out. She was going to remind the teacher exactly what had happened, in a place other students would be able to see clearly the injustice she was suffering, and then she was going to leave. That was that.

It was a plan Jenna severely regretted when she smelled the horrendous stink coming from the gardens. She dropped the gloves she was given at once, one hand locked firmly over her nose, keeping it pinched. "I'm not doing that." Jenna said firmly, glaring at the teacher. Who on earth had thought it was a good idea putting someone so incompetent in charge of a house? "I didn't do anything. I'm being punished for self-defense! I'm not doing this, and if you try to make me I'll be sure to inform the headmistress that you're punishing students for defending themselves." She said bitingly. "The headmistress and I are good friends." That wasn't entirely true, they had only spoken once, but there was no need for this clown to know that. She gave him a final, scalding look, then turned and began to stalk back up to the castle.

 

[Avery Lancaster]

Avery had not been sure what kind of punishment to expect from being caught going into the forest, but his guesses had been worse than this. That was, until the smell of dung reached his nostrils. He winced at the stench while the professor explained what they'd be doing for their detention. This wasn't so bad. He didn't have anything else to be doing, and Seamus was there to talk to. He wasn't the best at gardening, but he figured spreading dung didn't require any experience. He took the pair of gloves, and nodded his head seriously when Seamus commented on their old Head of House. He was right, he had the feeling a punishment with Styx would have been worse, stick or no stick. He was distracted when the other girl with them start complaining, and then just up and walked away. "Do you think that's true?" He whispered to Seamus. If she'd been defending herself, he supposed it was fair to leave. They didn't really have that excuse.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel was glad the two second year boys were remorseful enough (or at least amiable enough) to get to work with little fanfare but he could already feel a headache coming along with regards to Jenna. "Jenna if you think jinxing a younger student for holding a rat is self-defense you're in for a very conflict fueled life- Hey come back!" he said, gritting back a groan of exasperation behind his teeth as Jenna actually began to leave. "You two keep.. fertilizing," he said off-handedly to the second years, striding after Jenna. "Keep walking and I'll gladly take you right to your dear friend the headmistress for a chat," he said sharply, frustrated that his patience was already so frayed with just one student, in his first year as a head of house no doubt. Not good for his well-maintained persona as the 'cool teacher'. "Just. Put on the gloves, do your time, and avoid throwing any more stunning spells outside of the duelling chamber, yeah?"

 

[Seamus Reid]

Seamus watched with some surprise as the girl started first complaining and then marched off. He knew it wasn't exactly nice and smelled even worse...but it wasn't like..the worst thing they could've done and the sooner it was over. He didn't want to do her share if she somehow got out of this. He glanced to Avery and gave a little shrug, "If it was...why didn't the headmistress get her out of trouble....," he said, it would be odd if they were friends that she'd have gotten to his point in the detention. "I don't want to end up doing her share of the work though....," he told Avery quietly. "Do you need to go back to the forest? You know, to ask more questions?" his voice dropped lower when he asked this. ​

 

[Jenna Irons]

Jenna's face crinkled at the teacher's objection and she turned to face him, arms folded in defiance. "He was throwing the rat at me! It had diseases, it was disgusting! All I was doing was defending myself against a gross freak and some nasty rodent he probably found in the trash or something. This is totally unfair, and I'm not doing it." As far as Jenna was concerned, the teacher would have to imperius her to actually get her to participate, particularly in such a filthy, demeaning detention. "You're discriminating against me, and if you keep this up, I'm going to get you fired."

 

[Avery Lancaster]

It was difficult to look away from what was transpiring between the professor and the older girl. Avery couldn't really follow along, but he was surprised at the dynamic between student and professor. Whatever issue was taking place, he decided it wasn't as important as what Seamus had to say. The professor was distracted enough to talk more about the forest, and Avery nodded slightly in response. "Yes. That centaur couldn't help me, though she said there might be another herd." He said thoughtfully. It didn't seem they were willing to have anything to do with the centaur they'd met, and he wondered what had happened for them to split. He had to hope they still might help him instead. He watched the professor again to make sure he still had his hands full before continuing. "Do you want to go back in together?" He asked. If gardening was the punishment, he wasn't too worried about being caught again.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel pinched the bridge of his nose as Jenna continued to complain, glad the other boys seemed to just be getting on with it. "Jenna, I was there, I saw exactly what happened," he said tiredly. "You aren't exempt from consequences just cause you don't want to do it, that's why it's a punishment," he tried to explain, feeling a muscle jump in his jaw as she continued. How Kahurangi or Landon did this sort of thing all the time without losing their temper, Angel would never know. "Jenna, I'm gonna give you a choice. You can keep thinking this is all horribly unfair, I won't stop you you, but you either do the work or we keep having this conversation and I start taking away privileges. Brightstone, school dances, your choice." Maybe this was why Styx had been like that. You have to deal with kids for so long it was probably just easier to scare them into behaving.

 

[Seamus Reid]

Seamus nodded, "There has to be another herd," he said, it would be wild for there to only be one centaur in a forest that big, even if she couldn't help find them, they had to exist. He couldn't imagine them not existing. He glanced back towards the professor and then at Avery, "We'd have to go deeper into the forest, if that centaur isn't spotting a herd, then the herd has to be deeper," Seamus knew that if Hamish found out what they were currently discussing and probably planning, right under the noise of the professor. "Yeah, not sure if there is a good time to go, but professors can't be patrolling all of the time...they have to sleep...," ​