An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by Orla Fallwater on Jan 24, 2024 10:23:22 GMT 10
The Greenhouse was lovely and toasty as Orla stepped in out of the cold December morning, her cheeks bright and tingly from the brisk walk here.
She had meant to head to breakfast this morning but woke up with a tummy ache and restless feet - likely leftover jitters from their slightly frightening forest adventure. Bundling up, Orla wanted to get some fresh air, and figured she might as well finally check on her plants.
The pots at her place on the worktops seemed in good health and Orla excitedly pushed up her sleeves, fingers wiggling towards the first pot.
Last Edit: Jan 24, 2024 22:26:57 GMT 10 by Orla Fallwater
After harvesting was complete, nothing of value remained -- including ordinary clay pots that were cracked and no longer usable. Spaces of the counter were free again, unless having more seeds and supplies to start over with. Then all that was left was to clean up the workspace. Professor Sprout would appreciate it.
Stems of the berry plants were strong, but simple to deal with. A charm or some nearby sheers would help snip the ingredients free, even as the plant's leaves tried to make it harder to spot the berries, but sometimes a hands-on approach worked just as fine too.
Rewards (per ingredient): 1 house point. 40 Herbology exp
Compared to most harvestable plants, the Eglower was less forgiving. Its stems were soft though needed a firm hand, yet any attempt to pick it caused the flower to puff sneeze-inducting, stinky pollen into the face.
Rewards (per ingredient): 1 house point. 40 Herbology exp
The mysterious mushroom draws attention to itself and the surroundings fade away in comparison. When stared at, its vibrant colours induce a trance-like state -- during which its smoky, pine scent changes to mimic something the entranced person finds comforting or enjoyable.
The mushroom then turns to ash, breaking the trance.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jan 24, 2024 17:20:15 GMT 10
MJ's first stop of the day was to the Greenhouse. She wanted to check on her plants and collect any ingredients from them.
She entered into the warmth of the Greenhouse with a happy sigh. The weather wasn't as bad as the day before, however it was still very chilly. She was glad for her new hood-scarf and mittens, but MJ was still appreciative of the humid heat of the Student Greenhouse as well.
"Orla! Good morning, good luck with your plants." MJ greeted one of her best friends and waved as she marched over to her own pots.
There were quite a few which was probably MJ being over ambitious as always, but she rolled up her sleeves, ready to tackle them.
The main Puris pod was the goal to obtain a viable ingredient, but its musty stink increased with proximity. It was as marshmallow-soft as it looked, making sheers and spells too risky. It tore off easily enough, but released a sour gas when grabbed -- causing blurry vision and light-headedness, which would soon fade. The broken stem oozed stinging sap that needed to be gently cleaned off.
Taffen Hide gloves would protect the skin from contact during picking. Without it, any skin exposed to the plant or its sap would be left with sensitive marks, which would last a few hours. Once picked, its skin-contact risk was subdued.
Rewards (per ingredient): 4 house points. 90 Herbology exp
The plant was unremarkable and could easily be overlooked in an ordinary garden -- a factor which would prove dangerous to an unsuspecting gardener. Once the plant sensed its company or was in any way disturbed, its leaves became coated in a pale green juice.
Firemint lived up to its name, with a minty odour filling the air -- another feature that was deceptively harmless, as the juice itself was like corrosive acid. Taffen Hide gloves were necessary to protect the skin / fabric / organic matter from contact while tilting the leaves to drain the juice into a jar. Without it, the substance was highly dangerous and excruciating.
Rewards (per ingredient): 4 house points. 90 Herbology exp
The Toxyvine plant was the very embodiment of intimidating. Its thorns were the most prominent feature, and were sharp as knives. They leaked a dark poison, making Taffen Hide gloves a necessity to protect skin while snapping the tough thorns off. Or really, to handle the plant in any way as it was prone to sudden movements.
Without protection, any exposed skin would be bloodied and infected -- a hasty trip to the Hospital Wing would be of dire need.
Rewards (per ingredient): 4 house points. 90 Herbology exp
The Thistle plant was primarily just the flower itself, though (unlike its visually-similar Muggle counterpart) it was incredibly lively and braced for attack.
Any attempt to grab or snip it was met with the stalk extending and flexing like a needle-covered vine. It could grab and pierce anything that made contact, though was particularly interested in arms. With its ability to squeeze like a python, sheers were useless; once grabbed, anything could be snapped from the pressure.
Taffen Hide gloves were the only chance a gardener had to grab and break off the thistle flower, and live to tell the tale.
Rewards (per ingredient): 4 house points. 90 Herbology exp
The vines of the mystery plant are highly combative and difficult to damage. They move constantly, and will wrap painfully tight to anything that gets near or tries to pick the flower's cotton-like pollen.
Once collected, the plant begins to wither. The pollen is damp and smells sweetly herbal -- inhaling it soothes anxiety, cures headaches, or heightens focus.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jan 27, 2024 23:55:44 GMT 10
There was a lot for MJ to do, and so she got stuck in.
It made sense to do the pots in the order she had planted them, so she moved to stand in front of the first one. This was a plant she was familiar with, so she knew how to deal with the tricky pods. She pulled on her taffen hide gloves, pulled her sleeves back down and got to work.
Prepared for the softness, MJ made sure her grip wasn't too rough as she grabbed onto the pod. Almost immediately, a gas was released, and she coughed as it caused her to feel light-headed. Stupid plant, she thought as her vision blurred, but how else to deal with that aspect?
The smell was repulsive as well, but MJ just did her best to ignore that. She held onto the pod as she waited for the effects of the gas to subside and wished it would be faster.
Seconds ticked by, and eventually she could see properly again. MJ hoped her friend, Orla, wasn't having such a hard time with her plants.
Finally, she felt a bit better, so MJ plucked the pods off. She made sure to avoid any of the sap that oozed out of the broken steams and set the viable part of the plant to the side. She'd add everything to her Potions Kit when she was done.
Moving on to the next pot, MJ nodded as she inspected the plant -- Firemint. This one had caught her off-guard a little the first time she had come across it. It just looked so... Normal.
The minty odour was strong and it made MJ want to scrunch her nose. She kept her gloves on and took out a jar so she could collect the juice from the plant.
She had to be careful, angling the leaves in just the right way to make the pale green substance drip into the jar. It wasn't easy and took some time, but MJ had to be careful. A few drops of the juice fell onto the bench and hissed dramatically.
A small curl of smoke and the small dip left behind was enough to tell her how dangerous this plant could be.
So MJ focused as she essentially 'milked' it of as much liquid as she could. She was glad to be done once her jar was filled up.
Sadly, like with many other magical plants, this one didn't survive after collection and MJ would tidy things up once she was finished with the others.
The third pot she came to was that spiky red plant. The name escaped her for a moment, however she was excited to collect more of the ingredient it grew. She was glad for her gloves as she tackled the process of removing the thorns.
They were razor sharp, and she didn't fancy a trip to the Hospital Wing, so she took her time.
Any sudden movements made by the plant, she adapted to and would wait a few moments before she'd begin collecting again. Really, it just took some patience, and soon she had a small pile of thorns for her efforts. Nice!
MJ took a break between finishing with the third plant and moving on to the fourth.
She felt a little drained as each plant required extreme concentration and just making sure she didn't injure herself in any way.
After a quick glance to see how Orla was getting on (and giving her friend an encouraging smile), MJ rolled her shoulders and stood in front of the next plant for her to harvest from.
Another one that looked rather mundane or close to a muggle plant, but it was just being sneaky. Could plants be sneaky? MJ thought so. She thought about the Lariwort that would hang off branches and pretend it was harmless when really it was quite deadly.
So yes, plants could be sneaky.
MJ studied the Thistle and knew it was going to be ready to fight back -- she was glad her arms were covered for this one in particular.
Her first attempt to grab the plant didn't go so well. The plant was able to dodge out of the way and made an attempt to grab back. She hissed as it narrowly missed grabbing her wrist and she almost got spiked by the sharp needle top.
Not today!
She tried again and again, and somehow didn't manage to grab it. MJ wasn't easily deterred and there was a bit of a back and forth for a few minutes as she attempted to grab the Thistle, and it would evade her and then attempt to trap her hands or grab her arms.
It was tiring, but she was determined to win. MJ faked trying to grab it from the left and, as it dodged to the right, she successfully nabbed the top of the Thistle. She gritted her teeth as she felt the plant trying to pull out of her grip.
So she pulled in the opposite direction, and this caused the top of the plant to come free. Luckily, this was exactly the part she needed. MJ sighed and set it down carefully, glad that the struggle was finally over.
Who knew gardening could be such a work-out!
The last plant she had to harvest from was just as tricky as the ones before. Another plant that liked to grab and tangle, to fight back against MJ stealing its puffy pollen. She opted for the shears this time.
As the vines of the plant whipped out at her, MJ would try to snip them off and cut them back. She was successful a few times, and this definitely made it easier for her to get to the main part of the plant.
She wasn't going to let her guard down, however, and was very meticulous in her approach. So she watched the plant to see if there was a kind of pattern to how it moved and used this to her advantage.
Sure, she was only a second year, but MJ had some experience under her belt by now.
Reaching for the prize, MJ plucked the pollen free and immediately the rest of the plant withered. The pollen was damp in her hands, but had a sweet, herbal scent to it that helped MJ feel completely refreshed after the past however long it took to sort out her plants.
She started to put away the ingredients she had collected into her Potions Kit and then tided up the leftover bits of plant, soil and broken pots. It would be nice to get her hands on a sturdier pot at some point, but she would make do with the ones she had to hand.
Once she was happy she had cleared up everything she needed to, MJ put up three normal pots in the spots marked 06, 07 and 08 and then added her slightly nicer (deluxe) pot in space 09.
In the first pot, MJ added a bit of soil and then planted her purple seeds. She covered those up and repeated this process for the next two pots. She planted her brown and pale seeds and made sure they had enough soil.
For the nicer pot, she planted the mysterious seeds that had come along with it. MJ loved to see what sort of plant would come from these, and hoped she would get something new and strange, like before.
She took out her wand and aimed it at the first pot and cast the water-making charm, "Aguamenti!"
A perfect shower of water drizzled over the pot, and she did it for the others too, "Aguamenti! Aguamenti! Aguamenti!"
Soon all four of her pots were perfectly soaked in water. MJ put away her wand and studied her hard work with care.
"Excellent!" She was now free to leave. MJ packed away her things and hoisted her satchel onto her back. There were some things she really needed to do today, and she hurried towards the exit.
On her way, she looked over to see how Orla was getting on with her plants and waved goodbye to her friend. She knew the Slytherin would understand how much of a rush she was in, but no doubt they would see each other later.
[OOC: Exit]
Last Edit: Jan 27, 2024 23:55:57 GMT 10 by MJ Birdwhistle
Post by Amber Lloyd on Jan 29, 2024 22:39:39 GMT 10
After a long shower, freeing herself from all the icky slime and warming her up again, Amber decided to continue with her plans. First was the Greenhouse.
Bundled up warmly in a robe (as her jacket was coveted in slime right now), she rushed through the snowy Grounds to the Greenhouse, her breath visible in the air. Before entering, she took a moment to stamp her feet near the entrance, shaking off all snow from her boots, then the warmth welcomed her.
She took off her gloves and dropped them together with her bag at the entrance before she made a beeline to her pots, giving a greeting nod to the small Slytherin girl she passed.
Her gaze fell onto her own plants, which had grown quite well! As she looked over them, she tried to decipher how to harvest each plant. However, she was most curious about what her mystery seeds had evolved into.
Sheers and spells weren't any use against the Furpod plant. It kept wriggling out of the way, surprisingly fast and flexible. The only option was to do battle with it, seizing the twin bean and yanking until it came free. Breaking the stem that way wasn't hard, no -- the hard part was grabbing it fast enough.
Rewards (per ingredient): 2 house points. 60 Herbology exp
The Fyire plant stem was thick but easy enough to snip with some sheers, yet its response to being threatened was to burst into flames. It didn't harm the plant in any way, and would die down once the Fyire flower was securely picked.
Wearing gloves made of Taffen Hide meant hands were unharmed, though a few hairs slightly singed and hopefully their face wasn't too close to the heat to suffer a similar fate. Without them, the burns would be quite painful yet not as extreme as an actual open flame. Skin would still blister and need immediate medical attention.
Rewards (per ingredient): 2 house points. 60 Herbology exp
The flowers of the mystery plant smelled of burnt toothpaste and a hint of citrus. The leaves were so coarse they resulted in a temporary rash if touched by bare skin. The brightly blue spores got their glow by absorbing light -- such as candles, the wand-lighting charm, or other nearby plants.
Flowers are to be picked, which releases a dark mist that induces extreme sound sensitivity and to exhale bubbles through the nose. The more bubbles released, the quicker sound sensitivity fades.
Post by Amber Lloyd on Jan 30, 2024 3:53:12 GMT 10
Amber decided to first start with the Furpods. Its bean pods almost looked like normal beans, but something was off. She reached for one – and the plant suddenly moved away from her hand!
Amber blinked dumbfounded, then extended her arm again to one twin bean, only to get the same effect again. When she outstretched her arm forward faster, she graced one pod, but that was it. She frowned. Such an annoy– … No, a brilliant plant!
She grinned: This was a great training for Snitch catching!
Amber narrowed her eyes in concentration, observing the plant in front of her. It wriggled more as if aware of her intentions. Tracking its movements carefully, she readied herself. In a swift, calculated motion, she shot her arm forward, her hand closing around the twin bean. The plant desperately tried to escape, but Amber hold tightly onto the pod, pulling it firmly – and the stem broke, leaving her with a twin bean in her hand.
With a cheer, as if she had just caught the Snitch, Amber hold the bean up into the air, grinning. One down, two more to go!
She completely forgot the Slytherin girl in front of her, she was too focused on her harvest and having fun.
The Quidditch Captain turned towards the second plant, focusing again on the plant and the goal: catching the Snit- eh, Furpod! Right…
She reached for the bean pod, but this time the plant wriggled itself away just in time. Quickly, Amber pulled her hand a bit back to adjust her course and shot the arm forward again, in success. Another cheer followed.
As she now was more used to the movements of the Furpod, the last plant had no chance: her arm extended so fast, the plant didn’t even see it coming. Amber’s hand clutched around the last twin bean and yanked it from the stem.
That had been fun! Maybe she should plant more of these, just for training!
Well, it was time to move on. She hoped the next plant would be as fun to harvest as this one!
Curiously, Amber got closer to the plant and extended her hand slowly towards the flower – just to quickly pull her hand back right on time as the plant burst into flames.
Frightened at this unexpected sight, Amber stumbled back with a fast beating heart and fell over, landing on her butt. In fear, she tried to scoot as far as possible from it, though her back soon hit the counter behind her, which was not as far away as she would have liked.
In panic, she closed her eyes and memories kept flooding in. Flames, burnt animals, their screams. Everything rushed into her head, letting her recall the past event, just like it had been during the encounter with the Fire-Belly Geckos. But this time, there was no friend with her. There was no one who could help her but herself.
Amber desperately tried to push away the images, her memories, but it was difficult. Her thoughts automatically turned towards them.
She placed her head close to her knees, making herself as small as possible, trying to breath, covering her ears as an attempt to close of the screams inside her head. It was then that she felt a soothing cold on her hands – the ear studs from Joshua!
Automatically, her fingers traced over the smoothed stones, the same motion she did when she tried to comfort herself out of embarrassment.
Right now, she really wished for Joshua to be beside her. He would be able to calm her down without issues, like he had done in the forest.
Images from their adventure with the geckos soon replaced her childhood memories. But instead of fire, his blue eyes came into her mind, exuding comfort.
Focusing on this image, her breath gradually steadied, her heartbeat slowed down as well. A soothing calmness overcame her.
‘Water Charm. We've got this. Remember?’She recollected Joshua’s words, which resonated in her mind as if he stood right beside her.
Yes, that was it! She got this!
With new found determination, Amber sat up straight, eyes still closed, and pulled out her wand from her robe, hopefully pointing in the direction of the plant.
“Aguamenti!”
In the last moment, however, she changed the direction of her wand, pointing it now towards herself. A rush of water flowed over her head, soaking her hair and clothes. Her body shuddered at the sudden coldness of the water.
In the middle of casting, Amber had remembered that it might not be such a good idea to cast a water charm onto a plant one was about to harvest for potion brewing. Who knew, thr charm could definitely render it useless!
She shook her head, droplets of water flying in every direction, and her mouth formed a slight grin. At least her mind now was refreshed and she was prepped to face fire!
Well, almost.
Amber quickly cast a warming spell to not drip with water anymore, then she made her way towards her bag and retrieved her protective gloves, pulling them quickly over her hands. Better safe than sorry!
Grabbing some nearby sheers, she took a deep breath before she finally faced the still burning plant. That was a resilient one!
Amber eyed it for a moment, the red flames dancing wildly, and her mind started to waver.
No, don’t think too much! You’ve got this, Amber!
It took all her courage, but she approached the plant with a quick step, shoving her hands forward with the sheers in hands – and snipped of the flower.
Instantly, the flames died down. Amber sighed as the feeling of someone clutching her heart vanished. Overwhelmed with mental exhaustion, her legs gave way beneath her, and she slid to the ground. A weak smile appeared on her lips.
She had done it! She had harvested that awful plant! And she surely planned not to do it again.
Although... it may be a good way to train against her fear…
Next time, she would at least be prepared for the sudden burst of flames. That had been the main reason why everything had gotten out of hand again…
However, perhaps she should take Joshua with her then, just in case. The real Joshua. After all, he had promised to help her.
Her gaze fell up towards her pots where a last plant thrived, the mystery one. With a groan Amber heaved herself up onto her feet again, turning to her remaining plant. But what was that?
It had beautiful red flowers with glowing blue spores. Amber carefully inched a bit closer to get a better look at it and caught a whiff of citrus and... mint? No... toothpaste? It still felt wrong, but she couldn't point her finger on it.
However, the blossoms just begged to be plugged.
As the plant didn't burst into flames or wriggled out of the way, Amber reached for one flower. Even after touching a petal, nothing happened. Perhaps because she still wore her gloves, though she had no desire to test her theory.
She shrugged and gently plucked the first flower.
Suddenly, dark mist evaporated from the plant and hit Amber right into her face. She crunched her nose at the intense smell of weird toothpaste, when in the next moment bubbles out of her nose drifted.
It felt really weird and tiggled her nose. She chuckled - which sounded like it resonated loudly in the entire Greenhouse.
Startled, she clasped her free hand over her mouth.
Had her laugh been that loud?
Amber shrugged and layed the flower aside, then reached for the next flower while bubbles floated out of her nose.
However, while she extended her arm, she heard the rustling of the cloth from her robe, the creaking from her leather gloves as she moved her fingers.
No, this couldn't be! ... Right?
She plucked another blossom, which sounded like a branch tearing from a tree, making her dart around. Of course she promptly got hit with another puff of minty mist. This resulted in even more bubbles coming out of her nose, popping loud in the air. So loud like popping a ballon!
Amber flinched with each pop and quickly set down the flower next to the other. She didn't want to pluck any more blossoms, but neither would she just give up. Perhaps if she was fast enough, the loud sounds and bubbles would stop? There were only two more blossoms left...
With newfound determination, Amber shot forward both of her arms this time, harvesting the remaining flowers at once.
Dark mist enshrouded Amber's head and a stream of bubbles shot out of her nose, obscuring her vision even more.
Though somehow, the pop of the bubbles wasn't as loud anymore, despite there being more.
When the bubbles and mist subsided, she felt like the sounds were only slightly louder compared to usual.
Amber carefully tucked away all the flowers and beans she had harvested into her potions kit, then began cleaning her spot.
The clangour of some pot shards rang more in her ears than usual, but every minute of tidying up reduced her sound sensitivity until it finally was normal and everything cleaned up again.
Amber then fetched some new garden pots and seeds. If she already was here, she should plant new ones!
First, she filled up all her pots with soil, giving even her advanced pots fresh one, and put them in the places they had stood until just now.
She made some holes with her fingers, sprinkled the seeds into them, just to cover them again with some soil. Amber patted the earth with her hands for a smooth surface.
In spot 21 and 22 were now blue seeds, in spot 23 yellow ones, and in spot 24 and 25 in her advanced pots were pink seeds.
After dusting off her hands from soil, Amber reached for her wand. It was time to cast her now favourite spell!
“Aguamenti!”
A steady stream of water poured out of her wand and over three pots before it started to ebb away.
“Aguamenti!”
After the last pots were irrigated as well, Amber nodded with content. Onto the next thing on her list - a.k.a. meeting Caine again!
While she made her way to the front, she finally noticed the Slytherin girl - and just hoped her harvesting trials hadn't been observed. Quickly, though with slight flushed cheeks, Amber grabbed her bag and left the Greenhouse
[OOC: Exit]
Last Edit: Jan 30, 2024 14:29:07 GMT 10 by Lena: Quoted dialogue still needs to be in bold
Post by Thorne Perry on Jan 30, 2024 9:19:45 GMT 10
Thorne hurried into the greenhouse quickly, waving to MJ as she passed. She seemed busy - and so was he! He had plants to harvest!
He took a deep breath of the warm, damp greenhouse air and sighed happily, waving to Orla too when he noticed her. The clean scent of plants always made him content. He took off his bag and jacket, and stopped in front of his row of plants, eying them critically.
Stems of the berry plants were strong, but simple to deal with. A charm or some nearby sheers would help snip the ingredients free, even as the plant's leaves tried to make it harder to spot the berries, but sometimes a hands-on approach worked just as fine too.
Rewards (per ingredient): 1 house point. 40 Herbology exp
Compared to most harvestable plants, the Eglower was less forgiving. Its stems were soft though needed a firm hand, yet any attempt to pick it caused the flower to puff sneeze-inducting, stinky pollen into the face.
Rewards (per ingredient): 1 house point. 40 Herbology exp
Post by Thorne Perry on Jan 31, 2024 9:21:42 GMT 10
Thorne set to work clipping berries off the tough stems, humming to himself as he worked. This was a familiar plant. He knew how to deal with them. Soon, he had a pile of orange and blue berries in front of him, ready to go right into his potions kit.
...which left him with his Eglower plant. He glowered at it, like the name suggested, and lifted his sheers. He managed to lop off one blossom, only to mistime his duck for the next one, getting a faceful of the stinky powder. He sneezed several times before he managed to wipe it off with his sleeve, clipping off that head with a vengeful frown.
He ducked the third puff, though he could feel the hint of another sneeze tickling at his nose. He didn't let it escape as he carefully tidied up his mess. He eyed his advanced pot for a moment - the only one he had left - and nodded decisively to himself.
Thorne filled that last pot with soil, dug a little well in the middle, and tipped in his handful of mysterious, muticolored seeds. He waved his wand over it as well.
"Aguamenti!"
Once the soil was dark and wet, he cancelled the spell, cleaning up a few drops that had escaped the pot. Then he gathered up his stuff and hurried out into the crisp, Christmas air.
[ooc: exit!]
Last Edit: Jan 31, 2024 9:21:56 GMT 10 by Thorne Perry
Post by Orla Fallwater on Feb 12, 2024 9:24:07 GMT 10
Orla beamed a grin as MJ marched by, then did the same when she spotted Thorne. She knew there would be plenty of time for laughs and catch-ups with them - now she needed to concentrate and not distract her friends from their important tasks.
More students arrived and she smiled a hello as she tried not to look too overwhelmed by the sheer variety of plants at her station.
The moonurk and sunurk berries came first - they seemed much less intimidating to harvest. Shears would be handy, but Orla couldn't see any closer by than the worn pair of gloves on the worktop next to hers, so she picked those up and wiggled her hands into the stiff protective canvas.
With deft twists learned from days spent harvesting blackberries for jam, Orla made quick work of the first harvest of colourful little berries. With a puff at her fringe, she regretfully watched the stems decay quickly now that their growing was complete and slipped the berries into a spare pocket.
Later, she'd place them in her potions kit, but for now it was time to tackle a more intimidating plant.
She had no hands-on experience with the heavy-headed flower in the next pot, but Orla reached for the bell-shaped petals with confidence. The spongy stems were weighed down by the flowers, so she gently cupped the petals and pulled them free with a gentle tug.
"Oh," she said softly, surprised by the ease of the harvest. She was slipping the petals into a robe pocket when the smell hit. "Wuh...Ughhh! ACHOO!"
The pollen released when she tore off the petals was disgustingly pungent, and her nose protested violently. She sneezed four times in succession, her eyes watering as she backed away from the disintegrating stems.
"Blech, good riddance to you!" Orla scrunched up her face and rubbed at her nose with her gloves, which stank and just made her sneeze twice more.
This experience did not endear Orla to the most intimidating plant at her workstation - luminous coral pink and purple mushrooms seemed to sap the colour out of their surroundings as Orla gazed at them. Something in her mind told her that the mushrooms were drawing her in somehow, but as her feet took her closer to the pot Orla felt nothing but serenity.
A scent of burning pine gave way to that of damp stone and freshly sun-dried blankets. Orla chewed her lip, suddenly homesick as the mushrooms crumbled into ash and fell into the dry soil.
With a sniffle, the trance was over, and Orla gave herself a little shake. She had garden pots waiting for seeds, but the day was getting on and she suddenly wanted to be out in the fresh, cold air than in the Greenhouse.
With a quick sweep and clean of her workstation, Orla removed her gloves, leaving them for others to use as she hurried to the door and out into the crisp winter morning.
00 | 
22 | 
20
December
