wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure

[alittlemirror]

To say Jade is displeased would be an understatement. It's not that he cares about this detention tarnishing his record, no. He doesn't really care about his record. What he does care about is how it cuts into his studying time. He had just come across a particularly fascinating snippet on the nature of death and the soul...

(And besides, those Hufflepuffs had started it with their incessant chattering. They're like a less annoying version of Saphir, and nobody had ever really objected when he hexed Saphir. And it's not like he used a serious hex; he just sealed and removed their mouths. Easily reversible, if they knew what they were doing - and knew how to use nonverbal spells.

After all, what kind of first-year doesn't know how to use nonverbal spells?)

But someone had taken offense to his hex, and now he finds himself trudging to Professor Rammsteiner's office, growing increasingly irritated at the loss of his study time. From what he's heard of detentions, they usually entail doing useless, mundane tasks easily accomplished with a little creative wandwork. He's thought about ignoring Professor Rammsteiner's orders more than once, but he's also been told that it would just lead to more detentions and thus a bigger waste of time.

Oh well. He's here now. With one last irritated sigh, he raises his hand to the door and knocks.

"Professor Rammsteiner? This is Jade Curtiss."

Comments

[canicide]

"You have to cut them before picking. It fu—messes up the potion if you don't." Kids probably don't care if he curses, but other professors do. Heine frowns.

He's starting to see rushes of motion between the trees, and more than one.

"Hurry up."

Heine makes no offer to help. It's still detention, after all.

[alittlemirror]

He sees those rushes of motion as well. What he doesn't do is hurry up. If anything, he's more disinterested in the flowers than ever.

"Shouldn't we take care of those first?" He asks, eyes fixed on the shadows, wand at the ready.

[canicide]

"They might not do anything." Though the sounds seem to indicate otherwise. Heine knows, though, that making the first aggressive motion won't help him right now.

"I'm watching, just pick the damn flower. Properly."

[alittlemirror]

"You still haven't told me how many we need," he states, allowing the ruined flowers to drop back to the ground. Their glow is already fading.

He thinks about arguing some more, but even he knows that they shouldn't fight when there might be a whole pack of monsters waiting too pounce. He's powerful, not invincible.

Not infallible.

A single, decisive flick of his wand, and he cuts a bunch of flowers at the base of their stem. It's a challenge to cut with such precision, but Jade has always enjoyed challenging himself.

[canicide]

"Three for each student, assuming they don't mess it up." Heine glances back to make sure that Curtiss is following instructions. Satisfied that he's at least no longer yanking the flowers out of the ground, he goes back to staring out into the trees.

Another branch breaks. Heine lets his mind empty out, just listening and waiting, basing his next action on instinct alone.

He casts a spell (Cescensum!) that knocks back the first creature that tries to charge into the clearing. That riles whatever else is waiting, but they're warier now.

"Some kind of dog." He absently rummages in a pocket for a plastic zip bag that he throws at the student. "Put them in here."

[alittlemirror]

"How many students?" He watches as the creature goes flying back. It looks like Professor Rammsteiner has fast reflexes, but Jade isn't really comfortable entrusting his safety to someone else. He'll put the flowers into the bag, but that's as far as he'll follow Professer Rammsteiner's instructions.

The second the flowers are safely tucked away, his wand is up and pointed at the shadows. "We really should get rid of these first."

[canicide]

"However many are taking the class. Maybe fifty."

So that's a hundred and fifty flowers, at least, which means Heine thinks Jade should really concentrate on that rather than their imminent encounter with aggressive wildlife.

"I'll deal with it." Just get the stupid flowers.

[alittlemirror]

"I don't trust you," he states. Simple. Factual. He's close to going on the offensive, but he'll give Professor Rammsteiner one last chance to convince him otherwise.

[canicide]

Students are supposed to trust their professors. At least, that's the impression Heine gets, and he's a little annoyed by the fact that Jade doesn't.

(Or maybe he's just offended that Jade doesn't think he can handle it.)

"Then we'll just be out here for longer." Heine sighs. "Faster you finish with those flowers, faster we can go back."

There's another, louder growl, but it fades into only silence a moment later.

[alittlemirror]

For a few long moments, he stares at Professor Rammsteiner from the corner of his eye. Is it worth ignoring him and pushing ahead?

No, probably not. He's not interested in unnecessary violence and besides, the growling had died away. If there's a time to collect the flowers, it's now.

One hundred and fifty. He doesn't bother with finesse this time, just slashes and swipes, sending large swathes of flowers hovering into the air. A few stray petals flutter to the ground, their glow dimming; Jade ignores them. What's a few ruined flowers? He has plenty more. He sends those into the bag with a wave of his wand, then continues to "pick" the flowers, working as fast as he can.

[canicide]

Since Jade's gone back to work, Heine leaves him to it. He stands on the perimeter, staring into the darkness but seeing nothing. He just listens and pays attention to every thrum in the filaments of the ward he'd cast earlier.

Performing wandless, nonverbal, nonphysical magic is a good exercise, even on low-danger beasts. He only knocks them back, not wanting to start an actual fight, just ward them off.

He's only standing on edge when he hears Jade stop cutting the flowers.

"You done?"

[alittlemirror]

He seals the bag, handing it to Professor Rammsteiner. (He wasn't expecting Jade to carry it back, was he?) "I'm done," he confirms. Without missing a beat, he asks: "Are we fighting?"

From Professor Rammsteiner's stance, he doesn't think so. The Professor seems to be on the defensive, if it can even be called that. Watchful might be a better term. Almost passive.

Jade sighs again, for what felt like the fifth time that night. He doesn't understand how Professor Rammsteiner works. Could someone really care that little about their job?

[canicide]

Fighting? "No." He gives the student a sideways look. That almost sounded like he wanted to fight.

Admittedly, that's a feeling Heine isn't unfamiliar with. But for now, it's time to head back.

Without another word he starts walking. He's still on guard, but it's quieter now even after he lets the ward behind them fall.