Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Oct 14, 2023 18:04:53 GMT -8
One last tug and...done! Scratched and bloody, Bryant put his hands on his hips with a confident smile. He stood before a totally empty row of greenhouse pots, the leftovers of plants and dirt strewn about his feet. It had taken him hours, but he's finally finished pulling all the weeds in Abbey's greenhouse.
"She'll love this for sure," he said, his smile widening. He was just so desperate to prove that he wasn't the same old selfish Bryant. Now he just had to wait for her.
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Oct 22, 2023 15:33:36 GMT -8
Abbey had been preparing all month. She'd spent countless hours looking over her little garden along the forbidden forest and made sure to time it perfectly so that when the fourth week of school started she could cut out the roots from its parent plant and move it to the greenhouses. This part had taken longer than she thought so she had stopped before she could finish the previous day. Now with the weekend giving her plenty of free time, she decided to finish.
She opened the door to the first of the greenhouses but stopped at the entrance to greet some students passing by. From where she stood, she spotted Bryant but didn't think too much of it. They had been repairing their friendship for a while now and she thought that since she had missed out on their daily coffee and morning walk by the lake that he was here to say hi. She'd been so excited to finish her work that she had forgotten to tell him. The group of girls finally said their goodbyes and Abbey stepped in. At first, her mind couldn't comprehend what was going on. Her eyes moved from Bryant to the plants on the floor and after a beat her eyes went wide.
"Bryant!" she yelled and the pots full of plants that had been floating behind her crashed down to the ground. "What did you do?"
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Oct 22, 2023 15:40:16 GMT -8
Bryant flashed a bright smile at the sight of Abbey. She was still the same nature-loving plant girl from his childhood that he knew, but he still couldn't believe how stunning she was. Had Abbey been this beautiful the whole time and he just wasn't paying attention? For years she had talked to him about her gardening, the details of her work going in one ear and out the other. He just knew that this was going to impress her.
"I needed your garden!" Bryant announced. "I thought it would be nice to get all the boring, miserable work out of the way for you so you can jump straight to planting your magic sunflowers!"
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Oct 27, 2023 21:59:32 GMT -8
Bryant stood before her with a giant smile on his face and Abbey couldn't even move. She looked at his face, then at the plants scattered around his feet then back to him. "Those are my magic sunflowers!" she exclaimed and lunged forward on her knees. They weren't really that but she was too stunned to correct him.
Her hands desperately pulled the plants toward her as she tried to find one lone survivor but it seemed that Bryant had been at this for a long time already. Finally, she gave up and let her shoulders slump in defeat. "I had planned my lessons for the next two weeks around this."
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Oct 28, 2023 10:18:24 GMT -8
Bryant still had that stupid smile on his face and "ta-da" arm spread even as she dropped down to her knees to survey the damage. It took him a moment to catch up, but once it clicked, he fell to his knees with Abbey and scrambled to collect the dead things. "I thought, I thought, I thought..." Bryant sputtered between tears. "They were all ugly and I thought they were weeds and I thought I was doing a good thing. This was supposed to be good!" Bryant cried, clutching a wilting stalk in his arms. "I can fix it," he said, waving his wand in every direction. "I can fix it!"
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Oct 28, 2023 16:11:56 GMT -8
“They’re supposed to look that way,” she said. There was no sobbing or wailing from her but she could feel the tears threatening to spill over. She felt that maybe it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t see them for what they were. Bryant had always loved beautiful things. There was no point in being mad over this, it wouldn’t fix anything.
“Stop, stop,” she said quietly and tried to grab his arm to stop him mid motion.
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Oct 28, 2023 16:41:22 GMT -8
"I can fix it, I can fix it," Bryant continued to mutter through Abbey's protests. He moved his wand in swishy circles, mumbling something that sounded like magic, and soon the stalks sprang to life, the dead plants pulled together as of drawn to each other.
They didn't return to their pots, though. Instead they continued grouping together until they formed a single, weedy mass. The stalks bent and cracked, growing into the rough form of arms, and legs, with a single sunflower for a head.
Bryant had stopped crying to marvel at his creation. The thing looked up at him, two little eyes poking out from the center of the flower. Bryant in the thing tilted their heads, and then the thing screamed. It was a heart wrenching, soul-rending shriek that could only be uttered by a creation forced to grapple with its own sudden and horrible existence.
"I can't fix it! I can't fix it!" Bryant cried, curling up into a ball on the floor of the greenhouses, trying to become as small as possible, trying to pop out of existence. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Nov 18, 2023 20:27:26 GMT -8
If Bryant ever really applied himself, he could be great with magic. Never in her life had she seen someone create something like this. She stared in amazement as Bryant and the plant stared at each other and then it shrieked. It was absolutely terrifying. She watched Bryant curl up into a ball and she looked around in panic. Pulling out her wand, she waved it around and the plant went silent. She didn’t have the heart to kill it so instead she put it to sleep. Abbey let out a long sigh and let her body sink into the ground next to him.
“It’s alright,” she said placing a soothing hand on his shoulder.
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Nov 18, 2023 20:34:52 GMT -8
Bryant was trembling when Abbey's hand came down to rest on his shoulder. Like the plant, his soft sobs were quieted by Abbey's touch.
He looked up at her, blinking through tears. "I didn't mean to play god," he whispered. "I just wanted to do something nice for you."
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Nov 18, 2023 20:56:09 GMT -8
“You don’t have to do anything over the top,” she said bring her hand to the top of his head so she could stroke his hair. “We can just stick to getting coffee together in the mornings. Isn’t that enough?”
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Nov 18, 2023 21:03:36 GMT -8
Bryant had to think for a moment as he considered Abbey's question.
"That's enough...but maybe we could do a little bit more sometimes?"
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Nov 18, 2023 21:05:28 GMT -8
“More?” She asked unsure of what he meant. “We already take Rocky on walks.”
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Nov 18, 2023 21:07:13 GMT -8
"More like..." Candlelit dinners, walking through the courtyard holding hands, making out in the greenhouses. "Maybe we can go to a Quidditch game sometime!"
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Year/Job
Herbology Professor
Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you. |
Steph
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Post by Abbey Chandler on Nov 18, 2023 21:15:54 GMT -8
“That sounds great, we can watch the kids play Quidditch.” Abbey knew that wasn’t exactly what he meant. But if they stayed on castle grounds then there was zero chance they’d get a repeat of the Hogwarts Express kiss.
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Nov 18, 2023 22:09:02 GMT -8
Bryant had thought about their kiss on the Hogwarts Express every day since it happened. It wasn't that he was trying to repeat it, but he had really liked that moment.
"It'll give me a chance to break out my Hufflepuff sweater!" he smiled.
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