Year/Job
Ode to a Conversation Stuck In Your Throat. |
Sol
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Post by Sameera Astor on Feb 11, 2024 9:21:13 GMT -8
Sammy was losing her mind. Between the lack of sleep she'd been experiencing thanks to a sudden surge in Owl misbehavior, the strangeness after her run in with Danny and Shiloh, and the general discontent she'd been feeling for the past year, Sammy wasn't doing too well. The bags under her eyes had grown darker in the past few days, an indication that the woman needed to get at least a power nap or a good nights sleep before returning to work. But considering her last part timer hadn't been showing up, and she couldn't find good help for the life of her, she was confined to overnight shifts at Eeylops to make sure the owls were being taken care of and didn't get into too much mischief-- that and taking care of the few birds that were older, or simply reacted poorly to the winter weather. Her head slumped against her hand as she leaned on the counter-- if she were to keep pulling these nights at Eeylops, she really needed to consider getting a bed in there or something.
On the cusp of sleep, Sammy finally felt like she was succumbing to her exhaustion when a sudden 'BANG' startled her awake. "Who's there?!" She called out groggily, stumbling from the stool she sat on, holding her hands up like she would karate chop someone to protect herself. Rubbing her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell was that...?" She murmured, looking back towards the supply room where the noise had come. Maybe something had shifted and simply fell...?-- BANG. Again!? Her eyes went wide and she stumbled back, suddenly horrified at the prospect of something, someone, or some creature lurking in the supply. She fished her wand out, holding it up as she slowly approached the supply room, prepared for everything and anything it would hold. Unfortunately for her, some of the feed for the birds had spilt out to spell... 'HI'.
--
Thank Merlin no one had been around to hear Sammy scream bloody murder after the banging around at Eeylops had left her frightened and quite frankly horrified. She was being haunted. The place she spent most of her time was being haunted. Of course, Sammy wasn't scared of ghosts. Hogwarts was full of them-- but this was something else. The ghost was tormenting her. First it started with the 'HI', but it didn't stop there. Her birds were being disturbed, SHE was being disturbed! Her hair was being tugged, her store was being harassed, and the exhaustion she'd felt three nights ago was only getting worse. It's why she called Bryant in the first place-- He was the only person she knew that could maybe help her get rid of the pesky ghost that was making her life a living hell.
Dr. Bryant Tannen
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Year/Job
Professor of Ghoul Studies
Travis
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Post by Dr. Bryant Tannen on Feb 19, 2024 11:27:13 GMT -8
If Bryant had learned anything in ten years as Hogwarts’ Ghoul Studies professor, it was a lesson in the value of silence. In almost every other facet of his life, Bryant was known to speak the most and say the least. Even in his own classroom this was true. But every year since 2012 Bryant had attended the annual Ghoul Conference in New Orleans, and he’d quickly discovered to keep his mouth shut. The conference was a gathering of the brightest minds in the study of ghouls, ghosts, and other paranormal phenomena. Bryant had always been intimidated by the names of the attendees, a veritable who’s who in all things spooky: there was the famous mystic Celine Dupont, Jimmy “Ten Toes” Dupree, and Taz Clortho. Bryant would enjoy all you can eat spaghetti from his seat in the back of the conference hall while he listened to special guest Dan Akroyd speak and slowly over time people started to notice the sickly looking man nodding sagely at the back of the room.
This was how Bryant became the world’s leading expert on ghouls. Any one of his students could tell you that he was far from an authority on anything besides maybe sharing a little too much about his personal life in his lectures, but who really listened to kids? While Bryant was showered with praise by his contemporaries in the field, his students enjoyed a pretty easy ride (as long as they could hold off Bryant’s wrath). What Bryant had never expected was for a student to reach out to him with an actual ghoul problem. A few had kept in touch over the years, but they all knew better than to ask him about an actual ghoul problem. What did he look like, a priest?
But Sammy Astor was one of Bryant’s favorite students. She came from a similar background to his own, and she ran Eeylops, which was Bryant’s favorite store on Diagon Alley. This was why he kept in touch with his students: maybe one day they would own a bunch of owls and he could use their relationship to pet all of them. All Bryant had to do was pretend to know a little about hauntings.
Armed with a plastic crucifix and knowledge culled from Youtube, Bryant made the journey to Diagon Alley. “Ghost police!” he announced himself as he stepped inside of the shop. He scanned the shop for signs of Sammy, plopping a suspiciously light briefcase (containing said crucifix) onto the countertop. “Sammy?” he called. “Did the ghost get you?”
- Sameera Astor
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