Inner Peace

[Melantha Todd]

Normally, Melantha didn't like the beach- she much preferred clean, chlorinated water over salty water with who-knows-what in it. Besides, she didn't like jellyfish. There weren't any jellyfish in the pool. But the pool was closed for the week, for cleaning or some such nonsense. And so she had decided to try the beach today, if only to get out of the school for a little while.

Mel opened up the folding chair she had brought with her to the beach and set it under a beach umbrella. She draped her towel over the back of the chair, an old and ragged thing, but still usable. Mel took off the shorts and tank top she had thrown on over her swimsuit and dumped them on the chair. She gazed out over the sandy beach, looking to see if there were any familiar faces. There weren't.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

Aldrich walked down the beach as grumpy as ever, he didn´t like the beach, hated it to be more precise, but what could he do? There were rumors going around saying that a rare plant used for many potions had been seen on the beach, so as the good potion master he was, he had to go look.

He saw some kids here how he hated kids always running around playing and being in the way of the older more mature people, he recognized some of the people here actually, especially one girl, pretty nice look she had been at one of his classes, but what was the name, he couldn´t remember it, and he actually didn´t care.

Aldrich took his folding chair and placed himself not that far away from her, all he could do know was to look, and hopefully it would reveal itself.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha glanced up as a professor set up a folding chair only yards away from her. She immediately recognized him as the Potions professor, and this discovery made her rather curious. I wouldn't expect Professor Abendroth to be the type to come down here, she mused thoughtfully, turning her gaze away from the professor and out to the calm waters. The waves coming in were small, which Mel didn't mind. More often than not, the waves were big and the last time she had gone swimming in the ocean, she'd gotten stung by a jellyfish because the huge waves were dragging them in, close to the shore. I hate jellyfish, she grumbled silently to herself.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

Aldrich saw the girl’s eyes, obviously she disliked him, and he was pretty alright with that, he didn´t mind it, he wasn´t going to be her friend or anything like that, as far as he knew she was far too young for him. "Come on show yourself." Aldrich mumbled slightly as he kept watching out onto the calm blue water, maybe it had been a lie what they had said? No then he would have felt it, it had to be true, and because of that he just had to sit here and watch.

*You might as well start a conversation you got nothing better to do if it keeps going on like this* He thought as he looked out over the water again, he agreed talking could maybe even do some good now, since it could help him not feel as bored as he were. "So.... What brings you here?" Aldrich asked, as he glanced over at the little girl, probably one of the students he never heard anything from, the good students as he called them.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha's eyes shot to the professor as soon as he spoke. She had heard the rumors about him, which would not be surprising to any student at the school. Her ice-blue eyes fixed on Professor Abendroth, Mel responded calmly, "Swimming- just like everyone else."

Had she known that he thought of her as a little girl, she would have been offended. But still, he was a teacher and she was just a student, and so her opinion mattered little. "I'm guessing you aren't here to swim, though," she continued, polite, but reserved.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"Swimming- just like everyone else."

Aldrich smiled as he felt the tingling sensation of her lying at least half a lie, though he was not to tell right or wrong right now, that would only cause some bad things to happen.

"I'm guessing you aren't here to swim, though,"

"Nope I am not here to swim." Aldrich smiled slightly he didn´t care of there were kids out there, they would work as bait for the plant, it was a predatory plant so it ate meat, and swimming kids was just the right type of bait to catch a plant like that. "I am here to look for plants." He smiled even more knowing how weird that sounded, it would be fun to see how she reacted. He wasn´t totally sure how she thought about him, and how the students thought about him, they probably disliked him, but he didn´t care. "So... What do the kids go around and say about me nowadays?" Aldrich asked politely, trying to start a conversation while also trying to get some information.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha raised her eyebrows ever so slightly, an unconscious movement. "What kinds of plants?" she asked curiously, her interest immediately intrigued. Since her mother was big on collecting plants with magical properties for the household garden, Mel liked to consider herself an amateur herbologist. Not surprisingly, she did very well in herbology class.

His question caught her off guard, but she made a quick and smooth recovery, responding with little hesitation, "Which kids? The brave and stupid or the quiet and intelligent?"

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"What kinds of plants?"

"I am not totally sure, but it has been confirmed to be meat eating mostly large animals, like dogs sometimes even kids, but that is rare." Aldrich smiles slightly again, it was that rare moment he was hoping for since he had no dogs here, he had to use the kids as bait instead, though of course without the other professors knowledge.

"Which kids? The brave and stupid or the quiet and intelligent?"

"Avoiding the question are we? let’s just say both, it is so much easier." Aldrich answered it couldn´t be good since she had come with that comment, if it had been good she would probably just have said it, now Aldrich wasn´t the best human reader, that much he would willingly admit, but he knew when someone was avoiding a question, he practically had them every day.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha found his description of the plant both fascinating and oddly familiar. Well, it was more her refusing to admit the truth to herself most of the time, but then, that was rather irrevelant. "We-ell... I know that a large majority say you rely on your mage too much.."

Sure, it was true-mostly. Perhaps half of the student population would willingly agree with that statement- Mel herself, didn't. She found mages to be rather useful gifts, gifts that should be used as needed, not just every once in awhile.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"We-ell... I know that a large majority say you rely on your mage too much.."

"Are you sure that is all?" Aldrich said, his ability wasn´t really anything he could turn on and off he just felt it, like tingling sensation going over his skin. He looked at her, as if he was trying to read the very core of her being with his blue eyes.

"Just tell me everything they say about me, don´t be scared, you won´t get detention for saying it." He said smiling at her, as he tried to make her tell him what they really were saying, he knew the kids wouldn´t go around saying such trivial things, it was probably something worse, something they would get detention for if he heard it. It actually wouldn´t surprise him if the kids was planning a little rebellion against him, the way that boy named Adam behaved it would certainly point in that direction.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha kept her gaze steady, all caution gone as she gave in to her irritation and replied. "If you really think that I'm the kind of person that everyone tells their secrets to, you must be half-blind and sadly-mistaken," she responded coldly. She knew it really wasn't fair for her temper to flare up like this; after all, the professor hadn't been trying to annoy her.

"Go on, tell me I'm a freak. I don't care, you can't possibly do better than anyone else." The latter sentence was a blatant lie, and Mel knew it. But she was past caring, she was too absorbed in her short-lived anger.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"If you really think that I'm the kind of person that everyone tells their secrets to, you must be half-blind and sadly-mistaken,"

"Well I do admit that I might begin to need glasses." Aldrich had obviously made the little girl angry, so now he had to calm her down before he could get the answers he wanted, though he maybe have been feeling a slight hint of sympathy for her, thinking like that helped no one especially not oneself.

"Go on, tell me I'm a freak. I don't care, you can't possibly do better than anyone else."

"You are not a freak and anyone one why says you are, says it because they are the freaks... They are simply trying to make themselves feel better by picking on a better person." Aldrich was as calm as ever he had felt that she was lying at least with some of it, he didn´t care he had heard rumors about her being well, not fully human, Being not fully human was fine with him, he wasn´t out to find a friend, at least not if he could avoid it.

Aldrich looked out over the calm blue ocean, no signs yet, maybe the rumors really had been false, well, he might as well help this little girl before leaving, since he had nothing better to do today.

[Melantha Todd]

The gleam of short-lived anger faded from Melantha's pale blue eyes and she averted her gaze, looking at the soft golden sand rather than the professor. "You have no idea just how much of a freak I am," she muttered. "Nobody would even come within twenty meters of me if they knew what I really was.."

Mel shifted on her chair, suddenly wanting to go swimming in the salty waters, just to be stung by another jellyfish. If she got stung, she'd have a bad reaction (again), and could get out of classes for a day or two. Perfect for avoiding professors.

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"You have no idea just how much of a freak I am.. Nobody would even come within twenty meters of me if they knew what I really was.."

Aldrich couldn´t really place is this was true or not, maybe she believed it, or something like that, whatever the reason where, she didn´t think highly of herself, that was alright with Aldrich, it was always that kind of students who would never pour color changing potion out over you. "Well, not to sounds old or anything, but my mother always used to say, embrace your inner freak, and then take advantage of it." Aldrich smiled slightly; he would have never thought that he would ever quote his own mother, to him that was actually as unlikely as well, as him getting his hands on 100 L. liquid luck.

Aldrich saw how the girl suddenly shifted in her chair, she obviously wanted to go swimming, or something and he would allow that, he was not her dad or anything. "So, what keeps you away from jumping out into the ocean?" Aldrich asked, as he was trying to keep the conversation going, and if he was a tiny little bit lucky, then he would get her to jump into the ocean as bait for the big plant.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha glanced up at him and rolled her eyes. "Like you don't know. I thought all of the professors were warned that I had an allergic reaction to a jellyfish last time I got stung," she responded coolly, suddenly retrieving her air of practiced distance.

The blonde female pulled her legs up towards her chest and pointed to her right shin. Quite a few bright reddish-pink dots clustered there, in no particular pattern. "See? And it still itches like hell, too."


(( and go ahead, believe every word she says, because it's true I got stung by a jellyfish last year and had an allergic reaction. that's actually the same spot I was stung- the dots are long gone now, but man, that sting was itchy XD ))

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"Like you don't know. I thought all of the professors were warned that I had an allergic reaction to a jellyfish last time I got stung...See? And it still itches like hell, too."

"Oh....So that was you." Aldrich side smiling, she wasn´t lying, and he knew she spoke the truth, he remembered the history, and he had been laughing the whole week, because of it, though of course no one knew why he had been so happy that week.

Aldrich looked at the girls chest for a few seconds, as she pulled her legs up towards her chest, though he quickly moved his eyes down to the reddish-pink dots, obviously the reaction had been very strong, maybe a magical jellyfish, he could probably make a potion for something like that, he had never really tried. "You know, I might be able to make something that can make that go away." Aldrich said, as he stared intensely at the little place where the jellyfish had attacked the mostly innocent girl.

[Melantha Todd]

She shook her head, managing to look all the world like she didn't care... much. "No, it's okay. I looked it up, they usually stop itching after a few weeks." She sighed and added, "I think you'd get along well with my aunt... she's realy good at potionmaking... not like me."

[Aldrich Abendroth]

"No, it's okay. I looked it up, they usually stop itching after a few weeks."

Aldrich nodded, if she didn´t want his help he surely wasn´t going to say anything else on that matter, there was no need to be pushy, it was only a Jellyfish wound, if it had been a dragon bite or something like that he would of course have been way more pushy, since that would have been fun to experiment on.

"I think you'd get along well with my aunt... she's realy good at potionmaking..."

"Yeah maybe I would." He said as he smiled slightly did he really look that old and desperate? well as they said the older the better, but he wasn´t going to try, it would be stupid, and this girl could use that to her advantage.

"not like me."

"Well it comes with training, if you really want to be good, you got to work for it, that´s what so good about it, it is not something you can accomplish easily." Aldrich said smiling slightly at the mere thought of it being so hard, it made him happy to know that he was good at something very few mastered, sure people could brew potions, but they would never really master the art of it, most of them would probably not even be able to brew liquid luck, well even Aldrich had a hard time doing that, but he had done it once, a very, very long time ago.

[Melantha Todd]

Melantha rolled her eyes. "Like I haven't heard that one before. See, my aunt is good at potions- she can brew all sorts of things, stuff far beyond anything in the curriculum."

She sighed, and added, "Then there's me, I almost never get a spell wrong, but I fail miserably every time I make a potion any more complicated than making, say, soup."

The blonde girl unconsciously cracked her knuckles, a bad habit of hers. "Heck, I've seen my aunt brew all sorts of things, from the basics all the way to the sorts of things that can be disastrous if done wrong."

[Aldrich Abendroth]

Aldrich listened to what this girl was saying; it was such a waste, the girl seemed nice enough, such a waste of potential on potion brewing. Aldrich knew that she just had to be formed, helped, taught and so on, and Aldrich knew how, but the girl had to want it, a thing she obviously didn´t. Aldrich looked out onto the calm blue waters of the sea both of them was sitting in front. The water was as calm as it ever had been; it showed no signs of the plant he had come to look for.

"Well, people have to start somewhere." Aldrich said, though he didn´t smile or anything, his face was neutral, he had nothing else to say, he didn´t want to waste her, and still he didn´t have the motivation to try to force her, and he was actually beginning to become quite hungry, maybe he should go back to the school and get some food, he had been so stupid that he had forgotten to take a sandwich with him.