ha ha ha...does it look like I care? (tag anyone)

Fionn leaned back in his chair, feet on the table. He couldn’t care less if he was marking up Madam Pince’s tables, he was relaxing, darn it! The Irishman yawned and flipped open his herbology book for a quick cram session before the test. He’d been rather busy as of late, and had forgotten to study until well, just now. He leaned back a little farther, becoming engrossed in the life-cycle of a typical mandrake root. It was rather interesting…he wondered if he could get away with planting one in some of his lesser favorite people’s rooms…

Liam whistled softly as he plopped down at a table with a stack of books, he was distracted so he didn't notice the persona sitting at the table. He leaned back in the chair and opened the advanced herbology book he had picked up. There was supposedly a chapter on making plants grow faster with magically infused music.

Fionn groaned softly and lowered his book, looking at the red head. "oi. studying here kid. go get yer own table" there was no real malice in Fionn's voice, he viewed Liam as a brother. albeit a very annoying brother. "and do you have to whistle? we're in the library!" still, maybe the herbology buff could help him with his studies. Fionn didn't really care if Liam was technically a year older, he looked and acted like a kid, thus his nickname

"I don't really care muscles," Liam replied, the two had been dorm mates since Liam's second year, the younger teen failed to intimidate Liam simply because he could remember him as a scrawny eleven year old.

"I got studying too ya know, and whistling helps me think."

"well take your whistling somewhere else kid. because it's really getting on my nerves" they'd been having the same sort of arguments since they first were put in the same dorm and it was a comfortable annoyance Fionn felt when talking to Liam, who he saw as more of a brother than anything. he could almost remember when he'd been smaller than Liam too. Almost. “yo, long as you’re studying Herbology, give me a hand? Got a blasted test I forgot to study for and…” he shrugged. A family emergency; he’d had to visit his nine year old brother and sister, recently discovered magic users, in the hospital after they’d been found half drowned in a well. Fionn had a sneaking suspicion he knew who’d done it, too.

"Sure," Liam put down his book and held out an expectant hand waiting for Fionn to hand over his own text, "hand it over."

Fionn rolled his eyes but did as Liam said. It’s the chapter on poisonous and other forms of fatal plants. Personally, I like the mandrake root. It’s the only one I can remember right now though”

"The mandrake is a fall back choice," Liam commented, "There's aconite, atropa belladonna, the list goes on." 

He turned a page in the text, "This is my favourite," he pointed to a picture, "Cerbera odollam, commonly known as the suicide tree. The poison blocks the calcium ion channels in heart muscle, causing disruption of the heart beat. This is typically fatal and can result from ingesting a single seed." 

Liam had a bizarre fascination with poisonous plants, and knew more about them than a healthy person should. 

"...remind me never to get on your bad side. I don't want to find a potted one of those in my bed" Fionn had a healthy respect for things that could kill him, but an active obsession with them rust weirded him out. "anything else I need to know, anything to help me remember all of this?"

"I find it's easier to remember the street names, wolfsbane, nightshade, suicide tree...most teachers will accept those names as answers."

Fionn sighed. “good to know. But the fact that you’re able to commit these to memory kind of scares me. Hey…that’s creepy…” he looked over at a thing on a “vampire tree” they grow where there was a lot of blood, and grab their victims with their roots, pulling them into their hollow trunks and draining them of blood through skin pores, before putting the resulting skeleton into a sort of graveyard beneath it…Christ that’s freaky…that one is NOT going to be hard to remember” he shuddered.
((they’re real XD part of Japanese culture))

"I'd say remember, and try not to get to close to one," Liam grinned returning to his own book, it was going on about panflutes carved from sacred trees like Rowan and Hawthorn and even evergreen in some cases.

"I could probably make that work," he muttered to himself, the forbidden forest was filled with those trees and all he needed was one branch.

Fionn grimaced. “god, you are sadistic. Why the heck would I go near one? It’s like saying “just don’t cut yourself around a new vampire or werewolf” seriously” he leaned over Liam’s shoulder, then grabbed the book completely. “hey, I’ve seen this stuff. Hawthorn. Huge tree of it grows right outside my house. We usually use the fallen branches for firewood, but I could always ask m’sis to send me some, if you want…”

"That would be great, thanks man," he snagged the book back, "once carved it needs to soak for 48 hours in an infusion of Asafoetida and Ash."

He paused, Asafoetida was hard to get, he would need to special order it.

“that’s gonna be hard. Isn’t there like, a long waiting list for that stuff? We bypass most of the potions calling for it in class because it’s hard to get” he shook his head. Even rolling in money Liam was going to have a hard time getting his hands on it. “what do you want it for, anyway?”

"if you charm the panflute right then it will help plants grow rapidly and to an abnormal size," Liam looked up from the book and grinned, "Leia and Alanna are a little disappointed with their gardens at home."

The twins had started simple flower and vegetable gardens in the manor's greenhouse, but were expecting the plants to grow faster.

“wow, sounds nifty” he said with false enthusiasm. “your sisters should come to my place, everything grows fast there. Of course, the more carbon dioxide in the air, the faster and bigger plants grow. Just tell them to yell or talk to the plants for like, an hour every day. And shouldn’t a garden teach patience?”

"They're five, patience doesn't exist," Liam commented with a grin.

Fionn snorted, but remained silent. By the time the twins and triplets had been five, they were already cooking, growing the garden and doing other chores that required waiting for long periods of time. Maybe it was just the difference in upbringing. “what are your sisters like, anyway?”

"They're..." Liam paused searching for the right word, "hyper and curious. They want to get their hands into everything."

Liam adored his sisters and despite the fact that they could get nearly everything they wanted, they were maturing pretty well for five year olds.

he laughed. "I se. sounds like normal kids, then"

"yep," Liam frowned, "Now if only our parents would show up every now and then life would be peachy."

He always got bitter when he though about his parents. If they stayed true to form then his father would be locked in his study dealing with business and his mother would be entertaining her friends who wanted nothing to do with the twins.

"my dad left when I was eight. And my mam’s always working to keep us afloat. Dunno where I’d be without m’ older sisters and brothers…but when they moved out it’s my turn to take care of the littler ones” he shrugged. Guess even richies had abandonment issues. “though…now that mam’s won the lottery she stays home a lot more, which is good. Our gram’s total bonkers”

"Yeah, well nice to know not everyone's Parents are total jerks," Liam commented closing his book, "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later and let me know when you can get your hands on the hawthorn."

He stood and headed for the door, "Good luck on your test muscles."