A Little Tea Can Go a Long Way (Athena, OPEN)

[Athena Graves]

"Ah, yes. You aren't the only one worried that he has too many irons in the fire, so to speak," Athena said on the topic of Lucco. "I'm happy to hear he has potential. And that's probably as much as I can talk about him without it being considered 'meddling'."

Athena chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Teenagers," she said. "Can't live with them, can't hogtie them and tether them to a horse galloping down a gravel road."

She looked over at the tiny woman that hid her age extremely well. Exactly how many generations of Graveses had she taught, so far? Would she be there to see another? Not that she was planning on having children any time soon. Zeph probably had a whole quidditch team's worth of illegitimate offspring out there, but who knew? Cel might have a kid before Athena did. Yeah, right.

[Rhona MacDuff]

Rhona chuckled at Athena's response before taking a sip of her tea. "We were all teenagers once, though looking at me, it might seem impossible," she said with a light and airy laugh. "Everyone so ripe potential, and yet only a few rises to the challenge." She sighed, seemingly amused by her own thoughts on the subject, taking another sip of her tea before resting the cup on its saucer in her lap.

"Do you have any up and comers in your class so far? Anyone catch your eye with their potential?" she asked, looking at her over the top of her spectacles. She wondered if there was anyone she should be looking at that perhaps she hadn't taken notice of before. As she said earlier about hexes and jinxes, they were merely charms with a bad attitude.

[Athena Graves]

"Indeed," she chuckled. "If some of these kids put just half as much effort into their classes as they put into their sports or romantic endeavors, they'd all be making straight A's."

Athena mulled the question over for a moment, sipping her tea. "A couple stand out. One that comes to mind is Kai Baxter. That kid has quite the arsenal of jinxes," she said, wondering if Kai was as good at all other charms. It made her wonder if there was a reason for all the hexes and jinxes they knew. For Athena, she'd just been a mean little girl, getting the only kind of attention she knew how to get. Kai wasn't like that. It seemed more like a way of dealing with mean kids than being one.

[Rhona MacDuff]

"Here here!" she said as she raised her cup in a toast before taking a sip. She set her cup back down on her saucer as she listened to Athena speak about Kai, finding that a bit surprising. Though, now that she thought about it, the young Baxter had a bit of a chip on her shoulder so it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that she was astute in jinxes. She'd have to give the student another look in Charms class, perhaps giving her more challenging spells that she typically reserved for older students.

"Hmm. I'll take that to heart," she said. "I'm always on the lookout for potential, but sometimes the roses are found in other gardens." She would definitely look into Kai Baxter the next time she held a class for the 8th graders.

[Athena Graves]

Athena nodded, glancing at her wristwatch. "Well, it's been a wonderful chat, Professor MacDuff," she said, quickly downing the rest of her tea and putting the cup and saucer on the table. Thankfully, it was not piping hot. "I should probably get going. We should make this a regular thing, tea talks."

She got up a bit too quickly, bracing herself with a hand on the back of the chair as a head rush hit her. There hadn't been enough alcohol in that first cup of tea to inebriate her. The dizziness was unrelated. After a moment, she smiled somewhat apologetically and headed for the door.

[Rhona MacDuff]

"Indeed, we should Dearie," she said a bit of amusement on her face as she watched Athena stand up and look like she was a bit dizzy. It was a strong rum, but not that strong. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked before the younger female walked toward the door, looking eager to leave. The older woman watched her go with amusement in her eyes as she leaned back into her overstuffed chair. "Well that was pleasant," she said to herself, chuckling softly as she sipped her tea.