So far the week had been rather good for Church. Nothing major had happened yet, thus nothing had gone wrong. Of course there was still the entire Head Boy thing hanging over his head and constantly taunting him with its responsibility. But so far nothing had needed his authority, which was good because he still wasn't one hundred percent on how much of it he had. As far as he knew and  could infer he could give detentions and dock points. But certainly there was more to it than that.

And then there was still the curiosity of the whole thing gnawing at him. He hadn't ever expected to become a prefect in his life, in fact he hadn't been. So why Head Boy now? Obviously the teachers were keeping a closer eye on the students than he had realized. Truth be told Church figured any of them could have been the one to suggest him for the job. It just seemed that Professor Trishna would be the best bet, being the head of his house and all.

This of course prompted Church to visit Professor Trishna in his office. Assuming he would be in his office while ponified. Church still had a hard time suppressing the giggles whenever he saw him. It was just so adorable and silly watching him flutter around the classroom teaching. But still Church was sort of resolute in the theory that it would wear off or be cured soon, and when it was he didn't want to be on Trishna's bad side.

Finally reaching the top of the tower and after stopping to catch his breathe (goodness he was out of shape) Church strolled over to the closed office door. He hesitated for a moment, not really sure what he was going to say if he was let in. The idea had just spring on him earlier that day, after all. With a sigh Church knocked lightly on the door, now wasn't a time to be a coward.

"Professor Trishna?" he asked through the door. "Are you in?"

The soft tones of someone speaking echoed up the stairs, interrupting the quiet of the classroom, which was silence save for a steady munch munch munch.

It was quiet only in terms of noise, though. The place was a mess - paperwork was everywhere, books were strewn on the floor and were left open, the drawers of his desk pulled out and left like that and the usually vibrant windows turned 'off' - only showing the blank white of the sheets that protected the otherwise open tower top from the increasingly cool fall breezes. The far alcove, which last year had been a small place to read and study, was walled off by a curtain; behind the curtain Tapendra had taken to sleeping on a pile of old blankets.

There was also a bale of hay, which he'd finally given in and eaten after his raging hunger had overcome dignity. It wasn't actually that bad. Tasted rather like one of those vegan things. Tapendra wasn't anywhere approaching a vegetarian, but still. It was.. edible. Which was why he was currently eating some of it.

Not that he wanted to be seen eating it. The bale was hidden under a blanket during student hours; he hurried to replace this blanket upon hearing Church's voice.

The voice sounded like a student's, so he roused himself from his snack - chewing quickly and swallowing - before heading to the top of the stairs. "Yes?" He called down them, through the open classroom door. "Up here-" He said, as he walked down the first few, Church finally coming into view. "Oh, it's you, Comer. Something the matter?"

With a glance towards the stairs to the actual classroom Church was reminded of the current form the head of Ravenclaw was in. Not that he had forgotten entirely... it had just sort of slipped his mind. Now remembering that he was basically going to a pony for help hit him like a ton of bricks. Bricks made up of concentrated laughter. Church had to try very hard to control himself, visibly stiffening in the process. It didn't help that Professor Pony-er... Trishna was still acting the same. Well really he should, it was just the idea of Trishna being an adorable little pony while being a person (animal?) that you could go to for advice was.... well, silly.

But still, Church didn't want to lose points. He cleared his throat, "Uh yes, sir." Actually several somethings were the matter just not all of them were his. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about the whole Head Boy thing?" Church shuffled his feet nervously and glanced about. "I'm just not sure about the whole thing, sir."

Tapendra restrained a sigh at Church's shifting expression. Tulojow's assurances that the condition wasn't permanent had certainly lightened up his mood, but the constant snickering was still not his favorite thing in the world, that was for sure. Laugh it up, part of him thought darkly. But Church restrained himself, for which Tapendra was thankful.

The question was a tad unexpected - though it shouldn't really be unexpected, he supposed. It was rather sudden, and it wasn't as if the kids got asked about these things - they got them tossed in their laps. Though that suddenness was why it'd been done in the first place, really. Not to mention Comer and Hawke were replacing Nolan and Monroe, both of whom had been excellent. Barring that incident with the photos and accusations of sleeping around, of course.

"Come on in, Comer," he said, flapping his wings and going back up into the messy classroom proper. He landed at the top of the stairs, since Comer seemed to find the flying so distracting, and folded his wings against his back.

"Are you unsure what to do with it?" He asked, standing awkwardly. Normally he'd have sat at his desk, but that was obviously impossible.

It would have been a lot easier to refrain from laughing if Trishna wouldn't fly around like that. Honestly he wasn't even sure why it was so amusing. It was probably just because of how absurd it was. Even after years of watching My Little Pony, Church never expected a real life pegasus pony to be before him. And certainly it was an oddity in the magical world. The fact that it was his head of house just sweetened the deal. But Church managed to turn his laughter into a cough. Which was good because he hadn't forgotten about losing points, and he would be damned if he lost any now as Head Boy.

So pretending to cough Church followed Professor Trishna up into the astronomy classroom. It certainly was... well, messy was probably an understatement. The thought rolled into Church's mind that the dear professor must be practicing his flying. How adorable.

Church cleared his throat. "Uh... partially, sir," he said in response to the question. But that certainly was a rather large part of the problem. "I mean, it's a great honor and a huge responsibility, but truth is I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."  Church sighed and sat upon the edge of a nearby desk. "How am I supposed to lead the student body when I don't even know what my responsibilities are?"

Tapendra finally gave in and sat - or, rather, lay - on the floor, legs folded underneath him. It was quite comfortable, actually, but that didn't reduce the awkward of it. Still, he tried to focus on what Church was asking of him, indicating with an incline of his head that the boy should sit in a nearby desk.

"You didn't get the letter?" He asked, ear twitching as he considered. It was likely the boy hadn't actually gotten a letter, with all the confusion surrounding the student appointments. They'd only been told what they'd gotten promoted to at the Feast, after all - not before getting on the train, as they should have.

"Well, Comer, you've got a fairly long list, I'm afraid," he said. "You split your responsibilities with the Head Girl - Hawke, I believe? - and so you two are going to be working closely together this year. I encourage you to make sure that relationship is a positive one." It already was, from what he'd seen, but still. Nothing made the Head Student's lives harder than the two of them fighting.

"Your primary role is to command and organize the Prefects - you're the one who chooses patrols, chooses who patrols with who, and who resolves disputes on their behalf and between them. Does that make sense?"

Church blinked. Letter? He was supposed to get a letter? That... actually explained a lot. Now Church mentally ran through his mail this summer. Most of it, aside from the newspaper, was tossed out. The only other thing he even looked at was his school letter for the books he would need. But certainly no letter about being Head Boy had reached him. Figures. That's probably why he was left in the dark about this whole thing until, well, now.

Hearing that he did in fact have to do night patrols cause Church's shoulders slump slightly. He knew he would have to, but hearing it said to him was just depressing. Guess he would sleep when he was dead. "Sounds easy enough," Church said hoping the sarcasm didn't seep into his voice.

"But what about punishments? Like, for students who break the rules. Do we, Jazz and myself, have authority to dock points and give detentions or do we simply report them to their head of house?" This was actually the most concerning part of the job for him. After all, he didn't want to overstep his authority. But at the same time he didn't want to undermine it.

"Um..." He trailed off, considering. He would have blushed a bit, had he been able to; as it was he shuffled his hooves uncomfortably, looking down at the floor. He couldn't remember the exact powers of a Head Boy, and he certainly wasn't in a state to look it up. Asking Church to go through his desk was out of the question; ignoring the mountain of angry letters on it, he didn't even know if he had the documents anymore.

"I think you do, actually," he said, looking over at his desk in the vague hope the letter would just magically fall off it. "You can take points - within reason, anyway - and issue detentions with teacher approval." He looked back to Church. "As in, you can bring them to the teachers for detention and your word'll get taken over theirs. I think in some circumstances you can serve the detentions yourself, but that's on a case-by-case basis and probably only under supervision."

He shook himself off, as he got his confident tone back. "Your primary task is to coordinate the prefects and keep order, especially with the foreigners. You technically have authority over them too; but I have a feeling many won't take kindly to that."

Church nodded as Professor Trishna confirmed that he could issue detentions and take points. That all seemed to make sense. Well, at least the job sounded simple enough. Hell, if nothing extraordinary happened (however unlikely that was) the year would be quite easy and. Well, at least he still had the prefects to fall back on when things got rough.

He snorted at the mention of having authority, regardless how how theoretical, over the foreign students. "Oh I don't know sir, I'm sure the Durmstrang and Beaxbatons students would have the utmost respect for Jazz and myself," Church said sarcastically before shrugging slightly. "But I expect if it comes to it I'll just have to turn them into their Headmasters and hope they discipline them seriously." After all, it wasn't as if Church could dock them points and he doubted he would be able to get away with giving them detention. Actually, truth be told, he doubted turning the other schools students in to their headmasters would do anything anyways. He did, however, assume that meant if he found them wandering the castle after hours he could tell them to return to their quarters.

With a sigh Church shifted his weight slightly, going over what he had learned. Organize patrol schedules, keep kids in line, deal out appropriate punishments for rule breaking. Easy enough. Technical authority over foreigners, of whom a majority probably thought themselves better than him. Problematic. "Man," Church muttered, unsure if Professor Trishna could hear him. "Why on Earth would they give this job to me...?"

"Well, seeing as they are under our rules, they are susceptible to our punishments," Tapendra reasoned. "I'd think the Salem kids will be your most difficult ones, though. The 'strangs and 'batons have different rules, but at least they follow those." He smirked...well, as well as a pony could smirk. Which wasn't much.

"The Salem kids on the other hand - have you seen their Vice President?" He snorted. "Be friendly with them, Comer. Best way to get them to respect you, I'd think." Tapendra had to admit to kind of liking all the Salem kids so far, though. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang kids seemed to look down on Hogwarts, but most of the Salems seemed curious rather than disdainful.

His ears twitched forward at Comer's next words, and he walked over to stand next to him, craning his neck as he looked up. "I chose you because it's a challenge, Comer," he said, with was was probably supposed to be his usual warm smile; the horse features didn't sell it that clearly. "Miss Hawke and yourself seemed the best choices - and the most likely to flourish in adversity."

With a slight tilt of his head Church considered this. He hadn't completely ruled out the Salem kids, but since they had, for the most part, been fairly... respectful probably wasn't the most proper word. But they at least didn't seem to look down on Hogwarts like the other two schools did. Professor Trishna did have a point, however. Salem was a wild bunch-they would probably be the most likely to break rules. Of course, Church intended to be nothing but friendly with them. That was the point of the tournament after all, wasn't it?

Slightly entertained at the new motions Church watched with increasing curiosity as Professor Trisna made his way next to him... and looked up at him. Suddenly Church had the urge to pet the head of Ravenclaw. How many points off would that be, he wondered. Still, chosen simply because it's a challenge. "Challenge accepted," Church said with a smile, only adding "sir" a moment later when he remembered whom he was talking to. "You're probably right," he agreed, finally. "Though I hope Jazz doesn't get too bogged down while spearheading the drama club."

Tapendra grinned. "Glad to hear it, Comer," he said, with a slight flap of his wings. He had to admit it; he was awfully proud of Church. He'd been right! He hoped. Of course, it remained to be seen if the boy could meet the challenge, but the fact he wanted to try was the first step.

He understood the concern with Hawke, however, and he pondered for a moment, sitting on his haunches. "Miss Hawke is quite resourceful," he said, though he didn't know her as well as he did Church; Hawke had been Myrni or the Headmaster's decision.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. When in doubt, you can take on some of her duties to help her out," he suggested.

Church smiled as Trishna flapped his wings. Was that for effect? Or was it merely a reflex that the astronomy teacher couldn't help? He'd probably never know the answer, regardless of how curious he was. It was probably reflex, Church decided. Something that happened when Professor Trishna got too excited. That's cute.

"Yea, she is," Church agreed about Jazz's ability to make ends meet. "And that was my plan." He wondered if Jazz would even let him take some of her load. She could be stubborn sometimes.

Church let out another sigh, although this one was more out of relief than anything else. "Thank you, professor," he said, preparing to leave. But then a thought stopped him. While he was here... "Professor. If it's not too... personal, do you mind asking how this," Church made a gesture at all of Professor Trishna's body. "Happened? Did you get cursed in Egypt, or...?"

Of course Comer would want to know. Tapendra's enthusiasm visibly drained, and quickly turned to undisguised embarrassment. He shuffled his hooves, shook his head, and in general looked everywhere but at Church. He found the ceiling particularly interesting for a few moments.

"Err, no. Egypt was fine," he said, unable to imagine spending his few weeks of actual freedom as a horse. No internet for a year? He'd have found a way, but the idea was still terrifying!

"We, err, that is, Morgan and I both got hexed - Tournament related stuff," he said, his answer quick and something of a jumble. He tried to clear his throat without thinking about it and ended up with an odd sort of choking sound. It served its purpose, though, and he shook himself, straightening up.

"Mister Morgan and I got hexed by a hag," he explained. "It's expected t wear off in a few days."

Oh how cute! A smirk played across Church's face at the actions of the ponified head of Ravenclaw. Personally Church didn't see what the big deal was. Aside from all the students squealing and wanting to pet him. And the fact that he wasn't human. Well, okay, maybe Church did see what the big deal was.

But not something from Egypt? Hm, that was somewhat surprising. After all the ancient Egyptians were pretty well known for weird curses and such. It didn't seem like too much of a stretch to assume one of them created a curse that turned a person into a miniature zebra-pegasus... thing.

Oh, tournament business. "That figures," Church commented. Surely the teachers would have to do some weird things to prepare for the tournament. Dealings with a Hag weren't all that surprising. But why did Professor Trishna emphasize so much on the fact that Mister Morgan was, well, a mister? Church tried not to smirk as the idea of the head of Slytherin being a woman.

"Good that it'll wear off soon, at least. Wouldn't want you two to be ponies forever." Or in the case of Mister Morgan, a woman. If he... she... was one.