"Finally!" Abby exclaimed as she managed to swing a leg over the hump of the camel. The animal made a snorting noise, and swerved its head to look at her.

"I'm just sitting here. Don't you worry," she reassured it, getting a death grip on the saddle. Abby, along with the other shorter, younger students on the trip, had needed a step tool to get on, even though the camels were seated as low as they could get on the dusty ground.

For once, she listened carefully as the guide instructed them in awkward English, telling them to sit back in the saddle, pull on the reins to make the camel stop, and loosen the reins and give it a kick to urge it forward, making a 'tch, tch' sound that Abby thought was hilarious.

She'd also listened to her sister early this morning, who had popped by the hotel room and told her she'd better wear long pants and socks if she didn't want to get her legs scratched up during the ride. Abby watched Aileen and the other professors finish haggling with the camel guides, and then her sister hopped up on the camel as if she'd done it a dozen times before. Which she probably had. Abby let out a snort, and the camel below her replied with a snort of its own.

"So not fair," she murmured, as one of the students swung a leg over the camel and sat behind her.

Abby adjusted her straw hat on her head, and her sunglasses, and checked her phone which was secured in her pocket. She fully intended on taking pictures! It would take them a few hours to get from the tourist center to Memphis for lunch, so Abby was well prepared. Her sister sat by the professors, looking as poised as she could possibly manage on the creature, and Abby was once more struck by jealousy and the urge to giggle at the image.

"Oh Merlin I'm going to fall!" She held on for dear life as the camels rose, lurching forward as they stood.

But Abby didn't fall. Her legs dangled from a much taller view than she was used to, and she glanced back at the student close behind her.

"Are you in one piece? I thought it was going to tip us off! Batty thing! So what do we do? Kick it? Wait! And let the reins loose?"

She turned her head to look at the professors, who began leading the group on.


(OOC Note: Anyone's welcome to be stuck with Abby on the camel, or talk to Aileen up ahead!)

Sasha cast a quick glance to their group's designated adult supervisors just to make sure this was, in fact, what they intended.  But, apparently, the same gender-specific rules didn't apply to camels as to hotel arrangements.  With a mumbled apology and an awkward duck of his head to hide the sudden blush, Sasha pulled himself up onto the camel's back. 

But, he'd been whole-heartedly looking forward to this adventure.  His roommate had, luckily, talked him out of wearing his usual riding attire of riding breeches and he'd gone with pairing a simple pair of jeans with his button up shirt. 

He'd never ridden a camel before but from what little he'd heard (mostly from their brief set of instructions), it wasn't too different than riding a horse.  Given there were quite a few mounted-novices in the group, he doubted they were going to be doing anything too strenuous or difficult.  Once he got passed the awkwardness of riding double. 

"I'm sorry," he offered in a muddled response to the 'not fair' comment.  "I think they just do that.  Snort.  It's a camel th- ing."  Whatever bit of faux camel expertise he was trying to offer was interrupted as the camel rocked back and then forward as it rose to its feet. 

"I'm fine - and you didn't fall off."  Hopefully, stating the obvious could be interpreted as reassuring.  "Yes - give her some slack in the reins and nudge her with your heels.  Though, chances are good, she'll just follow the others."  These camels were bound to be like those trail guide horses - they did what they did so often they could do it in their sleep - irregardless of how competent - or not - the person on their back was.  "It's almost just like riding a horse." 

"Oh good," a relieved smile inched up her face. "I forgot, you're an expert with horses. That means camels must like you." Abby logic. She nudged the camel very lightly with her foot and let the reins go a bit. The camel began moving forward with the others, and Abby was startled by the awkward, uncomfortable gait, feeling like she was going to fall with each step. She looked down at the camel and frowned.
 
"My hips weren't meant for this!" She exclaimed, then dissolved into a fit of giggles as she realized how that sounded.
 
"Sorry, sorry Sasha." Abby imagined he was blushing up a storm behind her, though sharing a camel with a boy didn't bother her in the slightest. It wasn't like she had to worry about Sasha, of all people, making a move in the middle of the desert.

"Is riding a horse more or less comfortable than this?" Abby glanced back curiously. "They look like they move so gracefully. Camels just look funny all the time."
 
The creature snorted. "Yeah, you know you do," Abby grinned, changing her tone like she was talking to her pet crup.
 
"And you sound like my sister when she's cranky in morning," she added under her breath, just for Sasha's amusement/mortification.

Camels. Shouldn't he be able to deal with these things? Even just via genetics. Maybe he was just unlucky.

Unlucky seemed the best best. The camel the guide had sent him towards as large and looked about as surly as a camel was capable of looking. It sat (or was is lay?) on the sand and chewed its cud, eyes narrowed and ears back, its entire being radiating the fact it didn't like him. He could have sworn it had scars, too. At least it didn't have an eyepatch and a cigar.

Tapendra looked back at the guides - they looked flustered and were running from camel to camel, trying to get the children to sit properly, trying to explain how to steer, trying to keep some of the younger years from yelling 'Giddyap!' and kicking the camel's sides. He couldn't bring himself to ask for a different camel.

Sasha and Abby seemed happy enough, at least. He shook his head at them and turned back to his mount -

And got hit by a spray of spit. Tapendra stumbled backwards, hand coming up to his face and cursing the fact his automatic reaction had been to open his mouth and inhale.

"Gah!" he said, wiping his eyes and mouth with his sleeve and feeling the gunky and sticky nature of the spit already solidifying on his face and hair and his shirt. The camel looked triumphant and he barely resisted kicking it. "You bastard," he told the animal darkly, and as one of the guides approached he followed with a matter-of-fact and angry, "Yaatak Darba fi 'albak!"

He was beginning to fully understand exactly why the ancients had favored horses.

Wasn't there a hole in the sand where Philo could bury himself?

He didn't know which was worse, camels or hippogriffs. Hippogriffs had the beaks, so they were still winning out. One his sister Felicia had brought home about ripped his arm off with that sharp beak and she had said it was nuzzling. Philo was of the opinion it was hungry. But camels could spit, as his Head of House was demonstrating as an unwilling volunteer and words mild for Arlaug. And they had to travel to Memphis this way? That or face house arrest at the hotel, or whatever they were going to do to students that didn't comply with the schedule.

Suddenly Philo did not want to find out.

He wearily approached the beast and dived to the ground when he heard it inhale. A sneeze, probably as bad as saliva and phlegm. He stood, dusting himself off. The camel looked back at him in a way that suggested mirth on the long hairy face. Philo dodged to the side again and nearly tripped. What was there to trip on in the desert?

With horror having nothing to do with large, cow-like quadrupeds, Philo noticed a certain enchanted carpet at his ankles. "Runner!" he hissed, using the nickname Alvis provided. A quick glance to make sure everyone else was occupied with camel climbing then Philo shoved the rug behind the hump of the sitting camel. At least they provided cover.

"Who let you out of the trunk?" As if the carpet could answer him. He swore he had finally gotten the Colloportus spell down the last time he locked the trunk. Seemingly no match for Runner. Philo peaked out over the hump and realized just how scratchy the camel's fur was.

An idea struck him, since he'd have no time to drag Runner back to the hotel without drawing attention to the fact. The carpet was more comfortable then irritating hairs. Philo prompted the rug to perch on the camel's back with the other cloths and saddle. "Try to look like you belong there. And stay put or once we get to Memphis I'm finding a large stone to pin you under."

As the carpet squirmed into position there was more snorting and shaking from the camel. Mirth at being ticklish? Philo hung back unless it decided to unleash a barrage of loogies. Now to actually climb the hump. With a jump, Philo succeeded in draping his body over the mound of camel flesh that pressed into his stomach. One untimely shift to a standing position and the camel could buck him off.

There was a reason that Alvis didn't take Care of Magical Creatures - he'd never been good with big creatures, magical or non. Camels were just the latest on his list of creatures that were better to be avoided.

"Whose idea was this?" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else as he settled onto the camel behind Aunt Niamh. Unlike him, his great-aunt had swung onto the camel with ease and seized the reins as though she were born to take command. No sooner had Alvis gotten himself settled than she clicked her tongue and tugged at the camel's reins, easing the creature to its full standing height. Alvis let out a squeak as they rose and gripped his aunt's waist; when they settled into the full height, he withdrew his hands and willed down the heat rising in his cheeks.

Nearby, Professor Trishna wiped the spit from his face and snapped something in Egyptian that couldn't have been pleasant, given the situation. Niamh chuckled, sounding amused by the teacher's situation, and began steering the camel around the group, doing the chaperone thing of keeping everyone in line, especially getting the young kids to quit kicking the camels. Alvis tried to look like he was enjoying himself, to put the more nervous students at ease, but it didn't last.

"All right there, Philo?" he asked weakly as they rounded up beside his camel, Aunt Niamh pulling their mount to a halt. "This is going to be some trip..."

"I'd prefer a spiked salamander." From beneath a straw stetson hat that was unwittingly filched from a surfer came Naomi's creole lilt.

She was dressed for the desert: her head was tightly wrapped in an orange scarf, with its ends woven into a long raven braid; and another sandy scarf loosely sat on her shoulders, huddling around her neck and hanging over her long whitewash soft-denim dress asymmetrically wrapped over the long sleeved tunic beneath it. The tunic twisted out beneath the side of the dress to hang over her padded leggings that tucked into her boots, which were now sitting against the side of a camel's back. The awkward lumpy back of a camel.

Without moving from its sitting position, the camel turned to give Naomi a dull expression as it continued to chew whatever gunk it had been fed. Then its eyes landed on someone else trying to get on the camel behind Naomi and it watched for a moment until the witch at its reins started to suppress a chuckle at something.  The camel then turned its stoic expression towards Naomi's amusement, the spitting episode her Astronomy professor was having with his camel. It kept chewing.

But Naomi's reaction was less reserved. A giggle jumped in her throat a few times before her her tongue pressed a quick breath through the back of her teeth with a peeling grin. Of course, the resulting sound she made sounded enough like a click to the camel.

The person behind her hadn't quite gotten situated on the camel yet, and she hadn't gotten a very good hold of her camel as it stood up. Naomi made a quick and clumsy maneuver by trying to stay on the camel as it stood up, took a few steps, and then finally stopped at Naomi's command and the panic of another guide.

She pursed her lips together, trying to suppress her smile as she guiltily shrugged at her would-be camel partner, with a sympathetic green gaze, "Oops... my bad."

Sasha looked around at his fellow adventurers before looking forward again.  "I don't know - this is my first time working...well, riding a camel."  Of course, Sasha would have given his left arm to be riding one of those infamous desert Arabian horses rather than a camel.  But, he'd heard a lot of stories about how closely those horses were coveted.  They probably weren't offered to tourists.  Maybe he could buy one, though. 

"But, I'm sure it depends on the individual horse and the individual camel."  And, the rider's skill.  So far, the camel didn't seem all that much more uncomfortable than some of the more jolty ponies he'd ridden.  But, they were also still in a slow amble.  Most animals were pretty smooth when sauntering.  "You'll just have to try a horse, now, so you can decide for yourself." 

As expected, color flooded Sasha's cheeks as he glanced around, again, at the group.  The blush deepened as he then realized most everyone else was on their own camel.  Had he misunderstood?  He looked over in Professor Trishna's direction to try to communicate an unspoken question just as his camel spit in the man's face.  Sasha laughed and quickly slapped his hand over his mouth.  "I wonder if camel spit's good for the complexion," he murmured to Abby though he wasnt' entirely sure Professor Trishna was fully out of earshot. 

"Are we supposed to have our own camels?"  Sasha asked the back of Abby's head.  That, Sasha decided, was probably the easiest solution to the present dilemma (if, indeed, there is one.)  If this was awkward to Abby, too, she could simply send him to his own camel. 

Why, thought Raine Almasy in a miserable tone, am I here?

Under better circumstances, it would have been a philosophical reservation. At this second... largely an expression of misery. Very little sleep had been gotten the night before and very little caffeine had been consumed at breakfast. It was going to be one of those days; considering her dreamwalking the night before, she wasn't surprised by this lack of joy.

A white scarf had been wrapped around her head and loosely around her neck, to protect from the harsh sun. She had placed a hat on top of this to keep it in place after someone had made a remark about the desert winds. The rest of her attire was practical; a plain, long-sleeved blouse and tan trousers.

When the camels were brought out, Raine pulled the material over her nose (smelly animals) and decided, unthinkingly, to join one of the fourth years on her ride. Naomi Foley was the no-nonsense type she needed today. None of that chattering and fooling about.

Nearly none, the Gryffindor realized when the camel stood up before she was seated and nearly threw her off, "Hey!" she exclaimed, voice almost panicked as her arms and legs struggled rapidly to keep on. Foley turned around: "Oops... my bad." It was... sort of apologetic.

Raine raised her eyebrows, unimpressed, but more amused than upset. Camels didn't strike her as disciplined as horses, not really. "That's alright, I'm still on. Sort of." It was apparently very hard to get comfortable on the back of a camel. "Only... no more moving until we're ready, yes?" Her cheeks were red from the struggle to keep from falling but she certainly felt more awake now.

(Sorry about the wait guys! I didn't see the new posts :-/)


This was already an adventure, Aileen thought, circling back on her camel to keep an eye on Mr. Falkin, who looked ill at ease in general, and Miss Almasy, who looked ill at ease with the girl she'd gotten partnered with. Abby seemed to be doing just fine, but then again Sasha was with her, and he was often a good influence.

When a low voice started cursing in Arabic, she glanced around, expecting to scold a student for language (or Philo Falkin's frog), and found Tapendra instead with spit on him. She pressed her mouth together, trying not to laugh, and failing.

"Problems, Trishna?" Aileen urged her camel next to his, leaving a few feet between them in case the spitting camel decided to take aim at her. She looked far too smug and amused this early in the morning.

"No!" Abby told Sasha emphatically and with a shake of her head that probably sent hair flying. "Don't you dare leave me on this thing alone! It's more fun with you anyway." At least for her.

"If I survive this, I might have to try riding a horse after the Egypt trip is over. No promises-"

Abby glanced behind them at Raine nearly falling off her camel and Naomi looking not as concerned as she probably should have been. "Naomi!" She called in a scolding, teasing tone. "Don't kill my roommate! It's not nice!"

She looked back at Sasha, rolled her eyes, and grinned. "See, other people are doing it too. But at least I've got someone nice and normal with me," she said in a purposefully loud voice, hoping to hear one of Naomi's zingers in return.

Abby's response left little room for doubt and, despite the innate awkwardness, Sasha didn't second guess it.  "Alright," he reassured her, trying to be as subtle as he could about avoiding inhaling the wisps of flying blond hair.  "Not that it's ... she's going to eat you or anything.  I mean 'not'.  Not going to eat you,"  he corrected when he realized a very important word had been skipped over.  "I think spitting's the worst of it." 

Of course, in his mind, there was no question that Abby was going to survive the trip.  Granted, they were pretty high off the ground but there was only so much damage a lazy, ambling camel could do.  "I'll hold you to that."  Abby on a horse could be quite amusing. 

He nudged the camel's sides with his calves, urging the lumbering beast forward and casting a quick glance over his shoulder towards their two chaperones.  The two adults were in the midst of one of their not-so-uncommon 'arguments.'  Even in the absence of camel spit, they did seem to have no problem finding some reason to display their 'annoyance' with each other for the students' sake.  Sasha shook his head and chuckled slightly before turning forward again. 

"I'm normal?"  Abby had certainly left the door wide open for any number of Naomi's zingers.  "I suppose I don't pretend to bicker all the time."  He glanced back again in the chaperone's direction, again.

Right after the girl seemed to have trouble getting back on the camel, Abigail made a point to tell Naomi not to kill her roommate. Geeze, the older girl sure could be picky. Naomi squeezed her legs against the camel's sides, trying to lock her legs in place as she stretched her arms back and leaned back far enough to loop her fingers into Almasy's pockets. "Sure, yeah," she said in an easygoing lilt as she pulled the Gryffindor farther up onto the camel, before snaking herself back up into a normal sitting position.

Naomi laced her fingers together and then twisted her hands, pulling her arms far out in front of her as the camel dully yawned and lazily flicked it's tail, "Don' t'ink th' camel is all that excited either," the curly-haired witch casually compared.

"Guess you aren't up for detours eit'er, huh?" Naomi twisted to smile at Raine as she readjusted her shawl and gave a hopeless shrug, "Not like we got anywhere to sneak off to." Not that there were a few elaborate tricks that could be concocted in that situation, but anything Naomi thought of required a wand, or some previous preparations. However, Naomi didn't care enough to really mull on the subject that long, watching Professor Reid pick on Trishna was amusing enough.