Burn This Way [Errand][closed] - Courtyard

13 Jan 2021, 02:32

── ❋ ──

@Ami Procoppio | @Cecily Quinn | For Errand

𝓐nother year, another team errand. For once, Amadea wasn't paired with the so-called "Dream Team" consisting of herself and her two Ravenclaw best friends, Cecily Quinn and Adam Harringtom. Today, they had decided to form a second dream team, made up of none other than Cecily and Ami. The cold had never been Amadea's strong suit, which was why she was finding herself regretting signing up for this activity. Sure, it would be a good chance to practice her spellcasting, especially with such harsh weather conditions, but practicing her spellcasting would be no good if her hands were frozen off.

As the event loomed nearer, Amadea had been wracking her brain for some strategies. Out of the three of them, Amadea was the one on the duelling team, so she had the most experience with spellcasting (unless there was some part of Quidditch she did not know about where people pelted each other with spells). Unfortunately, nothing had struck her as the perfect idea. All she could think of was finding some sort of shelter from the storm before they became burned out from exhaustion and buried in the...snow. Perhaps if they all casted the spell at the same time, the power of multiple incendios could do the trick and survive against the harshness of the winds. Trying to cast Incendio Duo might work as well, though Amadea wasn't sure she wanted to take the risk. After all, it was much harder to cast and the ramifications for incorrectly casting it were much higher.

She smiled at her two friends as she pulled herself out of her thoughts. They could totally do this. They were a great team. Ami had enough confidence for all three of them and more, Cecily was quite intelligent and could probably think of a good strategy, and Amadea was...okay at spellcasting. This was going to work...right? Amadea wrapped her coat around herself, trying to contain as much heat as possible as the harsh winds whipped around them. She was glad she had pulled her hair back into a ponytail before this; if it was whipping around in this storm it might just get blown off of her head. "Okay guys," she said, her teeth chattering as she spoke. "I was thinking that we could try to find somewhere like..built up or something to protect us from the winds a little bit?" She squinted through the snow. It didn't seem like there was any sort of structural shelter, but finding the right side of the huge snow mounds would be better than nothing. Even trying to hide behind a large tree seemed fine - anything besides standing in the open tundra seemed like a good option to Amadea.

She began trekking through the snow, pulling her hat so close to her eyes she could feel it pressing against the top of her eyelids. Why had she volunteered to do this again? This was almost exactly the opposite of something Amadea would do for fun; while she enjoyed practicing spellcasting, the cold turned this situation into one of the worst possible situations Amadea could find herself in. She tried to ration with herself; she had promised herself she would step outside of her comfort zone and push herself to do more things. Plus, it was a good bonding experience. With the amount of FOMO Amadea had, missing this event and then hearing Cecily and Ami chattering about it for weeks after would probably be worse for Amadea than actually experiencing it. So here she was, trekking through the snow trying to find solace from the wind. Eventually, she found a mound and turned around to see if her friends were following.

"So should we try to cast Incendio all together?" Amadea asked. "Or maybe we could try Incendio Duo? Or does someone have another idea?" The idea of fire, ironically, was seeming quite nice to Amadea at the moment. Despite her previous encounters with the element, it seemed like the only reprieve from...the other elements. Looking at Cecily and Ami with desperation, Amadea hoped they had some good ideas on how to start this fire.
The amount of self restraint it took not to make another reference with that one...

── ❋ ──

A.C.

happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

S.F.

Ami Procoppio

Second-String Quidditch Player, III

1 608 259

26 Jan 2021, 17:01

@Amadea Campbell & @Cecily Quinn.

Fire was a friend that Ami was (un)fortunately quite familiar with. That, combined with the howling weather outside, meant that she should've theoretically been "in her element", even if the two elements at play directly contrasted one another, and she hated both fire and snow. Well, hate was probably a tad harsh for the occasion, but she had strong sentiments nonetheless. But at least she had a decent amount of experience with both, and the same could probably be said for her two teammates in today's endeavor. After all, Amadea had her fair share of run-ins with flame, and both Cecily and Dea lived in cold climates as well. Surely, this little event would be a breeze.

But it was Hogwarts. There was no such thing as a simple task when there was magic involved. Ami wasn't actually quite sure what they were supposed to be doing, but it was something to do with lighting a fire and perhaps getting hot chocolate. Frankly, the only thing keeping her going was the thought of hot chocolate in the first place, although she knew that there was a chance at the beverage wouldn't be vegan, especially if Kibitzer was as classy as Ami perceived her to be. Surely the woman wouldn't settle for trashy powder and water... but still, one could hope.

Shooting a glance at Amadea as the blonde seemed to sink into her jacket, Ami was reminded of just how cold it was outside. This... this was like reverse hell, where everything was freezing instead of burning. Which made Kibitzer Satan. She burrowed her face into her scarf as she blinked slowly against the bitter wind, her heavy Timberlands kicking up snow as she trudged along with her friends. They hadn't even started yet, and she already wanted to go back to the comfort of the common room.

I was thinking that we could try to find somewhere like... built up or something to protect us from the winds a little bit?

Ami nodded fervently at Amadea's suggestion, kicking at the snow with her feet. "We need to shield the fire from the wind so it doesn't blow out... I guess we can build like, a snow wall? Or maybe a fire pit made of snow... yeah, that could work." She followed Dea over to an empty stretch of snow where they could start to make their fire, pleased that they had a plan, however half-assed it may have been.

Ami didn't remember much about the science nor the magic of fire, from either her elementary school or her Herbology classes. She vaguely remembered something about a triangle, but she had no idea how that would fit into starting a fire. Maybe you had to place the sticks in a triangle shape in order for the fire to properly start? But, she did know that you can't start a fire without a spark, even if they weren't dancing in the dark. Tugging on her gloves, Ami started kicking at the snow, the white powdery stuff starting to form a pile. Once she deemed that she had a decent amount, she bent over and started to pack it down, starting to form a wall.

"Hey, smartie-pants," Ami grumbled in Cecily's direction, nodding at the snow wall slowly forming in front of her. "Let's get this wall up, eh? Maybe we'll build one faster than Trump..." She didn't really expect the Irish Ravenclaw to understand her jab at the American No-Maj president, but I know that you'll laugh OOC. Unlike Amadea, the two of them were Quidditch players (and captains, no less!) and were more than accustomed to tedious manual labor that strengthened their muscles and stamina. In no time, the wall would be built, and they could get to starting their fire.

"Dea, can you snap some sticks off of one of those trees?" Ami added, nodding towards the various barren trees around the courtyard. "We're gonna need something to burn, and I don't really feel like sacrificing my jacket today..."

wc: 646

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