solo errand the CUTEST paper giraffe

Today was oddly warm. Maybe it was the castle, with its thick insulating walls, but Elspeth felt like she was sweating through her shirt just sitting in the Great Hall this morning. May seemed as normal a time as any for there to be a hot one, but Elspeth felt like it was just winter yesterday, how could she possibly be expected to keep up with the seasons continually shifting? For a typical breakfast, she'd normally come down already dressed in her uniform for the day. But she couldn't bear the thought of putting on a collared shirt, let alone robes. She was wearing a black graphic tee inside out so it was mostly black, but you could see patches of the print leak through here and there. It wasn't a robe, but maybe if she matched everyone in color she wouldn't stick out as badly as she worried she might.

Despite the worry and the heat, Elspeth was actually in a pretty good mood this morning. She had Herbology later on in the day, but otherwise her only plan was to work on an origami project. There was an offer to temporarily enchant one of a selection of origami animals, and they looked absolutely adorable. Her attire and possessions wouldn't point to it in their plainness, but Elspeth loved adorable and cute things of all shapes and sizes. They made her tiny heart soar to the heavens and her fingers just wanted to pinch what she saw in two. These origami animals were cute, to be sure. But the idea of getting to customize it with whatever kind of drawing she wanted to AND get to see it enchanted? It was as if her whole body was humming with excitement.

The heat had dulled the excitement, but still, it was a cute toy! She had to go for it! Other students appeared to be working on their animals now too. She saw a fair number of dragons and unicorns. The house animals were all well represented. The more she looked around, the more she noticed the absence of one, giraffe. Maybe she was missing it somewhere, but even still, it did not go missed. Her face squished up. Her heart expanded two sizes. She brought her hands to her cheeks. IT'S ALL ALONE AND NEEDS TO BE LOVED! WHAT A POOR ADORABLE BABY. The giraffe being chosen less by others, only made it more pitiful and cute to Elspeth.

It also helped that the pattern looked pretty easy compared to some of the others. She loved cute things but that didn't make her hands any better at making small folds.

Although giraffes are naturally spotted, Elspeth chose a plain yellow piece of paper. If she kept it simple now, she could draw on whatever kind of spot pattern she wanted. Including tiny hearts. The instructions looked pretty straightforward, for which she was deeply grateful. Some patterns involved more intricate folds inward and outward to make more bulbous creatures. For some reason, those were exactly the kinds of folds that Elspeth just could not master and always managed to mess up on.

The lonely giraffe? Fold in half. Fold into a kite. Fold in half. Already the body of the creature was done! It's long shape was preserved mostly in a couple simple twists of the page upward. It's squat little body, so much smaller and rounder compared to it's long neck was the perfect proportion for a squishy paper baby. I can build a little bed for you out of a shoebox! And you'll be able to sleep under my dresser. I could make little paper clothes for you and a little backpack and, oh man I could make tiny books and you could take classes with me! And I'll name you... no. I've gotta wait until I'm done to name you. Your name will appear in your adorable heart spots!

A couple smaller twists and, bing bang boom. A completely yellow paper creature. In this stage it actually looked like a long necked dinosaur, like an Apatasaur. She could imagine it eating from a tiny paper tree, chomping bits out of little green paper. The thought alone required her to stop and catch her breath. That might be the cutest thing she'd ever thought of. But there was a stipulation in the rules, she swung her head around dramatically to look at the small sign with them all. In order to complete this task, she HAD to make one of the designated animals. Her dinosaur dreams were dashed. KAPUT! A tragedy in one act. She was gathered here today to bury her hopes and dreams. BUT WAIT!! What if, yes, it could just work. With a little critical thinking Elspeth realized that both a paper apatasaur and a paper giraffe would eat from tall paper trees. The tiny paper giraffe could, in fact, still much tiny paper trees. It was perfect. Everyone won. Fireworks went off, church bells rang and Elspeth felt like she could fold a million paper giraffes in no time.

It was the final leg of the race, no time for her to be slacking off now. Any mistake she made at this point would be visible for the rest of this young giraffe's life. That included walking her on a leash on the grounds, where other students could see. Elspeth couldn't have her peers thinking she didn't give her precious lonely giraffe anything but the best care possible! No, these polka dot hearts needed to be surgically applied with marker, not a hair out of place. Easy does it. EASY DOES IT. She steadied herself, after catching her hand dangerously speeding up around the corners of an especially large heart. Thank goodness it was caught. The whole operation would have collapsed under her lapsed judgement.

And there you have it. A tiny yellow giraffe with brown heart spots. It was perfect. It was hers to rescue from the neglect of the other students. But the piece de resistance? She twisted a brown piece of paper and trimmed up a green piece in hula skirt like strips. A little glue here, a little fervor there, presto bamo, a paper tree!

She held the two in her hands, cradling them with all the care a kawaii mama needed to protect her adorable children. TO THE HOUSE ELF. Elspeth had NO IDEA how house elf magic worked without wands, but was absolutely fascinated getting to watch it up close. She hadn't grown up with one and so any chance to watch them use magic was a treat.

Her tiny giraffe wiggled its little feet. It shook its tiny tail. It walked, wobbily, over to the paper tree. And there, on this green earth, Elspeth bore witness to a tiny paper giraffe take a tiny nibble from a tiny paper tree. She closed her eyes and fake fainted on the bench as her soul ascended to heaven on the backs of these now inanimate pieces of paper.

Laying down on the hard would, Elspeth smiled a little tiredly. That was a fun game and a nice way to play pretend in such a stuffy situation. She scooped the tiny giraffe, its enchantment spent, as well as the tree and put them into her backpack in a small pouch so they wouldn't get ruined on the way back to her dorm.