18 Jun 2019, 00:10
Making up for Mistakes Made
Thread for Errand: 'Everybody Clean Up'
Marla Quinlan, Koko Riddle, Alexx Severin, Mac Murphy & Serena Towers
{ Open to first four participants only }
Serena was not responsible for the mess made in the Blossomfest Ball. But she still felt bad about it. She always did. Even in the first year, she turned up late to the Ball and was not involved in the fire incident. However, at that time she was Head Girl, she should have been there earlier. Whilst she may have stepped down from the position, she still felt partly responsible. Perhaps if she had done a better job then none of this would have happened again.
Even now, after almost two years at Hogwarts, she could not help. Serena looked down at her arm, a large bruise was present on it. Some older student grabbed her arm roughly when she was trying to help that Slytherin. She frowned at it, not knowing how or why she kept getting into trouble. She was trying so incredibly hard to do a better job and yet, every time, she seemed to fail. The Hufflepuff pulled down the sleeve of her robe and covered the bruise. It would fade in a few days and then she could carry on pretending that she had not failed, yet again.
Today was different though. She was no longer going to keep failing. Serena Jodha Towers had finally given up giving up. She was going to stand up and do what she could. It started with today, the day where she willingly helped to clean up a mess that she did not make. Looking around the disaster, Serena was secretly thankful that she was at the lake for most of the ball instead of here. She was in the right place at the right time: where she was standing up to bullies. That was the right place for her then and this was the right place now.
Serena sighed softly to herself as she looked around. Without further ado, she decided to stop sulking and start cleaning. It was her punishment. She had made plenty of mistakes in the past. This was her way of making up for it. This was her way of cleaning up the disaster and attempting to solve things. At least... psychologically or emotionally. It was worth a shot. She had tried everything else so no harm in going with chores to try and feel more useful.
The Hufflepuff picked up a black bag, which she rubbed roughly to open it up. Deciding to do this the muggle way, the second year quietly started to pick up some litter and leftover containers of food. The Ball was left as a mess. It was worse than her bedroom on a bad day. She knew she could not do this alone - she needed help.
Word Count Total: 449/1000
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Part-Goblin | Evasive Maneuvers | Beastmaster | Paragon of Health
Sta: 10 | Eva: 17 | Str: 3 | Wis: 15 | Arc Power: 10 | Acc: 15
Part-Goblin | Evasive Maneuvers | Beastmaster | Paragon of Health
Sta: 10 | Eva: 17 | Str: 3 | Wis: 15 | Arc Power: 10 | Acc: 15
18 Jun 2019, 03:49
Making up for Mistakes Made
Although Marla Quinlan had not been there to witness the Blossom Ball, as she shuffled into the Campgrounds, the aftermath was certainly a disaster. Tablecloths were practically toasted, along with most of the grass, which was an unsettling black-ish gray. In fact, there wasn't really much grass to begin with. Most of it was a stale yellow and resembled hay more than greenery, or it was just dirt mixed with ash. And if that wasn't enough, the smell of spoil wafted into the poor girl's nose, and that's when she spotted at least ten pieces of moldy fruit on the ground, along with different types of meats, pastries, and delicacies that had rotten beyond recognition. How had people gone this long without cleaning the dump? What made it even more disgusting was that this had all been here for over a year. The girl shuddered as she approached the deserted mess with a scowl as she pinched her nose.
It seemed that Marla wasn't the only one that was curious about the Blossom Ball, because she spotted another girl on her knees with a black plastic bag, throwing out all of the leftover trash from the sad excuse of a school dance. She was much taller than the small Gryffindor, which was quite common, with tan skin and dark hair that went together harmoniously. But what truly stood out were her eyes. What Marla was expecting to be two honey-brown irises were a brilliant, nearly show-stopping blue. Glancing down at her robes, Marla noted that she was a Hufflepuff, despite having a feeling that she would be a Ravenclaw. It was probably the eyes. The Gryffindor just came over to the remains of the ball because she was curious about the rumors and if there was actually a fire, but considering that she was the only person there, and she'd feel terrible to leave her there all alone... Not to mention, Marla did have some free time, it wouldn't hurt to help the Hufflepuff out, right? She walked over to the pretty eyed girl and tapped her on the shoulder with a toothless smile.
"Need some help?" She asked, though it was more of a formality since she was honestly going to help anyway. The redhead began to pick up all sorts of gross things. Apples, oranges, grapes, blueberries, muffins... Well, those were just guesses. It was quite hard to tell what was what. Most of the food had white and green fuzz grown on it with a... Weird smell, to say the least. Oh, god, what Marla would do for some gloves right now... But this poor Hufflepuff needed help cleaning! Why not do something good for the hell of it?
Word Count: 453/1000
"your loss, baby !!"
stamina 10 | evasion 7 | strength 6 | wisdom 7 | arcpower 6 | accuracy 9
stamina 10 | evasion 7 | strength 6 | wisdom 7 | arcpower 6 | accuracy 9
18 Jun 2019, 03:55
Making up for Mistakes Made
Koko had made a final decision to hide after the events of the Blossom Ball had taken a turn that was, to be frank, disturbing. It had left the place an utter mess, and to see the Campgrounds that way made Koko's chest ache with a sadness for all of the animals that might be suffering. She had made her way out to the Campgrounds to look at the damage, and also because she had heard that there was a cleanup going on. She might have acted cowardly when the events had happened, but that didn't mean that she shouldn't put her effort in the cleanup of the aftermath.
There was a girl, one who didn't seem too much older than her, picking up the mess of the Campgrounds the Muggle way, with a plastic bag and all. Koko didn't know any charms to clean, so she decided that it would be best to help the girl - after all, she probably couldn't do it on her own."Do you mind if I help you?" asked Koko softly.
Koko sounded nervous even to her own ears. She also sounded, even if only the tiniest bit, guilty. She felt as if she could have used the punch in her glass, the punch she had not even drunk a sip of, to try and douse the fire. Alas, she hadn't, and she would now try and atone for her mistakes.
She didn't have time to wait for a response of any sort from the girl, who by the crest of her robes seemed to be a Hufflepuff. Koko tugged at her own, hoping that she wouldn't be stereotyped for being a Slytherin. Not all Slytherins were that terrible, though some certainly were, like that one girl in the bathroom... But that was a story for another time.
Koko picked up a black bag, and following the Hufflepuff's example, she bent down and put some discarded food in the bag. The children here at Hogwarts could be slobs sometimes, and of course someone had to pick up after them. Sadly, the thing that had first caught the Slytherin's attention was the reward rather than what she had to do to get it, or why she had to clean. She had been very "give me everything" at the time, and now that she was here, she was starting to feel humility re-enter her veins. It was a bad thing for her to think like that... She needed to take into account the facts, like that there might be broken glass that some poor animal could step on, or some discarded chocolate that someone's pet could eat. Koko was too naïve to realise that until now, and she felt even more guilty than before.
The guilt showed in her golden eyes as she picked up more waste. Why people couldn't pick up after themselves, she didn't know. It was ridiculous, but what could a twelve-year-old girl do about it? Nothing. One day, she might have more influence over people, but today, hardly anyone even knew who she was. Gritting her teeth, Koko picked up a broken glass and put it in her bag, noticing that it was poking out of the bottom and that she should be careful not to graze her leg with it. Koko then held it farther away from her leg, just in case. Koko paused for a moment, her back aching already from her bending over so far. She was fine, though, and she would put up with any pain this task might just happen to cause her.
WC: 597/1000
[pc] koko riddle · 'pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.'
'it always starts and ends with birds.' · cyrus darsel [inpc]
18 Jun 2019, 04:50
Making up for Mistakes Made
Alexx told herself that she wasn't going to help. She didn't need to help, didn't want to help, and there was no obligation. She especially didn't want to give Professor Vernatis any satisfaction of Alexx yielding to him. However, she had an appearance to upkeep, so she decided that she might as well.
Spotting Serena, she felt comfortable. At least there was someone that she knew her, even if it was vaguely. And it was quite odd that Serena and Alexx weren't better friends, mostly considering that Alexx's closest friends were all Hufflepuff. However, the two had only met once. So she smiled and waved at her, deciding to open up the opportunity. "Hey, Serena." She greeted, nodding in her direction.
The Slytherin picked up a bag, doing as the others were doing, and looked around. "Damn. This is a mess." Alexx hadn't contributed to this at all. Her friends left her, so she made her way back to the common rooms and took a long nap. No one interesting was there, anyway. Dances bored Alexx to death, and she only really showed up hoping for some action. So, needless to say, she was not responsible for what happened here.
Humming, she tossed a few random pieces of trash into the black bag, thinking of what all needs to be done. "What is it he said we needed to do again?" She asked aloud, chewing the inside of her cheek. Was this all? House points for throwing trash into a bag? She could do that on a regular day without the house points! Professor Jensen would surely never give her a reward for doing what any decent person was supposed to do. So, certainly there should be some manual labor involved in her. Hell, Alexx could probably levitate half of this shit into her bag right now, but she wasn't interested in showing off, seeing as though her peers didn't appear to be trying to.
Bending down, she tossed a few more pieces of trash in, sighing heavily. She needed to push some hair out of her eyes, but her hands had touched trash, and that was not her most favorite thought. To say Alexx was a germaphobe was definitely an understatement. She almost wanted to gag at not only the sight, but the smell that accompanied it. This shit was disgusting! Who the hell let this sit here? Why didn't Professor Lear, the organizer of the damn thing, clean this up?
Outside of Serena, there was also Koko, who she met at the same time as meeting Marcus. And then there was some Gryffindor... Yeah, Alexx didn't know her. Alexx didn't know most people, actually. Most first years, at least. She would like to think that she did, but she didn't for sure. Oh well, probably no one relevant to her. Deciding, however, to be nice, she smiled at Koko. "'Sup." She greeted her, nodding her head.
If they were going to be doing some work, they at least should be talking. Alexx wasn't here to waste an hour or more of her own time to be bored half to death. Sure, Alexx wasn't the person who would jump out at you and start a conversation, but she would talk to people that she worked with for sure. Koko and Serena were both nice people, and then there was the Gryffindor... Nah, still didn't know her.
WORDS: 567/1000
chill babe. we're all bad in someone's story.
18 Jun 2019, 05:16
Making up for Mistakes Made
Mac couldn't help but cringe when he saw the state of the Campgrounds. Professor Vernatis said the place was in desperate need of cleaning. Truthfully, that may have been an understatement.
The smell was what got to him. Rotten food was piled high on the scorched tables, strewn about by the local animals. In its wake, it left the kind of dreadful stench that would linger on the back of one's throat. He tried his best to breathe out of his mouth as he held onto the trash bag in his hand. The tables were scorched, nearly crumbling. How on Earth did that happen? He supposed there must have been some kind of fire; some magical disaster, if he were to guess... or maybe someone just a left a candle burning.
He supposed the how and the why didn't matter much now. What really mattered was getting this mess cleaned up. Chairs were strewn about the campground haphazardly, tossed about by either the wind, the wildlife, or both. It was like a tornado had gone through the Grounds, leaving this behind in its wake. He supposed that was a good enough place to start.
A few other students here had already started cleaning. His eyes were drawn to the Hufflepuff, a brown haired lass who looked to be a little older than him. A second year, if he were to guess. Three other students joined her in her efforts; two Slytherin, and a Gryffindor. He offered up a polite smile to the group as he walked forward, his head hung low to avoid eye contact. He didn't recognize any of them. That wasn't exactly a surprise; Mac didn't have a lot of friends, especially outside of his own house. Still, it felt... a tad uncomfortable, didn't it? Cleaning up such a big mess with four complete strangers. He felt like he should say something, but at the same time, he didn't want to make a fool out of himself. There were a lot of things he could say, yes, like the run-of-the-mill 'hello' or 'good morning', but the girls were chatting among each other just fine, right? Best not to butt in when they all had work to do. He got the impression that none of them wanted to be here for longer than they absolutely had to, and honestly, he felt the same way.
That's why he decided to keep to himself and stay quiet as he worked. He made his way over to one of the overturned chairs and set it upright. A yawn escaped his lips as he mulled over to the next chair, lugging it back over to the last one and stacking them on top of each other. Mac would continue this process for some time, of course, as there was quite a lot to go through. It wasn't long before they were all lined up in a neat row in separate stacks.
Next were the fairy lights, which were curled tightly around the tree branches above. Maybe he could stand on a chair and reach them-? No, they were far too high up. Maybe if he had a stick, or... He frowned as he looked back at the other students. "Um-" He stammered for a moment before he finally found the right words. "Do any of you have a broom?"
WC: 556/1000
I II
II L
18 Jun 2019, 11:54
Making up for Mistakes Made
Serena grabbed a few empty cups that had been cast aside, chucking them into the bag. It was unbelievable really. Events at Hogwarts were notorious for going wrong. She kind of expected that much. But the mess of the ball was even more than she expected. Students had left their rubbish everywhere. The organisers, which she could only assume was the professors or school staff, had left up all the chairs and the dance floor or leftover food around. No one had bothered to even pack it away? Her mother would be disgusted by this mess.
Whilst she did not know the news Charms Professor all that well, she was glad that someone seemed to have his head straight. The Indian girl pulled a face as she picked up a half eaten orange from the ground. There was mould on parts of it, causing her to gag a little and almost puke at the sight.
It was moments like this where the Hufflepuff was thankful for her upbringing. Her childhood, her family, her lifestyle did not have to witness the sight of disgusting looking food or such a mess. She lived in a house that was incredibly clean. Perhaps painfully so. If she had a bit of dirt on her, her mother would flip. Everything had to be in the proper place for 'guests'. A single book could not be out of place. Serena always thought it was a bit of a pain, to be honest. However, looking at this mess, she was kind of glad that she did not have to live in this filth.
Hearing a voice not too far from her, Serena turned to see a redhead near her. She did not recognise the Gryffindor but nonetheless, was grateful for her appearance. There was no way she could clean it all alone, "Yes, please!" She said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. She was just very relieved to see that she was not alone, not anymore.
She was about to introduce herself when she heard another. The Gryffindor's words were quickly followed by someone else. Serena turned to see a Slytherin had approached them, "Please do, we could use all the help we can get!" She continued, encouraging her to join them too. Neither of the students were people she could name. Perhaps they were in a different year to her. It did not help that she also shut herself off from meeting people after the camp out. She barely knew anyone, anymore. Serena had even avoided her friends for a while, which made her life unnecessarily difficult. But after everything, she kind of just wanted to be alone.
Things had changed now though. Being alone only took you so far. It made your world quiet, lonely and horribly painful. Friends helped you to get through things. She needed her friends. Serena knew that she needed to devote more times to hanging out with her current friends or making new ones. She felt a bit awkward doing it, as though she were pushing her friendship onto them but she needed to do it nonetheless. It was at this moment that she heard her name being called out. Her eyes fell onto the familiar looking blonde.
Admittedly, it took her about five seconds to recall the girl's name. She recognised her face instantly but the name had slipped her for a moment. "H-Hey! How's it going?" She asked, with a friendly smile on her lips as she quickly recalled her name. It was Alex, right? Wait... it was spelt differently, was it not? She frowned a little, unable to recall what was different about it. Was it Alexia? Alexi? Shaking her head, she decided just not to think about it for now. It would come back to her.
Serena nodded, her attention returning to Alexx, "Yeah, it's disgusting. I think we have to pretty much clean everything? Like... uh all this rubbish. Oh, and uh somehow move this dance floor and chairs. The wooden boards look heavy though..." She explained, pointing at the dancefloor that had been made up for the occasion. She definitely could not lift it alone, that was for sure. "I don't know where he wanted us to stack everything up though..." Serena admitted, rubbing her nose a little with the back of her hand. She hoped that the Professor did not expect them to carry it all the way back into the castle - it was too far!
As she spoke, she noticed a boy not too far from them that was stacking up chairs. He seemed to know where to put them, which was a good start. At least someone was paying attention to the professor, because she definitely was not. The said boy came up to them and asked if they had a broom. Serena pondered for a moment before shaking her head, "No, sorry..." She admitted, looking around. Perhaps there was one behind some of the chairs or on the other side. She looked at the other girls, hoping that one of them had spotted a broom somewhere nearby.
Total WC: 449+847 =1296
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Part-Goblin | Evasive Maneuvers | Beastmaster | Paragon of Health
Sta: 10 | Eva: 17 | Str: 3 | Wis: 15 | Arc Power: 10 | Acc: 15
Part-Goblin | Evasive Maneuvers | Beastmaster | Paragon of Health
Sta: 10 | Eva: 17 | Str: 3 | Wis: 15 | Arc Power: 10 | Acc: 15
18 Jun 2019, 18:02
Making up for Mistakes Made
While most of those who had recently arrived were total strangers to Koko, she did know one of them: Alexx. Koko waved, holding the bag with one hand, and she smiled at the other Slytherin. She was pleased that the Hufflepuff had said that she would love some help, but there was still something else...
"I... I only know one of your names."
Yes, this little, awkward Slytherin barely knew anyone. She had met Alexx a grand total of once, and the others would seemingly be specks of dust in the great universe of knowing people. It wasn't them, it was just that Koko hardly ever met anyone outside of her own house. Usually, when she met people who weren't Slytherins, it went quite terribly.
Koko set the bag down, tying it shut, and decided to work on the chairs. She could certainly stack them; she wasn't nearly that weak. Still though, she couldn't levitate them back to the castle. Oh well, Koko could always suck up her pride and ask for help, couldn't she?
Pride wasn't always an easy thing to suck up, but the caramel-haired girl would have to try. Even if she failed to do this correctly, certainly she would be praised for trying? Or rather not, for the world was not at all a fair place, but she could definitely try.
Koko wasn't used to such messes. Being a clean freak did have its perks, but she would occasionally see leftover food in the boys' rooms at home. It was never this bad, and it usually only required one person to clean. This required... Was it five, or was it more? Koko shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose as she strode over to where all of the chairs had been left like sitting ducks. This was ridiculous. If the adults had set this up, couldn't they have taken it down? Adults were supposed to be the responsible people, not the children.
With all the casualties, Koko was sure that there needed to be a better eye kept on the students. Some of them obviously couldn't be trusted, like that Deathmote kid, but there were more that Koko was weary of, like one of her own House's prefects! That girl was terrifying! Why didn't the professors try harder to keep the children under control?
Koko lifted one of the chairs and stacked it atop another. That would be the stack, and she would proceed to stack chairs on top of it until her little tower was seven chairs tall. She restarted with another chair as the base and did the exact same thing. Koko hoped that it wouldn't be too difficult to carry back to the castle. With five people, they could probably manage it.
Koko turned back to the place where she had set the bag, and she trekked over to grab it once more. It was not yet half full, so Koko scanned the rest of the area for more trash. She bent to pick up more after walking a little, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of a rotting cupcake. Ick. Couldn't people pick up after themselves? Apparently not, Koko decided, picking up a little more and tossing it absentmindedly into the bag. She still felt guilty, sure, but she also thought that even if she was guilty she shouldn't need to pick up after people. Koko gritted her teeth as she put a final piece of trash and put it in the bag.
Total Word Count: 1183
[pc] koko riddle · 'pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.'
'it always starts and ends with birds.' · cyrus darsel [inpc]
19 Jun 2019, 03:22
Making up for Mistakes Made
Alexx cocked her head to the side as Serena spoke to her, nodding. She hummed, thinking about how it could be done. One person alone couldn't possibly move the whole floor. "I can help move the floor. Anyone wanna gimme a hand on that?" She looked around, glancing at the others to see who might want to help. She was right. Manual labor.
It wasn't that Alexx minded doing the work. It wasn't that bad. Instead, her problem was that a bunch of second years were expected to move an entire dance floor. What the hell was Professor Vernatis thinking? None of this seemed right at all.
Continuing to pick up a few bits of garbage and tossing it into her bag, she sighed heavily, narrowing her eyes towards the dance floor. This was absolutely ridiculous. However, her house could certainly use the points. She wasn't going to argue with a reward for doing something that wasn't her job to begin with. Blowing a piece of hair out of her face, she ran the back of her hand across her forehead, already feeling the absolute disgust.
She looked back at the group, eyeing their actions. "There's also the lights if that hasn't been taken care of yet." She remembered the lights right as she watched Koko stack the chairs.
Alexx dropped her bag and moved over to the dance floor, deciding to take the initiative here. She put her hands down, eyeing those around her. "Someone wanna come help me out?" She attempted to move the boards, but it was to no avail. Serena was right. They were heavy.
Why were second years stuck doing the dirty work? Was there really no way that the Professors, the ones who organized this, could be bothered to clean it up on their own? Not to mention how bad for the environment it was to just leave this shit here. Honestly, if Professor Vernatis, the charms professor no less, saw an issue with this, then why wasn't he the one doing the job? Sure, it entailed house points, but certainly he could have at least offered some help with it. It made her angry how they [the professors] clearly had no consideration about this entire thing.
Alexx grumbled down at the boards below here, scowling at them. Damn things. Could the Blossom Ball seriously have not been held indoors? Where there was already a dance floor in place? That would have made so much more sense in her books. It was a genius idea. In fact, so genius that anyone with a brain might have considered it. Sure, maybe it was true that the Blossom Ball was all about nature or something like that, but considering how this was turning out for the students... And poor Serena, Alexx didn't even recall seeing her at the ball. Why was she doing the work?
Alexx had started the ball with a friend and a stranger, and then moved her party elsewhere as the night went on. She went back to the Prefect dormitories and sat at her desk, shrinking down into her seat. Her eyes had scanned some discarded homework that was due- what subject was it again? Perhaps it was History of Magic. Alexx was no good at History of Magic.
Her eyes hadn't even set themselves on Herbology since she reluctantly gave up Douglas, her favorite plant. Alexx was no good with green life. She was dreadful at it. However, she had a fun time raising the little thing, and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was more exciting that she had a friend along the way to help her out. But once all was said and done, she was back to hating Herbology as much as she hated History of Magic.
All of this meant that she had a solid alibi when she said that she was not responsible for what was happening here. The food that had green fuzz building around it was not her fault. Alexx hadn't even touched the food that was offered that night. But regardless of her bitterness towards Professor Vernatis (which, by the way, if any other professor had assigned the errand, she wouldn't have cared), she was still here helping.
WC: 707 + 567 = 1274
chill babe. we're all bad in someone's story.
19 Jun 2019, 04:51
Making up for Mistakes Made
Despite the awful circumstances, Marla let her small smile spread a bit wider as the Hufflepuff accepted her request to help clean. She truly felt awful for the girl having to do this all alone! It was quite the hand, and nose full... God. The redhead stopped breathing through her nose to get the stink out, but even when breathing through her mouth, the smell had a taste. It was vile. Marla had to use every fiber of willpower in her body not to run away and vomit her guts out right then and there. But the more she cleaned, the faster that she'd be out of there... And Gryffindor did need the house points. Desperately. They were currently in dead last, and she would do anything that she could to make sure that her house at least came in third place...
Thankfully, (and surprisingly, for a matter of fact) quite the amount of people showed up to clean as well... Two Slytherins, one looking quite familiar, and a Ravenclaw who she had definitely never seen before. He did look her age, so maybe Marla spotted him in the hallways once or twice, maybe even in a class, but the two definitely hadn't conversed quite yet. Though they were from other houses and Marla honestly wanted all these points to herself, she was eternally grateful for the other four who were chipping in. This was one of the most disgusting things she'd ever had to experience, and with quite a few other people, it would make the job go by much more quickly.
Apparently, the older seeming Slytherin and Hufflepuff knew each other, because they struck up a conversation together. Lucky. Marla barely knew anyone there, if any student at all. The only recognizable student in the group was the other Slytherin, who's name was.. Koko? She had met her twice, in the library and out on the grounds with a few others. Though their relations were short, Koko did seem like a nice person. She'd love to talk to the girl, but if Marla opened her mouth to speak, puke might come out instead. As gross as it sounded it was the truth. She scrunched up her nose as she moved to a different part of the ball, ripping the tablecloths off of the tables and throwing them into plastic bags. It's a shame, they were quite nice... And now they were all crispy and gross, worn out from weather and the flames from the fire. To think that this was all once a beautiful scene for a party was riveting. Now it was just a... Wasteland of rotten fruit and glass, and speaking of, why were they only making students do this? Without magic? It was quite ridiculous, so much so that Marla couldn't help but roll her eyes. If they were capable of spells that could make this disaster a little bit more speedy, she would most definitely use it. And wasn't it a bit... Risky to have eleven to thirteen-year-olds handling glass and possibly dangerous mold? Maybe she was just making excuses to be angry about having to smell... You know what, but it was angering nonetheless.
"Um...Do any of you have a broom?" The Ravenclaw asked, snapping Marla out of her cleaning groove. She turned around and shook her head, followed by a mumbled 'sorry' afterward. She looked behind him to see string lights in a tree, and glanced around for something to help. She spotted a small stick in the distance and ran towards it. Picking it up, the thing was much heavier than anticipated, and took quite the amount of effort to get back to the boy.
"Uh.. This might work?" She said, shoving the stick towards him, "It might be too heavy to lift in the air. Hopefully not." She said with a nonchalant smile, going back to cleaning the tablecloths. Hopefully, the boy wouldn't lift the stick in the air and injure himself, that would just be more work... And if he did get hurt, he seemed like such a nice boy too. It would be a shame. But maybe if nobody was looking, they could use the Levitating Charm to get the stick up there and get the fairy lights? It wouldn't hurt to drizzle a bit of magic in there...
Once again, another person spoke, this time a Slytherin. She was asking around the group if anyone could help her with the dance floor. Everyone was absorbed in their own thing, and Marla had just finished with the tablecloths, so she walked over to the Slytherin.
"I can help, if you need a hand." She offered. Marla would probably not be much help, all things considering. She was quite short and weak, but maybe if she put a lot of effort into it, they'd be able to move the floor. The small Gryffindor went on the other side of the blonde Slytherin and was surprisingly able to lift the boards and toss them to the side where they'd probably be picked up later by professors to be disposed of. God, that was heavy. Marla leaned on her knees as she caught her breath, and looked up, realizing that everything was quite contently clean. She smiled to herself as she realized that they were already almost done with the job. Okay. It wasn't that bad. Besides the smell...
"Should we leave now?" She asked, unsure of whether they would have to wait for permission or not.
Word count: 1379/1000
"your loss, baby !!"
stamina 10 | evasion 7 | strength 6 | wisdom 7 | arcpower 6 | accuracy 9
stamina 10 | evasion 7 | strength 6 | wisdom 7 | arcpower 6 | accuracy 9
19 Jun 2019, 23:12
Making up for Mistakes Made
It was a bit disheartening when the girls confirmed that none of them had a broom. You would think that they'd be provided one by the staff, given that they were here to clean up. Thankfully, the Gryffindor came in clutch, offering the next best thing; a good old fashioned stick. In return, he gave her a friendly smile, along with a polite thank you under his breath as he took the stray tree limb from her hand. It seemed long enough and — oh dear, much heavier than he'd anticipated. He had to grasp it with both hands to keep from dropping it altogether. He wobbled slightly as he held it up above his head, standing on the tips of his toes as he tried to hook the branch up underneath the wire of the fairy lights. It took a few tries (all of which were pretty embarrassing), but eventually, he managed to get it. Using the tip of the stick, he pulled the string of lights down just enough to be able to grasp it with his hands. With the stick having served its purpose, he tossed it to the side, the muscles in his arms screaming in relief. Yikes. Maybe he needed to work on his upper body strength.
Shaking his head, he took the fairy lights in his hands and pulled them down like a rope. Humming a tune to himself, he wrapped them up in a neat coil before tucking them under his arm for safe-keeping. It seemed like a waste to throw them out, so he would return them to the Professor whenever he got the chance.
When he turned around, ready to attend to whatever else needed cleaning, he was surprised to find that the bulk of the work had already been done. What was left of the chairs had been stacked up neatly next to his own efforts, while the ruined dance floor had been torn up. He supposed it was true that there was strength in numbers. He brushed a stray strand of dark hair out of his face as he moved to join the rest of the group, fairy lights in tow. "Well... I guess that's just about it then, isn't it?" In hindsight, the clean-up didn't take nearly as much time as he thought it would.
"I guess so. There's nothing left for us to do, is there?" He rolled his shoulders in a shrug as he looked around, blue eyes scanning the Campgrounds for any stray piece of litter that they might have left behind. When he found none, he crossed his arms and stepped forward to join the others."Should we leave now?" the Gryffindor asked, unsure of whether they would have to wait for permission or not.
He was more than willing to do the work to earn Ravenclaw a few more points, but it was still a bit strange that they'd sent students to clean this mess up. Specifically without the use of magic, no less. Wasn't magic the reason they were here in the first place? If this was some kind of test or learning experience, he didn't get it.
Either way, this experience would be behind them soon enough, along with that dreadful stench. Just in time for lunch, too, but the sight of all the rotting food hadn't done much for his appetite. "Thanks for pitching in, everyone. I guess I'll see you around." He gave the others a little wave before leaving the Campgrounds behind him, following the dirt trail back up to Hogwarts.
Mac has left the thread.
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