Errand Lunar Year Lanterns Group 3

Interacting @Ruthie Greer @Evelynn Decipio @Violine Thomas @Juniper Irving @Serena Bowen @River Dewlight @Lark Flaer and @Cypresse Lian

It was a great honor when Professor Lian asked her one day if she would like to help out with the errand to share their Chinese culture and tradition with the students. There was absolutely no reason for her to reject that offer. When she first enrolled in Hogwarts, it was a pleasant surprise for her to learn that their Transfiguration Professor is Chinese but she only attended her classes and never got the opportunity to really speak Chinese with her. She already had huge respect for Professor Lian, despite her being blind, she was still very sharp-minded and her lessons were strict but detailed. Her task was to help Professor Lian to show the participates how to make Chinese Lanterns since she couldn't really do much while being blind. Griseldis's role was pretty much being an assistant.

The second group would arrive soon in the Transfiguration classroom, she was told to dress in a Chinese traditional outfit. Griseldis still the red and golden dress her mom originally made for her to join the ball and well...the ball was a disaster but it was a miracle that the dress wasn't ruined completely, and the House-elves were very nice and helped to fix her dress. This time, she would be wearing it with pride and honor. And she was certain there would not be any misfortune happen today.

Reducio

A sketch of Griseldis in her Chinese traditional dress
(Will color her again without the mask)

When the Gryffindor Prefect stepped inside the classroom, this time she was well perpared that the loud explosion noises of firecrackers would come from both sides, but it still brought her to smile. The whole familiar traditional Chinese New Year decorations in the classroom and the Chinese harp music really reminded her of the Chinese New Year she celebrated with her family and Chinese relatives, those memories really made her feel the warmth and pure joy. She then saw the Professor wearing in a traditional black Qipao, she went to greet her in Chinese and gave her new year wishes, "你好，簾博士！这里是梅，祝你新年快乐! (Hello, Professor Lian! This is *Mei [Griseldis's Chinese middle name, means plum blossom], Happy Chinese New Year!)", then she turned around and saw there were already students waiting in the classroom, she  recognized a few but there were also a few she had yet to be acquaintance with. She quickly waved at them with a cheerful smile on her face, "Hello Group 3! I'm really happy to see you all here to participate in this special errand our Transfiguration Professor hosted. First, let me wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year!" Griseldis made the fist-and palm salute to them, it was a common etiquette used when meeting people in China. "I'm Griseldis Edelhardt, 2nd year Gryffindor Prefect and I'm only here as Professor Lian's assistant. This Group will be focusing on the Rat Wedding theme so the rest I will leave the Professor to explain to you."

Cy grinned, smile laced with her trademark mischief, as the firecrackers went off, the snapping and crackling sounding off the high walls along with several shocked voices. In hindsight, maybe some of her students might not appreciate the surprise, but then she'd spent three years in America, where these things were illegal, so of course she'd need her fun here! Besides, anyone who'd been in her class before ought to be prepared for the falling off chairs that tended to accompany her lectures. She was nothing if not spontaneous.

"Hey, everyone," she greeted, reaching behind her to clear a section of her desk so that she could sit on it again. "Take a seat wherever! Or stand, like a weirdo. Dunno why you'd want to take the extra energy."

This group engaged her far more quickly than the previous two had. Within seconds, @Ruthie Greer had stepped up to her to begin speaking. "Honestly, I'd love to have incorporated them into the story, but unfortunately I've used all the firecrackers I have left on the door, and I'm too broke to buy more. And by broke, I mean too lazy, because you all know that the Hogwarts professors are pretty much loaded."

The next girl to appear, @Evelynn Decipio, had called out her number instead of her name - most likely a habit from the beginning of class. Most of her younger students were used to the number system; it was hard to memorize all their names until later in the year. This one she remembered, though, by some stroke of luck. "Hi, Evelynn."

One more girl introduced herself shortly, @Juniper Irving, before another student, @Lark Flaer, came in late. "No worries," she assured her. Cy nodded to the ones who hadn't spoken to her directly, @River Dewlight, @Serena Bowen , and @Violine Thomas before turning to her assistant for the day. "你好，梅！新年快樂，感謝你願意幫忙。" She turned back to face the front of the class again. "Hey, everyone! Gris might be taking too little credit for herself, seeing as she helped me plan half of this thing, but welcome! Happy lunar new year to all of you; I hope I didn't scare anyone off with the firecrackers already. If, by chance, you didn't all wander into a random classroom for no reason, I'll presume you're here for the Errand. On the tables you'll find craft supplies that you can use to make paper lanterns, a critical part of the traditions of Chinese New Year. There's also extra ink and brushes if you want to try your hand at calligraphy, which Gris can also help you on - because, as you can see and I clearly cannot, that would be difficult for me to do. Any questions so far, before we begin?"

Reducio

Translation: Hello, Mei! Happy new year, and thank you for being willing to help.

Ruthie was quite glad when the other participants started trickling in. The idea of a vacated classroom with Professor Lian, arbiter of her fate in her worst subjects, was not one she was fond of, even though the Professor seemed to be in good spirits. And she had to give her credit for the firecrackers, even if they were the last ones because she was "broke, meaning lazy." Ruthie raised an eye, unsure if there had been sarcasm in these words. She couldn't always tell with adults. So, she waited, hoping this group would boast a friendly face, one she knew. That was the most she could wish for considering she knew nothing about China.

Eventually, she spotted River, their reserve seeker who she'd been on a few errands with of late, but she'd never really had sustained conversation with her. Perhaps that would change. She seemed both nice and smart, not to mention a good flyer. "Hey River," she greeted the second year, "Yeah, should be. I honestly don't know anything about China. Do you?" The second bit was spoken a bit more hushed so as not to embarrass herself. Still, it would be nice to know she wasn't the only one completely out of her depth in this errand, and yet somehow she had a suspicion the ginger dhampir would be more worldly than she. After all, she had an entire extra year of life in which she could have learned all sorts of things.

While she leaned back in her seat, she noticed one of her favorite people saunter in fashionably late. It was Lark, her fellow first year Ravenclaw and their reserve keeper, but that was just the surface. The reality was that between the ball, the incident with Shauna, and learning of Lark's status as a Metamorphagus, the girls had formed an unbreakable bond. Ruthie smiled when Lark scooted over next to her. Now she had someone to help her through the errand. "Hey Girl," she greeted her, giving her a quick shoulder hug. She didn't mind showing extra affection in a group setting. After all she'd been through, she deserved some room to be expressive.

Then, it wasn't long before Gris, her favorite Gryffindor Prefect appeared on the scene, more humble than perhaps Ruthie would expect. Ruthie didn't know that Gris was Chinese, but she was glad she would be able to learn of her friend's culture. It seemed the least she could do considering the Gryffindor helped save Jorah's life. Wearing traditional dress, she wished them all a happy Chinese New Year and left it to the Professor to explain the details of their event here today. Ruthie smiled at Gris, offering her a small wave, before turning her attention to the Professor. While they would be focusing on the story, it seemed their were also lanterns they could be making at the same time or trying a hand at calligraphy.

Tightening her lips, she was trying to decide which of these to embark on while the storytelling would be going on. Grabbing a piece of lemon yellow paper, she decided on lantern making. Her handwriting wasn't that great so she'd probably be a disaster at calligraphy and lantern making just seemed more fun. Somehow, she always preferred and excelled at more tactile endeavors. "Have any of you an instruction guide?" she asked the girls around her. She'd never made a lantern before and some instructions of how to fold the paper and where to cut might be helpful. Unsure, she looked over to both Lark and River to see if they would be taking up lantern-making too, and if they did, if they had any more of an idea how to begin.

620 + 545 = 1165 | Open to Interactions | Interacting with @Lark Flaer & @River Dewlight

@Cypresse Lian

A hot flush of rose tinged the tips of Evelynn's ears as Professor Lian spoke the personalized greeting. Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised; after all, she knew the transfiguration teacher to be quite the individual for retention of detail. Even still, she hadn't anticipated that the professor would have known her name when only her number had been spoken for the greater majority of the year. For once, however, at least her embarrassment was likely to go unnoticed.

"Xin nian kuai le..." She uttered sheepishly. It wasn't at all what she had been planning to say. But the Professor's acknowledgement of hello had thrown Evelynn for a loop and driven the question that had been at the tip of her tongue temporarily from her mind. Mentally stumbling, the only thing she could think to respond with was the only little bit of Chinese that she knew. Happy Chinese New Year.

Or at least...that's what she was dearly hoping that she had said. She had never actually spoken it out loud to someone not of Caucasian descent. And had no idea if the pronunciation would actually even make the words comprehensible. Another rush of embarrassment rippled up her spine and she dropped her hand quickly to her lap and sank deeply in her seat wishing and hoping to just be overlooked and to fade into the scenery of the class.

It was to Evelynn's great relief, then, when the Gryffindor prefect, Griseldis, arrived on scene. She listened attentively, despite understanding nothing, to the brief foreign exchange, and found her excitement mounting once again. Unlike her mother, Evelynn adored history and culture. She found it fascinating to see how different people viewed and celebrated the world in different ways, and was excited to hear the story of the rat wedding.

The young cub sat patiently and quietly. She even chuckled ─ albeit with a bit of triggered embarrassment ─ at the mention of the firecrackers, and glanced around for the mentioned calligraphic tools, thinking that she might like to give that a try when the time presented. When the preamble came to a conclusion, however, Evelynn's previous sheepishness had all but been forgotten and the previously abandoned question burned once again at her lips.

"Twenty-three, Professor Lian," she said, shooting a hand into the air out of habit. "I have a question. What about the cat?" She asked bluntly, as though the question was somehow self-explanatory and that anyone would understand what she was talking about. Of course they wouldn't, though. Especially if it wasn't even true. "Of the zodiac. Is there a cat of the zodiac, I mean," she tried to rephrase and explain. "Is it true? Are there actually thirteen, not twelve?"

Word Count: 453 | Total Count: 984

Interacting with @Ruthie Greer @Lark Flaer , @River Dewlight , @Serena Bowen , @Juniper Irving , @Violine Thomas and @Evelynn Decipio
Mentioning @Cypresse Lian

Looking at the group in front of her and the Professor, it seemed to her that everyone was excited for the errand to begin. The Gryffindor Prefect was also very excited. Griseldis looked around and noticed Ruthie waving at her with a smile, she smiled back and waved at her as well. Oh right, she didn't specifically tell her Ravenclaw friend that she was half Chinese and she didn't look completely Asian either, it was hard to tell somehow since her face seemed more like a mix between Asian and European, a certain word for that was what a few people would say, an Eurasian. But other than that, she was very happy that Ruthie joined this errand, she hadn't seen her for a while and seeing that she was interested in the Chinese culture truly made her feel prideful. However, she secretly hoped that her other two oldest friends could join the errand as well but sadly both were too busy with their studies or had other things to deal with.

After Professor Lian finished her explanation about the task, she made it clear to them that she couldn't see and that only Griseldis could see but they were free to ask her any questions. "Yes, as Professor Lian already said if you have a question you can ask me or her. But if it's something that requires to show you something such as how to make a lantern or how to write the Chinese calligraphy, I will be able to show you how to do those.", Griseldis said to the whole group. Then she watched as Ruthie picked a lemon yellow colored paper, she looked like that she wanted to make a lantern but hesitated. Then she asked the girls if there was an instruction guide, Griseldis quickly explained to her friend, "Well, I'm pretty much the living instruction guide here." She then looked up at the group and asked them, "If you all wanted to start making the lanterns I can make one and show you how, but before that, since our group topic is about the Rat Wedding, I would like to tell you a short version of the story first." Griseldis turned around and went to take out something like a scroll that was lying on the other side of the table, then she returned with it and placed the scroll on the table and rolled both sides open that revealed a Chinese painting of rats and carriages in very bright colors.

The Rats Are Marrying Off the Daughter (Lǎoshǔ Jià Nǚ 老鼠嫁女) [Source]

"A friend of my grandfather painted this Chinese painting for the Rat Wedding Story, although there were a few different versions of Rat Wedding, however, the endings are all the same. The one I know about the Rat Wedding was about overly ambitious and pretentious rat parents hoping to make the best marriage for their daughter or maybe they just wanted to establish the best possible social connections for themselves which was common in ancient China because at that time it was very important to link their families to someone who was powerful in order for them to live a better life and have improved condition. The rat parent should have married off their daughter to a male rat but due to their greed for wealth and power, the rat parents risked their own daughter's life to become the bride of a Tomcat instead that most likely would eat her. I think Professor Lian will tell you a more detailed story about the Rat Wedding and perhaps a more interesting version."

After telling the group a very short version of her own, she was about to take a crimson red paper to make a lantern then someone asked the Professor about the zodiac that shouldn't be the main topic in this group but Griseldis didn't really care much since everyone was free to ask anything that related to their Chinese culture. She helped the professor and answered her fellow Gryffindor's question about why the cat didn't end up becoming one of the Chinese zodiacs, "About that, Evelynn..." Yes, she remembered her name from the list, "It's not true, the cat was sadly never meant to become one of the Guards of the Heavenly Gate so there would only be 12 Chinese Zodiacs and never a 13th Zodiac. There was a story that explained the true reason why the cat couldn't be a Zodiac. The rat and the cat were bitter rivals, and the rat took the Heavenly Gate Race as an opportunity to get his revenge on the cat. You see, the rat tricked the cat, knowing very well that the cat was a sleepyhead and used that weakness. The rat lied to the cat that he will wake him up in the morning and inform him about the Emperor's birthday party. But the cat didn't wake up until the race was over and it was too late. In the end, the cat was not able to make it into the cycle." Griseldis had a feeling that Evelynn might get a bit disappointed or not happy about how the rat would try to trick the cat, perhaps cats were her favorite animal?

OOC: We apologize for the long wait, a lot of things happened irl but hopefully this errand will be completed soon and you will get your reward.

Serena waited a few moments for a response to her question. When no-one spoke up, the badger saw it as a silent yes and took a seat at the table. She looked down at the table to see several crafting supplies. Ah, yes! The lanterns!

Serena picked up a red lantern, trying to figure out the best way to assemble it. It seemed she wasn’t the only one having trouble as a girl asked if there was an instruction guide. Yes, that would be helpful, wouldn’t it? While waiting for a response, she listened to the Gryffindor prefect, Griseldis, introduce herself. Professor Lian then explained the errand and pointed out the crafting supplies.

A few more students trickled into the Transfiguration classroom. But it was no-one Serena recognized, so she looked back down at the various supplies, admiring the different lanterns and stamps and other crafty things available at the table.

Serena was intrigued by the brief summary of the Rat Wedding that Griseldis gave. The first-year was sure that the whole story was going to be very interesting, and she couldn’t wait for Professor Lian to tell it. A rat marrying a tomcat… That didn’t seem like it would end well… The other story about the zodiac was intriguing as well. Serena felt a bit sorry for the poor cat for missing out on its chance to be one of the twelve guards!

Serena turned her attention back to the table. She noticed that a girl was looking at some stamps. However, that wasn’t what caught the badger’s eye. No, what she was interested in was the rune-like ‘h’ that was drawn on her wrist. It looked very familiar, yet Serena couldn’t quite place it… She knew that she had seen it before… But where?

Then it hit her. Of course! In her mother’s old diaries! It was the symbol used for their friend group. But how did this girl know it? And did she know about the time capsule? Serena knew that she should focus on the errand at hand, but all her mind could think about was whether she had run into someone who could help her find the treasure. The badger had been looking ever since she came to Hogwarts but had gotten stumped. Serena had tried asking her mother for help during Christmas break, but the former Gryffindor had just chuckled and said that it ruined the point of the whole thing if she just told her daughter where it was. Serena had jokingly huffed and said that she didn’t need her mother’s help anyway.

Once Serena returned from break, she had meant to continue looking. But with studies and other endeavors, it had been put on the back burner. But now that she might have someone who could help her puzzle through the clues and share the treasure with…

”Excuse me. Um, sorry to bother you, but… Where did you learn that symbol?” Serena whispered, unable to contain the excitement out of her voice. Normally, she would have focused on the task at hand and waited until the errand was over to ask. But she just had to know if she was right. It couldn’t wait!

WC: 296 + 533 = 829

Interacting with: @Violine Thomas

OOC: Violine, I'm assuming that we're still going with our original plan for this errand being a precursor to our other thread that we're planning. If those things have changed, just let me know through Owl or Discord and I'll edit my post.

Hey, everyone, sorry about the wait!

So far, the people in this errand who have completed the word count are:
@Ruthie Greer
@Evelynn Decipio
@Serena Bowen
All of you have been rewarded. You are free to keep RPing, or if you can come up with an IC reason to leave early (like your character forgetting that they double-booked something or getting sick or whatever), you can do that too.

The following people are still short of the word count:
@Violine Thomas by 271 words
@Juniper Irving by 407 words
@River Dewlight by 270 words
@Lark Flaer by 251 words
Keep it up, you guys!

Cy grinned as she listened to Gris answer for her, explanation remarkably thorough considering the confusing variety of details within Chinese folktales. "Gris is right - the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac doesn't include the cat. The story I'm telling today includes a few of the same characters, and a couple new ones: the rat parents," two paper cutouts flew up from behind the desk to hover in the center of the room, "the cat," another cutout, this one larger than the others, floated up and to the back of the classroom, "and the many different suitors." A line of colorful characters streamed into view, taking their place on the walls, out of the way of the main 'stage,' so to speak.

"So - imagine. It's the third day of the lunar calendar, the day of the rats. Here we have a wealthy, respectable family of rats - obviously the Chinese don't have the same connotation of rats as Europeans tend to - including the mother, the father, and of course, the third, their lovely daughter, who had just reached the age when she was ready to marry." From the side of the room, a procession of cutouts emerged from under an invisibility cloak, a line of rats parading through the air, winding in abstract patterns above their heads. In the center of the line, four rats carried the cutout of a palanquin with a small window, through which the head of a rat decorated by a flower was visible. 

"The parents loved their daughter very much, and they wanted only the strongest, most powerful husband for her, so they went looking for a worthy husband." A cutout of the sun, made from metallic gold paper, detached itself from the wall, floating down to hover before the rats. "The first suitor was the Sun. The Sun said that since he shone his light on all, he was the most powerful suitor. The parents agreed."

But a cutout of a group of clouds swept down from the ceiling, resting in front of the sun. The sun crumpled into a small ball and dropped to the floor with a flick of Cy's wand. "However, as soon as they did, the Cloud came to block the Sun's light. The parents saw that the Cloud had easily overpowered the Sun, and considered allowing the Cloud to marry their daughter."

Not a second later, the fluid lines of wind joined the cloud, snaking through the air as if animated. The cloud crumpled and fell, too. "Just as they were about to ask the Cloud, though, the Wind blew the Cloud away, and proclaimed that he was much more powerful than the Cloud. In demonstration, he stirred the air around them so well that the daughter's handkerchief fell from her hand." The cutout flew around the classroom, faster and faster until it became nothing more than a blur, a thin breeze stirring the stacks of paper and materials on the crafting tables. Wisps of Cy's hair flew up as well.

Suddenly, the cutout of a brick wall detached from the ceiling, falling straight to the ground. As it touched the floor, a section of the stone tiles rumbled, lifting from the flat surface to create a small wall at the front of the classroom. The breeze stopped abruptly, the cutout of the wind falling to the floor as well. "But the Wind couldn't get past the Wall, steadfast and unwavering. The parents believed they had finally found the perfect husband for their daughter, strangeness of marrying an actual wall aside, but there was one more thing that could beat the wall. Can you guess what it is?"