ERRAND Hogwarts Pâtisserie OPEN Closed

Interacting with @Alan Vanes @Lydia Cooper
Color Code: #259986

Willow had faded out of the conversations and introductions, leaving the rest of those at the table to do most of the work in small talk for her. She would of course interact if she was directly addressed but she mainly came to this to get some creative energy going which she felt like had been lacking in her dark mood. She finally finished up her crystal ball and held it up with a small smile. It was a simple decoration but she loved it. She started on a second one which she planned on making a pendulum, her personal favorite method of divination within her personal muggle witchcraft at home. She didn't know if wizards used it but wanted to take the risk.

She was working on the intricate chain when an owl landed on Alan to give him a letter, she glanced up as he read it not wanting to seem like she was watching when she definitely was. He seemed happy enough to get the letter, a small smile even appearing as he read it. The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she could think about stopping them, "Seems like there was good news from an irritated owl." She loved the owls, even though some of them could definitely be a little bit rude when not given payment for their services. They couldn't be carrying around owl treats all the time as much as she wished she could.

She looked over at Lydia's creations of tiny fruit and her heart brightened a bit at the adorable smiles on them. She was a sucker for tiny adorable things, maybe this really would be the perfect thing to help cheer her up and decided to strike up a conversation with Lydia since they hadn't been able to talk all that much even at the Women's Day event of decorating. "Are you going to the Quidditch match today Lydia? Hufflepuff is set to take the Quidditch cup if we do well in today's game." Her first Quidditch match as the first-string keeper would be today and it would be nice to figure out if there would be some friends in the stands now rather than later trying to seek them out in the screaming crowd.

Word Count: 356^{1st Post} + 313^{2nd Post} + 376^{3rd Post} = 1045/1000

Open to Interactions
Interacting with @Alan Vanes @Lydia Cooper @Willow Anderson

Alan offered with a smile for Jake to join the group, and Jake felt the warm and cozy feeling of being welcomed. "Thank you...!" he said, smiling a little, before finding his spot at the table. When the girl he recognized from the common room sat down on one side of Alan, Jake sat himself down on his other side. Alan was the most familiar of all the students, and so Jake positioned himself close to him. He didn't know if that was what he was supposed to do...there were probably other students there that Alan was better friends with, after all...but there were already a lot of kids and it just made him feel more comfortable being next to somebody that he knew. The little Hufflepuff kneeled on the bench for some extra reach and then took a piece of marzipan and placed it on the mat in front of him.

As he did, a girl across the table (another one he remembered from Hufflepuff common room) leaned forward in greeting. Her name was Willow. "Ya mean like the tree...?" Jake asked, thinking that it was a very cool name, before remembering he should be introducing himself also. "U-um, oh, I'm Jake," he said. "But um...i-it's not so cool a name as Willow."

But then other kids began to arrive - a Gryffindor girl and boy, and with the addition of more people, Jake felt shyer and fixed his eyes upon his marzipan which he began to squish with his hands. He was starting to wish he had asked one of his room-mates to come with him. George probably would have had a good time. Who couldn't amongst all the desserts! Once again, Jake was struck by the smell. Everything smelled so good! It was almost unfair. How did they expect children not to eat any? Jake practically had to sit on his hands to stop from tasting anything and he was actually a good child! That was more than could be said about some of the other kids in their class. If he had to guess he would bet that a lot of cupcakes were gonna go missing.

As for the task of the day, Jake had never made marzipan before, but he knew it was pretty yummy. He HAD made all of the other things that were on the list, and so he was happy to try something new.

But what to decorate it as?

As he was pondering that, the girl on the other side of Alan said his name and got his attention. Her name started with an L...was it Lydia...? When he saw her smile, he soon found himself smiling a little bit back. She liked his backpack. Jake had never been complimented about his backpack before, and wasn't quite sure how to respond to it, but he couldn't help but be a little proud. "U-um, thank you..." he mumbled. "I really like colored things." Of course, his Mum had bought the backpack but only because she knew he would like it. Colorful things just always had a way of making him happy.

When the owl landed at the table, Jake found himself very distracted again, admiring its feathers. "Awwww," he cooed as he watched the owl vie for Alan's attention. It was so cute! What kind of letter had Alan gotten? Jake wondered if it was rude to ask him or not. He looked down at his arm (which he had been leaning on and was now powdered with sugar, oops) and snapped back to attention. If Alan wanted to tell them what it said he probably already would have.

Jake put a sugary hand to his chin, and thought his decoration over again. "I'm definitely gonna make some kind of animal, he said, "but I don't know what yet."

646 + 621 Words = 1267 total

@Wren Caster @Alan Vanes

[font=Segoe Print]Marzipans, it seemed, were fickle creatures, the dough with a mind of its own, ever-shifting and utterly untamable to the ordinary dessert-crafter. However, the universe should have known by now that Rafael was no ordinary Gryffindor boy. From his very first attempt at creating a dough creature, he’d gritted his teeth in determination, his eyes alight with curiosity as he studied the substance, carefully taking note of its texture and unruly mannerisms. Well, he supposed, the universe had presented the boy with a welcome challenge – one he would gladly accept.

Taking into account the soft, moist texture, he carefully worked the dough into a ball, the size of the Air Pods case he had so graciously left at home. It wasn’t a widely-known fact, but the boy had had some prior experience with decorating food – after all, his aunt owned a Mexican restaurant in Barking, and his assistance had been utilized many a summer, when the workers of such a business were on vacation or sick. Therefore, his hands worked with skilled, well-practices precision as they rolled the second ball – the size of a quarter – neatly placing it at the edge of the first ball. A head, resting in a body, as anyone would be able to tell. Excellent. Then, with his nimble piano-player fingers, he carefully grasped two more dough pieces of dough, breaking them into small pieces and threading them into strings. Seeing that they were the proper size, he continued to place the strings on the face of his creature – whiskers. He then took the remaining two, rolled them up, and placed them on his lion’s face. Eyes. Moving on, the boy took another ball of dough from the pile and squished it flat. Taking a spoon, he began to cut out a mane, simple and efficient. He concluded with placing the mane on his little figure – now donned a lion.

Raising his handiwork into the light, he beamed, admiring the subtle detail and simple beauty of the creature he so graciously created, his hands matted with dough. “He’s a lovely little bugger, isn’t he?” the boy asked Wren absently, grinning mischievous. “But, what to name him?” Should he even name such a creature? Would it hurt all the more, when his handiwork would be consumed? No, he would choose not to name his little lion – rather, he’d make it a friend.

Yes – continuing on, his fingers dove in the dough once more, this time forming something else. Making the original balls of dough – the perfect template – he’d started his new creation by rolling a small piece of dough and sticking it to the form’s rear end. A tail. Then, moving on, he created long, floppy ears, carefully sticking them onto top of his creature’s head. To conclude, he pasted two beady little eyes on the barren face of the creature, along with a few well-placed whiskers dotted across its mouth area.

“Each lion deserved a friend,” he muttered to himself, admiring his work in a thoughtful manner. “Though, in hindsight, perhaps a rabbit isn’t the best option for a carnivorous animal. Perhaps a good dinner?” [/font]
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–Word Count–
804 + 519 = 1323

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Interacting with @Jake Morris , @Willow Anderson 

Lydia looked down at her little marzipan fruit and smiled, feeling incredibly proud of herself; she had already done quite a few of them, and they had turned out pretty nice. She lifted her head and gave Jake a warm smile, one of those that reached her eyes as well. "Coloured things are the best!" she agreed and then turned towards the owl that had just landed in front of Alan. 

Even if she had been at Hogwarts for almost six months, she still hadn't gotten used to owls delivering the post and flying everywhere. Whenever her family would send her a letter, that happened at least once a week, even though she wouldn't always answer them, she would usually jump up in surprise, the owl surprising her as she was immersed in her thoughts.

When Willow started talking to her Lydia blinked absently a couple of times, her eyes still staring at the owl, before she looked at the girl. She couldn't help the excited smile that appeared on her face as she nodded. "Yep! I'm going with Aaron and Sean! Knowing Aaron, he'll arrive there pretty early, so we should end up being in one of the first rows," she said and mentally grinned. The previous night her and Aaron had worked on a special banner to support Willow in the game, and she couldn't wait for her to see it. 
"How are you feeling? Are you excited for it?" Lydia asked Willow, as she took another piece of marzipan and absently started kneading it, not really knowing what to do with it yet.

Word count : 288 words (1st post) + 575 words (2nd post) + 266 words (3rd post) : 1129 words

DISCLAIMER: REMEMBER THE DEADLINE TO REACH 1K WORDS

Calming Presence
mainly interacts with @Willow Anderson, @Rafael D'Spacito & @Wren Caster
momentarily interacts with @Jake Morris

"Y-Yeah! Someone a-asked m-me to go w-watch the Hufflpuff m-match together!", he told her proud, before he decided to add, "I h-have never been to a m-match before. so I a-am really excited!" And excited he was. He could not wait for it even. He was probably going to feel a bit lost as he had no idea what the game would be about or anything, but hopefully Flash would know it a bit better. Even if not, he was sure they could just enjoy watching a game neither of them had a clue about. Before he could listen to her conversation with Lydia, he momentarily found himself distracted by Jake and smiled at him thoughtfully. "Wh-What about m-making it a N-Niffler?", he pointed out, hoping to have given the kid a useful prompt as he worked on the small round forms he had made so far. He would continue to shape them a bit and add minor details to them. It was no where near perfect; eyes of different sizes, wings that were too small and thin and feet that were unproportional and big... but the result was perfect to Alan, inspired by the feathery visitor.

Alan's head snapped up, when he heard his name being called by a girl that he had briefly met before a while ago, curiously waiting for her to say what was on her mind. A name for Rafa's lion? Alan glanced over to the boy in question or furthermore on the piece of marzipan he had been working on. "Hmmm...", he hummed as he got up from his seat and walked closer to the girl and the boy, hoping that Jake would not be bothered by him leaving his side for a moment. He got a closer look at the lion and rested his lower lip between his teeth lightly, deep in thought. "Wh-What about P-Paws?", he offered, since the little marzipan lion looked kind of adorable. But it would be a shame to eat it now, after all it had been given a name! He really hoped that the new professor would have mercy on this little lion at least. "I r-really like th-the detail though, the l-lion looks c-cute!", he told Rafael with a kind smile, while he thought about the little owl he had made.

WC: 395 + 569 + 850 + 385
total WC is 2199

Interacting with @Alan Vanes
Mentions @Lydia Cooper

Jake smiled back at Lydia as she complimented his backpack and shared his love for colors. He placed it carefully under the bench, wondering why it was that girls always seemed to appreciate his things so much more than boys did.

Alan made a suggestion for the creature that Jake could make, and Jake's face lit up.

"Oh yea, that's a good idea. A niffler!" Nifflers were one of the coolest magical animals. They were soooo cute with their little snouts and the way they wanted gold. If George had been an animal, maybe a niffler would be the type that he would be. They had a similar knack for naughtiness and mayhem. It was actually very troubling in real life, but when Jake imagined George sneaking around trying to sniff out people's gold he had to cover up his mouth to hide a private giggle.

Jake got to work quickly, once he knew what he wanted to make, even though he had never actually worked with marzipan before. Imagining a niffler was no problem, though he wished he'd brought his sketchbook. He could have drawn the niffler first by hand, which would have given him a reference that would make crafting his dessert more easy. That was how he had always done his icing drawings - with a picture to look at first. He wasn't so sure he could get it right without one. He realized, with a bit of embarrassment, that he would have usually had it in his backpack if he hadn't been making room for Freddie. But he got to work all the same.

Jake was so focused on his work that he didn't notice as Alan got up from the table. He was fully engaged in the careful craftsmanship that was art. Patience and concentration were the two most important parts, and imagination the third. If you could do all those three things, you could draw most anything. This wasn't drawing but it took the same kind of skills. As he began to knead the dough in his hands, he began to realize it wasn't so unfamiliar after all. It was actually sort of like what he had used to do with play-dough at home, and while he had never made a play-dough niffler back then (on account of not knowing what a niffler actually was), he had made play-dough bears, and it was a good place to start since both bears and snifflers had the same type of bellies.

He had a good sense then for what size dough to start with, and worked to make it as round as he could. Niffers weren't quite as round as bears though, they were just a little more oval-shaped, so he worked to reshape it just a bit. Their snouts were their next most important feature, and so he had to make sure he got that right too. if the body and the snout were right, you'd be able to tell it was a niffler, even if he was wrong on the eyes (and even if he suddenly in the moment couldn't quite remember if it had four toes or five, or, shamefully, whether or not it had a tail).

It was slow-going work, but this was where Jake felt most comfortable. His face didn't show anything but the utmost concentration, so an onlooker might not be able to tell just how felt at home and alive the little badger felt - like he could do this all afternoon if they'd let him.

When he had finally finished, much later, he turned to Alan (or if Alan had not yet come back to the table, he went over to get his attention). He put his little dessert niffler into his palm and held it up towards Alan with a grin.

"Meet Sniffler the Niffler," Jake said, his smile a mixture of shyness and pride.

He had remembered about the tail in the end after all.

646 + 621 + 658 Words = 1925 total

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Interacting With: @Alan Vanes @Wren Caster
Mentioning: N/A

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[font=Segoe Print]“What about, Danny DeRoarto? Or, how about Darry the cougarly lion?”

Rafael could do nothing to stifle the snicker that left his throat at the sound of Wren’s name concept. How was it, that one thought up something so creative? She was certainly on to something, wasn’t she? Looking up at his blonde friend, he allowed a bright grin to cross his face as he nodded, happily conceding to her idea. “That’s a lovely idea, mate! He sure looks like a ‘Danny’, doesn’t he?” What exactly did a Danny look like? He entertained himself with the idea for a moment, lost in thought for a quick moment, until hearing Alan’s lovely idea – such a concept only brightened his grin, and he looked up, nodding towards the third year in agreement. “Paws. Simple and adorable. That’s a real bright idea, Alan!” Then, upon hearing Alan’s compliment, he could only beam, looking back down at his lovely little creation. “That’s really nice to say, mate,” he responded. “Thanks!”

He began to tidy up his work station about then, consolidating the dough he’d once used into a ball and putting back with the rest of the materials. It would be about then, that he’d hear Wren’s next remark. His eyes rose in surprise, and he’d gazed upon her lumpy creation, a snicker escaping his lips. “What do you mean?” he gasped, furrowing his eyebrows and putting a hand to his chest, feigning offense. “Don’t make fun of him, yeah? He’s beautiful! …in his own, uneven little way.” His joking nature was more than evident in his eyes – there was a sort of mischievous glint in his brown hues, a grin tugging at the ends of his lips.

“As far as names go,” he glanced down at his merry creation once more, considering the little lion thoughtfully, “I’m not sure I’m capable of naming the poor fellow. Perhaps I’ll leave that up to you lot?” He shrugged, rubbing his neck, the feeling of flour uncomfortable across his skin as he became aware of its presence. “God,” his hands quickly met his hoodie, and he wiped the substance on his clothing, white staining the maroon in a floury mess. “That’s just lovely, isn’t it?” Oh well, he thought dejectedly. ‘Twas the price of messing with the finer arts of baking. He’d have to take note to wear something more expendable in the future.

Standing up, he put his hands to his face, blowing the remainder of the white off of his hands and into the air. Such dust caused his nose to tickle, a sneeze beckoning to be released – without much care for stifling the oncoming fit, the air quickly escaped his nostrils, and he put his elbow to his nose, containing the pathogens. “Excuse me,” he muttered, straightening himself out. “It was really nice seeing you all – have a nice day!” He shook his hand off once more, before using it to wave at his friends and acquaintances. And, with that, he turned, escaping past the many students working on their pastries. [/font]

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Rafael leaves the thread

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| Open to Interaction |
@Wren Caster, @Rafael D'Spacito & @Jake Morris

The third year had been glad about the fact that Jake liked his marzipan prompt and was content to leave him alone for a while, confident that the young badger would be fine on his own. He seemed to be happy with the task and it made Alan wonder whether he had gathered another artistic friend there. He also knew that the younger badger liked magical creatures, since they had spent hours talking about them on their train ride to the castle by the end of the winter holidays.

When Wren asked him whether his owl had a name, the third year shrugged slightly. N-Not really... b-but it's being eaten anyway, right? Wh-What a shame...", he muttered with a sigh, before lifting his head with a cheerful smile. "Y-You can n-name it, if you w-wanna?", he offered and he would be curious what name the girl would be picking, if she would come up with any at all.

Apparently Rafael liked the name he had chosen for the little marzipan animal, making Alan smile with a bit more confidence. "N-No worries", he muttered with a crooked smile as he glanced at the marzipan lion and over to Wren who also held a few of those. It seemed like all of them were quite artistic and it made him a little unsure about the sorry attempt of an owl he had produced. When Rafael wiped off the flour on his maroon colored hoodie, white hand-sized streaks worked itself into the fabric aggravating the taller boy. "What d-did you expect to h-happen, huh?", he asked with a stifled snicker.

Some of the dusty flour that Rafael decided to blow from his hands, decided to carry through the air of his surroundings and therefore Alan. Bits of the flour particles settling on his hair, which couldn't bother the older yet smaller Gryffindor less "Guess I deserved that for laughing", run through his mind, but if it was at that cost it must have been worth it. Bits of flour already dusting his face anyway, from when he had been working on the owl that was yet missing a name. "S-See you around R-Raf-", he was about to say bye when his eyes caught sight of Jake stepping closer. Involuntarily makin Rafael owner of yet another nickname.

"Jake, th-this is incredible-", he started a his eyes caught sight of the marzipan Niffler. Alan would then proceed to mock a tiny bow towards the sugar creature, "I-It's a p-pleasure to meet y-you, Sniffler the Niffler", he said feeling only slightly silly while doing so, mostly amused. "H-He looks so r-real, Jake!", he complimented. The marzipan might have flaws but Alan saw only perfection in the first years work.