Do or Do Not. There is no try. PV Gris

Interacting with @Glen Pope

Sundays would always be Griseldis's favorite day of the week because it was the only day to be free from any lessons and also no Prefect duties. She was a very diligent person, but she also never forgot to have some free time for herself to do things she enjoyed. Every hard work required rest to recover, they were humans after all and not a machine.

The lioness also thought that today would be a nice day to relax, at first she wondered what can she do for the day. Reading some books in the library? Nah. Writing a letter to her family? Nah. Meeting up with her friends? Nah. Even though she did miss some of her friends but she didn't want to disturb people's Sunday. Perhaps a nice walk by the Great Lake? Yes! Griseldis hadn't exercised for two weeks due to a lot of homework and also that chaotic event she didn't even want to mention about it again. And since it was a sunny day, it was indeed a perfect time to finally relax and have a walk outside.

Oddly enough, there weren't a lot of students around on the path to the Great Lake but that wasn't really her concern. Griseldis was somehow relieved and glad that it would be a peaceful afternoon walk. She really missed feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin, the smell of fresh grass, and a touch from the breeze. But then she stopped by the sudden humming sound and looked around to find the origin of the humming noise, normally she wouldn't want to disturb people enjoying their alone time but the reason for her to be curious was that the person was humming something she heard before during her times in the Muggle world.

Isn't that the famous background music from Star Wars? What was the title of that music again? The Imperial March? Griseldis saw a tall boy with very dark skin sitting under a lone tree, humming and carving something in his hands. She decided to approach the boy closer and finally saw what he just craved. "Wow! Are you carving a lightsaber hilt? It looks so well carved...you're a Star War fan?" Honestly, not only was her first time knowing there was a student who knew about Star Wars, but it was also the first time seeing someone who could carve a wood. Grisledis would risk coming forward to speak with the dark-skinned boy who looked slightly older than her. She hoped the person wouldn't be too annoyed by her sudden interruption.

To his surprise, the piece of wood actually began to take the shape of what could conceivably be recognized as a lightsaber hilt. Maybe not a particularly pretty one – but that was not the point. For a first attempt after quite a break, it was going splendidly. Or so he hoped. It was no time to get overconfident – one wrong move could ruin a whole piece, after all. Granted, not every wrong move would completely ruin the thing but a big enough mistake...

He might still have on or two pieces at home that he had broken apart by accidentally cutting too far in or too harshly. This particular piece of wood was bigger and therefore hopefully more sturdy but that was probably no guarantee.

He kept humming the Imperial March while he was working, it seemed fitting, after all. He was quite absorbed in his whittling and did not notice the approaching student – not that he couldn't have missed that even without concentrating on his craft, he could have quite the metaphorical blinders on if he was distracted or simply plain not paying attention.

Whatever the reason may be he jumped a bit when there was suddenly a voice addressing him and only barely avoided cutting himself as his startle made his carving knife slide off the wood. He was in luck though, and neither he nor the piece of wood (nor the other student) came to harm.

“Ah- I-uuuh.” He blinked, surprised, and took a moment to adjust to the new reality of someone talking to him. (Not that someone talking to him was that rare or that surprising, he was approachable enough for that, but he had not expected it right that moment.) “Sorry. Um. Yes, yes, I'm trying to make a lightsaber hilt. Thanks.”

There was a note of relief in his voice that it was recognizable to someone that hadn't been aware of what he was trying to make. While he could see it in his work he also knew what he was trying to do so maybe he had only recognized it by association... but no, now there was this student (a girl, younger than him possibly, he wasn't quite sure but he didn't recognize her from one of his classes) that had identified his attempt no problem.

Then he stopped and blinked again in surprise. She had recognized it and asked-- that meant she knew Star Wars! Glen smiled – or maybe it was a slightly giddy grin that he gave – and nodded enthusiastically. “You know Star Wars?? - Of course you know Star Wars, otherwise you wouldn't have asked, nevermind, sorry.”, he rambled. “Uh, well, my mum is more of a fan than me, I guess, but yep. I'd say so... Well, maybe?”, he sounded unsure. “I mean, I don't know that much about it given all the time I, well, we, spend at school and not at home so I don't have that much time to-, Well, we don't spend that much time in the Muggle world, do we? uh. Not saying that you do, I mean, I wouldn't know but--” He abruptly stopped his rapid-fire word-vomit and took a breath. “Uh. Sorry. Didn't mean to ramble at you.”

Dropping his hilt-in-progress into his lap, he used the now freed hand to scratch sheepishly at the back of his head giving the girl a somewhat apologetic smile.

Reducio

For reference, though his attempt is nowhere near as fancy:

Interacting with @Glen Pope

As expected, the Slytherin boy immediately stopped and looked up at Griseldis with a surprised expression. Perhaps he was so deep in his own world and all of a sudden was brought back to reality by her voice did take him a while to adjust. However, he did hear what she just asked and confirmed to her that he was indeed making a lightsaber hilt. The Gryffindor Prefect's smile widened, "So I was correct, it's really a lightsaber hilt! That's super wicked!", she beamed and complimented him once again. Griseldis wasn't really much of an artistic crafter, she only ever did Chinese painting or folding Origami. Carving a wood figure was never one of them but she did watch of other people carve it before, although she wouldn't have thought that she would encounter a student who could carve a wood.

The Slytherin was also surprised to know that she knew about Star Wars, quite a normal reaction in her opinion since they were in a Wizarding School and there weren't really a lot of Muggle-borns around. "Ah, well...I was kinda raised in a Muggle world even though I'm a Half-blood and most of my Muggle friends are the huge Star Wars fans than me. I often got invited to watch the movies with them." then he mentioned about his mother being the true fan, "Oh, that's certainly is interesting to know that your mom is a Star War fan. Too bad my own parents weren't fans of any movies, they are more traditional I guess."

Griseldis watched how he suddenly starting to ramble very quickly but he was quick to realize that he was talking too fast and stopped himself. The Slytherin seemed a bit sheepish of his sudden rambling and apologized to her. "Hey, there is nothing to apologize...", then she realized something herself and gently tapped the side of her forehead, "Where are my manners? I'm Griseldis Edelhardt, you can just call me Gris and I'm a second-year Gryffindor. It's really nice to meet you, by the way." The lioness smiled at the elder boy and reached out her right hand to him, implying for a friendly handshake.

OOC: Please forgive my turtle-like replying tempo, really had a lot of work to do irl

Glen couldn’t help but grin happily as the girl called the lightsaber wicked. It was amazing enough that she’d recognized what it was supposed to be but her actually liking it was even cooler! “Thanks!” Dropping his hand back in his lap he picked his work piece up again. Should he-? Hm. No, that could be turned into a button. He’d keep that part for now. He could always cut it later.

Oh, she grew up in the Muggle world as well, despite being from a magical family? That was really cool. He didn’t think there were many of them. Although, Half-Blood could mean that one of her parents was a Muggle and then it wouldn’t be so rare, would it? “Interesting. I grew up half-Muggle, too, despite being Wizard-Born.” He shrugged with a grin. “But my grandma’s Muggle – her brother went to Hogwarts though, that’s how she met grandpa. But Mum decided to work in the Muggle library in town, so… Well, it has a magical corner, too, but you know, the majority – anyway. Our family was known in town so we grew up ‘normal’ like. If that makes sense.” He probably stopped making sense somewhere in there… Oh well. “Yeah, iya was part of a fan club and everything. Well for the one and a half years it existed…”

Her manners? Oh lord, his were probably worse. He’d completely forgotten about introductions… He just kept rambling at her. Dropping the workpiece and the whittling knife back into his lap again, he reached out and shook her hand. “Third year Snek, Glen Pope, at your service!” he gave her a mock-bow (well an attempt at a mock-bow, considering he was sitting down) and and a happy grin.

Interacting with @Glen Pope

Upon hearing that the elder Slytherin boy being a wizard born, her pastel grey eyes widen in a surprise. She did have a friend who was a wizard born too and always found them quite interesting. Almost like Purebloods but they got to live a similar life as a Half-bloods in the Muggle world. Listening to him talking about his family, it also encouraged her to tell him about her own family, "Wow, that's wicked! Well, my mother is a Muggle, but her twin sister, aka my aunt, is a Muggle-born witch and she works as an Obliviator. Even though most of my Mother's family are Muggles, they are aware of the Wizarding world. My father, however, is a Pure-blood but he never told me much about his family though...I only know my uncle, he is a Magizoologist and he often visits us during the holidays." It always felt nice to tell people about her family but she could only talk mostly about her mother's side of the family and not her father's side of the family. Griseldis still couldn't understand why her father often tried to avoid any conversation that involved the Edelhardt family in front of her. She once tried to ask her uncle but he often said to her that sometimes "ignorance is bliss".

The dark-skinned Slytherin immediately placed his stuff aside, accepted her handshake, and introduced himself as the third-year Slytherin student, Glen Pope. To her surprise, he even did a mock-bow like a gentleman while he was still sitting behind the tree. She giggled a bit and found it quite quirky in a good way. It just showed that Glen could be a fun person.

The Gryffindor Prefect returned with a curtsy, bending her knees while bowing her head to him with a genuine smile. "If you don't mind, Glen...can I sit beside you and watch you carving wood? Or maybe teach me how to carve one? I never carve a wood before." She said and looked up at Glen with pure excitement in her eyes.

Interacting with @Glen Pope

Griseldis hoped she wasn't being too rude or bothersome for the elder Slytherin when she asked if she could sit beside him to watch him carving the wood. She even boldly asked him if it would be possible to teach her how to carve one as well.

Maybe that was a bit out of the blue... She thought while listening to Glen humming to her sudden request. Well, it wasn't like she could turn back time to take back what she said so she patiently waited until he finally reply to her, saying that he didn't really mind for her to sit beside him and watch how he carve but wasn't sure if he could be a good teacher. Looking down at the workpiece on the ground, Griseldis had to disagree with him and shook her head, "No, I don't think you will be a horrible teacher at all, the lightsaber hilt you carved looks quite good in my opinion. Although, I understand that asking you to teach me is kind of too soon, but I'm still glad that I'm allowed to watch you continue your work." She said cheerfully and slowly walked up to the elder boy and sat right beside him.

While watching Glen continued his work, he mentioned to Griseldis that he was trying to remember his grandmother's first instructions, she stared at him with a surprised expression, "Your grandmother's first instructions? Wait, so your grandmother was the on who taught you how to carve wook? That's so wicked!" Then her eyes shifted to the whittling knife in his other hand, "So the tool you used for carving wood is this whittling knife...are there any stores in Diagon Alley that sells a set of wood carving tools?" she asked him curiously with a smile.

Glen was glad that she hadn’t taken his words the wrong way so he gave her a slightly relieved smile when she complimented his work-in-progress. “Thanks.” Despite what she said, he really didn’t think he’d be any good at teaching. He was under no illusion when it came to how scatter-brained he was. He would probably just go on tangent after tangent – if he didn’t forget that he was supposed to teach period. (He was almost tempted to try just to see how it would go, but… he didn’t want to scare a potential new friend away.)

While he worked on the hilt some more, he absentmindedly began humming the Imperial March again for a moment before catching himself. She was asking after his grandma and stuff, so he should probably answer her instead of humming. “Yeah. Although, truthfully ‘taught’ might be a bit too generous. She, uh, was kind of a strong believer of learning-by-doing and therefore trial-and-error.” He grimaced slightly. “Drove my parents to distraction because they thought whittling was too dangerous… but in the end grandma won that argument… Anyway.”

He shut his mouth abruptly. That was most likely more unnecessary information than she needed (or wanted). But she had also asked after carving tools, so… For a moment his expression must’ve been very peculiar as he simultaneously tried to shut up and answer the second question. “Umm, there’s. I mean, it depends on what you want to do. It’s definitely a good start, and yes, it’s what I mostly use. A proper carving kit has too many tools to keep track of in my opinion, but. If you want to do something more complex or delicate or… well, there are some things you just can’t do with a simple whittling knife.” He gave a decisive nod to emphasize his point.

As for a store in Diagon Alley… Glen wracked his brain but he couldn’t recall off the top of his head. After a contemplative pause he shook his head. “I don’t think there’s a shop in Diagon. At least I’ve never been to one as far as I know. But there are some stores in Muggle London. Or, really, any city with an art supply store or a, like, carpenting tools store, uh, I doubt that’s what their called but I dunno what they’re called, so. “ He winced. Hopefully his answer hadn’t ended up being too tangled.