ERRAND Starborn Wonders mass thread The Lyrids Meteor Shower

An ambient heat floated around the bonfire, luminescent embers glowing softly in the midst of interlinked wood pieces, as the fire above roared loudly. Smoke curled and coiled, rising in a simulacre of a danse until it reached the stars etched on the night sky above.

Elena was beyond pleased with how her idea had played out. Numerous students had answered her call, looking forward to a night under the stars and some quality time with their peers and members of the castle's staff. Upon arriving, she had hoovered around students, ready to assist those struggling adapting to the wildlife — truth be told, these tents were not the easiest to set up. A younger girl with dark waves cascading down her shoulders and deep brown eyes [ @denisse de vera ] appeared to be in a long-list fight with hers, and the raven halted to offer assistance and a few words of reassurance.

Not losing her priorities, the blue-eyed prefect had at all times a marshmallow pierced by a wooden stick floating near the bonfire, using levitating charms to keep it in the air before chomping on it with a satisfied expression. Quite a little crowd had gathered around her bonfire, and seeing their awe-struck face when gazing at the constellations above their heads filled her with more joy any perfectly roasted marshmallow could ever bring her. A determined straight-haired slytherin girl [ @rosy parker ] was attempting to achieve such a level of cooking perfection right by her side, without much success. With a few encouragements from the raven did the trick, and soon she was able to feast on impeccably roasted marshmallows as well.

Some, eager, raised interesting questions, the first one to speak being a chestnut-haired boy [ @paul turner] ] proudly wearing a NASA shirt, clearly a passionate of space and its wonders. "That is an excellent question, actually," Elena smiled, pondering her answer before replying. "As I've just explained, meteor showers are actually the debris of a comet, meaning a meteor shower occurs when the earth goes through the orbit of a comet or an asteroid who let a trail of dust on its path. Comets are composed by rock debris covered in ice. When it approaches the Sun, that ice goes from solid to gaseous, and the particles formed are ejected really really fast. When the orbit of the earth enters that cloud of debris, they are burned through the atmosphere of the earth, thus creating meteor showers." After this more in-depth explanation, the raven shifted on her seat, gazing at the night sky. "We can indeed imagine that eventually, we would run out of debris to go through, thus putting an end to the spectacle we are about to see tonight. However, comets orbit! They follow similar patterns to what we do around our sun, which means new debris are created continuously. Comet Thatcher will reach its farthest point from the sun around the year 2070, and then begin its return trip to reach its next perihelion — the closest point to the sun — around year 2283. Until then, fingers crossed we will get to experience such beautiful showers every year!" Her last sentence was concluded with a wink, hoping she had brought answers and reassurance to the young boy.

Other questions soon fused, one of them asked by an elegant girl [ @ophelia vanderbuilt ] sitting straight on her wooden stool — an improvised and cushioned tree trunk, really, but nomination matters — who approached her once crowds had settled. "No question is dumb," she smiled, reassuring, before nodding. "And this one in particular was far from it! The Lyrids can be spotted from dusk until dawn, and during three whole days. The predicted peak is around 1am today — or tomorrow, depending on how you see it haha —, but they will be visible throughout the entire night."

Gazing over the crowd, Elena spotted familiar faces — her favourite lioness [ @meiyu xiang ], her usual brooding expression etched on her ethereal porcelain traits ; a walking reminder of bittersweet childhood moments [ @camille de varenne ] ; the fox-eyed nymph of troubled water [ @ cecilia merrick ] which she had learned to dearly appreciate over the course of the past months ; her dear confident in the person of a star-spun brunette [ @giovanni de'luca ] ; and the peculiar insect-like girl [ @livia machariani ] encountered in a moonlit library.

Navy eyes shifted towards the ink - black sky, awaiting the meteor shower with a serene smile.

This post is meant to give more informations regarding the errand from Elena's point of view, as well as to give anyone who would like to interact with her some material to work with. Feel free to interact with her!! You can mention her saying / doing anything written in the post just above. You can either tag me or not, as you see fit. I will probably hop in to reply to those interaction, but you can also do your own thing! However, please do not directly make her say or do anything that I haven't written! Ie., if your character has a question, you can say she answered it, but do not specifically invent her answer. If you have any questions, feel free to owl me. Have fun everyone !!

The stars seemed to smile down at Joseph, who was still fumbling with his roast apple kebab. Another apple slice slipped out -- he caught it with his elbow this time, hurriedly shoving it into his mouth.

He blushed. Surely he could eat an apple right at least.

"Urmumfumrf," he mumbled around his apple slice, nodding emphatically. Either his cooking skills were terrible or roast apple tasted like flavoured cardboard.

"Maybe fruit kebabs just have something against me," he said, tilting his head.

Pam didn't seem to be listening. Her eyes were on the night sky, silver moonlight falling across her hair. Nature had always mesmerised her. The stars. They were what drew her back to Astronomy tower night after night.

After a long moment, she shifted until her shoulder rested slightly against his.

Joseph stiffened instinctively. Then, slowly, he felt his shoulders loosen.

It was grounding, at the very least. Like the cosy weight of Astra in his palm.

A flicker of warmth settled in his chest, though it had nothing to do with the campfire's prickling heat.

"What is it...?" Joseph asked, as Pam sat up abruptly. She reached into her pocket, and Joseph blinked, almost missing the flash of grey. A googly eye. Two.

Realisation dawned on Joseph. His jaw fell limp.

"NO WAY... YOU GOT A PET ROCK?"

He was on his feet now, his last sorry apple slice and its stick rolling into the flames. For a moment his eyes shone as his mind reeled with possibilities. Then self-consciousness kicked back in, and his gaze fell to his feet. He sat back down awkwardly.

His body chose this exact moment to let out a muffled fart.

"Oh um..." he turned to face the pet rock, suppressing a wince. He'd survived thousands of social disasters. He could survive this too... whatever this was.

"Does it have a name yet? And oh, what made you suddenly get one?" He glanced towards Astra, his heart caught between joy and the aftershock of embarrassment.

But still... a pet rock. It could play with Astra all day, maybe live in a neighbouring dollhouse. Or they could have a playdate with Mandy. Oh golly, that would be terrific.

Despite everything, a smile broke across his face. It might be a dream come true.

@Pamela Graham
@Mandy the Rock @Ruth Fairchild

Speech -- Thoughts

Joseph's reaction was... admittedly much more enthusiastic than she had expected.

Pam blinked up at him as he practically launched to his feet, startling her out of the peaceful quiet that had reined a while ago. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards before she could stop them.

"I..." she started, then laughed quietly. "Yes?"

His excitement was infectious. For someone who had spent the last several minutes contemplating stars and meteor showers with almost reverent silence, and had willingly come along with her to watch one, Joseph certainly had a surprising amount of energy reserved for rocks.

Then his expression changed.

Pam's gaze drifted from his face to the forgotten apple stick disappearing into the fire.

Aww man, that went wasted.

...And then very deliberately didn't acknowledge anything else that had happened.

Instead, she brushed a thumb over the smooth grey stone in her hands, turning it so that the googly eyes stared back at her.

"I named her Lunar." she said finally, "After several failed attempts at finding a name that sat right."

The little rock nestled comfortably in her palm. "It was a gift." she added, "but when I saw her, she kinda reminded me of Astra."

A small shrug followed.

"So I thought... maybe she'd like to keep Astra company."

"I was hoping you could give me like... care tips. I don't know how to take care of pet rocks."

Before she could listen to Joseph's response, a ripple of gasps spread across the plateau.

Pam looked up instinctively.

A streak of light split the darkness.

Then another.

"Oh?" Her mouth split open as yet another thread of silver unravelled across the heavens. Then two more- arcs of light fleeting through the sea of stars before disappearing into the darkness they had come from. The blonde-haired girl sat up abruptly, all earlier conversation's forgotten, "Oh god, it's finallystarted."

The night seemed to have suddenly woken up.

The cool mountain breeze stirred loose strands of Pam's hair as light washed over the plateau, the distant trees swaying softly below. All around them, students watched in quiet awe, their voices reduced to little more than the occasional whispered "Look." or a sharp intake of breath.

Somewhere, in her mind, Pam vaguely thought that they looked the way raindrops did under a light. Except in this case, the 'raindrops' were five times bigger in size and the entire sky was their light.

A smile found its way onto her face, "They're so much faster than I imagined."

She leaned back on her hands, eyes fixed on the sky as another meteor flashed overhead.

"So beautiful..."