Readying Rabble Rousing Rats PV Errand Closed

Interacting With: @Ethen Emrys and @Serena Towers

Atlas had heard through the lively chatter in the halls, that a pet cleaning/spoiling day was afoot as students were encouraged to give their pets a little extra attention or find a student willing to let you come play with their companion.

The young girl had been longing for an owl but after recently asking her parents for a new broom she knew she would have to wait for another big holiday to beg for one. Luckily, over the summer Atlas had gotten closer to the previous Hufflepuff Seeker Serena while they roomed together in the team tent and Pizza Rat had quickly been the cause of many late-night laughs and awwws. She had never had a pet rat before but it didn't take long at her to fall in love with Serena's furry friend who seemed to have a personality twice the size of himself.

Pushing her way through the halls to find the girl, Atlas hoped someone had not already asked her to buddy up as she excitedly invited the girl to the grounds for a rat play date sure to be remembered for ages. "Just give me like 1 hour! I just have to run a late assignment up to one of my classes..." She replied an air of guilt filling her words as she puffed her cheeks out in embarrassment. "1 hour! Grounds be there! You'll see Ethen and I!"

With that Atlas ran down the hall, satchel banging against her side as she pushed past students and a couple annoyed prefects. "Wait! Ethen! He can find us an area!" She convinced herself as she stopped abruptly changing her course to the Great Hall as she was quick to find her best friend munching on pretzels, a dazed look glazing over his eyes, causing her to wonder what he was thinking about, but she learned a long time ago it was best not to ask.

Knowing her time was limited, she quickly gave Ethen the instructions to find an open spot on the grounds and to start setting out the cleaning supplies on a blanket as she hurriedly pulled out the items from her satchel placing them on the table as she used her hands to stop a few of them from rolling off. "Okay I gotta do something real quick and then I'll be out there to help you make it look awesome!" She replied hugging him tightly before sprinting out of the Hall.

After everything had been cleared up with her professor, Atlas made her way to the grounds as she immediately spotted Ethen kneeling next to an elaborate structure made out of the supplies she had given him a short while before. Her eyes widened in shock as she rushed over still trying to take in all of the unique details. Never in a million years would she have thought to make an obstacle course for Serena's rat but that was Ethen's quirk and strength. He brilliantly thought outside the box on all of their adventurer's and she could already tell that Serena and of course Pizza Rat were going to love it.

"Oh my god, ETHEN! This is bloody brilliant! I--How did you have time to do all this?! Did time stop?? I--I'm speechless!" She praised, kneeling down next to him as she got a closer look at each obstacle and level.

"Well this is some serious Rat Olympics now! We need tee-shirts!" Pulling out three white teeshirts from her satchel the young girl tipped the bag over as a myriad of fabric markers spilled out onto the ground. Picking up the gold marker, Atlas pulled the shirt taut as she used her free hand to sketch TRIATH-RAT on the front giggling at the pun she pulled from thin air.

"Serena will be here any minute! I'll write the title on each shirt but if you can add some rat themed drawings to them that would be a big help!" She instructed Ethen tossing him the first shirt she had written on. Grabbing the next one, Atlas looked up to see if she could see her fellow teammate making her way over to them but it appeared they had at least a few more minutes before the games began.

WC: 708 Words

Serena scooped up the rat that she had grown to love so much over the past year or so. It was strange, in a way. She knew that pets were something to care for and they were really cute but... she never realised it was possible to love a creature this much. She went everywhere with the little bugger. Sometimes, she would find him hiding into her pocket during class too and would just silently pray he did not leave the pocket or get caught. Pizza Rat had gained quite a bit of weight over the past few months as she fed him so much over the summer - including pizza, of course.

"Alright, you stinky little bugger, you need a good wash!" She teased him with a smile on her face as she held him on top of her palm, raising him to in line with her eyes, "I heard there's a uh pampering thing for pets so, we're gonna go check it out, kay? Please, for the love of Merlin, don't try and run away. Or make a mess!" She instructed him. Did he understand her? She had no idea. But she felt like he did. If she told him things in a serious tone, he seemed to pick up on them. Maybe. Sometimes. Well, she was hoping anyway. He did sometimes enjoy running around... A lot of the times. She mentally sighed thinking about all of the times she had to run after him and keep him out of trouble.

The hufflepuff was pretty sure that he would end up getting himself eaten by a cat if he was not careful. And she REFUSED to let that happen, hmph! But that was besides the point. Today was all about spoiling the little guy and giving him a good scrub. As she walked down the halls, she blinked. One of her former Quidditch teammates appeared in front of her, excitedly. There was very little information or explanation as to what was going to happen on the grounds but the other girl's sheer excitement made Serena smile, "Alrig- oh, she's gone..." The fourth year replied to Atlas, who told her to be at the grounds in one hour and look for her and Ethen. Before Serena could even fully agree, she had ran down the hall, pretty much hitting everyone as she passed - whooooops.

A laugh escaped her at the sight, "Alright then. I have no idea what's happening but guess we're going to the grounds, eh buddy? That sound good?" Pizza made absolutely no expressions whatsoever, probably because he did not understand what was going on either, "Wait... so uh... what do we do now?" She mumbled out aloud. Serena was mostly talking to herself at this point, unsure of what she was actually meant to do now. She scratched the back of her head with her other hand and then just turned back to head to the common room for some time.

Approximately forty-five minutes later, she emerged to make her way over to the grounds. Pizza was on her shoulder now. Serena wondered through the grass, searching for any signs of Ethen or Atlas. The grounds, after all, were pretty big. Were they near the pitch or training grounds or lake or...? She kept walking, looking around. It took her at least ten minutes of wondering before she spotted them. Serena grinned and made her way over, throwing up a hand in a wave if either of them looked over to see her, "Hey guys!" She called out as she approached them, "What's going on-" She stopped as her gaze fell onto... What even was she looking at?

There was a stack of sponges, leading up to textbooks as though they were a staircase. A towel hung from the other side... Serena blinked as she scanned over the whole creation. It was almost as though this was an obstacle course or something. It was similar to the one that she took part in for the relay event last year but it was a lot smaller in size, as though it was for a small creatu- Her eyes instantly lit up... It could not be... It was, wasn't it?! "This is for Pizza?!" She asked, shocked by the amount of effort that they had put into creating this structure. Serena had no idea where to even begin, there was so many cleaning supplies and Atlas looked like she had some t-shirts or something.

This was... so impressive. Unexpected, for such a little rat but definitely impressed, to say the least. The grin sporting on her face was huge, it was certainly something!

The small brown rat - well... kind of chubby brown rat, but at the very least, small in size compared to the people around him - ran down her arm and onto the ground as soon as she bent down to inspect the structure. Pizza Rat looked around, towards both the new companions. He had met Atlas a little more but it was the other person that he did not really recognise. This was notable by the fact that he stared at Ethen for quite a bit longer than he had stared at the other girl. But it was not long till his attention went back to the structure. Serena grinned as she watched his head flicker between them, clearly curious by everything.

Then, without further ado, she noticed him make his way over to the obstacle course that towered over him. Pizza sniffed the closest sponge a little before putting his little front paws onto the top of it and climbing up onto the first one. He moved to the edge, looking over and then back up to the second one - as though he was wondering if he was meant to really go up it. Nonetheless, they would see him clamber up onto the second and third before pausing. He looked over the edge, it seemed to be getting higher now. The rat quickly started to climb again, till he got to the slide. Stopping at the edge, he sniffed a little as though he was wondering if he should turn back. He paused, looking at the three humans in turn. Serena grinned at him, giving him a nod but said nothing.

Word Count: 1050 so far

Interacting With: @Ethen Emrys and @Serena Towers

Hearing Serena's familiar voice, pulled her from her creative focus as she jumped to her feet meeting her fellow teammate with a hug. Before she could even show off Ethen's jaw-dropping creation Serena was already speechless, eyeing each level and detail in awe.

At Serena's inquiry of the obstacle course wondering if all of it was for Pizza Rat, Atlas couldn't help but to let a soft chuckle escape her lips. "Well Ethen desperately wanted to compete against Pizza Rat but unfortunately we didn't have the supplies to make it human size." Tossing one of the shirts to Serena and the other to Ethen, Atlas slipped on hers as she walked over to Ethen to have him fold up her sleeves neatly. She could never comfortably wear a tee-shirt with the sleeves down but she had yet to master the elusive one-armed folding technique so Ethen was always kind enough to help.

Hearing Ethen audibly figure out that Serena was not the rat but rather Atlas' teammate she realized she had forgotten to introduce the two of them. "Right! My apologies! Ethen this is Serena our former stunning Seeker for Hufflepuff and Serena this is Ethen my best friend and well, uh newest first string seeker to the team! We might have to have a practice session one of these days so you can show Ethen some fancy techniques!" The young girl offered as she hoped all three of them would hang out together more in the future. "But today, today is all about you Pizza Rat! Let's see if we can get you ready for swimsuit season!"

Hopping off of Serena's shoulder, Pizza Rat was quick to recognize Atlas turning immediately towards Ethen as the two had an intense staring match. Bobbing her eyes from the rat to her best friend, the girl wondered what the two were thinking but could guess that neither's thoughts lined up usually due to the fact that Ethen's thoughts were forever random and unrelated to the present moment.


Watching with bated breath, Atlas bit down on her lip as the young rat climbed his way up the sponges. It was fascinating to her that he understood his task at hand without receiving instructions from Ethen but she chalked it up to telepathy as he made it to the top level. The towel slide shifted in the wind as Pizza Rat calculated his next steps. Nodding to herself, Atlas hoped Serena's rat would be brave enough to continue.

A few brief moments passed and then after one small unsure step, Pizza Rat was off down the slide. "YES! COME ON PIZZA RAT!" Atlas screamed as several passing students looked at her in confusion and shock. Students were always staring at Ethen and her as they were always up to bizarre acts so it no longer bothered her as she knew they were missing out on unforgettable memories.

Next on the obstacle course was the Tunnel of Bristly Anguish, that Ethen had so cleverly named as she hoped her fuzzy friend would have the strength and energy to push his way through. Textbooks bordered both sides of the path with a towel laid over the top to form a makeshift tunnel. Inside Ethen had set up several brushes so as Pizza Rat ventured through his fur would be brushed clean.

Getting lost in the adorable scritchy noises coming from the next task, Atlas almost forgot that Ethen had made her Crew Chief of the Brushing Pitstop. Stumbling to her feet, Atlas scuttled to her position just as Pizza Rat escaped the tunnel. Picking him up, Atlas quickly grabbed a brush and fixed Pizza Rat's messy hair before grabbing the polishing cloth as she cleaned his adorable little feet.

"Annnnnndd you're ready for the next part!" Atlas exclaimed placing him back on the obstacle course for the next task. "Don't start slowing on me yet! You are a champion!"