Goblin' It Up Errand

Interacting with @Hanako Tone

Ah yes, the astronomy tower, her favorite place to be. After all it was where her favorite class was. Astronomy was not just her favorite class because she liked who was in her class or because the work was easy, it was her favorite class because it reminded her of just how much she loved the great beyond, how she wanted nothing more but to learn more and more about it.
She was sure if she could ever show her father the astronomy tower he'd be bouncing off the walls like a maniac, since he too is also an admirer of all things space related.

However, today instead of a family member or an unwilling class mate, she brought her new and sudden paper bag faced friend. Papa MacarooOni or as she called him, Mac. Being that she abruptly left the muggle studies class room he had to somewhat chase after to her, though she didn't notice. Once she had approached the astronomy stair well she turned around on the heels of her black sneakers and spread her arms out wide too Mac. "Tada! See, I told you the astronomy candy was cool didn't I." Well she didn't necessarily tell him, she told him that she heard that the astronomy candy was cool but she didn't know for sure herself. She did know now though that what she heard was true.

She looked around at all the astronomical themed decorations and candies with a wide smile and gleam in her eye as she wished with all her might that one day her little sisters, and maybe one day her father (who grew up celebrating halloween) may be able to experience something like this although that wish was highly unlikely to come true, and in its right impossible.

Word Count: 303

There was very few things in this big wide world that Callie adored more than sugar. So, as you can imagine, hearing news of various forms of sweets being scattered all across Hogwarts immediately caught her interest. Besides everything had the added brilliance of providing Callie with the perfect excuse to wear her Spiderman mask. Even if she'd cut out holes for the eyes and mouth to allow her both to breathe normally and wear her glasses. Quite a strange sight to behold since it resembled a ski mask more than Spiderman but Callie didn't mind. At the end of the day she was getting a hold of even more sugar in spite of her friends trying to curb her intake and that's all that mattered.

Callie bounded down the hallway quite happily and let out a squeal of delight when she took notice of thin cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. While the presence of cobwebs might unsettle the nerves of some thanks to their association with spiders, Callie found little reason not to continue forward at pace. Afterall she didn't mind the presence of bugs in the slightest and if anything welcomed the little creatures. Bugs, insects and creepy crawlies actually facinated Callie to a certain degree as it was near impossible to reside on a farm without being comfortable with the creatures. What did provide some reason to slow her pace however came in the form of smoke - a deadly foe for someone as clumsy as Callie. Scaling the stairs without tripping over was a challenge in itself under normal circumstances, so the presence of smoke concealing the stairway only made things harder for the visually challenged girl.

Despite her own caution in scaling the stairs Callie still managed to trip up on the final step, sending her stumbling forward and narrowly avoiding knocking everything over. "My bad!" She called out to those behind her, which she certainly hoped were the friends she'd convinced to accompany her in the quest for sugar. It would be rather awkward if it wasn't, not that Callie cared. "Wait a second..is that..." Callie trailed off for a moment as she inspected the brass orrey, only to be delighted upon realising the sugary nature of the planets. "That's so cool!" She squealed as she took ownership of a lollipop version of Mars and immediately shoved it into her mouth. "I feel like a SPACE GIANT! Everyone knows those are the coolest type of giants." Callie continued after crunching on the lollipop. In truth it was a miracle she still had teeth given the freakish way she ate lollipops. She trailed off in thought whilst watching the device in front of her, the previous quest for sugar forgotten for a brief moment.

WC: 442/300

The month of October had never stood out to Val as noteworthy, or as a time of year to look forward to. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been familiar with the festivities that came with Halloween, trick-or-treating, spine-tingling haunted houses and whatnot, but she simply didn't partake. The young girl had memories of staring out at the streets of her hometown of Swansea from an opening in the otherwise tightly drawn curtains. The children in her age group, all unfamiliar to her, went door-to-door in costumes, store-bought and homemade, to ask for sweets. Her mother scoffed at the idea, and advised her daughter not to think much of it, but Val couldn't help but feel envious. Her peers had been offered opportunities that she hadn't been.

But, a year later, here she was. A pillowcase clutched in her hands, meant to hold the sweets she'd gather on this fateful night, Val bounded up the spiral staircase that lead up to the Astronomy classroom. She was in the midst of an endeavor to catch up with the girl she'd come with, @Callie Jensen. In contrast to the Ravenclaw, Val hadn't come in any costume. Ah, one could say that she'd made an effort to put one together. In the days preceding Halloween, Val had made a bat costume, cutting up black trash bags for the wings. But, the end result had been too crude for her to be pleased. Thus, she'd opted out of coming in any unusual get-ups. It'd be far too embarrassing! Val herself was an awfully judgmental girl, and the chances of others being as judgmental were much too high for her liking.

To only call the stairwell's display visually pleasing would be an understatement. Slowing her pace to catch her breath as she continued her trek up the stairs, Val marveled at the stars and constellations positioned along the stone walls, running her fingers across with twinkling eyes. The sound of a crash, followed by the call from Callie at the top of the staircase pulled her into reality. Ugh.

"I can't understand why you bother to wear glasses if you still go around knocking everything over," Val grumbled as she reached the top of the staircase, eyes widening as she caught sight of the brass orrery. There hadn't been a point in her life where she'd seen so much candy that hadn't been breath mints at once. "Ooo! Callie, I feel like we made a good choice-" The girl was cut off by the sickening crunch of her acquaintance biting into her planetary lollipop. A look of disgust rose to her features. "You'll lose all of your teeth if you keep biting into hard candy like that. Like a hag. A toothless hag," she said matter-of-factly.

Word Count: 461/300
Will continue to post.

STOP 4 | Previous Stops: Library CharmsDivination

This was the most decorated stop that Katrina had been to yet. The aura of the place calmed down her sugar high that had previously led her to more candy. The lights dancing on the walls, the blanket of fog, the spiderwebs, it was all so perfect in design.

Boomerang was easily hidden in the fog, only occasionally would the tip of his ears or a flick of his tale give away his whereabouts. Katrina couldn’t help the giggles that kept escaping her. She was no longer self conscious about them, but instead embraced them, finally relaxing enough to enjoy herself.

Katrina grabbed Jupiter from the orrery and bit into it, teeth sinking into a cake pop. It was so good that Katrina debated grabbing another. But it was clearly tricked, or at least, Professor Kateri had just clearly said one. Katrina respected her enough to follow the statement and turned around with a heavy bag.

It was time to return to the main area, count out her candy, and watch the movie. With a skip in her step, Katrina plucked Boomerang from the fog and started down the stairs. What a night to remember.

Interacting with @Flash Holmwood, closed to further interaction.

251 Words

Interacting with: @Callie Jensen & @Valerie Baines

Elias Weare had never been particularly fond of Halloween. The boy's parents had never liked the idea of him going door to door tacking candy off strangers, and for him, the holiday had always consisted of sitting at home, eating carrots, and other various 'healthy' snacks. Due to this, much unlike his friend Callie, he was not cripplingly addicted to sugar and the sorts. Bounding up the stairs after the two girls, Elias was virtually taking them two at a time in an attempt to catch up. He'd departed slightly late and thus, only just caught up when they reached the top of the stairs. In fact, he was just in time to watch Callie fall right on her face.

"Callie, you're an absolute nightmare!" He exclaimed slightly out of breath watching his housemates near escape from catastrophe before he turned his attention to Valerie, ever since the ball and the realization that she and Callie already knew each other the three had been hanging out slightly more often. "I'm starting to think they might not even be real glasses, Valerie, she clearly can't see even with them on."

Finally drawing his attention away from the girls and to the orrery, Elias was awestruck. It was absolutely beautiful... until Callie plucked Mars from it and crunched it. That poor planet deserved better than that, or he thought it did until he realized it was actually a candy jawbreaker planet. Actually, no, it still deserved better than that. Even as someone who rarely partook in sweets, the young Ravenclaw was well aware that biting a lollipop was a cardinal sin, a crime against humanity, and perhaps even a hate crime. What an awful thing to do. Cringing at Callie's etiquette, Eli attempted to distract himself by placing his attention back on the orrery, scanning as he decided which one of the lollipops he would like to take. Ultimately, he ended up plucking Saturn from the display.

"So... are we ready to go?" He asked eyeing the two, it wasn't like there was much else to do up here other than gather candy.

WC: 351/ 300

Callie didn't pay much heed to the general complaints about her own clumsiness as she was far too caught up in the lollipop she'd accquired. "The art of clumsiness my dearest Valerie," Callie eventually responded whilst waving her lollipop stick around dramatically, in the fashion of a Victorian noblewoman waving a fan. "Transcends the mortal confines of my glasses! It's an art form! An art form which I cannot help! Besides, I always trip up on those stairs anyway, it was bound to happen!" Callie stuck the remains of the lollipop stick into the abyss of her pocket. In truth she had no idea what said pocket housed these days other than sweetie wrappers. One of these days she'd find the sense to clear it out but today wasn't one of those days. "You may call it a nightmare Elias but I call it fate!" Callie let out a giggle at her own wild claims, clearly not taking herself or Elias seriously.

"Quit worrying about my teeth! I brush them twice a day you know! Plus I drink a lot of milk so REALLY we should be worrying about your teeth." Callie retorted with a smile and an accusing finger pointed at Valerie. "Maybe you'll become a toothless hag! Oh no!" She let out another laugh and headed for the stairs, for once not looking to go back for seconds. There was simply too much to be done! "Heck yeah we're ready to go! How about the charms classroom? Oooh! Then we'll have to go that ballroom thing! Come on you two we're burning time!" Without another word Callie vanished down the hallway in the pursuit of the charms classroom, going under the assumption that her companions would follow...eventually.

[font=PT Sans]Hana, out of breath and his terribly exhausted face covered by a clever mask, did not have the energy to answer her for a while. Instead, he crouched down to his knees, his fatigue clearly shown despite his lack of facial expression due to the mask. “ Why..hahh… how.. Tower… yare yare ..” he breathed out, finding the energy to stand up again to face his odd companion. And that says a lot from a kid that originally planned to stalk his best friend with only an unnerving paper bag as his only disguise. yare yare = how bothersome

“ How did you get the energy to run up here? I could barely keep up” His chest still heaving from exhaustion, he recalled the exact reason why he hated astronomy. It was not the subject itself, but the pathway he had to take to get to this class. Not to mention astronomy was threatening his bedtime. Why should he spent 30 minutes just climbing up stairs with the stamina he didn’t have and watch some big glowing balls up in the sky. Rubbish, honestly. And he would’ve told so to Adlai if it were not her refusal in accepting his previous bribery.

At least with the bribery, she had no choice but to pay attention to him. Without, it felt like he had to watch what he said if he didn’t want her to slip away. Although, from her cheerfully childlike expression as she took the time to be awed by the astronomy tower’s decoration, he had a feeling she wouldn’ even care or head a word he said. That, or he might get punched. Both results sounded irritating so he decided to make some small talk instead. “ You seem to really like gigantic floating balloons...you have an interest in studying them? I'm assuming their fancy candy wasn't the only thing that bought you here? “ he asked in a gentle tone he had practiced before with Dee. Hopefully, it was good enough.

While he listened to her answer, he briefly glanced at the decorations before landing his eyes on their out-of-this-world looking candy. Decorations were not his thing. Added with the fact that it was astronomy out of all things. But c a n d y ? He had more than a few curious questions towards the process of making those candies, what state would they leave on his tongue if he were to take one, and many more. Perks of being a child of a dad working with confectionery , he supposed.
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w/c : 418

@Adlai Rod

“The art of clumsiness?” Valerie echoed in a questioning tone, though scoffing dismissively soon thereafter. There was no understanding to that girl. Her critical gaze hadn’t been set on the Ravenclaw herself, but on the brass orrery in front of her. Her palm hovered over the brass sculpture, prior to her selection of the lollipop Europa, modeled to bear resemblance to the smallest of the four moons orbiting Jupiter. There had been no in-depth reasoning for her choice - it all came down to aesthetics, but Val wouldn’t dream of admitting such to anyone who might’ve asked. It sounded too ignorant; too uneducated; too not her.

The retort Callie offered in response to Valerie’s rational caution concerning the lollipop biting reached her ears. Val’s instincts pushed her to respond in as sharp a tone as she could. “It would be easier to believe that you brush your teeth twice a year, Jensen, looking at how yellow they are. I brush mine thrice a day. It doesn’t change the fact that your teeth are going to chip and fall out if you bite into hard candy!” The echoes of her small outburst made Val all too self-aware, a grimace crawling onto her features.

As Callie left for the Charms classroom, Val set the lollipop into her pillowcase. Her Halloween candy couldn’t all be eaten on the spot, and so she’d save it for later. Looking to Elias, Val spoke, her tone notably calmed, “Come on. I can’t go after her by myself, or I’ll have to listen to her mindless freak talk on my own.” In Valerie’s eyes, freakishness was an infectious disease, and Callie was a carrier. If she listened to her for too long at a time, she too would start spewing out pure nonsense at any opportunity.

Not offering Elias room to respond, Val used her free hand to lift her robes up and slowly descend the spiral staircase.

Word Count: 321
Total Word Count: 782/300
Valerie exits for Charms.

Interacting with: @Callie Jensen & @Valerie Baines

Had Valerie not beat him to it, Elias most likely would have shared a similar sentiment to the one his Slytherin friend expressed about Callie's so-called 'art of clumsiness', it just sounded slightly ridiculous if you asked him. Nonetheless, he'd grown to know that questioning Callie and her rather peculiar ways and actions didn't often lead anywhere but back in circles. It was actually a tad like talking to a wall sometimes with her, especially when she got going on a tangent.

Trying his best to ignore the girls bickering about their teeth, the young Ravenclaw was a tad perplexed by what milk had to do with anything, especially dental health. He was no dentist though, so he supposed he couldn't really be sure there wasn't a correlation. Trying his best to hide the perplexion on his face, Elias finally spoke up, "Why are we talking about our teeth! It's odd! Someone is going to hear us and think we've gone absolutely bonkers, you know?"

Thankfully, the two seemed to listen, and well, moved on from the conversation and the astronomy tower completely! Watching Callie take off, Eli sent Val a nod in response to her final question, he'd expect the girl to do the same for him if it happened to him. Momentarily left alone at the top of the tower, Elias thieving little fingers couldn't help but inch back towards the orrery for a second candy. Nobody was here to see it anyway... what was the worst that could happen?

Plucking a second planet lolly, the boy immediately got his answer. His hair shot up on end and went bright orange. Squinting at his reflection in a nearby window, Elias couldn't help but cringe, but since he was suffering the consequences, the boy may as well keep his second candy. Perhaps he could play this new hairstyle off as some sort of Halloween costume. Anyways, he now needed to get to charms, and once more, catch up to the two girls.

WC: 328
Total: 679 / 300
Exiting for Charms!