11 Oct 2020, 23:46
Defining Colours
| - |  By SK | - |
It was more boredom than anything that brought Dee to the Muggle Studies classroom that day. Alright, maybe a tiny bit of it was curiosity - it was really much harder to find an activity that did not wake the Ravenclaw's curiosity than one that did, after all - but of all errands so far, this likely held the least personal fascination to her.
First of all, it was an artsy-crafty errand. As proven on several occasions, art and drawing were none of Dee's strong suits - not that she cared, really, she was excellent at enough other things, no one was perfect, after all - and this one wasn't just following instructions like the origami errand, or ended up with her doing something that was pretty much entirely different from the original goal, like the bracelets she'd made at the embroidery errand. She supposed she had enjoyed herself glitterbombing the Ravenclaw common room during the Pride month event, but this one actually required her to be creative and artsy and create a flag that represented her. She didn't have the slightest clue what that flag was supposed to look like.
This brought her to the second reason why this was really not the errand for her: It was meant to be a celebration of diversity, of all the different backgrounds the students at Hogwarts had, their families from all over the world, from different countries and cultures. Dee, however, was English. She'd been born here, raised here, and only left England once - to go to Wales. That was the extent of her travelling experience. Her parents, also, were English, as were their parents, and most likely their parents - she wasn't quite sure about her mother's heritage, but there was no way anyone in her father's ancestry closer than five generations back had come from a different country. Not in the Creek family, no sir.
She might have still had more incentive to do this if it was a class or professor she had a connection to, but Muggle Studies was an elective only open starting from third year, and quite honestly one she wasn't all that likely to take, given that she'd grown up in a Muggle town with Muggle friends and Muggle neighbours, and as far as Dee could recall, she had never exchanged a word with Professor Galim.
And yet, she was here, her eyes wandering through the room curiously, watching students create their flags on the tables around the room. There was a wide array of art supplies on hand, not least of all glitter, as Dee noted with a certain amount of amusement. Last time she had tried to wash the glitter out of her hair for days, and she wasn't sure if she really wanted to repeat that experience.
Finally, with a certain amount of hesitation, Dee approached a free table and sat down, placing her bag on the floor next to her, and then pulled one of the sheets of paper with the flag outlines over to herself, until it lay in front of her, white and empty, seeming to almost glare up at her. It wasn't that Dee didn't know who she was - or at least she thought she did, although her self-perception might be a little off. She was... a Ravenclaw, and proud of it. She was from Whitehaven, and part of her heart would always live there. She'd gotten her ambition, sparkling personality, and extroversion from her father, and her mother had raised her with love and kindness - and sternness, whenever necessary. She'd gotten her brain from her mother too, although she'd never tell her father that she thought so. She liked competing, and winning, exploring, and brewing potions. She was going to change the world some day, although she didn't yet know how.
Now... how the mighty Hippogriff was she supposed to turn that into a flag? Or into anything that wasn't just half a minute of internal rambling. And didn't exceed her highly limited drawing abilities. The eagle she'd drawn during her last venture into the realm of art had become the topic of a discussion on whether it was abstract art or not, although Dee's favourite interpretation had still been Callie's speculation that it was actually a cow.
Of course she could just slap something onto the paper and call it a day, considering she hadn't even intended to participate in this, but now that she was, she wanted to do it right, properly, both because it wasn't in her nature to not give something her all (except maybe flying class), and because it would feel disrespectful to Professor Galim, the other students, and the message they were trying to celebrate here. Since she was going to do this, it might as well have meaning.
She stared down at the paper for half a minute longer, turning over her thoughts again. The biggest influence on her life and development so far had been her parents and her childhood in Whitehaven - and her time in Ravenclaw. Her parents who had been in Slytherin and Hufflepuff, which was why she'd grown up with the values of both Houses. Three Houses, three colours... And not just any colours. She finally had the beginning of an idea.
After a quick search through the available materials, Dee ended up with a pair of scissors and a few sheets of coloured paper in three colours: The colours of the Houses that had influenced the most, and, coincidentally, also the countries of her home county. She started cutting them in stripes and triangles, aiming to reproduce the shape of a specific flag: She was, after all, British, and it should be on her flag somewhere, she supposed. When done with that, if she hadn't glued her hands together in the process, she'd to reproduce the flower that was also part of Cumbria's flag... or at least she'd try, to the best of her abilities. That was, if she wasn't interrupted first.
Reducio
Her flag:
Inspired by the Union Jack and Cumbria's flag:
Inspired by the Union Jack and Cumbria's flag:
Word Count | 1002 words
Errand completed
@Zykeal Lane
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
14 Oct 2020, 05:17
Defining Colours
[font=times new roman]
Having learned about the crafting activity that was available to the student body had led a little smile to be brought to the face of the second-year Gryffindor. Zykeal had been using his talents in woodcarving to create himself a lot of different faux-wands as of late, to appease his obsessions, he could use this opportunity to help spark a bit of the creative side needed for the intricate designs he was imagining for his craft. This seemed like an easy expressive outlet for his creativity that wouldn't stress his hands as much as his other hobbies do.
Making his way into the Muggle Studies classroom, he browsed the selection of students that arrived to participate in the artistic event. Golden hues crossed over the witches and wizards that were involved until he settled those eyes upon a lone Ravenclaw girl that seemed to glimmer amongst the gathering of others. A little smile touched the sides of his cheeks, he hesitated though, before he would approach. Having spotted the intense concentration that held strong upon Deallas features, he didn't want to disturb her concentration. For now, Zyk would go and rummage through the art supplies that were scattered upon one of the tables and collected what he thought he would need for now.
At first, he grasped a couple of sheets of paper; spares would possibly be needed if he messed up. The possibility of the crafter messing up in his designs annoyed him. A pencil would be needed as well, to sketch his design. Zykeal couldn't find one though, so, he decided to just summon one, "Accio Pencil," he said calmly, his ivory-colored wand flicking out in a flash as he held out the opposite hand to catch the zooming projectile. After snatching the pencil out of the mid-air, he made a side glance towards where the professor was and then went back to collect the supplies he required. A set of colored markers were taken as well, figuring that the design in his mind needed a little touch of color to make it pop.
It took him a few minutes for him to collect everything, it didn't need to take so long, but, he lingered a while. Taking side glances over towards the Ravenclaw girl, he smiled every so often, watching the girl work on the flag design that she was creating. Zykeal couldn't stall any longer. Taking his collected supplies with one hand, the other hand would flash the ivory-colored aspen wood wand which would spin throughout his fingertips as he made his way over towards a table adjacent to where Dealla was stationed at. Without a word, he started to set himself up a little art station, tossing the mess of supplies upon the table and turning the piece of paper in a landscape position.
Those piercing eyes gave a side glance over towards where Dee was once more, unable to keep his gaze from looking over from time to time. Zykeal didn't want to disturb her yet, she was... cute, when she was so focused; when was she not though? A sly smile pulling across his features, he looked back down and started to focus on his own design. The Celtic symbol of unity popped into his brain, maybe it had to do with the state of mind he was in lately, but the symbol seemed to pierce his mind and became the centerpiece of his design idea. The other idea was to represent his current identity, it was his house, the colors of red and gold were prominent upon all the features of where he lived his life for most of the year. The dorm room was covered in colors and as well as all their teams were represented by.
Zykeal set his wand next to the paper, keeping it close to him as the duelist always had done.
First, he needed the centerpiece traced out though, so, he started with a pencil alone and started to focus upon the interlaced knots that made up the design for the Celtic symbol for unity. With great concentration, he got close and started to slowly make the curved lines that twined within each other. The design was simple, but, it was different from the woodcarving that he normally practiced and the curved lines took a decent amount of concentration. A few erase needed to be made, curved lines needed to be re-drawn, he was currently a little upset with his lack of ability to draw. This was hard, for him, compared to his woodcarving that seemed so natural. The two artistic styles were completely different he recognized.
After he finally finished the centerpiece, he decided to add some lines along the corners to meet in the middle of the centerpiece, to highlight its importance. These lines needed to be perfectly straight and he didn't mind having to use a ruler to guide his hand. Spacing was also important, Zyk didn't want uneven spacing with his design and would be disappointed in himself if he couldn't present an accurate portrayal of himself at the moment. It was after his lines were completed that he started to color in the Celtic symbol. The red and gold being colored into the interlaced knot that was the center object.
She caught his eye again, what was this, that absurd pull that kept him looking over to his future date to the dance that she herself was hosting for the most important holiday for the wizarding community. Quickly, he filled in the lines that met the centerpiece of his design and decided to leave the rest of it white. Normally, the Irish tended to use a lot of green and orange in their designs, but, he wanted something different and felt like his design might not be the most colorful, but, what he felt was right at the moment. Not to mention, he kinda wanted to go say 'hi' to the girl he started having feelings for.
Setting his art supplies down, he once again picked up the wand that was settled to the side of them and slowly made his way over towards where Dealla was stationed, seeing that she seemed to be done with her design. When he got to her table, he leaned down, letting his elbows rest upon the table and his hands to come together, putting his wand between both of his hands and allowing his chin to rest on the knuckles of his hands. Those hands, tough now, a lot tougher than they once were, with how much he was working on carving wood and the physical toll his obsession took upon them. No longer soft were they, but, gaining experience.
"Hello Princess," he said softly, the tug of a smile pulling across his cheek once more, "Fancy meetin' you here," he offered, that slick Dublin accent coming out in full. Eyes tugged down finally from staring towards the girl and looked down at the flag she had made, "Looks nice, what does it mean?" he questioned, a single brow rising up upon his features as he peered back towards Dealla.
Word Count: 1,186
Errand Complete
Tried to use stencil as best I could
@Dealla Prince
Sta: 7 | Eva: 2 | Str: 8 | Wis: 11 | Arc: 10 | Acc: 17
Prodigal Charms | Advanced Casting | Spell Spread
Prodigal Charms | Advanced Casting | Spell Spread
21 Oct 2020, 12:39
Defining Colours
Dee had spent the last half hour or something in deep concentration, all her attention directed towards cutting out and assembling her flag, and then drawing something... distantly resembling the flowers that decorated Cumbria's flag. Ah, well. Good enough. She'd never pretended to be an artist, and no one who'd ever seen any of her masterpieces - prime example, her abstract eagle-cow - would claim that she was one. At least no one would think that this one was anything but a flower, that's really all she could aim for. She supposed it didn't matter. This was her flag, and now it had her flower. She'd call it artistic freedom.
The tip of her tongue peaking out between her lips in concentration, she tried to glue the flower to the exact center of her flag, which thankfully didn't require any artistic abilities, so she managed to get it where she wanted. She did have an eye for detail, after all. So deeply focused she'd been, that she hadn't noticed Zykeal entering the room, taking over the table next to hers, create an entire flag, and then come over to her table, before his elbows entered her field of vision and she looked up to see him lean on her table.
Dee lit up, a smile chasing away the focused frown that had taken over her face for the past half hour. "Oh, hi, Zyk! That's my line, I've never seen you at any errands so far." She frowned. "I think." Not that she'd noticed him this time until he had approached her, so maybe he had been there, but she felt it might be rude to point that out. She tended to be rather single-minded, focused on her own little bubble. She still didn't know the names of half the students in their year. "And that nickname is still lame."
At his question she looked down at her flag, and hesitated for a moment. She wasn't usually very self-conscious - about anything, really - but suddenly, her design seemed a little childish to her, and she had to fight the urge to hide it. How should she explain it without sounding silly?
She shooed that notion away with a mental wave of her hand. Somehow people mostly seemed to sound silly when they felt silly, and she refused to do that. "Umm, have I ever told you about my parents' Houses? They were in Slytherin and Hufflepuff. I expected to be in Slytherin, but, well," she gestured at herself, "the Hat had different plans. So anyway, I realized that those three House colours are exactly the colours of the flag of Cumbria! That's where Whitehaven is." She was growing more animated with her explanation, the trace of uncertainty vanishing with every word. "Isn't that a fun coincidence? And since my entire family is British - English, really - that's why I used the pattern of the Union Jack." She pointed at her flag as if any additional explanation was necessary.
When she looked back up at Zykeal, her eyes were shining and her smile bright and curious. "What did you make?"
@Zykeal Lane
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."