A Glacial Experience Errand PV

@Elena Jangleton | @Pericles Dralt | @Callista Lovis

Total Whiteout Errand

Gia was beginning to wonder why she'd signed up for this errand. Sure, the last one she'd done had been lots of fun, but. . . well, it was nothing like this one, from what she could tell. Instead of there being fun dancing snowmen (or snow creatures on her part), there was a blizzard. Like, a real life blizzard. Kind of. Okay fine, not really. The whole thing was being controlled by a professor, but it sure felt real. And cold. Very, very cold.

The Gryffindor's thick jacket had been pulled tightly around her, but even then she could feel the icy chill of the wind and snow. Her hat wasn't doing much good either, even though she knew that hats were supposed to keep your head and body warm, and her gloves. . . it was like they weren't even there. Gia's fingers felt frozen solid, and she hadn't even been outside for that long yet, only a couple minutes or so. What was she supposed to be doing again? Oh, that's right, she needed to make a fire.

Wait.

Make a fire?! In this weather?! She hadn't thought this over well, had she? Of course, the task hadn't seemed too bad when she'd first heard about it in the warm comfort of the castle walls, but now that she was actually standing in the middle of a blizzard. . . well, now she saw the whole thing from a completely different perspective. Yes, she knew that she could probably use some spell to make a fire, but her brain was not working in the freezing cold and the poor girl couldn't remember anything she'd learned over the past few months. Glancing around, Gia searched for another person to team up with. The eleven year old was so distracted that she didn't notice someone was coming up to her until they spoke.

"Oh!" The first year spun around in surprise to see, for the first time, that someone was behind her. It was a little hard to see with the thick snow and all the winter gear, but it seemed like the other girl was at least a year older than Gia herself. "Hello," she replied with a smile that was mostly hidden by her jacket collar and hood. When the older student asked if she wanted to team up, the Gryffindor nodded quickly. "Sure!" she said enthusiastically. Hopefully the other girl had a better memory for spells and such. . .

"I'm Gia, by the way." the eleven year old introduced herself. Talking to another person was working to distract her from the chill in the air, which was helpful as well. The older student seemed confident that the two of them would be able to make a fire very quickly, something that made Gia start believing in herself too. And what made it even better was what the girl said next: that she could make a fire, although the wind would get in the way. "Great! Hmm, about the wind, what if I worked to try and shield you from it and then you try to make the fire? Or. . ." The young Gryffindor's gaze fell on the mounds of snow around them. "We could try to build a snow fort and make the fire in there!" she offered.

Waiting for the other girl to answer, Gia thought about how they could accomplish this as fast as possible. The best thing would to have others helping out, wouldn't it? She also remembered hearing that they could have groups of up to four, so. . . Her gaze scanned the snow covered grounds, but it was much to hard to see with the snow flying everywhere. Maybe someone else would approach the two of them while they were beginning to build?

623/600 words
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6

Errand | Total Whiteout
Approaching @Elena Jangleton and @Gia Adelard
Tagging @Pericles Dralt

The errand seemed fun. It was one of the few that involved one, magic, and two, intellect. Both were things she had excelled at and enjoyed. Both were things she desperately wanted to improve in. And both were essential in the wizarding world - in her eyes. Then Callista bent a little closer to the poster sheet.

Oh. It's a group errand.

For a couple of minutes, she stood there, rocking gently back and forth on her heels. It had seemed like such a wonderful errand... and then something like that was just suddenly sprung on you. Although, she supposed it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

It was all about teamwork; she could see that now. Yes, a test of magical ability and well as strategic thinking, but also a test of your cooperation skills. A group of four, huh? Well, if she needed a group, then she would find one.

───────────♡───────────

The second Callista stepped onto the stone floor of the courtyard, she was buffeted by a gust of wind. It had been easy to sign up and think when she was holed up in the warmth of the castle. Even when she had peered out the window before heading down, it didn't look quite as ferocious.

Now she could literally feel the wind and snow. Callista's head started to ache, and she pulled her hat down more firmly. The white wool hat, gloves, and scarf blended in with the snow; she had anticipated that. For the majority of her life, she had stuck in the background, tactfully choosing light, pastel outfits that blended in. But now that she was at Hogwarts, she was slowly starting to branch out a little more.

Everyone around the courtyard seemed to be gravitating towards other people. Over the whistling of the wind, she could hear friends calling out to each other. With a squint, she located two people standing together near her.

"We could try to build a snow fort and make the fire in there!"

That didn't sound like a bad idea. If they managed to build an igloo, that would shield the fire quite nicely. The second girl seemed older, so their Incendio spell was probably going to be stronger than her own. For a second, a bit of disappointment coursed through her. She had been looking forward to casting that spell.

But they sounded like they had a good plan. Callista took a deep breath. "C'mon Callista. It's just talking." Her quiet voice barely reached her own ears, let alone others. Clearing her throat, she stepped towards the duo.

"Hello, um, do you think I could join you both? I don't have a group," Callista smiled ruefully. It didn't bother her that she was alone - it had always been like that, and usually, the lack of social interaction was quite comforting. But there were times like these where she actually needed to talk to other people.

"I heard you talking, and I think your idea will work. I have a plan for the way to build the fire too," she offered. Perhaps plan wasn't the right word, but Callista thought she could figure out how to keep the fire going - if she had the necessary ingredients. Besides, it never hurt anyone to ask, right?

Word Count | 533/600
Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 8 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7

@Elena Jangleton | @Gia Adelard | @Callista Lovis

"Oh, but we would need an entrenching tool to make an igloo, and I'm afraid it would take too long to build one with our hands alone." The muffled voice came from an odd young wizard- or at least, one could assume it was a boy beneath the thick black coat, scarf cap, and broom-flying goggles. He was holding up his hands, on which he wore a standard set of protective gloves, making a grabbing gesture to emphasize the fruitlessness of digging. When had he joined them...? He carried on at the back of the group as if he had been there all along, voice mellow and meandering, as though they were planning a day at the park. The silver eyes beneath his goggles were hooded with the hint of a relaxed smile. They shifted between the witches while he continued, "You were right t'say we would need some sort of windbreak, though. I think I have just the thing." With that, he rifled through the school bag hanging from his shoulder, and produced- of all things- an antiquated standard-sized clipboard. The second-year sounded perfectly confident as he held up the small slab of wood, declaring "This should give us plenty of room to hide behind. If we sprint to one of those snow mounds, I can plant it there. Then we'll just need to collect kindling, stamp down a flat foundation, establish a platform for our wood, and set it ablaze."

Pericles had never been a shy sort. The trouble was, he wasn't the most socialized sort either, and so had no qualms with approaching a random group of peers to start planning how they may tackle the exciting errand. That wasn't at all to say he was without manners, and so after a moment's pause, an apologetic frown formed beneath his scarf. "That is... if you don't mind me tagging along?" He liked meeting new people, as well as helping wherever he could. The contribution of a tiny clipboard as a windbreak seemed reasonable to him, somehow. "I'm Pericles Dralt, second-year Ravenclaw."

Reducio

344/600 Words

A snow fort.

She had to admit the idea was a creative one, a solid one at best from, her name was Gia, was it? "Elena. Elena Jangleton of Gryffindor." She replied smiling stuffing her gloved hands in her hands as she looked around. Truth be told, she wasn't sure if the was most practical one. The stability and so many other factors that had to be to taken into account and that was if this blasted wind didn't knock down all of their precious work. She didn't have long to think of it however as another feminie voice piped up, this one different from the first. "Hey! Sure, we were just figuring out how to get started anyways!" So far, they were still at square one. It wasn't the fire that was the problem, she reckoned she could get a good Incendio going in a matter of time and they would be relishing in it's warmth.

The issue really lied in what to light on fire and where to do it. A good solid ten minutes, the divination professor had said, she would need to gather enough branches from those poor saplings to make it last that long. It was for a good cause, they could always grow back as she flinched a bit as yet another voice shot up head swiveling to stare at the boy. Had he been there all along? She blinked a few times staring at him as if trying to comprehend from which hole he had crawled out of. Get it together, Elena. Snapping back to the harsh winter reality, she watched as the Ravenclaw pulled out..a clipboard.

She had to admit, it was laughable at best but honestly, Elena did not think it would be a bad idea. They could gather a bunch of sticks and stuff, build it up and light it alight with the clipboard acting as a barrier to disrupt any wind breezes that might seek to undo their precious work. "You know..that just might work." She started slowly beaming at the boy. Leave it to the Ravenclaw of the group. As far as she was concerned, that idea alone was enough to let him tag along which she had no objection to. He came from a house known for smartness, what dense person in their mind would not want a natural-born genius with them.

"Of course you can! So, I'm thinking why don't we split up? Two of us get to collecting branches and sticks for the fire and the other two scout out a suitable location for our fire?"

They would have to move quickly, the Gryffindor casting a concerned look at the other groups of students, some of which were already tromping towards some areas which Elena had her eye on. She told herself not to worry, not yet anyways. It didn't matter about where they were as long as those flames were up and roaring. Her hand twitched resting against her wand pocket, that was all it would take but they needed the supplies first. She was just inherently grateful she had decided not to wear school robes out in this god forsaken climate, those things provided little to no warmth if at all anything.

"We all ready then?"

@Elena Jangleton | @Pericles Dralt | @Callista Lovis

Total Whiteout Errand

The other girl introduced herself as Elena Jangleton, also saying that she was from Gryffindor. Gia smiled, although once again she wan't sure if it could be seen. "I'm in the same house!" the first year exclaimed excitedly. She thought back to the many different times when she'd been in the crowded Common Room but couldn't seem to recall Elena at all. It was a bit of an impossible task, however, since she had no clue as to what the other student looked like underneath all the winter gear she was wearing, so Gia eventually gave up trying.

About a minute later, another student approached them, asking if she could join. The eleven year old quickly nodded. "Sure! We could probably use a bit of help," Gia admitted with another grin. Elena agreed as well, which meant there small group of two had just become a slightly larger group of three. It was always nice to have more people helping out, and now that they had one more person, the task wouldn't take quite as long as it would've without the new girl. She had not introduced herself yet, and neither had Elena, so Gia took the lead. "I'm Gia, and this is Elena." she said, gesturing to herself and then to the older student beside her.

The new student seemed to be around Gia's age, based on her height, and the younger Gryffindor wondered what house she was in. Not that it mattered, really, but if she was also in the house of the brave like Elena and herself, how many more Gryffindors were there that she hadn't bothered to meet and say hello to? Hopefully not too many. . . The other first year mentioned having a plan for setting up a fire, and Gia nodded. "Great!" she replied.

The trio had just gone back to planning out what they were going to do when suddenly, out of the blue, another voice chimed in. Whoever it was said something about. . . an entrenching tool. Elena spun around first, and Gia quickly followed suit. From the voice, the girl assumed it was a boy, but just by looking at the figure she couldn't tell for certain. He was dressed in an interesting way, his outfit a jumble of mismatched things, making the young Gryffindor unsure of sure what to think. The boy was acting as if he'd been there all along, seeming perfectly comfortable around the three girls, and it was just so. . . odd. "Okay. . ?" was all that Gia could think of to say at the moment.

When the new, new student brought out a small wooden clipboard, suggesting they use it to block the wind, the first year had to stifle a laugh. Elena, however, was thinking hard, and she said that it may work. Gia shrugged. At least the rest of his idea had made sense. . . the boy then introduced himself as Pericles Dralt, a second year, and a Ravenclaw. Was it just her that didn't introduce herself with her house as well? The girl wasn't sure, but maybe that was something she should begin doing once they finished the errand. And yes, her plan was definitely to complete the errand, no matter what it took. If they had to stay out there for half an hour, she wouldn't mind, as long as the four of them actually finished it.

So. Now their group was the maximum amount of people that it could be. That change had come quite quickly, hadn't it? At least it was a good change, though. Now that they had an even amount of people (again), they could split up and get things done twice as fast, like Elena suggested a few minutes after Pericles joined them. "That sounds good," Gia agreed with the third year. "I can look for a good place to make the fire. . ." The eleven year old glanced around at the other three. "Pericles? Since you seem to know a lot about this, wanna come with me?" she waited for a reply.

When she received one, the girl turned to Elena. "Yes, we're ready!"

Total Word Count: 1305
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6

───

───

Planning with | @Gia Adelard and @Pericles Dralt
Looking for firewood with | @Elena Jangleton

The young girl was relieved that the two students were fine with her joining them. "Pleasure to meet you, Gia and Elena." She was about to introduce herself, when a voice spoke up behind her. Normally, Callista would have noticed them - or was it him? it was impossible to tell - but the snow obscured everything.

As she listened, her head cocked to the side a little. There was something about that voice... it was muffled, but there was something familiar, something she couldn't quite pinpoint. Callista blinked when he brought out a clipboard. Did he bring that around with him all the time?

The older girl - Elena, she said? - seemed to think it would work, and she found no reason to object either. At his introduction, the Asian girl looked at him in sudden recognition. "I've met you before," she said in surprise. "At the Fall Costume Party?"

They hadn't spent much time together, but at least she - sort of - knew him. The other girls were foreign to her. She suddenly realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet. "Sorry - I'm Callista, Callista Lovis. First year Hufflepuff."

"I guess that leaves Elena and I to start the fire," Callista said with a smile. When they set off, the girl looked at the edges of the courtyard. The best wood to find would have to be relatively dry. That would be hard to find in this simulated weather. Incendio could start a fire fine, but in a challenge like this, the better the base is, the better it would work.

"Do you think multiple Incendios would help?" Callista asked. Her voice was still soft, but louder than usual to be heard over the wind. Her question was directed at Elena, but if anyone was around, they would be able to hear the question - provided they were close enough. Multiple Fire-Making Spells would allow her to still be able to try casting it. Maybe she still had a shot. In the meantime, she'll just look for some dry wood...

Word Count: 869/600
Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 8 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7

@Elena Jangleton | @Gia Adelard | @Callista Lovis

The Ravenclaw spoke soft and cheerful. He wasn't always the chattiest sort, but he could be when he was excited, and this errand was worth being excited over. The boy had spent some of his youth being led through survivalism drills that some would call bizarre or unnecessary, while his father preferred to call them practical. Being capable of sustaining heat in extreme cold conditions was a matter of life or death, after all. Pericles knew what to do, or at least, he was confident enough to make suggestions. Yet Peri, in his eagerness to be helpful, had a bad habit for dispensing that knowledge unprovoked. Blessedly, it seemed this lack in social graces had not earned him the ire of his peers. No one was turning him away or accusing him of being a know-it-all. He looked to Elena with bright-eyed appreciation. His antics didn't necessarily need to be understood, but to be trusted? Now, that was important.

One of the witches claimed to know him. His odd stare squinted through the flyer's lenses, then creased, supposedly accompanying a smile somewhere beneath that scarf. "Ah, Robert's friend! Hullo again Callista." He had a talent for remembering faces. The nicer folk tended to be easier to retain, too. "It's good to see you again." It seemed they wouldn't be getting better acquainted through the standard method, which usually involved hanging about in non-lethal conditions, typically talking about hobbies and the like. Instead they would be battling arcane elements in a team. While Peri enjoyed casual conversation, there was something slightly more appealing about the snowstorm.

Back to Elena he looked, nodding silently at her suggestion to split up. When Gia invited him to tag along with her, the Ravenclaw gladly moved to stand at her side, shoving his satchel of school supplies behind his back. The clipboard, of course, was kept close under an arm. This was another new face, though he seemed glad for the invitation, bidding on an encouraging note: "Lead the way." Peri's gait was relaxed, his mannerisms gentle, always seeming in a state of daydream. The moment they plunged into the icy air however, his stride became swift, certain, marked by purpose. He would maintain a close pace at Gia's left, matching her pace and deferring to her decision on where their fire ought to go. As soon as she designated a spot, the boy got to work. He whipped out an aspen wand, deft handling implying complete comfort with spellcasting. The silly old clipboard was shoved into a heap of snow, where it seemed it would be buried and useless, when instead the pile was perfect as a support base. Waving his wand in the shape of a partial circle, careful not to close it at the top, Pericles barked an incantation over the whipping winds. "Engorgio!"

A bolt of icy blue went from wand to wood. The clipboard began to grow, broadening, lengthening, causing the snow to grunt while compacting beneath its swelling weight. It stretched to the size of a window, then a mirror, and settled somewhere around the breadth of a generous dining table. Though the snow helped hold it somewhat, Pericles clamped a tight grip over the top, preventing it from toppling while he ducked down behind it. Those protective gloves would come in handy: the leather warded off the air's bite and wouldn't soak from the snow. They had their windbreak.

Reducio

344+517= 915/600 Words
Will continue posting!

Their master plan had been set in motion. She would leave it up to the other two to find someplace where their little flames would not be snuffed out by this harsh wintery gust. Shooting a smile at her newly-made companion, Callista, she would glance around for a bit as if trying to determine where they could gather some good quality wood. Regardless, any wood they were gonna get was going to be snowy and frosted over thanks to this climate and unless they found a way to reverse that, Elena reckoned they were going to have a lot of work on their hands than they asked for. "I don't see why not. The more fires, the bigger!" She said in respone to the inquiry.

Thrusting a thumb towards one of the saplings that was swaying all over the place, Elena waded her way through the snow to get to it, an idea forming in her head. They didn't exactly need to find dry wood because they were after all witches and magic could help them out of most situations. Grasping one hand over one of the stray branches, she broke it off shaking it a bit watching as the snow that had collected on it fell to the ground in one giant clump. The stick was cold to the touch as the Gryffindor had expected but the idea she had meant this was a good thing. "Look, what if we just do this?" She would say to Callista fishing out her wand.

A few waves followed by a muttered incantation of "Aer Calidus!" and a gentle stream of hot air would burst from the tip of her wand blowing over the branch she had broken off letting the warm breeze idle over it for a good minute or two. She ran her gloved hand over it a couple seconds later grinning at the result, no longer moist and not as bone-chilling cold as it had been. "This way, we don't have to worry about where we get our wood from. Just pick up any pieces you see lying around and I'll dry them off." A sideways glance to see how their group members were holding up and the Gryffindor had to a double-take. Was that Pericle's clipboard except..bigger? She had to give him credit, he had thought this through to the very end.

Scouring the snowy terrian, Elena would began to hunt for some decent sized chunks of wood shuffling them around in her arms, the pile was getting considerably larger. The girl reckoned they didn't need too much but enough to give it a good spark. "How much you got?" She would ask looking over at her firewood buddy. Between the two of them, she reckoned they would have enough to start heading back and see just how well the other half had gotten along. Jerking her head towards where the looming clipboard beckoned, she began to wade her way that way slowly careful not to let any stray pieces of sapling fall to the ground.

"This is genius. I never thought of that possibilty." Elena would say to the Ravenclaw boy after the wood-collecting duo would arrive at the site depositing her pile on the ground giving it an analytical look. Right, they had to build it just right or the flames wouldn't catch effciently and that would be no good. She was no camper but one could try grabbing two logs and placing them together, a flash of dissapointment as they didn't stand up as well as she had planned. Well this was going to be painstaking as she knelt before glancing up at the others. "I'm not any outdoors person, anyone know how to bunch up these logs so we get a nice little fire going?" They had their wood, they had their barrier and they were going to have their heat source if only they could figure out how to build the blasted thing.

@Elena Jangleton | @Pericles Dralt | @Callista Lovis

Total Whiteout Errand

The Ravenclaw boy agreed to accompany her to find a good place to make the fire, and as soon as everyone said they were ready, their plan was set into motion. Pericles told her to lead the way, and she hurried to do just that after giving him a quick smile. "Come on," she said, gesturing out towards the icy white winter land before them. Hopefully the pair would be able to find a decent place to put their fire - and find one quickly, at that. Gia didn't really feel like searching and searching and searching for too long.

Luckily, the pair didn't need to look for more than a couple minutes before Gia found somewhere that seemed absolutely perfect: a decently sized area of flat land, with snow that wasn't as deep as the rest of the courtyard. There was plenty of the white powder for the second year to stick his clipboard in, and she mentioned this when calling him over. "Over here," she said, loud enough to be heard over the wind. "I've found a perfect spot! Stick your clipboard in here, and we're all set!"

The eleven year old waited as the boy hurried into action, pulling out his wand and pointing it directly at the small piece of wood sticking out from the ground. Gia had no clue as to what his plan was, but she really hoped Pericles knew what he was doing. The clipboard was small enough at the moment - barely able to block a square foot of land from the frigid winter wind - and if he broke it, the pieces would be much to small to do anything at all. But the older student seemed very certain of his movements when he cast a spell upon it, yelling the incantation loudly and surely.

Suddenly, before her very eyes, the small piece of wood began to grow. It grew larger and larger and larger until it was so big Gia knew that their whole group would be able to fit behind it. "That's perfect!" she exclaimed, a huge smile lighting up her face. So this was what Pericles had been planning from the very start! She hadn't really thought he was being serious when he first showed it to them, and had honestly wondered to herself what the boy could be adding to their group, but now. . . now she was very, very happy that he'd joined them.

Gia peeked out from behind the newly made windbreak to look for Elena and Callista, who had gone in search of wood for the fire. The older Gryffindor seemed to be casting a spell as well, but she glanced over after finishing and the eleven year old waved. After seeing that the other two were still in the process of collecting the wood, she turned back to Pericles. "Maybe I should pay more attention during classes," she joked, motioning to the giant clipboard in front of them with another grin.

A few seconds later, the other two members of their group came back. Elena seemed just as impressed about the clipboard and Pericles' spell casting as Gia herself had been, and the younger Gryffindor was pretty sure that Callista was as well. The two of them had brought over two large piles of sticks and other branches for the fire, and to the first year's surprise, they were. . . dry? "How did you find so much dry wood?" she asked, a little bit confused. Then she remembered seeing Elena cast some sort of spell. That was it, most likely. Still, it was a pretty impressive feat, and her smile grew wider.

"Here, let me help," she said quickly when the third year had a hard time placing the pieces of wood together the correct way. A little over a minute later, the sticks had been piled nicely in a way that would certainly have them burning fast whenever they used incendio to light it. "There," she said, sitting back. "Now all we need is for someone to cast the spell. You know how to, right?" she asked, turning to Elena.

Total Word Count: 1988
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6