Who Lit It Best? Errand Fin

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark

A snow obstacle course?

Everly tilted her head slightly, curious but doubting. On one hand, it DID sound like fun, but on the other, Everly wasn’t quite sure how this would turn out. Casting a brief glance at the snow blanketing the Courtyard through the window, she scooted ever so slightly closer to the fireplace. Letting out a sigh she leaned forward and stood up, brushing her hands and then rushing to get her jacket and hat, anything to keep her warm in the winter.

Finally won over, her pace quickened and she hurried outside to join the crowd gathering, just managing to catch the end of the errand instructions. Build a fire, and keep it going for at least ten seconds. Everly allowed herself a small smile. That sounded easy enough.

She casted a glance at the winds and snow, shivering a bit under all her layers.

Maybe not.

The girl was about to head over to grab some wood when a realization struck her like a stone. Wait a minute. Why were the other people getting into groups? This was a group project?

Crap.

Hurrying back over as fast as Everly could make her little feet go, she had a momentary moment of confusion. There were apparently only two people left, which she supposed were her group members.

She lifted her chin slightly, eyes already darting as she assessed the situation. The first girl, the blond one, Everly could vaguely remember her from the train ride back to Hogwarts after the winter holidays. What was her name again? She was pretty sure it was Star something. Starry? Starlight? Unfortunately, she had no clue what talents Star-something had whatsoever. Everly recalled she was good at Herbology, though she had no idea how that would help in the freezing cold weather, when all the plants were dead.

Ouch.

As for the other girl, Everly had no idea who she was either. She WAS pretty nifty at Charms though; perhaps that would help.

Star-something placed her hands on her hips, probably assuming the role of the leader. Everly scrunched her face up thoughtfully.

“Wood!” Everly exclaimed eagerly. “We can use that to build a fire!” Her mouth opened and closed as she grappled for something intelligent and world changing to say.

“Wood,” she repeated weakly.

This was not looking too bright.

Word Count: 390

@Starlee Kennedy @Everly Charlton

Piper stared around at the people surrounding her. As directions were given, her mood was slightly optimistic. Though she hated group projects (she had discovered that well enough through Potions class), this had plenty of potential, especially if she found the right partners. She surveyed the students, analyzing which would make good fire-starting partners. More importantly, which ones looked intelligent and, well, cool. The ones who wouldn't chatter incessantly. Unfortunately, all candidates were grouped up as Piper watched. How did people cluster so easily?

It got worse.

She stared as her only partner options were Starlee of all people, and a Gryffindor that she didn't recognize. She had brown hair and deep chocolate eyes. Nice. Dismayed at Starlee's assertion, Piper was about to say something, but there wasn't anyone else to work with, so a roll of the eyes to let Starlee know she wasn't happy about this would suffice. Starlee wasn't enthusiastic either, but she just had to start telling everyone what to do right away. Of course. "Okay, let's get a strategy together. I'm sure you all know Incendio, so we just need a good way to keep the fire lit against the wind, or possibly blocking it quickly."

Did she know Piper didn't yet know Incendio? She hadn't learned it yet. Glowering, Piper turned to face the other Gryffindor as she brilliantly suggested using wood. "Wood. I never would have guessed. It's almost as hard to think of as using Incendio." It may have been a tiny bit snide, but Piper was irritated. Honestly, was she the only one here who didn't state the obvious? She decided to give Starlee her best I-really-don't-like-you glare before saying, "Fine."

Suddenly, an idea crossed Piper's mind and she slowly smiled coyly (or what she thought was coy; it really probably looked like half her face had creepily slid sideways).

This was perfect. Any blame would be shifted towards Starlee and they would never know Piper didn't know the Fire-Making Spell. And the project would be done successfully! "Since I know Starlee is super amazing at her charming, then she can practice on this! We'll just need a bit of wood. Like you said...what's your name?" she asked the Gryffindor, more nicely. Maybe she could be an asset.

WC: 390

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark

Everly shifted on one foot, subconsciously aware that she was making a fool out of herself by this point. Her mind was already whirring to work, and while the other girls did make a good point, there was still the part where they needed to keep it going for at least ten seconds.

"Wood. I never would have guessed. It's almost as hard to think of as using Incendio." The first thing the Slytherin said, and it was that? Everly frowned a tad bit, already slightly disliking her. But hey, don't judge a book by its cover, right? She watched as they leveled a glare at Star-something, making it clear that they disliked each other, with Everly caught in the crossfire. Just great.

Everly turned to stare at the rude girl, whose expression had turned to a mixture of... - well, it sort of looked like a smushed potato - wondering what was going on in her mind now. "Uh..." It took a moment to register that the rude girl was talking to her. Everly squinted at her, confused. Was this... a trick of some sorts? "My name is Everly. Everly Charlton," she said slowly, still unsure. Figuring that she couldn't always refer to her as "the rude girl", she asked, "What's your name, then?", pointing the question to both girls.

Turning away from that drama, Everly began to think. "Well, Incendio could definitely work out, but we still need a way to keep the fire going. I'd expect -" Everly waved a hand in the air to signal the winds and snow, still shivering "- that the weather might be a bit of an obstacle. But we could use something to block the winds, or like... more wood to keep the fire going." Her eyes turned to Star-something and the other girl - hopefully they had something in mind. "D'you think that multiple Incendios would keep it going longer?" She asked curiously.

Word Count: 294
390 + 318 = 708/600

@Piper Clark & @Everly Charlton

Starlee looked back at the girl who had introduced herself as Everly and smiled at her. She already seemed like loads more help in this situation than Piper was going to be. Well, she knew Piper wouldn't want to lose, just that she would certainly be going out of her way to make this task harder for Starlee than it needed to be. Although the Everly's idea of them needing wood to... ya know... build a fire... wasn't that profound... but still. Anything was better than Piper.

Of course, she was quickly proved right with Piper's comments... 'never would have guessed' huh? At least Starlee wasn't going to be quite so blatantly rude. Not just that, but Piper decided to call Starlee out, and she had to hold back rolling her eyes as Piper said she was 'super amazing' at charms. Well, Starlee wasn't going to back down from the challenge... and she wasn't going to make a fool of herself in front of this new girl.

She decided to ignore Piper's snide comments in an effort to introduce herself and get prepared to start the challenge. She looked at Everly and with a perhaps overly happy smile, she said "I'm Starlee Kennedy. From Scotland. Nice to meet you!" She cocked her head to the side in a 'typically cute' way as she said it.

She then faced the two girls and mentally prepared herself for the hardest task yet: Casting Incendio. But neither of them had to know that. "Okay... let's get some wood collected then to start building our fire! Oh, and maybe save a larger piece so that we can use it to block some of the wind? I'm just going to... stay here and... and start concentrating on the spell..." Her confidence began to waver as she trailed off in her last sentence, feeling more and more nervous about trying to prove to Piper, and essentially Everly as well, that she could successfully cast a spell.

WC: 329
280 + 329 = 609

@Starlee Kennedy@Everly Charlton

Everly Charlton. Piper stored this new name in her mind. Unfortunately, upon closer analysis, Everly didn't appear to be interested in helping Piper. Starlee, of course, wasted no time in cheerily introducing herself. Piper narrowed her eyes at her, looking for hidden implications, then answered Everly. "I'm Piper Clark. It's a pleasure." It wasn't, necessarily, but Everly hadn't done anything wrong yet and didn't really deserve coldness.

Piper inwardly celebrated at Starlee's unspoken defeat - she looked quite nervous. She would stay and practice. Right. This was enough as far as Piper was concerned. At least, it was enough until the actual casting would begin.

In an effort to reconcile her earlier comment, Piper paid thought to Everly's question about multiple Incendios. It could work; it would just increase the power of the fire. Ah, Charms theory! "Yes, I think multiple incendios could increase the fire power. In fact..." Piper toyed with the thought. "Everly, would you also mind casting incendio? Do you know it yet?" This was a perfect idea; Piper was proud of coming up with it. So long as Everly was any good at Charms, she could perform her amazing charm, while outdoing Starlee, while helping the group succeed. Honestly, nobody seemed to understand or appreciate how great Piper was.

Unfortunately, Piper now had to cover up for her own unhelpfulness spell-wise. "I would help, but somebody's got to get some wood. I can definitely do it - I actually forgot my wand in my dorm." This wasn't true; she almost never went without her wand, but that didn't matter now. "In fact, I agree with you guys. We need a larger piece of wood in order to block the wind." Without further input, Piper put her hands in her jacket pockets and began to trudge towards the wood's location.

WC: 301
390 + 301 = 691

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark

Starlee. Piper. Alright, okay, Everly could remember that, at least. Her eyes brightened briefly at the mention of another girl from Scotland; though it had been some time since she was last in Scotland, nonetheless, it was still where she had been born. She fidgeted with her wand in her pocket, shooting Starlee and Piper a small smile.

"I can cast Incendio," Everly said slowly. Charms was her favorite, and probably best subject, but she knew that Piper was good at Charms too, so she scrunched up her face in thought. "But either way, we still need some wood. If the multiple Incendios work, we need someone to direct the fire and keep it going. Snow and ice aren't exactly good places to cast the fire on."

Everly started to turn her head, casting her gaze over their surroundings. "Unfortunately, I don't know if there will be pieces of wood lying around for us to use. Is there anything else around that can catch fire easily?" She mused aloud, her mind racing. "Or, perhaps, we could shelter behind a tree to block the wind from putting the potential fire out. We just need to be extra careful and make sure the tree won't catch fire."

Word Count: 205
390 + 318 + 205 = 913/600

@Everly Charlton & @Piper Clark

Starlee pondered over both girl's statements. Piper said that double casting incendio could make the fire more powerful, and hence last longer. As much as Starlee wanted to disagree, she knew Piper was probably right. Was the girl ever wrong when it came to charms? Well, at least Starlee wouldn't be the only one attempting to cast incendio. She hoped that Everly could make up for her lack of skill.

Everly was right as well about the snow not being the best place for the fire, perhaps they could dig out down to the stone of the courtyard and start it there? They could also probably place it strategically next to the fountain, providing some wind blockage from at least one side.

She watched as Piper walked off to gather some wood that had been acquired for the students. She looked back at Everly and said, "Hmm... well they gave us some wood to get started, we will have to see if Piper can find any big pieces." She paused, tilting her head to look at the fountain in the center of the courtyard, and continued, "What if we put our fire close to the side of the fountain? That way, the wind would be blocked from at least one direction. We can also try digging out the snow so we can set our collection of wood onto the courtyard's stone surface. That might make it last longer!" She nodded, mainly to herself, thinking that her plan could work, and began heading towards a spot right next to the fountain where she could begin to dig out a hole to place their fire.

Errand Quota Complete, will continue to post

@Starlee Kennedy @Everly Charlton

So Everly could cast Incendio. Excellent. While the other two waited, Piper explored the wood stock. The castle courtyard would not have had easy wood, except for the fact that saplings and other plants had been purposely provided for students who needed it. Piper observed one student rip bark off of it, but it only snapped. Branches would have to do. Though it seemed a shame, Piper shrugged, trudged over and tore a branch off the tree. She snapped several more fairly large branches off before marching back to their encampment, arms full of scratchy sticks. Or rather, new encampment; Starlee had already begun to dig out a shelter for the soon-to-be fire.

Piper was a bit put out that Starlee had come up with that first, but oh well. She also (smugly) noted that Starlee wasn't practicing her spell. Dumping her sticks into the new hole, Piper stepped back. "This wind isn't going to help us any..." She snapped several of the bigger sticks and attempted to set them up over the hole, planting them in the edge snow and leaning the ends against the wall. This didn't work too well; there wasn't any room to cast the spell anymore. Sighing, Piper removed the sticks. It was likely the girls would also have to circle up around to make sure the wind didn't affect the fire too drastically from the remaining three sides. Piper rose from her failed stick-building in a quick recovery. "Okay, you guys want to try Incendio?"

WC: 253
691 + 253 = 944

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark

She shifted on one foot slightly, watching Starlee and Piper work around her. Piper had in her hand the wood that they needed, and a small smile bloomed. Excellent, so working together might not be so hard after all. The smile slipped off her face as she spotted the other teams already twice as far along as they were. Biting her lip insecurely, she bent down and hurriedly began to help Starlee dig out the shelter while Piper snapped branches off to use as wood. Everly cringed at each loud snap, the sound ringing in her ears.

Standing back to observe the shelter that they had dug out, Everly gave Starlee a small smile and turned to look at Piper, who had the wood pieces in her arms. "Perfect," the young Gryffindor said, stepping back to watch Piper use the wood to build a shape in the shelter they'd dug. "Incendio, then!" Everly said cheerfully, glancing at Starlee and pulling out her wand. "Together on three, okay? One, two three-" Everly waved her wand. "Incendio!"

Incendio WDC: 9
7 + [d20] 6 = 13
13 > 9 = Spell Success

A burst of red flames from her wand ignited the wood, and Everly smiled proudly at Starlee and Piper.

Errand Word Count complete

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