Who Lit It Best? Errand Fin

@Piper Clark & @Everly Charlton

Everly had quickly joined Starlee in digging out their little pit for the fire against the wall. Finally, once they had managed to clear the snow out, the cobblestone floor beneath them, she got up, wiped the snow off her hands, and stepped back and noticed Everly give her a little smile, to which Starlee returned. That boosted her confidence a little, that is until Piper had returned with a stack of wood. Piper dumped the sticks in the little pit quite unceremoniously and began breaking them to try to set them up against the wall, which she then quickly decided against. Starlee wasn't quite sure why until Piper redirected her work toward asking Everly and Starlee if they would try casting Incendio.

Well crap.

Everly got right into it though, quickly whipping out her wand and beginning a quick countdown. Starlee was taken completely off guard and managed to croak out a "W-wait..." as Everly said 'two,' barely managing to get her wand out quickly as well.

She miraculously said "Incendio!" at the same time as the other girl, but because she was caught off guard at Everly's spritely attitude toward casting the spell, a whole lot of nothing erupted from her wand, while Everly performed a beautiful cast and the little pit of sticks quickly lit aflame.

However, without the help of her second Incendio, the wind blew right over the pit, and the flame only managed to stay alight for three seconds. Certainly no ten.

She quickly pulled herself back together, purposefully not eying Piper, and said "Okay... can we... try that again? I- I'm ready this time." She took a deep breath, and pointed her wand at the pit, hoping this time it would work.

@Starlee Kennedy @Everly Charlton

Everly's Incendio was impressive, Piper had to admit. She couldn't help smiling as the flames erupted from her wand, lighting the wood...for no more than a few seconds, no thanks to Starlee. Piper gave the World's Smuggiest Smirk, watching Starlee's pathetic charm. Perhaps Everly and her could get along just fine what with Everly's well-done spellcasting. Of course, this time could have just been a fluke, but Piper had to give her the benefit of the doubt in this instant. Never mind the fact that she rushed it.

Starlee's embarrassed question was too good - Piper choked back laughter and smiled sweetly. "Of course, let's try again. With two successful incendios, we just might win - Everly, that was great; just repeat it." Piper left it at that - hopefully it was subtle (though it could not have been more obvious, whatever "it" was). And hopefully it also sounded like Piper knew Incendio.

Attempting to look as though she was helping as well, Piper tried to make herself as large as possible. "I can try to block the wind more..." The wind was blowing hard and Piper glared at the administrator sitting in her perfect little patch of sunlight. It was very convenient for her over there in her nice bubble. Slightly more annoyed, Piper nodded. "Go whenever you're ready." If needed, she could also grab more wood.

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark
January 11, 2021.
#b76e79
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sta 6 | eva 7 | str 0 | wis 7 | arc 4 | acc 6
seer

Piper was not the best at masking her emotions.

Or, perhaps, Everly was just imagining the look on her face, but that was also entirely possible.

Piper almost looked smug at Starlee's fluke, and Everly felt sympathetic for the girl. She studied Starlee's face closer, trying to find out if the two girls knew each other or had some weird revenge past that Everly didn't know about. "Okay... let's try again then!" Everly said, putting a burst of optimism in her words. Piper helped built a higher wall to block against the wind, and Everly smiled. "Hopefully this time we'll make it!"

Everly shot Starlee a look of encouragement. "Ready?" This time she waited, then went, "Alright... three, two -" Then she hesitated. "Piper, maybe you could help cast too? Or Starlee could help with the wall instead?" Piper would appreciate the offer, right? It was a chance to show Starlee up, so she'd feel grateful, right? And Starlee wouldn't be edged out of her comfort zone, and then they could finish this up quicker. Everly was getting cold. She shivered and turned to Piper, wand raised.

Everly was mentally reassured with her words of explanation. There was no way this could fail, right?

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@Starlee Kennedy | @Everly Charlton

Piper was taken aback. Did Everly not remember her comment about not having her wand on her less than five minutes ago?

Piper sniffed. It was only a reminder that some people would stop at nothing to make her repeat herself. "I told you...I don't have my wand, I forgot it." Her tone wasn't the kindest, but then again Starlee was here, the girl who had once tackled her to the ground after heartlessly criticizing her. Although, this was Everly speaking, whom she didn't know. She couldn't possibly know Piper didn't know Incendio...could she?

She decided the best way to finish the task was to keep her own motives hidden while examining the other two. Five seconds and her usual expressionless mask returned (to be replaced with feigned disappointment momentarily). Even she, who was almost never cold temperature-wise, was starting to shiver. "I wish I could help, but it looks like the best I can do is help block all this wind."

Besides, she, Piper, was kindly blocking the chilling wind with her own back. The least the others could do was be grateful.

There was wood down there by the fire. Piper was all about efficiency - get the job done. And while she would simply love to rub this into Starlee's face, it would have to be an incident to save for later reference. Piper was getting anxious watching all of the other students finish their jobs, and the windiness and snow was not comfortable. Soon, she'd be reading back in her dorm...

@Piper Clark & @Everly Charlton

Of course Piper was going to comment on her poor spellcasting. She continued to look anywhere that Piper wasn't, to avoid her gaze. Piper's intonation on the word 'Successful' was completely purposeful, and she knew that Starlee would pick up on it. She tried not to roll her eyes in annoyance, but continued to point her wand determinedly at the fire pit. She could see in her peripheral Piper trying to make herself bigger in order to block more of the wind. A thought came into her head... what if the wind pushed her into the fire? She tried not to giggle at her mean thoughts, but a few sputters managed to come out.

Everly seemed ready and rarin' to go for their second attempt, and Starlee waited patiently as one who didn't want to do whatever they were about to do. However, Everly stopped mid-countdown to ask if Piper could cast as well. Did she forget that somehow the 'all-knowing Piper' had forgotten her wand? Ugh. Of course, Piper reiterated this information, her tone perhaps not the friendliest. She refocused her attention to blocking the wind, waiting for the two to attempt again.

She looked at Everly and nodded to her, as a sign that she was ready. "Okay, okay, we definitely got this this time!" she said, taking a deep breath. "Three... Two... One... INCENDIO!" She would regret what happened next.

Rolled a D20 for a wisdom check and crit failed.

The spell backfired. She had lit herself on fire. Perhaps it was a case of instant karma for the thought of pushing Piper into the fire, but it was more likely it was Starlee's atrocious spell casting and overexaggerated wand movements. The arm of her robe was now in flames, and Starlee screamed, with attention from nearby groups being drawn to them now. "AHHHH!" she screeched as she then decidedly flung herself into the a nearby snow pile. She wiggled her arm around in it, hoping that both the fact it was cold and a lack of oxygen would put it out. It seemed that it had, and she pulled her arm out, noticing the now burned edges. Perfect.

She stood up, dusted the snow off her robes, and walked back to the group. "So... Uh... Third time's the charm?" trying to pretend that she wasn't just literally on fire.

@Starlee Kennedy | @Piper Clark
January 11th, 2021.
#b76e79
──────
sta 6 | eva 7 | str 0 | wis 7 | arc 4 | acc 6
seer

Wellll-

Someone was uptight about their wand.

Piper's tone was aggressive... did that mean something? Did something happen to her wand? Did she accidentally, uncoordinatedly, snap her own wand somehow?

Those were just a few conspiracies that Everly had.

"I'm ready!" Everly chirped towards Starlee, readying her wand as Piper prepared to block the snow and wind. This time Starlee counted down, so Everly raised her wand and cast simultaneously with her. "Incendio!"

rolled and was successful, so I guess we're doing that again?

Everly smiled proudly when she spotted her successful spell, but that quickly disappeared after spotting Starlee.

"Did you set yourself on fire?" she asked, slightly exasperated. Acting quickly, she resorted to the coldest thing around - the snow, throwing some on top of Starlee while she rolled around until the fire was put out, still leaving a mark. What had happened there? Everly shot a slightly accusing look at Piper. "What happened?"

Starlee quickly brushed herself off though and managed to put out the fire. Everly blew her hair out of her face. "Okay... third time then... you sure you're fine?" she said, taking in a deep breath.

"Ready?" Everly asked Starlee carefully, focusing on her spell. This time positively had to work, right? Everly shot an encouraging smile towards both of time. "This one has to work."

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@Piper Clark & @Everly Charlton

"Er... I... Yea... I set myself on fire..." Starlee said in response to Everly's question. She had at least helped put her out by throwing snow on top of her, and for that Starlee was thankful. She knew Piper would certainly have something to say about this though, but it appeared she was still blocking the wind, so Starlee took her chances to go again.

"Yes, I'm fine! Only my robes caught fire..." she said, looking down at the singed edges. "Ready as I'll ever be! This is it! We can do it this time! Okay... Three... Two... One... GO!" Starlee raised her wand again, and, in an over-exaggerated manner, waved her wand in the motion for incendio, and cast the spell.

Rolled a 17, Success

And this time... it worked! A spark shot out from her wand, and managed to catch some of their little wood pile alight. She stared for a moment in shock that she had managed to get the spell off perfectly, (at least in her mind) that she wasn't paying attention to Everly or Piper for a few moments after. Her thoughts raced with finally showing Piper that she could manage to land a spell, as well as to prove to this new girl that she wasn't a total dunce. Finally things were going right!

───────────────────────── INTERACTION @Starlee Kennedy @Piper Clark ─────────────────────────

───────────────────────── MENTION - - ─────────────────────────

Starlee seemed up and ready, wanting to finish this quickly. Everly agreed; they had dragged this out quite long, and it was getting tedious. Piper seemed to be mute (not that Everly minded), so Everly nodded towards Starlee. "Alright then! Let's finish this up, once and for all. It's getting cold."

Starlee twirled her wand in the air, overexaggerating the movement. Everly stifled a giggle, flicking her own wand in the same movement. "Incendio!"

The wood burst into flames (again) i rolled a crit fail for incendio but we agreed to finally wrap this up soooo. Everly stuck out a hand to feel the heat, grinning upon seeing that Starlee's spell was also successful.

"AHHHH WAIT I NEED TO COUNT -"

one. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. ALMOST THEREEEEE - ten!

Ten seconds! Finally! Everly's eyes flew around, grabbing a small handful of snow, and throwing it on top of the piece of wood. She threw some more on too, until she saw that it was fully put out. "That was ten seconds! Good job Starlee! And, Piper too." She added as an afterthought.

Seeing as they had finally finished, Everly smiled at Starlee and Piper. "Looks like that's it! This was fun, I hope I'll see you guys around sometime. Maybe we could hang out or talk later?" Waving goodbye, Everly shivered slightly in her coat and hurried back into the castle.

She'd need a lot of hot chocolate after this.

thread finished and left.

☆

@Starlee Kennedy | @Everly Charlton

On the count of three, Starlee and Everly attempted to cast Incendio. Everly performed the spell flawlessly again, but again it was Starlee's incompetence that failed the entire attempt. This time, however, was hilarious. Piper had already felt gleeful, a half-smile painted on her face, but now she couldn't help a bark of laughter as Starlee quite literally set herself afire and threw herself into some snow, screaming. Piper shook with mirth; the only reason for it not being louder was that she hoped to keep Everly as a potential fan friend.

Oh, Piper may not have been able to cast the Fire-Conjuring spell, but she definitely enjoyed watching her nemesis epically fail.

However, Piper's initial delight quickly faded as Everly's tiny spark fizzled out once again. Honestly. She was going to freeze to death before they finished this. Tiredly, Piper muttered, "Just finish it. I want to go inside." The icy wind blew against her back that was protecting the dry wood, and Piper felt a new wave of resentment for the staff who had created this winterland indoors, where it certainly didn't belong.

Once again, Starlee and Everly made an attempt to set the wood on fire and end this junior mission. Piper waited, even hoping Starlee's cast this time would succeed (despite the fact this would mean Starlee was better than Piper at a spell). On the count of three, Everly and Starlee both managed to send streams of fire out of their wands.

Involuntarily, Piper let out a cheer and held her breath as Everly counted to ten. At last! The work was done, the mission accomplished.

Everly's words set Piper off inwardly - she had gathered the wood and protected the flame, she should get SO much credit - but she let it go. It was way too cold to argue today. Piper inclined her head towards the two girls. She didn't want to say anything else, and simply lifted a hand in departure. It was time to fulfill those daydreams of reading in her dorm for the rest of the day.

Piper has left the thread.

@Piper Clark & @Everly Charlton

Starlee hadn't noticed Piper's earlier shaking with laughter since she was still facing away from the pair, and she did somehow manage to hide it well. Plus, Starlee had her now singed robes to attend too. If she had noticed her cackling, oh boy would Starlee have loved to tackle the girl for a second time, this time sending her into the snow. Alas, she was too preoccupied, and so they continued pressing on.

She barely listened as Everly counted down the seconds that the fire had been lit. She heard Piper let out a cheer, and she turned to Everly and said, "Really? Ten seconds? We- we did it! Thanks Everly, you did amazing yourself!" And just as Piper hadn't said anything in response to Everly's comment, Starlee decided she wouldn't reciprocate a 'you did great!' to Piper at all. Did she really deserve it anyway? Anyone could stand there in front of a fire.

"I would love to hang out sometime Everly! See ya round!" She said as Everly began to leave. She responded with a curt nod back to Piper and began debate on where to go now. Not the common room, surely Piper would be heading there now too. The Library... now that sounded like a much better option. Hopefully a certain Piper wouldn't be there. She still had homework she needed to do for her lessons tomorrow, or, more likely, she would sit there and brood on just simply how annoying Piper was. Yea. That was definitely the best use of her time.

And so, she grabbed a hot cocoa to warm herself up, her mind ever occupied with one Piper Clark.

Starlee leaves the thread.
It is now finished.