A Glacial Experience Errand PV

Helping build the log pile with | @Gia Adelard
Casting Incendio in front of | @Elena Jangleton and @Pericles Dralt

"Wow..." The wonders of magic never ceased to amaze the young girl, even after several months of staying at Hogwarts. "What year did you learn that spell?" If it wasn't too difficult, maybe she could learn it on her own time, since she was pretty sure it wasn't a first-year spell.

Elena's spell had dried off quite a few pieces of wood, so Callista focused on getting the right types of wood. It would probably be best if they got different-sized pieces of wood. Between them, they eventually ended up with a pile of logs in varied sizes that would do nicely, although she grunted at the weight in her arms. Clearly the girl's skinny arms were not built for carrying large pieces of firewood.

At the sight of the enlarged clipboard, the Asian girl raised an eyebrow. It now resembled a small door; the wonders of magic had stricken again. And again, she wondered how quickly she could learn that spell, taking her mind to the comfort in the dry pages of spell books.

The fourth-year was attempting to balance the logs together in a sort of... tipi shape? Predictably, it didn't work. The wind was far too strong to create that kind of structure. Callista reached forward to help Gia with the log-piling, making sure there was plenty of open spots to work as ventilation.

The young Gryffindor turned to the oldest member of their small group - Elena. A little offended, Callista added quietly, "I can do the spell too." Fingering the mahogany-colored wand, the first-year turned to the pile, trying to figure out the best place to cast the spell. Eventually, she ended up aiming for one of the holes in the pile. "Incendio!"

Casting WDC: 9
[d20] 9 + 8 = 17
17 > 9 -> Spell Success

The fire crackled merrily, and the young girl couldn't stop the grin that lit up her face or the leap in her heart. Her wand seemed to thrum with energy, as if it was saying, more, more! It would have sounded ridiculous if she ever said it out loud, but in that moment it made perfect sense.

Word Count : 1213/600
Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 8 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7

@Elena Jangleton | @Gia Adelard | @Callista Lovis

Snowy weather was something Pericles had always enjoyed. He relished the crisp cold air, the mischievous flakes that stuck to one's eyelashes only to disappear with a blink, the way sound seemed muffled by the thick downfall. It was whimsical, magical, blanketing the world and leaving it in a sleepy state. He did not, however, harbor much sentiment for blizzards. The leather gloves and boots prevented wetness from seeping through the materials to freeze fingers and toes, but it didn't render him impervious to the cold itself. He crouched low beneath the improvised cover, letting the absurdly large clipboard lean at a slight angle, braced against his back. Each exhale formed a cloud of steam that oozed through the scarf. While his torso was warm in the great big jacket, he could feel the skin of his legs prickle with frigidity. Then his errand partner Gia spoke, and her kind words were enough to distract him from freezing thoughts.

When they lifted, his eyes shone and creased beneath the goggles, attesting to an appreciative smile somewhere under the scarf. She spoke of a need to pay more attention in class, and he shook his head before calling happily over the whipping wind. "No, not really!" came the curious explanation. "Lectures will only teach you what a spell can do, not necessarily what you can do with it. Ordinary materials can be given extraordinary purpose under the right circumstance." Life was like one great big Rubes Goldberg machine, in which all the littles pieces worked together to accomplish a task, where even something simple as the humble clipboard could play a part. As she joined him under cover, he followed suit, peeking out from behind to watch while their other two teammates collected wood. At a distance, he could see Elena pointing her wand at a heap of wood. Pericles watched the snow whip away and smiled in realization. "For example," he continued to project above the snowstorm, "I've always wondered if the Hot Air Charm could be used to keep a hot air balloon afloat. Though, I don't think I'd want to test that myself."

When Callista and Elena spied them peeking out from cover, Pericles waved invitingly, motioning them over. If his ears weren't already red from the cold creeping into his cap, they might have turned a humble shade of pink at the Gryffindor's compliment. "Thank you," he said simply, then with greater enthusiasm returned, "That was an excellent use of the Aer Calidus incantation." Those two had done a difficult task by collecting what wood was needed. Already, it seemed the four were close to completing the errand, having worked swiftly and efficiently. Gia had chosen a solid spot, though the more that temperature ebbed away at him, the heavier the clipboard seemed to become. Planting a knee in the snow so he could brace a shoulder against it, Pericles perked when it was asked how they should go about arranging a fire. Eager for a brush of warmth, he answered quickly. "We'll need a flat platform of wood to separate it from the snow, first." All that required was laying a few sticks side-by-side. Then, Gia went right to work arranging a stack which would cradle their flame beneath it, effectively trapping the blaze.

With wind blocked, wood collected and dried, kindling arranged just so, all they needed now was the fire itself. Pericles watched in mute anticipation as Callista incanted Incendio. Just like that, they had their own little fire going, dancing in the tipi like a bird fluttering around a cage. "Well-cast!" he complimented, then "Quick- huddle in, block it best as you can. Ten... nine... eight..." Seven more seconds and they would earn some of that hot cocoa.

Reducio

344+517+625= 1,486/600 Words
Will continue posting!

She beamed at Callista's question thankful for the fact that they were indeed carrying dry wood and not having to take in any more of this frostbitten cold than they already had. "The Hot Air Charm, nifty little thing I picked up this year." Truthfully, Elena wasn't sure if she was ever going to utilize it but this was good as a situation as any. The looming clipboard beckoned to them and so did the ingenious boy who had come up with the idea. "I honestly never thought I would find a use for that, thought wrong, it seemed." Elena said to Pericles secretly happy for the praise she had gotten for utilizing such a unique spell watching as Gia and Callista got right down to it arranging a little wood structure for them that they could set ablaze. Perfect, they had the platform, now all was needed was to set the twigs and firewood alight so they could all relish in it's warmth.

The question was posed to her by Gia and Elena nodded fishing out her wand though Callista was already on top of things. The crackling sound was like music to her ears watching as the orange flames licked at the wood and almost instaneous, the cold climate that had been battering for them Merlin knew how long suddenly had another very powerful factor of nature to contend with. The roaring heat that was emitting off the flames and it felt marvelous, the perfect shelter until this nsow died down. "Perfect and we can tone up the heat too if we want! Incendio!" Her wand flashed downwards toward the wood pile and the fire seemed to respond in turn the blaze growing bigger which Elena reckoned was good enough. They didn't need a huge bonfire, just something big enough to give them relative warmth.

Following the boy's instruction, the girl shuffled in closer eager to breathe in some of the warmth though the smoke was a unwanted nusiance. That was the problem with wood, it was all smoky and ashy and sometimes got in your eyes. Well, depending on which direction the wind blew as Elena put her gloved hands out rubbing them together to create some friction as the snow blew around them as if protesting against the little defense they had set up against the will of nature. "I'd say we've done pretty well for ourselves. Could go for some marshmallow roasting or something." She nodded making some converstation as the timer ticked off in her head. They just had to kepp it going long enough and between her and Callista, Elena was sure they had gathered enough firewood to keep it burning for that long. She had strengthened the fire with her own spell so the wind could try all it want but this one would not be snuffed out so easily.

@Elena Jangleton | @Callista Lovis | @Pericles Dralt

Total Whiteout Errand

Gia frowned slightly at Pericles' response to her joke. "What do you mean?" she asked, confused. Luckily, the second year already had a response ready, so she received an answer very quickly. When he was finished, Gia nodded, her frown disappearing. "Oh, okay." she said, smiling now. "That's true, just look at the clipboard!" the girl gestured towards the huge piece of wood Pericles was holding up. The Ravenclaw had an example as well, and he explained more about what Elena was doing. "Do you think just one person could cast a spell to do that? Or would there need to be many?" Gia asked with genuine curiosity. She wouldn't want to test it either, but. . . it would certainly be interesting if it worked, wouldn't it?

When the other two students in their group arrived at the spot the young Gryffindor had chosen a while earlier, the four of them got to work. It seemed that they each had their own part of the process: Pericles set up a platform of sticks, Gia arranged the dry pieces of wood into the correct shape with a little help from Callista, and then both Elena and the Hufflepuff cast Incendio to start the fire. "Yes!" the eleven year old cheered, her face bright with excitement after seeing the first small flame leap around to light the rest of the logs. Right before starting the countdown, Pericles told them all to move closer to the warmth so that the wind couldn't get to it from any side. It probably wasn't all that necessary, however, since the other three had already huddled close, desperate to feel even the tiniest bit of heat from their creation.

"Me too," Gia agreed with a smile in Elena's direction once the older girl had finished talking. They were so, so close now, and she hurried to join in with Pericles' countdown for the last couple of seconds. "Four. . . three. . . two. . . one!" When she reached zero, the girl's face brightened considerably more, every trace of the worry that had been on it before gone. "We did it!" the Gryffindor said happily, looking around at her companions. "We actually did it," she repeated, her tone a bit more amazed now. She hadn't really thought that their task was all that possible in the beginning, but now. . . well, she knew for sure that it was.

Glancing around at the other three students around her, the first year nodded in the direction of where Professor Kibitzer was standing. "Hot chocolate is waiting," she said with a small laugh. "Although. . . it's a little sad to stop the fire so soon after we made it, isn't it?" she looked at the flickering flames for a few moments, and then came up with a solution. "What if some of us go get the hot chocolate and bring it back here so we can enjoy it around the fire?" the eleven year old asked, her voice hopeful. It would be quite wonderful if the others agreed. . .

2488 words total
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6
Evasive Maneuvers

@Elena Jangleton @Pericles Dralt @Gia Adelard

Hmm... what year could she learn a fourth year spell? Third year, she guessed. Shame, it seemed so far away from now. Then again, it was quite a rare spell to use, so maybe she could wait a while longer. At the same time... "There's always a use for a spell. Why would someone create a spell if there wasn't a situation where we could apply said spell?"

Compared to the icy winds from before, the crackling fire was well received by each member of the group. It was fascinating how much a little bit of magic could do. A simple wave of the wand, and suddenly what had previously seemed to be an unconquerable force of nature was kept at bay.

The thought crossed her mind of what magic would be able to do for the Muggle community. But of course, that would be breaking the Statue of Secrecy... Callista could understand why it was there. Everyone knew of the witch hunts that had taken place not that long ago, and ordinary Muggles would always be asking for little favors. But at the same time... would magic be able to protect a town from the effects of a tornado? What about wildlife? Could magic save them from human pollution? Perhaps if wizards could do it discreetly enough, they might be able to save at least some animals. Not necessarily magical ones, either.

But alas, the errand was over as quickly as it had begun. The ten seconds had given the first year enough time to ponder, but Gia's enthusiasm was infectious. When the countdown ran out, Callista couldn't help a smile from spreading across her face. The weird urge to high-five someone surfaced, but she suppressed it, settling instead for standing up. "I'll get the hot chocolate."

As she played the part of the delivery person, another chance to reflect came. Although she had been reluctant at first to approach the two Gryffindors, it really had been a task of teamwork. Besides, she had learned (of) two new spells and the approximate time she would be able to learn them. When she sat back down - legs crossed and hands cradling the mug in her lap - she took a sip of the hot chocolate. Mmm...

Word Count : 1588/600
Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 8 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7

@Elena Jangleton | @Gia Adelard | @Callista Lovis

The very thought of multiple wixes in a hot air balloon, all casting Aer Calidus in tandem, was enough to make Pericles grin beneath his scarf. "Several, I should think," he decided after a moment of mulling. "There's a great deal we can accomplish with magic, especially when working together. I think this was my favorite errand to date." They had a far safer experiment on their hands than sustaining a hot air balloon. Who was to say: maybe one day, little exercises in practical magic application such as this would snowball into other survivalism experiments. He could only hope.

Elena made the blaze bigger with another Incendio, relieving warmth washing over him. Peri's posture as he held the enlarged clipboard was stiff, though he seemed to relax when he finally felt heat again, bracing himself more comfortably. The Ravenclaw hummed in wistful agreement (then sniffed) at the idea of roasting marshmallows. When the countdown concluded, he offered a soft, congratulatory "Well done, everyone." Though it wasn't over just yet. Gia invited them to take their cocoa inside the snowstorm. A puff of steam issued through the boy's mouth cover as he breathed a laugh, delighted grin growing out of sight. There was something cheekily fun about staying longer than necessary: they hadn't just completed the errand and moved on, they were having fun with it. Though, he sounded somewhat sheepish as he added: "If we're going to get comfortable, would anyone mind finding two sticks to help hold this up?" He may have come decently dressed for a short soiree in the snow, but that didn't mean he was impervious to the cold, nor the blizzard battering the other side of his improvised windbreak. There was, to be frank, not a lot of meat on his bones.

One way or another, Callista eventually handed him a mug, for which Peri thanked her earnestly. The boy would wrap both gloves tight against the ceramic, hoping the warmth would seep through the fabric and into his fingers. Sitting on his haunches, he tugged down his scarf to take a drink, pushed up his goggles, and finally faced them proper. "It was nice meeting you all," then, remembering their tolerance towards him when he had sort of appeared in their midst, Pericles added "and, thank you for letting me join your team."

Exiting unless further interaction.
Scuse the wait on this!