They Make Good Bait PV Errand closed

@Elena Jangleton | @Haley Rose

1 February, 2021

Gia had never particularly loved animals. Sure, she had wanted a pet for most of her life, and had begged her father every single year since her best friend back in Manchester put the idea in her head, but. . . no one who had met her would consider calling her an animal lover. Really, they probably wouldn't even consider her as an animal person, either! And yet, here she was, walking towards the area where she was supposed to meet the other members of her group. Her group for what? Oh, that's an easy question. Her group for taking care of flobberworms, of course!

Walking down one of the many corridors at Hogwarts, the young Gryffindor saw a bunch of other students carrying small bundles around the castle. Wondering what exactly they were holding, Gia purposely walked a little closer to one of the other students and peered down at the pile of blankets in the boy's arms. Sure, she looked a little weird doing it, especially since she had never seen the boy before in her life, but the eleven year old didn't really care about how it looked. Certainly not after she saw what he was carrying and was reminded of just how disgusting the creatures she was about to be babysitting - or flobberworm sitting, she supposed - looked.

Just as she rounded the corner, Gia heard someone talking to another person. Or at least, she was guessing it was another person - it could have been anything, really. A person, a pet, possibly even a flobberworm, to be honest. The talking wasn't really what had captured her attention, however. The thing that was responsible for doing that was the familiarity of the voice. The first year was almost 100% certain that she knew whoever was speaking, but. . . she couldn't place the voice to a face right away. The brunette had met a great number of students over the past few months, and if she was telling the truth, her memory wasn't the sharpest. So even after a few more minutes of listening to the person talk (not in a creepy way, exactly) as she walked in their direction, Gia had no clue who it was.

When she reached the spot where she was supposed to meet the other members of her group, the Gryffindor student felt like smacking herself on the face. "Elena!" she exclaimed after a slight hesitation, feeling a bit stupid now that she'd seen who it was. Gia had met Elena - along with two other students - during another errand a little while ago, when they'd tried to get a fire going in the middle of a big blizzard that one of the professors had created. Everyone had been all bundled up, but the girl had been able to see enough of the third year's face back then that it had only taken her a few moments to realize who was sitting in front of her. "I suppose we're in the same group for this errand too, then?" she asked with a smile.

"So. These are the flobberworms we're supposed to look after, huh?" Gia asked, examining them closely to see if they looked any different from the others she'd seen that day. One of them was inching it's way off the blanket it was on, and the first year reached out a tentative hand to poke it back into place. "We're waiting for one more person, I think. . . but it's nice to see you again." she said once it was back where it should be, glancing around to see if anyone else was coming their way. It didn't look like it at the moment, but Gia was sure someone would come along soon. . . she sure hoped so.

Word Count: 620/800
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6
Evasive Maneuvers

meeting @Gia Adelard & @Elena Jangleton

Haley was just making her way out of her dormitory, through the common room and down the stairs. She was looking for her group for today. She didn't know exactly who she was in the group with, but she would find out soon enough. She went down a few floors and strolled through the corridors with a quick step. She was a little late, but not too late yet but still wanted to hurry so as not to keep her group waiting.

Flobberworms she thought again. Haley had to think about the conversations with her friend when they talked about all kinds of creatures but they had never talked about these. She had tried to prepare herself somehow for today's task but was not really successful. There were no typical activities she could do with these little creatures to amuse them. She didn't even know if it was possible to entertain these animals. What she did know was that they were also used for potions, but that was clearly not an option. Basically, she would just have to look after the little things, that couldn't be too hard. But she was sure that they would come up with something good in the group. The most important thing was that they could bring the worms back in one piece and Haley was sure that this would not be a problem.

She paced around a few more corners, passing students who had found in their groups carrying their worms and the odd rather disgusted look. She was sure that many of the students had not had much contact with these animals and did not really know what they looked like. Haley knew that it could be a slimy affair and even though she wouldn't call these creatures cute by any means, she wasn't repulsed or disgusted by them either. They looked the way they did, and in the end, the creatures couldn't help that.

After another corner, Haley saw two Gryffindor girls with three worms. She was sure that this was her group. She recognised the faces from the common room, but had never really had anything to do with either of them. She hoped they weren't waiting too long for Haley and walked a little faster towards them.

"Hey girls, I think I'll be in charge of the third one today." She glanced at one of the worms and smiled at the two. "I'm Haley, by the way." She quickly introduced herself and then gave the worms a closer look. They were wrapped in blankets, which made sense of course. That way the creatures wouldn't leave slime trails all over Hogwarts and with the amount of worms that were in Hogwarts today, that would have been a lot.

Still a little perplexed as to how today would go, she turned her attention back to the two girls. "Any plans for our task today yet?

Elena let out a grin at the first person that would make up their group of three. It was none other than Gia, the same girl who had been with her when they had been getting assualted by that god awful blizzard. Thankfully though, there was no snow or anything remotely bone-chilling to worry about. There was just worms and somehow, Elena was preferring to be stuck out in that snowstorm again rather than deal with something that left the most disgusting traces wherever it went. As far as she was concerned, flobberworms only had one purpose and that was to be used for their magical properties but as for actually keeping them as pets and babysitting them, Elena almost cringed at the thought. The Gryffindor blamed herself for not actually looking into what the errand actually entailed before signing herself away for the day. "Hey, Gia! Yeah, funny little guys, aren't they?" The third year breathed a silent prayer of relief as the girl prodded one of the creatures back into it's blanket kingdom.

It was not longe after Gia that the third member of their worm-sitting group arrived. Fantastic, now they could all put their heads together and figure out how to pass the day with some of the most disgusting creatures that Merlin's good earth had to offer. "Hey there, I'm Elena and this is Gia!" She said introducing the both of them to the newcomer before nodding towards the three worms, one of which seemed intent on wriggling it's way onto the hard concrete surface yet again. "I said no." The girl told the small creature protruding her index finger to gently herd it back into it's warm fabric habitat. Maybe they were missing the outdoors, that was it. Worms didn't need to be in blankets anyways, they were better off being plopped down in some grass or something if you asked her. She defnitely wasn't touching those blankets once they were done here.

"Well, I reckon since we're inside, we can try to feed them or something?" She wasn't risking carrying these things outside, there were too many predatory things around that would make a nice snack out of these worms. That, and losing house points for losing flobberworms just seemed downright embarassing to her. Her house-mates would never let her live that one down. "I hear they love vegetable and fruit scraps, the healthy stuff." Shouldn't be too hard to find, right? They had a kitchen and she was willing to bet there was at least one place in this massive castle that would yield them the diet they needed to satisfy these worm's hunger. Maybe they should name them to keep track of who was who, they all looked the same though. Elena squinted at the miniscule creatures as if trying to determine what was different about each indivdual worm.

"Unless you all have any other ideas?" There was not a lot you could do with worms.

@Elena Jangleton | @Haley Rose

1 February, 2021

Gia smiled back at the older Gryffindor. "Definitely funny." she agreed, glancing over at the worms wriggling on the ground. "So. . . what do you think we should d - " Before the first year could finish her sentence, another girl - Gryffindor, upon closer inspection - rounded the corner. She looked friendly enough, Gia thought to herself as the redhead introduced herself. Elena told the newest member of their group what their names were, but the eleven year old still waved and smiled brightly at Haley. "Hi Haley! And yes, like Elena said, I'm Gia." After a slight pause in which she glance over at Elena to see what she thought, Gia added, "No, we haven't come up with any plans yet. . . do you have any ideas?"

The eleven year old couldn't help laughing when the third year told the flobberworm that was trying to wiggle it's way off the blankets that he wasn't supposed to. It was the same one as before, Gia realized - or at least, she thought it was. Telling the creatures apart was a very hard task, for all three of them looked exactly the same, and Gia wondered how they were going to manage it. Maybe they weren't going to try and manage it at all, that was possible as well - the only requirement for the errand was that the worms got back to Professor Cespedes perfectly fine, so they didn't actually need to tell them apart. They were a group, after all, weren't they? As long as the flobberworms were okay when they were returned, everything was fine.

Elena then suggested that the three of them could try to feed the worms, and Gia shrugged. "Sure, that sounds alright," she said. "I mean, what type of adventure could we take these guys on? It probably wouldn't be that much of a fun one, since we'd have to bee making sure they don't fall or get injured in any way. . ." she sighed. This whole errand would have been a whole lot better if the flobberworms came with thick, sturdy shells, she thought. Sadly, they hadn't, and the three Gryffindor students had been left with the creatures wrapped in blankets instead. Oh well, Gia thought. That's just how it is.

Looking at Haley to see if she had anything to add, the first year waited for a few seconds before saying anything else. When she was sure the other first year wasn't going to say anything else, Gia spoke once more. "I guess we could head to the kitchens and find some food for them, if no one has any other ideas. I certainly don't. . . what if we go to the kitchens first, and then once the worms are done eating we figure out where to go next and what to do?" she suggested. It seemed like a reasonable idea, and she glanced at her groupmates to see what they thought of it.

Word Count: 1103/800
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6
Evasive Maneuvers

let's get some food @Gia Adelard & @Elena Jangleton

"Hey Elena and Gia!" Haley greeted her partners again and gave them both a big smile. Haley had to grin a little as Elena reprimanded the worm and pushed it back into its blanket. Sure, it made sense that the worms didn't smear the whole castle with slime but still, it wasn't usual for worms to be wrapped in blankets either. Haley could understand that one or the other worm would try to break out and regain its freedom.

She was also glad that Elena had an idea what they could do. Because Haley didn't have any and it looked like Gia didn't either. "Yeah sure, I mean who doesn't like to eat?" Haley shrugged her shoulders and voted for Elena's suggestion. She had no counter suggestion and it seemed like a good idea. Luckily, she knew what the animals liked to eat, so that would make it a little easier.

But still they need to get some food for their little friends. Haley didn't have anything with her and didn't expect the others to have anything either. So probalbly they should go to the kitchen but before she could ask, Gia began to speak and it seemed as if she had read Haley's thoughts.

Her thought had also been to go towards the kitchen or ask an elf if they could have some of the leftover food for the worms. Haley didn't often deal with the elves, but when she did see them, she was always friendly and it seemed they remembered because whenever Haley asked for help, she got it from the elves. She nodded in agreement at Gia's words, "if you'd like, I'll go quickly on my own and get something, then we won't have to carry the worms around the castle." Haley would have no problem with going as group, but also knew that there were some students who avoided touching the worms, even if they were wrapped in a blanket. Haley could understand it, even if she didn't mind. So she made this offer just in case one of the girls would rather want to stay here and avoid contact as best as possible.

Either way was fine with her, so she looked at her two partners and waited for a response before heading towards the kitchen alone or together to get som fruits and vegetables.

WORD COUNT: 875/800

It was settled then, the flobberworms that they had been entrusted with not would be feasting on a very grand meal composed of whatever the heck worms thought was tasty. Surely, an stroll to the kitchens couldn't hold any morsel of danger to the small creatures. "Let's just make sure we don't lose one or something crawling behind the shelves or something." Elena added eyeing the wriggling organisms, especially the one that had now attempted to escape the grasp of the fabric blankets a grand total of two times. Somehow, that one seemed much too eager to wander off on it's own or maybe it wanted nothing to do with the towering humans that loomed over it. She couldn't blame it, people were interesting though the easier the worm made it for them, the easier all of them would get out of this and preferably slime-free. She didn't even want to know what sort of things were in that aftertrail that they left behind.

That was why she thanked all the gods above when Haley brought up the genius suggestion of looking for something to transport the worms in. She didn't exactly fancy the idea of holding a slime-ridden blanket full of worms as she looked at Haley as if the girl had saved all of them from some unforseeable chaotic mess. "Could you? That would be beyond amazing, I don't fancy getting whatever that is on our robes." The brunette added nodding towards a portion of the fabric which was glistening and upon closer inspection, it would be some of that sticky, slimy substance as the worms traveled about their fabric kingdom intent on exploring every bit of it. She really hoped the professor didn't want these blankets back or something because it was gonna take a really good Scouring Charm before the blankets even were capable of laying hands on. No way Elena was touching that in it's current state.

She really hoped the house elves would be understanding. Well, that was if there were any moping about in the kitchens at this time. Where did they stay, anyways? Still, she wouldn't blame them if a bunch of students barged in with a bunch of worms to set loose upon the fine delicacies that the kitchen had to offer. "I'll just, uh, stand guard over them." Well, she didn't really foresee what the things needed protecting from but there was no she was going to be heaving the worm trio with nothing more but a bunch of slimy blankets.. She didn't want to get up close and personal with one than she already had. Hopefully, once Haley returned with whatever contraption she obtained, this task would be a lot more easier. "You know I read worms don't have any eyes once." The Gryffindor mused thoughtfully to Gia watching the things. That had to be such a strange feeling. She supposed she could see why certain people took a passion in studying the most dull creatures.

They were however no less repulsive than the previous million times she had seen them.

@Elena Jangleton | @Haley Rose

1 February, 2021

Once everyone agreed that their first step was going to be to feed the flobberworms, they moved onto thinking about what to feed them and how they were going to get to the kitchens. Elena mentioned that they would need to keep a close eye on them, and Gia spotted the same worm (or at least she thought it was the same worm, as said before they all looked the same) trying to get away again. "Yes, we definitely will need to pay close attention," she agreed with a small giggle. Haley quickly offered to go and get something so that not all three of them would need to come, but Gia immediately shook her head. "No, no, that's fine." Less than a minute later, however, Elena spoke up. "Oh. Well then, in that case. . . I mean, I could go with you, Haley. But then. . ." the first year looked at the older Gryffindor hesitantly. "you'd be left alone, if I go." she didn't want to make Haley go on her own, but then again she didn't want to leave Elena with all three of the flobberworms either.

"Um. . . would it be alright if you went and grabbed it on your own?" she asked Haley. "I mean, if you don't want to, I can certainly come." Gia added. She didn't know what to do. Haley had seemed fine with going by herself and then coming back a little bit later, but the eleven year old wanted to make sure just in case. When the other girl reassured her once more, she nodded. "Okay, thanks," the eleven year old said with a grateful smile. She didn't have as much of a disliking towards the flobberworms as Elena seemed to, but she still didn't want to have to carry one too far. Turning to face the older Gryffindor, Gia gave a small laugh at the strange statement the other girl made. "I didn't know that," she said.

There was a brief silence as the two students waited for Haley to come back with the food for the worms they were watching over. Gia, not liking the quiet, tried to start up a conversation again. "How come you signed up for this errand?" she asked. "I mean, you don't seem to like the flobberworms all too much. . ." Realizing it might sound a bit accusatory, what she was saying, the first year hurried to add, "I don't really like them all that much either, though - it's not a bad thing." she hoped Elena didn't mind sharing her reasons, for at least it would give them something to talk about. "I honestly don't know why I myself signed up, but. . ." Gia shrugged. "At least we get house points, right?" she grinned and waited for a reply.

Word Count: 1563/800
Permission to godmod Haley slightly was given.
Stamina 8 ⋆ Evasion 6 ⋆ Strength 3 ⋆ Wisdom 7 ⋆ Arcane Power 5 ⋆ Accuracy 6
Evasive Maneuvers

getting some food@Gia Adelard & @Elena Jangleton

Elena was visibly grateful that Haley had offered to go alone and so the two of them would only have to look after the worms, but not carry them through the castle. Haley smiled at her in understanding. Gia, on the other hand, wasn't really sure and Haley had to chuckle a little as she kept switching from going with her to staying here. It warmed Haley's heart that Gia was behaving like this. She was a good person but Haley assured her that it was okay to stay here and that Haley had no problem going alone. "Don't worry! I'll be back as soon as I can." Haley said goodbye and made her way to the kitchen.

On her way through the castle she passed many students who were also looking after the worms. Some were disgusted by them, which Haley could clearly see in their facial expressions. Others were watching a race between their worms and long trails of slime could be seen behind them. Haley had to laugh to herself as she stopped for a moment to watch the race. One of the worms had a very clear lead and she was also able to quickly tidy up his guad as he cheered loudly when his worm crossed the finish line. Haley congratulated him on his victory and before continuing she remarked to the three boys, "You'd better clean this up quickly on your own before a professor tells you to." She looked at the three long trails of slime and then turned around.

After a few minutes, she had finally arrived at the kitchen and, coincidentally, one of the elves ran into her at the same moment. She recognised him and remembered the day when she had built a snowman and this elf had brought it to life. "Hey you there!" she said a little louder so that the elf could hear her. But the elf was startled and turned to Haley. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you! Do you still remember me? You had brought Olaf to life and he sang quite terribly." Laughed Haley as she told about it and the elf seemed to remember it too and gave Haley a quick giggle.

"Um, would it be possible for me to get some leftovers from the meal? Vegetables and fruit would be best. You know, we're watching the worms right now and wanted to feed them." Haley explained the situation to the elf. The elf nodded his understanding and snapped his fingers once and suddenly he held a small brown bag in his hand. He handed it to Haley and a glance into the bag told her that they would have enough food for six worms. "Thank you so much!" Haley said with a big smile and she quickly turned and made her way back to her group.

It wasn't long before she could see them in the distance and Haley quickened her pace. "I hope you didn't have to wait too long for me but I was successful." She said when she was close enough for the two girls to hear her and held up the small brown bag. She sat down next to Gia and started unpacking the food. "Okay, here we have some cucumber," she took the leftovers out of the bag and handed them to Gia to pass around, "Some orange, apple and tomato." They distributed the leftovers amongst themselves and so each could take care of a worm. "Don't worry, there's plenty of leftovers if your worm is particularly hungry." Laughed Haley as she picked up a worm in its blanket and placed it in her arm like a baby, trying to feed it.

Word Count: 1.495/800

With Haley off to find whatever scraps the kitchens could provide them with to appease the worms so that they may turn their attention to a hearty snack instead of trying to plot their escape from the blankets, Gia's question certainly had her thinking along the very same lines. Elena didn't know why she had signed up for this particular assignment, everyone knew she wasn't the animal type. Well, no, that was a lie. She was most certainly the animal type, the cute, fluffy, adorable animals. Worms that wriggled about leaving a trail of sticky goo everywhere they went that contained all sorts of bacteria was probably not on her list of animals or whatever classfication of creatures they fell into. In her mind, it was in the flobberworm's best interest to keep well away from her. The Gryffindor could make one exception this time for the sake of a few measly house points.

"You know, I wish I had a good answer for you." The girl confessed as they waited deciding to pass the time to by observing the repulsive creatures in their little area. It was oddly entertaing in a sense if you could get past all the digusting aspects. "Let's just say the offer of a few house points and whatnot was too good to pass up." That, and after that absolute terrible snob, Everly had played a major role in completely messing up her essay that indeed had cost her points, Elena had thought it only fitting she make up for that loss by partaking in this. It wasn't exactly a victory but it was something. She hadn't expected the worms to be as bold as they were noting how they were keen on wriggling out of their blankets. Maybe they had just gotten some more bolder ones knowing her luck.

Haley's voice rang out again and her head jerked up to see what goodies their fellow partner had brought for them. Orange, apple, cucumber and tomato. All were healthy options, solid options and for organisms that moped about in the dirt and soil that littered the grounds of the castle, she could think of no finer replacement. For them, it would be like a grand feast as the girls divided the portions of the food Haley had gathered evenly among themselves. Rolling up the sleeves of her robe so that no worm traces would find themselves onto her, the girl carefully settled her hand around one of the wriggling blankets cringing a bit peeling back a layer to reveal the worm's head that popped out.

Three of them, three of the worms. "Here you go, bud." She took one of the oranges peeling it with her hands before depositing the peeled fruit into the worm's territory or tempoary domain. Rather curiously, she watched as it's small figure wriggled towards the morself promptly getting to work digesting whatever nutrients and healthy vitamins were present in one orange slice. "You know, this might be one of the simplest tasks we've had to date." She commented thoughtfully to the others. It was certainly far more pleasant than freezing in the blistering cold, her and Gia could relate. Maybe Elena should thank her lucky stars it wasn't something far more complicated.

"You think we can name them?"