A Fishy Situation Errand Pv. Dakota Olson Finished

Dakota never enjoyed the heat of summer, fall was her favorite season but when the students were given a task they could choose to do, one that placed her outside, she was quick to decide to do it. Having tied her hair tied back to help from overheating she collected what she would need, putting a trowel into the pocket of her yoga pants for safe keeping while she moved and head slowly made her way around.

Dakotas first thoughts weren’t to go to the lake but her feet seemed to be taking her there anyway. The last time she had been here she went swimming in the lake with a friend so as it came into view she let out a soft laugh, her eyes twinkling as the memory was brought forth. She had grabbed a pair of her hiking boots for this instead of tennis shoes or the shoes she wore with her uniform as well as the fact she had changed out of the Hogwarts uniform to avoid getting it dirty or damaged.

As Dakota stepped up towards the Great Lake her attention was brought towards a girl who sat near the water, Dakota supposing it may be best to keep off to the side and away from her for now. Taking in a soft breath as Dakota looks around the space that sits in front of her. She was unsure exactly what she could do currently but slowly she worked her way around the lake.

She tried to keep out of view from the girl she had noticed earlier, not exactly excited about being out in the summer heat or wanting to speak with someone currently. Stepping around she set her sight on a patch of weeds growing near the lake and ever so carefully made her way towards it.

@ Starlee Kennedy

308/600

@Dakota Olson

There were now quite a few holes underneath the tree by the lake, with Starlee's ginger root collection growing bigger and bigger, now to the point where her vial could hold no more samples. She sighed, still seeing a few more tufts of ginger she could collect, but figuring it could be useful to leave them be. Perhaps another avid herbologist would be doing the same as Starlee in this errand. She pondered what the Hogwarts Groundskeeper would make of these tiny little holes; would he even realize they were there? Perhaps the wind and erosion would fill them in before he even had a chance to check them out. She shrugged it off, truly the first errand where she hadn't put her all into the task at hand.

She placed the vial back into her bag and stood back up, turning to see another figure nearby. It was a girl standing by the edge of the lake, near a patch of weeds. At first, Starlee grew excited. The way the girl was walking toward the weeds was rather slow, perhaps even cautious, as if she was trying to avoid crunching any stray plants. But... what if she was just being quiet to avoid alarming Starlee? She was done with her collecting anyway, perhaps she could make a new friend out of this?

Making her way over to the girl, she began to think of good ways to greet her. Her nerves began to kick in, as she finally reached her, deciding on a brief "H-Hey there." She hoped she hadn't startled the girl, but she continued speaking, "Are you helping out Mister Eliseo too?" she almost facepalmed herself. Of course the girl was, there was a handle of a trowel sticking out of the girls yoga pants. At least it wasn't one of the huge shovels it seemed most students had acquired. But it did make her consider that perhaps the girl was a fellow plant-lover.

WC: 380 + 327 = 707/600
Errand WC Complete, will continue to RP

Dakota jumped just a bit at the sudden voice that was now near her, sure Dakota knew the girl had been nearby but hadn’t been expecting her to even notice Dakota let alone approach her. Turning, Dakota blinked her blue eyes up at Starlee, having the trowel in her right hand, her dominant hand, her hair tied back in a low ponytail and a dirt smudge along her cheek Dakota looked almost like a child digging around in the garden and the shape of her face, chubby and youthful, didn’t help. Pausing, Dakota raised a eyebrow lightly at Starlee before speaking “hello, I am.” her gaze went towards the bag Starlee had before returning back to peering into Starlees eyes.

Standing up Dakota was just a few inches taller than Starlee, three inches to be exact. Dakota smiled at Starlee, a gentle look showing as she sucks in a breath and holds her hand out “I’m Dakota, Dakota Olson.” now that Starlee could hear Dakota better the girls voice could be compared to what honey would sound like, soft and sweet, there also seemed to be two accents battling to poke through, a Scottish one and a American one. Though the heat of the sun had made Dakota a bit tired that was no reason to be rude or snappish to the girl in front of her.

After Starlee either introduced herself or not Dakotas gaze was brought towards the lake and a grin turned the corners of her lips up. Normally, Dakota was not one for playing tricks on people but today she wanted to make someone else laugh as well and this seemed quite harmless. So, stepping over towards the lake Dakota crouched down, all she did was pick a few weeds that sat near her and lower them into the water to get them wet. This, of course, was unknown to Starlee and Dakota did her best to make it look like Gillyweed. Turning around she showed the damp weeds to Starlee, playfully exclaiming she found something before moving to raise it to her lips. This wouldn’t be the first time Dakota ate weeds or grass.

@Starlee Kennedy

WC: 359
308+359= 667/600
Errand WC complete, will continue to roleplay.

@Dakota Olson

The girl responded exactly how Starlee had imagined she would, due to her earlier noticing of the trowel she held. It seemed the girl thought this was somewhat obvious as well, raising her eyebrow at her. She looked down and shuffled her feet slightly as the other girl stood up.

Wow, she was pretty tall Starlee noticed. Starlee certainly wasn't one of the shortest kids at Hogwarts, standing at a fairly average height for her age. The girl smiled at her, introducing herself as Dakota Olson. 'Dakota Olson, Dakota Olson, Dakota Dakota Dakota', she thought as she tried to burn the name to her memory. Starlee wasn't the best with names, but she was trying her best to fix that. She reached her hand out to shake Dakota's outstretched one, responding with "I'm Starlee Kennedy." Starlee instantly picked up on the girl's American-Scottish hybrid accent, as she was practically raised that way herself. Her muggle schooling in Scotland managed to knock most of her American accent out, but every now and then people would catch it.

"I can't help but notice, but are you American? Your accent, I recognize the American-ness coming out. My parents are American themselves and-" she said, cutting herself off before she starting blabbering on and on about her family history. Most of the students at Hogwarts were typically from Europe, and typically Starlee counted herself as a part of that group since she was entirely raised in Scotland, but it seemed there were a few American's hanging about for one reason or another.

She noticed the dirt smudge on the girls cheek, seemingly the mark of the herbology enthusiast, as they could never keep their clothes clean. It was why Starlee had opted to simply wear an old t-shirt and jeans. However her hair she tended to leave down, almost always straight as a pin. Dakota had a grin on her face, and, unknowing what the girl was about to do, Starlee smiled back happily.

Dakota seemed nice based on this small interaction, and Starlee was typically gullible enough to believe that the grin wasn't because Dakota was planning a little prank, but because she was being nice. She went back to collecting a few weeds, and so Starlee turned her back to her, looking to collect few things of her own. "So do you like herbology? You and I seem to be the only ones out here not completely tearing up the grounds with huge shovels!" she giggled, turning back around to see Dakota raising something that looked suspiciously like Gillyweed to her lips.

"I- Wait... You shouldn't eat that!" she held her hand out to try and stop the girl, but with how close she had it, she probably wouldn't reach in time. She wondered if someone who ate Gillyweed could survive out of water. Would she have to push Dakota into the lake?

Nodding lightly, Dakota parted her lips to respond “nice to meet you, Starlee,” tilting her head lightly before smiling Dakota gave her another nod “I do have a American accent, my grandparents on my dads side live in America on a farm,”. She kept a light smile towards Starlee, speaking in her still soft and sweet tone. Dakota knew she was more into the animal part of nature, not exactly the more plant side, but she gave a light nod. Taking a light breath, she blinked a little before responding “yeah, I mean I like more of the animal side of nature but Herbology is normally fun,” having been responding as she was raising the weeds up her grin was still there.

Taking in a soft breath Dakota gives a light laugh, brandishing it and running her thumb over it. Parting her lips she began to speak “don’t worry, it’s just damp weeds,” using a even softer voice as she speaks to calm her Dakota tosses the weeds to the side. Stepping forward, Dakota brushed her wet hand off on her own sleeve. Blinking back at Starlee and giving her a kinder smile “don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine,” crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke.

@Starlee Kennedy

@Dakota Olson

Starlee felt like she had found a kindred spirit already in Dakota, beginning to open herself up to her as she typically did when she felt like she was relating to and liking someone. And, while Dakota may not have loved herbology like Starlee did, she did still like being outside, and that was something she could relate to. Plus, her grandpappy lives on a farm too. It seemed these two had a lot more in common than Starlee would have initially realized.

"You must be really excited for Care of Magical Creatures then, I take it?" She smiled back warmly. "I'm sure it will be interesting... although animal handling was never something I could do well in. My grandpappy on my mum's side has a farm too, back in Kentucky, but I could never seem to care for the animals properly." She said the last sentence with a bit of a laugh. "I do enjoy the air back there though, its so... crisp. I could lay outside in the sun for hours." She looked up at the sky as if caught in a dream.

---

As Starlee reached toward Dakota in an attempt to stop her from eating the plant, Dakota interrupted, saying it was just a clump of damp weeds. Starlee looked aghast for a moment, before bursting out into a fit of giggles. "I- I thought I was going to have to - ahaha - push you -hahaha - into the lake! Ya know - ahaha - cause of the gills!" She continued laughing as Dakota tossed the weeds aside. Starlee was impressed that Dakota had managed to trick her, that clump really did look quite a lot like gillyweed. She reached down into the water, splashing a bit of it at Dakota in playful retaliation. "I can't believe you tricked me like that!" She said, still smiling.

Dakota had wiped her hand off on her shirt as she made her way back to Starlee, a light smile along her face. Taking a soft breath she tucked her arms against herself ”nope, no pushing me into the lake needed,” giving a light grin she nodded “I basically grew up around tricksters,” her cousins, uncle, even her father when she was younger enjoyed playing small tricks on family to get a small laugh. They especially enjoyed doing them in Halloween when they were able to spook Dakota to high heavens. A book or two may have been thrown at them during those times.

Tilting her head she seemed to think over what Starlee had said before. She seemed quite content with the thought of taking care of animals. Letting out a soft laugh she nodded happily “I’m very excited for Care of Creatures! I use to take care of the chicks my papa kept in the barn,” the fluffy yellow feathers that brushed against her hands whenever she held them comforted her. It always felt amazing. Tilting her head she raised a eyebrow at Starlee ”im guessing you’re more excited about Herbology part?” that was already quite obvious to Dakota at least.

@Starlee Kennedy

@Dakota Olson

'A family of tricksters, ey?' Starlee pondered as the girl mentioned it. She thought back to her own family. She certainly wouldn't call her parents tricksters. Maybe her father every now and then would joke about, but her mother was very straight and narrow when it came to life. Not strict per say, she could certainly be so when she needed to, but more lovable and caring. Her brother, well, he was an angsty university student who was upset he didn't have magic. There wasn't much brightness or fun attitudes there. And her little sister... well she was just a ball of energy and getting into things she shouldn't be. Not quite so much a trickster as she was a wrecking ball. Perhaps that is what made Starlee so gullible and trusting. No one ever really tricked her like Dakota had just tried and quite successfully done.

Starlee smiled, saying "Wow, your house must be quite the party!" She continued listening as Dakota returned the conversation to Care of Magical Creatures. She smiled again at the mention of chickens. Now at least they were something she could care for. Magical creatures seemed to be on a whole other level.

"Oh yes, I'm much more exited to learn about what animals have a use in potions. I mean, I've heard that third years get to care for flobberworms, and obviously that has quite the usage in potion making." She paused for a moment before continuing, "You know... we could both really help each other out in that class. Wanna make a pact? We can both take the class our third year, and help each other out when the other is struggling!" Starlee felt extremely satisfied with her proposition, hoping to have a friend right off the bat in an elective course.

At this point, Starlee felt like she had collected all she could today, and started to pack her bag. Her stomach grumbling was also a good sign that is was probably time for dinner. She stood up again from packing her little bag and said, "You hungry? I think its time for dinner, care to join me?" She would smile again at Dakota, and, if she agreed, would make her way back up to the castle. If not, she would go alone, hunger overcoming her need to chat.

Starlee leaves the thread
So sorry for the wait! Vacation and lack of motivation are real killers! Our main plot is pretty much over, so I figured we can end it now if that's good with you! I really enjoyed this though, I'd be happy to thread with you again!