Passion Project #8 Pv

@Elsian Cox

Serena wandered around the corridors with the best rat on her shoulder - though that title had been bestowed onto her rat solely by her. They were in desperate need of something relatively fun to do, kind of bored of studying. For a moment, she was tempted to go outside and practice broom racing drills... but she was kind of tired and the weather looked grim outside. She was a little worried about running into Hugh and having him scold her for not training hard enough or properly. If she was lazing around in the drills or not putting enough effort in, he would be the first to say something and jump on her case about it. And gee, he was forceful. She loved the guy to bits but he did not take 'I'm tired though' as a solid excuse.

Hiding indoors was the perfect excuse - well, as long as she could find something to do before he caught her strolling around and dragged her outside. Luckily, she had height on her side. Or lack thereof, rather. As she wandered around, she would randomly start talking to Pizza Rat. Mumbling something about her thoughts and feelings to him as they walked, "Yeah, yeah, I know, it's dumb," She mumbled, as she walked into the Great Hall. Of course Pizza did not actually respond to her but she would like to think he did.

Blinking, she stood a step back as some children (she could call them that, they looked much younger than her!) almost knocked her off her feet as they rushed past. They were hurrying off somewhere, though she had no idea where or why. She could not exactly figure out what they were talking about nor did she hear it but looking back at where they had come from, she shrugged and walked in.

She approached it, pausing for a moment as she noticed something sparkle and catch her eye. A bit of metal. Some sort of wire. She would recognise the glimmer of metallic wire anywhere - mostly because she spent many many hours playing with metal in her forge. Approaching, she noticed several other items there. A few threads, some... beads? They could even be bits of food from earlier that hadn't been cleaned or something else, who knew. She could not entirely be sure but she saw someone on the opposite side of the table who looked like they had a crafting book out of somewhat.

Putting two and two together, she suspected they might have been supplies of theirs that had fallen. Grabbing what she saw near her - though she was not entirely sure if it was everything - she held them up to the boy, "Hey - I think you may have uh dropped these?" She asked him, holding open her palm to show him what they were.

Pausing, her eyes fell onto what he was actually looking at. From what she could see of the upside-down book, she could not quite make out what he was trying to do. Tilting her a head a little, "May I ask what you're making?" She decided to straight-up ask, deciding to go bold or go home.

“Oh.” Elsian grinned at the sight of the items, standing up to lean across the table and snatch up the offered ‘loot’. He was mostly just pleased at not having to worry about picking it up later. “Thanks!”

The items were quickly shoved in their respective piles, the tiny red tin box that’d been dropped on the ground serving as the default place for the smaller scraps of wires and metal bits. Attention grabbed by the sorting he hadn't expected anything more than maybe a ‘your welcome’ or something before she left, dismissing the Hufflepuffs presence whilst he sat back down and went about continuing his work. Another piece of black fabric quickly cut up into palm sized ovals and put aside before the girl even spoke again; he hadn't noticed her stares.

Startled, he shrugged halfheartedly, feeling a bit silly for not noticing as he looked away from the girl back to the book.

“Um, puppets.” At least that was the plan.

“Or, I’m trying. The book isn't that helpful,” he admitted. It was possibly the biggest understatement of the century, the book wasn't just bad it was horrible. Like really, really horrible. But he was bored, and boredom had a way of making him desperate enough to read shitty craft books. Pulling a face he wrinkled his nose and added, “it’s actually kinda the worst honestly.” Most you could do with it was use it for loose inspiration or the smallest bit of direction for certain puppet parts, but even that was kinda a gamble for some of the puppets…Too bad for him he was pretty dead set on making a spider puppet to mess around with Kitty and his friends now; it was like he had a brain worm, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He had to make it.

Looking down at the pieces he eyed a few buttons across the way in another tin box, wondering. “Why?” he eventually asked, “You bored too?”

She seemed like she could be. It was definitely one of the perfect days for it in his opinion; usually he liked dreary weather like today but this time it just seemed too dreary somehow.

Restless almost.

Eyes dropping down he snatched the tiny blue tin filled with buttons, dragging it closer to dig through wordlessly. Silently he listened to the girl as he fumbled about. One shiny black button was held up to the fabric, then a dark purple, each button quickly turned away in favor of a new one, back into the tiny tin box. “You can try and make something if you want, I don't mind.”

He met the girl's eyes with a wry smile, “but I warned you about the book.”

@Elsian Cox

Serena wiggled her nose a little as she observed the 'puppet' that he was attempting to make. She was not entirely sure what the puppets were for but, it seemed kind of interesting. Though this book sounded either terrible or like he was exaggerating. Surely, it could not be that bad right? Someone had to actually publish it so it should be... half-decent? At least, that was her logic. Though it might be flawed. Nonetheless, she did really enjoy crafting and this was something different. Having worked with metal mostly, this was very different. But perhaps she could start making some cute puppets out of fabric. Oh, imagine the possibilities if she got good at it. Perhaps she could start adding cute little puppets to outfits somehow. Like one attached to the shoulder pad so it looks like it's just sitting there, being your friend. That actually sounded rather adorable. Not everyone had a rat on their shoulder, after all.

A small cheeky and sort of mischievous giggle escaped her as she continued to think about the possibilities. She could add a puppet to Hugh's helmet! And he would definitely hate it. And she loved that either so much - mostly because she wanted to just see him facepalm. Why did she love annoying him? She had no idea but it was kind of amusing and it passed the time a little bit.

"I was just curious -" She answered, not quite 'bored' but then again... she was just wandering around aimlessly with the hope that perhaps she could do something to avoid training and actually, this seemed sort of perfect. She did enjoy crafting much more than exercising, and it could almost be like 'training' her crafting abilities, really! "Actually, yeah, I wouldn't mind joining if that's okay!" Serena added with a grin after a moment.

As she sat down opposite the boy, joining him, "The book can't be that bad, surely!" She replied as she looked over at it without touching it - which made it a bit harder to actually see it, since she was reading it backwards. Or attempting to, at least. Glancing over to the boy, "I'm Serena, by the way," She introduced herself as she offered a handshake. The brown rat moved down her arm and hopped onto the table. He started to sniff at the box of supplies, "And sorry about him... that's Pizza. He's... a pretty curious one," She added gently nudging the rat away from the boy's things.

She was perfectly aware that not everyone loved rats as she did. Some people did not want their belongings to be touched by one. So she decided to keep him away from the box, knowing full well that he would likely start climbing in and looking closer if she allowed him.

Her words got a lopsided shrug and a half smile, “It is.” A pair of scissors and the supplies that had been since gathered on his side were pushed closer to the middle for the newly arrived pair of crafters to share, as if to wave away any lingering questions.

Silently and pointedly, the book was flipped right side up for the girl, the obviously pointed look on the boy's face seeming to war somewhere between unconvinced and aghast, in a melodramatic sort of way. A fair assumption technically based on the Gryffindors personality, but you’d be loathe to ever get him to admit it over his whining and simpering.

Simply he said, “read it.”

And really that was all that needed to be said about the book.

Granted if she’d seen something else so bad and honestly screamed scam? Well, he'd have to see that! But until proven otherwise in the state of utter horridness in the book Elsian was fine with burying his face into his work. Some red & blue thread grabbed as the boy scrunctized the cut out pieces; unpleased, these too were discarded like the rest in favor of the thin rounded plasti sticks he’d gathered up for this whole thing; and honestly should he have one moveable ‘bone’ for each of the spiders leg or two for where it bent? 2 seemed like more work than necessary but he’d never made a spider puppet before. His clothing projects and the occasional stuffed animal didn't quite help him with understanding the finer details of spider puppet autonomy.

Fumbling with his thoughts on the inner workings of puppets as he measured out different leg lengths, the girls-

Elena. Elenas words finally brought him back to the present.

He shook the hand gently, “I'm Elsian.” And curiously his gaze was drawn to the 2nd newly revealed companion as the rat scampered down, a flicker of fondness bubbling up at the sight. It reminded him a bit of Kitty. Though it helped that he’d always had a fondness for rats and mice. “Pizza?” he laughed, though not unkindly. That was a good one, solid name as far as Elsi was concerned. “He’s cute~”

Work firmly forgotten in the wake of such an adorable distraction, at least momentarily, Elsian focused on the rat instead as they sniffed around. Adorable. The rat was perfectly, utterly charming and the Gryffindor struggled not to reach out and hold the critter.

“I almost got a rat,” he hummed, subconsciously lifting a finger to pet when Pizza got close to a tin. He hesitated, giving Serena a hopeful look, “is he alright with strangers?”

Not every animal liked other people and it wasn't uncommon for a person to not want you to touch their pet. Kitty loved the attention but that didn't mean Pizza would. It was polite to ask. If it was fine though…

“Can I pet him?”

@Elsian Cox

Shaking his hand, she grinned, "Nice to meet you! Yeah, he's uh. Usually pretty good with strangers," There was a moment of hesitation in her words, as she recalled several moments where he had not been. In truth, Pizza Rat had always been rather friendly. However, as of late, since he had gotten into multiple incidents and she had taught him how to fight, he had also been a little agitated at unexpected times. He had bitten a few people, rather uncharacteristically - or tried to. Serena was pretty good at stopping him. But training him was not exactly easy.

"Of course! I'm sure he'd love it," She continued, so pleased that her new company did not seem to despise rats. That was always a plus! Some people found them to be kind of gross and others were scared of them. Her best friend seemed to mostly be concerned that she seemed obsessed with them... But still, not everyone took to rats well so she was glad that she found another person who seemed to be interested, "What did you get instead?" She asked, wondering why he didn't get a pet rat in the end. She could only assume that he ended up getting something else instead - though she could not imagine having another pet now that she had Pizza in her life.

After giving her agreement for him to pet Pizza, she turned her attention back to the book that he told her to read. She nodded as she pulled the book closer a little, leaning over it to see if she could fathom any of the information from it. It was... uh... something. She tilted her head, a frown crossing her eyebrows as she stared intently at it, trying to make sense of it. Her gaze would go from the book to the materials and then back to the book, before flipping the page or two... Several pages later and a solid few minutes of flicking back and forth, she seemed to understand just how bad this book really was. "Where did you even get this?!" She asked, wondering how someone sourced something this awful. Her expression was rather telling, to be honest as she furrowed her face trying to read the book and figure out what he was trying to make from it.

Returning the book to the original page, she looked at his current work in progress and the page, trying to see how close he actually was.

“Cool~” He cheered, letting his finger graze the rats, Pizzas he mentally corrected, back. When he didn't immediately nip at Elsians fingers, seemingly curious enough to allow it or simply not caring, he got bolder, pressing his hand forward to gently scratch the critters head

“He really is cute though,” he said, internally cooing when he scurried over tin boxes and loose items; that nose! Adorable. “Not a lot of people seem to have rats as pets, at least in my year…mostly cats and owls,” he pushed a large button towards the creature in offering when he drew near before picking up his scissors, quickly cutting out the last of one long strip of red fabric from some of the scraps of junk fabric near him, “kinda nice to see one again.”

He couldn't remember the last time he got to pet or hold one. Honestly, it felt like ages; likely the last time had been when saving yard mice from the house cats 2 summers ago! But he hadn't seen any the past summer, Elsian could only assume the worst. It'd probably be a long time before any more deer mice got brave enough to make a home in their gardens…

“Ah.” Now that he thought about it he hadn't seen Kitty for the past half hour. Nnn, it was fine. She was probably somewhere in the room, just in a dark corner sleeping or something. “A black webber.” He hadn't meant to get a pet that day let alone a spider but, well he was glad she'd refused to let him leave without her.

“Her name’s Kitty, she's around here somewhere.” Pizza sat in front of him, he quickly tacked on, “She's harmless though.”

Going back to his work he only lasted so long, barely cutting some thin black jewelry wire to size before he got distracted again by a mix of Pizza sniffing around, insufferably adorable, and then to Elena and the…odd looks she was pulling with every new page. Biting his lip to hold in a laugh he looked away; the book was bad and it was oddly satisfying to see someone else going through the stages of grief with every turn. Never had Elsi been more serious when pointing out how painfully horrible it was and oh was it painful but it'd be a lie to say it wasn't also kinda funny. Fun even to try in a weird way.

Her expression told wonders.

At her words he broke, throwing his head back with a small laugh.

“I told you it was bad!” He snickered, standing up to lean over the book and the page it landed on and turning it to the marionette page briefly. The only thing useful about this one was the picture showing the person moving the puppet via strings but that was enough. He turned the page back to Elenas, sitting down.

“I got it from one of my aunts. She sent it to me with some other stuff, got it somewhere in Oregon probably.”

Pushing the wiring and extra fabric to the side he brandished all of 1 outta 8 puppet spider legs at the girl. One end was pushed against the table, the other showing the weird mix match of wire and tubing peeking out from where it hadn't been sewn shut as he bent it. The leg bending in a creepy mock of a spider's movement and when straightened about the size of his wrist to the tip of his finger. “I was gonna make a spider that bounced at people,” here he pressed harder, the leg bending again, “think it's springly enough?” And let go. The odd thing springing up sharply enough to almost hit the Gryffindor in the face as it was launched up and across the table.

He made an affronted noise at almost being smacked by his own creation before glaring at the horrid thing.

“I ran out of mini springs though. And kept almost getting my eye poked out, my child, it's a menace even unfinished.” He snatched up the thing, dropping it to the side and outta the way and dragging his fabric, string and wire back to him with the affection of someone who claims they have no favorite child but proceed to spoil only 1. “So now the world gets puppets from this horrible book.”

Looking up from his things to her he asked, “you think it's possible to make a spider puppet that can move all 8 legs?”

@Elsian Cox

"That's true in my year too. They aren't super loved from what I see but I think they are adorable," Serena nodded in agreement about most people not having rats. Owls and cats were definitely the most popular choices from what she had seen. It warmed her heart to see Pizza having someone else doting on him with affection though.

Serena tilted her head. She did not know much about black webbers or spiders in general, other than the fact that a lot of people were arachnophobic. The name 'Kitty' did not seem like a spider name but then again, she had a rat named Pizza. She was in absolutely no position to judge. "You don't know where she is? Wouldn't she... get lost?" Serena pondered, wondering if spiders had a really good sense of direction - like Pizza did. Apparently, rats had an incredible one, so she was not super worried about him getting lost anymore. She was, however, worried he would get hurt if he ended up wandering the dungeons alone.

She peeked at the puppet that he was making and pondered, "Wh- Probably! That looks like it might hit someone in the face!" She admitted, having seen it almost hit him. Of course, it was springy enough!

"You think I'd know?!" She asked, picking up some materials and trying to figure out if it was possible to make the puppet with the ability to move all of its legs. This was not her speciality by any means. Her skill set was turning large chunks of metal into armour. Not making a puppet with springy legs. Though... she might be able to make some springs, now that she considered it. How did they even work? They were made out of metal though, right? "How does a spring even work..." She mumbled to herself as she took some wire in her hand trying to imagine it with a springy effect.

Oh rats were adorable. Absolute angels really and his opinion, a way better option than some of the other pets people chose. Owls…owls for one. He’d take seeing an adorable rat over owls any day. “They really are,” he agreed.

He shrugged at the other, pausing briefly in his work of sewing the outside layer of another leg for his puppet spider to look up. “Not really, she tends to stay decently close by, just likes to wander the area over staying put.” Or look for darker places to rest, like under the tables or banners. “Kitty has good direction anyways, so if she does wander off well…” he waved a hand in a vague gesture as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand, “she knows to come to the common room for meals. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew the castle like the back of her little spider hands with how she takes turns staying with me and my friends during the school day.”

Once upon a time he’d been more worried about it. Waking up to her having escaped her terrarium had left him scrambling to find the spider many a early mornings before he realized she had just wandered onto his bed; he’d realized early on he wasn’t gonna be able to keep her locked up like some of the other pets. So, he’d embraced it. Making sure the spider knew his friends who were ‘safe’ and how to get to the common room and dorms. It worked decently well.

“That’s the point,” he simpered, dragging the leg of springs and wire back to bounce it up into the air, “alas, no springs. She’ll remain unfinished and dangerously sharp.”

Squinting at the girl he hummed, tilting his head this way and that, as if thinking deeply on her words. “Yeah,” he began, grinning sharply at her, “you look smart enough. Smarter than me anyway~” It was said with obnoxious glee in the wake of the Hufflepuff already proving the Gryffindor right with the way she set about immediately working and thinking over the inner workings of how one went about making a spring.

Nimble fingers went back to stitching up leg pattern of the spider, “Do you make things often?” It was an honest question, with the way she looked in that moment well…it was the look of someone used to creating things. Black thread pulled the seams of the leg together, a bit of plastic in the rough shape of a spider leg used to double check the sizing. It was fine. The process began again with the 3rd leg cover. Even if he couldn’t get spring legs to put inside said fake leg covers he could at least put cotton in it, like the stuffed animals he was used to. That with wires to control the legs like one would a marionette puppet… well it was no springing spider but it wouldn’t be all bad.

“Like, I dunno jewelry or something?” He was only good at sewing different clothes and the occasional stuffed animal. Maybe she could do better with puppets? Or even knew how to use metal? He was pretty sure the way he binded the wires together to keep things in place was more dangerous than it should have been but then again he didn’t often work with wire of all things.