Closed Why? Errand pv Renelle Dalton

I hate plants.

As Renelle trudged through the hot, humid noon air in the Hogwarts Grounds,, hating everything and everyone in the world, she couldn’t help but repeat that statement in her head angrily, over and over, as if it would somehow make herself feel better about her current situation.

It didn’t. Just even grumpier. Truly, there was no definite need for the Ravenclaw to be here at the moment, but alas, an opportunity came up that she simply could not ignore- get rid of ugly plants, earn house points. At first, it had seemed like a lovely idea- pull a few weeds and help her house get one step closer to winning the house cup. Nice, right?

What Renelle hadn’t anticipated, however, was just how ugly these plants mentioned earlier were. Now, as she continued on her way, she couldn’t help but shudder at the dark, hideous things, especially their blooms, which in addition to being disgustingly bulbous and fleshy, gave of a strong stench of rotten meet. No wonder the professors didn’t want to deal with them themselves, and had instead resorted to bribing students with house points.

The first year was so deep inside her thoughts, that it came as quite a surprise when a way-too-familiar voice sounded just a few yards away from her. Almost jumping up in chock, her head shot toward the direction of the person, startled. Suddenly, she peered closer. Wait, could that be-

“Astra?” Her voice a mix between surprise and annoyance, Renelle started begrudgingly heading in the direction of her Slytherin friend, whom she would’ve been happy to see anywhere but here, right now. Really, was it too much to ask for to have Ravenclaw earn more points than other houses? “What’re you doing here?”

Coming to a stop in front of the redhead, Renelle caught sight of another figure standing behind her. Sadly, she recognized him as well. “Oh. Hi, Roderick.” Not that she particularly hated Astra’s lovely older brother - kind of - but the two had a complicated relationship. Besides, he never seemed to have fully forgiven her for waking him up with that spider on his face a few years ago, on that fateful dragon trip.

Turning her attention back to her friend, Renelle glanced at the dusty brown sack on the ground, with what appeared to be the outline of a few weeds already inside. “So, I’m guessing you guys came here for the weed-pulling event too, huh?” She looked around, grimacing slightly. “Fun, right?”

Well, no putting it off now. With an overly dramatic sigh, Renelle squatted down in front of one of these invasive organisms, almost gagging from the horrid smell, magnified a thousand times now that she was so close.

The things I do for my house… Really, she deserved some sort of Golden Eagle Of The Month award for her sacrifices. Trying hard not to throw up, Renelle started pulling, stuffing the weeds into the brown sack carelessly. This has to be done as quickly as possible.

But not before a bit of taunting, of course. Suddenly smirking, Renelle glanced at the dear Mr Norrick, a few weeds away from her. “You sure you wanna stay, Roderick?” She raised an eyebrow, voice sweet. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself pulling up these things, or faint from the smell. I mean, I sure as hell wouldn’t help to get you to the Hospital Wing, so it’d fall on poor Astra alone.”

Interacting with @Astra Norrick

Reducio

OOC note: Astra Norrick and I have agreed to be able to godmode each other.

IC Date: Oct 5
Time: noon-ish
Interacting with @Renelle Dalton
Astra speaking: #136323
Roderick speaking: b32727
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

"An absolute riot," Astra responded to the question about fun. Astra dutifully ignored the stench as she tossed another weed into the bag before scrabbling over to the next one. It seemed that Novem's old habit of gifting her family dead mice had been good for one thing: desensitizing Astra to the smell of dead things.

She smirked at Renelle's sickly sweet comment to Roderick. The boy in question rolled his eyes and scooped his small pile of weeds into his sack. "With the face your making, I was just about to ask the same question," he responded in kind. "Wouldn't dream of carrying you anywhere either. Fortunately for Asa I'd be nice enough to wake you up with some of that lovely lake water over there."

Astra shook her head at both her brother and her friend. She knew Roderick could be a prat sometimes, but he and Renelle's little rivalry was sometimes infuriating. "Oh, come off it, both of you. I'm getting a headache with your constant bickering. Are you sure you're not the siblings here?" she asked.

After a few minutes of working in silence, Roderick asked "You girls have dates to the ball yet? Oh, let me guess, you're going with each other."

Astra looked at the Gryffindor with a smug smile. "For your information, I've actually been asked." She then turned to Renelle. "I was actually about to tell you, one of my Slytherin friends asked me to go. I know it's kind of late, but are you ok going as a group of three?" Astra figured Renelle hadn't gotten a date, but wouldn't mind if she had. Mahlioz asking was a fun surprise Astra hadn't expected but wasn't opposed to. But Renelle didn't actively seek social interaction (to be fair, Astra didn't either, just kind of met people by accident), and Astra didn't want to put her friend in an uncomfortable spot.

Roderick looked impressed with his little sister. "You've made a friend in your house?"

She nodded. "Book buddy." She didn't mention that she also had a partner in crime and a potential business associate in the snake pit.

Roderick rolled his eyes. "Go figure."

WEIRD WEEDS MOD POST

The plant was not easy to remove. The thick stalk went deep into the ground and it would require two hands and a mighty (actually several mighty) yanks to extricate the plant from the ground. The roots went deep and seemed to wrap around rocks and other plants. The remains of a dead woodland creature apparently strangled by the roots of the plant came up with it.

Renelle raised an eyebrow. “Oh, the face I’m making? If I had a camera, I would taint it by snaping a picture of you right now, just so you can. Eat. Your. Words.” Suddenly, her expression shifted to one of great concern, the change occurring so quickly it was almost unnerving.

“Let me give you some advice, though… Never, ever, go anywhere near the lake.” She shuddered, eyes wide in fear. “I mean, I know you think it’s okay, because students go there all the time, but…” Her eyes darted around, as if to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation, then stepped closer. In a hushed tone, she whispered, “But none of them are as annoying as you.”

Before the older Gryffindor had so much as an opportunity to comprehend what she had just said, Renelle jumped back to where she had stood before, a safe distance away. She dropped the terrified facade, instead bursting into hysterical laughter. Crossing her arms over her stomach in an attempt to catch her breath, she looked up, tears of mirth threatening to spill from her eyes.

Okay, maybe what she said hadn’t even been that funny. She couldn’t help it though- the girl had discovered long ago that for just about every human being, it was no question that they would find a joke made by themselves to be utterly uproarious, no matter how bad it was. One of the great mysteries of mankind. Slowly, her guffaws died down, and Renelle straightened up, breathe still uneven from her earlier comedic session. “All right,” Her voice shook with suppressed hilarity. “Let’s just get on with the plants now, I promise I’ll shut up.” Or not.

Now, dear reader, what happened in the next few minutes would not seem particularly memorable or interesting to the lovely Renelle Dalton at the time, but would prove to be the cause of a rather… Eventful, for lack of a better word, evening in just a few hours time. The next day, to clarify, on the night of the long-anticipated Fall Ball. It would prove to be one of the greatest challenges in the friendship of Miss Astra and Miss Renelle. Would they make it out alive? Only time could tell.

But for now, our protagonist is still wilfully ignorant of what awaited her, and was hating everything and everyone enjoying helping rid the school of some disgusting little plants. Oh, how quickly things could change.

After her initial joking, Renelle was thoroughly focused on the mission in front of her- pulling up some weird weeds. In fact, it was because of this absorption in her task, that she failed to hear what her friend was saying, about how she was bringing a date to the dance they had initially agreed would be a night spent entirely in the presence of each other. And that was how-

But that was a story for another day.

“Ugh,” Renelle groaned as she pulled at one particularly stubborn weed. “What is your problem?” Was it worrying that the Ravenclaw had now opted to talking to plants? Perhaps. There was not any opportunity for either of her companions to chaste her for it, however, for that was when she succeeded in pulling out the plant. But what came out with it was something none of them could have anticipated.

“AggghhHHHH!” Why was the fearless Renelle Dalton yelling her head off? The answer was quite simple, really- when the plant got pulled out, the remains of a dead woodland creature came up with it. She just hated it when that happened.

Interacting with @Astra Norrick

IC Date: Oct 5
Time: noon-ish
Interacting with @Renelle Dalton
Astra speaking: #136323
Roderick speaking: b32727
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Astra fought to hold in laughter at her friend's antics towards her brother. Really, the kid was insufferable when it came to issues of pride. Astra was too, but she'd never admit it.

Roderick shot to his full height, which was unfortunately closer to five and a half feet than simply an even five, like Renelle, now that he was a teenager (for those who prefer exact measurements, he was five feet and five inches tall). He took a few fuming steps towards her, and Astra leapt onto his back. "Why you- Asa, get off!"

Astra leaned back, trying to sway him off balance. "You are not killing Renelle. Should anyone ever kill her, it will be me and me alone." And since Astra would never dream of killing her best friend, that meant she was safe from murderers and those with murderous intent. Though only about four feet and nine inches (she'd already grown two inches since her birthday!), Astra was a fierce and dare I say talented protector.

"So we're stuck with her for eternity, you mean?" Roderick said, rolling his eyes and prying Astra's arms off his neck.

Astra slid to the ground with a smug look. "You catch on quickly." Roderick squinted at his sister before hooking his arm over her shoulders and ruffling her hair She made a noise of protest and wriggled out of his grasp. With a sigh, he knelt down again and pulled the next weed.

The redhead also resumed work, and the trio diligently pulled for the next block of time, Astra missing the fact that her friend had not answered her question.

A screech worthy of any owl caused Astra to tear her gaze away from her work. She, too, was thoroughly spooked when she looked to Renelle and saw something tangled in the roots of the Ravenclaw's weed.

"Renelle, would you- sweet mother of God," Roderick said, quite annoyed in the first part, but his voice dropped to a more quietly frustrated pitch. He rose up and snatched the weed from Renelle and tossed it into his bag. "So dramatic."

Astra went over to Renelle, tugging her gloves off. "You okay?" she asked. Pulling up a plant that smelled like dead to find that there was, indeed, something dead tangled up in it would've been shocking to anyone.

Behind the Slytherin girl, the Gryffindor boy took a look around, making sure every weed in the area was pulled up and in a sack. With a nod, he tied his sack and tossed it over his shoulder. "Our job here is done. I'll see you two around, I guess." He gave a salute before walking off.