Errand Mass Thread Sink or Swim? Closed

▼ See information below ▼

Reducio

Don't know how to swim? Need to be rescued? The little lifeguards have you covered! An unofficial group of 6 young students has taken it upon themselves to help ensure no one dies during this errand. If your character needs rescuing or has some other need for a lifeguard, please use the steps below:

1. Owl Finnegan Conner on site using the form below.
2. If we have a rescuer available, Finnegan will confirm this back to you and make sure that you and your rescuer get in touch.
3. Rescues will happen within this errand mass thread, unless you and your rescuer decide to do otherwise.
4. Have fun and live to tell the tale!

▼ Rescue request form ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Specifying your desired rescuer is optional. If no preference is given, a rescuer will be assigned to your emergency at random.

Code: Select all

Name: <insert your character's name here>
Post: <link to the post where you rescue/assistance>
Preferred rescuer: <Name  a rescuer if you have a preference. Leave blank otherwise>
Context: <Optionally provide some context about your character's emergency>

▼ Little Lifeguards ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Finnegan Conner, 2nd Year (leader)
• Madison Bennet, 2nd Year
• Remedy Norden, 1st Year
• Helena Rose, 1st Year
• Astra Norrick, 1st Year
• Rebecca Lark, 1st Year

▼ OOC Note ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The moderators running this errand are aware of this group of voluntary lifeguard students and have approved them. Please note that the little lifeguards operate in an unofficial capacity. There is no special benefit or reward to making use of the little lifeguards, nor is anyone else prevented from rescuing students that take part in the errand.

@Delainie Silverwing

Fweet! Astra's whistle blast sliced through the air as she hoisted herself over the edge again. Already on her first rescue. She tucked a stray pool noodle under one arm and swam with purpose towards the bubbles rising to the surface of the water.

She took a deep breath and then dove, swimming to the rapidly sinking person and sliding her arms around their chest before kicking back to the surface. Astra tucked the pool noodle under the girl's arms and guided her towards the edge of the pool.

The other's face had remained unseen, as Astra's only thought was to get her charge to safety. The blonde hair was, however, familiar, in length, style, and texture. Funny.

A few final kicks and they were to the edge. Astra maneuvered herself in front, saying, “Can you breathe ok? You didn't inhale any water, did you?”

She froze, gaze hardening when she saw the blue eyes and familiar features of none other than… “Silverwing.” Oh the irony that the first person she saved would be the only person at Hogwarts, the one person of hundreds, she was truly enemies with. “What the heck were you thinking? Idiot move, heading into the deepest part when you can't swim. There won't always be someone there to save you, you know. Lucky I didn't recognize you either.”

Her tone was harsh, scolding, but it didn't matter. She was stern in this, and exasperated at Delainie. She was by no means fond of the girl but also by no means a monster who'd just watch someone drown just because they had a rivalry. “Why didn't you have a noodle?”

647 + 274 = 921/600

10 December 2023

Harmony raised an arm in defense against the splash of water that came at her face upon Flynn's trip-and-falling into the water. When she lowered her arm, she caught sight of her friend spasming underwater, which would have been concerning if he didn't come up to the surface, but he did. So she wasn't concerned in the slightest. This lack of concern resulted in an amused quirk of the lips as Flynn bemoaned his entrance. 

“I don't think anyone was looking,” Harmony reassured as she held out the noodle, “anyways, hold this under your arms like this…” and she demonstrated how to kick yourself forward in the water. Flynn took off with gusto, churning the waters like the wake behind a boat, but ultimately accomplishing little more than soaking Harmony, who'd been a bit slow to get out from behind him.

A lap of the pool later and Flynn's noodle-assisted swimming was a lot less turbulent, something he'd seemed to have picked up on, if the smile returning to his face was any indication.
“Uhh,” Harmony thought back to the few times she'd watched beginner lessons and tried to think of something intelligent to do with the noodle. “Hold the noodle out with your hands in front of you and have your face underwater while you swim this time. Also don't forget to breathe. Lift your head up and put it back when you're done.” She contemplated telling him to use his arms to do an assisted freestyle, but ultimately decided against it; he could do that on the next lap.

This time, as Flynn went for another go, Harmony would swim alongside him to prove she could “cross unaided from one side to another”, thus allowing her freedom to do whatever she liked. She would be slow and slightly out of breath by the time she completed her lap and returned to gripping the pool’s edge, but the lap would be finished and that was all she needed.

Interacting with: @Flynn Montgomery

Alyssea asked them how they could manage to get out of the lake. Raizel answered her that it was just luck. Zach nodded in agreement. "But Raizel was luckier than me. Something pulled my leg deeper into the lake. So ew," He said and ended his words with a disgusted face. But the fall ball was exciting. Not only he could know his friends (especially Raizel) better, but he also got a chance to row a boat.

After that, Alyssea demonstrated how to swim. She went into the pool first. Zach could only see her in the near sight. She just became a blurry entity when she swam farther. Well... Let's look at Raizel. He looked at the Gryffindor girl. She asked about what she was supposed to do. Whether that question was for Zach or not, the boy just raised his shoulder as he had no clue either. He just looked at Raizel and tried to follow her. It was like the epitome of 'two blind men in a dark room'.

Before he went into the pool he just noticed that it was not an ordinary pool. He felt weird but he tried to ignore it. Then he went into the pool. The water was cold. But it was better than the outside. He could bear this level of cold. He looked at Raizel, her step-by-step, then tried to imitate her. However, the wand inside his outfit prevents him from moving freely. And the worst part was, he felt a painful feeling on his right foot. It was a cramp. He was so surprised that his left foot slipped, resulting in his drowning in that shallow part of the pool. He should know better that warming up was the most important routine before doing any sports.

Water started to enter his nose and mouth and what he could do was only wave his hands, hoping someone noticed him.

Interacting with @Raizel Voltrouz; @Alyssea Brown

It wasn't that Quinn didn't know how to swim, it was that she just... hadn't done it in a while. Quinn had heard of a swimming thing and had decided to go, after all there was nothing wrong with practice. I wonder how they will make the great hall something that we can swim in. Quinn wondered. She was shocked to see a full swimming pool. Quinn had put on her favorite bathing suit (starry top that show's belly button and purple shorts) and headed over to the great hall. Oh. My. Gosh. There are a lot of people here. Quinn stepped into line. Gingerly putting her toe into the water Quinn felt a shock of ice cold- not remembering how to swim. Quinn jumped into the pool and made her way to a shallow end. I can do this. I know how to swim. Quinn kicked her legs and moved forward. Turning, Quinn heard a conversation going on. Quinn decided to find someone to talk to. Quinn looked around and saw a person waving there hands around like crazy and drowing. In the shallow end. Quinn starting walking towards the person and tried to see what was going on. A boy who looked a little older then her ha water seeping into his nose and mouth. What should I do? I'm no life guard! Quinn looked around, despertly trying to find someone who could help. What did mum say about swimming. Quinn thought. Quinn had been at a lake one day when she was 7 and her mum had waded into the water.
"Come here Quinn." She had said.
"But Mum... I don't know how to swim." Quinn had responded. Quinn's mum had smiled,
"I'll teach you." Quinn nodded then slowly followed her. Being small Quinn misjuged the depth of the lake and couldn't find the bottom.
"Mum help!" Quinn had screeched.
"I'll drown!" Quinn's mum had shaken her head.
"Move your arms and legs, it will help you stay above the water." Quinn tried it and suddenly found it much easier to have her head above the lake water.
"Great Quinn, now stick out your legs and kick. Then move your arms like this." Quinn spent the rest of the afternoon swimming.
"Your a natural."

It was like a lightbulb had appeared over her head.
"Um... hey kid! Move your arms and legs like this." Quinn demenstrated.
"It will help your head be above water." I feel a sence of dejavu. Quinn thought. Quinn grabbed the boys arm.
"Calm down and focus. You can swim if you really try!" Quinn didn't know what had made her say that but something had. Quinn knew that she couldn't save the kid alone. I need like... a floaty noodle! Quinn looked at the boy.
"I'll be right back!" Quinn took off her memory in full blown I-remember-how-to-swim mode. Searching for a noodle Quinn found one. But it was in the deep end. It's now or never! She thought. Quinn floundered a little as her feet didn't touch the bottom. Your ok. Your ok. Your ok. Quinn repeated that in her head, trying to remain calm. Carefully swimming towards the noodle, Quinn noticed that there was a lifeguard glaring at another student. Making a split second decision, Quinn turned toward the lifeguard and swam over quickly. Steeling herself she tapped her on the shoulder and asked,
"Um... can you help me. There's a student in the shallow end drowning and I don't know how to save him. You see I left him with instructions and am trying to find a noodle." Quinn flinched. That sounded terrible! Quinn thought. She looked up at the lifeguard, waiting for a responce.



Interacting with @Zach Zaphiere and @Astra Norrick

WC-616

Mentions: @Astra Norrick

Wc: 301/200

English, Thoughts, Others

OOC Notes:

No matter how bad things are,

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no! I thought, panicking. I was almost completely submerged, I felt water surrounding my face, the coldness spreading through my body, freezing me up, my muscles so tired from trying to hold myself up I could barely do it anymore. That was the last moment I had above water. I was completely covered now, what if no one saw me? As thoughts flooded my head, suddenly, finally, I felt someone lift me up to the surface. They dragged me back to the side, where I was safe. “No, I didn’t swallow any water, I’m ok” I said to the voice that came from my rescuer. I would’ve found it familiar if I wasn’t in such a panic. When I looked up at their face, dread flowed through me, it was the face of Astra Norrick. She immediately started scolding me, I felt like I was inferior, even though I was probably older than her. “I didn’t know! I would’ve thought that there was some sort of magical spell or something!” I yelled “and I didn’t even see those stupid pool noodles, they could’ve been more noticeable, so no one dies”. My face was red with embarrassment, of course I had to drown and get saved by my stupid enemy. Didn’t this girl try to kill me not too long ago? And now she just saved my life, great. I mean, at least she saved me right? “Don’t tell me you really would’ve let me die if you didn’t know it was me” I said sadly “just cause we’re not friends doesn't mean I should die”. There’s no way she actually would’ve let me drown right? I took a deep breath before saying something I thought that I would never say to her: “thank you”.

I can always make them worse

Delainie Silverwing

R E M E D Yx♔xN O R D E N
♦ Sink or Swim, 10th of December 2023 at Great Hall ♦
Dialogue #796f4e

Sink or swim; yet another one of Ordelia's adages engraved into Remedy's intellect.

If Remedy could, she'd kick herself for failing to heed the dated, insufferable anecdotes her parents and grandmother bestowed to her. She deemed their montonous tales irrelevant, dismissing them. In the stillness of some nights, the girl would stay awake pondering if this was what had separated her and Avery Leveret -- if this was where she went wrong. Through their grandmother's wisdom Avery derived his advantages, and her deepest regrets would be this. Ordelia's recollections' containing buried truth becoming ever more clear and ultimately reinforced through hardships Remedy later suffered, and if this hardship would be the result of her miscalculation, it was indubitably her final one. But it wasn't all for nothing -- hardship forged the Slytherin's cunning, and the wolfish girl would stalk these halls with a counteance beyond youthful naivety, garnering herself a reputation that instilled both loathing and respect among her peers.

It had been circulating for some time now that the Hogwarts' new nurse had organized an activity. The activity itself held no allure and the Slytherin viewed it as a predictable waste of her time, but the girl's interest piqued after reading one of the notes that had been distributed all around the castle seeking experienced swimmers to help act as lifeguards. A student-volunteer group organized by Finnegan Conner -- now this, Remedy had to see.

Finnegan was an enigma to behold; the mudblood who attacked her cousin and won -- no easy feat in Remedy's eyes. Despite her disdain for his blood status, the Gryffindor had left her with an unforgettable impression that drew the Slytherin in like a moth to a flame. The boy was a riddle she wanted, no, needed to solve; was it his daftness behind a wand, the mischievous glint in his eye when they met, the hints of words gone unspoken, or the smile on his lips when he winked at her? She couldn't put her finger on it, but the opportunity to observe Finnegan more would be served on a silver platter.

Or, rather, a casserole dish.

Before her, a throng crowded the Great Hall; fortunately, Remedy arrived in time to take part. The girl strolled up with an unzipped duffle bag that contained extra clothes and towels. Sauntering her way to a vacant corner to undress, Remedy doffed her cloak and clothes to reveal a plain dark blue swimsuit underneath.

Truthfully, Remedy could care less who could and couldn't stay afloat among her peers. If water was the cause of someone's death among all the things in the wizarding realm that could kill a witch or wizard, then so be it; survival of the fittest, the girl mused as she strolled to the dish's side, smug expression intact. Remedy declined the Nurse's offer of a flotation device and cautiously descended into the liquid depths of the dish on her own.

A shudder trickled down her spine as she carefully submerged herself in the icy waters. Remedy experienced a brief, uncanny joy beneath the surface as the commotion around her muffled. She maneuvered her body beneath the surface so she could observe everything around her. Time vanished beneath the surface of the water, but before long the girl's desperate need for air would tighten its grip and she would emerge, her breath coming out in a sound something resembling a hiss due to the water's frigid sting.

She remained steadily floating, adapting to the temperature before tackling the task of making it down the length of the casserole dish and back, to prove she could survive. Remedy struggled to ignore the excitement of her peers, the splashing about her, and the unpleasant roars like starving kappas echoing throughout the Great Hall. Her classmates, as typical, behaved as untamed beasts, as if they'd never witnessed or stepped in a pool before. The girl trod the water's edge in practiced strokes to the other side, her eyes rolling. The girl was afraid she'd tear a nerve in her eyesockets from rolling them so hard; pools were intended for exercise, not entertainment. What did these cretins not understand about that? It's hardly surprising that the nurse had to organize this little learning activity; these fools were simply asking to drown, and Remedy might have let them if it had not been for Finn's little task force.

She climbed out of the casserole dish and into her duffel, wiping her face with a hand towel from inside the bag. Her glance quickly met Madison's, but Remedy was silent in response to her grin. Madison, like the others who consoled that traitor the day following Fall Ball, each all ceased to exist in her mind's eye. Finn was the only one who garnered Remedy's attention; the entirety of the reason why the Slytherin even joined this lame group. A crowd formed around him, and Remedy sauntered in their direction, her signature smirk twisted on her lips:

"Finnegan," Remedy greeted in a dry tone. The girl stretched her palm out, not to be shaken, but to be provided the items that the boy would distribute to the rest of the students.

A wave of a boy's hands captured her gaze; Remedy would retrieve a floatation device before jumping back into the pool from the dish's side. She padded over to the boy (Zach) with a stoic expression; "Stop flailing about like a buffoon. You'll only drown faster.. unless that's what you wanted, anyway," she said pushing the device in his direction, "Take this. What's going on?"

Tags: @Finnegan Conner, @Rebecca Lark, @Helena Rose, @Madison Bennett, @Astra Norrick, @Zach Zaphiere

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

▼ See information below ▼

Reducio

Don't know how to swim? Need to be rescued? The little lifeguards have you covered! An unofficial group of 6 young students has taken it upon themselves to help ensure no one dies during this errand. If your character needs rescuing or has some other need for a lifeguard, please use the steps below:

1. Owl Finnegan Conner on site using the form below.
2. If we have a rescuer available, Finnegan will confirm this back to you and make sure that you and your rescuer get in touch.
3. Rescues will happen within this errand mass thread, unless you and your rescuer decide to do otherwise.
4. Have fun and live to tell the tale!

▼ Rescue request form ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Specifying your desired rescuer is optional. If no preference is given, a rescuer will be assigned to your emergency at random.

Code: Select all

Name: <insert your character's name here>
Post: <link to the post where you rescue/assistance>
Preferred rescuer: <Name  a rescuer if you have a preference. Leave blank otherwise>
Context: <Optionally provide some context about your character's emergency>

▼ Little Lifeguards ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Finnegan Conner, 2nd Year (leader)
• Madison Bennet, 2nd Year
• Remedy Norden, 1st Year
• Helena Rose, 1st Year
• Astra Norrick, 1st Year
• Rebecca Lark, 1st Year

▼ OOC Note ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The moderators running this errand are aware of this group of voluntary lifeguard students and have approved them. Please note that the little lifeguards operate in an unofficial capacity. There is no special benefit or reward to making use of the little lifeguards, nor is anyone else prevented from rescuing students that take part in the errand.

@Delainie Silverwing, @Quinn Brook, @Zach Zaphiere, @Remedy Norden

Astra sighed at Delainie’s trusting of the adults. She obviously hadn't attended the Fall Ball. “If there's one truth about Hogwarts danger, it's that the adults are *not* going to be there.” The Ravenclaw seemed stable, so Astra removed her hands from the noodle and lazily grabbed onto the edge, floating her legs to the surface.

The depressed look on Delainie's face made Astra feel bad about her “lucky I didn't recognize you” comment. That hadn't been necessary, or reflective of any belief Astra had. Just because she thought Silverwing was petty and annoying and- “Ah, yeah, I didn't mean that. I wouldn't let you die.” She was loathe to apologize though.

Another redheaded girl swam up to her and asked for Astra's assistance. Astra cast a glance towards the other end of the dish and analyzed the situation. There did seem to be a struggling… Zach?

“Thanks for letting me know, I'll-” the Slytherin started, preparing to take off, before a dark-haired girl with an armband and whistle came to his aid. “Oh. Someone else is on it, don't worry. Thanks for letting me know though.” Astra gave the girl a nod and thumbs up.

The new lifeguard looked like Remedy, someone who Astra had seen around, but not someone Remedy would know by name.

She turned her attention back to Delainie. “You look like a cat in a bath.” She had only truly fully bathed Hermes once so far, when he was absolutely *filthy* with mud. The expressions Astra would use to describe a cat in a bath are as follows: deranged, terrified, discombobulated, like a toddler in a pool. This, in essence, was what she was calling her blonde charge.

921 + 283 = 1,204/600

december 10th 2023; interacting with @Raizel Voltrouz, @Zach Zaphiere, and @Remedy Norden

The chaos happened within seconds which shouldn't have scared Alyssea but it did. Before Alyssea could reassure Raizel that, of course, she wouldn't drown. It's not even that deep of a pool, Zach dove in. Okay, great! Now everyone was in the pool. Alyssea expected him to resurface seconds later but froze when she only saw bubbles.

(Alyssea reached for her wand but panicked when she felt nothing. Dread fell on top of her like bad news. First lesson of first year Defence Against the Dark Arts. Periculum, was it? Red sparks to alert an adult. Yeah, that was probably a good idea. But they never came. Do they ever? Alyssea didn't know.

Then a voice filled her head. Don't make yourself someone I have to save again. She couldn't jump in and save him. Why shouldn't she? She could get dragged under again.)

The splashing around her brought her back and she saw two people helping Zach. Alyssea flicked her wrist. Focus. After clearing her throat, Alyssea said to the raven-haired girl, "Thanks for that. Guess I gotta pay attention some more."

Turning to Raizel, Alyssea held her arms out. Hopefully the same that happened to Zach wouldn't happen to Raizel now that Alyssea got over her dumb, dumb, dumb fear of the water. "Put your hands in mine and then just float. Let your feet off the ground." Alyssea paused to watch Raizel follow her instructions. "Basically, I'm gonna drag you to the other side and you're going to focus on kicking and keeping your head up, okay? Not that hard! I'll keep you safe."

Alyssea could only hope she could keep her word. It was Raizel's life in her hands, after all.

word count: 609 (first post) + 383 (second post) + 276 (this post) = 1,268/600

▼ See information below ▼

Reducio

Don't know how to swim? Need to be rescued? The little lifeguards have you covered! An unofficial group of 6 young students has taken it upon themselves to help ensure no one dies during this errand. If your character needs rescuing or has some other need for a lifeguard, please use the steps below:

1. Owl Finnegan Conner on site using the form below.
2. If we have a rescuer available, Finnegan will confirm this back to you and make sure that you and your rescuer get in touch.
3. Rescues will happen within this errand mass thread, unless you and your rescuer decide to do otherwise.
4. Have fun and live to tell the tale!

▼ Rescue request form ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Specifying your desired rescuer is optional. If no preference is given, a rescuer will be assigned to your emergency at random.

Code: Select all

Name: <insert your character's name here>
Post: <link to the post where you rescue/assistance>
Preferred rescuer: <Name  a rescuer if you have a preference. Leave blank otherwise>
Context: <Optionally provide some context about your character's emergency>

▼ Little Lifeguards ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Finnegan Conner, 2nd Year (leader)
• Madison Bennet, 2nd Year
• Remedy Norden, 1st Year
• Helena Rose, 1st Year
• Astra Norrick, 1st Year
• Rebecca Lark, 1st Year

▼ OOC Note ▼
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The moderators running this errand are aware of this group of voluntary lifeguard students and have approved them. Please note that the little lifeguards operate in an unofficial capacity. There is no special benefit or reward to making use of the little lifeguards, nor is anyone else prevented from rescuing students that take part in the errand.

Bex brushed off the other student's assertion that they owed her. "Nah, you're good! I signed up to do this, so no debt necessary." Bex was here to help out everyone who'd been either brave or practical enough to admit their ignorance and come learn, and didn't particularly desire a reward for doing so (unless someone was offering, like, a broom, in which case, yes, of course, you absolutely did owe her one.) Hopefully this hadn't ended up so terrifying or mortifying to the other first year that they'd be unwilling to brush off their failure and try again.

Once the two were back in shallow water, Bex stood up and released her end of the flotation device back into the other Ravenclaw's care. "You should probably check in with the new nurse, just in case. I think you're fine? Probably. Like, 80% sure. But it doesn't hurt to check." You could drown internally, couldn't you? That sounded real. If it was, that was absolutely not something that Bex knew how to check for, let alone how to treat.

Glancing around the room, she noticed a couple of other students had donned armbands and gotten into the pool to help other swimmers, including Accomplice, and, surprisingly, Remedy, who looked like she was helping Zach Zaphiere. That was nice of her; it would be a shame if Zach drowned, as Bex rather enjoyed Dittany's Leaves.

Bex accompanied her rescued stranger out of the pool, and grabbed both of them fresh towels as her fellow Ravenclaw laid back against the nearest wall. Bex handed them one of the towels and, regardless of whether or not they accepted it, wrapped the other one around her own shoulders. She'd head back and join the rest of the lifeguards in a moment, but a good lifeguard should probably make sure their charge was well before abandoning them.

She did her best to wring all of the excess water out of her curls as she addressed the other kid. She really should have put her hair up into a bun rather than a low ponytail, but what's done is done. It would likely be a tangled mess by the time she got back to her dorm room that evening.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, as she wiped her face with the towel. She didn't smell any chlorine, which was disconcerting, but maybe the dish was using some sort of magical disinfectant. "I can go and grab the nurse if you want to stay here."

Word Count: 420 (nice) + 910 = 1330
Interacting with @Leaf Shard | Mentioning @Astra Norrick, @Remedy Norden, and @Zach Zaphiere