Closed Errand Frost and Foremost…

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speech • #427c9a thoughts • italics others • #ffffff

january 6th, 2024 • date the great lake • location frost and foremost • thread

Ophelia looked up at the sound of her name. The voice sounded familiar, though she couldn't place it exactly. Who was calling to her? She'd examined the group of students that were doing the errand before going into the lake and she hadn't seen anyone worth approaching. Turning her head in the direction of the sound, she saw her companion from her train ride home. Quinn!

The girl was smiling and positive as she'd always been since Ophelia had first met her. "Ophelia?" Quinn called.

Ophelia moved towards her, her rock already in the water. "Ugh, I hate the cold water. I think I ruined my sweater." She hesitated, hoping Quinn wouldn't ask about her pebble. It was something that she wanted to keep to herself. Thankfully, she didn't, instead waving and saying that she was going to head off to drop her own rock. "Alright. We can talk more after we're both on land."

As Ophelia was about to move away, Quinn seemed to trip on something. Before she could hold out her arms to offer support, the girl was already on top of Ophelia and both of them were half underneath the water. Coughing out water, she freezing as the ice cold water left her, Ophelia laughed. The motion made her feel slightly better, warming her insides up, but she couldn't linger on the shore to wait for Quinn like this, she had to go back into the castle. "It's fine. I am definitely going back to shore now. I'll see you in the common room sometime? I really need to change out of these clothes."

interactions • @Quinn Brook mentions • @ stats • sta 6 | eva 5 | str 6 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 5

217 • word count xxx • outfit perfectionist • abilities

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[quote]
@Minnie Duke
School had started again and the castle had turned back to how it was before break had started, bustling with people. Tracey really wanted then next break to come along, but knew that she'd have to wait. Tracey remembered that in December there were swimming lessons in the Great Hall and Tracey wondered what'll be happening for January. When she heard that there'll be a polar plunge happening in the Great Lake, she decided to go and check it out. Before leaving the warm castle to go out to the Great Lake, she wore her swimsuit with her winter cloak over top.
Once she was ready, the first year left the Ravenclaw common room and made her way down to the Entrance Hall, then she left the castle and made her way over to the Great Lake. Once she got to the Great Lake, she saw people already there and she didn't know if she'd be interacting with any of them or not. Tracey also saw rocks and decided to write down something she wished'll happen this year. She wrote down,
I hope I can make a lot of friends and not be shy anymore
Once she had finished writing on her rock, she looked around, and at this moment, she realized that she probably shouldn't have written on the rock, but then again, how else would she remember what she had wished for? She would probably forget, so she wrote it down on the rock to help her remember what it was.
Tracey then decided to go closer to the lake so she could drop her rock into the lake and jump in with it. She hadn't actually swam in the lake yet, she had just fallen into the lake by accidentally tripping over air, which had made her fall into the lake. But, Tracey knew how to swim, and she would most likely just swim in the lake for a bit while she was in the water.
But, while she was walking closer to the lake, someone else was walking backwards and had bumped into Tracey. Tracey had almost went flying, but she didn't. She also didn't fall onto the floor, which made Tracey very happy, since she didn't want to fall onto the cold ground. Tracey looked at who had bumped into her, but she didn't recognize that person.
"I-it's ok. It's not entirely your fault. I was-wasn't watching where I was going. Sorry 'bout that. Uh, are you ok?" Tracey says.
Tracey had noticed that the person she'd bumped into looked like they couldn't jump into the lake with their rock, it was almost as if they had given up, and Tracey hopped that wasn't the case, but she wasn't sure what the person was feeling, so she didn't ask much, except for a simple are you ok. Tracey wanted to help, but wasn't sure how she'd be able to help the person whom she had bumped into.
Tracey didn't leave, she just stood there waiting for the person's response. She didn't want to be rude and walk away, since she could possibly make a new friend, and she'd love to make a new friend, since that is what she had wished for. And hopefully, Tracey could help this person face their fears, somehow.

January 6th, late morning

Errand

Word count: 412

Interraction: @Siobhan McCarty

Dean's cheeks, already tinged pink from the cold, flushed a deeper shade at Siobhan's concern. "Cold? Oh, a bit, yeah," he admitted with a sheepish grin, his teeth chattering slightly. "But it's worth it, don't you think? For... you know, the whole letting go thing." He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant despite the cold seeping into his bones. If he wanted to become a cool kid, he had to make some sacrifices.

As he tread water, he couldn't help but marvel at how Siobhan seemed so at ease, her wetsuit clearly doing a better job at keeping the cold at bay than his own clothing. "I haven't really paid much attention to the plants, to be honest," he said, his gaze momentarily drifting downwards into the murky depths below. "I was too focused on... well, letting go of my rock. And the cold," he added with a laugh.

"But that sounds amazing. Maybe I should take a closer look," Dean suggested, his eyes sparkling with a mix of curiosity and chill. He shifted his position in the water, trying to get a better view of the lake's undergrowth. "It must be quite a sight, the way everything looks under the water."

He paused, his expression turning thoughtful. "It's been too long, hasn't it? I've missed our chats," he said earnestly. "Seems like everything's been so busy lately. But I'm really glad to see you here, Siobhan. How are you getting along? Any wizard things making you struggle again? Honestly, they should hand out a guidebook for muggle-borns because it's unacceptable how many struggle. You're not even the only one I've helped out with some stuff! Can you believe it?"

Dean's smile widened as he looked at her, his usual cheerful demeanour shining through despite the shivers that occasionally racked his body. "So, after we're done freezing our toes off here, what do you say we grab some hot cocoa? My treat! Even though it's free! It'll help thaw us out, like we're chickens waiting to be roasted." His eyes gleamed with the offer, a mix of warmth and eagerness in his tone. He'd met many people throughout the year, that was for sure, but Siobhan had been one of his first acquaintances and he felt at ease with her, just like he had that one time in the owlery. "Oh! How's your owl? And your family? Is it easier now, to be without them?" he mumbled, his lefts shifting under the water.

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word count. 539/200 (500 for errand)

interacting with. Kim dearie

tags. @Kim Sato \\ @colin mccoire

additional notes. feel free to interact!
date: january 6th, 2024

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Bailey smiled as she stepped outside the castle. The breeze was bitingly cold, but bailey just thought well... this is def a polar plunge now... ever the air is actin the part
Bailey was dressed exactly the same as she had been for the inside swimming errand only a little before, down to her robe and sandals. Now she was regretting wearing open toed shoes, but she knew she'd live.
Bailey was feeling a little bittersweet, walking down alone, as last year she had - slightly unceremoniously - dragged her best friend @kim sato down to the same errand the previous year. Bailey loved kim, platonically, and non platonically, in all the ways a girl can, but she couldn't help being saddened by the thought that kim may not enjoy being around her anymore. Bailey had been avoiding dragging him places like she had in the past recently, simply because he did not seem to liike being around her. but does he enjoy being around anyone? her mind asked back, trying to comfort her heart.
Bailey arrived just on time to hear caretajer @Finley Greer welcoming everyone. Bailey stayed at the back of the group, listening. Her eyes snagged on a familar head of black hair - one she'd recognize anywhere. her heart snagged, catching it'self before it got too excited. why should i be excited, happy to see him, if he's not happy to see me? her heart seemed to ask. her mind, optimistic as ever, replied with a we just have to keep trying, to be happy, to share that happiness. we have to be a good friend. we are a good friend!
As the caretaker instructed, bailey obediently came forwards and grabbed a rock and a marker. On reflecting back on her previous year,, bailey really was struggling on finding something she'd leave behind.
perhaps... perhaps the beginning of my friendship with @Hanako Tone.. bailey mused to herself. Their first meeting had been ... eventful to say the least, but bailey now found she quite enjoyed her friendship with Hana, who begrudgly seemed to tolerate her presence.
on her rock bailey decided to write leaving behind any bad memories or unkind words.. onto a new kinder year
Dropping her robe and her shoes bailey ran into the water. She dropped her rock, laughing and shrieking as the cold water met with her warm skin. The water was freezing, but bailey stayed in. She got deep enough to sit down and dunk her head, and then she stayed there, shivering slightly but overall enjoying the effect the cold water had on her. It was refreshing, in a way. Cold, but not unbearable yet.
Bailey dunked her head again before blinking the water out of her eyes. Her eyes snagged on a retreating back - this time lacking its typical white or black shirt and jacket. Bailey watched as Kim got out of the water. Fighting the instinct to go after him, bailey looked around her, trying to find a reason to stay in the water. Not finding one she stood up and began making her way out of the water, following kim.
Bailey had intended to stay in the lake longer, but her heart seemed to have other plans for her..

There was another errand happening at Hogwarts. Lately, Charlie had been skipping them. Skipping a lot of stuff really. Parties, outings with friends, and she was blaming it on the absolute worst excuse ever, school. I'm too busy. I have homework. Still have to write that essay for class. She would tell everyone who had asked her about it. Sometimes she actually did, some times not. Charlie just needed time to herself, but felt that as the winter months had come into full swing with snow falling outside of the ancient window next to her bed, she was spending too much time alone. She decided, or really promised herself, that after a mellow Christmas break, she would come back to Hogwarts and start to say yes. And this errand was her doing so.

Charlie gripped the black sweatshirt she had thrown on at the last minute. Underneath the oversized clothing she was wearing was a slim fitting black bathing suit that she kept at the bottom of her trunk because she never actually used it except for when this sort of thing happened. Basically the polar plunge that had happened last year. Charlie continued her way down the hill and smiled when she saw the lake.

There was something absolutely magical about the glistening body of water, with the mysterious creatures deep down in it, but she never had an interest in what was in the lake, but in the nature around it. As a young child she was educated about some of the beauties of nature and experienced them briefly, but she never really actually absorbed them. She loved taking late night walks alone in the dark or early morning strolls, avoiding the sun.

Charlie arrived late, per usual, so she stood at the back only catching the end of the caretaker's speech. She stood as almost everyone rushed to the rocks, she turned and threw her sweatshirt, shirt and sweats into a pile close but far enough away from everyone else's stuff. She unlaced and threw off her beaten up black converse and socks on top of the pile of her things. She noticed that the air wasn't that cold but as a hockey player, she was mostly used to it.

Charlie went over to the rocks and even though she wasn't quite sure what her fellow schoolmates were doing with them but she quickly figured out that they were supposed to write about things they wanted to leave behind. Charlie stood holding a flat, smooth rock and a blue marker, thinking. She could have wrote a million things on the rock, but she decided to write in bulky block letters 𝑺𝑨𝒀𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑵𝑶. Charlie didn't know exactly what she meant, but she would find out in the new year. She walked right in to the lake dropped her rock and ran deeper in, dodging the rough uneaven surface before submerging her upper body under the blood chilling water.

She took a couple deep breaths and watched the air that she breathed out freeze as she thought about how she could say yes in 2024. Before she could finish thinking her brain made her get out of the water and run and grab one of the towels and her prize. All she had to do was say yes.

january 6th, 2024 before lunch

mentioning- finley greer wc- 549

Interacting with: @Tracey Bailey @Rowan Bellengo and @Victoria Lena Jones
Word Count: 326/500
Outfit:

Reducio

Minnie looked up at the girl next to her. "I-I'm fine. Just a tad unhappy." She sighed. I don't want to bother her, but she seems so nice that I want to. She tried to smile, but failed. "My name's Minnie. What's yours? And I promise that I am fine. It's just that I take things a bit too literally." She bit her lip, more nervous than ever now. "And no need to be sorry. It's my fault." She clutched the rock in her hand.

She tried to smile again, and this time it came out as a grimace. She quickly stopped. I shouldn't have told her. Why did I tell her? Minnie, you are an idiot. She looked back at the lake. "At least I can swim really well. I wouldn't have signed up if I couldn't though I guess." She blushed. Stop rambling! No one wants to hear it! She told herself forcefully. She, against her will, thought of another memory of her cat. Opal had gotten into Minnie's paints and made a right mess.

It was a wonderful day, and so Minnie decided to take out her painting supplies and try painting what the day looked like. She told the enchantment on the brushes to help paint, and left to grab her watch. When she left the room, she saw Opal purring. 'Hi Opal! What trouble are you going to do today?' Then she left, smiling.

When she got back, Opal was nowhere to be found. 'Now where is that cat?' She walked into the room and gasped. Opal was sitting there in her room. She had gotten into Minnie's paints, and had them spread out all over the floor. It was a huge mess. Minnie sighed and looked at Opal. 'Time to fix you up.' She said.

Minnie smiled as she left her memory. Then she realized she had taken a bit too long to say something. "So...are you good at swimming?"

Hex Colour:
#8C94E9

Alyssa Salinger was kind of tired of hate.

Since her life had been turned upside down just over a year prior, it had been an endless cycle of making new enemies and keeping the old, all at once. From her father's death, to fights with her mother and fights with her best friend, and everything in-between, Aly was nowhere near the ever-cheerful girl she had once been. Though it probably could have all been chalked up to the sudden passing of her father, her memories of him weren't something of which she wanted to let go...

Her ill-fated, eight-month-long relationship with Hufflepuff student Aaron Jones, however, was the very definition of something to be left behind. Though they had dated for less than a year, her frustration and fury with the way it had all ended - with nary a letter, and then with at least three girls flaunted in her face upon her return to Hogwarts - had lasted for well past that. Aly's friends had told her that she was dwelling on it, that he was doing it on purpose to get a rise out of her, et cetera, et cetera, but though she knew that full well, it had always been hard to let go.

Especially now that Aaron seemed to be dating someone. Someone Aly knew. Aly had seen them dancing at the Fall Ball, looking far too cozy to just have been friends, and ever since then, whenever she saw either of them or anything that reminded her of them, the young Ravenclaw had just been filled with rage, annoyance, exhaustion, and perhaps a little bit of wistfulness. Not because she was yet in love with Aaron or anything - no, it was more the happiness she missed than the person himself. The pure, uncomplicated sweetness and joy that a first relationship had brought to her life. It was the last time she had been truly happy, and that was a tough pill to swallow.

But just because Aly was having a tough year-and-change didn't mean that other people weren't allowed to be happy, weren't allowed to move on. Clearly, Aaron had been doing just that, and Aly had to admit to herself that she'd prefer something like this over constant fighting, yelling, and screaming. She couldn't pretend the relationship never happened, but at least this way, she could grow from it. Become someone new. And that was something she very much liked.

So Aly showed up to the lake, ready to officially leave everything behind in the previous year. What was that Muggle saying she'd heard around the castle so often recently? - New year, new me? She grabbed a rock and a... mar-ker? What is this thing? Aly stared at the fat stick with a colored red portion on the end, then glanced around to see other students pulling the colored part off to reveal some sort of thick quill-tip underneath. Some kind of Muggle writing instrument, then. Merlin, there were so many things that Muggle Studies still needed to teach her. Aly followed suit to reveal a scarlet tip, which she lowered to the rough surface of her rock to scrawl in thick block letters:

AARON JONES

Then the young Ravenclaw pulled her teal scarf from around her neck, discarding it along with her puffy white jacket on the shoreline. That way, when she returned from the water, there would be something there to warm her again. Aly steeled herself with a deep breath of the frigid air, then almost sprinted into the water. Its cold waves lapping against her felt almost warm for a second, but then the freezing temperatures came like a shock to her immune system, causing her fingers to open on instinct; the rock containing Aaron's name fell from her hand, splashing into the lake before she could even think to drop it on purpose.

Aly watched it sink into the depths until she could no longer read the vermilion name, horror flooding her system at having dropped the rock already - I wasn't ready! I needed to think it through, I wasn't ready yet - before a new thought pervaded her frustration.

"I'll never be ready," she whispered to herself for just a moment before throwing her head back and letting loose a freeing, if slightly crazed, laugh. She would never have been ready, and wasn't that symbolic? Wasn't that fate telling her she was right to let it all go?

After spending a few more moments in the water, lapping up to her chest, Aly turned tail and began to walk back to the shore. And this time, she did not look back.

✿ Word Count: 771/500 ✿

[quote]
@Minnie Duke
Tracey listened to the girl answer her question. Even tho the girl said that she was fine, Tracey still felt that she wasn't actually fine. The girl then introduced herself as Minnie. Once Minnie was all done talking, Tracey took in everything she had said before saying,
"I'm Tracey Bailey. O-oh, i-is something bothering you? No-normally if something's bothering me, I like to talk to someone about it. Talk-talking can help y'know. B-but you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to,"
Tracey didn't want Minnie to feel uncomfortable while talking to her, and she wanted Minnie to know that she could tell Tracey anything. Even tho they just met, Tracey had a feeling that they could form a good friendship. Tho, Tracey wasn't sure how she had knew that, since she wasn't that good at making friends. Tracey then heard Minnie speak again and realized that they already had something in common. Tracey smiled before saying,
"I-I'm all-also a good swimmer. Act-actually I love swimming, I-I think it'll be cool if this school had more things to do with swimming. Wa-wanna jump in to-together?"
Tracey didn't want to force Minnie into doing anything, but Tracey also didn't want to jump into the lake alone since she wanted to jump in with Minnie, since she had a feeling that they could be great friends! And maybe the two have more in common then being great swimmers. Tracey hopes that her and Minnie have more in common, and maybe they even have the same ability. Tracey hadn't really met anyone that is a metamorph like she is, but she'd like to become friends with one, since she could teach them something's and they can teach her somethings.

Renelle was seriously reconsidering her level of sanity.

Choosing to spend her Saturday morning down at the Great Lake, with a bunch of other students was a questionable decision in itself - wouldn’t she rather be sleeping in? Or avoiding people? Or quite literally, doing anything else?

To take things a step further, the first year was also planning to run straight into the depths of some seriously cold water. Talk about losing her marbles. Alas, their beloved caretaker had apparently decided that it was a good idea to hold some kind of public event, where the school population would be forced to waddle into the freezing lake, all to lay down a pebble. Wow. Fun.

Sure, technically the activity was mandatory, but still. Renelle was only doing this for the house points (oh, the things she did for her house!), but Greer could have at least attempted to set an easier task. Baking cookies, for instance.

Honestly, she ought to be the caretaker instead. The brunette would definitely set simpler errands, at least. But for now, she was but a mere first year student, the lowest of the low. Oh, the injustice!

The chilly winter air cut into her skin like daggers, causing her to shiver and wrap her scarf tighter around herself. This weather really was a curse. The warm fires of the common room was but a distant memory, almost as if it were from another lifetime - one that largely differed from the frosty reality.

She could see that a few of the impulsive ones had dives straight into the cold after Greer finished the instructions, some of whom - she was horrified to observe - were wearing swimming suits. How the hell were they not falling over, frozen? These people must just be made of sturdier stuff than herself.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself to go in. Unlike mostly everyone else, she was not planning to take off any clothes beforehand. Yes, she might be dripping wet and possibly even colder when she came back up to shore, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it and expose her skin to the frigid air.

Okay, no use putting this off any longer. She had to do it sooner or later. Practically holding her breath, Renelle looked toward an exact spot where she planned to drop her stone, then practically sprinted into the Great Lake. She felt the water soak through the material of her robes, altogether creating a rather unpleasant sensation.

Quickly, she dropped her stone at the pre-decided spot, then turned, ready to get back to shore. Something stopped her, though. The Ravenclaw looked back to her stone, scrawled in bold red letters 'BE BETTER'.

It wasn’t that she was being too hard on herself, not really. Renelle had never been one to give herself a hard time about events that had already passed, and this was a trait that had remained throughout the years. The way she saw it, what’s done was done. No use fixating on the past.

The message was really more of a guide for 2024. Do better. In all aspects. Being a daughter, a sister, a friend. Maybe not a student, though. Leaning in closer almost instinctively, Renelle watched her stone sink to the bottom of the lake with a mixture of melancholy and hope.

Open to interaction