You're on Your Own, Kids Closed

Interacting with: Reducio @Zoë Fresnel, Victoria Lena Jones

Outfit: Reducio

Listening to the professor’s words, Giselle groaned. Pulling up the weeds and cleaning up the whole Quidditch Pitch for the next couple of hours of shining noon was not what Giselle was looking forward to do. Her love of making pranks and breaking rules had not stopped her from getting tired.

“Yes, professor,” Giselle yawned exasperatedly. She did not like detentions and she doubt that this time would be any better. But she still had to complete it. She did not want to be in any more trouble, so she had no choice but to accept her detention. If she did not complete her detention, she did not know what other, worse, perhaps, punishments she was going to receive. This is not a choice, she told herself firmly, you must do it. Still yawning, she muttered in Tori’s ear, better get this over with.

Walking out to a patch of green earth on the muddy ground, Giselle muttered, Disgusting. Sighing,Giselle reluctantly pulled on her dragon hide gloves. They were not exactly uncomfortable up to Giselle’s standards, but the thought of having to wear these hot gloves while picking up weeds and cleaning up the quidditch pitch was just too much for her. Next time, Giselle told herself, skip this professor’s office. None of the other professors knew that they were sneaking out at night. Just unlucky, she thought. So unfair.

At that time, Giselle shook her head slowly, out of sight of the professor. Why are we so unlucky? She thought almost longingly of the people who get detention indoors, who don’t have to suffer below the sweltering sun shining above them. She felt extremely uncomfortable. Putting her thick robes onto a nearby bench, Giselle set out to work. The sooner this ends, the better, she thought sadly, her wavy brownish hair flaring behind her.

Mentioning: Reducio @Zoë Fresnel @Victoria Lena Jones

Outfit: Reducio

If only I could don’t do this… Giselle grumbled. She hated having to work under the hot sun, sweating. But again, she had to complete her detention. It was quite fine for her to do work under a cosy or cool atmosphere, but having it so hot under the sun was what she was not in store for. At least I don’t have to wear my robes now, she thought.

Bending down, heaving yet another groan, Giselle set to work on pulling up the weeds. They were extremely pesky and hard to catch, let alone pull them safely out of the way. At least I won’t have to do it alone, Giselle thought. But when she saw the unmistakable figure of Tori, struggling with all her might to pull a weed out of the way, Giselle immediately felt guilty. Trying to ignore the guilt inside her, she used her strength to pull up a rather short weed that was struggling to get out of reach. Tiring work, Giselle thought.

“Aargh!” Giselle yelled suddenly, when a small but visible rash was growing in her arms, caused by one of those horrible weeds. Quickly she moved away to another one, looking at the first weed strangely. I sure hope that the others aren’t as bad as that, Giselle thought apprehensively.

Pulling out the weed, this time trying not to use too force, concentrating with all her might, Giselle tried yet again. Never give up, never quit, Giselle told herself. Gently she pulled up the weed, this time succeeding, although it took out a lot of her time and effort. At least I didn’t get another rash, she thought. One down, lots more to go.

Selecting another weed that didn’t look at though it caused much harm, Giselle put her gloved hand on it one more. This is going to take all day, Giselle sighed, looking longingly at the glimpse of some of her classmates, chattering happily in groups, walking towards the courtyard, their unwary minds not having the slightest bit of bother and annoyance. How she wished that she could be with them, and not under this blazing hot sun, working.

As her mind drifted off to her world of thoughts, Giselle hadn’t noticed anything until another rash appeared in her arms, this time a larger one. She had forgotten that she was supposed to be picking up weeds, and that they had a rash hazard, which Giselle had just experienced minutes ago. Arrgh! she cried again. That rash had hurt a little more than the first one, so Giselle told herself, you must be careful.

Starting to take complete concentration on the next weeds, Giselle found out that it was considerably faster. Picking up speed, Giselle could pull out more weeds, put them in a corner or another bench nearby, and get ready to pull out another one. This is really uncomfortable, she thought, as the temperature was getting hotter and hotter, making Giselle feel like she was melting. The heat was unbearable. Nevertheless, Giselle continued picking up the weeds, as she knew that it would be over in a couple of hours, or at least, she hoped.

With the number of weeds on the quidditch pitch starting to drop gradually, Giselle heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed at though she wouldn’t have to stay overnight, which Giselle would have believed it possible when she heard that they would have to pull up all the weeds at the quidditch pitch. Her eyes dousing sleepily under the balmy sun, she felt like really wanted to go to sleep now. But she couldn’t, can she? This is so…tiring, Giselle thought, hoping very much that the remaining weeds in the quidditch pitch would just disappear themselves. I hope they’ll be all cleaned up soon… Giselle thought longingly at the upcoming dinner that would be in store for them when they’d finish their detention.

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Tori just nodded as she listened to the professor. She and Giselle were here to get punished for the joke she made, and the weather was swelteringly hot. When she was given the job of weeding, she remembered the times when his father did it. At that time, her father would not take her to the greenhouse or garden.

She took the dragon skin gloves on the table and put them on her hands. The faster he got to work, the faster this job would be over. But there were too many weeds in the Quidditch Stadium.

She went to a section and tried to bend down and pick the weeds, but because the weeds were so tight, she lost her balance and fell into the wet mud.

"Ahh"

She finally managed to get the plant, but it was covered in mud. She was out of breath. She headed towards another herb. She was having a hard time collecting the herbs. She was sweating a lot. Some weeds looked interesting.

It hadn't given her much trouble picking the herbs. She even had the opportunity to examine some plants. But now he was soaked. Her hair was fluffy. The mud on her clothes and face had dried. Hearing Giselle's voice, she turned to her in fear.

When she saw the rash on Giselle's arm, she realized that some of the weeds could be poisonous. She wanted to go to the girl, but she thought it was forbidden to talk while she was in custody. Now the weeds have decreased even more. She got a little faster, she wanted to help Giselle, so she wanted to finish it immediately.

@Giselle Lam
@Zoë Fresnel

Interacting with: Reducio @Zoë Fresnel, Victoria Lena Jones

Outfit: Reducio

A sudden shout of ‘Ahh!’ woke Giselle up out of her dream of thoughts once more. Her brain then quickly came back to focus. Why did she keep forgetting that she was in detention, picking weeds, and not just lazing under the sunlight? Perhaps because the sunlight made her even sleepier than she was, making it hard to concentrate, plus her staying up so late last night. She was really tired. Rubbing her eyes, she screwed them up and put her gloved hands on her work once more.

As her small hands gently touched one of the weeds that were the closest to her, the noise rang out in Giselle’s ear once more. “What was that?” Giselle asked as she turned her head around sharply. It turned out that Tori had dropped onto the wet mud. She, wanting to go to the section of the pitch where Tori was currently in, sprang to her feet. But when she started to run towards her, she held herself back. A thought suddenly struck her. What if the professor was looking at her right now, and caught her trying to get to Tori, and if that happens, would she then be in even more trouble. Giselle thought for a moment. Looking down at the weeds, which had decreased by a considerable amount, Giselle could only think, I could see her afterwards, just hope she’s fine.

Checking her wristwatch, Giselle found out that it was getting closer to dinner. She was looking extremely forward to that, and she really wanted to take a break. Even without her robes, Giselle felt that the heat was unbearable, making her feel like she was melting as fast as a snowman under the heat of a warm sun. Come to think of it, it wasn’t so bad after all, despite the hot weather, Giselle thought. She did not really mind work, it was just the scorching heat that she had trouble with.

As the weed came free, Giselle put her gloved hands on yet another one. The quidditch pitch had looked a little cleaner by now, but it still had some weeds left to pick. As the weed came free, but struggling, Giselle threw it aside in a jiffy. Pulling out yet another one, tending her hands around the patch of empty earth carefully, as she did not want to redo her work. Cleaning up and pulling the weeds of the quidditch pitch was one thing, but redoing it all over again - Giselle didn’t think that she could stand it.

It had been a long time since Giselle had looked at her gloves. No doubt, they were now covered in mud and soil, making the clean gloves turn into a disgusting colour. Giselle, at a young age, had hated the sight of disgusting things, excluding those that were prank objects. Giselle adored them. Trying not to look at her gloves and trying to place the image out of her mind, Giselle set to work again. Putting deep concentration on picking the weeds, and ever so carefully, the section where she was tending were now free of weeds, though there was still a lot of them to be picked out.

Walking over to another section of the pitch, Giselle continued to do what she was doing before, over and over again. One hundred times…Two hundred times…three hundred times… Giselle lost count as she picked off the weeds and throwing them away. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air, as if somebody had put the vanishing spell on it. Remembering it from her Transfiguration class, Giselle then told herself again, you must focus.

Doing it a hundred times or so had made muscle memory, making Giselle remember how to do it without thinking at all. Very soon, Giselle drifted off to her world of thoughts again, unaware of her surroundings. However, this time was different. Instead of getting another rash, Giselle found out that she was moving by her own hands, as though knowing how to do the job themselves. It did not stop her hands from getting even more tired, but at least it looked like she got the hang of it, having enough strength.

What seemed like another hour, Giselle checked her wristwatch again. It was five, meaning that it was time for dinner in two hour’s time. Giselle couldn’t wait! Her hands now getting more tired, and her body suffering even more from the heat, Giselle thought, it must be almost time now. I should really concentrate more, and within the next hour, I should have already completed my detention. Her heart fuller of hope and longing, Giselle tried to do her best on the next few weeds. She had really wanted her detention to be over soon, and she was looking forward to going back to the great hall with Tori, despite their tiring day. Giselle, however, had still not dropped her mischievous attitude. In the meantime when she was completing her detention, she was secretly plotting of how to make her chances of getting caught lower!

Another hour passed. It seemed as though all the weeds were almost gone, from little to none. Giselle’s mood became to grow happier and happier. In a few hours’ time, her detention would be completed, and she could then spend the rest of today’s time plotting about her next rule breaking event with Tori. Smiling, she continued with her work.

The next half hour or so, the weeds looked like they had all been pulled out completely. Grinning to herself, Giselle looked at the blanket in the middle of the quidditch pitch, where the charms professor and the groundskeeper were sitting, chatting happily. Giselle then cautiously approached them, saying, “We finished pulling up our weeds, here they are.” Pointing at the empty sections in the quidditch pitch, all weed-free, Giselle grinned broadly. This was going to be the end of their detention, and after that, she won’t have to pick the weeds again in her life - or so she hoped. Giselle felt that she had seen enough of the weeds to last her a lifetime. Still waiting for the professor to respond, Giselle hurriedly motioned for Tori to go with her, as there was a high chance that they were still forbidden to talk to each other.

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Tori normally didn't mind getting covered in mud, but it was very disturbing to have the mud dry in the scorching heat, making it difficult and uncomfortable for her to move. When he looked around, he realized that the weeds had decreased. 'I hope I can meet Giselle again from now on.'

She didn't know how long they had been here, but since it was getting dark she figured it would be dinner time in a few hours. While she was collecting wild plants around her, she got some more mud on hre face. Her gloves were also a rather disgusting color.

She continued picking weeds faster. She glanced at Giselle and was relieved to see that she was also finishing the tidying. She could feel her hands starting to turn red and sweaty. She couldn't wait to finish it.

After half an hour, he saw that the weeds were almost gone. When Giselle saw the professor and the field officer approaching her, she stood up and left too. Because she was too sweaty to talk and her hands were sore, she nodded in agreement to what Giselle said. She thought it could get worse if she talked. She took off her gloves and saw that they were red and covered in mud. When Giselle nodded for her to follow her, he nodded happily.

@Giselle Lam
@Zoë Fresnel

As the heat continued to rise, Eliseo was increasingly pleased by the decision to spend his day comfortably in the shade. He began to think he should contract more detention ridden students to help clean up the grounds or take some of the more menial tasks required to tend. Sitting in the shade with a cold drink and enjoying the company of Zoë was a far better way to start off his day than handingly the everpresent war against weeds and other foul plants.

With a spread of food layed out in front of them, Eliseo enjoyed each perfect morsel. He quietly laughed and exchanged adoring whispers with the Charms professor as they vaguely supervised their little helpers. While it was irritating to have sleep interrupted, he didn’t mind the impromptu date that they got out of the situation.

Luckily for them, the two young girls appeared to be taking their detention seriously and were diligently harvesting as many weeds as their little hands could muster. While his attention was squarely on Zoë and their makeshift picnic, he did occasionally glance over to make sure they weren’t getting into too much trouble. He knew that there were some weeds that could be a bit pesky even with the protective gloves.

Leaning back as he sat, he watched as the first years began their tentative approach toward Zoë. “Looks like the lizards may be finished,” Eliseo whispered to Zoë with a soft nudge to let her know they were getting closer.

After taking another glance at the collected weeds, Eliseo turned his attention back to his Charms professor. There was plenty he could still have them do but would let Zoë guide their punishment. He was merely an observer benefitting from their decision to break the rules. While Eliseo took the rules seriously, he thought as long as they learned to just stay in their dorms, they didn’t cause all that much harm. Plucking a pair of grapes from a nearby basket, he quietly snacked as he continued to relax in the shade.

Taking a slow inhale of the warm air, Zoë relaxed beside Eliseo. While a rather unconventional date, she wasn’t about to complain about the chance to spend extra time with him. It was hard enough during the week so she would take the chance. Luckily it wasn’t too challenging to continue monitoring her little rule breakers. The confines of the Quidditch pitch made it simple to keep an eye on them.

While she would get a bit distracted by the treats they had brought to their picnic, she would eventually remember to return her attention to the girls. The first years had remained mostly quiet during the detention. Their little forms mozied about the pitch in their hunt for weeds. She didn’t know if they were doing it correctly but she thought they at least looked diligent and that was what mattered most.

She knew how taxing the sun could be and even a simple task like pulling weeds could quickly become an exhausting affair. Nibbling on a sugar cookie, Zoë flicked her eyes as Eliseo whispered to her. She wasn’t sure if referring to students as ‘lizards’ was necessarily appropriate but she found herself softly chuckling as she nudged the man.

Rising to her feet with a groan, she handed the half-eaten cookie to Eliseo with a gaze telling him that the treat was not for him to devour. The professor approached the two students as they neared and laid out their vanquished weeds. It somewhat reminded her of how cats would collect and bring things to their owner to receive some type of treat or praise.

Zoë nodded to Giselle and gave Victoria a quick smile. “Thank you both for your help today. I know it has been very hot out. So you both should make sure you get some water,” Zoë said as she decided they had endured enough of the heat. “Hopefully, you have both learned that you should not be out of your dorms at night unless it is an emergency. I really don’t want to hear that you two are getting in any more trouble. If you are caught out again… I am afraid the punishment would have to be worse and no one wants that,” Zoë said warmly.

Zoë gestured to the small pile of pulled weeds. “You can go ahead and leave your gloves there. As long as you promise this was the end of your late-night mischief, you can both return to the castle. I am sure you have had plenty of sun out here,” she smiled with a glance toward the clear skies.

The punishment had been simple enough, but Zoë hoped that it would keep them out of trouble for at least a bit of time. She knew a bit of mischief from her time at Hogwarts so she knew they weren’t bad kids but there were still boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. With the detention ending, Zoë did begin to hope that she would get to continue spending her day with Eliseo as they had cleared the majority of their schedule as they weren’t sure how long the little ones would take.

OOTD:

Reducio

A few hours after detention, Tori returned to the Quidditch Stadium looking worried. She didn't think she would come here for a long time after her last detention.

She had come here to find his bracelet, which she was sure she had dropped, and now it wasn't like he had broken any rules yet. That's why it was comfortable. She was wandering on the grass they had just cleared. She was no longer as miserable as he was when he was cleaning this place. She had managed to remove the mud and had a nice shower. She didn't want to get caught by the professor again and get punished.

As she walked around the field, her mind began to think about what it might feel like to play Quidditch. She'd been intrigued by it for a while, but had never played it. She tried to imagine the cheers of the students as the wind ruffled her hair as she soared through the air on a broomstick.

For a while she forgot why she came, but she managed to come back to reality when she saw something colorful on the grass. Smiling, she took her bracelet and put it in her pocket.