Fin Forbidden Lollipops Errand

Armed with a shovel, which she dragged behind her, Serena strolled through the grounds with her familiar rat nestled on the top of her head. As the summer weather was starting to set in again, she was back to wearing her favourite clothes - which involved shorts. Normally, she would throw on a pair of sneakers. Today, however, she paired it with a pair of wellington boots. She also had a new pair of dungarees with shorts instead, which she had yet to wear since she bought it as it had been too cold previously. It seemed like an opportune time to wear it, with a dark maroon coloured loose thin sweater top. Her arms tended to get colder than the rest of her, after all.

The shovel shuffled up a bit of the grass as she left a small trail behind her. But it was heavy! She probably should have found a smaller one or something. It was not overwhelming heavy though, just a little bit uncomfortable to fully lift. Either way, she managed to get to the campgrounds.

Placing the shovel against a shack, she pulled out the pair of gloves she had stuffed into her back pocket and started to put them on. It was around this time that she heard a voice. As she looked around a little - careful not to move her head too much as she did not want to upset the rat on top of it - she spotted a figure not too far from her. He did not seem to be looking right now but perhaps he had spoken and then turned away or something. It did not look like there was anyone else around so it must have been to her. At least, that was her logic, "Oh, yeah, I guess so. I'm not really sure how much help I'll be but figured I'd give it a shot..." She responded honestly as she scratched the back of her neck. There were plenty of reasons she had chosen to help, she just was not sure if she was really strong enough to use a shovel properly. They seemed pretty heavy!

From where she was standing, she did not really recognise the boy or realise they had met before. Not at this point anyway. "Do you know what we're meant to do exactly?" She asked him outright, wondering if she could just let him led and simply stick to assisting him where she could. Nonetheless, she attempted to pick it up and then move closer to the boy - which was when she spotted a large owl. "Oh-" Her eyes shot up, trying to look at the top of her head. Pizza was still there, right? A moment of "would this be okay" instantly flashing through her mind as she held her breathe, ready to duck and swoop the rat into her hands if needed.

WC: 483

Hexcode= #507091

Raising his eyebrows with surprise and turning his head, Sylvain looked to see the person attached to the voice that had answered him. It was likely that he would've been startled were it not for Serena dragging her shovel behind her like one of those ball poppers, clanging and clinking each time it struck a rock. Still though, she might have thought him deaf the way he looked at her at first. The reaction was just his mind catching up to what she said while his eyes took in her outfit. She looked better prepared for gardening than even he did, though her shovel did look quite heavy.

"Uh.." he said sort of grunting in confusion. She had meant the errand. "Oh! You mean the errand," Syl said smiling awkwardly. His eyes closing as a goofy grimace spread across his face. Still, she looked concerned. Was it Minerva? She was a pretty intimidating pet all things considered. Her feathers gave her some massive angry looking eyebrows, and she was big for a bird to boot. "Don't mind her," the boy said as she let out a squawk in protest. "She doesn't bite anymore," he looked up to Minerva. "At least not in a very long time," he said jokingly with a smile.

"As for the work we're supposed to be doing," Sylvain pointed outwards to the campgrounds motioning with a trowel in hand. "I had my heart set on digging up all these dandelions. It looks like most of them have already been spent, and I'm sure the bees have better options for food now. Better to not have anyone trampling on the drones when summer camp comes around anyways." His eyes lingered still, looking back to her with a question in mind. Then his thoughts lingered, a peaceful silence falling between them. Maybe he should offer to take her shovel for her, trading her his trowel in exchange? There were a few dead bushes he could dig up if he had a shovel too. Then again, she wasn't all that much smaller than he was, was she?

What to do?

@Serena Towers

Serena blinked for a moment or two as he seemed a little confused by her words. Wait - was he perhaps not talking to her? Her gaze moved from him back to the owl immediately though as she waited in anticipation - just in case. She sighed a breath of relief when he said she did not bite and she did not appear to move towards Pizza. With a smile, she carefully took the brown rat off her head and held him in her glove, "Ah, great! I was just a little worried about this guy. Can't be too careful, you know?" She replied, knowing full well that it was the law of nature.

"Oh, I can help! I can dig! I have uh one of these shovels," She suggested as she motioned towards it with her head. She noticed the trowel in his hand and realisation dawned on her - there were mini shovels?!? Why didn't she take one of those? Mentally slapping herself, she grinned like an idiot, "I mean uh, I can help you out if you don't mind some company?" She offered, deciding it was better to ask than to simply assume he was fine with it. The shovel she was holding was not overly large. The metal blade part was almost 30 cm, followed by a further almost 80 cm handle. The entire shovel was just a little more than 110 cm. Serena stood at approximately 35 cm taller than it. Whilst it was clearly a heavy duty shovel, it was not hard for her to carry. More, it would get tiresome if she had to lift the thing constantly. Dragging it was a lot easier on her arms.

Wait wait wait. She paused, a small frown crossing her eyes as she stared at him for another moment. Did she know him? There was a familiarity to his face but she could not quite tell if she had simply seen him around or if she was supposed to recall his name. No name came to mind but she was definitely trying to think of one. David? Andrew? Thomas? Robert? Mark? Hm... None of the names seemed familiar either.

Despite this, she could not shake the feeling of familiarity. Since nothing was coming to mind immediately, she tried to push past it. "I'm Serena, by the way. And this little guy is Pizza Rat." She introduced herself and her rat with another motion of her head, before mumbling, "Speaking of..." As she lifted her gloved hand a little, "Hey little guy, you're gonna have to sleep in my pocket for now, okay?" Serena's tone dropped in volume. It would have still been audible to the boy but her soft tone was clearly one she had reserved for Pizza. With that, she placed him in the front pocket of her dungerees carefully. There was just no way she could dig without moving her head. It was just too much effort.

If he accepted her offer of help, she would head over to where he motioned and observe the dandelions that were all around.

WC so far: 483 + 516 = 999

Hexcode= #507091

"No, not at all!" Sylvain said with a humble grin. Now that he'd had a second to inspect, he could swear he'd recognized her from somewhere before. But where? "Could always use a bit of good help if I'm to be honest." His eyebrows would scrunch down as his brain worked hard to recall her face and where they'd met before. She could probably see the smoke fuming from the gears that were grinding in his head. Finally after trying as hard as he might to remember he gave in thinking that maybe it'd come to him later like faces usually did.

"M'name's Sylvain but you can call me Syl. That there is Minerva." He said pointing to the enormous owl. There she sat, perched on the lip of the storage shed's roofing.

"Nice to meet you Serena," the boy proclaimed, his arm stretched out for a handshake. Mid-action he realized that his trowel was awkwardly in his hand. Shuffling it from right to left, he would go in for the shake once again, though by now her hands were already busy with the shovel and Pizza Rat. So it would be. There was a second awkward moment. One where he let his hand hover a second or two too long before pulling it back to his pocket. Hopefully she hadn't noticed.

"Why don't you start with this brush over here," Sylvain deflected while walking away from the shack they stood next to. It was a spindly little thing, the brush. Its leaves were mostly dead and the branches were almost entirely dried from entirely too much sun. "I'll work on getting these dandelion roots up." Though the more he tried to focus on work, the greater those gears raced. Still caught up in trying to remember, the memory would come to a full dawning realization as he knelt on the ground, the bush covering the lower portion of her body. Only her head was visible... ONLY HER HEAD WAS VISIBLE.

"Wait a moment," Syl calmly protested. "I think I remember you."

@Serena Towers

Relief surged through her as the boy seemed to be happy to receive assistance. Serena would have been rather awkward if he had not. The huge grin on her face made it clear that she was pleased to hear it. With a nod of her head, "Excellent! I can provide that!" She replied boldly as she tapped on the handle of her shovel a little.

"Nice to meet you too, Syl and Minerva! O-oh-" She responded as she went to shake his hand, noticing Pizza Rat was in her own. Well this was awkward. She stared at his hand but he had already started to pull it back. Giving an awkward laugh, "Uh, how about a firm smile or a nod?" She joked, giving him both of them at the same time.

Looking over to the bush that he referenced, she nodded. She could do that! Probably. Serena dragged her shovel over towards it, observing the area. She placed the shovel down against the ground for a moment as she recomposed herself. Frowning a little, she observed the bush as carefully as she could. It did not seem to be doing super well. Perhaps they should try and water it. She pondered if there was any water around, though she was not sure if the water would be enough. Pulling some of the dried up branches as carefully as she could from the bush, she tried to clean it up a little. She took some of the dead leaves off, essentially hoping that there would be enough life in the remaining ones to continue to grow. "Hm? Oh! You do? I mean, I was thinking that you looked kind of familiar too..." She said softly in response, skimming over the fact that she also could not recall why he looked familiar.

Spotting some dandelions near the bush, she picked up her shovel and attempted to dig them out. "Ah-" She grunted as she tried to push the tool into the ground but failed. Wobbling the shovel, she put one of her feet onto it to try and put enough pressure on it to break through the ground. It took a solid minute or two of her struggling before she managed to break the dirt. As soon as she did, the shovel started to move in and it became a bit easier to move it around, lifting some of the dirt. From the newly exposed dirt, she found the roots of the dandelions and picked them out before replacing the dirt again. With that, she attempted to flatten the ground once more. Well... this was going to take a while.

WC so far: 483 + 516 + 439 = 1438

Hexcode= #507091

So she had noticed. Oh well. "A firm nod it is then," he agreed while smiling back with his own half grin and suppressing a chuckle. All things considered, it wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to him. Heck, it wasn't even the most awkward thing to happen between them so far. Not that it seemed either remembered the incident during the the fall ball.

Still unsure of where they had met once before, he apologized for any slight his lapse in memory might have caused her. "Sorry but I forget," he said bluntly, squinting his eyes and wracking his memory. Growing ever more curious as to where they had met before he did his best to recall the most recent several months. Nothing exceptionally out of the ordinary. Well, except for perhaps all of the hag stuff last year. He would shrug and make his way to work.

Settling down just a few feet away, in case she needed more direction, Sylvain began getting to the root of the issue. Taking his trowel in hand he would shove the point into the ground with a neat and controlled twisting motion. This fluid thrust would remove the entire dandelion in a single sweep without taking too much of the grass surrounding it. His free hand would then remove the soil still attached to any of the remaining root structures. As he focused on it, the process became a fun game where he would try harder and harder to remove as little dirt as possible each time, but then there was Serena. It seemed that as he focused on himself, she had begun digging large holes with her shovel and picking the leaves off of dead bushes.

"Wh-" he started, surprised again when she turned the shovel over and packed the dirt. "You um, really shouldn't do that." It was a simple explanation. One of the things his parents had taught him early on. "If you go around making a bunch of holes, you have to be careful not to pack the dirt back in too tight." He moved over towards her offering his trowel in exchange for her shovel. "If you pack it too tightly, nothing will grow there." His face looked grim, even if it was only a patch of dirt. "Here, let me show you how."

@Serena Towers

Serena shook her head, "No no, it's fine," She replied dismissively before scratching the back of her neck with her gloved hand awkwardly, "It's not like I remember, either. I'm sure it wasn't anything important, probably just passed each other in the corridor or something," She continued as she tried to justify why they had both forgotten. It was probably something silly, surely. If it was important, they would have remembered, right?

The Hufflepuff was happily digging holes in the ground, trying to remove all of the roots as she could. Despite the struggle, she was pretty sure she was doing a great job and that was enough for her! Well, that was until the boy spoke up again after some time - and several holes later. "O-oh," She responded as she looked at him before looking back at the dirt and then cringing slightly. Serena had packed it tightly, trying to flatten it down with the hopes of removing the holes - since potholes were, likely, going to upset the groundskeeper. Probably. Who knew? Not her. They had barely spoken!

"Oh, sorry! I didn't know! Oh, yes, please!" She replied, quickly apologising as he said nothing would grow before quickly accepting his offer of help as soon as he gave it. Serena turned the shovel towards him, offering him the handle so he could demonstrate what he meant. A sheepish look on her face as she wondered what she was meant to do, "Sorry, I guess I'm not really used to this..." She admitted.

Gardening was not exactly a hobby that her mother would approve of. It was not very 'ladylike' to get all muddy, that was what the 'labour' was for. It was their task, not hers, apparently. She was pretty sure that her mother disproved of Herbology too. Of course, none of that would stop Serena from trying. It just was very evident that she was not very experienced in these matters.

So... was she meant to not make holes or pack them less? Serena pondered as she stared at the dirt mound in front of her, wondering what she ought to do with it now that she had already ripped it out of the ground. "Have you done this before?" She asked, wondering how he knew so much about it.

Hexcode= #507091

He explained that he was not upset in the slightest at her inexperience. "Honestly, you don't have to apologize, if anything, I should say I'm sorry for coming off as harsh as I did." He had never intended to chastise her as his only intent was to save the earth from her ignorant shoveling. Smiling, he would give her a thumbs up to show he wasn't mad. Keeping his voice calm, Sylvain then answered her politely, "but to answer your question, I have done this before. In fact, I've dug whole flower beds with my mums."

Taking the shovel in hand, he would push it into the earth slowly, retrieving the deep-rooted dandelion and removing the clods from the roots, Sylvain would gently place the disturbed turf back where it belonged, nestled into the divot made by the shovel. "Grass is connected by all of its various roots, so if you put it back without watering it or if you pack the dirt too stiff, then they might suffocate and die." His face would grow somber while explaining how the life might fade from the grass. It made him incredibly sad to think of anything dying for no good reason.

Looking around him and failing to spot a watering can, Sylvain motioned to the storage shed where Minerva was perched. "I don't see a watering can anywhere, do you think we might have any luck searching that shed?" While they weren't strictly given permission to open it up and search for a watering can, there was no clear reason why they shouldn't. No sign that said to KEEP OUT, nor any kind of warning that would otherwise call out to him before making the mistake of entering unpermitted. Before she could answer his rhetorical question he would hand her shovel back and make for the shed himself.

Sure enough, he would return a moment later with a watering can. Tipping it on its side, Sylvain held onto the handle firmly as precious liquid life filled in the crevices where the shovel had split the earth in twain. "See, all better." He remarked, pride filling in his voice as he patted the clod they'd saved together. Turning back to look at Serena, his knees in the dirt, Sylvain asked his follow up question before turning back to the ground between them, happily continuing his brisk working pace from before he interrupted her. "What do your parents do?"

@Serena Towers

"No, no, it's fine," Serena waved her hand again, unsure of what else to really say on the matter. It was a tad bit awkward so she just moved on from the conversation, deciding not to dwell on it. Pleasant conversation was far better, anyway. She nodded, half impressed by his words as he mentioned doing this with his mother and digging up entire flower beds. That was not a thing she could imagine her own mother doing in the slightest. Her mother was... definitely not a gardener by any means. Kamna would hire a gardener but not allow her hands to get messy.

The boy explained how nature was connected and the importance of watering the roots and not packing it too tightly. She nodded as he listened, "Oh, that makes sense!" She would reply as she began to wonder how to water it. Perhaps they should use a spel- oh, right, watering cans. Those were things. The boy managed to handle the muggle equipment much better than she did.

Returning with a watering can, he demonstrated the whole thing for her. Serena grinned, thanked him and nodded before she started to copy the instructions he had given her. Whenever she uproot something, she carefully watered it. She was also careful not to pack it tightly. After a few trips of filling up the watering can, she had managed to sort out her area and cleaned it up a bit before replacing the grass.

As she worked, she made some small talk with him. "Oh, just bits and bobs. They mostly run businesses. Import, export, that sort of stuff," She responded to what her parents do. In all honesty, she was not entirely sure what her father did. Over the course of the past year, she started to find out a bit more about the mysterious man - after he disclosed the fact that they came from a line of goblins. But even then, he tended to just respond with 'business'. It was not anything shady, of course. It was more just that he deemed her to young to be able to understand the finer details. For now, business was a good summary of everything until she was told enough to likely be able to take over. Not that she wanted to, of course. But that was his dream. Hers was different.

Before long, Serena completed her portion of the area. It was looking a lot better than previously. "I think I'm done over here!" She said proudly as she stood up, wiping her gloved hand over her forehead, clearly tired. It was a lot of work for her tiny arms! Who knew gardening was so difficult? "I think I'm going to head off. Thanks for showing me how to do it though, see you around?" With that, she made her way back to the shed to return all of the equipment they had borrowed before heading back off, pretty satisfied with the work they had done for the day.

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