Errand Dance of the Bushpeople

( INTERACTION: @GRANT DALE & @REBEKAH MORTON ) ;
( MENTIONING: @ELISEO CÉSPEDES )
Note: Always free to interact!

ーBEFORE THE BONFIRE ;
A stirring sense of dread had been resting on Arista's stomach for hours now.

This strange but familiar sensation wouldn't seem to go away, despite her earnest, utmost effort to curb it. She tried everything she could think of: meditation (Arista ended up falling asleep); screaming to the void (she had managed one pathetic squeak before calling it a day); even distraction (she thought studying next semester's syllabus was intense enough, but it backfired and made her anxiety tenfold worse).

Alas, the lingering feeling of doom stayed in the pit of her tummy like a stray Cruppy that you couldn't get rid of.

Arista supposed there was nothing inherently threatening about a spring dance, but the same could be said about a million other things that made her stomach churn; such as realizing your essay was a twelfth of an inch short of the required length (would that matter?) or thinking your breathing was too loud for the classmate next to you (it really wasn't). If she thought hard about it, there really was no reason for her to get physically sick over anything! She was in the safest school in the entire wizarding world, and no one was out to deliberately harm an eleven year old witch.

And yet...

The mere idea of going to a public event (with people! Lots of people) and exposing herself to the vulnerability of being embarrassed was almost too much for her to bear. She was such an awkward little thing that she might as well paint a target on her forehead that said, "Hey, I don't know how to socialize - come pick at me!"

But, she so dearly missed looking at flowers and the smell of fresh grass and handling all sorts of plants and bushes between her fingers. Her nanny used to spread a gingham check-patterned sheet on their spacious lawn (meticulously kept impeccable by their dear old gardener), where the whole Elderman family could sit and lounge about. Then, Mrs. Elderman would hand Arista's favorite tuna sandwiches and passed along a large jug of sweet iced to accompany them, and Mr. Elderman would give younger Arista a short piggy back ride for a minute or two.

Though it wasn't like she was particularly adverse to her living spaces now. Sure, her dorm room was probably only a fourth of what was her old room back home, but the castles were massive - roofs five times higher than anywhere else she'd been - and the grounds were large and green and lush.

And it was precisely because of that that she didn't want to let it go to waste. She wanted to see more and more of Hogwarts, get to know more and more people. There were more to life than being afraid, and she wished she could just magic away the dreadful feeling in her guts each time she tried to come out of her comfort zone.

But for now, one step at a time was fine, right? She was trying; she signed up for the Spring celebration - alone, mind you - that she was a hundred percent determined to actually attend. Baby step is still a step, she thought to herself, almost like a mantra.

So, this fine spring night, Arista put a light skirt and the only t-shirt she had: an old blue-and-bronze hand-me-down from her brother. It briefly crossed her mind that people might mistaken her for a Ravenclaw with the outfit's color scheme, but she quickly pushed the thought aside. It doesn't matter, she willed it in her heart.

After pulling up her hair in a loose ponytail and securely fastening it with a ribbon, Arista was on her way.

ーAT THE BONFIRE ;
There seemed to be a good amount of people gathered at Grounds already, chattering and busying about. Arista spied mostly younger students - first and second years? - and very few older ones in her vicinity. Oh, thank Merlin, she thought. It was probably easier to talk to people her age, so she counted this as a win - hopefully the first of many tonight.

She also caught sight of a man looking like a humanoid bush creature; Arista deduced this must be the Groundskeeper who pioneered the idea of tonight's Spring celebration, @Eliseo Céspedes. Chuckling a little at his costume, Arista made a mental note to thank him later for putting the bonfire together.

Alright, now for a game plan. A quick scan of the landscape revealed that most of everyone had already put on some greens and flowers on their persons, so Arista figured she had better put on a flower crown, at least. Of course, she could always choose a solitary space on the table and craft some pretty accessories herself, but that would defeat the whole "coming out of your shell" business she had planned, so... She supposed there was no other way but to approach other students head on (gulp!).

But the question was: with whom? Before she could devise an (unnecessarily) comprehensive strategy, her eyes fell on a couple of faces she had recognized - two Hufflepuff first years! She had seen them on the sorting ceremony, the girl with the yellow top and the boy with dirt on his pants... @Grant Dale and @Rebekah Morton, was it?

Taking a deep breath, Arista made her way to where the other two Hufflepuffs were.

"Hello," she started, offering a weak smile. "May I join you? I can probably assist in, um. Making wreaths and such..." she trailed. "If you'd like, of course."

That wasn't half bad, she praised herself a little, justly proud that she managed to 1) Initiate a conversation, and most importantly, 2) Not made a fool out of herself... yet? No, no, Arista shook the thought away. Tonight will go fine. We'll have fun. We'll make friends, she told herself, a "manifestation" technique that she read was quite popular with witches nowadays.

Arista wasn't sure if the two students knew her name or not; most likely not, seeing as she didn't really go out of her way to introduce herself and such. But just on the off chance that they do, Arista decided to employ a trick her sister taught her.

"My head nanny taught me how to weave wreaths from vines, see. She always told me, 'Miss Elderman, your hands are too idle for your own good!', so she thought making wreaths would busy them a bit," she said, picking up an especially supple vine and getting to work.

"And my sister did a little spell so that a part of it bend just so, that it made a little 'A' for Arista. That way, I know which wreath was mine."

Excellent. Now they're sure to know her name - both first and last - and if they've known it all along, then no harm done! It sounded way more natural than a stiff hello-my-name-is-such-and-such, which ran the risk of humiliation should the other party sniggered and replied, "Oh yes, we've known that." Arista thought she would die if that had happened.

And with that, Arista counted two wins for the night. She just hoped her stroke of luck would continue on for the rest of the bonfire...

Word Count: 1211 | Completed!

As his name was called, Grant turned, a smile forming on his face as he noticed, if not his first friend when arriving at Hogwarts, the one he'd seen the most since, Rebekah, or just Bex. "Hiya Bex!", he waved back.

She paused as she looked for a way to describe how he looked. Grant glanced down to himself and then back up, wondering if maybe he needed some help. Or a lot. She landed on Festive though. Grant smiled. "Thanks! You too, I like your hat".

He should have thought of that, just a plain hat, like a ball-cap or something. Did any teams have Badgers as their mascot? It didn't have to be a Badger perhaps...

"I know orange isn't really within the yellow color scheme, but it works right?", he asked, only partly checking and mostly just making conversation. He had come a ways since last semester but still felt like a fish out of water at times and as he absorbed everything.

Trust Bex to not think his outfit dumb, though! She even asked for some of his leaf help, after asking if he had taken advantage of the snacks. "Yeah, they seem to have a good selection", he answered. "Come on, we can probably do both, try the snack and work at it, and I got plenty of yellow leaves for Hufflepuff colors".

He was about to rush off, but was glad he hadn't, knowing what trying to make friends first year was like so halting as another First Year came up to them. Grant knew he should remember her name, she had been at the table near them both during Sorting, though everything of that day had been such a whirlwind!

"Sure!", Grant agreed, though didn't mean to speak for both of them, and then glanced to Bex before glancing back and listening to the girl--Arista Elderman--go on. He didn't know she slipped her name in on purpose, but it did certainly help!

Nanny? She'd had a nanny? While many might say Grant lived in 'Paradise', living off the Isles of Scilly, which were at times called the tropical island of Cornwall, he'd come from a humble dock worker's family in terms of his uncle (Wizard or no). He didn't recall what his dad had done before losing both his parents at five, but it was nothing that would have afforded him a nanny.

He was a little tempted to ask about it, but knew it would be awkward on both of them perhaps, calling out their various stations perhaps.

She could weave vines? Maybe that was his answer.

"I was just thinking I need a hat, or something, like everyone else has", Grant answered when she was done, "Maybe if there's some vines and branches in the crates you could help me make it into sort of a...head-piece. Would that look good you think, or kind of...not?", he glanced between Arista and Bex for their opinions.

Mentioning and Interacting:@Jacquelyn Gibson

Rose was then approached by none other than the friendly Slytherin Starlee. The two of them had met doing an errand and helping some of their peers wash their cats. That had been fun. And after that, they had briefly interacted at the Frog Choir auditions. Starlee had applauded her and then shown off her own beautiful voice in a charming audition of her own. Starlee was just such a fun person. You simply couldn't help but want to be friends with Starlee. She was happy and funny and her mood was contagious. The first year came in Rose's direction and Rose smiled at her. She was greeted and then complimented, and she blushed a little, her smile widening a little. Starlee had only said a sentence or two and she had already made Rose a tad bit more comfortable in her own skin. She tended to do that. Everyone needed a friend like Starlee. "Hey! It's Starlee, right? Thank you so much." Her American accent and softer, gentler voice would shine through in the second part of her returned greeting, and all the times after that that she would talk. Yes, Rose knew the name of the blonde Slytherin, and she didn't need to ask her about her name since she already knew it. There was a beat of silence before the blonde started talking again. Rose seized the opportunity to compliment her back. "You look like a fairy princess. I love your flower creations, too. It's good to see you."

The redhead looked around. She had been one of the first to arrive, but now there were a lot more people who had arrived. "Yeah, this was a good idea. A lot of other people seem to think so, too," she said with a small laugh. That was something her mom used to say when there were a lot of people in the place they were going to- "We weren't the only ones with this idea." In her scan around the place, Rose's eye snagged on a girl named Haley waving at her. They had only briefly met, but she was a good person, too. Rose waved back. Then there was Loki, meowing at her from below. "Hey, bud," she would say, reaching down to scratch the moody tiger-cat behind his ears just a little, before he moved onto Starlee, demanding her attention. She didn't think Starlee would mind. If Loki was here, that meant Henry was here. Henry Knight was one of her good friends and the owner of Loki. He was slightly looking at her and Starlee- or maybe he was just slightly looking at Loki, keeping an eye on him, he was an unpredictable cat- so she waved a little at him as well.

Wow, all these people waving to her and interacting with her. You would think that she was really popular. She wasn't. Or maybe she was? She knew a lot of people, but she didn't think of herself as popular in any way.

Okay, now she had to make conversation with Starlee. That was easy enough- this was Starlee we were talking about. "So what brings you here? Just wanted to join in the flowery fun?"

19th March, 2021

OUTFIT moodboard ❖ inspiration

WC: 801/800

Not interacting with anyone, although I'm happy to be mentioned as an NPC

Dancing around in plant covered clothes? Anja? Please. You wouldn’t find her within an inch of the people parading about dressed in undergrowth. At least, you wouldn’t expect to.

Tonight, though, you would find her within an inch of these people — and enjoying herself at that. She’d roused herself from her book when the time came and stuffed the most absurd things she could find in her trunk into a bag — an old, shockingly bow-covered blue shirt and a long skirt with an awful pattern. If they got too dirty, she could just bin them anyway. She took a little thread and some pins and needles as well, in case the groundskeeper didn’t have any. She dressed in her normal trousers and shirt, then began to walk. The walk down to the cabin, where the bonfire was being held, was not wholly unenjoyable. In fact, Anja found herself coveting the rare almost-spring breeze that ruffled her loose hair and the occasional bat that flitted around in the dusk. She wondered what sort of pants would be provided for them to use. Hopefully there would be some nice vines and large leaves to cover up her skirt and horrible shirt, and maybe some flowers to weave into a vine crown.

She arrived at the bonfire, spying the boxes of plants and moss laid out. There were indeed some vines and large leaves, so she set about collecting them. She took at least ten or fifteen threads of vine, but they had big leaves, so she didn’t need masses. She then gathered up enough large leaves to cover her skirt and shirt completely. She dumped them on the ground in a pile away from people. She was strangely self conscious about creating and choosing outfits, and she didn’t want people knowing what she was doing. On second thought, she doubled back and took some cow parsley and feathers for decoration.

Sitting down on the dry ground, she took out her skirt and shirt and lay them on the ground before layering the large leaves onto them like shingles on a roof, with their points downwards. She threaded the sharp needle with the thinner thread and started with the shirt, over where she had ripped off the bow. She leaves, surprisingly, didn’t break, and the activity of sewing the leaves to the fabric was strangely calming. On the way back from the boxes with the plants, Anja had seen a station covered with food, and most importantly, marshmallows. She didn’t like marshmallows — they were too sweet, too sticky — but then, she didn’t like dancing around fires and rolling in mud either. Perhaps she’d make what those Muggles called s’mores. Once she’d finished the front of the shirt, she moved onto the back, layering it with yet more levels and tucking the edges into themselves. Once that was done, she attacked the skirt with her needle, and with some quick work, it was covered too. She then began to untangle some of the vines, and laying them over primarily the back of the skirt like a train, she bound them onto the fabric with a few twists of string. Now for the fun part — embellishing. She stood up again to collect some thin pine branches and ivy berries, knowing they would fit with the theme. These, along with the cow parsley and a few feathers, she pinned onto the skirt.

Despite being very secure, both the skirt and the shirt had become considerably heavier since the covering. Anja pulled the skirt up over her trousers (it was still quite a chilly night) and the shirt, she placed over her normal shirt. The outfit put together was quite stunning, and she judged that it was finished. She picked up a few vines from the ground and her remaining feathers, cow parsley and berries. She wove the vines into a circular shape, than tucked the feathers and remaining flowers into the gaps. The feathers stood up like the spikes on a crown, the cow parsley a cloudy bed for them to rest in. She placed the crown on her head, and proceeded towards the fire.

There was something raw about this night. It was as if the magic in the air had devolved into something more uninhibited and natural. Anja strode towards the stand where the food was, admiring people’s outfits as she went. There seemed to be more than one completely moss covered person, and most people had gone down the complete cover route like Anja. Taking a few sweet marshmallows and a sharp stick, Anja speared the first one and went closer to the fire. Other students stood and sat and danced around her, and she was surprisingly at ease as she stuck each marshmallow, one by one, into the fire.

19th March, 2021

OUTFIT moodboard ❖ inspiration

WC: 801/800

Interacting With: @Ethen Emrys and @Sylvain Wyllt

Atlas’s favorite thing about Ethen was that no matter how crazy or obnoxious she was in a given moment she could always count on him to add to her chaos so that she wasn’t alone. She had always been a rambunctious individual but with Ethen’s constant support she was free to be herself and take it to new levels with each adventure they manufactured.

Atlas had lowered her voice when she realized she was being too loud only to have Ethen start it back up again as he loudly commented on each of her plans causing her to bend forward from laughter as she felt her stomach tensing with each laugh.

Before she could protect herself Ethen quickly scooped her into his arms as the young girl screamed in delight knowing full well what was to come. “To being the best swamp monsters that have ever graced the grounds of Hogwarts, NAY! THE ENTIRE WIZARD COMMUNITY!” Atlas screeched as she wrapped her arms around Ethen’s neck, kissing him softly on the cheek as she felt him turning around. Gripping his shirt tightly, Atlas contorted her face as the two plummeted into the mud.

Feeling the icy mud splash up and seep into the sleeves of her hoodie, Atlas quickly rolled off of Ethen only to turn on her knees as she scooped up some mud in her hands throwing it at Ethen’s head.

“Now you’re a real Tebo!” She playfully chided as she started to grab some more mud for another attack. As Atlas was gearing up for another attack she was taken off guard by a new voice entering the mud pit as she turned to face the student.

At his request to wrestle, a devilish grin twisted onto Atlas’ face. She loved making new friends and whoever this camouflaged challenger was, they already had good points in her book for not being scared of mud.

“Wellll you are rather uhmm clean for wrestling.” Atlas replied forcing her laughter from becoming vocal. “Guess we gotta fix that!”

With that, Atlas took the mud in her hands that was intended for Ethen and sent it sailing towards the boy. Waiting to see their reaction, Atlas thought it best to be ready for anything as she subtly scooped another handful of mud into her hands keeping them down by her waist to not make it obvious.

Word Count: 951/800

Reducio

They see me rollin'…

Word Count: 425 + 794 = 1219/800 (errand complete)

Interacting with @Atlas Reid and @Sylvain Wylltin

As expected, Atlas offered no resistance to Ethen’s determined effort to complete their transformation into swamp monsters. On the contrary, the girl immediately shouted out her continued approval. It was perhaps what Ethen loved the most about the girl, even when they had become more than best friends, they had never lost their mutual love of just having absurd and obnoxious fun. He could feel her kiss his cheek just as they flopped down into the mud. It was cold, far colder than he would have hoped and it sent a shudder through his body.

However, Ethen didn’t have enough time to adjust to the new temperature before a glob of mud collided with his face. His vision went dark and he flopped backward with a laugh. Wiping what he could from his face, Ethen narrowed his eyes menacingly at the girl. “Oh you will regret this one. This vile attack will be repaid when you least expect it,” Ethen muttered playfully as a plethora of ideas began streaming through his mind. Just before he could launch his own attack, there was a sudden voice that pulled his attention.

With the mud on his face, Ethen had trouble making out who the other student was. But any who was willing to join the Great War of the Mud was a potential ally. He had been meaning to branch out and meet new people so this seemed like a perfect opportunity, if the newcomer could survive. “Oh they are far too clean,” Ethen agreed with Atlas as he began to smirk. With globs of mud in both of his hands, Ethen launched a double attack.

His right hand followed up on Atlas’ attack and chucked some mud towards the other student but he still had revenge to think about. His left hand launched a second glob of mud directly at the back of Atlas’ head with the hopes of getting some revenge. “Join the war! If you are brave enough,” Ethen teased playfully. As he sat up, mud was slowly oozing off of his body as he awaited the next moves of the two foes.

Ethen hadn’t anticipated the weight of the mud however, he felt surprisingly sluggish with the thick mud coating his clothing. He knew he could still stand if he needed too but the mud undoubtedly hindered his movements and his visibility from Atlas’ attack remained limited. It was a dire position. It would be a challenging war but for the good of the people, Ethen had to make sure he was not lost in the depths of the mud.

WC 606 + 444 = 1050/800

The bright light of the fire and the cheerful voices of the gathered students, he had thought would be camouflage enough. The trees at the edge of the gathering, shrouded in darkness, would hardly be an appealing place for those who wished to join in the revelry. Who would bother looking beyond the food, flowers and friends? Apparently, one girl would spy his hiding spot among the new-green buds and dark branches. Rather than joining the other faerie children and swamp monsters, she would abandon the firelight to stand beneath his tree.

He knew her the way he knew most of his Housemates, another face he had seen coming and going from the Badger Den. Well, perhaps a little bit better. She had been one of the unlucky Badgers drawn to the common room the night the shadows had taken the form of a creepy gift-giver like some twisted fairy tale come to life. Had she been injured? He frowned a bit as he tried to recollect. Things had been… chaotic… to say the least… but he did not remember her being seriously injured that night.

“I suppose that depends on what you think is interesting,” Kazuo mused in response. “If I told you that the tree whispers its secrets to me, would you believe me?” He showered Maria in a few of the flower petals he had plucked, giving her a grin. “You must have good eyes to have spotted me. What brings you all the way over here, away from the fire and the food and the swamp monsters?”

He considered whether he should abandon his perch to join her on the ground. It would be the polite thing to do but he was comfortable and he’d come to realize that the manners he had been raised to exhibit were not nearly as important here. Things he considered proper were often taken as overly formal or unnecessary by the other students. Would she think he was being rude by remaining in the tree?

Open to Interactions
Interacting with @Maria Dee

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