ᴇʀʀᴀɴᴅ Bauble Crafting ᴏᴘᴇɴ completed

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As the week progressed, Serena found herself getting more into the holiday spirit than she had been feeling earlier. She donned a little star necklace that her father had given her over her long-sleeved t-shirt with a picture of a few animals playing in the snow on it. Walking into the Great Hall, she adjusted her Santa hat to ensure that it was fully covering her ears. She also had a pair of simple gloves on that helped to keep her hands warmer in the cold weather.

Taking a seat at a nearby table, she listened to the instructions from the Gryffindor prefect running the show. Serena paused as she thought about the questions that were being asked. She had not really considered the bauble's purpose or what sort of one she wanted to make. If she had, perhaps she would have done something in metal - which she was far more comfortable with. For at least five minutes, she pondered on what she could make. Others around her had already started but she was just really stuck on the design or purpose of it. She wanted something meaningful, rather than just making a bauble for the sake of it.

Eyeing up the supplies in the hopes of getting inspired, Serena stood up from her seat and wandered around for a few more minutes. There were some samples, which she ended up looking at. The ones with the initials were very cute, as was the little 3D shaped tree but she did not really want to do either.

At least a good ten to fifteen minutes had passed before she finally sat back down, grabbing a star-shaped object made out of ceramic. Picking up some paints, she painted the whole thing yellow before taking another one and doing the same. By the end, she had a few yellow star-shaped baubles that were drying. Once the first had dried up a bit, she started to paint fine lines over it, lining the edges with different colours as she worked her way in. She lined the edges up with a pink, a blue, a lilac and a mint outline going from outside in respectively. On the second, she used the same colours but switched up the order. She repeated this on the third, letting the first two dry.

Since it took a little while for the paint to dry, she kept rotating between the respective baubles to avoid smudging it when she added the next layers. Her necklace had been a cute little gift from her father and it inspired a thought in her. With that inspiration in mind, she worked on the baubles with a small smile on her face as she leaned in close to avoid ruining them.

It might have taken her a while to get started but now, she looked like a girl with a plan. The determination and concentration on her face made that evident as she focused on painting fine lines.

WC: 495/200

AngelFyre walked into the Great Room with some excitement at the prospect of crafting. She had been looking forward to this for a few days and she knew exactly what she was going to be making. It was going to be a surprise for her father. He had been honored in September with the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and AngelFyre had been devastated to miss his ceremony. It had occurred just a week and a half after she had entered Hogwarts, so it had just not been possible to attend. Her mother, proud wife that she was, took many photos, of course, and owled them to AngelFyre. AngelFyre looked at them over and over again when she was struck with particularly strong bouts of homesickness for her father. He looked so devastatingly handsome in his kilt.

The Great Hall was just as beautiful this night as it was the night before during the cookie decorating. AngelFyre scanned the tables for the supplies she would need and was happy to find that everything was easily within reach. She sat down in a sparsely populated area of what was normally a Slytherin table during mealtimes and formal gatherings, but it seemed tonight it was a sit-anywhere-you-please kind of arrangement. That suited AngelFyre just fine. If she met new friends, great. If she was left alone to craft, that was also fine by her.

She laid out some card stock, scissors, a rule, and some glue. She then carefully reached into the pocket of her jeans and brought out a photograph and fat quarter of the clan McCubbin tartan which she had owled her mother to send her a couple of months ago. She was delighted when Archimedes delivered it one morning at breakfast, and along with the small bit of fabric, her mother had also sent a small charm of the family clan's coat of arms. Upon it was engraved Non Inferiora Secutus, meaning Having Followed Nothing Inferior. It had belonged to my father's father, and Dad had worn it pinned to his kilt, just behind his sporran, the evening of the ceremony.

Smiling as she cut the card stock into two rectangles, she then proceeded to cut out another rectangle in the center of one. It was an area just large enough for a particular photograph of her father. When that was done, she started to work on the fabric. She laid both rectangles out on the fabric and began to cut. She laughed a little to herself when thought of her Grandma Ruth cutting anything. Her mouth would open and close slightly with each pressing together of the scissors' blades. AngelFyre was trying to be mindful that she did not do the same thing while here amongst her peers.

As she had done with the card stock, she cut out the center of the tartan fabric on one piece, but she made the cutout a bit smaller because she was going to need the extra fabric to wrap around the card stock opening. When she had the measurements just right, she snipped the fabric five to six times on each side to make it fold around the top card stock piece smoothly. All she had to do now was put some glue on the card stock, place the fabric pieces on both pieces, and wait for them to dry. As they dried, she found some tape, a hole punch, and some beautiful, multi-colored green and red ribbon. She centered and then taped the photo of her father in his kilt, holding his medal, face down to the back of the top rectangular piece. Next she glued both rectangular pieces together, with the fabric facing outwardly on both sides. The final steps entailed punching a hole at the top of her photo frame and slipping the two-toned ribbon through both pieces, then also slipping the ribbon through the coat of arms charm so it could sit squarely at the top of the frame. She smiled as she tied the ribbon into a neat knot and held it up to examine her effort.

Yes, she thought her father would like this very much.

Here was Damion out in the open with people around him. He was glad that he was not longer hiding in his own comfort zone. He didn't want to be "that guy who hide away" and wanted to be very much seen. Though he preferred being alone in things but that didn't mean that he wanted to be alone right now. So picked up some baubles and some decorating material and walked to the Gryffindor House table.

He had thought he'd meet his friend from earlier. But he was okay if he didn't meet them right away. He was happy that he was doing things that made him feel closer to home when he missed being at home. He loved being creative and since he had been taught this at an early stage he had learned to appreciate it. This made him feel comfortable. He wanted to have something that was his and his alone. well this passion of decorating was his thing which he did usually alone or with people he trusted- Dylan was one of them well back at home.

Here it was different. He had not made that many friends. He wanted to have some people that he could call friends. He was not sure why he was not able to make friends that easily. Was he being picky? He didn't know. He didn't have many friends here and ended up doing things on his own instead of doing it with a group with his friends and people he knew.

Dee's smile brightened when the boy took her comment that the bauble was for him as it was, no suspicion or even a question at this virtual stranger claiming she was making her decoration for him, and even promising to give her one of his in return. It seemed like a bad deal for him - a small green disco ball that would make sure he would never be glitter-free ever again against a carefully stitched miniature bird - but hey, she wouldn't complain.

"I'm not good at crafting," she replied, shrugging and looking down at the bauble in her hands. Her tone was not self-deprecating, it was matter-of-fact. "I don't have the patience for it, honestly. Your birds look awesome, but they require so many tiny stitches. Mine would probably be uneven and way too big so I finish faster."

The shower of glitter came as a surprise to both of them - even though Dee herself had caused it, and when she straightened up, her smile was slightly sheepish, although not apologetic. And the boy didn't seem to mind, much. What a likeable fellow. They were off to a great start.

"Sorry," she apologised anyway, clear and still cheerful, not embarrassed in the least. "But hey, now we match." They were now both green glittering Christmas decorations themselves. Merlin, there was even green glitter caught in her eyelashes, making them weirdly heavy when she blinked. "Who will like that?" she inquired after his comment, curiosity colouring her voice, before giving a belated reaction to his introduction. "Hi Cain! I'm Dee, nice to meet you."

Shooting him another bright grin, she then returned her attention to the glittery bauble, contemplating what to do next. He had suggested filling it with glitter, right? She could still do that, perhaps in a different colour. White, if she didn't want to go over-the-top cliché Christmas themed by picking red. And maybe some dried flowers or something so there was more to look at than the sparkle.

@Cain Corvus
So so sorry for the delay on this! I'd love to finish the interaction if you're still up for it.

Interacting : @Dealla Prince

While Cain is normally suspicious of most gifts of "kindness" like food or drink, he wasn't so suspicious of the gift of an ornament that he just saw this girl make. It couldn't contain any other curse than the curse of having glittery hands for a week or so. It was the season of giving right now. When he went to make a cookie in another classroom before this he'd given it to the first deserving person he saw.

"That's not true." He stated instantly, then looked upon her work. "You just haven't found what you're good at crafting with yet." He looked over his birds and their many stitches, after all the practice he'd gotten very good at hand-stitching things. Cain even altered his clothes and robes when they didn't fit his short legs or he needed another secret pocket for candy.

Was this girl really sorry? He couldn't tell, but he already forgave her when it happened so it didn't matter. "They're for my mother to put on the tree at home. She misses me a lot while I'm here." He wasn't ashamed of his love for his mother, it was important to him to be there for her and he wasn't going to hide it. "It's nice to meet you, Dee." He was immediately curious what Dee was short for but respected her wishes. He then set his birds in a sparkling pile to the left so he could work on his new friend's eagle themed ornament. The ravenclaw eagle was all brown, right? Sure. He leaned to look at her school emblem a couple times before he started cutting out some brown felt and sewing it carefully together. Perhaps he'd add gold sequins for the eyes to give it flare and a blue bit of yarn as a scarf and to further tie it to the ravenclaw theme.

Finally inspired, she carefully lined each of the ceramic stars one by one before leaving them to the side to dry. Once the first had dried, she returned to it, carefully placing it back in front of her. She filled out more colour onto it, painting the background a cute colour. For the most part, it would just be the colour of the outmost outline but occasionally, she figured she would try something else and picked another colour option out of the paints available. They were not all identical but there were definitely similar. There was no doubt that the same person made them all - and there was not a ton of thought that went into making them unique. However, her purpose was not to make them unique. She just wanted to make them and was trying her best to make them relatively cute, trying to find colour combinations that were not horrible together.

The last thing she would want was for them to clash! Serena was also careful to try and keep the lines as steady as possible. It was not perfect by any means. However, she was trying to keep them as professional and as neat as she could muster up, trying to make them look good. After all, she wanted someone to be pleased to receive one - not horrified.

She repeated this until they had all been done, leaving them to the side to dry as she completed them - as she had done before. Then, she went back to the first one once it had dried and added the final bit of paint. As carefully as she could - which meant, trying to steady her shaking hand - she wrote a few words onto the centre of the ceramic bauble. Each of them had a star-related phrase. She pondered the different options. Perhaps something like 'You brighten up my life' or a simple yet effective 'You're a star' compliment? There was also the option of showing gratitude and going with 'Thank you for being a star'. Serena pondered the wording for a few minutes, giving them plenty of extra time to dry if they had not already.

Once she had figured it out, she would carefully letter each of the stars with a small phrase, one by one until she was done. In her own little world, she painted away. Once she was done, she grabbed a few snacks from the table as she got a little hungry from her efforts and headed out with her ceramic star-shaped baubles on a tray. They needed to dry a little more, she imagined, so she would place the tray by her bedside table and allow them time to dry before returning the plain tray. The baubles would find their ways into the dorms of her friends, accompanied by letters as they ended up being small gifts for the holidays.

Serena left the Great Hall

Dee looked up, slightly amused when Cain contradicted her claim that she possessed no crafting ability. "Maybe," she gave in a little. "Perhaps you can teach me the patience I need to make fancy delicate things." She paused. "Maybe not, but you're welcome to try."

Looking at his little flock of birds, Dee smiled at the mention of his mother. "Does your mother like crafting, too?" Then she deflated a little. A year ago, she would have chimed in with stories of her own home, boasting about how her parents certainly missed her, too. And they did. They had to? At least her mother did, her letters had been just as frequent and loving as usual. It was just the lack of word from her father that left the letters feeling hollow, incomplete.

Biting her lip, Dee was left staring down at the birds for another moment before she straightened up and shook it off. No use worrying. She'd made her decision to not go home, anyway. Perhaps she should give her grandmother some decoration as a present. The thought of Rosalie Creek's face when she unwrapped a sparkling green Christmas bauble and was consequently showered in glitter made her grin. Perhaps not.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Cain!" she replied, some enthusiasm returned to her voice as she gently tried to force some dried flowers into the bauble without crumbling them too much, then added a shower of white glitter, this time without dispersing it evenly over an area with one meter radius. She screwed it shut. "Oh, you were right, that is pretty," she observed, shaking the bauble in front of her face to watch the glitter stir up and rain down.

Smiling, she tied a ribbon through the loop on top, then set it down in front of Cain. "Here. Merry Christmas."

@Cain Corvus

Interacting : @Dealla Prince

Cain tilted his head at her, trying to access her strong points without knowing too much about her was hard. He wasn't one to give up entirely on a person, perhaps Dee's crafting might be a little more hands on in a bigger way if she didn't like tiny fiddly things. "There is... pottery and woodworking. Perhaps you'd be able to enchant and create your own style of brooms if you wanted." With magic there was so much more possibility as well, if he could enchant these little birds they'd flap there wings and really impress his mother and his new friend. "I haven't tried either honestly, but we could probably learn one together, maybe make a bird house or something." You could make one out of either material, probably.

"Yes." He smiled lightly. "She used to make and sell wands before she got married." If he was a wand maker, his mother might like that, but he had higher aspirations. He glanced over to see Dee appear a little more somber for a moment, probably remembering something sad. That was one aspect of the holidays that seemed to happen to most people, including himself, a melancholy would take over out of nowhere. If she ever decided to open up to him someday, they could bond over distant fathers.
Her grin returned and eased his own worries, he wasn't great at comforting people but he tried.

With some finishing stitches he was finished, a small smile of his own coming back as he held out Dee's little bird ornament to trade. "And here is yours." He accepted his bauble in all it's glittery terror, turning it over in one hand and adjusting his glasses with the other to watch the dried flowers and glitter sparkle and stir inside. "It probably smells nice too, but I don't want to sneeze glitter later so I'll just assume it does." He hung the ornament by it's ribbon loop on his finger before tucking it into a robe pocket that disappeared into the folds. Later it would hang beside his bed in his dorm room. "Thank you, I hope to see you around and have a Happy Christmas or a Happy Holiday." He didn't want to just assume her preferred form of celebrating.

Pottery... that might be interesting. Woodworking? Brooms really weren't her thing, and she wrinkled her nose at the suggestion, but she could hardly blame Cain for not guessing that just from looking at her. It wasn't like she carried around a sign that said "I Hate Flying", although perhaps she should. And building a bird house sounded cute, and not as fiddly as most of the crafting and decorating errands the school tended to offer. "Building a bird house might be fun!" she conceded, giving him an honest smile. "We could try that." It was nice that he seemed so genuinely invested in finding a crafting activity that might suit her.

Cain sounded fond as he talked about his mother, and Dee quickly shook off the thought of her own family issues. A wandmaker, hm. Making her own customised wand sounded super cool, but she didn't think she'd want to make wands for other people for a living.

She brightened up even more when Cain handed her the finished bird ornament, taking it in both hands carefully as if she was afraid to break it and holding it up to inspect it. "Thank you, I love it," she assured, grinning at him. "And yeah, probably a wise choice. I'd just leave that bauble sealed. For eternity."

Both of them finished with their crafting, Dee made a halfhearted attempt at cleaning up her workspace, which mostly consisted of pushing the glitter that covered the table together into a small pile, which she then looked at, shrugged, and decided to leave as it was. The clean up crew would likely just vanish all the spilled crafting supplies later, anyway. "Merry Christmas to you, too! And to your family," she replied, her voice genuine. Cain seemed nice, and his mother sounded lovely. "I'm sure I'll see you next year!" With a cheerful wave for her new friend, the ornament held safely in her other hand, Dee walked out of the Great Hall.

@Cain Corvus

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