Passion Project #16 Pv

@Elsian Cox

Opeila was having a rather fine morning. After her daily time of jogging over the grounds with Flash, the young Slytherin returned to the Great Hall to have a late breakfast. It wasn't like she felt hungry, her sporty activities effectively got her to skip the usual breakfast times and just pack some sandwiches for when she got hungry, which was usually an hour or two later, but today she felt like she could use a nice breakfast.

It seemed that their jog had been longer than she thought, as most of the students were already leaving the hall to get to their chosen activities. Opeila looked at her almost empty table, where she couldn't spot one more than vaguely familiar face. A shame really, fresh air always seemed to get the third year socially motivated.
But instead a different housetable attracted her attention. Or rather the pile of crafting material on it. There were sticks and glue and other things that Opeila couldn't quite make sense of yet.

What would become of those when the crafter was done? Without thinking further, Opeila walked towards the Gryffindor table, quite glad that she was still wearing her jogging clothes. People tended to get stared at when sitting at the wrong table while wearing their school robes, which pretty obviously showed the house they were in.

At the table sat a boy, who looked like he had brought all the things into the hall. He was studying a book, looking rather discouraged. Why did he seem so familiar again? Opeila was sure that they had spoken before, but she couldn't quite think of whe- "Cox!" Right! There had been a snowball fight approximately two years ago, with him and a Hufflepuff boy, whose name was Mozark if she recalled it correctly.

"Sorry- Cox was your name, right?", Opeila added quickly, as soon as she realized how awkward she had to seem to him. "It's Opeila. I think I accidentally hit you with a snowball a few... years ago. If you remember." Yeah, she was probably not helping her cause there. "So, what are you doing? Can I join you?", she asked, leaning a bit forward to be able to look at his book.

That…didn't look right.

Twisting the skeleton build of making up the box of plastic meant to be part of a kite this way and that,, it looked sturdy, like it would be able to hold the weight of both square boxes, the parts that actually held the paper to get the things off the ground. But that was the problem, it was too sturdy. And heavy.

Not heavy as a book or anything but for the size he was going with he was pretty sure the finished project was supposed to be around this weight. Not just the empty middle. Not just that but his looked nothing like the picture. The picture showed basically two boxes with the kite paper on either ends connected only by 4 long sticks on each point of the square ends. His decidedly had looked more like a bridge in a weird way. But when he did it the pictures way the sticks bent and wiggled under the weight, like it would break under even the tiniest bit of strain! Not very good kite material was it?

Maybe he should try & use the thicker plastic sticks for the middle and the thinner ones for just the ends? Maybe the book only made it look like they were using the same thin sticks throughout the whole thing?

He squinted at the plastic ‘square’, staring it down in the face of its deceit. Apparently this wasn't as easy as copying the picture and he fully blamed the book's treachery for his failure.

He would start again with these new thoughts in mind. But he would not use the book for this part, he had more self respect for his brain than believing those petal shaped cutouts belonged on the box kite. The book of a dirty liar.

He began again, messing with wood and plastic respectively to see which would be used in his newest attempts.



Jolting Elsian pushed more weight than he meant on the 2 cubes, the thin wooden stick snapping under his hand, the plastic was able to hold up under the strain however. Well that proved one thing right, he was definitely sticking to the plastic for the rest of the kites.

Ruined splinters of wood was dusted away as the Gryffindor looked around, his gaze quickly settled on the Slytherin with a curious look but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what’d set the stranger off. Or he thought she was a stranger but she obviously knew him. “Well that is part of my name I guess.” he said wryly, aiming a look at the girl. “Do I…”

Hnn. Opeila…

Oh!… Wait-

His nose wrinkled, the recognition melting into disbelief.

He squinted at her. “I'm like 90% sure that was not an accident.” Maybe for Mozark but if he remembered correctly she had aimed to kill once Elsian had joined in. “You aimed to take me out during that fight, you even went for the face!” He pointed accusingly at her but the effect was ruined by the small smile starting to tug at his lips.


“But yeah. I remember you, and the revenge I still need to get for that snowball to the face,” he threatened jokingly, but all the same he nodded at her request tapping a hand on the table, “and sure, I don't mind…but I'd prefer if you called me Elsian.”

Dragging the book closer, he flipped to the introduction page for kites showing it Opeila. “I was trying to make a kite,” the book was pushed towards the other with a small humor filled grimace, “hope you don't mind experimenting though, the book isn't much help.”

@Elsian Cox

Right. Maybe Opeila should have thought about it some more before randomly calling out a person's name who probably didn't even remember her. She could certainly have spared herself of awkward looks. But, since she had already done it, she could as well remind him of the time they had met, a time that was certainly a positive memory to her.

Thank god he did remember it and immediately called her out, making her grin. "I'm talking about the first one, not the ones that came after!", she gave back, "Besides, all three of us were totally out to kill each other, don't pretend this is all on me!" She chuckled. "Good luck with that revenge, Elsian. Luckily there's no snow around and- Man, you should have joined the snowballfight in Hogsmeade last October! It was hilarious."

Opeila stepped over the bench to sit down and then bent over the book that Elsian pushed towards her. "A kite? Cool!" Kites had played a role in Opeila's childhood back in Cambridge, she remembered letting them fly with her dad during autumn holidays, what felt like a lifetime ago. "I have one at my childhood home, with a disney princess on it." Yes, Opeila had always just loved the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty. There were few disney movies she liked, too many of them were about young girls being neglected by their mothers, sometimes even at risk to die by their hands.

With her own mother having been far from a responsible parent, it was something she had always found most difficult to watch. The best ones had always been those where mothers didn't play a big role. "Ok, so what have you got so far?" Curiously she looked over at Elsian's attempts.

He hummed dramatically, giving Opeila a disbelieving look, hand on his heart. “I’m sure I don't know what you mean,” he said, all innocence if not for the smile tugging at his lips, “I’m the picture of good behavior! I would never stoop so low as to throw the first snowball!”

“But hey, I totally forgive you for your blood thirsty ways,” he dropped his hand to pat at the table, “bygones be bygones and all that, but c’mon and sit. You can suffer through the joys of kite making with me.” He teased as she sat down. But hey! Maybe she’d be better at this whole kite business than he seemed to be.

It wasn't exactly a high bar granted. If he had to be judged by a level pretty sure he was at a 0, so yeah, not challenging at all. Unless you tried to follow this book that is. Thing didn't make any bloody sense.

“Well, as you can see,” he began, patting at his broken pile of wood at her question, “I have a rather wonderful stick pile I’ve decided to name failure 2, very nice I know.” Work of art really. “And over here,” he moved to the remaining cube only held together by spite and the magic of plastic strength, “is my wonderful 1/3rd cube for a box kite, I call it Tiffany, as lovingly known as the bane of my existence.” It was said in a cheery, matter of fact way; it was clear the Gryffindor was just joking and being a dramatic ass about the whole thing though.

But if one listened closely enough, they might've been able to hear the tiny hint of despair in his voice the longer he wasted his time trying to read the crafting book.

Oh the magic of Passion Project diy. He hated it. Deeply.

In his defense it was a really bad book.

Alas this and the book was literally all he had to his name. Merlin forbid he go into the kite industry, he’d be ruined. Bankrupt!

“As you can see my kite skills are very impressive and you should be very jealous.” He deadpanned, nodding sagely. Then paused. Tilting his head in a thoughtful gesture as a thought dawned on him. “Oh, and I got the 1st attempt I guess, but I don't think that'll be much help…”

Reaching over he shoved a few bits and bobs aside on the table to reveal the simple kite from before. It was quite basic but decent enough with its blue and white colors. The only downside? It couldn't fly. Like, at all. It was too heavy, meant for show and as a way to experiment with how you would need to put the parts together; this thing wouldn't be getting into the air anytime soon without either the help of levitation or a really strong storm.

Basically, it was for display only.

“I call it ‘the favorite,’ because it is and remains the only good kite so far.” Teasingly he wiggled the kite at her, “it’s no princess kite but I think I could glue a rather nice looking stick figure to it, what do ya think? Give your princess one a run for its money.”

@Elsian Cox

Opeila grinned as Elsian held his little innocence speech and then nodded. "Right. Of course you are, my bad. If kite making buys your forgiveness, how could I ever say no?" Well, if this wasn't off to a great start already.

"I see.", Opeila commented, examining both the lovingly named Failure 2 and Tiffany. "Maybe Failure 2 can donate some parts to Tiffany? Maybe they work better together.", she suggested, smirking at his playful tone. Except she felt like there was truly a bit of frustration at his failures.

But then he went back to the kite he worked on before, the Favorite. "Alright then, forget Tiffany and Failure 2. So um... What is the problem with this one? I assume it doesn't fly as it should?" She reached out to feel the paper and the sticks. "Maybe Failure 2 would like to donate some thinner sticks to enable their companion here to fly?"

Opeila's memory of the model of her own childhood kite was blurry. She remembered the thin pink and blue fabric, but that was about it. When she was small, the pictures and colors had mattered a whole lot more to her than the details of its construction. A shame really, now she wished she could remember.

He stared down at the kite. “Wait, but that’s actually really smart.”

Favorite had mainly been working as an example to look back on but if they just…maybe kept some of the base in place for strength at the center and replaced the other parts to with the stack known as failure instead, well, they might have a working kite as a reference if they didn’t absolutely despise kite making by the end of this and wanted to try their hands at some more elaborate ones.

Same with the 1/3rds finished box kite Tiffany. The box kite wasn’t a lost cause quite yet after all, not now that Opeila had struck some common sense into his head. He just hadn’t figured out how to make it strong enough to stay together in the air against strong winds, nor how to keep it light enough to get into the air when said stronger base was added…

Yes. Yes, this was a far better idea than restarting again or struggling through the horrible craft book!

“Let's do that!” He agreed easily, shifting the pile of sticks and odd bits an bobs between them for better access. And then, as he dragged the 1/3rd done box kite closer, “to both of them I think. There’s enough items from Failure to easily go between both kites.” He made a tiny gesture to ‘Tiffany’ & ‘Favorite’.

“I can replace parts on this kite if you want to try your hand at the box kite,” he offered, already prying parts off with a careful hand, “or you could start from scratch?” Yes, there were plenty of supplies to start something new with, she could even make use of the box kite or ruined pile if she liked! Elsian would not stop her either way.

@Elsian Cox

The smile on Opeila's face widened, when Elsian complimented her ideas. She playfully wiggled one index finger at the Gryffindor. "Yes yes, trust the word of the kite master!" As if... "Right!" The young Slytherin rolled up her sleeves and reached out to pull the box kite- Tiffany- closer. "Let's have a look at this patient then, shall we!"

But then she looked at Failure 2 first, carefully taking some sticks out of the first attempt of a kite. "Appreciate your sacrifice, soldier." Lightly, she patted the demolished pile of paper and sticks, before starting to continue to finish Tiffany.
It wasn't an easy task, even with the book's instruction. Opeila's store bought disney themed kite from her childhood did not help her at all now.

And well- It was no surprise when she didn't only not manage to finish Tiffany, but also... got the already existing part to snap and collaps in her hands. "Ohhh no...", she murmured, carefully looking up at Elsian. "I think I lost the patient." While she was trying a humorous approach on the situation, she truly hoped that this wouldn't frustrate the Gryffindor even more.

"But ummm, I have good news too! She agreed to donate to a more needy patient too!" This time, Opeila couldn't bite back a chuckle. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin her." Sighing she looked down at the new pile of sticks that resembled Failure 2 more than a kite now.