That May be a Distraction PV Glen Pope Finished

After getting somewhat back in the groove of whittling two weeks ago, Glen had figured that he should probably keep at it and actually practice more regularly again. Besides, it was apparently also a nice way to meet new people. At the very least it had served as a conversation starter [with Griseldis Edelhardt].

So, seeing as the weather today was beautiful: sunny blue sky, not cold but also not too hot... He figured today was a good day to don more comfy clothes like a T-shirt and jeans again and go out onto the grounds. Unlike last time, he was less interested in exploring the grounds some more and more in continuing the whittling, so he had kept his walking around outside a lot shorter and concentrated on looking for twigs or branches he could use.

Once he had a decent amount, he settled down somewhere he could lean against a tree trunk or a sort of boulder. (He hadn't actually paid enough conscious attention to that detail to be able to tell what kind of backrest he had ended up with – he could probably tell by the texture of what he was leaning against but he didn't bother with that as it was irrelevant.) Putting his little loot pile of wood pieces onto the grass next to him, he chose one of the smaller pieces to start with. He would keep it simple and try to make a rough wooden spoon.

After a short while he had to put that piece aside as a lost cause though, as he had misjudged the size and materiality of it and hat cut into it wrongly. For his next attempt he chose a slightly bigger piece and began removing the bark as he heard a voice call his name. Pausing in his ministrations, he looked up and gave the approaching girl a smile. “Hey Serena!” He was right, it really did seem to be a good conversation starter, given that she was asking what he was doing.

He paused a moment to rally himself – he would not turn into a rambling mess again just because someone startled him!! – before he answered. “Whittling. I haven't decided yet what I'll try to carve out of this one though.” He raised his hand with the half-de-bark-ed branch to show what he was talking about.

Gently stroking Pizza Rat, she made her way over to the Slytherin. She did not know him very well but they had met a few times. Glen Pope. Serena had properly met him when he was a prefect. It was over a year ago now. She had actually been eating pizza that day - or attempting to - before some Slytherins got into a fight. A bully stole another person's books and started to threaten the people who tried to get it back. Ah yes. That day was when she saw that other Slytherin boy that Glen was friends with. She knew him before, as they had been prefects together, but that was the day he stood up to the bully and it was kind of sweet - even though he got pretty much wrecked, which was likely Serena's fault. She felt bad. Enric or Edric or something... That was his name. Honestly, she could not remember. Whoops.

Serena tilted her head, curiously as he responded. Whistling? No, no. He said uh... something like 'whittling'. It sounded different to whistling though, in all honesty, she had no idea what that was. The boy was cutting into a branch though, carving something into it. Perhaps this was like when people carved their name or initials into a tree. At least, that was the only thing she could think of. "What is wh- whitterling?" She asked, trying to recall what the name actually was. Whitterling? That sounded a little off but she was not sure what else it would be, "Is it like wood carving or something?" She asked, hazarding a guess by the fact that he had a pile of wood by him and was attempting to carve it.

"Mind if Pizza and I join you, by the way?" She asked, hovering nearby - still standing. She was hesitant to sit down, in case Glen did not actually want any company - or to hang out with a rat. Not everyone was fans of the rat, even though Serena thought he was the cutest little bean in the world.

“Ah. Yes. Whittling is basically wood carving, I guess. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is but the one who taught me the basics called it whittling, so...” Well, if one could call it teaching, considering that he started whittling – unsupervised – after seeing his grandmother do it and almost causing his parents having a heart attack in the process.

“Yes, sure, you can join me, feel free.” He smiled and nodded to the ground near him, while taking his piece of branch back up and continuing to rid it of its bark. “How are you today? And hi Pizza.”

Pizza seemed like an interesting name for a rat. “Did you choose the name Pizza for a specific reason?”, he asked curiously. Not having a pet of his own that he'd named, he wondered what went into the decision what to name a pet. The closest to having an own pet he got would've been the toad he rescued as a kid, but he hadn't really named it anything.

Waiting for Serena to respond, Glen concentrated on finishing the de-barking, cutting the bark of on one side first before turning the piece to remove that piece of bark before turning it again to get rid of the last piece of bark.

"Whittling... I see..." She repeated the word out aloud, trying to actually pronounce it correctly, since she was pretty sure that she just said something completely wrong. There was apparently a difference between wood carving and this but since Glen did not actually seem to know himself, she figured it was fine for her to just pretend it was wood carving. It was far easier to remember it that way than anything else. To Serena, it sounded a little like 'whistling' and so, in her head, she kept picturing a completely different hobby. If she was not watching him carve wood, she would definitely not have guessed it.

Grinning, Serena took a seat on the grass. Crossing her legs over, she dropped Pizza gently onto her lap. He ran around, perching himself onto her knee. His head kept turning, as though he was looking around for something or trying to figure out what was going on. Who knew what went through the little rat's head? "Thanks! I'm good, just got a little bored inside. It's kinda stuffy in the common room after a while..." She admitted. She did love the Hufflepuff common room and dorms. It was warm and comfortable. But after a while, the smell of the wood burning became a bit too much and fresh air was a necessity, "I figured this little guy could use some fresh air too. He is getting fat... Could use a bit of a run..." She added, as she gently poked the brown rat on the side. Pizza looked at her before nuzzling onto the top of her hand and then running up her arm. Giggling as it was a little ticklish, she shook her head at him for being a silly little rat. But he was cute.

Her eyes lit up when the Slytherin asked about Pizza. It was always nice to find someone who did not think rats were disgusting! "Oh well..." She thought back to that day - almost a year ago. It was in the summer just before her third year. "I went to get a cat or an owl or something and then, whilst I was in the shop, this rude little brat came in with a giant box of pizza and was just too busy being rude..." She rambled on a bit, a puff of angry air coming out of her face as she was getting annoyed just thinking about that kid! It took her a moment to realise she was doing that she was rambling, "Erm so uh anyway, he basically dropped a slice of pizza on the floor, and then this little guy wanted it. And well, then he threw a hissy fit and kept complaining about this little fella, accusing him of being a thief, even though it was his own fault that he dropped the food! And I got annoyed. He kept saying he wanted this guy gone and was gross and stuff," Serena explained, with a pout on her face, "It annoyed me. So I scolded that brat and... yeah, now me and Pizza Rat are basically inseparable! He's adorable, right? I don't understand how anyone can call this super cute face 'gross'. What a meaniepoop." Serena rambled on some more, clearly still annoyed by the brat that was rude about her adorable little friend.

She stroked Pizza's little cheek, as he sat on her shoulder. Glen probably regretted asking a simple question that led to Serena ranting at him but she was happy she got to speak about her best friend in the whole world.

Glen, on the other hand, was actually quite glad having asked a question that led to Serena's rant. It was nice, especially after their last conversation, to see other people loose themselves a little in a rant. It made him feel less like an alien, certainly. Sure, he could've probably done without the deep-dive into their backstory, but really, he had asked for her reason. So even if he had been inclined to complain, he wouldn't have had any reason to. As it was, he had no intention of lodging a complaint or whatever, it was nice to see his friend(s) (maybe?) (where they friends?) be passionate about something.

And while a rat wouldn't have been his first choice at a pet – really, the closest to a pet he'd ever had , had been that toad – but if she loved her pet, that was nice. What was the point in having a more 'traditional' pet and then hating the pet because it was 'boring', like one of his classmates in Muggle primary school. Luckily, the boy's uncle had adopted the poor dog – and then the kid had had the audacity to complain that his pet was gone and his parents refused to get him another one to lose interest in in a month. Amy had raged about that incident for weeks and she wasn't even in the same class.

Glen just smiled. “Sure. He's adorable. And that brat was an idiot. Why would you drop pizza to the floor??? I mean -” He trailed off. Hadn't one of the Gryffindors [Alan Vanes] done exactly that at the Lake last year? Dropping Pizza in the lake was probably even worse – not that Glen remembered for sure what exactly had happened.

So, spoon or another lightsaber hilt attempt? Somehow it didn't really feel right to attempt another lightsaber so soon after the one he'd given Professor Jensen for that Mother's day thing, but a spoon was boring, wasn't it? Ah well. This was supposed to be practice. Spoon it was. Decision made, Glen began thinning down one end of the piece of de-bark-ed wood.

"Right?! That was my thoughts, precisely! I mean, I don't think he intended on dropping it but even then, it was not like he was going to eat it from the floor after all of that anyway! So I really don't see what his problem was," Serena reasoned because it was ridiculous. First of all, he was wasting good food by being careless and dropping it. And secondly, since he was not actually going to consume it after that, he should have actually been grateful that the little rat was not going to let it go to waste! But no, he was just being a brat. It was so silly and it made Serena so cross to think about. Some people! Honestly!

Really, why would people waste pizza. Oh yeah, there was that time that she asked someone to hold her pizza and he ended up dropping it. Glen was there too, right? She shook her head at the thought. What a foolish thing to do!

Serena stroked the little fellow with her forefinger, giving him a light scratch on his side. He nestled up into her shoulder, probably starting to fall asleep or something. "What about you? Do you have a pet friend?" She asked him, not actually sure if she had ever seen him with any. Most people she knew seemed to prefer owls or cats so he likely had one of those. Probably an owl. That would explain why she never saw it! Well... that and the fact that they did not spend all that much time together really. This was probably their third or fourth or fifth meeting if that over the years.

She honestly could not recall. He became Prefect after she had stepped down though, right? She pondered when they had met prior. Her cheeks turned a little rosy as she recalled that day with the pizza that fell into the lake. A few other students had been there. Some that she did not really know. Well in fact, she pretty much did not know any of them. But there was one that she kind of thought was maybe, just a tad bit, really cute. "So uhh... what you making over there?" She asked him as her eyes fell onto the whittling thing that he was doing, "Are you making it for that friend of yours... Uh, Edric, I think his name is?... You know, the cu- the uh guy in Slytherin? You're friends, right?" Serena continued, twirling a piece of her hair with her finger from the other hand. She was oh so subtle at bringing up conversations.

But the thought had entered her mind so she figured she would ask about the cute boy that he was friends with. Maybe Glen could tell her a bit more about him!

Hoo boy. If that idiot had intentionally dropped pizza, that would be even worse. What the hell. Why would you even- But wait, she said she didn't think he intended to... Whoops. He should listen closer to what she had said and not jump to a conclusion quite that quickly. At least he hadn't blurted out something stupid... this time.

The problem probably was that the boy brat had lost his food but It wasn't like that was the rats fault … Ugh. What did he care about the reasons behind it. The thing was gone and done with and his new friend (hopefully) got her pet rat out of the deal, so. Eh.

If he had a 'pet friend'? Nah, that was more his sister's thing, Amy was more of an animal person. “Uh. Not really, no.” For a moment he had considered getting a spider during the summer holidays because of the whole thing in February, but one, he hadn't gotten a close enough look at the shadow spideys to compare their behaviour (he was still salty about it and would continue to be so for months. His own lumos betraying him like that! His priorities might be slightly off.) and two, he wasn't even sure if spiders were allowed at school. Also, there was no way his parents would allow him to get a pet only to ditch it at home. And he'd had a toad (or had it been a frog? What even was the difference?) before. That had been nice but he didn't really feel the need to repeat the experience. “Not since my old … one died of old age.” He hesitated shortly but since he wasn't sure on the difference he just didn't say either.

Slowly, slowly but surely, he thinned the handle part of what might become a spoon. He really was out of practice still. He had to be far more cautious than he usually was. It was automatic and then frustrating once he noticed.

“Ah. Uh. A spoon?” Feeling a bit put on the spot, it came out a bit more of a question than a statement. “Ideally, it'll be a spoon, I think. But I, uh, haven't done this in ages so who knows if it'll work out that way...” He gave a slight shrug.

Edric?

Oh. Were they friends? He hoped so. But... who knew. He didn't. He hoped. But heck if he knew for sure. But if she called them friends, then.. chance were they were, right?

“Ah, no. I mean, yes. Uh. Yes, his name is Edric, no, this is not for him. That thing is really just for practice.” Why would he make a spoon for Edric, though? Hogwarts had enough cutlery.

Mentions: @Edric Banes (thought you might enjoy this)

The frown appeared on Serena's face as she heard Glen's words, speaking about his old pet friend dying of old age. She had gotten so close to Pizza Rat that she almost could not imagine what life was without him. He hung out with her all the time, even when no one else did. It was nice. Although he could not talk back, sometimes she just found herself watching him running around the room, "I'm sorry to hear that," She replied with a frown, "You don't think you'll get another pet?" She continued.

The conversation continued, her eyes falling onto the thing he was producing. It was apparently going to become a spoon, though she had no idea how. That was pretty cool though. Or at least, she thought it was rather cool that he could make spoons out of random twigs and branches. That was probably a good skill to save money or something, surely? She had no idea, it was not like she went out and bought any spoons personally or knew how much they cost. But for somewhere like Hogwarts, they probably needed thousands of them...

"O-oh, I see," She fell quiet for a moment, wondering what else to really say or ask. She kind of wanted to ask him about his cute friend but had no idea what she really wanted to know? Did it even matter? It was not like she could even talk to him. If Edric so much as looked at her, she would turn away and run. Knowing if he was single or if he was a nice person or anything did not matter if she could not even talk to him, "Do you think Edric uses spoons?" She asked suddenly, saying the first words that popped into her head.

Wait. What did she just ask? WHAT SORT OF QUESTION WAS THAT? "I mean uh- likes spoons. Does he like spoons? I mean uh- He might like it!" Was this even a save? She had no idea.

Hearing her question about getting another pet, he paused a moment, hesitating if he should mention the spider idea but since he had pretty much already decided not to on that, he merely shook his head. “No, probably not. If anything my sister might, but I'm not really... I mean, I didn't exactly go out of my way to get the last one. I just found it, more or less.”

Before starting in on the bowl of the spoon, he tried to decide which side of the wood would be better suited. Sometimes the shape of the piece made only one way of carving possible, but in this case it was pretty much equally up to scratch. He could hollow out this side or that, the spoon would be small enough that it would work out anyway. Probably. It was equally possible that he would mess it up no matter what he tried.

Did... did Edric use spoons?? Glen stared at Serena incredulously. What? Everybody used spoons? Why wouldn't- Oh. She meant if he liked spoons? That... did only make a modicum more sense. What was there to like about spoons? Or dislike, for that matter. Spoons were spoons, right? “I-” He wasn't sure what to answer there. He'd never asked Edric about his opinion on spoons of all things. That question would never even have occurred to him. And here he thought his thought processes were often weird, especially to others.

Or maybe the preference (or not) of spoons was actually relevant? Was that a thing and he just missed it? Wouldn't be the first time either, after all. Glen looked at the spoon-in-progress in confusion as he thought about it. He couldn't recall anyone let alone Edric standing out when it came to using spoons. Even people that used chopsticks also used spoons on occasion, even if they didn't use knives or forks to eat food (only in preparing food). Spoons were just... spoons. They were just there. And people used them.

Right?

Suddenly he wasn't sure. Maybe there was a deeper meaning to spoons? Or maybe there was a deeper meaning to her question instead? That might make more sense, but if that was it, he had no clue what it was either. Was the spoon supposed to be a metaphor or something? But for what?