Green (Tea) Dragons Errand Open Closed

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@Katrina Walker

Claudia wobbled into the courtyard, slightly off balance. Someone had ran into her on her way over and she still hadn’t gained back her balance from the chance encounter. She walked a few steps and then tripped on a rock. She fell down, down, down until her arms splayed in front of her and her palms slammed into the ground, her nose a few inches from the tip of the grass. Preforming an exercise similar to that of a push-up, Claudia sprang up from the ground and onto her feet.

She scanned the grounds with her eye, looking for the supplies and tools that would mark the spot of the errand she was about to try and finish. This time, Claudia wanted to actually be able to make the animal she wanted. She had thought of the origami animal errand when reading this one, and had figured that this time she would get payback. This time, she was determined to make a dragon.

Claudia set her eye on the table packed with supplies and shook with excitement. Barely anyone was there! That meant no social interaction and peaceful relaxation with tea. Wait a minute. If there was barely anyone, people would want to talk with her! They would assume that she wanted the same and would start spouting off nonsense and questions!

However, it was too late to turn back now. Claudia had already started to walk toward the errand’s supplies and it would seem rude if she turned back now. Besides, maybe if she just ignored the people they would get the idea that she didn’t want to talk? Claudia shook her head. That would also be considered rude. They would assume she didn’t like them and would spread rumors and lies, which she would have to talk to people to clear up.

Just a quick one, she thought, I’ll make a quick dragon and leave. As much as Claudia wanted that, however, she knew she couldn’t. She wanted to make multiple dragons to be able to use at Hogwarts and send to her family. Not that her family would want the dragons. Just... Claudia needed a simple gift to give to them to get on their good side. She was basically trying to bribe more chemistry books out of her parents.

Claudia gulped and reached the supplies table. She read the instructions for how to make an animal, and set about making a dummy Pygmy puff to make sure she understood how to create the tea animal.

First, Claudia cut out all the pieces. There were two small circle of almost identical size, a small head shape, and feet. Claudia decided that she wouldn’t make a face when she realized how hard it was to cut tiny circles. The discarded remains of circles and odd shapes littered the ground around her.

Claudia picked up the needle and decided to start sewing the pieces together. The body was sewed first, with a tiny hole to force the tea leaves through. She got annoyed at her shaky hands with threading the needle, and multiple times had to restart the whole body when she accidentally sewed the whole thing shut. It was hard for her to keep track of the start and finish.

Finally, Claudia finished sewing and headed to leaves so that she could fill her Pygmy puff. After this, she could start with her dragons! Claudia crept past the girl who was already at the station, hoping that she wouldn’t notice her.

Failing multiple times to force green tea leaves through, Claudia finally succeeded and stole a galnce at the other girl’s animal. She was making a dragon too. Claudia shivered and debated whether to do a dragon after all. The other girl may think she was copying her.

Before she could stop herself, Claudia opened her mouth. “Er - um. I may want to ask - I mean I do want to ask - I mean, I am asking. Um, I’m Claudia. Would you kindly tell me how you made your tea? No, your fire. Agh!” Claudia stuttered, clearing her throat. She quickly restarted, knowing that if she didn’t the other girl wouldn’t understand what she was asking. “Would it be weird if you told me how you - how you made y-your dragon?” Claudia asked her, her body shaking all over.

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@Claudia Gears

Katrina was just beginning to cram green tea leaves into the top of her dragon tea bag when she noticed that a girl was right beside her. Katrina crammed a bit more of the leaves before stealing a glance at the girl.

She had pale skin, long black hair, and icy eyes, one of which covered in an eye patch. She stood a few inches under Katrina and had a timid demeanor. Possibly a first year, but Katrina hadn't met enough second years to be completely sure. Katrina noticed the girl looking at her and looed back to the tea bag hoping that she didn't think the lioness was being rude.

Katrina messed with her sleeve, in a distracted almost habit-like way. The girl began talking and Katta realized a touch late that she was talking to her. Katrina turned to the girl with a slightly puzzled expression, trying to decipher what she had just said. The second year felt bad, knowing all too well how hard it could be to put her thoughts together. She had even had a stutter of her own only a year prior.

The girl asked to have Katrina help her make a tea dragon of her own and Katrina's lips curled into a side smile, "Sure! I have the pattern on my journal over there. Here, let me make another copy," Katrina set the tea bag on the table and raced over to the tree and grabbed her journal. She quickly replicated the pattern and tore the first page from her sketchbook. Katrina raced back over and handed the paper to the girl, "Here,"

Katrina grabbed her dragon again and finished cramming the tea into her tiny creature. It filled up nicely, even the wings were thick enough to allow a layer of the tea leaves to fill them up. The fresh almost bitter scent of green tea bit at her nose and Katrina couldn't help but hope that they would be easier to make a second time. She was already craving a cup of her own.

"If you want to join my under the tree I can help you make yours? I still want to make a few more of my own," After waiting for an answer, Katrina took a seat by the short maple. The shadow was a great shelter from the heat of the Scottish summer sun.

Katrina drew out another stretch of the silken fabric and traced her pattern from her journal with a pencil. She cut each piece with the scissors and was quickly working on the sewing part of the project. It was nice that her hands were so steady. Her needle and thread were easily threaded and her edges were just as quick to come together.

Once her second dragon was put together, Katrina traced the pattern for a third dragon. She was going to use at least one, then maybe keep the second one as a memory. The fourth through sixth she would give to anyone that seemed to want a dragon friend of their own.

WC: 1100 || Errand Complete || Open to Interactions || OOC: Its great! Thanks for joining

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@Kartina Walker@Athena Hayes

Claudia was surprised at the gryffindor girl’s eagerness to help, and just stood in place, holding the piece of paper with the dragon blueprints on it. The girl had given the sketches to Claudia without any hesitation at all! Gryffindors really are brave, she marveled.

Claudia thought back to many of her other encounters with the other Hogwarts students. Many of the people she had met had ended up helping her in some way, shape, or form. Thinking about it made Claudia both grateful and sad at the same time. How rude was she to ignore all of the amazingly kind people at Hogwarts! She had never helped anyone (except at the misery of another), and all she did was ask for help! Did she seriously believe that someone so selfish as her would fit into Hogwarts? Claudia shook her head. Despite all of her rudeness, people still came to her rescue - no matter what. Didn’t that mean something? Was it possible that she wasn’t just a student to them, but family?

Claudia blushed from the embarrassment her thoughts had caused her. Why was she thinking of such things? Of course she was family - she lived at Hogwarts too! What did it matter if she pushed people away when someone else that was more qualified was bound to come running?

Occupied by her mind, Claudia had missed the words of the kind Gryffindor. When the girl left, Claudia stayed at the table to gather her supplies and to reference the sketches. She didn’t even think to say a short thank you to the girl.

Claudia turned her head at a muffled thumping noise, realizing that someone else had arrived for the errand. Papers rustled in the wind, trapped by a massive stack of books about dragons. Clearly someone had done their research. Her eye sparkled with excitement as she realized that someone was curious enough to study up on what they were making - even when they didn’t need to. Looks like dragons are popular today.

Claudia peeked behind the wall of books and was surprised to see an athletic-looking girl working hard. “These have to be perfect, I have to make them proud,” the girl muttered. Claudia’s heart leaped excitedly, that explains it: a perfectionist! Claudia wasn’t a fellow perfectionist, but she did admire anyone who studied hard or read books, which led her to gravitate toward the girl, who was just then starting on her teabags.

“When - when you get to the, um,” Claudia made a sewing motion in her hands, “S-sewing. Make sure y-you don’t sew the whole thing - kinda like I did I g-guess - because then it’ll explode. Er, I mean no - then you can’t fill it. Instead... fill it first then sew.”
Claudia hoped the girl would appreciate her advice, because otherwise she would have to painstakingly make yet another hard dragon. Claudia then turned back to the table, copying the blueprint that the first girl had generously given her.

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Athena turned to listen to the student next to her. “When - when you get to the, um,” The girl waved her arms around a bit, “S-sewing. Make sure y-you don’t sew the whole thing - kinda like I did I g-guess - because then it’ll explode. Er, I mean no - then you can’t fill it. Instead... fill it first then sew.”
Athena nodded, "Thanks," she replied, "I definitely would have messed up if you hadn't helped me,"
With that, she returned to her first teabag. Since it was the first one, it would probably take the longest, and have the most mistakes. After outlining her sketch on the filter paper, Athena grabbed some scissors from the other side of the table, refusing to walk around it and instead leaning over the table to slide the scissors towards her.
She slowly cut out the first dragon piece, which she actually didn't hate as much as she thought she would. Assuming she would mess up on the cutting part, Athena had decided she was probably going to throw them away. But the only thing she messed up on was the horns, which she changed from straight to curved instead.
The young dragon-lover normally drew specific dragon species, with the occasional ones inspired by muggles, but this time Athena had absentmindedly made up an imaginary species. She had drawn horns similar to those of a Swedish Short-Snout, and it's color was almost as beautiful as a Antipodean Opaleye, with a tail from a Chinese Fireball. The wings, limbs, face structure, and everything else were figments of her imagination.
After a few minutes of indecisiveness, Athena finally decided on the classic green tea leaves. She pinched the filter paper closed on three sides and filled the dragon with the green tea leaves. There was only one small struggle with stuffing the last leaf into the cut-out.
And now Athena came to the step she was dreading. Sewing. When she was a bit younger, her mother had tried to teach her how to sew, and it went horribly. First, Athena broke the sewing machine, and so her mom resorted to teaching her hand-sewing.
She bent at least five needles before pricking herself and quitting. Athena had a tendency to break things, with magic or without.
She was jerked from her thoughts when she realized the sun was starting to dip a bit more towards the horizon. Had she really spent that long sketching? It should go faster now, though. After briefly glaring at the sewing needle beside her, she forced herself to pluck it from the table. She turned it in her hand, admiring its shimmer in the sun.
She chose a pale blue thread and began to painstakingly slowly sew the teabag together. She did prick herself, but she only bit her lip and continued.
In the end, Athena stepped back to take a look at her handiwork. The line was slightly wobbly, but Athena saw it as basically a failed zigzag of a thread.
She clenched her fists. She would keep this one for herself, so no one would see how she failed. She could only hope the next ones would be better.
With the other teabags, Athena made a few Peruvian Vipertooths, which would probably her favorite dragon if she had to choose, a Hungarian Horntail, a Common Welsh Green, a couple Norwegian Ridgebacks, and a bunch more.
After "failing" about her third dragon in a row, Athena crumpled it up and threw it at one of the house elves. He scurried out of the way, but Athena still felt terrible she didn't get a chance to apologize.
The top half of the sun was peeking over the Hogwarts Castle. It cast a pinkish glow that reflected off the distant mountains and the Great Lake. The Forbidden Forest was swiftly becoming shrouded in darkness. Athena almost decided to take a break, which was very rare for her.
But instead she went back to work, and after a couple more failures, she made a teabag that she was satisfied with.
When she finally finished all nineteen of her teabags, six of which she tossed in the garbage, the sun was already setting. Athena knew she should probably go inside, but she watched the sunset anyway.
After sending six of her teabags to her parents in owls that were far too stuffed with individual small boxes for each teabag, Athena collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep immediately.

Word Count: 1158 words (Errand completed)