Errand A Giant Sip OPEN Finished

Interacting with: @Alan Vanes

As always Ileen only noticed the new errand when she had already stumbled into it. As many other students, the warm June weather had lured her outside to enjoy the sun. If she could, she would have liked to be outside all the time. She immediately spotted the seating groups that had been arranged on the lawn and where a few students were already hanging around. That hasn't been unusual lately.
What made her curious were those little figures, which were also scurrying around there. She had heard that there were House-elves at Hogwarts, but she had never seen any.

I wonder what the activity is about this time. This question was answered when she came closer and noticed not only thin, paper-like sheets but also teacups and pots. Some students painted on the sheets, others cut something out of it. Inside she sighed. Once again an activity that required manual skills. She smiled self-ironically as she thought back to her ‘masterpiece ‘she had created during the last event. Nevertheless, she could not help but catch a glimpse of the work of her classmates. Did they make tea bags in the shape of animals?
She had to smile when she recognized some of her favorite animals that took shape under the hands of the others. But then her eyes fell on a boy who was in the company of a real animal: a tabby cat. Ileen loved cats –she had had two in New Zealand herself, but when her parents had returned to London, the old animals had not been expected to change places.
Since the boy, who seemed to be a little older than her, was sitting alone at a table, Ileen was comfortable strolling over to him. “Hi, that’s a cute cat you got there.” She gave him a rare smile and glimpsed at his sheet. “Is that a squid?”

Word Count: 299/1000

May was just lively walking in the ground floor, coming out of the Great Hall, out of the Entrance Hall into the courtyard. She had heard that a Prefect had done a teabag errand, and she wanted to join...but she was really shy. Well, May wasn't the shyest of them all in the courtyard. Not like the person that was in front of her, well, a little bit longer, and was with a little cat that looked like a tiger. But cat like of course.

She also saw that he, Alan Vanes, the third year she had met in the library a few months ago, was with a girl she had never ever seen. Well, time to present herself, of course.

<<Hey Alan! You know me, right?>> she addressed the third year. Then, she looked at the girl, Slytherin, and her age, of course, <<Hello! My name is May Moonstar. You must be a Slytherin, but I would like to know your name...>> May smiled at her, and looked at the cat. <<Wow Alan, I didn't know you had a cat. What's his name?>>

Then, she saw that he was with some teabags and...some scissors? Yep, the teabag errand for sure.
<<I see you're doing the teabag errand. Want me to join you?>>

@Alan Vanes
&
@Ileen Knight
215/1000

He had just been finished with cutting out the little squid from the filter paper, which in itself has been quite difficult because of how odd the material was, when he was interrupted by a voice. He twisted his head to lightly glance over his shoulder and caught sight of a unfamiliar girl. @Ileen Knight had asked him about Tiger and the words made him smile proudly. "Th-Thanks! His name is Tiger," he told her with a soft, genuine smile on his face that made his eyes spark up a little. She also asked him whether the cutout of the filter paper was supposed to be a squid and it brightened his mood another notch as he would nod with enthusiasm. He was so happy that she could tell.

"Th-The Giant Squid t-to be specific! It's for that errand of making your own t-tea bags", he began to explain to her and gestured to the tables that were placed around on the courtyard. They were filled with all kinds of things that they would be needing to make the tea bags and Alan hoped that this would be enough explanation since he was sure that if he were to go into the specifics he would not be able to really explain it correctly and make a fool out of himself. He remembered the time where he had done his best to explain to Ivy how she would have to make her own friendship bracelet and while it had been fun and worked out for her in the end, he wished he would have done a better job at explaining how it had to be done. At least he knew the basics of sewing and could help people with that if any help was needed but he surely could not explain the whole process of making the tea bags.

That was when he remembered the instruction paper and snatched one from the middle of the table and handed it to the girl who had approached him. "Here!" he offered with a light smile that quickly turned into a grin when another student approached, one that he was vaguely familiar with from meeting her before. @May Moonstar would greet him and he would return the greeting with a polite nod to her, before he focused on the question she asked him. "His name is Tiger!" he would repeat what he has earlier told the other girl already and nodded lightly at her question whether she could join them on the errand with the tea bag creating. He would look between the both of them and tilt his head slightly. "Are you going t-to join as well- ... I don't th-think I know your name yet-", he would speak to the unfamiliar girl with the dark hair, a nervous chuckle slipped past his lips.

"Come on, sit down if you want t-to join!", he would lightly encourage the two of them and glance at his design only to notice that when cutting out the figure he had missed out on the squid's eight arm leaving it to be a seven armed squid at that very moment. "Snap," he muttered before he would take one of the scissors again and cut out another wobbly squid leg from the filter paper that he could later on sew to the body of the tea bag and hope that it would not make a big difference or that it would not be too noticeable in the end. But even if it could be told, he was going to make more than one tea bag anyway and they did not have to look perfect as long as he had fun making them.

WC: 1004/1000
Complete, but continued!

Interacting with: @Alan Vanes @May Moonstar Tiger

Ileen smiled back reflexively. Since her encounters with older pupils had not always gone well, she always met them in a particularly suspicious way – but this guy seemed to be friendly and not… dangerous. So, she carefully came one step closer and smiled at the cat. She would have liked to stretch out a hand and stroke it, but that didn’t seem appropriate. “Hi Tiger, nice to meet you. I bet you are a lovely fellow.” She gave them both a crooked smile. “Tell me, how long do you know each other? How did you meet?”

The boy seemed to be delighted by her interest in the cat and his smile went even brighter, when she recognized the animal he was cutting out. “The giant squid? That’s fancy!” An amused smile made her brown eyes sparkle as she looked at the tea set on the table. “It would be great to do this in life-size.” A soft giggle escaped her. “Imagine the Lake is suddenly Earl Grey.”
Her smile went a little crooked when he handed her the instructions. “Well, I’m not actually good in stuff like that…”
Before she could explain herself, another student approached them and Ileen turned to meet the eyes of a girl in her age. Apparently, she knew the giant squid boy and greeted him before introducing herself to Ileen. Alan and May, huh? Two new names in five minutes. A new record for me! Even her thoughts were self-ironic.
Her face darkened immediately when the blonde girl addressed her as Slytherin, but she bit her lip to prevent a biting response. The Hufflepuff couldn't know that she didn't like that.
So she tried to shake off the feeling but by then Alan had already asked her if she would also like to sit down to make a tea bag. She gave both a tense smile. “If that’s important - yes I’m Slytherin. And my name is Ileen.” She frowned, looking at the empty seat in front of her, letting her gaze wander over the craft supplies and stopped at the giant squid, Alan was crafting. It was an amazing work. And it was pretty nice of Alan to ask her to join. But what could she possibly do?

Even though she knew she would fail, an idea formed in her mind. She would do eagles and other birds. For someone special. And maybe, someone more gifted then her could support her?
With a silent sight and a shy smile for her fellow students she pulled back the chair and flopped herself on it. “Okay, I will try. But don’t laugh at me. I’m not actually gifted in crafting stuff.”

Word Count: 744/1000

@Alan Vanes@Ileen Knight

His name is Tiger!"
May smiled at the mention of the cat. <<Well Alan, I think the name really suits him!>> she smiled at the third year, before wondering if her aquintance had become less shy. By the looks of it, he had more confidence in himself, more than the first time he had seen him. She decided to keep the question to herself, since it would probably hurt him. And of course, she didn't want to hurt him anyways.

<<W-well, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings...or did I? Well, nice to meet you Ileen. Lovely name.>> she addressed to the girl, a bit of a flush came to her cheeks, for she, Ileen, didn't seem to like being called a Slytherin. Maybe she didn't like to be a Slytherin. She half smiled to her, and was hoping for them to be better aquintances. More than ever, May had always loved to have new friends, and of course, for them not to be..enemies. Not like the horrible Sky Evans.

Not wanting to mention her sworn enemy, May looked at the cuttings that Alan was making. Of course, May knew immediately what it was. A teabag! May loved that drink, and had always enjoyed when in the Muggle world, people (the kind people, of course.) invited her to tea. But she was always shy, and preferred drinking her tea alone.

When Ileen mentioned not being a gifted crafter, May looked at her kindly. <<It's time to learn then!>> May said, joyfully, and hopped beside Alan. <<You don't happen to have any more teabags, do you? Maybe cherry?>>

Then, she wondered what was Ileen's favorite tea flavor. May was just simple like that.

WC | 285+215=500/100

The third year nodded with a pleased smile. "He so is! We met some t-time ago, about a year or so when I found him in th-the middle of London," he would begin to explain to the girl with a light shrug, all the while while petting the attention loving beast. "He was a mere kitten back th-then, can you believe it?" He shook his head slightly and still could not fathom how someone could not want to raise a kitten to the point of leaving it behind.

He would grin when the girl painted an idea in his head and he wondered whether the giant squid would enjoy a lake full of earl grey tea, but the chances were high that some flavoring in the water would be a nice change for it and Alan thought he could possible find out somehow whether squids liked to drink tea. It somehow made him a little curious now. "It would be fun wouldn't it be?" he would agree as the smile would melt into a amused grin at the topic.

"You are?", he would ask in surprise as Ileen mentioned her house being Slytherin but other than others he held no prejudice over the house, or any house for that matter. He would then face May when she asked him about cherry flavored tea and waved over to the house elves that were wandering around. "You would have to ask th-them, th-they will fetch some cherry t-tea leaves from th-the kitchen," he instructed with a slight nod and shook his head at Ileen when she voiced her worries. "Don't worry, it's all about th-the fun in the end, isn't i?", he would ask with a light chuckle on his tongue as he reached for some sewing material and embroidery thread that he would need to sew the filter paper together. It took him a while to get the yarn to go through the slim hoop at the eye of the needle. At first however he would fix his mistake and attach the eight squid arm to the rest of the legs with a few stitches of the thread and needle. He nearly poked himself with it which he absolutely would try to avoid so that there would be no blood on the tea; he couldn't use the tea bags anymore if that were to happen.

Ileen's eyes widened in horror. „Y-You mean someone left him behind?” Full of pity she looked at the cat, which now looked very happy, though. She couldn’t imagine what kind of person you had to be to leave that adorable animal behind, outside in a cold, crowded place like London. She gave the boy a warm smile. “It’s god that he has you now.” Shortly she thought wistfully about her own cats, which she had not seen for four years. She wondered if they were still alive.

As they talked about the lake and the life-size giant squid, Ileen looked briefly over at the smooth surface of the water. A smile plucked at the corner of her mouth. “I would be! But what flavor would be appropriate? Earl Grey may be more for the cold days, I guess.” She giggled softly. That was indeed a funny picture in her head.

She frowned and gave May a tense smile, already regretting that she had shown her feelings about that specific topic. “Never mind. It’s not your fault.” She hesitated, wondering if she should explain her intentions and smiled weakly at Alan when he sounded so surprised about her being a Slytherin. Distracted she twisted a loose thread on her sleeve between her fingers. “Uhm… yes. Why?” She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like I chose this.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth between her two conversation partners and smiled crookedly as May encouraged her. “I can give it a try at least, you are right. If I despair completely, I demand help.” She grinned and turned to Alan then. “True that.” She agreed with him as she thought back to her embroidery. It had been fun.
In this moment a house elf approached them, to ask them if they need anything. Ileen glanced curiously at the small creature before politely ordering the stuff she needed. “Do you have any kind of flavored Green Tea?” If she remembered correctly that was Dee’s favorite one. Actually, she had long been taken with the idea of making her own tea bags. She could see them clearly in her mind. And if she could do it, she would make more than one.

Total Word Count: 1111
Errand Completed - RP continues

May picked up a tea paper (or whatever you call it) and began cutting out a animal. When she heard that the cat had been found in London, May gasped. "Well, it's great that you've found him. Who knows what would have happened if he stayed, alone, out there." May said, nodding sympathetically. She loved cats, and May hoped to buy one, when she had enough money, of course.

"I guess Pearl Gray would be really- scary." May said, when she realized that she was still nodding. She stopped, and looked a bit embarrassed but she kept on cutting the Dolphin she was about to make.

"Do you think Tiger likes tea?" May joked, looking at the kitten that looked like a tiger. She smiled at him and kept cutting. Then, she looked up at the other girl. "Didn't you know? They say that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs go very well together. Plus, you're really nice. You shouldn't be ashamed of yourself." May said. Then, she realized that she had talked to much. Or said to much anyways. She gave another nervous laugh at them. Then, she turned to her task. What if she had hurt Ileen's feelings? "Well, I think you're going to do great. Plus, it isn't like it's super difficult." May said. It was a little sharp, but eh, May could lose her temper sometimes.


When the elf approached, May told him that she wanted a butterfly pea flower tea. It would make a beautiful water like color with the dolphin would look so pretty. She smiled at her thoughts and began knitting the tea bag. It looked more and more like a dolphin, and May was begginging to feel proud of her work. She had never done that before, but now that she was doing it, it felt very easy and fun to make. She couldn't help but glancing a few times to Ileen as she was making her own teabag craft, and feeling quite sorry for what she, May, did. It wasn't right. If it had hurtled her feelings.

When the girl asked for a more specified answer the third year nodded shortly, not wishing to dwell on such a sour topic on a fine day like this. He was happy that today finally was a day in which he did not have to feel as moody or reminded of the ball. When she mentioned that Earl Grey would be for cold days he hummed slightly. He would not exactly agree with that, but perhaps growing up in London where it probably never stopped raining had to do with their disagreement on the topic not that it mattered much anyway.

He would glance at Tiger after May had asked the question but then gently shook his head. "Oh well, I am sure th-that he likes it, he sometimes steals a little from my mug if I don't pay attention, but my mom warned me th-that tea can be t-toxic for cats," he would explain to the girls with a lighthearted chuckle. Perhaps this would also serve as warning so that when either ever got a pet that they would not get them tea.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like th-that!" he tried to appease both @Ileen Knight and @May Moonstar after the latter went on to make assumptions. "It's just that I have a few friends in Slytherin and wondered if perhaps you knew th-them", again he would have to explain himself to both of them, not that he minded this he liked to put misunderstandings aside. He was still a bit miffed by how his conversation with Jack Burnett had ended and wondered if he should give amending things with him another try.

As both of the girls uttered their wishes, the house elf would bow in a way until its long nose touched the soil of the courtyard grounds and mid-bow snapped its fingers a disappeared with a cracking sound. It was a matter of seconds when the little house elf would make a re-appearance as it balanced two boxes in its small arms; one which was labeled green tea whereas the other was a tin box and had in a messy hand-writing 'Butterfly-pea leaf tea' written on it in what appeared to be black sharpie. After the little house elf handed them over in a rushed manner and some whiny yet kind words, she would run along the other tables and Alan could hear her apologize to another kid for the long wait she had caused. Alan would shake his head slightly as he glanced after her before he would focus on the tea bag he was creating, filling it with a portion of the dried herbs that would end up making a nice breakfast tea and then did his best to finalize his first tea bag by sewing it together. After that he would move on to make another one, this time making sure that he counted the legs and arms of the squid so that he would not repeat his mistake.