Open Perils of Procrastination

[Marnie Frogg]

Marnie was currently sitting in the middle of what could only be described as a yarn-splosion. She'd decided she was going to make a quilt for the Arts Club gallery and then had proceeded to hem and haw about colours and materials all holidays until she was sitting here, surrounded by yarn as she tried to panic knit something together before she ran out of time. There was just no way she was going to get this finished in time before the gallery but she couldn't do it on her own.

"Hey! Do you know how to knit I can teach you it's really fun I promise and then you can create a bunch of stuff whatever you want though right now I really need someone to help me make a quilt it's super easy and you can use any colour you like," she called to the first person who walked past, looking up hopefully from her spot on the yarn covered floor, holding up a second pair of knitting needles hopefully. The sooner Marnie learnt some knitting spells the better she was going to be at actually finishing a project.

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery had taken to studying in the student lounge rather than the library. He had realized he enjoyed a bit of background noise, and the library just felt too quiet. The common room was similar, it almost felt like a library sometimes. But now that he was about to study here, he quickly got distracted by the girl with all the yarn. She was one of his classmates. Marie? Macy? Something like that. She spoke to him as he walked past her on the way to his favorite seat, and he paused. "If it's super easy, you shouldn't need my help." He said, frowning down at the yarn. "Why is there so much of it?"

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish had needed to flee the library after accidentally sneezing a little too loud in the oppressively quiet space, and was still deeply concerned she'd distracted other students because of it. Being left alone with her thoughts with that experience buzzing around was a bit out her comfort zone at that moment, so she had decided to wander and see if anything was happening nearby. She saw Marnie before noticing the rather frightening amount of yarn and crept closer as she heard the word 'quilt'. Kneeling down next to Marnie, she blinked up at the other boy curiously. "Can I, um, help with the knitting?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Yuelia really had to try a bit harder at talking to people. It didn't come very easily to her. She was fine with professors - well, except potions perhaps, where her temper had gotten the better of her - but struggled a little with other students. She had swiftly learned how sheltered her life had been, how difficult it was to speak to people. She threw herself in to lessons and so far achieved excellent results, but outside of that was at something of a loss.

Sitting in the Student Lounge, Yuelia was probably not trying very hard as she examined a novel she'd borrowed, Thanatos perched on her shoulder. She knew he could mostly stay in the Owlery but he was a very well behaved raven and she appreciated the reassuring presence. She was distracted by the rather loud and fast paced voice of a girl from her year level. Blinking a few times, Yuelia closed her book, shuffling over to see what all the commotion was. "That...is a lot of yarn," she stated in agreement with the boy, eyes bulging a little at the mess. It was very...bright. Perhaps garish. Her eyes hurt a little from it. She also recognized Wisteria from her dorm, and was curious to see the two girls knit. It seemed like one could just use magic for it eventually so she didn't see the point of trying to do it by hand, but maybe there was a reason. "What colours are you wanting it to be?" She had been advised one should ask questions and show an interest, so she would certainly try to.

 

[Marnie Frogg]

Marnie was undeterred by Emery’s apparent lack of enthusiasm to knit; she knew it was fun and if she got enough people helping her make squares she’d still have a quilt ready before the club gallery. She just had to be convincing “I need help cause I need to make a bunch of quilt squares and I can’t do it that fast but I bet you could if you helped what’s your favourite colour I have pretty much all the colours well except that rainbow yarn that one’s mine but you can use any of the others maybe you could make a Ravenclaw one I have some really pretty blues,” she said, already moving to stack up all the blue yarn in her vicinity when a quiet voice caught her attention, thrilled to see Wisteria had joined her. The Slytherin girl was quiet and Marnie didn’t know much about her but she’d been obsessed with her name since she’d learnt it in one of their classes.

“Oh that’s great, thank you! Do you know how to knit I can show you I was just telling Emery it’s super easy here take these needles and pick a colour I can cast on for you and then you just need stick your needle through the loop like this and then wrap the yarn around it like this and then you pull it out and see! So easy and so fun people always say it’s relaxing but honestly I think it’s pretty exciting I like seeing all come together like I know how to do it but I still can’t believe like that’s how you make clothes and fabric and stuff like that it’s like tying a knot how does it all stay together it’s almost like magic itself though not really cause magic would really make this so much easier but at least this way we can all work on it together instead,” Marnie said in a rush, making sure to do a few stitches of the pink and yellow square she was working on now so Wisteria could see, glad to see when one of the other Slytherin girls had also come over to check it out, maybe Marnie actually had a chance to finish.

“Oh any colours really, what are your favourites I always say my favourite colours are rainbow but I know that’s kind of cheating so I guess pink is a close second though I can never decide which pink cause I love hot pink but I also really like pastel pink but that’s why I want to do a big quilt you can pick a bunch of different colours and make squares I just need more squares and quick or it won’t get done in time I got too distracted doing other stuff and not all the professors will let me knit in class though they really should I think it’s easier to focus cause otherwise I tend to draw on my essays and apparently that’s worse-“ Marnie continued on, hoping the other girls or even Emery were convinced enough to grab some needles and pick up some yarn, still holding up her own in progress square as if by sheer virtue of watching her knit they might be lured into it more.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Wow, thought Yuelia, a little overwhelmed. This girl could talk. A lot. She tried to keep up but it gave her a small headache trying to follow along. Sure, students were loud, but she and her father would be lucky to speak more than a few words to each other at any given point. Not out of a dislike of talking to each other, but out of not having a need to say very much. She couldn't understand why you'd need to knit in class, though if it helped she supposed it could work. Sometimes in classes she was especially bored by she found herself wanting to do something to help keep her focused. But she had no choice but to pay complete attention. If she dropped anything beyond an O it would be a grave disappointment.

It was terribly lonely living like that, though. And a little dull. Maybe she should try knitting too. Even if not just using magic to do it seemed like a bit of a waste. She had to try and be more open minded.

Yuelia awkwardly crouched down next to the girl, Thanatos still perched on her shoulder (though a little indignant at moving down so suddenly, pecked at her hair as if to give her a stiff reprimand), looking between the pink and yellow square and the assortment of yarn on the ground. "Hmmm," she muttered, poking at the different colours to try and find one that...well, maybe matched was too much to hope for. Didn't clash, perhaps. She eventually picked up a sky blue from the pile of blues which didn't exactly match the pink and yellow, but it wasn't offensive to her eyes. "...I can give it a try," she said, very cautious. "But I have not done it before." As loud as the girl was, Yuelia didn't want to mess up her project or anything. She was a bit out of her depth with something she knew nothing about, and it wasn't a feeling she liked at all.

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery felt frustrated as not one, but two girls from Slytherin offered to help the girl. Especially as the rambly Hufflepuff spoke again and basically explained that she needed help with the project because she wasn't capable of doing it herself. He stared at her with a frown as she rambled on and on. "So basically, you took on a project you can't finish on your own because you got distracted doing other stuff, and you're now roping in strangers to help solve your issues?" He asked her, glancing at the other two girls in disbelief. "You're not really going to help her, right? She made this problem on her own." He paused. "Besides, why not just throw it out? It's a waste of time and material anyway." He added, crossing his arms.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

The boy had a point, Yuelia had to admit, but something about his comments rubbed her the wrong way. Perhaps it was just the desire to throw it out. It was bound to be an ugly creation, Yuelia knew, but it was obviously important to the girl so she didn't think it was worth giving up on. She didn't think she could really contribute to it, though. Not unless she knew how to enchant the needles to knit themselves. "Perhaps she did," Yuelia replied, a little colder in her tone. "I am interested in learning something new." She could've continued practicing spellcraft until she was blue in the face, or maybe read up on her textbooks, but she wanted to at least try and connect with people. "It would be more of a waste to throw it out, obviously."

 

[Marnie Frogg]

"-I mean why give us all that space in the margins if they're not gonna let us do anything with it it's not like I'm going to write in there so I figure a few doodles can't hurt anyway or on the back of it I'm not writing there either-" Marnie continued, needles clicking away. She paused when she saw the other girl picking her way through the yarn. "Oh that's pretty a pretty colour I love blue, I mean not as much as pink obviously but blues real good too and don't worry it's okay if it's a bit lumpy I think it gives it character you should have seen the first jumper I ever tried to make it had so many holes from dropped stitches I kept mistaking them for arm holes," she assured the girl, scooting over on the floor in what she hoped was an obvious invitation for her to make herself comfortable.

She'd been about to ask the girl about her raven when the actual Ravenclaw in the room seemed to want to discourage Wisteria and the other girl from helping her. "It's not an issue," she said clicking her tongue and frowning. "It's a group project now, plus it's fun to do it together, what's the big deal with that," she said huffily, shuffling her elbow to try and shove her glasses back on her nose as they slipped down. "You don't have to help, it'll just get done way faster I mean I could get it done by myself maybe if I really rushed it wasn't like I wanted to do my potions homework anyway so that's easy enough to skip but it is NOT a waste of time, we're making a quilt that people can look at and sit under or on and stuff and when we finish and have a picnic with our nice quilt I might even let you sit on it and you can see how nice it is," Marnie said staunchly, going to cross her arms to match the boy before she fumbled with her yarn, nearly tangling up the threads in the process.

It was a relief the Slytherin with the raven seemed to agree with her and Marnie nodded emphatically. "Thank you..." She trailed off, realizing she couldn't quite draw her name. Julia? Raven girl? Marnie shook her head. "And I'm a great teacher, we'll have a bunch of squares done in no time, just the three of us if we need to," she said pointedly. She had enough needles for the Ravenclaw boy too, and she needed the help, but she didn't need bad vibes in her quilt either.

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish was happy that Yuelia joined them, and smiled at the girl's raven. She wondered if birds could learn how to knit. It would be very helpful for keeping their nests cosy and warm, she thought. It felt a little mean to leave Marnie there with a pile of yarn and not help, so Wish was very confused why the Ravenclaw boy had to be rude about it. She bristled a little when he referred to them as strangers. They all had classes together, which basically made them friends, and helping her friends was the right thing to do. "Making things is not a waste," Wish frowned, feeling uncomfortable for speaking up, and planting her eyes firmly on the yarn pile. She found some nice dark orange yarn that made her think of autumn leaves and twirled it around her fingers to test if it felt okay. She didn't want to end up having to knit with scratchy wool that made her fingers sad.

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery felt his frustration build as the girls refused to listen to logic. He scoffed at Yuelia, who suddenly pretended she had wanted to learn how to quilt. He scowled as Macy went on. "It's only a group project because you were too lazy to finish it on your own." He snapped, but he could feel he was fighting a losing battle. He rolled his eyes as the other Slytherin piped up and said it wasn't a waste of time. He clicked his tongue. "Fine, you can all waste time together then." He said, stalking off in annoyance. He sat down in a chair with his back to them, opening his book pointedly to show how much he was ignoring them.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Yuelia looked at Emery with a mix of haughtiness and confusion. She understood his logic in a sense, but it just seemed so unreasonably mean to leave the girl with a mess to sort out on her own. She knew she probably could have just laughed at her and moved on, but that wouldn't have felt right. Perhaps it was sympathy in a strange way, knowing that she herself could be thought of as strange and how she'd felt embarrassed when she struggled with some smaller tasks, especially in Herbology. Yuelia wouldn't want to be pitied, but if the girl was asking for help maybe it was in her best interests to try to provide that help. It could pay off later, but mostly because she'd have someone new to talk to. And if Yuelia ended up being any good at knitting, maybe she could try making things on the holidays for her dolls back at home. Not that she would mention that.

"Okay," she said quietly, turning to Marnie instead. "How do I start?" She didn't like feeling as though she didn't know what she was doing, or was going in blind. But she only had the upper hand when it came to magic, it felt like. She'd never seen much knitting before, and was struck with wondering if maybe her mother would have done it if she'd been around - before quickly realizing that she probably wouldn't have, or would have exclusively done it by magic. "Oh, I'm Yuelia," she added, realizing the other girl didn't really know her name and she was being very slow at learning the names of everyone else in her classes. "Um, and this is Thanatos," as the imperious raven nudged her, as though demanding an introduction too. It was an odd name, she knew, but it had stuck out to her from the mythology books her father had bought her.