Things were moving along pretty well........considering. Then out of the corner of her eye, Jasmine saw the pendulum coming and nearby two students running into each other. In the most calm but urgent voice she could manage, Jasmine yelled,"Stop". She didn't want to upset Penelope, but they needed to avoid any potential problems if possible. Once the lane was clear again she said, "Let's go quickly". Jasmine took a quick peek at Penelope. She still looked to be experiencing spring. As they started to move again, Jasmine said, "Think summery thoughts". Maybe Penelope could will summer to come in her bubble.

Why. Was. It. Still. Raining.

Sophie kept pushing her planet ball with all her might trying to escape the rainfalls of Spring. She was doing pretty good until the pendulum decided to interfere. Just as she thought she might roll herself into Summer, the pendulum hit her planet ball and rolled her back the other way.

More rain.

"AHHHH!" Sophie yelled, for the second time. Stupid pendulum.

She was right back where she started, but she still wanted to get out of the rain so badly that she started pushing once again. With that, her little planet started rolling and rolling. This time Sophie kept watch on the pendulum, too. A few seconds later, the rain suddenly stopped, and the temperature inside the ball got warmer and warmer.

Kate just couldn't help but grin. Dodgeball and planets. Her brother would be so jealous. She stood still in her planet costume for a minute, just letting the idea sink in.

Then somebody nudged her and she was reminded that this was class and she was supposed to be orbiting. Arms spread for balance, Kate started walking counter clockwise around the weird light in the middle. Weird because it was just sort of there, like magic. 'Cuz it was magic, which she wasn't quite used to yet.

Still walking, Kate wrinkled her nose. What was that smell? Apples? Ooooh, apple juice! It must be autumn for there to be apple juice! Smiling contentedly, Kate kept walking through autumn, not really paying attention to the other planet-students around her and not aware enough of her surroundings to actively avoid being hit by anyone or anything.

Somehow her planet had gotten to rolling again while she was in a state of flopping. It must have been one of several people hitting into her while she laid their all non-responsive like. It was the frost, she was slowly thawing OKAY?? Had to let the Spring warmth get to her. It was only seconds ago that she realized the pendulum had sent her forward and not back. That was what she called hitting the ball just right and she wasn't complaining.

After another moment of just lying there catching her breath, Lex hauled herself up being careful not the smoosh the flowers that must have sprang up while she was waiting for the snow to leave.

Alright, back to the task at hand. She had beat the winter! She could do this! Now someone tell her it wasn't raining in her bubble because she was about to break something. "Of ALL the things that come with Spring you choose to RAIN????" It was like snow all over again, just not cold and not as much mushy....'cept for the dirt below the grass. And here she thought she'd been happy to see the little buggers sprining from the bottom of the bubble.

This was gonna make things all kind of slippery for her.

As she waddled on, doing her best to keep the freshly formed mud off her socks she could feel her shoes becoming soaked to the soles. Merlin this was uncomfy and made for hard trudging weather. Such a good thing she'd bothered pulling her hair into a ponytail earlier, otherwise it'd be getting in the way with this weather.

Come on Lex! March march march! She was going good too--until someone ELSE bumped into her and sent her splattering in the mud. Ugh. Getting up was getting harder and harder. A long shower would be in order after they were done here...unless this was all an illusion that would disappear after. Yes? Please?

Where had that pumpkin even come from? Dima was so confused as to how it could just sprout out of nowhere or why he was covered in orange pulp... or why it suddenly disappeared as soon as he had seemingly crossed over into the winter section. It made no sense, but he wasn't complaining.

Especially because the effects of winter were proving to be a LOT cooler than fall, and not just temperature wise. He found himself in the center of a winter wonderland, complete with snowflakes, frosty air, and its very own snowman. It took a while for Dima to understand that it was HIM, though.

But it was. The first year had been completely transformed, covered head to toe in the soggy white stuff. Why could he suddenly see his nose? Why was it ORANGE? He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a portion of the plastic ball and willed himself to keep going, even if the rolling was only adding to his giant snowball form. Spring? Come soon? Death by snow didn't seem like a cool way to go.

Still a bit dizzy from the previous spinning scenario he had in spring, Jun kept rolling instead of running. His legs were already too tired to even think about getting up. He contently stayed up and felt the weather getting warmer in his orb. Sighing deeply, Jun knew it was the season he hated the most. Grotesque summer. The only good thing about this season was no school. The boy hated pools, beaches, lakes, or anything like that. And ice cream was an all year round treat and definitely not limited to summer. And whoever only ate ice cream then, was just plain weird.

The temperature rose higher and Jun felt himself sweating. Ugh, this was just annoying and that dumb pendulum was coming his way-

O___________O

Pushing himself to roll more, Jun quickly got out of the way from the pendulum. He was NOT going back another season or all the way to the beginning. He probably bumped into someone and didn't care at this point. It just had to be over already. Quickly getting to his feet, figuring it'd be easier like this, the boy began running and breaking into a sweat. But then he hit the invisible wall and fumbled back down. Back to rolling it was. Jun pushed himself into another roll, somehow avoiding the pendulum again and finishing his orbit.

Could he finally please get out of this orb and take a cold shower or get a Popsicle? Summer was really disgusting after all.

He managed to avoid the pendulum again as he rolled into spring, and all the snow seemed to melt away. That was quite a relief to Dima, and he found himself basking in the warmth and snowlessness that the new season brought with it. Yay spring! No human snowmen!

Of course, though, it had to be replaced with something spring-y. He wasn't sure which was worse- pumpkin bits all over him, being drowned in frozen rain, or long, weedy grasses springing up in various and MADLY uncomfortable places. But Dima tried to be optimistic about it. At least there was no pendulum hitting him right now, was there?

Oh. Nope. There it was.

Roll, Toussaint, roll.

Of course the pendulum was coming back at her. Of course it was. Because why should this be easy even when she was almost done?

It hit her bubble before she could attempt to roll it out of the way, and once again she bounced against the barrier before rolling riiiight back into the spot where she'd been hit.

Well at LEAST it hadn't sent her back. That was one good thing at least. Only it meant it was still raining and were those...flowers sprouting out of the bottom? Meh, whatever. Flowers were fine, she just wanted it to stop raining for Merlin's sake.

But finally, after a bit of resigning herself to just trying to roll it instead of standing and walking, Penelope made it to summer. And the rain stopped. And the temperature got much, much warmer...and she was pretty sure it was feeling a bit humid in here now. Lovely.

But at least she was finished? Right? Could she get out of this thing now so she could dry off and get something to eat? Getting smacked around by a pendulum and tormented by a temperamental season bubble made a Gryffindor hungry.

Dec had his limbs comically stretched out like a starfish trying to steady the rouge 'planet'. The ball finally settled down. However, it settled down with him stuck gripping to the center of the ball with his legs and arms and his back to the ground.

He was drenched and smelled like flowers. His lovely hair was all matted and everywhere. Not. Cool. And now, his limbs were trembling from holding up all his weight to avoid smacking into the pool of water.

It was getting really humid in here. Okay. Start off with putting down one leg...
His now sweaty palms slipped from the sides, causing him to drop down. Expecting the water to break his fall a bit, he didn't bother about it much, being it was just a tiny fall. Instead, he had a unexpected meeting with the ground. "I think I broke my butt." He told no one in particular. Whaaaa?! The water disappeared??

The sweat dripping down his face gave him his answer before the boy could ask. It was unbelievably hot in here! Declan peeled off his drying robe and loosened his tie. It would've seemed the pendulum knocked him straight into summer. Yaaaay.

Is melting.

Not yaaaay.

The seventeen year-old took a knee to begin standing up, wiping at his face.
Oh, will you look at that. "Nosebleed..." Just great. He didn't even bother getting up. Crawling would work just fine. Hopefully, he doesn't DIE before the finish line.

Mo wasn't feeling top of his game, and it wasn't the running and bouncing and dodging. It wasn't even the several times he'd been hit by the pendulum. Really, it was the nagging cold that he still hadn't rid himself of, and the way his ribs hurt from that last fall, and how he was now standing in several inches of water since the snow melted.

It was spring, at least, and the air smelled of flowers. His hair was standing on end, which reminded Mo of being out during a lightening storm, and he hoped fervently that he didn't develop a thunderstorm inside Molandia. Getting hit by private lightening bolt would be terrible.

He pushed onward, hoping that now that his orbit took him a bit closer to the sun, that the water around his feet would evaporate and his life would be SO much easier.

It seemed to work, and Mo rolled through a wave of heat that had him gasping for air. Merlin. Summer was brutal too. Why were seasons so UNPLEASANT?

Still following Jasmine, Penelope tried to think of Summery thoughts. Penelope thought of summery things. Things like Summer from Vivaldi four seasons, the really hot days in California, ...Penelope really did not need the ball to be that hot. Thinking about music made Penelope feel like playing piano or flute music, but she was in the bubble, so she would have to find a piano later. Did Hogwarts have pianos, or maybe somewhere where she could play flute? Inside the bubble was getting really hot. "I think it's working Jasmine. It's getting really hot in here." Either that or it was a hot spring day.

Lex looked around at everyone still rolling and decided there was no way she'd be the only one sitting in her bubble!planet doing nothing. It just couldn't work that way. Not at all. Alexa hobbled to her feet, wiping the mud from her face. If she was in Spring then she was already more than half way there and just needed to get to the reeeeaally warm season that didn't have sudden showers. Would ice-cream fall from the sky when she got there?

Just as she managed to steady herself she saw her bubble light up brilliantly followed by a deafening clap of thunder.

O_O

Holy Kneazle someone get her out of this season--NOW.

Something was telling her she'd overstayed her welcome here and the Gryffindor was all too happy to get the ball rolling again. Not caring in the least bit about the mud, she continued shoving at the edge of the bubble, forcing it forward. The movement at the corner of her eyes alerted her to the pendulum all the way on the other side. For once things weren't going completely out of whack.

Another flash of ligtening had her throwing her whole body against the wall of the bubble. Not staying. Nope nope nope. Bad things happened with rain and lightening and squshy mud. Alexa was SO over spring.

The fumbling only produced more tripping and the thunder didn't help but just as it sounded she felt the rain easing up? Could it be???? She rolled a couple feet further before there was entirely no rain and the bubble started getting warmer.

Suuuuummer. Holy kneazle! She did it! Summer and that pendulum could stuff it!

Kate kept sniffing as she walk - rolled along. She was really enjoying the smell of apples and apple juice and mmm, apple pie. And was that a whiff of pumpkin mixed in there? This was making her hungry!

Then the smells changed. Kate almost stopped walking, she was so shocked that she couldn't smell apples anymore. Instead, she smelled…peppermint? And something else, cinnamon, maybe? Peppermint and cinnamon and holly? Or cold. It also smelled cold. Must be winter.

Strolling along, Kate tried to figure out what exactly cold smells like.

Wham! Just when she thought she should be done with winter, Kate got hit by the pendulum and rolled back several yards. Thrown off balance, Kate ended up tumbling head over heels. Ooof!

Eventually able to crawl to a stop and resume going counter clockwise, Kate realized how much farther along everybody was and decided to pick up the pace…and pay more attention. She started walking faster, then tried jogging a bit through the delicious pepperminty and cinnamon-y and holly berry filled scents of winter.

The rolling worked. Even though dizziness was overcoming him and getting up to walk would have been a REALLY smart choice at this point, Dima's method did the trick. He kept rolling and rolling away, keeping close in the huddle of other students and their planet/hamster/bubble balls. It was easier to avoid the pendulum that way, because the probability someone else would get hit by it in lieu of him was a lot higher.

Summer was probably one of the most bearable of the seasons he had experiences so far. Sure, there was the sweltering heat gracing his costume, plus annoying plants shooting up to his NOSE everywhere. Not to mention the mosquitoes and stuff.

This had been more fun when he was a snowman.

Slow and steady... slow and steady...

Sophie was pacing herself well, except for when the pendulum came back around - at those moments, she side-stepped and navigated her bubble out of the way as best as she could, looking like a lunatic as she paced back and forth in her bubble to get it to change directions efficiently. She was working up a sweat doing that all on her own, but the hot summer rainstorm that was pouring down upon her made it hard for anyone to tell.

As she got closer to the start of the rotation, the rain was gradually letting up - but every time she got bumped backward at all, it picked up again, and when she moved closer to the light source, it felt hotter than it was when she was bumped out near the barrier. It was cool magic, really, and Sophie would appreciate it when she completed the task at hand and made it out of there without falling down again.

The pendulum was catching up to her again, and she had to shove into a few people to make enough space for her to navigate around it properly, then she bided her time, following the pendulum closely - but not too close - until...

Rain stopped falling. The temperature lowered. The sweet smell of apples and cinnamon filled the bubble, and Sophie happily squeezed her way over near the barrier and flopped down, sitting cross-legged in her bubble. Flamsteed was still in the mess of things, so she would just... sit in her bubble and let the pendulum smack into it when it came back around. But she wasn't going anywhere. Just gonna sit right there and enjoy her victory and the sweet aroma of autumn. Aw, and those falling leaves were back - she caught a bunch, piled them in her lap, and started ripping them up with enjoyment, observing everyone else who hadn't completed the rotation yet. Was quite the funny game, really - until people bumped into her bubble, and she shook a fist at them from her comfy spot on the ground in her bubble. MIND YA BUSINESS.

Sure crawling took a little longer than walking, and sure the pendulum almost hit him again a few times, but this way Kyroh was steady and didn't have to worry about not going to fast.

The only bad thing was that the snow was starting to soak through his robes and his fingers were turning red. Teeth chattering together, the boy started to think that he'd never make it out of the season but soon the snow stopped falling and the snow all around him disappeared. The temperature was even starting to pick up too!

Kyroh stood up, a little off balance, and brushed his wet hair away from his face, with his frozen fingers. Wet hair was super annoying. But with spring here he wouldn't have to worry about that right?

A loud thunderous noise boomed inside of the costume and Kyroh was so shocked he tumbled back. Blinking, he looked up to the top and a single rain drop fell on his face. In less than seconds millions more followed, until it was pouring inside the costume.

Shuffling to his feet Kyroh pushed on the ball to try to make his way out of spring but, flowers started to spring up around his feet and-TWACK! The pendulum sent him racing forward, and he crashed right into the female Gryffindor prefect.

Kate couldn't help grinning when she finally smelled springier smells. She had been in winter for too long. Even without the cold, Kate didn't particularly like winter. But these spring scents! What were they? She inhaled deeply, trying to smell what she assumed was some sort of flower.

And then she sneezed. And tripped, because the sneeze threw off her concentration.

Rolling uncontrollably, Kate sneezed several more times. "Aw, come on!" she couldn't help exclaiming in frustration. Giant hamster balls just weren't her thing, apparently. As much as she might like science-y things like space, she couldn't actually be a planet. Suddenly Kate felt a bump and her planet costume changed direction as it hit the barrier. She was very discombobulated but the rolling had slowed enough that she could manage to regain her footing between sneezes.

Taking large but slow steps, Kate rolled herself back closer to the magical light and started going counter clockwise again to try to finish the activity. Almost… "Achooo!"

Marigold hadn't known when she entered winter, but it was the complete opposite for spring. She could smell it in the air and she ran towards somewhere sunnier. The ice in her ball started melting and she was certain she could hear birds. Finally, the rest of the snow melted and grass wrapped around her ankles almost lovingly. Spring was nice. At least, until she felt something land on her head. Reaching up, she discovered it was... Bird poop? YUCKEWWWWWWW. She flailed around a bit, and then had to forget about that to roll out of the way of the pendulum. Great. Just great.

SPOILER!!: Chris ^^ we didn't RP dodging though....

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

"Whoa!!," Cris watched as Professor Flamsteed managed to dodge a collision with him. This man had some serious dodging skills....either that he had lots of experience being inside this costume. Since the latter sounded almost ridiculous, Cris decided to go with the former.

Well at least, that was one collision averted. Cris had actually visualized both of them slamming into each other like two large Sumo wrestlers and then bouncing off on impact. Not relishing the idea of going back a couple of seasons especially Summer, Cris began running forward again while keeping a close watch on the swinging pendulum...which was again heading towards him.

However, he was prepared now. Maneuvering his costume in a forward momentum, he only made a slight adjustment to the right as he watched the pendulum swing past, missing him entirely.

Autumn, here I come!

PREPARE FOR LUDICROUS RAMMING SPEED!

Wait....what?

Much to the astronomer's dismay, he whizzed right past the seventh year without so much as grazing him.

Lame.

SPOILER!!: Penelope & Jasmine <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Professor Flamsteed rolled over to Penelope. Penelope stopped screaming. Penelope really wanted to get out of the ball thing, but she wasn't sure if she would opt out. "Professor, I'm claustrophobic," Penelope said. As she was pondering whether or not to opt out of the activity, Jasmine rolled up alongside her.



Penelope looked at Jasmine, took a few deep breaths, stopped crying, and calmed down a little. "Jasmine, I'm claustrophobic. I'm not sure if I want to stay inside this thing," Penelope said. Having calmed down, Penelope thought about it some more. "I think I'll try to finish the activity, and follow you."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Jasmine was glad that Penelope had calmed down a little bit. She could only imagine how horrible it must be in the bubble for a claustrophobic person. "It's going to be O.K. I won't leave you. You've got to keep breathing and keep your eyes on me, only on me O.K? If I yell for you to stop, you stop. If I say move, you move. Remember to look at me and don't pay attention to the bubble. Pretend that you're outside enjoying the seasons."

Jasmine started walking, trying to keep one eye on Penelope and the other on the pendulum and her classmates. All they had to do was keep walking and avoid getting hit.

Yes. Good. This was good. Very good.

Flashing the older Ravenclaw an appreciative smile, along with a salute that was meant for both of them, he figured it was best to leave the girls be. He himself was not claustrophobic, one of the few phobias he did not have on his long list of fears, but he could imagine what it felt like.

This was reminding him of the flying activity over the lake where, well, there were students who could not swim. WE PROMISE WE ARE NOT TRYING TO KILL STUDENTS!

Not on purpose anyway. Even if the man had a somewhat dodgy track record with things. Ice cream included.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black

His now sweaty palms slipped from the sides, causing him to drop down. Expecting the water to break his fall a bit, he didn't bother about it much, being it was just a tiny fall. Instead, he had a unexpected meeting with the ground. "I think I broke my butt." He told no one in particular. Whaaaa?! The water disappeared??

"NOPE! NOT ALLOWED!" Airey chimed as he whizzed by the Hufflepuff. "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BREAK YOUR BUTT OR ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER!"

And the astronomer was gone before he could see the nosebleed, which was probably in everyone's best interest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold hadn't known when she entered winter, but it was the complete opposite for spring. She could smell it in the air and she ran towards somewhere sunnier. The ice in her ball started melting and she was certain she could hear birds. Finally, the rest of the snow melted and grass wrapped around her ankles almost lovingly. Spring was nice. At least, until she felt something land on her head. Reaching up, she discovered it was... Bird poop? YUCKEWWWWWWW. She flailed around a bit, and then had to forget about that to roll out of the way of the pendulum. Great. Just great.

Snow no longer blowing in his face, the astronomer could feel the inside of his ball warming up and soon it was filled with the smell of daffodils and tulips. Grinning, he decided to slow down a little so that he could enjoy the gentle breeze that seemed to wrap around him when he spotted something HILARIOUS occur in one of the 'planets' near him.

"Look alive, Miss McAlister, it's only a bit of OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH SWEET SOLSTICE!"

His laughter and amusement ceased quite suddenly when the the magical bird seemingly hopped from one costume to the other and shared the wealth, so to speak.

"MY SUIT!"

THERE WAS BIRD DOO-DOO ON HIS SUIT!

OOC: you have approximately 24 hours from the time of this post to get your posts in

Cris was reaching his final destination...cue in song.. It's the final countdown... He made sure he kept an eye out for the ever swinging pendulum and any human bodies that might accidentally roll into his path.

Leaves began falling all around him in hues of red, yellow and orange. The wind was getting blustery and colder. Then he felt the drops of rain. Yep he was back in Fall weather again. Cris wondered whether he should continue running because even though he had finished a complete circuit, that pendulum was still swinging along.

Maybe he could run around in small circles...like running on the spot. Going nowhere specific, just staying in one place.

....And that is what he did.

Angel had finally made it past the pendulum but it was now coming back at her in Winter this was going to be crazy, she was cold, very cold and did she say she was freezing.

"Professor, it's lovely here." Angel smirked, she hated it but didn't mean to say the Professor would, after all this professor seemed weird enough to like winter.

Angel was thinking of her next move when a thought came to her. "PROFESSOR, it's WINTER right." Angel beamed. "WHERE'S my Presents?" Angel was not moving out to spring without Christmas, seriously everyone know in Winter you had Christmas and you got lots of presents.

Yay, he had made it to summer!! Theo took a moment to appreciate the sudden warmth which was a pretty lame idea because here comes the pendulum! It whacked the boy's ball and almost sent him flying back into spring. Theo managed to save himself, though. He jumped a little when Professor Flamsteed started shouting about his suit. Seriously that guy could do with a silencing charm every now and then... give them all a bit of a break.

But moving on, literally!

Where did he have to go now? Was he finished?

Theo rolled out of the way of many students, and of course that darn pendulum, until he was almost at his starting point again. Nooo, that meant autumn! He wanted to stay in summer, thank you very much. Once he was at the end, Theo rolled backwards a bit so he was out of the way.

Now he must wait. In this HAWT heat. It was getting kind of unbearable now, actually.

Bay was super excited he got to do the same thing Professor Flamsteed! twirling around in the orbits Bay started to laugh a little bit, he was just having so much fun.

Due to his twirling he couldn't really see to well.. a blurry person flew by him as he tried to wonder who it was. Shrugging his shoulders he let out a "WEEEEEEEEE" this was just awesome.

Leaves. Leaves everywhere! Ethan started to walk…then broke into a light jog inside his planet, eyeing a certain spot within the circle to get into the next season. Autumn was fine…but summer was the best!

Ethan didn’t realize that his mouth was hanging as he was focused on the pendulum’s movement. He didn’t want to be hit by that thing, you know? The fumbling and tumbling inside his bubble, wasn’t part of his plan.

“Come on…just a little bit more…Winter here I co--.” Ethan ricocheted back, and he was engulfed by the leaves inside his bubble. Ethan made a face as he pulled out a leaf out of his mouth. What was that boy doing??

Leah fled behind Angel, feeling her hands getting colder. Brrr, winter was cold, but the cold was unbearable. She was therefore glad when some leaves started appearing on trees but then

WHAM! It was now her turn to slam into the pendulum. Clutching her side painfully, the second year grinned and ran again, stumbling slightly, now the green leaves were clear and her hands warmed up.