Azura just wanted to find a place where she wouldn't be disturbed.. somewhere quiet.. somewhere no one could find her. The common room was too loud. To filled with noise. Kids were happy, they were laughing and talking like they didn't have a care in the world.

Azura just wanted to scream at them all. Couldn't they see? Didn't they know? She was hurting.. ACHING. She couldn't sleep.. she couldn't eat.. she could barely focus..

And yet life still spun around her as if nothing had changed.

But it had changed.. and Azura wasn't sure how to handle it.. And so, the tiny near teen moved into the Library and lay down on the floor near a stained glass window.. She looked up at the light filtering through it and put her hand up a little, watching as her fingers changed color when she moved them around.. Silent tears slipped out of her eyes as she kept her hand in front of her face.

It was not often that Daxton experienced art-block. In fact, he was willing to maintain that it had never been a problem for him before. So today, when it had finally hit for the first time, when he had sat down in one of his secret quiet places, opened up his notebook to a fresh page and readied his pen yet thought of nothing to draw, he was mildly taken aback.

But he did still want to draw, despite having no ideas or inspiration. Unnerved by this new and unfamiliar feeling, Daxton had gone for a walk around the school, looking for something, anything, that might become his next subject.

Whether or not he had intended for it to happen, Daxton had ended up at the library. It was quite possibly an automatic response to not understanding what he was experiencing - when in doubt: research - but that, of course, was not the point. That was not what he wanted to do. Frustrated and scowling, he made to leave, before remembering the stained glass windows.

Perfect. Daxton tiptoed towards them now, barefoot and therefore reasonably light on his feet. When he reached the one he had in mind, he was more than a little annoyed to find someone already there, lying on the floor. Were Daxton one to pay any significant amount of attention to other people's faces, he might have noticed the tears, and likely made a swift exit. As it was, he averted his eyes entirely, and instead inspected the stained glass window. Yes... this would do.

Sitting down on the floor a good distance away from That One Girl, with her somewhere between himself and the window, Daxton pulled out his notebook and pen once more, and began diligently and meticulously recording the pattern of stained glass that made up the image in the window.

Azura was still looking at the different colors on her hands when she heard a soft noise.. It almost sounded like.. drawing? For a moment, her heart picked up as she thought it might have been Jasper! He liked to draw.. What she wouldn't give to see him at the moment.

But of course, seeing him would be like seeing her mother right now. Impossible..

She slowly turned her head, and saw, sitting semi far from her.. and sketching was one.. Daxton Prince.

Of course she knew him.. Who wouldn't? Usually quiet, kind of a troublemaker.. didn't follow the rules.. that sort of thing. Azura had always wanted to talk to him, but what would they have in common and why would he talk to her.. But she was curious about what he was drawing? She looked up at the stained glass window..

Was he drawing that? Whoa.. He must have some skill.. Azura.. ever so slightly.. started to move towards him.. still laying on the ground.. and pausing in between slight shifts..

This would have been a lot better as a piece of artwork, if Daxton only had some way of adding colour. He did not own coloured pencils, not anymore, finding them to be an unnecessary expense, and the coloured inks sold in Diagon Alley were far beyond Daxton's 'reasonable price' range, which essentially meant that there was no way he could afford them. He thought that, as with anything, it might be a better idea to steal from someone else. Alternatively, Primeaux had mentioned Finch's art room... perhaps there were materials in there.

Ultimately it did not matter right at this moment, because the fact was that Daxton only had his pen and notebook to work with right now, and that was that. He looked up from his drawing, on which he had been carefully outlining a couple of particularly tricky portions, and noticed that That One Girl (whom he could now better identify as a girl from his own House and in the year below, by the name of Azura Kennedy, which was not a name one forgot in a hurry) had moved ever so slightly.

He must have been so absorbed in his work that he had not noticed her movement at the time, which frustrated him slightly, but she had definitely moved. Daxton pretended not to notice, and instead focused on the glass window again, the light shining through and throwing a multitude of bright colours onto his face, school shirt, and notebook, as well as the floor around him, and committed the next portion to memory.

Again, he looked back to his notebook, and worked on adding those new details. This time, however, he tried to stay alert so that he might detect the girl in the act of shuffling closer towards him.

Azura knew the odds of getting Daxton to talk to her were slim to none.. And she was also sure.. she wasn't as stealthy as she thought she might be. She wasn't some ninja.. she was a clumsy, rather small second year. So.. Instead of sneaking.. She sat up.. and moved to sit.. By Daxton..

Meaning.. She was about two feet away from him, and had pulled her book bag out from under her head, where she had been using it as a pillow, and pulled it in her lap.. She ever so quietly rustled in her bag for what she was looking for and hauled out her Emerald Green Quill and her Amethyst purple Quill..That quill was almost the same color of her eyes.. But they were both self inking.. and their ink was the exact color of the outsides.

She gently gathered them and put her hand out.. and set them about a foot away from her.. so they were about a foot away from Daxton..

There was green and purple in the stained glass windows.. So.. maybe it might help his drawing.. She had noticed he only seemed to have one pen. And Jasper always got so upset if he didn't have more than one color with him.. So she was just spitballing here.. "In case you wanted to add more color." She said softly, without looking at him as she pulled a small purple cloth bound notebook out of her book bag.

She had owl'd her Aunt to send it to her.. so she could write letters to her mom inside of it.. So she didn't go crazy by staying silent.

Soon enough, there was no need to stay alert to any subtle movements from Azura Kennedy, because she had given up on being subtle altogether. Nevertheless, Daxton remained hyperaware of her presence, casting side-glances at her as she sat herself down a semi-reasonable distance away.

He continued drawing carefully in his notebook, though was unable to keep from being distracted by the girl rummaging through her bag. With a twinge of annoyance, he finally looked up and towards her, fully intending on glaring or scowling until she went away, but then he noticed the quills on the floor between them. Instead, they got a look of confusion, as did Azura Kennedy, but the explanation followed soon enough.

As a rule, Daxton did not use quills. He appreciated the aesthetic, and he enjoyed running his hands and fingers over the feathered ends of the writing implements, but the sensory issue of the scratching of the quill nibs on paper and parchment was simply too much. Aside from the first time he had attempted to use a quill, Daxton had exclusively stuck to using pens, even in his art.

He was intrigued by the quills, though, and wanted to at least test them out. They were likely self-inking, the the colour of the feather corresponding to the colour of the ink, given the lack of ink pot provided. Daxton considered them for a long moment, then flipped to an old page of his notebook. After another glance at Azura Kennedy lasting for only a fraction of a second, he slowly reached out and picked up the purple quill - his movements reminiscent of some kind of cautious and suspicious animal - held it in front of his eyes, and inspected it.

Azura was glancing over at Daxton as she looked down at her own notebook, and picked up a Sapphire blue Pen, a present from her mother for her birthday last year.. And she started to write in her own note book..

Letters to her mom. Telling her what had been happening, school, friends, Jace, how much she missed her. How much she ached, She had apologized for not crying since her breakdown on the train, either.. She had to be strong for everyone, there wasn't a place she could go to be alone..

She looked over at Daxton as he finally picked up one of the Quills and started to run his hands over it. It wasn't poisoned or anything.. but he didn't know that. She smiled softly, before she went back to writing her mother.

The quill looked simple enough. Again, Daxton thought it must act like a pen, and that set him off on a whole new train of thought regarding the magic behind self-inking quills. He supposed it was not necessarily all that complicated; perhaps a variant of the Refilling Charm was placed on the quill, one that would continue refilling the ink even as it was being used. Daxton doubted that the ink would ever truly run out, but if his theory was right, then at one point the spell would wear off, regardless of how much the quill had been used. If that was the case, then that would be another case for the use of normal pens.

Before he could get too sucked into the magical theory behind the quill, Daxton decided to test it. He turned it over in his fingers a couple of times, before holding it like a pen, with the nib hovering just above his notebook paper. After clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth in reluctant anticipation, Daxton finally put quill to paper.

It was just as unpleasant as he had expected, the nib scratching at the page and sending an awful shiver right through Daxton, the sound practically tearing his head in two, but he kept at it, clenching his teeth harder and harder as he did, even when it started to hurt. A few shapes here, a few words there, his name in both upper and lower case... and then he stopped, because the sensory nightmare of using a quill was starting to make him feel physically unwell.

Looking up again, Daxton cast a glance back at the Kennedy girl. He was about to look away again, but the sight of her writing stopped him. He had been so focused on the quill - the unpleasant feeling and noise had drowned everything out so easily - that he had not noticed or heard her writing at all. Was it a ploy? Distract him with a quill that would take all his attention, and then use the time to make notes on him (for example, his quill-related sensory weakness) perhaps to sell to his enemies?

With his expression as impassive as ever, Daxton stared directly at the girl's notebook, not leaning any closer or otherwise moving, but still very openly attempting to see what she was writing.

The library was far from one of Esme's favourite places at Hogwarts but that didn't mean that she was totally opposed to spending time in there. Reading just wasn't really her thing was all - unless it came to books on Divination. She was still really interested in crystals, her love being renewed after the Hag had vanished from the face of the earth. Well, the face of Hogwarts at any rate.

Today, however, she wasn't there to read. Nope, she had decided to spend this rainy autumn afternoon drawing one of the stained glass windows. Why? Because they were beautiful and there was one that depicted a UNICORN, the most beautiful and graceful animal on the entire planet.

Juliette was LOST. So hubba bubba lost, man!

She had been wandering for hours trying to find her common room but no luck! She has terrible sense of direction if you asked anyone but her. If you asked her, she would say that she knew where she was going, but she just liked taking detours. Detours that took hours to get to her destination. Mhm.

She found herself in the Library, but not just any part of the Library... She found herself in the Library by the big stained glass windows, and she looked up at them in awe.

So pretty! "So shiny," she whispered.

After staring at the windows for a few seconds, she noticed a girl sitting by herself... drawing? Oh! An artist! "Um... hi," she said as she took a seat next to the girl. "Whatcha drawing? I can draw stick figures... and animals. I draw a really good stick cat!" Kinda looked like Mr. Pumpkin Jr., her dad's fat cat. She missed him.

Lost in her own world, it took a moment for Esme to realize that she was being talked to.

"Oh, I'm drawing that Unicorn," she told the girl who had taken the seat beside her. Maybe it wasn't the nicest drawing ever but then she wasn't calling herself an expert artist or anything. This was just a nice way for her to spend an afternoon away from the chilly dampness; thank Merlin that Mr. Kitridge kept the library nice and warm. Maybe later she would find an interesting book on crystals and read up on them some more. Though she wasn't sure what else there was to know about them...

"So you like cats then?" Since she drew stick cats. "I'm Esme by the way" Introductions were always nice.

Juliette looked over at the drawing and exclaimed, "It looks good!" She really wished she could draw like that, but she was just stick with her simple drawing. Looking up at the stained glass window, she admired everything about it. It was beautiful! The only other time she had ever seen a stained glass window was in a church back in New York City.

"I do," she answered then looked back over at the girl. "My father has an orange cat named Pumpkin. I'm hoping he'll let me have my own cat so I can bring it with me to school." She would be asking him this summer! "I'm Juliette!" He squeaked. She had seem Esme around the common room but had never gotten the chance to actually introduce herself! "It's nice to meet you!"

Oliver dragged his way from class right over to the library, hoping he could actually get studying done but totatlly knowing he was just going to fall asleep like always. Sure, this was the year of the infamous OWLs and that was totally a huge deal, but it wasn't like he didn't have the muggle world to fall back on, right? Granted, his parents would probably kill him for failing...but surely he could spew out some excuse about how he just wasn't smart enough. Maybe. For now, pretending to study was going to be good enough.

Taking a seat at the comfiest place in the entire library, he began taking his books out of his backpacks, trying to figure out which subject to study first.

Once again Char was in here for reasons that had very little to do with actual school work. She might have been wanting to study but it was only because she was looking for more spells to try. For instance the purple firecrackers that she had learned and found to be a good one, but she wanted MORE. For DUELS. Dueling things was even more of a priority than kissing things for the fourteen year old. Like.... way more. She scooped up the first advanced spells book she could find, not being one to spend too long cruising the shelves and went to sit down.

There was one really good spot she had in mind, the comfiest spot of all comfy spots. It was not just comfy to sit in, but also always had the perfect amount of light so you never got a glare of sun in your eyes no matter what part of the year it was, and also there was enough to read by but it wasn't bright enough to give you headaches if you happened to be there for a while. Also, it was comfy.

Also it was occupied. Charlotte came to a stop in front of the boy in the comfy spot and stared in consternation.

This was not part of her grand plan!

The entire time Oliver sat there he 'tried' to choose a subject to study, but he was really just...sitting there staring at the books in his backpack. If he was being honest with himself, and one was never to lie, he didn't want to study any of it. He wanted a nap. And so he was going to do just that, he didn't care what anyone thought of it. OWL studying would have to wait.

Looking up from his books to scan the library before settling for his nap, he immediately spotted a girl...standing in front of him.... Was she glaring at him???? Ollie had done a lot wrong in his life but he was positive he had done nothing to this girl. HE WAS JUST SITTING THERE.

"Um...can I help you?" 'One hundred points to Slytherin if this girl is in Gryffindor!' With all of the Gryffindor girls he'd met in the past two months, he was starting to think 90% of the girls at Hogwarts were crazy Gryffindors.

"I was going to sit here." Charlotte said, complete with an appropriate level of pout and puppy eyes. She was getting good at that these days. And obviously her studying for duel purposes was way more important than the lazing about this boy was clearly doing, right? He had books, but he didn't SEEM to be using them, that she could tell.

She smiled hopefully. Maybe he was leaving soon!

Awww, this girl was sweet.

Esme smiled at her. "Thanks! I was just bored and decided to do something in here since it's rainy outside. I don't usually go to the library and half the time that I do I end up falling asleep." She laughed. That was going to have to change next term when she had OWLs but that might not go over so well. Hopefully she could get out of History of Magic among other things.... One could dream.

An orange cat named Pumpkin. Haha. That was rather adorable. "I've never had a cat but I like them. Hopefully you'll be allowed to! Me and my sister have a dog named Lucy." And then of course there was her owl but Esme didn't like to think about that too much because she was terrified of birds. Yeah, she would need to work on that at some point. "Nice to meet you, Juliette! I've seen you around before in the common room." Why hadn't she said hi before??? That was not really like her. Oh, well. That didn't matter because they were talking now!

Oliver wanted so badly to laugh because he still wasn't sure how this was his problem, but held it back, not wanting to start anything. Although it was obvious this girl had a goal in mind and she was determined to get it. Too bad pouty sad faces didn't work on him. His sister was Timila. He was used to it all already.

"Okay? Well...there's space right there." He glanced over at the space right next to him which she could totally fit in just fine. "I see no reason to move just because you want to sit here..." Especially since he had gotten there before her. Early bird gets the worm and whatnot! And while Ollie was dreading the thought of actually studying now, he could always fake it. Maybe today would be the day he figured out how to sleep with his eyes open. Anything to not lose such a great spot. It wasn't gonna happen. Nope.

That was all TRUEEEE and everything, but it didn't even look like he was trying to work hard. So, Charlotte Gryffindored. There was a lap right there after all, so she sat in it.

"Plenty of space here too!" And she was stubbornly cheerful. Maybe she could make him move just to get away from her? Or if not then she was in the spot anyway so it was basically win win.

A low rumble could be heard before a band of gnomies entered in the room. No, no, GNUPIDS were here! And they had a special gram to one studensie. Ohh look at all the SPACE. How purrFECT!

Giggle, giggle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

That was all TRUEEEE and everything, but it didn't even look like he was trying to work hard. So, Charlotte Gryffindored. There was a lap right there after all, so she sat in it.

"Plenty of space here too!" And she was stubbornly cheerful. Maybe she could make him move just to get away from her? Or if not then she was in the spot anyway so it was basically win win.

Oh loo kat the studensie. tHIS was the girl. tHE red girl! YES! A bouquet of daffodils, tied with a gold ribbon was tossed at her before the Gnupids circled hand in ahdn..

tuuuune


Utmost apologies for being an idiot. Please talk to me.

Rooney A. Bronwyn

Giggle, giggle

nOPE! no thanksies needed. The gnupids left with a trail of confetti behind in the hall.

The last stop of the day had Hady heading for one of her indoor studying spots. The library. Or more specifically the Stained Glass Windows at the back of the library. Not only was it very quiet there but also comfortable. Nothing was better then settling herself down with a good book and relaxing with a bunch of pillows while doing so.

First Hady was going to show Rubble all the different types of books and texts one could find here. Slowly making her way up and down most of the aisles she pointed out different sections to the space rock whom was still resting in the palm of her hand. In soft hushed whispers she showed Rubble some of her most favorite books from the shelves before slipping them back into place.

Having made their way towards the back and the stained glass window Hady set Rubble down in the center of his very own pillow. Placing her bag down on the floor she then sat down as well placing a pillow on her lap while leaning back against another. Opening her bag she rummaged through it for an old copy of 'The Tales of Beetle the Bard'. Propping it on the pillow on her lap she opened the ages to one of the stories. "This is a story most wizarding children grew up hearing," she explained quietly before beginning to read in a hushed voice. When they were finished with this story maybe she would read Rubble a muggle fairytale as well.