Evan loved the Ravenclaw common room, and it was where he chose to spend the majority of his time. It was warm and inviting, the views were pretty, and the study areas were even better than in the library given how much quieter it could be in the common. It was also much closer to his bed when he decided he was done, so that was a giant plus as well.

But one of the weirder things he loved to do, was merely lay himself out on the floor and stare up at the domed ceiling. He could go up to the Astronomy tower and look out at the real sky, but sometimes... this was better. He liked to see how long it took in the evenings, or how tired he had to be, before he really did think he could see the lights blinking back in response to him.

So this was his current position, and had been for the previous 5 minutes. No blinking yet, but he also wasn't that sleepy so... maybe it would take longer? Time would tell.

Ash came down from her room to hang out in the common room. Was it late? Kinda. But Ash didn't get much sleep anyway. She was going to lie down on the floor and stare disappointedly at the ceiling, reflecting on every single moment of her life, especially the bad ones. BUT! There was someone already there. Awkward, huh? What should she do? She couldn't go back to bed. So instead, she just flopped down next to him and stared at the ceiling too. She had every right to stare at the ceiling. It wasn't his own personal ceiling.

Hearing footsteps before feeling a presence also on the ground staring up, Evan turned his head slightly to the side and noticed another Third year. Ash he believed was her name? Though he hadn't had much previous conversation. If he remembered correctly though, his sister really liked her. He turned his head back to looking up at the ceiling, finally noticing a light twinkle.

7 minutes. Tired level? Maybe like a 5/10.

"You like to just stare at the ceiling too? I sometimes think it's better than the night sky." Probably because it was in the safety of his common room.

"I'll just stare at anything. Could be a brick wall for all I care. Could be a pebble." Could be nothing, a void inside a mirror. Could be a tumultuous sea. She wasn't sure who she was talking to, but it didn't much matter as long as they were nice. As long as they wouldn't judge her for staring at the ceiling. As long as she could just relax. "What's your name?" Ash was pretty sure she knew.

She'd stare at... anything? Did she like to daydream then? Or maybe with the wall and the pebble she was also trying to determine some amount of time before... something happened. Much like he was doing with the ceiling. Either way, it wasn't his place to judge so he wouldn't. "Do you think about things while you stare or is it... to not think about things?" It was the latter for him.

Hearing her ask his name, he continued to look up. "Evan. Yours?" He had a guess, but he could have always been wrong. Better to confirm. After all, he'd thought Ivy's name was Alfalfa. Which was just silly.

Ash would stare at anything, whether it was a corpse or a living thing. An ugly, crumbling wall or a beautiful view of the sea. She was not thinking, but not NOT thinking. Not feeling, but not NOT feeling. In a weird state of limbo, limbo that Ash accepted. "I mean... I must think things under the surface. Just not loud thoughts or easy to... understand ones." The nagging thoughts in the back of her mind were the thoughts in the limbo. "I'm Ash. Or aShLEy foX. Or just Fox, depending on how much you hate me. And what tone of voice you want to say my name in." Ash was better for guilt, friendliness, and soft understanding tones. aShLEy foX was for insulted people or people who wanted to be formal. Fox was usually said in an insulting, superior tone or an angry, threatening one. A 'one way trip to the afterlife' kind of tone. "I guess you're related to Lisa, then?" A distraction. Lisa was full of sunshine and rainbows. You couldn't be sad properly when Lisa was involved. Probably. Hopefully. Hopefully.

That both did not make sense to him... yet also made sense? Which was a confusing state to be in as well, but what wasn't really confusing these days? "Sometimes getting to quiet thoughts or.. ignore the ones we don't want to untangle is nice." He'd been running away from plenty of thoughts he wasn't ready to deal with himself. A good portion of why he was doing silly, mundane things to begin with. "So not Fox then." He didn't hate her. He didn't know her TO hate her, but she seemed fine and Lisa liked her so he'd take that recommendation for now. "Is Ash your preference?"

Hearing the question, he half smiled even though he wasn't looking her direction and nodded his head. "Yeah, she's my littlest sister." Which was now important to clarify since he had two three sisters. "She speaks highly of you." Now that he knew her name and could recognize it from Lisa chatter.

See, but the quiet thoughts were powerful. The nagging VOICES... the... the... the THOUGHTS you had when you weren't paying attention... the thoughts that SLIPPED THROUGH every protective barrier Ash could put up, THOSE... those were the powerful ones. THOSE were the ones that were the most dangerous. the most dangerous thoughts of all.

The hopelessness, the helplessness, the anger and regret.
The quiet pain, the cold disdain, the feeling of.... neglect?

Those thoughts were the ones to worry about.

"I guess I can't be Fox to you, since we've only just met."
Can't even be your enemy, I haven't hurt you yet.

"Although it doesn't take that long to dislike me, y'know 'it only takes a second' or whatever. Maybe one day, we can be on a last name basis." A tragic day, but inevitable. They all left in the end, in the name of self-preservation or whatever new excuse they'd found to not care about anything that wasn't themselves."For now, I'll just be Ash."

They were being POSITIVE today though. P O S I T I V E. "awww that's sweet. Lisa's the nicest." And judging by the fact that she seemed to genuinely like Ash, the most naive. No use getting attached to people who more and more people seemed to dislike as the days went by.

Hey, where did the positivity go? P O S I T I V I T Y.

Still staring up at the ceiling, he had no idea on what emotional turmoil she may have been dealing with or if any of it had shown on her face. And even if he did look over, would he have noticed if there was visible remnants? His abilities in reading people was severely lacking. He just... wasn't really good at the whole people thing.

Maybe why the only friends he did have transferred and left him here on his own.

"You could if that's what you wanted to be." He would respectfully refer to her as whatever she preferred. Though it still didn't seem like she took her last name as something good when people called her it.

Hearing her next words did surprise Evan, even causing him to glance over with an eyebrow raised before looking down at his watch. "Well, seems we've been chatting for a few minutes and I still don't dislike you. Maybe you're just selling yourself short?" But Ash it would be then for now. And he'd keep in mind to make sure, that he didn't actually ever call her Fox in the future because... well it seemed like it made her sad.

"She is the nicest. She takes after our eldest brother, Noah. Did you know him? He was a Gryffindor here last term too. Graduated now."

"I'll just be Ash then, unless and until you decide to not like me anymore." Because if he hated her then he couldn't use the nickname. Rules are rules. Something she never thought she'd think. "Wait until I do something brave or explode something. Or... I don't know." He'd be surprised at how easy it was to dislike her then, when she was risking her life to get a sentence out, or when she was breaking both friendships(hi Sammy, Hi Cambridge, Hi James) and objects(haha mirrors). Maybe it would be easy then. "Hoping that won't happen. Fingers crossed." She crossed her fingers for good luck. Worth a shot.

"I know Noah. I drew him once, because his "Special Friend" -Lisa's words, not mine- Aboli asked me to. It helped me come up with my idea to draw from memory every person who'd let me. Just faces and stuff. A collection." She wanted to get the images of the people here down on paper, so that she could show that they were humans. Every pureblood, muggle, muggle-born, half-blood, squib and person who was okay with muggles was a human. Even the bad ones.

"You seem determined that I won't eventually. Do you want people to not like you or.. is it a self preservation thing?" Because he understood the second. It's why he didn't open up that well to other people anyways. "Why would someone not like you for being brave? Or stupid for that matter? Maybe I would question your decision if really silly but it still doesn't seem like a valid reason to not like someone." Valid reasons for not liking people were if they hurt his siblings, or sabotaged him from doing well in his studies.

Or burned books, that was also a think he wasn't big on.

He snorted softly at the term - special friend - shaking his head slightly. "She went through a phase too where she thought every girl that knew Noah's name was a 'special friend'." Which ended up being okay and actually just got her a good relationship with Noah's other friends -- once they'd set Lisa straight anyways. "Did Aboli get the drawing or did Noah?" Because he wanted to see it, and would need to know which person to ask if this would be possible. "I wish I could draw. It's such an impressive thing to be able to do." He was rather hopeless, but he could origami.

"It's just like... there seems to be this cycle when people want to be my friend... watch me explode something... decide they don't like me or at least don't trust me... but don't want to say so. Which doesn't even make any sense. If you don't like someone, why don't you just say it?" Literally only cowards were afraid to say what they really thought of others. And Ash was not a coward... but she HAD lost some friends over the years because of it. Too bad.

But Evan might not hate her. She didn't burn books, she would never hurt Lisa, and she didn't see the point in sabotage. She just... did some other stuff.

Ash laughed. Did Lisa really? That was just TOO CUTE. "I gave it to Aboli. I'm not sure if she gave it to Noah or not... but Lisa has a copy, so he might have seen it." Depending on whether or not Lisa thought it would be amusing to show it to him. "Drawing is hard, but it gets easier with practice." And Ash had lots of practice. Simple as that.

He considered her question for a moment, trying to think about the fact on if someone didn't like him... would he want to KNOW? "I don't know your circumstances with these people but... maybe it's that they're most upset with themselves but took it out on you? I lost my best friend this summer. And it's because she thought I hate her, but I don't." He hated a lot of things, was angry at a lot of things, but none of it had been directed at her. Seemed too late to tell her all that now though since she transferred. "And maybe they don't say anything if they actually don't like you because... well it's mean to? Would you really want to know?" After thinking about it longer, he wouldn't.

Even if it also wouldn't have changed anything. Knowing someone didn't like you still... stung.

He actually smiled a bit when she laughed, because it was good for people to laugh when they were feeling kind of 'meh', right? He thought so anyways. "I'll ask Lisa to see her copy then." That was much easier than trying to get ahold of Noah. Or his girlfriend who Evan hardly even knew. "I think it probably takes a degree of raw talent too though, doesn't it?"

"I don't know." Nor did she truly care. Maybe they were insecure about their collective lack of action, and directed that into ridiculing her for being different. That would make sense. But she was not their therapist. She wasn't gonna make them change their actions. They could commit the crime of inaction if they wanted to.

"I'd rather they just be say it. We can just be honest. I'd get to know the truth, we would never have to talk again, and I wouldn't have to watch them be so bad at lying." It got boring after a while. They thought they were subtle. Watching them be bad actors was only funny the first few times.

Ash laughed. "I just love honesty, apparently." She just said exactly what she thought, all the time. And she wished other people would too. So much time would be saved.

"I remember drawing that. I gave him sparkly eyes and everything. Cuz love is sparkly. That's completely true." Ash was very serious. LOVE. WAS. SPARKLY. OK. and there was nothing that would change that. Every time she looked at Theodore he seemed sparkly. Love was sparkly. Maybe that was the only thing that she believed in, but she believed it whole-heartedly.

"I guess it takes some talent, but you'd get nowhere without hard work. Choosing your own path, doing what you want regardless of your destiny, all that fun stuff." Ash thought destiny did not exist. She chose her own path. She would literally dead if the universe was in charge, but it wasn't.

Sure, the universe was malicious, but Ash was equally malicious and she thought herself more powerful. Confidence was everything.

"Well, honesty is a good thing... Do you tell people right up front when you don't like them too?" He assumed she did, but he figured he'd ask to. He was really working on the whole 'assumptions' thing, because after last term and the summer it was all just exhausting. Better to ask and know for certain, right? "Don't you get upset too though if people don't want to talk to you anymore?" Because it also sounded to him like people that didn't like her used to.

Given the fact she had suggested he'd just need time to not.

Evan actually laughed at the sparkly comment. He might not know much about love, but the truth of the matter Noah himself was so happy and bubbly he kind of sparkled on his own. "I've always thought Noah was sparkly, period." He was a good big brother. The best really, which gave Evan some pretty big shoes to fill for Maya and Lisa now that he was graduated and exploring the world.

"That's true. I think I don't have any of the raw talent though. So I think no matter how hard I try I wouldn't be quite successful. But that's okay, there's other things I can be good at." Like dancing. And rapping. They were weird things he excelled with, but he did excel and he enjoyed them. Even if he didn't want people to see.

"Maybe not, but I've never had the need to. I kinda think that people know when I don't like them." She kinda made it... obvious. "I don't avoid telling them though." If they asked, she'd answer. "Well maybe I'd be sad if they left, or maybe I wouldn't be. But either way, they don't like me anymore, and I'd rather just know so that I can be in control and not look stupid. I don't want to be the one person where everybody knows but them. I want to be the first to know when someone's relationship with me changes." She wanted to control the situation. She didn't want any rumors or assumptions being made.

"Haven't met him much. But it's possible. Lisa is a VERY sparkly blob of liquid sunshine, so it might be a family trait for all I know. And he's friends with Minjae, who's not NOT sparkly. Or like, almost sparkly. A very sad but very sparkly person, I would say." Daniel wasn't sparkly though- he was more like shiny smooth-looking obsidian, but somehow with the texture of sandpaper. That was how she would describe Daniel. She liked him, but that didn't mean he didn't have the personality texture of sandpaper.

"Eh. Practice makes possible." He might never be good because of the talent thing, but if he practiced, she was sure he wouldn't be bad. "It doesn't really matter though- everyone has their thing. I like art, music, and sports." And some other stuff. Like algebra, arson, and achieving chaos. And being an antagonist. Normal stuff, y'know. "Can I draw you? I wanna draw everyone I can find. I already got a lot of people, but I always want more."

"Do you think people that don't know you well might think you don't like them too?" He wondered what it was exactly that would have made it obvious with her. Was it a real obvious? Or the obvious in his type of way where he just... didn't know how to connect so it was assumed. "I guess that makes sense then especially you'd want the same courtesy from others. I guess knowing for sure either way is better than assumptions or miscommunications because people only think you don't like them or create rumors about not liking you or... whatever." People talking behind your back would be the worst, and he imagined even more so if it was someone that was assumed to be a friend. "That doesn't seem an unreasonable desire."

A sparkly blob was a family trait? Evan actually laughed at that, nodding his head. "If it is, it probably carried down from our Appa. Eomma is really pretty and nice, but she's more reserved like Maya and me. Our dad, Noah and Lisa are all sunshine and energy and... sparkles." Like she had said. "I only met Minjae briefly, and his brother" though he did know he was here at school now, he'd seen him in classes. "Minjae seems nice enough, but I guess I don't see sparkly either."

Practice makes possible? "I like the way that sounds." It was a very good thing to remember. She should put it on stickers or all her drawings or something, a certain type of signature to remind people to keep going. "I like.. reading." Maybe he could just do something research related when he was older? Or be a book editor, or write his own or... something. Her next question did surprise him and he raised an eyebrow to show it but... well he didn't actually see a reason to not. "If you really want to, I don't mind."

"Only if they don't like me first, and are looking for confirmation bias. Otherwise I'm just a person who they don't know yet." And if they already hated her, what was the point in changing that? Her views were clear. She hid nothing but her motivations. People might try and "fix" her, which was dumb. She didn't need fixing, and even if she did, she'd rather they'd just leave her alone. She was Ash, just Ash, and other people could hate it or not. She didn't need to be liked, except for by herself and a select few people who she would give everything up for. "I just want honesty from people I'm supposed to trust. They don't have to be honest, but I don't have to trust them." Pretending to like her would just harm their relationship worse. "What about you? Is ignorance bliss?" Maybe it was, but Ash was never ignorant. And she didn't think bliss was real. At least not for her.

"Being sparkly might be environmental. I'm half-sure Lisa will turn me into a sparkly chandelier some day." Not a blob of sunshine though. That had to come from within, and Ash did not have a lot of internal sunshine. She'd settle for being a chandelier instead. Made sparkly by other people. "I bet Minjae could be sparkly some day. Let's make it happen. Or maybe just... glimmery. Or glowing pretty colors. Is there such thing as muted sparkles?" There should be. Minjae was like, only sparkly out of the corner of your eye somehow. It was alright. Ash was hardly ever sparkly either.

"I like it too. 'talent' is too set in stone. Hard work is like, moving and stuff. You're not like, confined or whatever. That sounds weird. But the point is, if you ever decide to hate the universe, practicing stuff you have little to no natural talent for sends a strong message." That you didn't have to play by the rules at all. That you made the rules yourself. "If you ever decide to hate the universe. That's a very optional thing." Other people didn't seem to hate the universe. That was alright. They had different lives than she did. "Reading is pretty great. We should all write memoirs. I'd read every single one." The kids at Hogwarts had the most interesting life stories.

AHA. The most important thing in this conversation was that Ash had permission to draw him. Well, everything else was important and philosophical, but this one stuck in her brain the most. "Really? Cooool. I'll add you to the list then. Don't worry, it's from memory- no sitting still for long periods of time required. That's boring." Ash pulled out a small black notebook. In gold lettering on the front it said "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time." And there was a phoenix with its wings outstretched on the cover. Ash's personal symbol. She had several similar notebooks made, and she figured that this one would be good for keeping track of her therapy (her art project). She flipped open to a long list of names, some crossed out. It was labeled 'to do'. She wrote Evan Nam in her specially colored and unique sparkly black ink at the bottom of the list. There. Now it was in writing. "I find art to be therapeutic. Relaxing and all. How do you like to relax?" And he better not answer 'group therapy'. For obvious reasons.

Just another person they don't know. Wouldn't it be nice if people really did see strangers like that? It seemed like there was always snap decisions made about other people without a conversation. He even had done it at times with his peers. It would be better to just let people someone they didn't know. Until they did. "That makes sense. Honesty is important for any relationship." And no, he didn't mean it as romantic. There were so many other more complicated types of relationships you could have with people without it being any type of attraction interest. He was still just trying to master the 'friend' type of ship. "Honestly, I think I'd be happy to know if people liked me or didn't like me in general. I feel a pretty general sense of apathy." Towards him, but... he supposed he could towards other people as well. Though it was more in looks than in feelings. "My friends transferred last term so there's no one here who I trust yet who could really hurt me anyways." Sure, his sister's could. But they were family so they also got endless second chances.

He laughed at that, "You might be safe. I don't think I'm sparkly yet and I've been around her for 11 years." At least, he didn't think any of the sparkles had rubbed off. And then more talk of Noah's friend and Evan was... intrigued. It seemed like he'd heard Minjae's name fairly often and it seemed like people really liked him. "You sound like you really admired Minjae?" He hadn't spent a lot of time around the older Hufflepuff. Though through Noah, he did know what had happened to him last term. And Ash too, though that didn't feel like something to ask about.

He laughed again at her advise regarding how to hate the universe, that was pretty brilliant. "I never really considered it like that. But you're right. Maybe I should try drawing more." No, he didn't think he'd be good. But throwing some shade at the universe might not be too bad. "I think I'll save my memoir writing until I'm old." And accomplished something. So far his memoir would just be a sob story. It'd be like the opposite of that muggle book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Which he had read, not that it helped.

Oh thank goodness no posing. Now there was really no loss to him with having said yes. "Okay! Can I see it when you're done?" Or was it a collection of memories from her Hogwarts years? Art at least seemed to be a helpful form of therapy. It was something he often heard Eomma refer to people to work through their trauma, that and writing. "I like going to the technology lab and playing some of the muggle board games. It reminds me of home." And home was usually relaxing. Going up to the room of requirement on occasion and asking for his bedroom also helped a good deal. "Do you have a favorite spot to draw?"

"Maybe personality traits don't rub off like that. I've been friends with my boyfriend for five years, and I'm not nicer than I've ever been. I've been around my bodyguards for thirteen years, and I'm not any more careful than I used to be. If anything, I'm less careful." So maybe the part of her personality that was smooth, cold, and glimmering out of the corner of the eye would be safe then. She would always be like this. Was that good or bad? Maybe neither. It just was.

"I did admire Minjae. Even though he set me on fire my first ever day at Hogwarts. He was super nice, and super cool, and he said I could call him to Talk About Stuff even if it was late at night." Shared experience, shared pain, a shared dream. Shared hobbies, shared defiance, shared background. Talking to Minjae was like looking into a mirror, in more than just one way.

"I'm gonna write multiple memoirs, maybe. One when I'm young, recording my childhood. And with no ending maybe. And then when I'm old, I can write another one as an ending." Or if she died before she was old, she would just leave the one memoir. The one that had no ending. A tragic and unfinished symphony. It would probably be famous if that happened. Wouldn't that be sad? Twisted.

Of course there was no posing. Posing was boring. Evan should read the short story about the artist who drew his wife and then she died because he took too long and forgot about her. Edgar Allen Poe, wasn't it? "Of course you can see it. Do you want to see just yours, or would you like to see the whole project?" Since it wasn't clear. Either was fine. Ash was proud of both the individual paintings and the collections. It was something to be proud of, at least. If she couldn't be proud of herself or the world she lived in, she could be proud of this. "I like to do my art in the treehouse. I just like it in general. You can run around, nap, breathe... but it's a really nice place to paint. Really nice." One spot where she could feel relaxed. She'd probably paint Evan's portrait up there. It would probably be a painting of him, lying on the ground like her was now, staring outwards at the viewer who would be looking from the angle of where the ceiling was now. Ash didn't like painting with no context. She always picked her favorite memory, and drew the people in it. Ollie on the balcony. Lisa at the fountain. Nem sitting in a class looking way too calm. Her boyfriend on a surfboard, smiling at her. Her brother running up to her with a book to read him. Those kinds of memories. Those kinds of memories. Ash drew the good ones.

But she had another, secret, project. She also drew a self portrait once a week and compared the expressions. But that was a secret project, because it wasn't as calming as the one she was talking about with Evan. Not calming at all.

"Is your boyfriend super nice? You seem nice to me." It was his perception anyways. "And being not careful if you're used to bodyguards makes sense. You don't need to be careful when it's their entire job to protect you and keep you from harm's way, anyways." Was it good to still be cautious? Absolutely. But it made a lot of sense to him that if she was used to a security detail then she wouldn't be nearly as careful as some who had never had someone watching out for them. With his job, his dad had a small security detail but they made sure to not be seen unless the family was going to a public political event.

Wait. What? He turned his head towards her in surprise of that particular small detail. "He set you on fire?" What in Merlin's name? There was a moment of concern for his brother and traveling with this bloke for a full year. But then she kept talking, and he pushed the nagging away and just nodded looking back up towards the ceiling. "that's nice of him. Do you still keep in contact with him now that he's graduated?"

"Or maybe if something happens to you before you can write your ending, your descendants can?" Because he too had thought of what happened if she didn't get there, to the old age and the ending. With magic school it just seemed that possibility always had to be, at the very least, considered. "Have you started your childhood memoir? Write it as you experience it?" Then it would be fresh and the emotion even more prominent.

The offer of letting him see the whole project surprised him, having assumed it might have just been something incredibly personal, but if she was offering... "I'd love to see the whole project. I bet it's really cool. Do you already have a lot of portraits already added?" Even if he wasn't able to create amazing art himself, he did still like to appreciate it. And support his peers, if the opportunity ever arose for him to be able to do so. "I haven't spent too much time out there. I like it in here primarily." Meaning the common room. "But maybe I'll have to go explore. Maybe there's some space I can dance up there." He wasn't as passionate about dancing as his family members but... he did enjoy it, and practicing with Chase had given him at least a minimum amount of talent.

"Yeah." Evan was wrong though, about her being nice. She was nice to him, at this specific moment. That was not the same as being a nice person. But Ash elected not to mention that. And bodyguards...

"Well actually they're there because I'm not careful. My dad was reluctant to hire any bodyguards for me, but it would look suspicious if something... happened. And now that I'm magical and with all the stuff I've been dealing with lately, that kinda reinforces the need to not look suspicious." What were people going to say? How would they react to hearing that the heir to billions had died or disappeared? How could her family possibly avoid suspicion? Ash dying was a big yikes. Hence why she had bodyguards. Plus, she had told her father that if he hired bodyguards for her, he wouldn't have to think about her at all. Sad, but a good incentive for him. Apparently.

Not that the bodyguards could do much when she was at Hogwarts. "It was kinda an accident, and kinda my fault about the fire thing. And that wasn't even the worst fire-related incident of the year that I was involved in." She shrugged. Being set on fire for a few seconds was wayyy better than getting possessed and burning down a forest. And Ash could say that from experience. "I called him over the summer. Haven't really done it now tho. Obviously, there was no way either of us were gonna use two-way mirrors ever." Obviously.

"Actually, I was thinking that if it never got finished, I'd just leave it like that." There was something poetic about unfinished works of art, and if Ash was gonna die young, she was gonna do it poetically. If she wasn't going to have a happy ending, then there was no reason to write one into the history books. She wanted what she wrote to mean something. Leave it unfinished, she said. Give them all a lesson, a warning, an message. That some stories just happen like that. Ash had no sympathy for guilty-feeling readers who may or may not end up reading her memoir. If they felt guilty, then there was a reason for that. Did they feel responsible, maybe? For her childhood? Good. "I suppose I'll write things as I go, then rearrange them into a beginning and a middle."

Speaking of art... "Sure you can see it. I have a lot. I have Nem, I have Ollie, and I have some other people." Was it a personal project? Yes. But she wanted people to look upon it and feel something. Specifically, she wanted viewers to see how much everyone mattered. How they were unique. Regardless of blood status, or house, or whatever. All of them mattered. The muggleborns like her included. The defiant ones like her, included. The broken ones, like her, included.

Ash preferred to paint those people in the treehouse. Her safe place.

"Hmmmm... dancing... I don't know if that's a good place to do that. Never tried. It could be. You wouldn't have to worry about falling on accident, because its magic protects you." He also didn't need to worry about falling on purpose, because you could fall on purpose and still be fine. Ash had checked the safety charms a couple times, of course. By, y'know, testing it herself. She was right. It was safe. Just as she'd suspected.

They were there because she wasn't cautious? "Did your signs of magic appearing freak him out a lot then? Was that part of why you got bodyguards?" He assumed that would be rather alarming, but well he didn't really know. He hadn't seen that happen with his parents since they'd apparently been aware of magic anyways. Although, he certainly had found the weird things happening alarming. "What does your dad do? Sounds like he's someone fairly important?" At least if he was that much in the public eyesight that he was that concerned about Ash's actions.

"How was it your fault?" Did she step in the way of an incendio or something? That certainly sounded not amazing. He didn't remember much from his first term so he hardly even remembered what had happened to her during then, if he had in fact even heard of it. Sometimes it paid to be buried with a nose in a book all the times, and other times it was a little too much. There was a lot he had missed out in his excitement for studying this whole new world. He hadn't considered how triggering two way mirrors could be for the pair but... hearing it mentioned, he nodded his head in understanding. "Calls are good at least. And there's letters. And what about that method of communication with floo?" He'd never tried it, and didn't know much but he'd heard of it at the very least.

"You don't want your story fully told?" That seemed surprising to him. There was nothing worst than a story that didn't end, even if some found it poetic. Poetry was not of interest to him, he liked things that were clearly explained and cleanly wrapped up. Maybe that's why he was bad at friendships, because that was rare when it came to people. "And maybe an end so long as this place doesn't get to you first?" He half smiled, an attempt at a joke but.. it also already felt like a possibility so better to be safe than sorry.

Nem? That.. surprised him and he was sure his face showed it as he looked over at her again. Weren't they the reason for the mirror entrapment? Maybe he'd read it wrong. Maybe he'd read them wrong. He'd been interested to see what Ash's drawing of them looked like. "I'd like to. It sounds like a really cool project. Do you want to draw the people you don't like too? Or.. the ones who don't like you?" Was everyone really all inclusive?

"Maybe I'll give it a try. Never know until someone does. I'm not really worried about falling. I nearly did once but the anti-gravity charms stopped me from injury so.. I feel pretty safe there." So long as the magic did not ever fail on any of them. But.. hopefully it wouldn't and there was no point in stressing himself out thinking about that now.

"I guess they must have been a little scared when I started to show magic." Although... she only remembered doing accidental magic a few times, and not around her bodyguards, so it was possible that they didn't know until she got her letter. "But the money is good and they were practically my dads by the time I was eleven, so I guess they didn't feel scared enough to leave. Or maybe they pitied me and would have felt terrible if they left me alone. I don't know." Who could say why they still stuck around, despite often being unable to protect her? Who could say why they hadn't just fled her traumatic life and chaotic family situation? Was it love, pity, guilt, or a simple need for the money? Did she want to know? She decided that she didn't.

"My dad runs a tech company. He's rich." Ash said it dismissively. Enough about that, her voice said. Let's talk about something else. He didn't want to know about her father. How he loved her more than her brother. How he hardly loved her at all. How he barely loved anyone since her mom died when she was a baby. How he left his kids alone and never thought to teach her how to be responsible. Evan... didn't want to hear it.

On to more cheerful topics. Ash had a healthy respect for fire. And a not-so-healthy love/hate relationship with fire. "It was my fault I got burned because we had to duel people on our first day and I shouldn't have dueled a sixth year. And Minjae shouldn't have cast incendio on my antlers. And Fake Trent shouldn't have made kids duel. Blame all around, really." Ash could admit her mistakes. People loved that. She was also in the habit of pointing out other people's mistakes. People did NOT love that. Dumb of them, really.

"I think floo involves putting your face in a fireplace... I don't have a fireplace, and I don't really trust floo." It was like, weird teleportation. Ash did not to accidentally end up in the wrong place or have something go wrong. No thanks. Ash would rather draw Cambridge than trust her safety with the floo network. Speaking of...

"I'll draw anyone if they let me. Even if I hate them or they hate me. I'd even draw Nem. there are only three exceptions." Only three people she could. not. STAND. to. paint. Only three. You'd have thought Nem would be on that list, but she tolerated them as long as they never mentioned mirrors to her ever again. They were tolerable. Surprisingly, she accepted their personality, even though she did not like them. Lucien Rosier was an arrogant loser. Cambridge was... well, the less said about that the better. And healer Poppy... Healer Poppy infuriated her. Her personality, her actions, that awful BREAD she kept trying to feed them, the condescending vibes she gave off, her stupid group therapy sessions that Ash was never going to again- Ash hated. all. of. it. Maybe she was an evil spy. Maybe she was just annoying. It made no difference. Ash could not stand her at all. She couldn't even draw her in a place she felt safe. Healer Poppy made her freak out. A lot. Often. Ash would not even draw her in the treehouse. Even the treehouse couldn't save her.

"I think those charms are super safe. I've fallen off many times, no problem." 'fallen.' Ash could say with near-certainty, that he'd be safe if he fell. "I feel safe there too." She even felt emotionally safe there. Not safe enough to draw Healer Poppy though.