Welcome to Gaia! ::

Echo had spent the morning just reading and studying out of habit, and followed Yari to Art Club out of habit. Yari started setting up and arranging tools silently, so Echo had gone back to the art storeroom to bring some of the materials there as well– there were a few pieces of moulding clay, a basket of fabric scraps, and–aha!-- the set of fashion magazines and style guides she had brought one year.

Upon her return, Yari took up the basket of scraps and started cutting and sewing them together. Echo couldn’t make rhyme or reason of it all, but clearly, Yari didn’t feel like talking. Echo could respect that– she and Yari didn’t always see eye to eye, but Echo understood Yari had lost someone very dear to her and was just trying to process how to get back to a sense of normalcy. She had done her best to get Milan through Daily Dragon yesterday as both his sister and Managing Editor, and she was resolved to get through at least the first Art club meeting the same way.

”Yari–” she started, but the first club members entered then, and Yari bounced to attention, pasting a smile on her face. Linsey Grey-Cavendish and her giant mutt of a dog had arrived. Echo pasted a smile on her own face as she watched Blannat’s tail flutter back and forth. If he knocks over something….

But she would never let her disdain show. Grey-Cavendish was another one of Yari’s little mentee-model-pets. And maybe some of that mentoring was paying off? The homemade skirt didn’t look…unwearable? Unrefined, quaint…oh, she was Yari’s problem anyways. It wasn’t Echo’s style. But Yari had always been a bit nontraditional as well. ”Let me help you with that,” she offered, setting the bag on an empty table to unload and catalogue the contents, all while trying to avoid Blannat’s…entire body.

Taylor arrived next, and just looking at her again made Echo’s head thrum. She was so…pink. A pain to look at. Just. Did she charm her coat with that colour? Why? To match her lip gloss? Disgustingly pink and bright and–

“That looks like a cry for help,” Taylor said, and Echo whipped her head back to the scrap pile Yari had been stitching like it was responsible for her boyfriend’s death.

Very astute. A cry for help. But how can I help? She doesn’t want to talk, she doesn’t want to do stupid therapy nonsense, she’s acting fine. Milan I know drowns himself in work. Is Yari doing that too? Do I just…look things up, do material samples, make sure she has everything she needs for projects? But I don’t get Yari’s style the way I do Milan’s.

She’d have to think about it more. Echo turned her eye on Taylor again, knowing that a remark about her outfit was expected–the two always traded quips on their outfits. But all Echo could think of was how damn pink Taylor’s lips were.

A paint-splattered new face came bundling in then, asking if it was the Art club. They always attracted messes like this. She was about to reply when a familiar voice piped up behind him–another color monster.

”Yep! Welcome to Art club! I’m Galen, this is Taylor and Echo, that’s Linsey, and Yari, our froggy leader” Galen greeted, introducing everyone as he patted the new firstie on the shoulder. He glanced around and his hair matted like it was deflating–or melting, the way it turned a darker shade of brown and grew longer. A pink, fresh scar worked its way down his arm as he made his way over to Yari to offer a hug, pausing only to give Blannat an enthusiastic ruffle and many, many scritches and pets. ”Hang in there, okay, Yari? And if you ever want to just scream at someone or rant, I’m your guy.”

Galen said something to her that Echo couldn’t hear even standing just a few paces away. Something pitifully sentimental about how sorry he was Angier was dead or something. Well…it was better than she could do now. Echo nestled herself back in her seat and fetched the latest issue of Witch Weekly over, pouring over the fashion and news. If anyone wanted a consult for art history or had a materials question or wanted a critique, well, everyong but the new kid they knew what Echo was there for and what she could do. Otherwise, she was going to help her quadruplets drown their feelings in their work.

Galen gave Yari an extra-tight squeeze before letting her go and returning to Blannat, scritching happily. ”OH Who’s a good boy?” He pulled away when Blannat, noticing his mistress’s distress, went to comfort Yari, and Galen plopped himself down at an empty desk. As he passed Taylor, she gasped and asked what had happened to him–to him?

Galen looked around, confirming Taylor meant him before spotting the scar that had formed on his arm. He jumped into an enthusiastic regaling: ”Oh! So you know Kiwi–err, Pep–Pepijn uhh Ter Avest, the guy in your house with a pet squirrel? So this morning in Cooking Club someone was asking if we could use the engorgio spell on food and somehow we did it to a peanut and Kiwi went crazy. She and Dragon got in a fight over the One True Peanut, someone made them giant in the process, and I got a big banged up stopping it all,”

As he spoke though, Galen's face and skin took on a vivid purple hue and his eyes glowed playfully orange. He noticed the dead giveaway of his lie–a fabrication done for the excitement of a story really!-- and laughed. ”Nah, it’s just my meta stuff acting up,” he said with a grin. ”Thanks for caring though, Taylor!”

With that, he spilled out the contents of his bag and twirled a pen around, trying to get to thinking of something to do for the Adventurer’s Guild campaign. He’d decided he wanted to do something epic for the big boss, but he didn’t have any idea what that would be yet.

Linsey Grey-Cavendish
Ravenclaw │ Fourth Year │ Fourteen Years Old │ Single



It was with a happy tune that Linsey was humming that she walked up to the Art Room, where the club was meeting. She was looking forward to being in the room with her friends, laughing and having fun while creating things. She was hoping things would be back to more of a normalcy than it was last year. It was upsetting to see Yari needing to leave like she did before the end of the term. Linsey knew she couldn’t even guess at what Yari was going through, but it was enough for her to know she was suffering.

She’d wanted to visit Yari over the summer, maybe even bring Blannat with her, as how could anyone not feel better in the presence of a creature whom offered unconditional love and comfort? But that wasn’t possible, so Linsey arranged to send a large package in her place, letting Yari know she hadn’t been forgotten, and that she was being thought of. It was loaded full of jars of Grammy Grey’s preserves, batches of baked goods (including her shortbread), a large container of Irish stew, a couple of nice art books Linsey picked up at the local art festival, and bolts of fabric she acquired during a trip to Portugal. Right now, she really wanted to see Yari at the club meeting today, just to know she was on the mend and … well, she wasn’t sure what else.

As usual, the willowy girl with the long silver hair was accompanied by her faithful companion and protector, who was bouncing along at the end of his tether. Fully grown now, Blannat was far stronger than his young mistress, although now that she’d seen a growth spurt over the summer, she could claim she outweighed him, though only by a few kilos. Linsey was also debuting the new dress she created. While she doubted Echo would call it ‘fashionable’, it was meant to be cute, comfortable, and featured plenty of pockets for small tools and such, something which Linsey believed one could never have enough of. The dress was paired with a cute cardy sweater, and a pair of open-toed sandals.

In her arms were bags of additional art supplies that she picked up at a back-to-school sale at a shop in Muggle London, her contribution to help the club stay stocked for those whom might not have all they needed to bring their visions to life. As she and Blannat walked into the Art Club, Linsey gushed sunnily, “Tayyyylor, Sid! It’s so great to see you again. How was your summer?”