He had almost started CONVULSING when he noticed the new section of the common room. With excitement, of course. Was that a thing? Death by such complete bliss that your heart stopped working because it was SO HAPPY? If so, it was going to happen to Dima very soon.

Dumping his bag on the ground and forgetting all thoughts of homework (who needed THAT?), the tiny Toussaint immediately ran over to the art nook. It was beautiful. Not one to waste time, he selected a thick canvas and positioned it on an easel right away.

And the paints and brushes.... those would not do. So Dima fetched his OWN. All the better. This was still glorious.

The kid was going to have to ambush Mr. Kitridge in a barrage of hugs later.

They had an art nook, they had an art nook, they had an art nook, they had an art nook! Penelope could barely contain her excitement about the new art nook. She would have to try out some of the art supplies that Mr. Kitridge had provided for them later. Right now she had something else to work on. Penelope had brought a lot of origami paper down from her dorm to make origami butterflies. She was going to start making the butterflies right now. Grabbing a piece of origami paper, she started on the first butterfly. It was going to take a lot of time and origami paper to make as many origami butterflies as she wanted to. If all went well, she would have hundreds of origami butterflies.

Head semi!buried in a potion's text, Gabriel had actively sought out young Dima. He was surprised to find him in the new art nook, of course...as Dima hadn't struck him as the artistic type. But it was just as well...and upon closer inspection (and if time would permit), he'd be doing some graphing in there soon.

...buuuuuuuuut, Gabe had other stuff to talk to the young Ravenclaw about.

"Do you might if I join you?"


...Gabe needed to speak with miss Penelope Wright...and upon seeing her in the art nook...Well, it was an opportunity not to be wasted.

Waste not, want not.

See, she'd kinda saved him...Along with Clara Wilde. No, it hadn't been the smartest thing for her to do...but acting in the moment like that had been...necessary? If they hadn't immobulus'd that Slytherin...or Austin (as Gabe knew him to be called now).....just who knew?

Sitting nearby with his graphing materials, Gabe began giving her side!glances. Hopefully, she'd notice him?....because he was awkward enough without having to properly engage conversations, too.

*insert some throat clearing here*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

...Gabe needed to speak with miss Penelope Wright...and upon seeing her in the art nook...Well, it was an opportunity not to be wasted.

Waste not, want not.

See, she'd kinda saved him...Along with Clara Wilde. No, it hadn't been the smartest thing for her to do...but acting in the moment like that had been...necessary? If they hadn't immobulus'd that Slytherin...or Austin (as Gabe knew him to be called now).....just who knew?

Sitting nearby with his graphing materials, Gabe began giving her side!glances. Hopefully, she'd notice him?....because he was awkward enough without having to properly engage conversations, too.

*insert some throat clearing here*

Looking up from her origami butterfly folding to grab another piece of paper, Penelope noticed Gabe sitting near her. He seemed to be working on something, so she was just going to keep working on origami butterflies. She started to make another butterfly. Hearing what sounded like throat clearing, she looked up again. Did he want to talk to her? "Hello, Gabe." Now she was going to go back to working on the butterfly until he said something.

He was just about to make his first stroke upon the canvas when Dima heard a voice behind him. Jumping about ten feet into the air and brandishing is sopping paintbrush as if it was a sword, the third year turned. WHO WENT THERE? WHO DARED SNEAK UP ON H-

Oh, it was Gabriel.

"Hi!" He waved at the older boy with his brush, sending flecks of blue paint flying across the common room, though none of them landed on his company. "Sure! Do you like painting too? You can borrow my stuff if you want." Peeking around suspiciously, the third year leaned in and lowered his voice. "Mr. Kitridge's aren't the BEST, but don't tell him that."

But the Prefect could use his special materials 'cause they were FRIENDS, right? Right?

Totally were. They'd sealed it with hugs already.

Painting wasn't Sophie Brown's thing, no, nor was art in general, even though she thoroughly enjoyed it. She had other hobbies, though, and much preferred to leave the artsy stuff to Paris and CB. Still, the art nook was particularly welcoming to this Ravenclaw because she got to feed off the creative energies of the little corner.

And there was food, of course.

So, as it had become her favorite common room pastime, Sophie planted herself in her favorite armchair she'd moved to the corner and was sitting directly in front of the table with the hot cocoa and cookies, helping herself to a large mug of the freshly-made beverage and devouring one cookie after another at an alarming rate.

All the while, she was hoping Parbear would come along and paint a masterpiece for her. Hmmm? Paris? ART SUPPLIES WERE CALLING.

Evie hadn't been planning on stopping by the art nook, but she had spotted a certain Sophie Brown and decided to make a detour. How could one resist a Sophie Brown? It's not like Evie had anything terribly important to do. She veered off to the armchair the little brunette was in and peeeeeered over her head to see what she was working on.

"Whatcha doooin'?" she asked, resting her chin atop Sophie's head? Cookies? There were cookies over here?! Evie stole the one from Sophie's hand and ATE it. Because that's what friends were for.

Paris wasn't one to paint things in the common room. He much preferred his dorm room or someplace else that was private and allowed him to focus. Not the common room where stuff like debates and spell experimenting or just the usual teenage nonsense happened. Way too much for him to do his painting.

But today was different because he had new bruses he wanted to break in AND there where friends over in the art nook. He liked friends, so he headed over there way and snatched up some cookies. "Hey guys!"

Sophie was VERY enthusiastically devouring a cookie when she felt someone approaching, then the question and the chin resting on her head made her giggle. She sipped her hot chocolate to help her swallow the mouthful of cookie before responding, "Eatin'. S'long as Kitridge is gonna let us binge on this stuff, m'gonna take the opportunity." Schmoop's cookies, she was sure they were, and approved highly. Of course, they weren't as good as her own cookies, but they were sufficient enough.

"M'also kinda hoping my cute presence will lure Parbear here, since we all have a free period. Haven't seen him yet, but I bet if you stick around he'll be here in no... time..."

Her voice trailed off when she caught sight of the young man in question approaching them, and she tucked her head out from under Evie's chin to turn around and give her a VERY smug smile. Ha. Haaaaaaaaa.

The power of love.

"Hi Parbear," she greeted cheerfully, standing up to turn her armchair so it was directly facing the work station of art supplies, not-so-subtly showing that she was EXPECTING him to go over there and do his thing. She sat back down and scooted over so Evie could join her, but continued to address Paris, "I was hoping you'd come. Actually, I was counting on it. How could you resist your two favorite ladies AND painting stuff ALL in the same area? You couldn't. You gonna make us a masterpiece?" Her eyes were sparkling and slightly pleading, but she knew she didn't need to try so hard - how could he resist?

Well, if Kitridge was going to supply them with sweets, Evie wasn't going to say no. Didn't want them to get stale or anything. Evie stuffed a cookie in her mouth. Oh, she was waiting for Paris, too. She hadn't seen him around, but Evie had been spending excessive time in her dorm... A pink tinge touched Evie's cheek at Sophie's comment. "If I stick aroun--?" Evie turned her head and saw the boy they were talking about. She quickly wiped the crumbs off her lips and gave Paris a shy smile before noticing the LOOK on Sophie's face. The shy smile left and Evie subtly whacked Sophie's arm with the back of her hand before plopping onto the chair beside her.

"Hi Paris," she finally said, fairly certain her cheeks were still pink. Normally, Evie would probably suggest that Paris paint the two of them on the couch together being cute and eating cookies, but instead she just finished her cookie and remained quiet.

Paris was terrible at picking up clues, so when Sophie turned away he went straight over to her, plopping himself onto the arm of her chair. Favorite ladies? He blushed. "Well ya are sittin' in the middle of the common room in my favorite place. Hard to resist." He poked her lightly and finished his cookie before turning his attention to Evangeline.

"Hi, Evangeline." She got his biggest smile. Didn't she look extra pretty today? He thought so. "What are ya workin' on?"

...Parbeaaar. Sophie wrinkled her nose when their yearmate did not go over to the painting area and, instead, sat right next to her on the armchair.

Well, that just wouldn't do.

In one swift motion, Sophie looped her arms sideways around Paris' middle and tugged him down so he was sitting on her, then patted his head like a puppy and kept him there. If he wasn't going to paint for them, he HAD to be right there close to them, okay? And... yes, she absolutely did notice Evie's blushing AND Paris' huge smile at her dormmate and the fact that he seemed to only have eyes for Miss Shacklebolt. "...Should I leave?" Did they wanna... y'know? Exchange googly eyes? Swap some spit? Was Sophie's presence ruining it? "'cause I can. S'no big deal." She would just take a handful of cookies and go.

Well, this was absolutely ridiculous. All he had to do was say HI and her NAME and she MELTED inside. Ridiculous. Talking to Paris was much easier before she realized the THINGS and then said the things out loud (which she still didn't think he quite understood, but she was too scared to try and spell it out for him). Doe-eyed, Evie smiled at him.

"Ummm..." Wake up, brain. "Nothing, actually. I'm terrible at artsy things." All she could to was make paper mache animals and things. Painting and drawing was not a skill she had ever obtained. It probably didn't help that she always compared her art to Paris and he was amazing, so...

Evie's eyes whipped over to Sophie's when she threatened to LEAVE. "Why would you want to do that?" Evie asked quickly, clinging to the girl's arm. And leave Evie alone with Paris??? Who knows what would happen? She'd probably do something stupid, like, I dunno, HAVE FEELINGS.

"Why would ya leave?" Clueless Paris was clueless. Also.. he wanted to see both of the, yeah? Really pretty friends, just one was extra pretty. So he was gonna stare at her since he was nice and snuggly in Sophie's lap. Paris was just gonna STAY there so their friend wouldn't leave.

.........If he pulled Evangeline into his lap, would that be too much weight on Soph? Hm.

"How do ya know you're terrible? Ya should draw me somethin', and then I could paint you." His smile turned more soft and encouraging. "Or I could just paint you now and then we can do somethin' your good at." Like.... probably everything else. Wait, if she was terrible at art then.... "Why are ya over here anyways?"

Sophie watched the pair with curious eyes, noticing the way they looked at each other and analyzing their word choices very closely. Evie was clearly all kinds of dazzled by their yearmate, and Paris was... well, suave as could be, really, but Sophie was still VERY aware that, even in her offer to leave, Paris and Evie only had eyes for each other. She might as well have not been there at all. Still, they were questioning her, so Soph offered a little shrug and replied teasingly, "Well, I could stay, or I could leave and let you two snog out all your teenage... feelings." Or whatever was going on. Heh.

She lightly headbutted Paris' shoulder to let him know she was just jesting, then settled her cheek against him while he and Evie talked about art and stuff. She wanted to say a few things about their art skills and give her opinion on what the two of them should do, but she resisted, just hanging out and chilling and watching them with a small smile.

Third-wheeling at its finest.

Well, Paris was clearly clueless. It was irritating, but she was also glad that he wasn't picking up what Sophie was hinting at. Until she SPELLED IT OUT for him. Evie gave Sophie a horrified and very threatening look at the same time she jabbed an elbow into the girl's side. It was times like these that she was glad she had dark skin. If she were white, her entire face would be red.

"I just know," Evie said quickly, continuing the conversation with Paris so they would forget about the snogging suggestion. "I've tried artsy stuff with paint and... stuff... and I'm just not good." She was also not good at thinking straight now because she was trying to act COOL and it was scattering her thoughts. Thank you, Sophie Brown. "You could still paint me though, if you wanna..." She'd, you know, be okay with that.

Evie cleared her throat to answer Paris' next question. "I saw Sophie over here, so I came to hang out with her."

It was a long long time ago when Tora recognized that she was a horrible artist. Probably some time first year in Herbology if she had to make a rough guess. Yup. Other than some astronomical drawings and star charts Tora was pretty much up a creek without a paddle when it came to anything involving sketching. Or painting. Or just arts and crafts in general. Which was why Tora was there for one purpose and one purpose only and it wasn't art.

Hooooooott Chocoooolateeee. And she didn't even have to make the trek down to the kitchens for it either! She sidled closer to where the tasty beverage was being dispensed and hoped that it wasn't just for those being legitimately artistic. Well, here goes nothing! She poured herself a mug and casually leaned against a nearby wall. Very sneaky.

Austin walked into the common room, messenger bag in tow. He made extra effort on the train to keep his bag from moving around. The sugared Quills were way too fragile, and he didn't want to present broken candy to the girl. Looking around, he wondered if he would see the girl any time soon. Fresh candy was the best candy, and he just got back from Hogsmede, so these were the freshest.

He found her leaning against the wall near the art nook drinking some hot chocolate. She seemed happy, which was a good things, so now seemed to be a good time to repay his debt. "Isn't that supposed to be for people who are actually painting." He said as he walked over. Seeing her outside of the masquerade was a little weird. She was older, and even though Austin can act very mature, he wasn't entirely sure why she would want to hang out with someone who was half the year she was. He was a third year, and compared to her, he must have seemed childish. But he wasn't going to give up on a new friend until she shoved him away. So he reached into his messenger bag, and pulled out a small, decorative bag that contained the Quills.

"For you." He said, handing them to her.