Dead Leaves in the Water [[Aaryn]]

[Pierce James]

It was early morning. Really, too early in the damn morning. The sun hadn't even breached the tree-line of the Forbidden Forest. Now, who would be up at this retched time in the morning? The answer was simple. A person who had a pesky little fuzzball cat who liked playing with his face with her claws while he slept and in turn made him fall off the bed and hit his head on his bedside table. >_>. Baby Garfield had it in for Pierce, he could've sworn it. Which he did, and very colorfully I might add. There's nothing like rolling out of bed to a good ol' headache and a guarantee that he wouldn't get to sleep in.

So, Pierce had done what anyone else would have done. Well, supposedly. He showered, got dressed, and left his dorm room to entertain himself [as opposed to lying in bed staring at the very bland ceiling]. His hair was still strewn about; he didn't bother with it. It was still damp and mussed and he didn't have the patience to pick up a brush. Nor did he have the patience to change his piercings. Who would care at this time of day, anyway? Along with that he wore what he typically did on the days he didn't have classes. His old, worn muggle jeans, some random band t-shirt, and an old grey sweatshirt. Oh yes, he was a looker, that Pierce. [Sarcasm -.-]

Before he had left his dorm, he had taken with him his older messenger bag. He had two separate ones, one for his books and the other for his equipment. In such a mood that Pierce was in at the moment, he needed something to take his mind off his headache and generally irate demeanor. And of course, the bag contained his rather large sketchbook, an array of different pencils, pieces of charcoal, et cetera. Yes, he was going to draw. How could you be angry when sketching? It requires concentration on the subject, just like any other time consuming hobby like painting, metal-smithing, or gardening. It just wiped Pierce's mind of any previous thought.

But, on with the scene. Pierce was currently sitting on the pier, sketchbook in his lap with a pencil barely poised between his fingers. He was leaning on one of the support posts, his feet stretching across the width of the pier to touch the opposite post. He was scanning the lake's surface, focusing mainly on the place where the lake met the forest's edge. On his sketchbook was a partially drawn Forbidden forest, shading done above it to emphasize the different shades of the sky even before the sunrise. He had a bit of the lake sketched, and even the end of the pier. He only had a few details drawn in here and there.

Dead, multicolored leaves dusted the pier's surface, autumn's effect on the trees just now becoming obvious. The trees of the whole of Trio's grounds were changing colors, some already beginning to wilt and litter the ground and lake. Ripples flowed evenly across the lake whenever a small, crisp breeze would blow by; pushing the altered and now dead leaves across the lake's surface. This all made for good scenery when it came to his sketches =].

But it was too bland. He needed a challenge. Scenery wasn't enough; he'd mastered it already and could go into detail. So Pierce sat there, now bored and annoyed. He leaned his head back against the wooden post, closing his eyes and taking in the crisp autumn air. He needed a subject. Alas, at what, five in the morning? Where could a subject be found? And then there was the sound of footsteps crunching grass. Nu... He couldn't ask a random person to be his subject. That'd be creepy >_>. He sighed quietly, setting down his pencil. He'd finish it later.

[xxbrokenheartxx]

ooc;; I am trying a new style, so don't bite my head off if it is bad.
Lyrics, © Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Atrophy

Don't tell me this is your last chance to change
'Cause if you do, then you would be telling a lie but...

Aaryn felt the warm rays of the sun shine down on her face heating her. She had the urge to throw off the covers, which where now covering her entire body, and let them fall to the ground, but her unwillingness to move suppressed this urge. So she would sit in this unnatural heat, at least it was unnatural for Fall, just so she could catch a few winks. She had gone to sleep early, a rare feet for the fifteen-year-old, that was why she was up so early. She hated it. She hated waking up early. It was strange. She hated seeing a new day. It creeped her out. And the dew on the grass? It was awful. It made her feet all wet when she stepped on the grass.

Finally, the heat got the best of her and she reluctantly pulled the covers from her wet body. She searched through her clothes. She found a blue sun dress that her foster-mom had gotten her for her fourteenth birthday. She wouldn't normally wear a dress, but she figured no one would be looking anyway. Who would be up at this hour? No one. Exactly. She slipped on the sleeveless dress. She removed the shorts she had been wearing as PJ pants. She hadn't worn a shirt to bed, just a bra. She didn't bothering hiding the bra straps, since no one would be up at this ungodly hour. She looked and saw her cat, Emerald sleeping silently in her bed. She pondered waking her up, so, if a prefect came by and decided to yell at her, she'd have an excuse. But she decided against it. She exited the common room.

I warned you
What could happen if you should decide
To live your life from 9 to 5

The windowless corridors where cold and she immediately regretted wearing a sleeveless dress. She shivered silently. Her footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. It gave her an eerie feeling. She felt like something was going to jump out at any moment and scare her half to death. She didn't like that feeling. Some people liked surprises. She didn't. Even if her friend was going to surprise her, she didn't like being surprised. She would have rather known all along. But, if the surprise was good, she might just forget about the fact that she was surprised in the first place. But she would only allow that if it was a really good surprise.

She found the door that led Aaryn onto the grounds. She opened it and exited. She felt her bare feet collide with the dewy grass. She wrinkled her nose. She had forgotten to put on shoes. Stupid Aaryn. She was always doing things like that, forgetting shoes. She rolled her eyes. How could she have been so stupid. She walked towards the lake. She looked up at the pier looming high above the lake. She couldn't make out if there was anyone there. She hoped not. She didn't really feel like talking to anyone. She never did. Well, not new people at least. Her friends were fine to talk to.

And I mourn you
For the detail that is left unsaid

She found her way towards the pier. She had to climb it. This she knew. Because, think about this, how else would she get up there? She supposed she could "Wingardium Leviosa" herself, but that would be a tad difficult, and she didn't really want to worry about injuries. She put her foot on the first step of the pier. She really hoped no one was down below her, especially boys, because she was certain all they had to do was look up to see her underwear. No one will be up at this hour, she reminded herself. This relieved her a little, but she still had this strange feeling that someone was down there taking pictures and she was going to make the headlines of the next gossip column, "Aaryn Saeumi's, aka Slut, Undewear". Though why they would care about her underwear and why she would care if she made the gossip page, she wasn't sure.

She reached the top and scanned the pier. It was covered in the leaves that had fallen from the above trees. She spotted the usual fall colors and a couple greens. She sighed. This was boring. Where where the teal leaves? She smiled slightly to herself. Her eyes fixed on a person. Damn. Someone was there. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. Maybe... Maybe if she just ignored him, he wouldn't be as weird as the rest of the people in this school. She hoped.

Is a reminder of the time you bled
Return to days when you knew you still felt alive

[Pierce James]

Pierce listened to the approaching footsteps with a frown tweaking his lips. He was still irritated that he didn't have enough for his sketch, but he also wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of company. Just remembering all of the people who'd approached him so far was enough to make him want to jump off the pier just to avoid another one. Oh sure, the people he'd meant were pleasant and all. Very friendly. But they just talked too much. Talking was all right, but he hadn't had one intelligent conversation since he'd come to the school.

Not one.

The place where he'd hit his head when he woke up started throbbing. A little bit of a late response, but maybe it was just the thought of a pointless small-talk conversation. It wasn't only that, either. Some of them were just overly friendly. Almost to the point of sucking up, or flirting. It-- it just got to the point where he couldn't tolerate it anymore. And now, if the trend of everyone he met being this way continued, he was about to meet another one. Just his damned luck.

As the girl climbed the steps, Pierce opened his eyes, looking down to his sketch book and taking up his pencil once more. Maybe if he ignored her he wouldn't have to deal with that... That retched introduction phase and small-talk. His face was set in a look of concentration, mixed with a bit of annoyance from the now constant throbbing. He took up to the details of the pier on his sketch, still listening to the approaching person.

She'd stopped and, to his great surprise, didn't say a word. Perhaps she was contemplating leaving? That would be brilliant. With another rather nasty throb in his head, Pierce sighed heavily, irately. His pencil stopped, his head still down. From the corner of his eye, he could barely see the person. He was right, it was another girl. In a sun dress. It was September, for thank's sake. Who would be out and about in a thin piece of material like that? Especially at such an early hour.

Maybe, even in the early morning, she was one of those girls that had to look their best? You never know when you have a chance to be a little flirt whore, after all, now do you? Usually, Pierce wouldn't be so presumptuous, but right now the throb wasn't making him all about sunshine and daisies. Although, what he said next wasn't exactly influenced just by that little bit of pain. "If you're one of those flirtatious little suck-ups," he began, starting on his sketch once again. "Who never stops talking and goes on about how excited you are to be here and how," he paused, a sour look on his face. "Fantastical of a place this is, you're better off leaving."

[/font]

[xxbrokenheartxx]

ooc;; you make me feel all blockquotey. xD

It was one of those moments.

The kind where the person was sitting there minding their own business and you just had to glance at them. And then you kept on doing it. And you weren't sure. So Aaryn glanced at the boy. She took in the sketchpad in his hand. What was he sketching? She hoped it wasn't her. -.- How insane would that be? Another stalker. Freaky. Or perhaps he was just trying to replace Akito. Since he had kind of disappeared. Not that she was complaining. She didn't really mind if he disappeared.

She had an urge to send a nasty comment his way. To tell him to stop sketching her. Then she realized he probably wasn't. It was just her being über paranoid. She glanced at him again. She then looked down at the water. It was a long way down. Could she feel her bottom slipping? No. She was just being paranoid. Just for extra precaution, though, she scooted backwards a little and crossed her legs. Realizing this was not a good idea, she just stretched them out a little, blushing, hoping the boy was looking. How embarrassing would that be? It wasn't as if he was like the boys at her muggle school. "Real" boys she liked to call them. They would leap for joy if her underwear was shown. All these boys where like adults. It was a tad scary. She was freaked out because boys weren't looking up her dress. Perhaps she was just a bit insane.

He was about to speak.

Oh god, I can't deal with people this early, she thought.

She wanted to throw him a nasty glare but didn't feel like giving him the honor of her glance. So she stared at her thumbs, hoping he would notice her obvious hate of conversation. She wouldn't mind conversations, but the two terms she had been here it had been nothing but random introductions. Okay, she had made a few friends. She had met Gia through Transfiguration. Well, not exactly, more like, she had made a scene in Transfiguration so Gia knew her name. xD

"If you're one of those flirtatious little suck-ups, who never stops talking and goes on about how excited you are to be here and how fantastical of a place this is, you're better off leaving," he said.

Aaryn let out a laugh. Perhaps wearing a sun dress wouldn't win "best idea of the year" award.

"Look hun," she said, "insulting people isn't the best way to make friends around here. Anyway, being a flirtatious little suck-up is so yesterday, but I hear it's all the rage with first years." The last two words were dripping with disdain

She sent the boy one of her glares that would make a "normal" person cower in fear, but no one ever seemed to notice around here since they were so wrapped up in being über friendly and such.

[Pierce James]

She'd laughed. . How was it funny? He was completely serious. Pierce wasn't in the mood for dealing with pointless rambling. If that started off he'd have to just get up and walk away. He didn't look up, or stop the small strokes he made to capture the several leaves that danced on the pier's surface with every breeze. Hun. Ick. How he hated that little nickname. And who ever said he was out to make friends? It was too damn early in the morning to make friends.

But, he had to hand it to the girl. It did seem to be all the rage with first year girls to flirt like no other. Apparently, she wasn't a first year. Pierce didn't bother to look at the girl; leading to his missing her evil little glare. He was looking at the pier, eyes trailing over it and across the water. He absently continued to detail the water, smudging between the waves with the side of his end finger. Straightening up, Pierce looked from his drawing to the lake and back again.

He scratched a bit more on the paper, tilting his head slightly. He knew he couldn't be the only one to have noticed the desperate nature of the new people to the school. Mostly girls, really. He didn't see what the hurry was; the need to make so many friends and rush into a relationship. It was all rather pathetic, really. Did they all feel a need to be validated by having a significant other? How saddening. "I've noticed." Obviously. Otherwise he wouldn't have told her to piss off if she was one of them. .

[xxbrokenheartxx]

Aaryn could hear him scratching away with his pencil. It seemed as if he did not wish to speak. This did not bother her. She didn't feel the need to talk at this moment. Nor at any other moment to this boy. She picked up a pebble off the wooden surface and let it drop off the pier. She watched it fall, and felt as if it was going in slow motion. She smiled as she heard the satisfying plop as it reached the bottom and small ripples began forming, slowly getting bigger. There was something amazing about this that made her so happy. Well, happy was a strong word, but it brought her elation level from 0 to 1. So it made her happier, but not exactly happy.

The boy spoke. She did not bother to see if he was looking at her while he did this. "I've noticed," he said. She nodded her head.

"So you have," Aaryn said, "and have you also noticed that most 'normal' people don't like to be bothered at five in the morning."

She didn't look up. She simply picked up another pebble and let it fall.

After dropping a few more pebbles in rapid succession she looked up at the boy, so as to take in all his features. He had snakebites over his lips and on his lips. His hair was messy and hung over his forehead with blonde highlighting his coal-colored locks. He wore a pair of jeans and a grey sweatshirt. How boring. ._. Although her style sense wasn't much better at the moment. Since it was the early morning, she hadn't expected to meet anyone.

She felt a cool breeze blow across her body. She shivered and shook her head. She was so stupid for wearing a sleeveless sun dress. She crossed her arms in an attempt to warm herself. Of course, it didn't do much. But it made it feel like she was trying. She looked down at the lake again. Golden leaves fell from the trees into the clear water. She smiled as they floated on the surface, creating an interesting mix of blue and leaves.

[Pierce James]

"Yep," Pierce responded shortly, not looking from his work. There was a reason he wasn't exactly chipper, besides the fact that he had a headache. He wasn't a morning person. Really, if Garfield hadn't been a prick, no pun intended, he might've woken up in a better mood. A claw in the face wasn't exactly a lovely Good Morning. And he would have woken up later. Much later. In fact, his first class was around ten in the morning today. He'd probably wake up, at most, ten minutes before. Which meant Pierce had several hours before he absolutely had to be awake.

It wasn't exactly a thought that made him feel ecstatic. It was five in the morning, for heaven's sake. He wasn't an exception to those normal people who didn't like being disturbed so early. At the sound of the pebbles dropping, Pierce glanced up out of impulse, but then only turned back to his sketch book as he caught what the noise was. With a few more small twinges from his wrist and several more added lines, he leaned back, setting his pencil down on the crease of the book.

He stared blankly in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest comfortably. What was he to do for five more hours? What was there to do for five more hours? Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of the girl shivering. She had to know what time of year it was. Not to mention it was early morning, which wasn't exactly the most heated part of the day . "Did you notice that it's the middle of September? It's a bit late for a summer dress, don't you think?" he asked rhetorically.

He wasn't trying to point out that it was a stupid decision, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't exactly the most stylish person in the world, but he wore sensible clothing. ._. What would prompt a person to wear that in this weather?

[xxbrokenheartxx]

Yep, he answered shortly.

Aaryn rolled her eyes and went back to work. Whatever you could call her work. Soon, she got bored of throwing pebbles in the water. As you might have guessed, it wasn't the funnest thing to do. It was fun, but the satisfaction stops after ten minutes or so. She broke off a loose piece of wood. She watched it magically grow back. She smiled slightly. She pointed her wand at the broken wand and muttered, "incendio." The tip ignited. She let it sit for a minute or two and then pointed her wand at it again and muttered, "aquamenti." A stream of water poured from the tip of her wand. The flame difused and the end of the stick was blackened. Perfect. Charcoal.

Did you notice that it's the middle of September? It's a bit late for a summer dress, don't you think?

"Ya," she said, smiling slightly, "I kind of woke up this morning threw on a sun dress, thinking no one would see me, since no one would be out in this ungodly hour. Then I walked outside and realized it was cold. Funny how Fall just kind of sneaks up on you, isn't it?"

She was being friendly. How odd. Not that it would seem odd to this boy. It was probably a relief. "Normal" friendly. Not like this place friendly. Everyone here came up to you and said, hi I'm Mary Sue, Gagillion Year, Sparklypoo. It's like, who cares? If your gonna say hi, say hi. Don't give a life story. If she went up to anyone in the muggle world, before she came to Trio's and said, hi I'm Aaryn Sauemi, in eighth grade, and going to Bla Middle School. They'd give her a weird look and walk away.

But here. It was different. It was a tad scary. Another gust of wind came and she shivered a little harder. She looked back down at the pier. She cleared an area of the pier, so it was free from dirt and leaves. She then began silently sketching the boy with her burnt stick, it acted as charcoal. It was a bit odd, but hopefully he wouldn't look over. And if he did, hopefully he wouldn't recognize her blob of color for what it was.

[Pierce James]

Pierce tilted his head in Aaryn's direction, looking at her just before she stopped speaking. "Mmhmm," he grunted, turning his gaze back to the scene in front of him, rolling his eyes as he did. The sound of rustling debris made the throb in his head a bit more. He reached for his book, taking the pencil out before closing it. Lifting the flap of his bag from beside him, Pierce slipped the book in and opened a small canister to put away the pencil. Resuming his position, he ignored the sound of light scratches and rustling coming from the girl.

The sun was near breaching the forest's thick tree tops. He absently wondered how much time had passed since he'd woken up and how much longer it would be until he had to go to class. With another throb from his head Pierce sighed irately. This was getting rather irritating. He knew he could have gone up to the hospital ward to get a remedy and perhaps something to sleep, but it was too far away. What would be the point of it now, anyway?

He had to admit, though, meeting this girl had been a bit refreshing compared to what he'd experienced so far. Sure, she was a bit odd, first snapping with a snide comment and then becoming what sounded like her being friendly. Or nice. Of course, everyone so far had been nice to him, but she was a different kind of nice . And she didn't talk a lot, he gathered. Or, like himself, she didn't like those worn out awkward introductions. Maybe nobody understood that all the information they got out of the way in the beginning would have eventually come out anyway. It would be a lot better if those overzealous ones would just cool it and figure everything out along the way.

Pierce's eyebrows furrowed slightly. All right, so the scratching was getting hard to ignore. He gave her a side glance, raising an eyebrow as he watched her, kneeling on the ground and hovering over something with a stick in her hand. What a strange person. It occurred to him that she was trying to draw with the charred stick. A somewhat amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Having fun over there?"

[xxbrokenheartxx]

Mmhmm.

Aaryn was fully aware she was being odd. She had been snappish then nice. It was odd. But she didn't really care. She studied the boy some more. She added a shade to his eyes. A few scratches created eyebrows. It was actually going quite well. She was surprised at how it turned out. She smiled slightly. She added a round face shape. Then some lips. He was slowly forming. She brushed a stray leaf that had fallen from the trees. Then she took it back and looked to see if she could place it anywhere. She couldn't. So she threw it off the edge.

The sun was fully up in the sky now, so she had to have been out for at least twenty minutes by now. She smiled at the rising sun. It's reflection in the water was so purdiful. So very purdiful. She smiled at it. She threw a pebble into the reflection and it rippled. That would be one purdy picture. To bad she didn't have a camera. She sighed slightly. Oh well, it didn't really matter, she supposed, She stared at it for a little bit and then turned back to her work, adding some shading around his cheek bone.

Having fun over there?

"Mmhmm," she said, quietly, "I would be having even more fun, though, if you would turn your head, so I could get a better look at your ears."

The edges of her mouth curled up into a slight smile that could hardly be called a smile at all, perhaps just a look of amusement. She wondered how he would react to her drawing him. Perhaps well. Perhaps not. You never knew with people these days. Most likely he'd be like all the others and say, what a wonderful drawing! I love it. Those people sickened her. They were only saying it because someone finally took interest in them.

She sighed a little bit.

[Pierce James]

My ears? he thought, eyebrows raising out of surprise only to disappear behind his hair that had fallen in his face. She was drawing him . So this girl wasn't only random, but very odd, too. Pierce shifted slightly, moving his before stretched out legs to cross, setting his hands in his lap in fists. He had no idea how to react to being drawn. He only watched out of curiosity as her hand moved on the pier, not being able to make out the figure. Why was she drawing him, anyway? He wasn't all that interesting. I mean, he was in a sweatshirt and jeans, how interesting could that be? And his ears weren't even showing because his hair was partially covering them.

"Are you drawing me, Missus Pebbles?" he asked, amusement evident on his features. For the lack of a better name, he'd chosen that. After all, she had been throwing pebbles in the water. Pierce thought it fit her very well :]. "There's no need to see my ears if you're drawing me as I am." His head throbbed once more, but he ignored it. The throbbing was starting to get a little bit better.

The grounds had started to get warm, the morning chill disappearing very quickly. It was still a bit chilly, but the sun would quickly warm anybody up, especially Pierce since he had a sweatshirt on. Maybe that's why his headache was going away, the cold never did help out anything like that . A chill ran up his spine. He tried to suppress it, but he couldn't help but give a spastic looking shiver. He shook his head, making his hair more messy in the process.

Pierce took his bag, putting the strap on his shoulder and stood up, hand on one of the pier's posts to keep his balance. It took only a few steps to reach the girl. He pretty much towered over her . He knelt down, looking at the progress of her drawing. She isn't half bad, he thought. But then again, she wasn't the best. She'd done the shading on his cheeks wrong. With the side of his thumb, he rubbed it over the part of the pier with his cheek on it, changing it from looking like his cheek was caved in to just having a high cheek bone. Which he did xD. "You need to work on your shading."

[xxbrokenheartxx]

Are you drawing me, Missus Pebbles? There's no need to see my ears if you're drawing me as I am.

The boy spoke. Aaryn glared at him for a moment, because he had contradicted her. Then she decided it wasn't really worth glaring at him anyways. He had a point, but she always added unnecessary ears to her drawings. She sighed heavily and began adding lines here and there. It was a bit peaceful, drawing alone. Well, she wasn't alone, but the boy was silent, so she felt alone. And she liked that feeling. It helped her think about nothing. And that was what she had been striving to do lately.

She kept her eyes on the pier, but she had stopped drawing. What time was it? Surely only a half hour or so had passed, but she was already getting tired of the outside, and the boy across from her, who she was sure would speak again. She didn't really want to be out here. She wanted to go back to bed, but at this time, she knew that was highly improbably. But she still wanted to leave. She sat there, trying to think of ways to get out of this place strategically, without the boy following her, or getting mad at her.

What if she told him she had to go to the bathroom and just didn't come back. No, then she ran the risk of meeting him again and getting teased over long bowel movements that never happened. So that wouldn't work. What if she said she had to get to class. But then wouldn't he need to get to class as well? And he would follow her to class. Perhaps she should just wait and see if he left. It wasn't that Aaryn didn't like the boy. She liked the boy well enough, but she didn't exactly enjoy company. Or she could- The boy spoke, interrupting her thoughts.

You need to work on your shading.

"Pfft," Aaryn said, but did not add anything on about it. "So, may I see what your drawing, Mistuh Sketch, it must be great, if your good enough to critique me."

She huffed a little. She didn't like people insulting her. No matter if she thought it was bad or not, no one else could think it was bad. She didn't like it. She knew she was a spoiled little brat, but she couldn't help it. It was in her nature. She looked up at the boy and glared at him for a little bit.

[Pierce James]

Pierce couldn't help but smile slightly when Missus Pebbles dubbed him Mistuh Sketch. He usually wouldn't stand for nicknames, but this one just sounded good. Ish. At least it seemed to fit him very well, from his point. And she wanted to see what he had been drawing . Would that be a good idea? I'm not meaning to brag or anything, but Pierce's sketch book had some pretty damn good drawings in them. Although, he himself knew he could improve. But they were nonetheless good.

Brushing the flap of his bag over, Pierce carefully took out his large and obviously worn sketchbook. He couldn't remember how long he'd been using the same one, it had to have been three or so years old. There were obvious areas of it where he'd torn out pages, flipped back and forth between them, and made small notes. The beginning pages held still picture drawings, mostly of house rooms, household objects, these being rather simple; along with a few window point-of-view sketches of the rolling hills of Ireland. There were several sketches of his sister sleeping in her overly sterile bed, some close up and some looking like they were drawn from a distance, all progressively more detailed. There wasn't much to do when you had to take care of a bed-ridden sibling, obviously.

As the pictures progressed they improved in quality and detail, and near the middle of the sketch book, the house related pictures stopped. It went on into landscapes, skylines of London and more from a point inside the city. There were drawings of sophisticated looking women and men sipping coffee or what have you at cafes during lunch, busy streets, pedestrians and such. The further into the sketch book the better the drawings. Near the back was the one he had been doing before Missus Pebbles came along, and after that were only a few blank pages left.

And that meant he'd have to make a trip to Hogsmeade or some place for a new one. Eh, sometime later. Pierce held the book closed in front of the girl, waiting for her to take it from his lead marred fingers. He didn't mind who looked at his work, or really what they thought of it. Some people had journals to document their thoughts and Pierce had his journals. He had several full ones sitting at the bottom of his trunk, to think of it. One of them was full of purely abstract doodles.

"Have at it," he said with a slight smirk, arrogance evident in his emerald eyes, waggling the book slightly in front of her. He hoped she didn't take long. He was hoping to go into the castle for a bit of breakfast, which really was why he'd actually gotten up in the first place and still had his bag on his shoulder, But he couldn't help himself from helping a bit with her... odd, stalker-ish drawing of himself. =]

[xxbrokenheartxx]

Aaryn noticed a smile creep over Sketch's face as she countered his nickname for her own. She didn't complain over her nickname, because she didn't have a problem with nicknames. Mr. Hardy had dubbed her Nancy. For Nancy Drew, because, apparently, she was good at solving mysteries. Especially ones that included finding lost cook books. Or looking on a different shelf. So she didn't mind in the least, and it didn't look like he minded much either.

Mistuuh Sketch took out a worn and battered sketchbook. It's cover was a worn out blood re. It looked like he had been using it for ages. It look like it was his passion. Aaryn remembered her "passion". Or the only thing she ever did when she was at her foster parent's house. Music. She would spend hours in her room playing her guitar. And singing along. She had played her favorite tunes, which she was also constantly listening. Usually they were rock. Her foster parents, in an effort to make her happy, had bought her any rock CD she had asked for. So she spent hours blasting it through the house and annoying them. In return, they'd stopped buying her CDs. She'd been forced to make her own money and buy them with it. That had really sucked. Like crazy bad.

She had also composed. She had a little notebook that was currently at the bottom of her trunk. She had stopped composing once she got to Trio's. She had simply lost interest. Her first pieces hadn't had any words or chords, just tunes picked out on the guitar. It remained like that until about halfway through. That was when Aaryn had started writing lyrics. In the last ten or so she had written, there had been chords. She had only really ever written one decent song. She couldn't even remember it anymore.

That saddened her a little. It meant she had stopped doing what she used to love. Her friend back at home had gone to a mental doctor. He had said that if you stop doing the things you love, you might be going through depression. She didn't want to go through depression. Though she doubted she was going to, since that doctor had turned out to be a fraud, and had gotten sent to jail to for three years.

Have at it.

Aaryn took the old book and began flipping through it. She wasn't that interested in it, but it was worth a look. She was surprised to find that he really was a good drawer. She flipped through the pages and they got better and better. She was trying to hide her shock. Keep her composure, pretend like it was no big deal. She skipped a wad of pages. Now she was at great fantastical drawings. She flipped through them for a few more minutes and then looked at the one in the back that he had been drawing. It was really good.

"It's okay," Aaryn said, shrugging, "I guess."

[Pierce James]

As Missus Pebbles flipped through his sketches, he only glanced momentarily at the book, just to see if she was actually being careful with it, but directed his gaze to her as she continued on. He couldn't quite read her expression, or reaction, rather. Not that it really mattered all that much; they were only drawings. To her, they would be meaningless. For Pierce, though, they meant the world. They were documentation of where he'd been, what he'd seen and how he'd progressed.

She'd completely skipped the section of drawings that were only of his sister. It was most likely best, as he didn't want a complete stranger asking about his personal life; or who his reoccurring subject was. Now wasn't the time to think about it; he had a whole day ahead of him of school work. He didn't need that certain distraction to disturb the rest of his day.

Missus Pebble's voice snapped him back. His face had become expressionless as he'd observed her looking at the different pages, waiting for her to return his sketchbook. Another smile tugged at the corner of his lips at her comment. He would take it as a compliment, since he thought they all were worthless, at least in quality. Plus, he hadn't missed her initial reaction when she turned to the newer work. He laughed quietly, taking back his sketchbook gently and tucking it back in his bag.

"I'm glad you think so," he said, standing up to his full height. He stretched his arms above his head and looked back down at her. "I think they're rubbish." He tucked his hands in his pockets, giving her a slight smile before walking around her to the pier's steps. His stomach had started growling. He didn't want to be rude, but he was hungry. He gave a small wave over his shoulder without turning. "I'm going to breakfast. Later, Missus Pebbles." With that, he made his way back to the castle.