Open Artful Encounters

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana Sofia hadn't exactly felt spending an afternoon at the village, but since her sister wanted desperately to go for some reason and she was too young to stay home alone her father had decided that they would all go. Luckily for her he trusted her enough to hang out in the park whilst he took her sister whereever she wanted to go. Even though it wasn't the warmest weather, there was still some sun and it was definitely nice enough to be outside. If she had to choose the youngster would much rather spend her time outside than following her sister around through some kind of shop. Which, with her sister's sweet tooth, would probably end up being the candy shop. Dressed in her favourite jeans, that had recently been graced by her self-painted daisies on it, Ana Sofia made her way towards the swingsets. She wasn't planning on using the swings but she had always found it to be one of the best spots in the park, even if she wasn't entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because it was such a central spot in the park, or maybe because she secretely hoped to run into some other kids there. After all, it would be nice to have met some other kids or maybe even make a friend or two before going to hogwarts. Sitting herself down on the grass Ana opened up her bag and got out her sketchbook. She had started on drawing a couple of sunflowers yesterday and since she probably had some time to fill before her father and sister would be done she might as well continue with it. Taking out two of her yellow pencils she put one behind her ear in an attempt not to loose it and started colouring with the other, completely focussed on the drawing and shut off from the rest of the world around her.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh was spending more time in New Zealand than she had thought she would prior to starting school, but it was just that going back home was such a hassle and it wasn’t like it was costing them that much to stay in New Zealand - they had plenty money for it. The girl was however bored. There wasn’t a whole to do and her sister was so decidedly boring and grown up. She had wanted to seek out her disowned brother, but much to her dismay the bouncer hadn’t let her in to where she knew he worked at night. Not even when she’d just crying in his face. But this was a new day and a new wave of boredom crossed. She’d left their shared house without telling her sister where she was off to and reached near to the park where she’d once been to, and noticed that there was a girl this time, who was sitting on the swings and had something in front of her. It appeared to be a sketchbook of some kind. The girl was sketching while sitting on a swing, that seemed ill-advised. ”Hey, can ah see what ye’re drawin’?” Liusaidh already reaching out to be able to take it from her. She didn’t really want it, and she didn’t really care, but maybe it would be interesting. Something could come of it..hopefully. Liusaidh was bored after all, and this might just help her be a lot less bored. ​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana Sofia had been focussing on her drawing so hard that the sound of a voice actually made her pencil slip and she tried her best not to whimper. Luckily, she had been using yellow and pretty much 70% of the drawing was going to need yellow in it so it was nothing she wouldn't be able to fix. When she looked up from her drawing and at the girl she ever so slightly cocked her head at the girl's outstretched hand, reaching for her sketchbook. Ana put her pencil down and gave her a small smile. "Hi, sure." She responded as she picked up the sketchbook and held it out to the girl. She had a habit of carefully tearing out her sketches and drawings once they were done because she often made a mess of the sketchbook and didn't want to ruin them, so there wasn't much more in that than the drawing she was working on. Which was also the reason that she felt secure enough to hand it to a complete stranger. Ana put the pencil she was holding behind her other ear so that she now had a pencil behind both of her ears and curiously looked at the girl. "Watcha think?" She asked. Not that it would matter much what the girl thought. Sure, if she liked it that would be nice but if she didn't then well, so be it. The drawing wasn't anywhere near finished and since she had learned not to judge something untill it was done Ana hadn't even formed her own opinion on it yet.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh was pretty pleased when the girl, seemed to almost happily hand it to Liusaidh. She took it greedily but was immediately disappointed. It was clear that this was a sketchbook that wasn’t used all that much. She rolled her eyes at the sketchbook and at the question. ”Boring,” she kept a hold of the book for only a moment longer before very casually throwing it on to the ground, it was even like she was throwing it away from them to get this girl to go chase it but was just dropping it on to the ground. ”Ye mustnae be very good if that’s all ye’ve got,” she wandered a little away from the girl and too the swing furtherest from her, trying to make it clear she had a rather small disinterest now. ”Ye should just give up.” she told her, with a serious enough tone. Because truly it was what Liusaidh would do, she didn’t need to be good at anything, but if she was trying at something and wasn’t good then she’d just give up. There was no harm in it. ”I’m sure yer talented elsewhere, ah can help ye find a new talent that yer actually good at if you want.” Liusaidh had moved across the swings, not bothering to touch the ground as she moved back closer to her. She was bored enough that she’d continue talking to this girl, maybe she’d get somewhere with it eventually. ​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana frowned when the girl tossed her sketchbook to the ground. It was a rude thing to do and there was no reason for her to do so. It didn't make a very good impression on Ana but then again she didn't want to judge someone on just one simple action. "I am good. I just take them out when they're done." She responded picking up the sketchbook so she could put it back into the safety of her bag. She observed the girl as she moved away from her. In all aspects the girl didn't seem interested in her, which made Ana wonder why she continued talking to her anyways. "You're pretty quick to judge." The youngster folded her arms when she was told she should just give up. Ana wasn't one too judge or form an opinion too quickly and this kid seemed to be the exact opposite of her in that area. She knew she was good at her art, at least as good as an eleven year old could be, so the girl's opinion didn't do much to her. On top of that her opinion wasn't even based on anything but an empty sketchbook, which seemed like hardly enough information to base an opinion on. "Thank you, but I don't need to find a new talent." Ana smiled at the girl. It had seemed like a nice enough offer, but she wasn't all too sure whether she was even being genuine or if she was just looking for something to kill time. "What's it that you like to do?" She curiously asked her, still unsure what she should think of the other girl.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh looked at the girl as she said she was good at drawing, just simply took them out when done, ”Aye sure, and dae ye place them direct in the bin tae?” she joked with her, since that had to be why she wasn’t showing them off. Who didn’t show off a talent if they were good at it, so that had to mean the girl just wasn’t that good at it. At the statement Liusaidh just shrugged, she didn’t really care, nor did she care that the girl was saying something that others might be a little annoyed by. ”Fine, ah disagree but ah cannae stop ye and if ye need a new talent dinnae come to me,” she gave a little shrug. She didn’t think that anyone that didn’t keep ahold of drawings would be that good, but she knew too that art was a little subjective, it was why it didn’t make sense most of the time to her. At the question, she shrugged, ”Ah dae what ah like,” she said, it wasn’t anything she liked doing specifically, everything got boring after a while to her and she just needed to find something else to do. So the flat had been boring so she’d come to the park. She didn’t ever need to worry about being good at anything, ”Am great at everythin’ ah dae so dinnae need a specific talent but ah dinnae need tae be good at anythin',” she said it with an honesty of someone who truly believed it, and a tone that meant she didn't care about being good at stuff.​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana squinted her eyes at the girl when it was obvious she didn't believe her. If only she had brought her folder with her she would be able to show her. But she hadn't, so she couldn't. "No, I put them in a folder so they stay nice." She replied matter-of-factly. If this girl didn't want to believe that she was good at art than so be it. She wasn't going to get a random person's opinion get to her anyways. As long as she believed in her own talent she'd be good. "I won't." Ana shook her head with a little smile. If she was ever going to feel like she wanted to try something else she definitely wouldn't seek out this girl. She'd probably have loads of friends to do things with when she got to hogwarts anyways. "That's not actually an answer to my question though." Ana cocked her head slightly as she looked at the girl, wondering how she would respond. "Is there like nothing in specific you like to do? Doesn't even have to be something you can be talented at, could be anything. Even shopping or other stuff like that I guess."

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

”Aye, sure,” Liusaidh replied, really elongating how she said it to heavily suggest she didn’t believe it at all. In reality, Liusaidh didn’t much care what this girl did with them or even if she was good at drawing. It was in her mind that anyone who was good would show off, she would if she was good - and could be bothered. But clearly she wasn’t. Liusaidh giggled lightly at her response, ”It’s no is it?” she gave a little smirk, ”Ah really like drawing sunflowers in ma wee diary and then binning them when ah realise how terrible ah am,” she mocked lightly, still smiling at the other girl, treating her like she tended to treat a lot of others in her life. ”But ye know, ah’d just set them on fire, then at least it would be fun,” Liusaidh shrugged a little. I’m Liusaidh by the way” She introduced herself, but she didn’t extend a hand to the girl, just kept her gaze on her. ​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana smiled at the girl's response when she realized it wouldn't matter defending her art in any way. She obviously didn't believe her and was most likely not ever going to believe her untill she showed her more of her art. She was curious about whether the other girl would actually answer her question when she asked it again. Did she have any hobbies? How could anyone not have any hobbies? There was always at least one thing someone liked to do, right? She'd want to frown at the girl mocking her, but in all honesty she couldn't be bothered by the mockery because it just sounded plain funny in combination with whatever accent the girl had. Instead she just let out a little chuckle. "So you do like something." She tried to act surprised in reaction to her mentioning setting drawings on fire. "Although I don't think setting things on fire is a much appreciated hobby." Ana continued semi-seriously as she shook her head with a little smile. "I'm Ana." She introduced herself after the girl had done so. She still wasn't sure whether or not she actually liked the girl but she did find her interesting for reasons she wasn't sure of yet. Perhaps because she seemed to care so little.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh shrugged a little at the statement, she didn’t really mind that she wasn’t annoying her, this was still proving to be more fun than other things that Liusaidh could’ve ended up doing. She shrugged at the statement, b”Ye never said it had tae be an appreciated hobby,” Liusaidh countered with a little shrug, ”Plus dinnae be dull, ye sound like ma mum,” she rolled her eyes a little, ”Ah’ll have ye know, ahm very careful wae ma fires,” she wasn’t really, but Liusaidh just set little things on fire, the odd leave, the odd piece of boring paper work, things that could easily just join the rest of the fire without much of a bother. ”Ana, where ye fae?” she asked the girl. Liusaidh hopped on to the swing next to her, but did not sit down, vaguely moving it back and forth and just thinking about what next. She wasn’t interested in Ana, but she was bored and this park didn’t have a whole lot that you could do. ​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana didn't have a good response to what the girl said as she was kind of right about it. She wondered if she was being serious for a second but from what the girl said next it did seem like it. "But you like actually set things on fire?" She curiously asked her. Ana liked to look at fires, they were definitely pretty and pleasing to look at but randomly settin things on fire seemed to be on a whole different level. "I'm from around here." Ana shrugged. She didn't think her being born and raised in New Zealand would be of much interest to the Liusaidh. "I'm more interested in where you're from though." She continued. It was hard to miss that she had an accent of sorts, but Ana wasn't skilled in keeping all the different accents apart and so she wouldn't have much to base a guess on.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh was a little surprised and very pleased that she had managed to stump the girl, she hadn’t meant to but she had managed. Well - perhaps not entirely stumped but enough that it helped Liusaidh feel even more superior than she did normally. Liusaidh then smiled at the question, ”Different things burn different colours,” she retorted as if it was obvious, and as if it was the differences in the fires that would make it interesting or something to like. This girl just didn’t get it or woouldn’t get it. Liusaidh hadn’t ever paid much attention to the accent of different people though she knew her own accent was harsh and present. ”Ah’m fae Scotland, a wee town no unlike brightstone,” she said, ”Ye got siblings then?” she then asked, she said almost as a competition, as if comparing family would be a competition. ​

 

[Ana Sofia Burleigh]

Ana Sofia had to think about the girls answer for a second. She had always thought fire looked pretty but had never paid much attention to them as she didn't often see a fire. She certainly hadn't ever thought about the different colours of fires that could be produced. Which was strange because she had always loved how floo powder made the flames change colour. "Yeah, no, I knew that." Ana nodded. If that was the reason the girl enjoyed setting things on fire than she could understand that. Sort of. It still seemed like a strange hobby to her. "Cool!" She smiled when the girl told her she was from Scotland. She had never been to the country but her dad had and he had shown her pictures of how pretty it had been. "I've got a younger sister, her name's Aliyah." Ana answered with a little shrug. She liked her sister, but the girl could be incredibly stubborn and was definitely a handful from time to time. "What about you? Brother? Sister? Multiple?" She was curious about whether the girl had any siblings and if they would be as different as Ana and her own sister were.

 

[Liusaidh Styx]

Liusaidh was definitely pleased with herself that she had won when talking about fire and her hobbies, she could admit that she didn’t perhaps believe all she was saying but she was just happy to have won a little bit, even if it was not technically something that could be won. The girl nodded as Ana listed off her siblings - though it was a particularly short list, ”Aye, multiple,” she knew that her family was a little difficult and she was perhaps about the stretch it a little here but she didn’t mind that at all, it wasn’t like this girl would know any different or have any way to counter it, ”Ah have three older ‘nd an older sister. I had two sisters but one ae them died ‘fore ah wis born, so she doesnae count,” Liusaidh told her, acting rather blaise about her dead sister. ”It’s better bein’ the youngest cause nae one expects ye to dae anythin’” she told her, ”Ah bet yer sister gets away wae murder,” Since she could only assume that any young sister was exactly like her and that they would also, like her get away with anything. ​