Closed Bursts of Feelings

[Lars van Houten]

Lars had always been an emotional person. He'd never quite mastered hiding his feelings, not like most other boys seemed to do. Lars never understood why they did it, or how. Every strong emotion he felt was written on his face and shown in every action. He cried easily, laughed too loudly sometimes and now... now his mind kept wandering to Elliot and the moment in the rain. He didn't know what it would mean for their future, but he was both scared and hopeful. He had retreated into art, as he often did. Early in the morning, he'd set up an easel in the Conglomerated Arts Room and had started to paint. Normally, Lars liked to paint flowers, or nature. But today, he was simply painting how he felt. The canvas was filled with short strokes of the brush, small bursts of color creating an abstract pattern. He had chosen colors that reflected how he felt about Elliot. Deep red, warm orange, bright yellow like sunlight. Purple and pink at the edges. It was starting to look pretty good, even if it didn't really look like anything. Lars grabbed a smaller brush and stared to add yellow lines all around the painting, yellow was a good color, and it reminded him most of Elliot and how he felt when he saw the other boy. He was completely focused on his task, not letting himself think too much as his brush moved across the canvas.

 

[Sophie Elliston]

Sophie was feeling relieved after having completed all of her homework tasks for the week. She liked school but sometimes became overwhelmed when she had too many things to complete at once. Luckily, it was all done for now and the girl was free to to whatever she liked. Sophie walked around the castle with her sketchbook tucked underneath her arm. She was in search for the Art's room, which she had never been to before but knew existed. She wanted to see what was there, to see if anything was interesting, and to see whether or not they utilised muggle stationery, which Sophie much preferred using. Charlotte told her that it was through the courtyard, and so the Ravenclaw happily made her way there, looking around for the room. It definitely wasn't hard to find. She pushed open the door to reveal the Art's room in all its glory. Not only were there easels and blank canvases, but a piano in which Sophie could try to teach herself in her free time. But as Sophie's eyes scanned the room she noticed someone was already occupying it. "Lars!" Sophie exclaimed, making her way over to him. "What's that you're painting? That's really cool!" She admired his choice of colours, knowing that he was quite creative himself.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars was completely lost in the painting, simply following his feeling and moving along. It was almost like his hand was guiding him without his brain being involved at all. it was the best feeling, and he rarely let himself get this absorbed into anything at Hogwarts. Despite mostly enjoying his time at school, Lars never completely felt safe around here. So he jumped when he suddenly heard a voice. He looked over, startled, only to see Sophie Eilliston standing there. He hadn't heard her come in at all. Lars was glad it was Sophie. She was nice,and someone he knew. She was also artistic, like him. It was something he'd noticed and even wanted to talk to her about, but he had never quite dared to take that step. He blushed as she asked what he was painting, brain scrambling for an answer. He couldn't be truthful, that would be embarrassing. Even to another artist, it would sound weird if he said he was painting his feelings for someone else. So eventually he settled on a shrug. "I just... wanted to paint with these colors. It's not really anything specific." He said, lowering the brush. "Did you want to come paint too?"

 

[Sophie Elliston]

Sophie was glad that her appearance hadn't startled Lars too much. She was happy to see him, happy to see someone she knew, and was quite interested in what he was doing. She listened as he explained it to her. He just wanted to use the colours, and Sophie nodded at this. The girl hadn't done much painting before and was usually one to sketch rather than paint, but she nodded at his offer nonetheless. "Of course!" she exclaimed, moving to grab another easel and blank canvas to put next to his one. "You'll have to teach me how to mix the colours though. I know the basics, like red and blue make purple, but how do you make the other colours like aqua or teal?" Sophie rummaged around in a nearby drawer to find a good enough paintbrush. She picked a small one with a fine tip and made her way back over to Lars and the easels. "What should I paint?" she asked him, hoping he had some good ideas in mind.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars didn't think he had gone a good job of explaining what he was doing, but that was because he couldn't really explain his thought process behind the painting without embarrassing himself. He smiled as Sophie moved an easel next to his. It had been a while since he'd painted with someone else. Her question made him think for a moment. "Well, you sort of... try things." He said. "Both those colors you mention are a mix of blue and green. So I would suggest putting those colors together and mixing it until you get the color you want..." He was surprised she asked him what to paint, and looked at her as he shrugged helplessly. "Uh, what you feel like painting?" He asked, unsure. He didn't think he could tell her what to paint, he had no idea what sort of thing she liked to create. "What do you usually paint?"