Welcome to Gaia! ::

Quartz hummed happily as she crossed the threshold into one of her favorite classes. She adored art class, it was pretty much the highlight of her day. She went over to her seat and settled down, pulling out her little sketch book and doodling in it while she waited for all the other students to gather.

Well, if asked she would say she was doodling, but in reality she was working on portraits of class mates. It was a hobby of hers, to draw things or people she found interesting. She liked doing it in secret though, because people got all weird when they found out you were doing a drawing of them.

Her current target was Atem, a Geist whose coloring always made her fingers itch to pick up some crayons or colored pencils. She'd been taking extra care with her sketch, trying to make it look as real as possible. So far it was mostly a bunch of outlines and little bits she would neaten up later. She fully planned to color this sketch in the future!

Quartz put away her sketch book when the teacher walked in an paid attention to their assignment. She almost laughed when she heard they were getting paired up and drawing each other; that was the beginning of every class for Quartz, though it would be interesting to see a drawing someone might have done of her. She waited for her name to be called, and once it was she involuntarily grabbed at the edge of her desk.

Atem. She was paired...with Atem. This was either an amazing stroke of luck or it would end so embarrassingly that she might not be able to show her face in class again. Quartz gathered her things (she kept most of it all in a bag that she toted with her everywhere) and moved to sit near Atem. "Hello," she said shyly as she settled down.

Quartz blinked and shyly spoke up. "My mom said I looked like all colors of quartz. My hair was citrine, my skin was rose quartz and jasper, and my horns were like agate." She was rather proud of her horns though, so the complement had caused her to perk up a bit.

She pulled her sketch book out of her bag and flipped it open, very carefully angling it so that Atem couldn't see the outline already in place, and began to add in all the little details she hadn't been able to get from a front angle without making it look like she was staring. "Ah, your colors are very nice," she said, feeling like she should return a compliment so she wouldn't seem conceited by only accepting one, but feeling a slight blush because she honestly wasn't that great with handing out compliments to anyone who wasn't family.

Quartz was concentrating particularly hard, getting that little furrowed crease in her brow as she glanced up at Atem, stared, then glanced back down at her sketch pad and added in more detail. If she wanted to get good at drawing she had to start noticing things like that, so she did her very best to notice all that she could. She was looking her sketch over, eyes roving across the lines and wondering if she needed to add anything else, and if maybe she should break out her colored pencils and color the sketch, when Atem asked his question.

Quartz looked up, blinking a few times as her mind tried to focus on the question. "Ah fun. Let's see," she trailed off, trying to think. "Mmm. I draw a lot. I like to go on adventures to find new, interesting things to draw. My mom takes me out walking and exploring sometimes, and that's pretty fun. I'm not allowed to go too far on my own though." She fiddled with her pencil, curious but wondering if it was okay to ask. "A-Ah, what kinds of things do you do for fun," she asked in a somewhat quiet, almost shy voice.

Quartz nodded. "I like to pretend I'm going on amazing quests and adventures whenever I go walking with my mama," she said. "Even though we only go through the park, there's still some hills and areas with lots of trees, so it still feels like an adventure. 'Cept adventure stories don't talk about having to pick leaves and twigs and tangles out of your fur," she added looking down at her fuzzy legs and giving them a slight wiggle.

"No castles on the walking paths though," she said, returning to her drawing and beginning to add the first touches of color. "The playground has lots of stuff that could be used for pretend, but that kind of pretend is more fun with other people than by yourself."

"We should," Quartz agreed, smiling shyly. She wondered briefly if she should mention in case of bad weather they could always play at her house; there was a room that was all windows and full of plants, and made an acceptable place to run around when it was raining or too cold. That room always felt nice and warm. But she decided against saying anything. Usually only best friends came over to another person's house to play games in bad weather, and she didn't think a nice (if awkward on her part, or at least she felt so awkward!) chat automatically made them best friends.

"My mom's are okay with me playing after school, as long as I tell them where I am first," she offered, unsure of just when Atem wanted to play, and too scared to suggest anything herself. She blushed a little, then quickly busied herself with coloring some more. The drawing was almost finished, and she felt quite proud of it!

Quartz nodded. That sounded pretty reasonable, since that would be about when her parents would wonder where she was. Plus it would be pretty horrible to miss dinner since she hadn't thought to bring snacks or anything.

She added the final touch of color to her drawing and set down her colored pencils to view the sketch proudly. It had come out way better than she'd ever thought it would, considering she'd have had to work with covert glances and memory before this assignment came up. Then she glanced up, and instantly felt a tiny bit panicked. It would only be natural to show the drawing to the other person, considering the subject. What if Atem didn't like it? What if he thought her drawing style was terribly off? Or what if he thought she was showing off by doing the drawing and coloring it before he was done with his? Or, horror of horrors, what if he guessed the reason she was done so quickly was because she already had the sketch partially completed before the assignment even started?

Already Quartz was beginning to feel her face heat up, and if hiding her face was an option she would have taken it. As a child it was probably the worst thing imaginable that someone you thought was nice and maybe had a crush on would suddenly think you were weird and start hating you. She tried really hard to hide her fretting, not wanting Atem to think she was weird for suddenly acting weird. Again, children's logic, but since she was a child, perfectly reasonably logic.

Quartz was distracted from her internal fretting by Atem suddenly making a strange face at his drawing. Before she could inquire he suddenly flipped the picture around. It was pretty good, or she thought so. It was different from her own drawing style, of course, but you could still see the effort put into it and tell what the subject was.

"I like it," she said softly. She physically fidgeted now, and even the way she clutched at her art pad seemed hesitant. Then, slowly and still mentally fretting, she turned the drawing around so Atem could see it, bracing for the worst.

Quartz felt her face heating up again with another blush, and took a moment to be thankful her skin was pink. If she was lucky her face wouldn't look as red as it felt. He liked it! He liked her drawing! Not only that, but he'd complemented her on her drawing skills! He'd liked it a lot and said she was really good. Quartz felt like she could just float away, and had to work hard to keep her brain from drifting off into poofs of color and dreams.

Thankfully, as though in effort to aid her, the bell signaling the end of the class rang out. Quartz actually jumped a little, surprised. It seemed like not that much time had passed at all! She looked back to Atem, still blushing a little. "I'm glad you like it. A-Ah, if you want I can meet you at the playground when classes are over. If you still want to play," she added, trailing off a bit and looking questioningly at Atem.