Welcome to Gaia! ::

Finding the slightly dilapidated gazebo had been a great stroke of luck for the young witch, as she hadn't been looking for it nor had she even thought of a meeting place for the garden club she was planning. The gazebo was the perfect octagon shape with lovely black pillars that provided shade on rainy days and positioned in an area where many plants could be set out without fearing harm from other students (erm, hopefully!). Belladonna hadn't thought of anything else to do for the day in preparation for the upcoming classes (she kind of missed Mr. Blobby even if he was smelly and kind of gross to touch), so today seemed like a wonderful day to start work on the gazebo! It had been overgrown with vines that, while adding to the general effect of a garden club, were starting to take over the little benches that skirted the inside edge of the gazebo, as well as the floor. Dashing back to her room to quickly change into a less fancy dress, something with stripes and ruffles nonetheless, Belladonna returned and began her work.

Work was not particularly easy for the small witch as the vines had somehow had managed a rather firm grip on the gazebo, but excitement for her club gave her enough passion to rip the vines away, all the while whispering a million "I'm sorry"s to the plant. It wasn't that she was destroying it, only trimming it back a bit and jack it all! Had she not brought shears? She hadn't even brought her cute little bird-scissors either. Ah well, she was almost done by the thought crossed her mind and with a final tug of a particularly angry vine (at least it looked rather angry), Belladonna tossed it aside and took a step away to observe her handiwork.

"Much better!" She shouted to only herself, throwing her hands into the air and jumping up once. Just to do it, she rushed forward and plopped down on the bench, surveying the area around the gazebo. It was simply perfect!

With a jerk of her head, as she had been gazing off into space, Belladonna beheld the form of a very familiar ghost girl. It hadn't been that long since the train ride, but Belladonna hadn't found the girl after she had been restored and hadn't Kasumi been put in the injured cabin at the end? Oh she couldn't remember, that day was such a blur! So she did the only thing she was very best at:
Fling herself across the gazebo to hug the girl.

"Kasumi? Are you ok!? Well, obviously you are because you're here and I'm here too so that means I'm totally ok as well! This is great! So what happened?" Breaking the hug she moved her hands to the ghost's hands, trying her hardest to keep from slipping through her pale palms. Belladonna had known the girl would be going to Amityville as well since she was on the train, but she hadn't really thought she'd see her again. Maybe it was because she was trying her hardest to keep all thoughts of that train ride from her mind. How weak she'd been, it was awful. But now Kasumi was here now and she could tell her all about her visions! Wouldn't this be fun?!

Belladonna listened with interest as they sat on the bench, nodding sympathetically when she could (how dare they continue to accuse her after that awful witch had been taken back! UGH) and trying to hold the ghost's hand as best she could. It was bit like trying to hold smoke, possible for a brief, fleeting moment, but since Kasumi's hand didn't move much it was a bit easier.

"Visions? Someone in the injured cabin was asking about that, but I didn't have time to talk to you afterward!" It was this point that Belladonna grew extremely serious, turning to face Kasumi a bit better. "Are you having visions? What kind of visions? That's not crazy at all, I don't have visions but some in my family do." This was not some crazy talk (even if she did look like she had escaped from an asylum), but an actual thing and Belladonna wanted to know more! Yet when she saw Kasumi eye her gown, Belladonna couldn't help but feel a small stab. This poor ghost probably just came to the school and didn't own a thing! Maybe Belladonna could use her as her next living mannequin??

"I'm sure she was a lovely Reaper." It had to have been a female reaper that brought the ghost over. Probably a cute red head. "Just arrived? Have you moved into your room?"

"Visions are supposed to be strange." Belladonna insisted, figuring this girl had been told that visions were not meant to mean anything, but probably used it as an argument to further her claims of insanity. What an outrage! Of course her visions were real! Whoever told her they weren't was a awful, awful person! "Maybe you just need to channel your visions? You know, work on them! Write down what you see and then look back to see if there is a pattern of any kind? That's what Granmoonie always told me and my sisters to do!" Though, only Belladonna had really taken her words. Hemlock and Delphinium tended to rather ignore Granmoonie...

"I know! They wouldn't let it stay to look for anyone, so I got off there as quickly as possible! I was hoping I'd find you here and I did! So that's good!" Belladonna listened with a bit of a twinge in her chest to hear that Kasumi's room was barren. She hadn't before considered that coming from the human world to Halloweentown meant Kasumi had absolutely no possessions whatsoever. How tragic was that?! She didn't have a single person to depend on in this world. She didn't have a big family to call when she was lonely or who would buy her fancy furniture or a new wardrobe and--

"We should go shopping for you! We can get you some furniture for your room and it'll be such fun!" And it would be fun because they could catch up on everything that had happened before and since the train! Plus Kasumi could show Belladonna her new one-eyed pet!

A firm nod of the head gave Kasumi the answer she needed. Those humans were fools among monsters, idiots of their own boring playground that were only fun when scared. Perhaps Kasumi had previously been one, but she wasn’t any longer and that could only mean she was always meant to be a Halloweentowner, so she wasn’t even remotely human to Belladonna. For a moment she considered this potentially harsh, but quickly shrugged such a silly notion off. Surely Kasumi would agree with her and it wasn’t like Belladonna was going to bring the subject up anyhow. Being raised a reaper, with such a close appearance to humans, made the red head a bit disdainful on the whole subject…

The general feeling of disdain wasn’t necessarily heightened, but it certainly wasn’t diminished when talk of ‘Miss Red’ cropped up. It was hard for Belladonna to show such devotion (because certainly referring to the professor in such glowing terms meant endearment on Kasumi’s part!) to a person who had lied as well as placed many of the students in danger, even a small amount of danger. It was taking time for her to come around to the idea that it was to teach them all a lesson, and it would probably take her the entirety of the upcoming class, to fully sympathize with Red’s motives. Belladonna certainly didn’t hate the teacher (in many ways she respected her! She had guts and with a very stylish cloak…), she was just rather… Unsure, slowly warming to the idea of her.

“Shopping is such good therapy.” Belladonna added sagely, ready to change the topic from something she didn’t have a clear cut opinion on. “And money CAN be a problem, but Daddy gave me an allowance and I don’t have anything to spend it on right now and you do! So you can have it!” Jumping up, she pulled the ghost up with her (thank goodness they could alter their tangibility, because otherwise Belladonna would be at a serious loss) wagging a finger under her nose. “And don’t even speak of paying me back, like I know you’re about to say. It just won’t do. It’ll be a ‘Welcome to Halloweentown’ gift!” She began to pull the girl from the gazebo and paused, turning back to Kasumi, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “Um… I don’t know if we can go off campus yet… Being first years… Maybe we should just use my PreeCee?”

"Psshh! Please take my father's money. He makes enough to clothe 4 daughters without strain on the finances. And Delphinum dresses like a boy, so you'd use it better than she would!" Though she spoke of her family often, Belladonna didn't much care for them. Is that perhaps why she talked of them? "Let's see... You can pay me back by... Joining the garden club!" She chirped, clapping her hands together and twirling around to the face the girl, halted in their trek to Belladonna's dorm.

"That is, if you want to. But I'm sure you'll love it! Plants and flowers and we get to have our meetings in the gazebo!" One arm swung out to showcase the gazebo they had just been sitting in. Though joining the garden club was a good way to pay her back, Belladonna really wanted to see if the girl would be her friend. But scary creatures didn't go around wanting everyone to be their friend and saying such sappy things! NO! They were tough and rough and... And... And oh to hell with it, she was going to be sappy. "And you have to be my friend too. But I think we've already passed that line." A quick wink to the ghost and then Belladonna had grabbed her hand again, taking her to her room again. They had already protected the other on the train, so now it was time to seal their friendship: With shopping.

Good thing Belladonna had moved all her boxes from the middle of the floor!

For a moment Belladonna pursed her lips at the idea of relying on her sisters, because that idea was true folly. Yet Kasumi was speaking strangely and then--Oh!

"Oh dear me no. I only have 2 sisters, but what I meant was that Father could afford to clothe a 4th, since I'm the 3rd daughter. Youngest of 3." Here she inserted a hand wave that was rather noncommittal and it meant something to the effect of "Oh don't bother saying nice things about my family as they're a bunch of rotten pumpkin heads and my sisters are mean', but of course that was quite a lot to pack into one little wave so maybe Kasumi interpreted it as something else entirely.

The idea of the train ride still made Belladonna a bit uneasy. In truth, the ghost girl had been extremely kind and the only reason that Belladonna was able to even think of the ride without tears. Feeling that powerless seemed to eat away at her, but Kasumi had been there. Kasumi knew the feeling and could relate and gave Belladonna hope that it could get better. So she didn't say much in regard to the train, but gave Kasumi a small, what she hoped was friendly nod and then proceeded to grin broadly at the idea of a mascot for the garden club.

"I hadn't even thought of a mascot! Oh that sounds divine! What does it look like? Wherever did you find it?" Here she paused, a coy smile breaking out and she was unable to stop herself from the flattery she was about to give to herself. "I quite love animals and have many pets. There are so many here on campus and they're so friendly! Or at least some of them are..." The voodoo doll that had turned into Arel was rather... Unfriendly. It lurked in the corners of her room and just... glared at her. Awkward.

With a wave of her hand, Belladonna shrugged at the response. "Girls are exceptionally needy, goodness, Hemlock demanded a new divination set everywhere because she SUCKS at them, but Daddy usually bought her a new one. As for what he does... Something or another. I don't really know. " It was true. There was no reason to know what her father did so long as it paid the bills and bought her new clothing and cat food for Binx. "Something with an office, I think!" That was extraordinarily unhelpful and no matter how hard she thought on it, she couldn't remember what it was that he did. He was a powerful warlock in his own right, but beyond that she had no clue.

"Ooohhh! I would LOVE to see it!" She clapped her hands together in glee once more, but stopped dead in her tracks when Kasumi asked her for sewing help. Her face took on something more serious than she ever seemed to convey and she got unusually quiet.

"Kasumi. I would be delighted to teach you to sew." It was said as though it was the answer to the universe. It quickly passed though and she reached out to hug the ghost girl, doing her best to not hug too hard and pass through her completely. "Let's head to my room. If you want, we can drop by and pick up your Unnamed Pet!"

With a hand around the spectral being of Kasumi's own hand, she led her toward first the ghost dorms and then swinging back to the reaper dorms. Belladonna's room still had an untold amount of boxes in it, but that was to be expected! There was still a lot of sitting space on the bed, floor and the cute black wrought iron chair by the desk!