I hate charcoal. [Iris]

[Cleo Warren]

Cleo didn’t know how, but she always found herself buried in homework. Maybe it was because she always left things to the last minute. No…it was definitely because teachers assigned too much. She spent the better portion of her day writing a lab report for her chemistry class, which she was hoping she didn’t fail. She did well in school, but god, she hated chemistry.

But now that she’d taken care of her core classes, she saved the easiest for last. Well, not necessarily the easiest, but definitely the most enjoyable.

Their drawing assignment this week involved 3D objects, so Cleo had borrowed a variety of wooden blocks from the art department and set them up on the table across from her. Cleo had originally planned on doing this in her room, but after holing herself up for hours doing chem, she decided that she needed a break for her teeny, tiny dorm before she started to get claustrophobic.

There currently wasn’t anyone else in the lounge, so Cleo had no problem spreading her shit everywhere and making herself comfortable. The display of wooden blocks took up a decent portion of the coffee table, and she was currently slouched down on one of the couches with her feet propped up on the table her and sketch book resting on her thighs.

She was drawing with charcoal, which probably wasn’t the best idea in the student lounge. She had it all over her hands and on her jeans, but had kept it off the couch so far, except for a few flakes of charcoal dust here and there. Cleo had a tendency to make a mess when she was drawing or painting or using any type of art supply, no matter what she was doing. But charcoal was a completely different story, which was why she hated using it. It always smudged everywhere; it’d probably end up on her face by the time she was done, and she’d be lucky if she kept off anything else.

[Iris Applegate]

Where was Iris? Iris was everywhere....
But right now, she was hiding behind the student lounge sofa.

The red-head had drawn on her brother Jordan's face with a marker and several childish words so now she was hiding from his wrath in the basically deserted lounge. Pillow-Boy could be surprisingly scary when he got angry.

Iris held her breath and didn't even scratch that itch on her knee when she heard footsteps. Tilting her head, Iris quietly sighed with relief when she saw that it wasn't her enraged brother. However, she still kept hidden, rolling onto her belly to watch the fellow student better.

Charcoal... Wooden blocks... art. Though the other girl didn't seem to be enjoying it... If anything she looked a bit annoyed at her drawing utensils. Iris frowned and crawled over, too lazy to stand up. 

Keeping as quiet as she could, Iris slooooowly reeeeached over and picked up one of the charcoal sticks. Her movements were very slow, especially as the red-head slowly pointed the stick at the student's face and booped her on the nose with it. "boop" Iris whispered before barrel-rolling back to her hiding place.

[Cleo Warren]

Aside from the small mess she was making, Cleo’s art project was coming out pretty well. And even though charcoal was kind of a bitch to use when she wasn’t in the art studio, it was great for shading.

And it was way more relaxing than doing stupid chem homework. That made her want to pull her hair out. She really didn’t understand why she had to waste her time taking classes like that. It wasn’t like she was going to spend the rest of her life in a science-related field. Not even close.

Regardless, Cleo was done worrying about chem. At least for now she was. The only thing she was focusing on were the wooden blocks on the table in front of her and her art project on her lap.

That was…until she saw a mysterious hand reach out and pick up one of her pieces of charcoal. She blinked and the mysterious hand - and her piece of charcoal - were right in front of her face, poking her nose. “What the…”

Her own hand reached up to wipe off the charcoal with the back of her palm, hoping she didn't make it worse. She leaned forward, finding out that the mysterious hand was attached to a red-haired girl, who looked to be about her age, maybe a little older.

What the fuck? “Uhh…what are you doing?” She asked, watching the girl silently roll back behind one of the couches.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris remained silent for a while after Cleo rightfully questioned what she was doing. The red-head looked at the fellow girl as if she had just stated that she was going to do something horrible. Like eat the last of the popcorn.

"You fool, you'll alert the orcs!" She shout-whispered, gasping in horror as footsteps approached the door... only to echo away as the student walked past the common room. The orcs being a metaphor for her brother, of course; she's not that mad.

"Position comprimsed." Iris hissed, gripping the back of the sofa and hauling herself over it clumsily with a not-so-quiet 'oof' of effort. She collapsed in a tattered heap on the seats of the sofa and lay there for a while to get her breath back - before rolling slowly over the edge and onto the floor.

Iris remained completely still in her new hiding place and looked up at Cleo. She silently moved her finger to her mouth. "Shush."

[Cleo Warren]

The look that this girl just gave her made Cleo think that perhaps she’d asked her to eat the charcoal she’d just taken, instead of just simply wondering what she was doing. Should she not have said anything? Should she have just pretended to not notice the teenaged girl rolling around the lounge?

Alert the who? Oh…maybe this girl was crazy. Had she lost touch with reality? Sometimes that happened at this school, especially with students who had the ability to create illusions. She didn’t know anyone who that happened to personally, but she’d heard the rumors that floated through the classrooms afterwards. Or maybe she was simply on drugs. That could also be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Cleo snatched up the pieces of charcoal as they started to roll away when the girl climbed over the back of the couch before ungracefully falling off the edge and onto the floor. She placed the charcoal on the coffee table in front of her before grabbing the rag to wipe off her hands.

“Um…do you need to go to the nurse or like…talk to someone?” Cleo was miserably unqualified to deal with crazy people. Should she alert an adult? Bring her somewhere? Leave her alone and let her ride out whatever sort of hallucination she was having?

[Iris Applegate]

Iris stayed sprawled on her back; staring at the ceiling in a tired haze. Doing terrible parkour over indoor furniture can be incredibly tiring. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled, making the loudest 'blrrpt' she could.

After listening to the Charcoal girl, Iris pushed herself into a lazy sit with her hands, leaning on them for support as she watched the other student.

"No. The help I need my parents can't afford." Iris chuckled evilly before flopping back to the ground, muttering a quiet 'ow' as her head bounced off the carpet before settling down again. That was her parents' favorite joke whenever Iris asked for help with something outrageous, reckless or just plain strange. 


The redhead didn't seem to notice the girl's concern and/or judgement; content with lying on the carpet and trying to ignore the throb her bruised head was causing.

[Cleo Warren]

Cleo scrutinized the girl laying on the floor in front of her. She really didn’t seem like she wanted to move at all, though Cleo didn’t think it was necessarily normal to just lie on the floor in the middle of the common room. Then again, no here was really normal. But it must be a fire hazard or something to just lie on the floor.

She tilted her head to the side, unsure if the girl was just joking or if she really did need psychiatric help. The way that she just laughed it off made Cleo think that it was a joke, but she still wasn’t completely sure. The former idea she had that this girl might be either on drugs or crazy seemed more and more plausible, even though she hadn’t been serious when they first popped in her head.

“Are you sure? I can go get Dr. Neville or…someone?” Cleo didn’t think the girl would take her up on the offer, but she thought it would be best to ask at least one more time.

She glanced around the room. No one else was there, save for the two of them, so there was no one else to help her understand what was really going on. “So…who are you hiding from?” She asked, still curious as to why she was hiding behind couches and under tables. She doubted that the girl was actually hiding from orcs, whatever those were.