Doodles (Open)

[Dakota Clemson]

The air was nice and clean. It was like breathing in sunshine. That's why Kota was outside. She had just spent her first night at Hammel and was feeling a little claustrophobic. So she came outside. It was just about noon and people would probably head out to eat lunch in about an hour, so no one was really out. Kota noticed a few people walking by but no one stopped. She headed out to the courtyard and found a nice shady spot under a tree to sit and draw.

Kota wasn't the best artist, but she like to draw. She didn't draw people or animals or scenery, she drew shapes. Abstract things. She was really good at coloring them in. She had just about every color of sharpie under the sun and could make a circle look like a beautiful full moon.

She set to work on drawing a simple tree to color in. Kota probably looked sort of odd sitting there. She stuck out a lot too. Against the green grass and the brown of the tree bark her majorly blue and white outfit was quite the contrast. She wore her white flowy top with a long blue skirt and her brown lace up boots. She wore her patchwork beanie hat as usual but had her long blonde hair down. It reached just a few inches above the small of her back. It was wavy and kind of untamed, like even the worlds best stylist couldn't get it to lay down.

Her head was down and her eyes were focused on her paper as she finished the outline of the tree and took out her markers began to color it, using all shades of green, brown, purple, black and even some blues and yellows to color in the shape.

[Declyn O'Callahan]

After spending the past few weeks getting accustomed to life at this new place, Declyn had found that it was a lot harder making friends at this place than it had been at Kocher. Maybe it was because he was the new kid with a funny accent, but either way, he wasn’t too fond of it. It also didn’t help that he’d found the guy he was looking for, his so called brother, and they hadn’t even really hung out. Odion seemed like he really had no desire to even get to know Declyn, which hurt, but he wasn’t letting that get to him.

Hammel would be a new experience. It would allow him to capture more memories and maybe he’d get enough photos to make a photo album strictly of his time in America. It was exciting, he just hadn’t gotten to be excited about it yet. Today, he planned to do just that.

He’d gone out early that day, just wandering the school grounds to get a feel of what places he could get good pictures. Already finding that the roof was not only pretty easily accessible, but also a great place for pictures, he was out searching for ground level sites to catch moments. His camera hung from his neck, one of his good high-tech cameras. Along with a dark green t-shirt and jeans, Declyn’s hair was slightly disarrayed, sticking up in random places. Passing through the courtyard, he saw a girl. She stuck out pretty easily what with her contrasting colors and Declyn couldn’t resist.

“Excuse me, would ye mind if I took yer picture? I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just a very lovely view,” He explained, his accent rather thick in his words.

[Dakota Clemson]

Kota was getting completely absorbed in her drawing. She had quickly finished the outline and was now well into coloring. The tree trunk was colored with all her shades of brown plus some black and purple to give it an interesting tint. Her markers were all over the place, it looked sort of like the mess a two year old made with crayons. Kota kind of looked like a two year old too with her small size.

Kota was so into her picture she didn't notice the guy walk up to her. She didn't even realize he was there until he spoke. It scared her a bit and she jumped, her hand freezing as it was reaching for another marker. She stayed like that for a moment and then pulled her arms to her body and wrapped them around herself.

She honestly had no idea what to say. No one had ever taken her picture before. No one. The only picture that anyone had ever taken of Kota was at picture day school, but that didn't really count. She slowly lifted her head up, her eyes carefully meeting his. Kota had just about the worlds biggest eyes and in a rare shade of green, almost an emrald color. She also had extremely pale skin and always blushed. She hated it but there was no stopping it. The guys comment about the lovely view just made Kota blush more, people didn't normally say things like that to her, well they didn't talk to her in general really.

"Um... I don't know how.. Well, what would I, uh do?" Kota was tripping all over her words, as usually. She was glad that this guy was talking to her, and his voice was really interesting and different. Kota liked different. She hoped that she wouldn't scare this person off, she wanted friends since she was so new but she was probably the worst at making friends.

[Declyn O'Callahan]

Seeing the change in her posture, Declyn frowned slightly. He hadn’t meant to make her uncomfortable, in fact he was used to people being extremely comfortable around him. His voice had made her jump and he instantly felt bad for interrupting her. She looked so calm and peaceful before. Now she reminded him of a deer in the headlights.

Dec was always taking pictures of people. Whether it be at random or people he knew fairly well. He loved taking pictures of people doing what they were comfortable with. Such as this girl coloring a picture. It was childish in some ways, especially the way she was so small and he couldn’t help that small feeling that made him think she was adorable in all of her strangeness. The way she expressed herself through clothing reminded him of the way he expressed himself through conversation. Often he would confuse someone by asking them a strange question once he tried making conversation.

The way she tripped over her words had him smiling faintly. It just added to the idea he had before, adorable. It would take much more than strange clothes and nervousness to scare this boy off. Declyn had seen some pretty weird things since he manifested and that was what made him immune to fearing much else. “All ye’d have to do is sit there and go back to coloring yer very pretty picture. Ye don’t even have to look at the camera,” He explained with a wider more reassuring smile.

Using his charms wouldn’t work on this girl, of that he was certain. She seemed far too shy for him to get her to be comfortable with him, so he settled on just being nice. He was definitely capable of making people comfortable by the way he acted so calmly around them. Very rarely was he a hothead, unlike his brother it seemed.

[Dakota Clemson]

Kota liked this guys voice. His accent sounded so different from what everyone else sounded like. It made her wonder where he had come from. She knew it was an Irish accent but she had never thought that Hammel took students from around the world. Or maybe he had moved to America and then come to find Hammel. Either way, it made Kota curious.

She shifted her small body a bit and loosened her arms a bit, so her fingers could lightly play with the grass. She wanted to be able to be social and make friends with this person. She hated when people gave her weird looks when she got all caught up in her words, like she was stupid or something. Kota wasn't stupid, just very shy. But who could blame the girl. People at her old school were not very kind.

She gave a small nod. "Okay." Kota said, feeling her cheeks flush again with color. She ducked her head down a bit so the guy wouldn't notice as much. She reached out for the color she had been going for before and began to color again. She let out a long breath, trying to relax. It wasn't that hard to get back into her drawing, she just felt nervous knowing that her picture was being taken. But she wanted to get along with this guy. He was nice and a little strange, but that didn't bother Kota one bit. In fact, it made her feel a little better.

Kota's body began to relax again as she got back into her picture. It was hard to stay tense when you are doing what you love. She wasn't the best artist but she loved colors and making them twril together in ways that they normaly didn't in order to create something special. Something just a little bit different.

[Declyn O'Callahan]

Once she agreed, Declyn gave her a bright smile. Well at least she wasn’t one of those people who had a problem with their picture being taken (like he was). After all, it wasn’t as if her face was really being shown. He was capturing her surroundings in his picture. It wasn’t just a pretty girl, it was a memory, something that could stay with him forever - the day he saw serenity in a girl simply coloring a picture. That was the part of photography that he loved most. He got to see things in a different way and it made life all the more interesting.

Once she went for the marker, he saw her slowly start to relax. It didn’t take long until she was consumed in the picture as she had been when he’d first noticed her. Looking at her now, he saw a sense of beauty surrounding her. The way the tree seemed to curl in on her as if it was looking over her shoulder. Bringing up the camera to his face, he focused in on her and tweaked the settings to get a good view.

Declyn was going to catch it all, the sun shining around her, the tree hanging over her, the relaxation that was emanating from her. It was all seen through the camera pressed against his face. The snapping sound the camera made as the picture taking made his own relaxation mix in with the rest of his environment. It was beautiful. “Now do ya mind if I take a black and white one? I think it would look real nice.”

Often, Dec didn’t take multiple pictures of the same thing, of course he’d test the lighting and the settings, but usually he could tell what setting would fit the moment best. This was different. There were too many possibilities of great pictures and he wanted to act on his visions. It could also have something to do with the fact that he just liked taking pictures of her because she fascinated him.

[Dakota Clemson]

As Kota continued working on her drawing she barely noticed when the picture was taken. The click barely registered in her head. She was actually pretty much all the way done with the drawing. She had just a small part left to finish. She was finally brought out of it when the guy spoke again.

She looked up slowly, realizing only then that the picture had been taken. Maybe later, if she got the courage up, she would as for a copy. She didn't have any pictures of herself except for a few baby ones so that one might be nice to have. She wondered if it was weird to keep just a picture of yourself. She could put it in a frame. She would have to buy a frame first.

Kota gave a small shrug. "Um, sure. But, I'm almost uh, done with the picture." She glanced down at her drawing then back up at the guy. The deer in the headlights look had faded, not that her eyes had gotten much small but she looked less panicked. She looked just more shy and nervous, as always.

Kota was really glad that she hadn't scared this guy off. That her stumbling speech and nervous behaviors didn't weird him out. It was the last thing she wanted right now. This being only her second day here she didn't want to start it off with losing a possible friend. That had been her major goal. Making friends. And of course learning how to control her powers.

[Declyn O'Callahan]

Looking down at the picture when she did, Declyn chewed on the inside of his cheek. It wouldn’t take long to just flip the settings around and take the picture, but what would happen after he was finished? He assumed they’d just go their separate ways and that would be that, but he hoped she’d want him to stick around to maybe talk or something. Maybe he could even show her some of the pictures he’d taken recently? Either way, he wasn’t ready to just leave.

“It won’t take long I promise, I just need to change meh settings around a bit,” He said as he fiddled with his camera and finally got the black and white setting up. “There. Alright whenever yer ready,” Dec said with a flash of a smile to her. He noticed that she wasn’t as freaked out by him now which was a relief. He didn’t like when people were uncomfortable with him or people who didn’t like talking to him because of his accent. Being different had its perks, but it also had some downfalls.

It was due to the fact that he himself was sort of weird, that he didn’t get scared away by the girl. She was quiet and shy, but he’d met a lot of people like that. They were actually better suited to being friends with him because he was the complete opposite. Rarely would she have to be the conversation starter, and he’d keep the conversation moving at all times because he was good with conversing. The only problem he had was with his accent confusing people, but she seemed to be doing just fine with it.

[Dakota Clemson]

Kota felt her cheeks flush as he looked at her picture. People normally never saw her art work, actually no one ever did. Except if it was an art class project but those never turned out very good. It seemed like the only drawings of hers that ever came out okay were the ones that no one ever saw. It was sort of sad. But it made her happy. Like she had a little secret that only she knew about. And it was a good secret, one she could be proud of.

She watched as he messed with the settings. Kota had often wondered about photography. She liked how they use to develop those old time photos in the little rooms with the weird lighting. Of course now all you had to do was go to a Kodak store or print it off at home. A lot simpler yes but not as interesting or cool.

Kota picked up the last marker she need to add in the final details. She began to color again, adding highlights so the image popped a little more, looked more defined and put together. She often liked to add some extra outlining in black, made the picture more dramatic. It didn't take her long to finish but she made sure to take a her time and listen for the click of the camera, she didn't want to mess up this guys shot.

After she heard the click she waited a second then looked up, finished with her picture. "Was that okay?" She questioned softly. She liked getting her picture taken. She wondered what it would be like to be a model. All you had to do was sit there and pose. Kota thought it sounded like fun but knew she could never do it. Just having this guy take her picture twice made her feel all funny and weird. But it was almost a good feeling, like good butterflies. Kota was hoping that he might stick around a bit, give her a chance to make friends with him. Having a friend would be amazing.

[Declyn O'Callahan]

After taking the picture, Declyn let the camera hang from its strap around his neck. He couldn’t wait to get the pictures that he’d taken developed and hung up around his room. Sure, some people might have found it a little creepy that he had a bunch of random pictures of his new classmates hanging around his room, but to him he just liked the happiness it brought to him. Most of the things he took pictures of were moments that no one would remember, but had secretly touched their lives. There were some that he’d experienced himself, and there were also those stolen moments that he wondered if he’d ever experience.

Snapping out of his own thoughts, he looked at her and nodded with a bright smile. “It was lovely, thank you for being my model fer the day. You seem to be very photogenic,” He pointed out absently. If only he had the ability to be photogenic, which in his eyes was next to impossible. Standing behind the camera was where he was destined to be, not in front of it. He just didn’t understand the point of taking his own picture, when he knew exactly what he looked like.

Declyn lingered for a while, unsure of what to do. He wanted to stay, but at the same time he didn’t want to intrude on her day of peaceful coloring. He had his own things that he could be doing, but that involved being alone for the rest of the day. Being the people person that he was, he didn’t want to be alone for another day. He’d spent all this time at Hammel with no friends, no one to talk to and often he’d just wander around campus looking for things to take pictures of. Sometimes he wondered if he had made the right choice moving all the way out here just because he wanted to find someone who had no desire to know him.

As of late, it had seemed like a very bad idea. “So what else do ye do fer fun? Aside from yer drawings?” He asked finally, just to break the silence. Surprisingly the question was actually somewhat normal and hadn’t shown off just how weird he could be.

[Dakota Clemson]

Kota couldn't help but blush at his comment. She had very minimal conversations with people and usually she didn't receive comments like that. If anyone ever had anything to say about her looks it was things like, "my, what big eyes you have", and they were usually said in a teasing way. Kids at her old school picked Kota out as the one to poke fun at. She guess it had to do with how she dressed and looked. She never bothered anyone though. She was nice to the people she talked to, despite being shy.

Kota looked down a bit, trying to hide her red face. She was very pale so when she blushed, it wasn't hard to not notice. She had no idea what to say to him. She didn't want to seem rude or anything but she didn't know what to say. She thought maybe she could thank him, but that didn't seem right. But maybe she should. Kota was in the middle of debating with herself when the guy spoke up.

The question caught her off guard. "Um.." Kota said, absentmindedly putting her markers back in the bag. "Well, I like to read... And uh.. I guess that is about it.." Kota paused for a moment realizing that she really didn't do much. "I'm not very interesting..." She admitted softly, a little embarrassed. She knew exactly why she only drew and read but she hoped this guy wouldn't ask. She didn't know if she was ready to talk about her home life yet, she was barely able to talk about simple things.