Closed Errand Pages and paints

Date: June 7th, 2025 | Dialogue: #407e58 | Word Count: 440

It didn’t take Jade to find the arts, crafts, and books portion of the events. From the colorful beanbags, tables full of art supplies, and pride flags of all varieties hanging nearby, it was easy to spot. There were already a substantial amount of people gathered, but thankfully, it was much less crowded than the parade had been. Hesitantly, but feeling a bit more confident in the smaller setting, Jade made her way towards the book stall, intent on picking out a book that could teach her a bit more about pride and the LGBTQIA+ community.

That… is easier said than done, she realized, taking a good look at the books. There were nonfiction books, centered around LGBTQIA+ history, culture, notable figures — basically anything Jade could possibly imagine. On top of that, there were also more fictional books centered around LGBTQIA+ characters. The ones she spotted seemed to be centered around romance — which made sense, even though it wasn’t Jade’s favorite genre. Some of the books seemed interesting, though, and Jade had no doubt reading a book with LGBTQIA+ characters would help her understand the community more. But… what do I pick? There were too many choices! She couldn’t just take one book. It also felt a bit too weird to write down the names of all the books she was interested in but not take them, like she did at the bookstore when her dad wouldn’t let her buy every book she wanted.

I… guess I’ll take two, Jade decided. One of the nonfiction ones for learning, and a fiction one just for fun. Her mind made up, Jade quickly selected a book that promised to cover the basics of LGBTQIA+ terms and identities, and another one about a summer romance between two queer characters. Hopefully they don’t mind that I’m taking more than one… The Ravenclaw Perfect was running the stall, and Jade didn’t want to get in trouble. Even though taking extra books probably wasn’t something worthy of getting in trouble.

Books in hand, Jade wandered around until she found an empty lavender beanbag, where she took a seat. The beanbag was unexpectedly squishy, and Jade almost yelped in surprise as she practically fell into the beanbag. Still, once she got situated, the beanbag was quite cozy. Jade set the romance book to the side, and cracked open the book on LGBTQIA+ terms and identities. She had come here to learn, and this book was the best way to do that. The romance book could be saved for fun reading later, perhaps on the train ride home. Curious about what she might find, Jade began to read.

OOC Note: Jade is open for interactions!

The parade was beautiful, so full of life that had the magic been tangible, Lyssandra believes it would leave its mark upon one’s skin as a pleasant buzz.

Inspired, she follows the crowd towards one of the beanbags. From where she stood, there were already a couple of students engaging with the activities. She moves towards whom she assumes was the organizer and offers a polite smile.

“Hello, I’d like to use some of these materials.” When a kind smile and a welcoming gesture was offered, Lyssandra feels a light flutter of excitement in her heart as she gives the Ravenclaw student a small bow and makes her way to a vacant beanbag.

Along the way, she can already see the artworks some of the students have created.

“That looks beautiful.” She couldn’t help but whisper. Lyssandra would’ve liked to stay and watch but she knew better than to disrupt someone making their masterpiece.

On her chosen beanbag, she takes a sheet of paper and the pencils she acquired and scribbled her initials in one corner.

There was no need to think too deeply about what she could draw. The gentle scratching of graphite became a familiar tone for her as makes easy shapes and arranged them in a way that would allow for a clear and flowing posture. She thinks about her Cousin Dion and his husband—Carolus, of Uncle Anaxagoras and his late wife and his husband, of a great aunt and uncle who had their fair share of flames of similar or other genders, and even of her older cousins and relatives whom were born being either or neither.

Lyssandra, though still rough and quite amateur with her work, freely captures an image of a non-being—-free to interpret however the viewer wishes—and writes little notes of kindness and encouragement.

Reducio

“Though your journey was difficult, the you that stands today is the victor.”

She made sure to write as neatly and as well as she used some coloring pencils to add onto the drawing and then ink the words in so it would not strain the viewer’s eyes.

As she colored her initial drawing, she added more and more notes along the way—-humming to an old French lullaby she heard Cousin Dion once sang to both her and her brother.

I looked around, mildly interested. The grounds were covered in things to celebrate Pride at Hogwarts. I didn't truly understand that at first, because I hadn't really ever done something like this. My father let me choose what I wanted to do, but the rest of my family tried to get me to interact with other people, and to join things like this.
I had been apprehensive when I first told my family that I was Bi. But my father was supportive as well as the rest of them.
The only one who went ballistic about it was my mother.
I winced as the flashback came uncalled.

I was sitting in the opulent hall that was out dinning room. It was dark, with bloodied candles in my honor.
I had just turned 11.
I had also come to grips with the fact that I was Bi.
I had thought about it before, the way I looked at both boys and other girls.
The way I noticed things on both sexes.
I found myself to be surprised.
Just slightly though.
I had always known that I felt things differently, I supposed it also went differently into the way I liked people that way too.I decided that the best way to tell them was to be frank about it.
What was that muggle saying, about ripping something off instead of pulling?
Maybe they were talking about limbs.
Maybe Muggles were more violent than I had originally thought.
But now was not the time for distractions.
I cleared my throat.
The room fell silent, the only sound was that of a tinny violin, and even that fell short.
Everyone looked at me.
I said, in a loud, no-nonsense voice,
"Well, I have an announcement. I'm Bisexual. Get used to it."
Everybody was silent. Then, my father spoke, telling me that he loved me no matter what, and that he was happy that I had figured myself out at such young age.
My uncle told me that any boyfriends or girlfriends I had would have to come to him so that he could deem them as worthy or my affections.
The rest of them just smiled and told me that they were happy no matter wheat.
My grandfather exclaimed in a loud voice that he just knew that I was going to say that.
No one believed him but they let him have his little fantasies.
I was happy though. I hadn't expected them to be so... Open.
Open to change, open to new things in general.
But of course, nothing good ever lasts.
An undignified shriek came from the chair next to my father.
Everyone looked.
My mother pushed herself up, knocking down the chair that she was sitting in, in the process. So deep into her fury, she didn't even realize that her sleeve was about to catch fire from the way that she was holding it over the candle pointing at me, her face contorted beyond familiarization.

"How could you! How could you do something like, like, like this!!!"
Her voice was outraged beyond relief. She ranted about how it wasn't right for a proper pure-breed girl. That she was disgusted in me.
That it was strange and that she couldn't let me do this.
She left in fury of cream-colored robes and slammed the door.
My father told me that she would come to grips soon and that she was only shocked.

I knew that she would react like that, but it didn’t make it any less hurtful.
I walked around until I found something that I thought that I would truly ace.
Arts and crafts.
I looked around, suddenly feeling nervous.
It didn't look like there were a lot of people around. I grabbed a piece of paper and a drawing pen.
I looked again, eyeing a tree.
Perfect.
I clambered up, finding a branch that would take my weight and sat down, content that I wouldn't have to deal with the other students directly at least.
It wasn't that I felt like I was above that, I just felt scared to interact with them.
They all looked so shiny and bright like a fluffy cloud, while I was dark and different like a storm cloud.
I could still enjoy the festivities, just in my own way.
I stared at the paper in my hands before emerging myself in drawing.
I drew a collage of things, one after the other.
You couldn't really tell where one started and another one finished.
It was chaotic.
I looked bait more closely at it.
I had drawn angel wings, thestrals, unicorns, and some very dark versions of the merpeople in the lake.
I drew the kraken as well, but more sinister.
Larger, darker.
I smiled.
Maybe I would come to enjoy these things after all.

-----

Dad

-----

Pa

Andrea

-----

Interacting with @Maisie Gemmell Mentioning @Mahlioz Evethisawe | @Archer Duncan	Date - 07/06/25
WC 382/200	Color Legend - Mylo | Thoughts

A small patch of their canvas had started to fill up with the colour yellow as they had decided to fill the entire thing with flowers, with each flower getting a different pride flag for their colouring. Apparently they hadn't been working fast enough as a familiar voice decided to come up behind them and astutely point out that a part of the painting they hadn't gotten to yet had been missed.

Turning themselves to Maisie he gave her a smile, knowing that she was probably expecting an annoyed reaction from him. "Actually that spots supposed to be white." He retorted, hoping that she hadn't noticed the small silence that prefaced the joke as Mylo had tried to come up with it, they had been told they weren't any fun a while back by the Ravenclaw and although he was trying to prove them wrong humour wasn't always their strongest talent.

Noting that the area had started filling up quite a bit more Mylo saw a familiar face greet him, he was happy that Mahlioz had decided to join them and greeted her back as they seemed to walk to a nearby craft table.

As Maisie looked seemingly looked around for inspiration for what she could do Mylo helped a few people coming to them for supplies, happy that they had brought extra's as not everything fit on the tables they had put out. Eventually it seemed like Maisie had made her choose though, having gotten out a canvas for herself and making her presence very well known. Before they could ask what she was planning on painting though they heard a small apology aimed their way, as it seemed that another student had accidentally knocked over one of the piles of books. Knowing that it could happen Mylo smiled at him and waved his apology away as it was an accident and turned back towards Maisie.

"So what are you planning on painting?" He asked, curious as to what she would decide to decorate her canvas with. Nodding back with a smile at the boy who had knocked the stack over, glad that he seemed to have found some books that he could enjoy, not noticing however that the books he had knocked over had been left the way they were.

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood]
sta • 8 | eva • 6 | str • 5 | wis • 9 | arc • 6 | acc • 6

Code by Ara Villa

date: june 7th, 2025 word count: 475 wprds speech: #7b2d78

open to interactions!

--> continued from March to Your Own Beat Post

Magnolia's hair whipped about as the wind blew through it and as she practically ran right for the book stall. A shocker to absolutely no one, she wanted to find a book to sit down with and read. In contrast to all her running, she was slow now, her head tilted at an almost 45-degree angle in order to read the titles on the spines of the books. Sure, maybe her neck would hurt later, but at least she would have read something worthwhile before she complained about the soreness the next day.

But something caught her eye, something shiny. And like a crow, she instantly reached for it. Instead of pulling out a novel, her usual go-to, her hand held, a comic book*. The title read Monster High Pride, with Clawdeen Wolf cuddled up with a ghoul Mags didn't know, a lesbian flag wrapped around them lovingly. She smiled softly, admiring the art style and enjoying the reminder of her two moms. She hugged the comic book close before wandering off to find somewhere to read it.

Plopping down in a shaded patch of grass, Magnolia began to thumb through the comic. The beautiful, adorable art was paired with even more adorable stories. Clawdeen and Torialei paired up at Clawculometry Summer Math Camp, two rivals forced to work together? And then learning to get along and support each other, confessing their crushes at the end? Heck yeah. Plus, an adorable story of Kieran Valentine working up the courage to tell Spelldon that he loved him back through a life-or-death situation at the Scaregrounds? All too cute. She grinned like crazy while she flipped through it.

And after the two stories ended, there was a Behind the Screams portion, showing the sketching process of the comic itself. Magnolia sat up straighter, looking at the progress pictures and feeling inspired herself. Of course, she never expected to make something as polished as the art in the comic... but now she needed to draw something.

Picking herself up, she wandered over to the crafts table, steering clear of the other students busy making their own masterpieces. But she didn't need much, just a paper, a pencil, and some oil-based crayons. With her supplies in hand, she found a slightly isolated seat at a table and began to work. First with a light pencil sketch, then coloring over it with crayon. Was it egotistical to draw herself..? Maybe. But she wanted to remember today, to draw herself as if this moment were a panel in a comic book about her own life.

It took her nearly an hour to finish, with her overthinking every single pencil mark she made. But when she was done, she was completely happy. And as a finishing touch, she wrote "Happy Pride!" at the top. She sat back in her chair, grinning wide.

Reducio

This is the one-shot comic that Magnolia pulls out to read! I recently just added this to my comic book collection, and the shiny cover variant is Cover C. It's super cute, and I would highly recommend! Includes two stories, one with Clawdeen Wolf and Toralei Stripe, and one with Spelldon Cauldronello and Kieran Valentine.

The suspense was terrible, but she couldn't give up. That was part of being annoying: you had to have determination. And yet, Mylo seemed to know what was up as they informed her that they had, in fact, not missed a spot. Rather, it was intentional. But Maisie was not going to let such an intelligent ploy get in the way of her plans. "Oh, yeah, sure," she fumbled.

Surely, Avis would have come up with something that was a much better response. Unfortunately, such a quip evaded her—for now. Meanwhile, Mylo seemed to be greeting people and ensuring things were going smoothly as only someone responsible could.

There was a little rustle as someone knocked a bookshelf and another young girl seemed to avoid them entirely, but otherwise things seemed to be going swimmingly. Mylo seemed pretty chill about the bookshelf incident to be honest, which lowkey impressed her. It would have been all too easy to be way more responsible about that—or to inflict responsibility on the student in question. Instead, Mylo chose fun. She smiled to herself, seeing this little bit of growth in her friend.

"So what are you planning on painting?" they asked and suddenly she felt herself grow hungry as they apple stared back at her with its teasing little bite mark. It was almost too easy they way it stood there like a cheat. "Honestly, I was thinking just the apple, but," she paused as she took a glance around at the book covers and other decor, "maybe a rainbow colored one? Or a red one on a sort of splattered watercolor rainbow background. You know, like Jackson Pollock?" Honestly, the ideas were kind of forming as she was speaking.

Sewing wasn't this hard. When you put things together, it kind of formed itself with each threading of the needle. The garment—beyond intial patterning—told you what it wanted to be. Painting seemed to be exactly the opposite: you had to have the idea in your mind's eye first and only then would it come together. Maisie could work with that she knew, but she somehow also knew she worked best with more tactile arts, where you could really feel and communicate with the fibers.

Despite this, she looked over to Mylo for their opinion as she started to assemble some paints nearby. "What about you? Any ideas?" she queried. After all, maybe Mylo had more understanding of the day and what might be appropriate. As for her, she just wanted to make stuff and support her friends.

@Mylo Atkins
Open to interactions

March To Your Own Beat ...revisit his past...

Date: June 7th, 2025	Speech | Thoughts
Time: Late Morning	Interacting with: @Lyssandra Amaranth Navarus
« Preceding | Following »

mentions. @Archer Duncan stats & abilities. STA 5 ⚡︎ EVA 5 ⚡︎ WIS 5 ⚡︎ STR 3 ⚡︎ ARC 6 ⚡︎ ACC 6 Metamorphmagus

Cassian started as he was jolted out of his focus in finishing up his buttons by a voice that was seemingly talking to him. Looking up, disconcerted, Cassian blinked as he stared at the person that had spoken.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected — maybe someone asking where the extra buttons were, or another first year in need of directions. But instead, it was a boy he didn’t recognize, tall and stiff-looking, hovering nearby like he wasn’t quite sure he belonged on the same plane of existence as everyone else. If Cassian had to wager, he seemed like an upperclassman, if not one that was very sure of himself.

Cassian looked down at the buttons in his hand, then back up. “Ally?” he echoed, brow furrowing slightly. “Yeah — I mean, pretty much. It means you support queer people, even if you’re not queer yourself. I guess,” he tacked on faintly. Although Cassian had done his best to do his research so as not to accidentally put his foot in his mouth, he was far from an expert.

Cassian observed the other boy, noting the way he was shifting on his feet. Perhaps someone just as nervous as he was, then? He almost felt a bit… relieved to find a kindred spirit in this sea of boisterous noise. “Here,” he offered, pointing to an extra button. “Do you want one? I made extras.”

As if remembering himself, Cassian straightened a little and extended his hand for a handshake, adding “I’m Cassian, by the way. First year Gryffindor.”

word count: 256