Crayons in Cascade Hall [tag: my friends!] on Cascade Hall

Echo Elms

April 26, 2008 10:51 PM

Crayons in Cascade Hall [tag: my friends!] by Echo Elms

Echo pushed his breakfast plate out of the way and hastily sucked the last bit of syrup off the side of his finger before pulling a manilla envelope out of his bag. It was full of the standard first week back stuff: forms that needed to be signed, a quick scrawl telling his parents that he had arrived and settled in. News about teachers and his friends' summers (not that he'd gotten to talk to anyone yet, what with getting to the feast a little late and all). A piece of wizarding candy for his mom. All of it fit into a half sized envelope, but if he was going to get this owl out today, he had a drawing to finish.

He tossed a package of crayons appeared on the table and pulled out a sheet of computer paper. Trishy, it said at the top in large clear letters, on the bottom, From Echo. There was a green horizon line and a yellow sun and a stick figure of a someone pushing a little girl on a swing. It still needed a soccer ball and some grass and rocks.

He smiled sheepishly at his friends, but he was sort of proud of it in a weird way. "I got to be a babysitter this summer."

21 Echo Elms Crayons in Cascade Hall [tag: my friends!] 93 Echo Elms 1 5

Elly Eriksson

April 30, 2008 11:40 AM

Don't eat the wax by Elly Eriksson

She always forgot how good this was. Breakfast, Elly decided, was better at Sonora then anywhere. She piled her plate high with toast, eggs, beans, tomato and mushroom before happily munching her way through the lot, barely pausing to speak. It wasn’t until Echo pulled out his crayon drawing that she focussed on anything other than her food.

“No way,” she exclaimed, grinning at Echo at his picture. He really didn’t seem the sort to babysit, but Elly supposed he would be rather good at it. He could certainly keep kids entertained, that much was for sure. And physical contact probably wasn’t a huge issue, seeing as there were hundreds of activities and games that didn’t require any touching at all. She knew she would be awful at looking after another person – she was so clumsy and forgetful she’d probably sit on the kid, or let it fall out of a tree, or something. Not that she knew any small kids to practise with, except her cousins, but they lived all the way out in Austria with the rest of her mother’s family.

Elly liked that there was a swing on the picture, and, even through the crayon, she was fairly sure it was a drawing of Echo and a small girl. Plus the ‘to’ and ‘from’ notes gave a hint. “So was she young, or are you just really bad at drawing?” she asked, laughing.

0 Elly Eriksson Don't eat the wax 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Saul Pierce

April 30, 2008 12:52 PM

Bite the wax, tadpole by Saul Pierce

Saul had barely touched his breakfast when Echo finished and went for the crayons. This was mostly due to the fact that Saul had been talking too much to eat, especially since Elly had been focused on her food and wasn't keeping him from monopolizing the conversation. Echo had brought up Flatt yesterday - or had it been Matt? Brett? It didn't matter - someone had brought up Flatt, so Saul was tell the others about the insane assignment the fifth years had to do that year. A hundred foot essay - a whole hundred, Saul had repeated emphatically, and then swore that he was being honest.

The younger Pecaris were no doubt used to his belief that dramatic hyperbole was not lying, so it was unlikely any of them actually believed him. It was also very doubtful that they thought the essay was supposed to be about pepperoni pizza and its affect on goblin rights and how a pie of Sicilian could have prevented the whole Goblin Wars, despite Saul's assertions otherwise. In truth, though, that really was what he intended to write about. For the whole hundred feet. They might have believed that. He wasn't sure.

He'd realized his food was getting cold and started shoveling eggs into his mouth shortly before Echo brought out the arts and crafts and, in effect, redirected the conversation. Saul swallowed hard and leaned over the table to get a better look at Echo's drawing. "Dude, Elly," Saul said, shaking his head and grinning, "Echo's a wiz at crayons. Just lookit that swing. It practically moves. And, like, you can actually tell which one is supposed to be the boy. That takes incredible skill."
\r\n\r\n

1 Saul Pierce Bite the wax, tadpole 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Echo Elms

May 11, 2008 10:50 PM

Pepsi by Echo Elms

"So was she young, or are you just really bad at drawing?” Elly asked, laughing.

Echo eyed his drawing critically for probably the first time. He'd thought it was pretty good, but then, he had been comparing it to Trishy's scribbles and unlike her, he could hold a pencil steady.

"Echo's a wiz at crayons. Just lookit that swing. It practically moves," Saul pointed out helpfully, "And, like, you can actually tell which one is supposed to be the boy. That takes incredible skill."

"It better not move. I'd have to start over," Echo squinted at it through his specs, hoping the drawing wouldn't get any smart ideas. He was pretty that kind of thing required special wizarding art supplies, but the paper may have gotten hit with a couple of patronus spells he'd been practicing for DADA, and the picture was based on the same memory as the picture. Weirder things happened. Did the swing just twitch then? It looked like it wanted to.

"Saul, you're making me see things," he complained, air whacking him over the top of the head with the universal gesture and a grin.

"Anyway, she's young," he elaborated, "like three and a half, young. She lives next door to my dad."

"So, summers," he took a deep breath and put his crayon down. They hadn't discussed them yet, but it seemed like everyone else's summers didn't go so well. Brett had a terrible time, fighting with the guys and missing Irene, and Meredith seemed off somehow, which didn't suggest good things. Then there was Caedence, who never had good summers. Saul and Elly seemed to have come out unscathed, though, so it was probably safe to ask about it now, since it was just the three of them.

"Mine started off yegh," Echo said, emphasizing the ickiness with a made up word that very onomatopoetic. "When I got back from our Quidditch trip, mom and dad were like, 'Echo, we're so worried about you.' And then they told me I was going to Kansas in two weeks."

Kansas was where that mental hospital was where he'd stayed at last summer. The one that gave him the shakes for almost a year. He just called it 'going to Kansas' and he knew Saul and Elly would know the particular location it implied.

"I tried to tell them that it did way more harm than good, but they were all set on doing something about it. I stopped talking to them. They grounded me, so I spent a lot of the next two weeks sitting on my dad's back steps, reading. That was where I met Trishy. And Trishy saved me from Kansas." And oh man, was he eternally grateful, so he didn't mind one bit that he missed out on a lot because he was taking care of her. He'd have missed out on a lot more if he was in Kansas for the long program.

"So I got to spend the entire summer in Sundance. I flushed all my meds, like I do when I'm here, until mom noticed and we had a big fight about it, which I won. And I got to hang out with Brett a lot because he was getting fed up with the guys. It was great... overall."

"How about you guys?"

21 Echo Elms Pepsi 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul Pierce

May 14, 2008 10:00 AM

Orange Soda by Saul Pierce

Saul grinned and stuck out his tongue as Echo pretended to smack him upside his head. He was completely unrepentant and quite pleased with the reaction he'd drawn out of Echo. Someday, he'd provoke Echo into actually whacking him. Saul was sure he could manage that eventually. It was for Echo's own good.

The grin faded slightly as Echo described his summer. Though he said it was great overall, Saul wasn't sure that the details matched that conclusion. Still, if Echo said it was great overall, then it was great overall. Saul supposed Trishy and the lack of Kansas was enough to make it that way. So he grinned and tried to lighten the mood.

"Mine was fantastic," he enthused, figuring he couldn't use the word 'great' after Echo abused it like that. "The road trip was over by the time I got out of school, but they'd lined up this series of festivals in Northern California, and I got to do loads of different stuff. And most of them had vendors that sold pepperoni pizza and I'm old enough now that I get to keep half of what I make for spending money so I didn't even have to eat any tofu this year! It was awesome! And I had a named character in the one Renfaire we did - Young Henry, Squire to Sir Reginald - and I had lines in the daily skits, and it was great! And they said if we came back next year, I could be Will Scarlett! Isn't that the best thing ever?"

1 Saul Pierce Orange Soda 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Elly

May 18, 2008 2:58 PM

I do I do I do-oo by Elly

Elly simply laughed more as Saul reasoned why Echo's drawing was actally very good. Elly didn't argue - even Echo's crayon drawings to a three year old were better than her COMC sketches.

Echo brought up ummers then, and Elly wondered if he was going to drop a bombshell. Elly was starting to wonder if summers were worth the hassle - eveyone seemd to have a lousy time when they went home. Surely it would be better to just stay at Sonora and live up the good times? Still, Echo said he had a good summer, even though he fought with his parents, and Brett fought with the other sundance guys. If the highs outweighed the lows then she could understand it bing okay, but it didn't really sound that fun.

Saul's summer sounded more enjoyable, but Elly didn't really understand most of what he was saying (but that was about par for talking to Saul). "Sounds great," she replied anyway. "But tofu's not all that bad, you know."

Figuring it was her turn, Elly started with the low. "Well asid fom my Mum moving away," she said, with an eye-roll, "mine was okay. I did some hockey coaching with Vicky and got paid for it, so I am no longer poor. Aside from that it rained a lot, and me and Dad failed to find much to talk about so we watched old sitcom repeats." Actually, put like that her summer sounded awful. "It was better than it sounds," she assured them, pouring some more juice. "And my Grandma came to visit a couple of days too, and she bought me some new trainers." Elly shrugged. "It could have been worse. It's nice to be back, right?"

0 Elly I do I do I do-oo 0 Elly 0 5

Echo Elms

May 19, 2008 6:42 PM

do be do be do by Echo Elms

Echo considered that his summer sort of didn't sound as good as it was either when he said it. Saul sort of gave him that look like uh, okay Echo and Elly looked a little relieved that nothing worse had happened after that introduction. He smiled when Elly and Saul explained about hers, and laughed at Elly's admission that hers didn't sound great.

"It could have been worse. It's nice to be back, right?"

"Yeah, it is. I guess mine didn't sound to good either," Echo admitted. "But it was. It was great. I felt normal. It was awesome. And now we're here and that's even better. So... good." He nodded to emphasize the point and smiled a self mocking smile at his friends.

Elly was right. It was good to be back!

\r\n\r\n

21 Echo Elms do be do be do 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Saul

May 19, 2008 11:08 PM

Da da-daaaaa by Saul

"But tofu's not all that bad, you know."

Saul stared at Elly. He didn't catch most of what she said. He did a little better than in class and managed to catch the main points - mom moved, hockey, got paid, rain, Dad, tv, Gramma, and new shoes. But they were tiny details that hardly made any impact on him and his look of complete and utter betrayal.

"Elly." He said her name with slow deliberation after Echo said something about being normal (which was either a lie or misunderstanding on Saul's part, but that wasn't the important thing to address right now). "I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say tofu's not all that bad."

He looked over at Echo for support. "She didn't say that though, right? She couldn't have just said that." He gave the girl EE a narrow-eyed suspicious look as if seeing her for the very first time. "You're not secretly a Republican, too, are you?"

1 Saul Da da-daaaaa 82 Saul 0 5

Echo

May 20, 2008 8:48 PM

Bum bum bum by Echo

Once Echo had figured out what Saul was talking about (and it was rough, considering how far back in the conversation the kid had backtracked), he grinned and said exactly what Saul wanted him to say even though he secretly had nothing against tofu (top secret, hush hush) and had even eaten it once.

"She did say that," he affirmed. It was ages ago now, but true enough.

Saul kept on about it for a few more sentences, which caused little quiet laughter from Echo and finally, a bark of a laugh to escape partially through Echo's nose when Saul uttered, "You're not secretly a Republican, too, are you?"

"She's British!" Echo reminded him, "And, anyway, you're overreacting. I mean, come on, more pepperoni for us at Fury!."

Pepperoni had not actually been at Novelling Fury! before, but this year, Echo was coming armed with it just to see what Saul would do. Would he still go for the cookies, or would he only eat pepperoni? It was worth an experiment, he'd decided. He could take data in his notebook. And now that he was thinking about it, for all his friend talked about pepperoni, he'd never actually seen him carrying around a big pepperoni stick--that would be a perfect Christmas gift. How had he never though of that before? That would be hilarious.

0 Echo Bum bum bum 0 Echo 0 5

Elly

May 23, 2008 2:34 PM

Echo, why are you singing about bums? by Elly

"Sorry to disillusion you Echo, but you're not normal," Elly teased him, with a grin and a wink. Still, she sort of understood where he was coming from, especially about not having to go to phobia camp.

Saul, it seemed, had missed everything that passed in between, because he was still hung up on Elly's tofu commment. True, she had said it to rile him, but the result was nevertheless extremely amusing. Elly raised her eyebrows while Saul and Echo workd to confirm that she did in fact say tofu wasn't as bad as Saul was always making out. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Tofu is grown-in-the-ground natural, and not full of salt like pepperoni, and not going to clog up your arteries like pepperoni," she said, then poked her tongue out because she was in danger of being serious. "So you guys stick to your animal-slaughtering, life-shortening habits, and I'll stick to my tofu eating habits, okay?" she grinned.

"Oh, and speaking of life-shortening habits, when are Quidditch tryouts?" Elly asked Saul. Seeing as he was the assistant captain (Elly couldn't quite express how jealous she was going to be next year when he was captain for real), she thought he might have some idea about what the Cravens had planned.

0 Elly Echo, why are you singing about bums? 0 Elly 0 5

Saul

May 27, 2008 10:57 PM

Obviously because bums lead song inspiring lives by Saul

Saul made a dismissive gesture at Echo's reminder that Elly was British. Nor did he care that tofu-eating wasn't exactly a Republican stereotype. It didn't matter. What mattered was that there was apparently going to be pepperoni at the next Fury! Saul gave Echo a wide eyed look of excited anticipation that was interrupted by Elly giving the normal anti-pepperoni spiel that he heard far too often when his family caught him eating pizza. Saul rolled his eyes but then Elly did something that his family didn't.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

Saul stuck his tongue right back out at her with no regard or thought to the prefect badge on his robe or his fifteen years of age. It was an automatic reflex, like gagging when eating tofu. He couldn't have helped it even if he wanted to.

Then she unexpectedly, for an evil and unforgivable tofu-lover, went and complimented the practice of eating pepperoni by comparing it to Quidditch (granted, she called them both life-shortening habits, but that wasn't the point - Saul knew she loved Quidditch). Saul gave her a narrowed eyed look and decided she maybe wasn't completely unforgivable after all.

"Should be pretty soon," he answered her obvious subject change. "They still need to book the pitch with Coach Fox and if they're going to do another day long try-out like last year, the other captains are probably going to want to get their's in first." He shrugged, "So we don't have a date yet. But it'll probably be as soon as we can schedule it for. Hopefully the twins'll have that sorted in the next day or two."

1 Saul Obviously because bums lead song inspiring lives 82 Saul 0 5