Avantika stood in the grove, silently smiling to herself at her own idea. The sun streaked through the leaves, warming her back, and the grasses held fruit-bearing shrubs. They smelled delightfully sweet. She wasn't looking to eat the berries, though, although she supposed it wouldn't hurt anything to try some of them if she wanted to. She was planning to paint. The foundling hadn't seen much of Cosette lately. She wanted to make a painting of her to remind her that she liked her. It would probably be messy since all she had was a stick in her jaws to use as a brush, and that wasn't exactly a precise instrument. But messiness had its own appeal if she could do it right. Which she probably couldn't, since she'd never done anything even remotely artistic since she was a very small pup. She told her brain to shut up and collected berries with Kaata, making sure to get some of every type. After a few minutes and a few eaten berries (they were every bit as sweet as Avantika had expected), Kaata held up a large swath of bark. Good. Now she had a canvas! She was going to just paint on a rock or a big leaf or something, but the bark was better. A bit too wide, so she gnawed it in half roughly. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best she would be able to find. Now for her subject. Avantika howled for Cosette. She'd be around, hopefully. This would be really awkward if she didn't show up. What if she didn't even want to come? What if she didn't want a painting of herself and thought that this was being too creepy? They hadn't even talked that much, to be honest. How did she know that Cosette liked her at all? Maybe she'd think it was sweet. It'd had seemed like such a cute idea last night when she thought of it and could barely sleep from her excitement. But she probably should have asked someone else's opinion. Someone who wasn't quite so... her. Someone who knew how to talk to people without getting as anxious as she always did. Someone like Rudy, or Art, or Tamsyn. Art had a girlfriend, right? And Tamsyn obviously had had a mate. So they would probably have good ideas. Better ideas than someone as stupid and nervous as Avantika would have. But Avantika had nothing to do but wait, Kaata standing beside her. WC: 414 "Speech"

With the band settled in Boreas, Cosette had no real reason to be this far south. From what she understood, they would be back come winter, but would spent the warmer months north. The call came as a surprise, unsure of who, other than her mother or one of her band mates, might be calling for her. But other Nomads weren’t likely to call for her, and even less likely to be this far from the falls. And the voice that called was definitely not her mothers. Curiosity drew her closer, even though she knew it could be a bad idea to follow summons of unknown origins.

As she drew near, a familiar frame came into view and she quickly released the tension she didn’t know she was carrying. Avantika. She remembered the girl from their brief meeting. As awkward as it had been, it had been nice to talk to the young Hallows girl. Had she known that Cosette had left with Indigo and his band? It didn’t matter to her how the girl had known to call for her, she was just glad to be in the company of someone who didn’t make her feel so… strange. She had been nervous about leaving with the band without really having a sense of who everyone was, but she hadn’t expected things to be quite so intense. She hadn’t been present when Indigo brought his sister to meet everyone, but she was well aware of the fallout afterwards. The tension amongst the group had become too much, it was what had driven her so far. She had already felt like an outsider among them, and the shift in the atmosphere lately had made her feel so anxious she found herself feeling ill some nights.

A smile spread across her face as she stopped close to Avantika, her gaze dropping to examine the supplied laid out on the ground. "What’s all this?" Whatever it was, it looked like the perfect distraction from everything she didn’t want to think about.

wc: 338 - 752/1500
"Speech" || Thoughts

Avantika was glad that she didn't have to wait very long for Cosette to arrive. She'd just started contemplating running home as fast as possible and pretending nothing had happened when she saw that pretty gray face and those purple splotches. She smiled, and Avantika returned it with one of her own. That smiling was good, right? She didn't look angry that she'd been called so randomly. But that didn't mean that she wanted a picture of herself, so Avantika still couldn't be sure of herself. 'Worry-worm,' Kaata teased. 'Just paint the damn thing already.' Cosette asked what all this was, and Avantika replied, "Uh, I wanted to try painting, and I figured I could make you a picture of yourself, if--if you don't mind, you know?" She laughed a little, trying to break the awkwardness. She had to give some disclaimer of how bad this would undoubtedly be. She didn't want Cosette thinking that she was some master painter or anything."I've never painted before, so it'll probably look terrible. You can just throw it away after if you want." That was probably the most likely possibility, as much as Avantika wanted the painting to be perfect and for it to be kept forever. Cosette deserved something less cheesy than this, but Avantika had already said the words. So no going back now. Avantika looked down at her supplies and picked up the stick for a second before realizing something and putting it back down to talk. "Can you pose?" she asked. WC: 252 - 1004/1500 "Speech"