hares on the mountain | [bronte/dolly]

hares on the mountain | [bronte/dolly] Nov 3, 2023 17:41:09 GMT -5

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Post by umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars] on Nov 3, 2023 17:41:09 GMT -5

There was a very large crowd of students in Snowspire who believed that being forced to continue academic achievement amid such heinous weather conditions was not only cruel, but practically quantifiable as a method of torture. The last thing they wanted was to wake up early, leave the warmth of their beds to brave the cold tiled flooring, condemned to sit inside all day and study, or read, or pretend to do either.

They got in trouble for running in the halls, but the blizzard was so severe by then that the entire first floor was buried. The doors were barred shut to prevent any of the students from flooding the entryway with snow, the windows boarded up to support the growing weight. Even some of the teachers themselves likely counted themselves a part of the 'I'd rather be doing anything else' club, reluctant to assign anything other than busywork.

"Bingham has no idea how big of a mistake she's made, pairing us together," Dolly muttered to Bronte from across their table. "With your aesthetic and my... me, we're going to make everyone else's volcano look like a diaper explosion." You see, of all of these people (both student and professor alike,) who loathed their current situation, Dolly was not one of them. In fact, she was thriving. With literally nothing else to do other than focus on her studies, she'd managed to finish all her extra credit work weeks ahead of schedule. She still planned on going to the seminars, though- to help everyone else figure it out. If she saw herself as a leader in the future, she had to start leading now. Mentorship had no age limits!

Plus it meant spending more time with Grant.

Bronte had always been one of the more eccentric of Dolly's year. In many ways, they reminded her of Pippa. In fact, Dolly often thought that the only discernable difference between the two was Pippa's constant insistence that everyone around her perceive her as happy and content, whereas Bronte had always been perfectly content expressing their emotions, consequences be damned. Dolly always liked that about them. In fact, though Dolly wasn't a super artistic person, she thought that was sort of the whole point of Bronte's talent: expression. Pippa's was all about hiding what was there so no one could see it. Both were impressive, nonetheless.

She measured an angle with her protractor, tutting her tongue against her teeth- "It needs to be about two or three degrees steeper on this side, by the way. If you don't mind!" she explained, rotating the wire skeleton of a volcano toward Bronte. It was coming along nicely so far, but they had a lot of work left to do.

hares on the mountain | [bronte/dolly] Nov 4, 2023 15:13:35 GMT -5

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Post by pearl mcclain d4 [ryan] on Nov 4, 2023 15:13:35 GMT -5

they are still yearning for the release from this snow hellscape that they have to call a home. they could barely count the days on their hands anymore, actually, they couldnt do that. they were pretty sure that the amount of days they have been stuck there went past the amount of toes she had too. bronte would probably pull out her sketch book in order to count the days, and in fact, she did this morning. one, two, three... twenty-six? that cant be right. there is no way this storm has lasted twenty six days. she racks her brain around that number for a moment before she realized that she had a couple good days of drawing and then a couple bad days.

theyd be more comfortable with a number like six or seven.

never the less, she knew that she couldnt be stuck in her room the whole entire time. she wouldnt be able to draw any inspiration after a while. the building seemed so small now a days, the chill from the storm almost like the best friend they never needed either. in some parts, they could see their own breath clearly in front of them, which meant that she needed to head somewhere warmer.

they were thankful for the generators kicking on just long enough to at least get some sort of heat generated in this place. bronte hadnt heard joyce's voice in what felt like years, but she had a feeling that was because this just wasnt the conditions to be singing. she just continued to replay snippets of it in her mind as she tried to use the art room as much as she could.

that was until the teachers started to think that they could use this time to assign students work and get ahead in the curriculum for the year. "id much rather refine my talent..." they said to professor cheng that walked in on her in the artroom. "this will help keep your mind busy so you dont burn out on that talent of yours bronte." she is stoic in her words, and bronte simply looks at her with no expression. "can you leave now?" they have no problem being honest with anyone, including faculty.

this was going to be the longest blizzard in the history of panem at this rate.

professor bingham decided to jump on the bandwagon and assign even more work to them while the snow still poured down on them. just went bronte turned in the packet of work to cheng and thought they were free to get back to talent refinement, another teacher decided that they were going to "help keep the minds of their students busy." see, bronte though, wasnt restless. sure, she missed the outside, but she wasnt beyond thinking about it. the physical limitation was very apparent, but her mind took her to places that she could only dream up about.

being in the science classroom though did put a bit of a damper on that imagination.

right up until bingham had then told her that she would be partnered up with dolly. thats when the actual hesitation had come into play.

bronte hadnt interacted with dolly too much when it came to school work. she kept her distance because they were perceptive on just how passionate dolly was about making sure that she was at the top when it came to her marks. bronte felt she was smart, and even the teachers would tell them from time to time that if they just applied themselves a little more, she would probably be able to rival dolly toe to toe. bronte was never interested in the books or the knowledge though. what she was interested in was how she could use what she learned to influence her art. it was not uncommon to find bronte in the art room after a big test painting something in order to help her dump all of the knowledge that she knew she didnt really need anymore. shed always bring it to the teacher that gave them the test and show them what she created. it always went over well.

but then bingham mentioned a volcano and bronte's doubts and reservations went away. a chance to be creative while also learning something? a smile formed on her face from ear to ear. this was a powerhouse team, and they had a feeling that bingham knew what she was doing.

they could tell that dolly felt the same way. bronte could help but giggle, a rarity for her when dolly mentioned diaper explosion. "were going to be a formidable force, the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe." bronte wasnt sure where that last part came from, but she did feel like it was fitting to the situation. the volcano was already mounded out of the finest crap that the school could provide to them by bronte. her brain simply taking over and the creative side pouring out of her finger tips. she would take small breaks to see what dolly was doing on her end, and thats when shed see a notebook covered in pen ink. she wondered how many pens dolly had gone through in a day here. she mustve been costing the building a pretty penny.

bronte smiled at that thought.

dolly had flipped the volcano around and pointed out that a part of the make shit mountain needed to be steeper. bronte was a little confused by this statement, knowing well that putting a harder touch on this could put more strain on the structure. however, after bronte stood up and changed her angle on the volcano, she realized that dolly might have had a point. she worked her fingers into the spot and gently pushed it down, the clay and the wire now feeling a little tough against her skin. "the cold is making this insufferable to work with." bronte had no problem sharing their feelings on this one. she then looked to dolly and rotated it back to her. "better?" bronte didnt really mince words when it came to things like this. it was or it wasnt in their eyes. "its been weeks since bingham has even talked about volcano's in class. do you happen to have any examples in those notes of yours?" bronte was not one to really take notes during class. they retained a lot of information just by listening and seeing. it was probably why dolly was a step above her. "seeing something might open my eyes even more yknow?" bronte said softly. "really seal the deal on the whole 'making everyone's elses look like a diaper explosion' thing." bronte giggled again. she just didnt think that would have come out of dolly's mouth.

this really was an odd pairing? wasnt it.