coloring outside the lines. [fin]

Benny had been spending time doing just about everything this camp had to offer but he was especially interested in all of the arts and crafts workshops. He'd made a lanyard, whatever that was for, he'd carved a weak looking broom out of some tree bark, he'd even started knitting a blanket before he realized he really did not have the patience for knitting, and now he was covered in paint and standing in front of an easel. His easel was next to @Fingal Mac Duibhshithe 's and honestly Benny was happy he wasn't standing next to a stranger. He loved coloring, painting, drawing, and being around a friend made it that much better.

He huffed, sighed, laughed, and danced a little while he was painting. He ended up getting about as much on his white smock as he did his canvas but that was half the fun. He was trying to depict a scene from the novel series he was reading with Wendy but it wasn't coming out exactlyyyy the way he had pictured. He'd managed to make the dragon the right crimson red sort of color but it's wings were disproportionate. He was still working on that. It hovered above the little team of wizards who were on a mission to save their friend from an evil clan of sorcerers.

Taking a deep breath, realizing he'd been holding his, Benny leaned over to look at Fin's easel. "Whatcha' working on?" He asked casually, a friendly eager smile playing on his lips.

Why was he doing this class again? He came for quidditch and nothing more yet Fin found himself in a painting class. He wanted to prepare for the next term at Hogwarts and try and be on the quidditch team. All his time should have been practicing in the air, but someone suggested he should try some other of the opportunities offered here. He, of course, argued with the person, but he eventually relented when they told him they would leave him alone if he took at least one art class.

The only thing that made this class somewhat bearable was the fact he wasn't in a class with strangers. He was sharing it with Benny who certainly was a bit more eager to do things than Fin was. This certainly was a nice change of pace for Fin, but Benny always struck Fin as the type to get himself in trouble and needed help getting out of it. So he wasn't about to let the poor lamb get lost among the heard so he stayed nearby just in case. The fact the young child seemed to get more paint all over himself rather than his canvas made this viewpoint much more evident to Fin. Still, he couldn't help and laugh at the other kid because it was entertaining to watch how he worked.

Soon Benny would lean over to Finn's easel and ask what Fin was painting and it certainly wasn't anything exciting to Fin. His life revolved around ballet and though he did it out of purpose he had an interest in quidditch too that needed to be thirst. So his painting was of a quidditch pitch from the perspective of a player. The dimensions were of course askew, but one could tell what was attempted. Fin had painted the boom sticking out of the bottom with his arms extended to the handle, but the hands were missing. He wasn't sure how to approach making them so he left a void where they were for later. The goalposts were decently done, but not exactly in straight lines as they could have been.

"Quidditch pitch," Fin answered plainly as he added some color to the arms area to show the Slytherin green quidditch robes. "Trying to work on perspective," Fin explained to Benny. He pointed at some of the weird angles and dimensions of some of the stands and goalposts with the broom. "Don't think I got it right, but it is what it is. Painting isn't something I find myself doing normally." Fin turned to benny and decided to take a glance at his painting and ask, "You?"

Benny tilted his head to the side, a little bit of green colored paint on the tip of his jet black hair sticking to his forehead, and then nodded. "Looks good to me." He said with a confident tone of voice. Benny had never been great at proportions, at least not when it came to drawing things he hadn't practiced a few times. He worked at it though, tracing and retracing and looking at examples, until things started looking right. He actually admired the way that Fin had chosen to depict the pitch. He'd never of thought to draw it from that perspective honestly, he was a little bit envious of it even.

"Where are the hands?" He asked, realizing that the spaces where they should of been were still a stark white in contrast to the rest. He leaned back toward his own easel and globbed a bit more paint on the moon in the sky and the clouds in front and behind it. He was enthralled by the fluffy clouds as he responded to Fin, not looking away from the easel. "What would you normally be doing though?"

He knew the answer, and if he didn't he could of guessed. "Oh wait are you signed up for the pick up game later tonight? I heard it's girls vs boys!"

"Hey! Hands are hard!" Fin defended himself when the blank spots for the hands were brought up. "The fingers are weird long and bendy things that just don't paint well and become creepy looking. Have you ever really looked at hands? They are strange and look weird!" He looked at his own hands as he said this and felt a tad disgusted by them. Maybe he should put on some gloves. Would it be weird if he did? Whatever it didn't matter at this point he already was painting without them why bother getting some now.

When he was asked about what he would normally be doing Fin was about to answer when benny answered for him. He couldn't help and smirk at Benny and responded with, "Do you think I wouldn't be?" Fin gave a small laugh as he rebounded with, "You better be I wanna see what you have got in you." He wanted to do recon on all the students in his year and their abilities at quidditch for his advantage next term. He would figure out their weakness and strength and use them to his advantage. Best to be ahead while you can right?

Fin couldn't help and smirk when he saw the green in Benny's hair. He was a Gryffindor so it probably was traitorous to his house for being clad in green. He couldn't help himself and took his paintbrush which had some green on it still and painted a few more strands in Benny's hair. "There I claim you as part of the Slytherin house now." Fin gave Benny a wink and chuckled.

Benny had been planning to paint something good today, something he'd been picturing in the back of his mind for the last few days. He was going to stay focussed, work hard, try new things, and really finish something. At least... that was the plan until Fin put another idea into the little Gryffindor's mind. "What?!" He said as the green paint dripped down his forehead just a little. Oh his Lola would be cursing if she saw the shape of his fine, silky soft, black hair, but Benny couldn't have been bothered by it. It'd come out, eventually.. probably.

"You will regret that MacDub!" He said, calling Fin by the shortened version of his last name that was far easier for the Filipino boy to pronounce than the full thing. Even Fingal didn't sound quite right with his mixed English accent. Benny wondered how anyone in Scotland or Ireland, or even Wales, ever understood what the other was saying. It all sounded like another language to him.

He dipped his brush in a gob of red paint and turned quickly to the other boy. "Yah! Take that!" He shouted while flicking it at Fingal and hoping to land some on him. They were supposed to be painting, and in a way they sort of were, but Benny doubted this was what the professor had in mind.

Fin laughed as a smidge of green paint fell to Benny's forehead. He almost looked like a welsh green dragon! Fin wondered if Benny would like to be a dragon one day. Maybe they could enchant wings into benny and he could go around Hogwarts and terrorize the other students with his playful banter. The idea was certainly with its own merits, but it was quickly pushed out of his mind when Benny retaliated with his red paint. A red smear splattered across his face Fin wiped his face created a long ted streak across his face almost like war paint.

An evil grin painted across Fin's painted face as he looked at Benny. Dipping his brush in more green paint her began flicking more and more paint at Benny. "You shall become my greatest masterpiece," Fin yelled in triumph as he would continue to splat paint at Benny. He didn't try and aim anymore it didn't matter if it hit the other boy's hair, face, shoes, or even stomach he would become the green dragon he envisioned. "I don't have to worry about making hands if the painted object already has some!"

Even as the paint smattered all over his face and clothes Benny howled with laughter. They had started getting some looks from other would-be artists at their easels but Benny couldn't have been bothered. He sent a bit more paint in his friend's direction, even though the green dripping down his forehead was starting to get into his eyes. He could feel it hardening on his eyebrows, but he wasn't concerned.

"Yeah but first you have to catch me!" He shouted at the other boy, dipping his brush into the pot for as much paint as he could take on the road with him and taking off running. Weaving and out of the other easels Benny looked behind him, looking for where Fin was, and trying not to trip. He laughed loudly as he nearly fell just outside of where the easels were, a bit of his own paint splashing onto himself, and then looked back for Fin.

Fin couldn't help but smile at the turn of events. Things were nice and relaxed for once in his life. He wasn't pressured to do anything perfectly and he wasn't forced into something he didn't want to do anymore. He could be a kid much like his peers and just have fun. The onlookers of the other classmates didn't matter to him. They wouldn't change how his life went by as they were all strangers so their judgemental gazes meant nothing to him. At this moment all that mattered was the masterpiece dragon that he would name The Benny Green. A play on the welsh greens name of dragon breed.

Drops of red would come from Fin as they would play together and it would mix with the green splats on the ground creating a muddy brown. Fin probably looked like he was taking damage and bleeding out with all the red all over his body. Benny then began to make a run for it and Fin chased after him after dipping his brush in his paint pot. Keeping a close eye on sprinting dragon he continued to flick more and more paint at him which was now a lot harder since it was a moving target. He kept hitting other objects in the room instead. A blank easel, the hem of another student's pants, the finished painting of a student who left the class already. All the green he was throwing was missing Benny, but then his target fell.

A sneer of a smile painted his red face as he pointed his brush at Benny as if it was his wand. "Any final words Benny?" Fin questioned his prey as he stared at the blob of green, red, and brown mess in front of him. A few seconds would pass before Fin began to bend over in laughter at the sight of Benny. "You look so ridiculous!" Fin said this with so much glee on his face his eyes now shut as he dropped his paintbrush. He outstretched his hand to Benny to help him up.

Benny fell to the floor with a thud, and an oof escaped his mouth, but it was quickly followed with the sounds of laugher. The young wizard nearly curled into a ball laughing by the time Fin had joined him, mock threatening him with his paint wand. And this made Benny laugh even louder, with wild abandon, and he held his stomach while shaking his head. "No, no," He said breathlessly between laughs as the paints mixed together and started to dry.

They were covered in it, and it was getting clumpy. Benny could feel his hair sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck and when Fin reached to help him up he warily took the offer. Half expecting another attack Benny gave him a raised eyebrow, theatrically warry, and then pulled bits of green hair off of his forehead. They stuck straight up and he realized it. Brushing his half paint-covered hands throw his hair Benny made a little mohawk, silky black mixed with goopy green, his mother would be so angry. And then he half some more.

"So do you!" He told Fin with another grin, pointing at the red paint covering his clothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the instructor headed their way, her hands crossed over her chest, a scowl on her face. His eyebrows raised quickly and he made a face. "Fin! Run!" Benny howled with laughter as he took off toward the door. Luckily their romp through the class had gotten them halfway there.

Benny didn't stop until they were a few paces from the door, out in the grass and the sunshine of Vermont, and his cheeks were red from running.

Fin laughed at the fact Benny said he also looked ridiculous and he wouldn't doubt it. If he looked anything like Benny did the two probably looked like blobs of walking paint together. Picking some of the red paint with his hand he smeared it across his hair backward. Slicking his hair and creating a patchy red area in his brown hair. That way both Benny and Fin looked silly with random streaks of color in their messy manes.

Then Benny instructed Fin to run and Fin turned around and saw the teacher heading their way. Fin raised his paint wand and said, "Begone foul beast!" Then chucked the paint-filled wand at the teacher and booked it right after Benny. When the two stopped Fin noticed Benny had red cheeks from running, along with the paint of course. Fin couldn't help and say, "Sounds like you need more exercise, Benny. Might have to bring you to a ballet class now and then to get you in shape," Fin joked about this, but he was somewhat serious about it. Ballet had made him a bit more agile and able to run for longer periods and even though he wasn't the biggest fan of it since he was forced to do it by his father he still enjoyed it.

Fin looked back on the location of the art class and wondered if the teacher would still be following and suggested, "We should probably continue running maybe into the woods to hide for a bit?" Fin looked at Benny and gave another smile. "Or we could find a body of water and take a quick swim to wash off some of this paint. Anything, in particular, you want to do while we are here?" Fin couldn't help and enjoy hanging with Benny he was never judged by him and despite them being in different houses he knew he could rely on the boy.

"Ballet?" Benny asked with an open mouthed stare at the other boy, from context he figured it was some kind of sport but Benny had no idea it was dancing. He love to dance, but only when the King, Elvis Presley, was on the radio. "Yeah maybe I'll try that some time! Gotta' get fit for Quidditch try-outs next year," Benny held up his arms on either side and made a fist, showing off the teeny tiny muscles he barely had and then laughing again.

The paint was starting to get dry and stick to his forehead and the little hairs on his arms but he didn't let it bother him. "I don't know, you choose!" He told the other boy with another howl of laughter. Sometimes it was so easy to get caught up in having fun. They'd painted pictures, they;'d painted themselves, and they'd even been in a (not so) high speed chase out the door! What could they do next that could possibly top that? "I'd have to go back to the cabin for my trunks if you wanna' go swimming?"