FTRS Shots and Other Stuff

A Source of Inspiration

Summary: Gilly treasures her friends, truly.

***

Gilly stared at the blank piece of paper on top of her desk. The ink was starting to dry, vaguely aware of the dipped quill hovering above a section of the parchment, already staining a portion of it. An unused pencil and eraser lay by, given by Maxine right before her daily session of feeding Peaches with duck-friendly foods.

"You can always draft out your work first," the ogress suggested. She had dropped the pink unicorn-shaped eraser and pencil with an odd, fuzzy, neon pink thing twisted around that reminded Gilly of a wyvern of sorts, except she wasn't sure if wyverns had googly eyes or were even neon pink.

Regardless, she barely touched both items. She had sat down, rummaged in her supplies for an empty scroll, a quill, grabbed the nearest ink(navy ink, a gift from her friends), spread them out on the table, and stared. Gilly had no idea what to write, had no idea what to do, a mind as blank and bleak as the empty piece of paper sitting on her desk.

Professor Harlow had announced unexpectedly that they were to write a poem about their feelings. Whether it was because Headmistress Flora requested or not, or it was simply something that was in line with the class she was teaching, the idea of writing a poem sparked an interest in some of the students. She did not specify which type and encouraged them to choose whichever form of poetry they liked.

"Although I hope the use of free-form is done sparingly. Not everyone is meant to take on their untapped creative potential," she practically forced the words out of her mouth as she eyed Kayla sourly, who blushed and looked away. Whatever Kayla had written prior seemingly increased her ever-present sullen mood.

It wasn't like Gilly didn't know how to write poems, it was just that she didn't know what to write about. Harlow had said they could write about their feelings towards themselves or other things they feel strongly about, like pets, items, or people.

But which one?

Gilly frowned at her scroll, not noticing the small blue drops left by the already dried up quill. Nothing had come into mind, no matter how many options were available.

She could write about Wilson, possibly. Yet there wasn't a lot to say about her little mouse other than his skill at aiding or alerting her in tasks or complaining about how she had not given him food. It would be a charming poem, but it wasn't what Gilly wanted. Gilly could write about her family and the shoe business. She could write about her thief exploits to help them around, about her siblings and their individual personalities, her parents who entrusted a lot of responsibility on her, even Grandma Pearl despite the amount of times she had crossed the old woman. But it still wasn't what she wanted. Not even her dear sister, Anna, and their deep sisterly bond was something she could base upon.

The girl didn't realize she had been zoning out for several minutes until Miri announced through her mirror that Blackbeard decided to hold a fencing match on his ship (for no reason) and that Angelina, Kayla's mom, needed some help in cleaning up the school library.

"Jaxon Porter and Jocelyn, please proceed to the library at the request of Headmistress Flora. Any other student that isn't watching the ahem, impromptu fencing session, may wish to help in cleaning the library," a slight tone of distaste in Miri's voice was heard. "And Oliver, don't even dare carry that lance to the ship." There was a brief scuffle out on the courtyard from Gilly's dorm room window that sounded like Ollie yelling in displeasure.

Like swift lightning striking a pole, Gilly sat up abruptly, the light bulb in her head sparking to life. She blinked several times before setting her quill down.