Out of all the possible things that Sandbar and his friends expected to potentially do today, having to watch over Klee while her brother was out of town was not one of them. He and most of his friends had just finished up with breakfast after going to the dining hall, only to find that the young girl was sitting cheerfully on Yona’s back. The only thing that they found out was that her brother Albedo had gone on a trip out of town with Spike and Professor Rarity, which in itself could have meant a lot of things. The only real way for them to know for sure though was to ask Albedo when he came back. Yet, there was no telling how long their trip was going to be for.
So, that left the young six with very little options as to what exactly they should do to keep Klee occupied. One wrong move and they would be blamed for whatever potential disaster that would result from losing sight of Klee at any given time. So, they need to find a way to keep her occupied for the time being until her brother was back from her trip or unless another creature, such as one of the staff members, wanted to watch over Klee for them. Yet, at this point, the latter was highly unlikely.
Luckily, it did not mean that finding such an activity to keep her occupied was impossible. For Ocellus did happen to remember something during their meeting with Starlight. While Albedo was explaining their situation to the school guidance counselor, he had given Klee some paper and what looked to be colored chalk to let her draw and create various pictures. Some of which she even showed to the changeling and her friends while she was waiting for her brother to finish talking.
So, with that in mind, all the students decided to take the young girl to the school’s art room. While it was normally a classroom that was used by Professor Pinkie Pie when it came to teaching the students of the school about art and creativity, Pinkie Pie also allowed for her students to use the room in their spare time whenever they felt the need to practice. Given the amount of space as well as the various materials, Ocellus thought it would be the most ideal place in order to let Klee draw to her heart's content. Which would be better than letting her play with any of her toys.
Of course, when it came to Klee, getting the chance to draw was only part of the fun. The other part was watching, “Wait, you want to watch us draw as well?”
“Mhm,” the little girl nodded with a giant smile on her face, “Klee wants to see what kind of pictures all of you can do! It’ll be fun!!”
“Fun for who exactly?” Gallus asked sarcastically in a low tone, before he felt himself get elbowed in the shoulder by Smolder, “Ow, hey! What was that for?”
“I think what Gallus meant to say is that’s a great idea Klee,” Sandbar added, before he trotted over to the classroom’s supply closet to grab some materials. Pencils, paper, crayons, paint and brushes and a lot of paper to go with that, “In fact, we have everything that we need right here.”
“Yay!! You guys are the best!” Klee said, before scrambling to get some paper and crayons as she took up a spot on the floor and started to draw. With that, mostly every creature followed suit. Well, every creature except for Gallus as he looked back towards Sandbar and the others.
“Look, I know that we all agreed that this was the best idea, but why are you trying to get me to follow through on this?” the griffon asked.
“Come on, Gallus. Just because we’re watching Klee doesn’t mean we can’t have any fun while doing so,” the earth pony told him, “What is there to be so worried about?”
“The last time that we had art class, Pinkie told me that my art came off as ‘dark and brooding’-”
“Were you trying to draw something you remembered in Griffonstone?”
“No, actually,” the griffon retorted, “I was trying to do the example she had on the board of a planted flower in soil.”
“Oh,” Sandbar replied, “Well, maybe this time around it won’t be the same. Besides, we’re doing this for Klee. You wouldn’t want to make her sad now, would you?”
The image of Klee being upset and the classroom getting burned down was imprinted in Gallus mind as he looked back over towards the little girl and her friends, before he looked back towards the earth pony. “I guess you have a point. Though, don’t try to expect me to come up with anything that you would find in a museum or anything.”
Sandbar could only smile at that as he looked at his friend. By now, every creature was trying their best to come up with a picture of their own to share with everyone else. From what the earth pony could tell, every creature was using a different kind of style to their piece. While Gallus and Sandbar just used pencils, others like Silverstream and Yona were using the brushes he got out of the closet as well as different colors of paint. As for Ocellus, she was using crayons with Klee and was the one who was keeping a close eye on her during the whole process.
Of course, some time after they got started, Ocellus noticed something. Unlike her friends, who were trying to draw or paint simple things such as objects, Klee was drawing what she realized was other creatures. At first, she thought that the young girl was drawing her brother or some of Ocellus’ friends. Though, their appearance looked to be rather different. After all, Sandbar wouldn’t exactly be wearing an eyepatch.
“Hey Klee,” she spoke up, “What are you drawing, out of curiosity?”
“Oh, these are some of my buddies!” Klee cheerfully proclaimed, before pointing at the first of what looked to be a few separate drawings. This one had the figures of a blue maned figure with an eyepatch, a brown maned figure with a red bow, one with a ponytail and a blond mane with the last one being a figure with what appeared to be a witch’s hat, “These are the buddies in the Knights of Favonius, including Kaeya, Amber, Master Jean and Lisa. Klee would’ve added Diluc, but… he’s one of the weirder grown ups. So grumpy all the time.”
Ocellus would’ve asked more about who she was talking about, but that was when Klee flipped her page over. This time, there was what looked to be a figure with a hood and silver mane and Klee among them. Ocellus could also notice what looked like dogs in the picture as well. “Here, we have one of my best buddies, Razor! He always knows how to fix things whenever a disaster happens! Even though… I’m the one who causes the disaster most of the time.”
“Are those dogs in the picture?” the changeling then asked, “Does he have pets?”
“Oh no, that’s Razor’s family!! Klee was told that they had been raised by them since he was little,” the young girl beamed, “Though, they seem to be scared of me. Yet, Klee doesn’t know why.”
Ocellus could possibly think of several reasons as to why that might be the case. Yet, it wouldn’t be ideal to say what those reasons were. Especially since Klee might not understand. Though, before the changeling could mention anything, the young girl picked up another paper she had. This one had a figure that resembled Albedo, but also had a different figure on there too. One with a green mane, what looked to be ears in that mane and they looked kind of timid. Almost like professor Fluttershy.
“This one is Sucrose and she’s the best!! Big brother has her work with him whenever she can and she told me that she learns so much from him!”
“Oh? Is this Sucrose a student of his?”
“I think that’s what she called it, but Klee can’t remember,” the little girl admitted, trying really hard to recall her encounters with Sucrose, but not coming up with anything. After a bit, she decided to instead flip the second page again to show what was on the opposite side. This time though, the image that Ocellus saw made the changeling shudder.
The next drawing depicted Klee with another small figure that had cat-like features such as a tail and ears. Yet, this time, it showed the two of them as if they were trying to destroy something as Klee had one of her jumpy dumpties and the other figure had a bow. “K-Klee? W-what’s this one about?” Ocellus nervously asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the full story behind this particular image.
“Oh this is me with Diona, she’s one of my best friends!” Klee replied with glee, “I always hear her say ‘No matter what happens, I will destroy Mondstadt’s Wine Industry!’ and I want to help her! Though, I don’t really know what a Wine Industry is… do you think it’s a monster of some kind?”
To be honest, the changeling… as well as her friends had no idea how exactly to respond to that. Especially in a way that Klee would be able to understand. So instead, Silverstream decided to speak up upon noticing that the young girl has one more picture left over that didn’t involve her potentially blowing anything up. Instead, this photo showed a blond maned figure with a sword with a smaller figure floating beside it, “Hey Klee, who’s this last one here?”
“Oh, that’s the honorary knight and Paimon!” the young girl replied with glee, “They helped me try to find one of my treasures when a mean Mr. Fluffball took it.”
“Uh… Mr. Fluffball?” Smolder asked, “Who’s that, some creature’s pet?”
“No, Paimon told me that they were the enemy of humanity… but I didn’t really understand what she meant,” Klee admitted.
“Yona confused,” the yak now spoke, “Who Paimon?”
“More like ‘what’s Paimon’ if you ask me,” Smolder added, before pointing to the smaller of the two figures in the picture, “I don’t really think the locals in Klee’s world fly around like that.”
“Is it some kind of weird breezie?” Silverstream asked, “And why does hearing that name make me hungry?”
“That happens anytime you start thinking about food, Silverstream,” Gallus deadpanned.
“W-we shouldn’t assume anything, though,” Ocellus spoke up as she looked towards Smolder, “T-there’s a possibility that things we see as strange are c-considered normal where Albedo and Klee are from.”
“How exactly?”
“R-remember when he showed his alchemy to us?”
At that point, the rest of Ocellus’ friends began to think on what she said, before they all came to the same conclusion and understood what she was talking about. After all, what the alchemist showed them on the day that they first met was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
“Yeah, that’s a fair point,” Gallus remarked.
“Back to what we were saying though,” Sandbar remarked, “These are some really great pictures, Klee. I’m sure that your brother would love to see these when he’s back.”
“Oh? But Klee’s not done yet! There’s one last one that I want to make first!” The little girl told him.
“Really?” Ocellus asked, “What is it-?”
“I can’t tell you just yet! It's a surprise!!” Klee giggled, before turning away so that every creature in the room could not see what she was working on. Originally, when they heard that, Sandbar and the rest of his friends got rather nervous. For when it came to Klee, hearing that she was working on a surprise for them didn’t really fill them with much confidence. Especially when it was possible that the surprise might’ve been rather… explosive, to say the least.
Though, when the little girl was done, the surprise that she had for them was much different from what they were expecting. “There we are! All done!! Come have a look!”
When the six of them turned around, what they found caught all of them by surprise. Klee had drawn another picture, but instead of drawing anyone that the little girl knew in Teyvat, she drew all of them instead with her in the middle. At the top, the words ‘Klee’s best friends’ was written in black crayon. “W-wow, Klee. You… decided to draw us?”
“Yep! You’re Klee’s friends, so Klee has to draw you!” She proclaimed happily, “Do you like it?”
“Like it? Klee, this is amazing!” Silverstream cheered in glee. Every creature gave similar responses, which in turn, had Klee’s eyes brighten up in joy.
“Really?! Thanks everyone, you’re the best!!” the young girl proclaimed. Though, shortly after saying that, they heard the sound of her stomach rumbling, “Uh… Klee’s feeling kind of hungry. Can I have something to eat?”
“Sure thing,” Silverstream was the first to answer, “I’m sure that there’s some extra food in the cafeteria that we can get for you.”
“Thanks everyone!” She beamed with pure joy, before following the hippogriff out of the room. Not even paying attention to the cups of paint that were on the table as they spilled out onto the floor. Leaving the mess to the rest of their friends to clean up.