Timestamp: 14 Spring, 514AV
It had been nearly three weeks since Ariann had blatantly asked Yuri out on a date, and a couple of more days before then when Ariann had pummelled into Gale along the beach. Despite those strangely ordinary happenings, Ariann had moved on with her life, letting the emotions she had back then vanish over the weeks that she spent cooped up in the University tending to the wounded.
It was a boring job. Very few people came by on the day-to-day basis with wounds that needed healed. Ariann rarely needed to use her Gnosis mark on those that trotted into the small room that served as the infirmary. Most of the time it was deep cuts, heavy scrapes and burns that she couldn't use her magic or gnosis on to heal that caused her the most issue. It was almost as if the people that came to her expected a miracle. Well, unfortunately for them, this fishie was one tentacle short of a miracle.
Luckily, her extensive knowledge in herbal remedies, potions and salves gave her a better chance than most in treating the wounds. Sometimes stitches were involved, whereas other times, Ariann had to use a device that the land-dwellers called a 'splint'. It was a weird thing. Two braces of metal or wood wrapped in linen, cloth or seaweed to keep a bone set while healing. She had to learn the technique of making a splint from a sailor down at the docks, since she had utterly no idea why it was needed. Apparently, where fish lack the solidity of normal bones and thus rarely end up breaking them to a degree that needs a splint, the humans tended to break their bones enough times to make a hill ogre flinch. It was insane how many people could get their nose busted in, or their finger snapped or even their jaw displaced!
Ariann found herself pacing about the infirmary gathering up the reagents, herbs and remedies she had harvested, bought or otherwise acquired for use on her patients. The small, stone room was centered near the outside of the university where anyone and everyone had access to her door if they needed medical attention. She'd seen a few wave guards pass by earlier today, but luckily none of them were harmed at all, so she wouldn't have to worry about one of them being Ricky.
The thought of Ricky made Ariann pause beside the long, wooden table that she had her stuff sprawled out on. Ariann found herself wanting to rid herself of her thoughts, but another part of her desperately clung to them. Her lips curled down into a frown as she sighed, grabbing the wooden slab with a clip atop it and a piece of parchment and charcoal. If Ricky wishes to be in my mind, then there is nothing better than for me to draw him. She thought peacefully, settling herself down into a chair that was quilted with felt-like cushions and a rocking bow to the legs so it would sway back in forth when Ariann shifted her weight enough.
She settled down, leaning back and bringing her slender legs up to form a makeshift easel that she leaned the clipboard against. The charcoal slid into a spot between her forefinger and thumb, pressed lightly into place as she brought the tip towards the parchment. The paper stained black as she drug the stick of charcoal across the page, sketching out the thick jawline that Ricky had. The lines at the center were bold, the dip of his chin wrinkled a bit. He would be smiling today, so she drew his lips with an upward slant, his familiar dimple placed there as well.
The next step would be Ricky's stubble. The lines were thin, sparsely dotted along the jawline and stretching vertically up towards where his cheekbones will be. Two curving lines slanted down with the same strength of his jawline to form the sides of Ricky's neck, and a sprinkle of stubble would be speckled under his chin as well. After that, Ariann drew two crescent-shaped shapes to form Ricky's ears, the lobes tipping into the side of the head. Next, Ariann dragged the charcoal stick flat across the top to scrape out what was supposed to be Ricky's hair. It did look a bit flat, but it was the best Ariann could do.
Ariann's hand paused just over the blank space that would be Ricky's eyes. His brow and eyes would prove to be too difficult for her to draw, even though her mental image of his face was as vibrant as the charcoal was dark. She frowned a bit, sighing and tossing the clip board aside with disdain. "I can't finish it..." She whimpers, the clip board clattering to a stop atop the wooden table. "I miss him. I miss Yuri, too." She sighs, "I miss my friends."