Solo Reasons II

[Job / Training] Curiosity scared the kitty, but poor judgemnt awakened it.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

Reasons II

Postby Martini Elwood on August 25th, 2018, 4:59 pm

2nd, Summer, 518

Martini hadn’t realized her hands had been shaking until she finally sat down to draw. The feeling of the… magic in her hands had her so badly shaken she’d avoided using them to draw anything. She was afraid and it showed all over. Her eyes were pink and somewhat swollen, the bags under them darker than she had ever had from not letting herself sleep. But she couldn’t help it.

She was terrified.

That flow of power in her hands had felt so real. Like ice3 traveling through her veins, it was so… strange. It was foreign, but most of all… in that moment she felt calm and relaxed. It wasn’t possible, shouldn’t be possible for her to feel that way when something that had taken her family from her relaxed her. It wasn’t normal gods damn it!

And even despite her reprimanding herself every step, there was a small part of her that was curious - intrigued even. And she hated herself for it. She scratched her scalp, the sting easing her back to reality as she broke from her thoughts. She needed to focus on her project for now.

She was tired - no that was an understatement - but she would work through it like she always did. Sitting back in her chair, she stared at the blank page in front of her. Her sketchbook had been open for a whole four bells - yet nothing covered it. He page had remained void of any design - no sketches or textures.

And it stayed that way as Martini finally blacked out a bell and a half later, her head lolling to the side of the chair as sleep and exhaustion overcame will.

*****

When she woke again her body felt strange. It wasn’t the usual groggy wake up she was accustomed too. In fact, she felt as if she had slept for days - her limbs felt abnormally light and her movements were smooth, not the slightest bit shaky or tired… Shifting in her chair, nothing was out of the ordinary in her home. The only thing she noticed that was different was her body. Was she still asleep?

Looking beside her bed, she stared - confusion twisting her features as she looked at the object that had not been there before. And then her body stopped responding and a cold sheen broke out on her neck. This can’t be happening, she rationalized as she turned away, hands over her ears to stop the pound of her heart that seemed to loud to her.

Not real, it’s not real, she chanted mentally. There was no way that her nightmare had come to life. There was no way. In the back of her mind she felt a subtle pull - a whsiper of curiosity that told her to examine the item. She didn’t move - screwing her eyes shut she began to chant out loud.

“Not here, not here, not here…” And when she opened them and looked to the side of her bed she began to cry. Because there, in the middle of her home was the object portrayed in her nightmares, and against her better judgment the pull it had on her caused her to step forward.

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Last edited by Martini Elwood on August 26th, 2018, 2:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Martini Elwood
Painting away Anguish
 
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Reasons II

Postby Martini Elwood on August 25th, 2018, 5:58 pm

Every inch of her brain told her to step away - told her to chuck the damn easel out of the door! But for some reason she couldn't. She had so many questions - even more reservations - and a boatload of fear for whatever this easel meant for her. She was by no means fearless or brave - and the shake of her hand - the hesitance of it all showed that. She could feel the tears in her eyes as she touched the surface of the wood.

Where things like this possible? To dream something and have it appear before you? It was so strange - but her curiosity kept her from shying away. She circled it cautiously, but found no sings of immediate danger. What she did find is a peculiar symbol - one she had no knowledge of. How had it gotten here? Why had she received it? What did it do? It had a weird feeling around it - it made her somewhat uneasy to be honest. She wanted it to go away, but she also wanted to examine it more...

Then she remembered. In her dreams she had painted on the easel - and that had caused the flow of... magic to build and pool into her hands. And with that thought she dressed anxiously, gathered her supplies and left the apartment - more so the easel - behind. The air was crisp on her, but she found no relief in escaping her home. She need to calm down - she could get rid o the easel later.

She took a shaky intake of breath before releasing it and heading off into the streets of the city. By time she reached a Semele Park, Martini had blown off and shoved her anxiety to the furthest reaches of her mind. She had come to relieve the stress of the situation, and petch did she need it.

When she entered the park, her first inhale of morning chill and earthy perfumes relaxed the tension in her shoulders. She could feel the way her body sagged as she stepped forward - and she decided to jut enjoy the morning air before doing any work. There were few here this early, but there were some lingering Akalak's, though they seemed to be meditating.

She took the opportunity to sit at the nearest resting spot to set up. Often times she could find other artists here as well - sketching and painting various things that caught their gaze. She was also one of those artists, but she never did seem to find the time to socialize with any of them... Though they were also busy - she had no right to interrupt their work, especially when it annoyed her when others did it to herself.

She hummed a broken tune to herself as she removed organized her setup. Sketchbook and charcoal placed side by side, a black ink vial just in case she decided to get fancy. She needed to work - anything to keep her mind occupied. Even if only for a short time. And as much as she would deny it out loud, running away from her problem was easier than dealing with it head on.

Looking around her, she slipped easily into a work daze - drowning out the around her and focusing solely on the blank page before her. Taking the charcoal stick into her left hand she ghosted a circle, training her mind on the shape before pressing the charcoal gently onto the sheet of paper. She bean to add more line weight to the drawing, making it a bit more pleasing to the eye with thicker lines here and there.

Eventually she refined it so that it was more of a jagged rock than the original sphere. She added triangles and pyramids to the sphere - making cracks inside the shape as well as squiggles for shading. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was decent enough that she was satisfied.

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Martini Elwood
Painting away Anguish
 
Posts: 186
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Reasons II

Postby Martini Elwood on August 26th, 2018, 11:50 pm

More shapes formed on the single sheet - angular, rounded… there was no end to the possibilities it seemed. She formed more rocks, and practiced with the how hard she pressed the charcoal to the paper - slowly but surely she could see a bit of improvement. Martini tried more obscure shapes but she ended up abandoning those sketches because she didn’t like them. The triangular shapes where much more appealing, and easy to form better.

As her mind wandered, she began to scribble flowers. Nothing special, just what she could see beside her. She had no knowledge of the flowers’ names, but she made a point to be as accurate as she could - she was eyeballing the flower after all. She curled the petals, giving a more dynamics view of the bud.

She detailed the bud lightly, not putting to much pressure behind the stroke of her charcoal. She used a bit more on the flower petals, trying to create visual texture. Her first was simple, a single rose like flower without thorns or layered petals. The next he rounded off was more like a sun flower, but the angle made it look stiff so she scrapped it.

She then attempted to draw more complex things that caught her eye. Such as some type of bird that had perched on a tree close to where she was sitting. Simple shapes make way for the more complex, she thought as she formed a body. A circle for the head and a bean like shape for the body. She used light gestures, getting the general shape down before moving to refine the outline.

She detailed the wings with less feathers than what she saw as she tired for a more skeletal structure. In the end the wings looked deformed, and the build up a fluff she had made with squiggles made the drawing look stiff. She tried to form the better, but everything she did seemed to make it worse. She was quick to scrap the idea and start over.

She stuck with the body shape she had, but made the wings as she saw them - perhaps getting a better grasp of the original would help her deviate from it? She drew a few more warm ups like this, starting off with basic shapes before moving more from memory. After a bell and a half, she had covered two sheets with sketches and scrapped three. She felt more relaxed - it showed in her drawings. The first few were stiff and rigid but the later sketches were loose and flowed better.

Looking back on it, Martini realized she had something odd on her paper - something she hadn’t remembered doodling. It was some kind of lily - vaguely familiar it seemed to her mind. The detail was less than promising of course, but the lily looked somewhat like a tattoo, and she had unknowingly dipped into the ink vial beside her - unaware until a single drop of ink hit the page. She snapped out of her trance with a blink, and decided to ink it.

The quill moved quickly, loose strokes of varying pressure here and there. As she formed it, mixing ink and charcoal she felt a somewhat odd sensation, something like a nag at the back of her mind. Scrunching her brows, she pushed passed the odd feeling and continued. At the very tip of her mind she knew she’d seen this before - of course I have, that’s why I’m drawing it, reasoned her mind.

She liked it - the odd drawing. So she put one sheet of paper on top and began to ghost over the lines with her charcoal on the blank paper. Once she had traced the image, she began to apply the same treatment to the newer version. Ink and charcoal - it was a nice combination if she did it right in her mind. Now down, she pushed the paper away to observe it from a distance.

It was free of too many errors, and it was a nice drawing. She would sell this one, it was pretty and might be worth some coin. With that she began to pack up her supplies, the lily kept in her hand as she moved to leave - but somewhere she felt like the drawing wasn’t quite right.


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Martini Elwood
Painting away Anguish
 
Posts: 186
Words: 133955
Joined roleplay: June 16th, 2017, 2:19 am
Location: Lhavit
Race: Human
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