Colorful disaster (Avaltri)

[Nai'shee]

73rd of Spring, 512AV Nai'shee was wandering around the Docks and city whole day, with her stomach almost empty since she haven't ate for about two days. She asked if anybody needed help, carrying things for older citizens or messaging around for some busy workers. She wasn't doing it for money, she felt bad not to help in this kind of situation, even if things were calm by now and she was hungry as hell. She probably won't have any choice but going to wilderness and trying to hunt. But she was afraid, after disaster like this, what will she find in wilderness? What might happened? She sighted and decided to sit down, tired. Sun was high on his way to the west, but it wasn't still close to evening. She watched the dark clouds passing like nothing happened. She will always be fascinated by ability nature has: it carries on no matter what happens. People? They give up, they take their own life, they're stuck and depressed about some tiny problem, but nature? Probably huge part of Mizahar was ruined, but nothing really changed. Of course, air was a bit polluted, those huge Obelisks rose from ocean and good part of city an surroundings was damaged, but still, the winds, the clouds, the rain, the waves just ignored everything and kept going. And they will no matter what. She couldn't imagine how she looked like, looking at the sky and daydreaming in the middle of the street in situation like this. Probably like crazy optimist or really nostalgic girl. She stood up and carried on. She decided to give food a try finally or she might collapse, which was dangerous in situations like this. She kept walking, thinking is it better to try and steal something, no matter how horrible it is to do such in situation like this, or spent good part of her savings to buy food witch was barely found around the city. Unusual, most of peoples were hungrier then before (when they at least had fish), so she was not the only one to starve. She knew the feeling too well to be able to still from someone like that. She didn't know what to do anymore.

[Avaltri]

Avaltri was sitting on the roof of a building in the harbor. It was already late afternoon, and the Akvatari regretted that she wouldn't be able to watch the sunset from here. She had to fly up into the mountains sometime and watch it there. But not now. Something quite different had attracted her attention. She had been observing the human girl for a while. She was obviously quite young, and very energetic. She had been hustling to and fro in the harbor, helping people, as it seemed. The girl wasn't an exceptional beauty, but she looked feminine enough, and her face wasn't uncomely either. And that wasn't the point in this case, anyway. It was the air she had about her, that vibrant youthfulness. When the girl stood in the open for a moment, looking at the sky, and at an apparent loss about what to do, Avaltri finally made a decision and rose from the roof - literally. A few beats of her wings brought her away from the building and towards Nai'shee. A moment later, she had landed on the ground behind the girl. "Hello", she said softly, and with a slight, friendly smile. "I could not help but notice your appearance amidst the bustle of this place, and thought I might as well ask if you might please to allow me to draw you." She tilted her head slightly, curiously awaiting what reaction these words would provoke.

[Nai'shee]

A soft greeting from behind her scared her for a moment. "Oh." It was all she was able to say when she turned around. She was already scared by woman's low voice, but when she realized the woman was Akvatari her pupils became big and her mind became stunned. She haven't seen one for eternity. She quickly fought away her confusion because she didn't want to look rude. "Hello", she smiled to the Akvatari. Her face held some innocent, soft beauty. Her wings were colorful, slightly changing from black to green, then beige and again black. She felt a little dizzy because of it. Those colors were perfect combination with her light gray fur. She murmured 'thanks' while Akvatari spoke, but she didn't want to interrupt her more than that just to thank on a compliment. When she asked her to draw her, she just shrugged. "Sure, why not", she said, realizing that she didn't have better job anyways. "If you can make me stop moving, that is", she added with childish smile. She was never drawn before, so she took it even more seriously than she should have. She imagined not moving a tiny bit for hours, barely breathing. She was kind of excited to see how will that come up, so that would be a challenge more. "I'm Nai'shee, by the way."

[Avaltri]

Avaltri was amused Nai'shee's reaction. Such a thing was probably just a bit outside of this human girl's world, the Akvatari thought, and smiled. "Thank you. My name is Avaltri." She looked around for. A few people around were staring at her, but she didn't even notice them. She was preoccupied with finding a suitable place, and in the process had to imagine Nai'shee before various backgrounds. As she looked towards the water, she saw what immediately struck her as the ideal spot. "Why don't we go to that pier over there", she suggested. "You might lean against that post, as suits you." Avaltri would sit on the ground and draw the girl in a view from slightly below, against the background of just the sky and that sole post; or better yet, just the pole. She would leave the sky to be imagined. The pole was the essential thing, a singular element, and being part of the harbor, it signified the door to what part of the freedom of the ocean was accessible to human beings. And this girl needed her freedom. A few flaps of her wings quickly lifted Avaltri several feet above the ground, and sent a gust of wind through Nai'shee's hair. "My apologies..." she said, casually and a bit distracted. She was quite taken with her idea, impatient and eager to begin.

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee hurried to position herself as she have been told to. She felt a sudden gust of wind and turned around, reflexively, to see what was that. For a short moment that breeze brought the Storm into her memories, but she nodded to Avaltri's apologizes a moment after and gone to the place the painter spotted. She leaned on the post and sighed, looking at the endless sea, imagining herself on the picture as the eternal dreamer she was. Then she looked back to Avaltri. "What should I do?", she asked indefinitely, but sure that Akvatari will understand what she meant.

[Avaltri]

Avalti took her time hovering slowly towards the pier. When she landed again, Nai'shee seemed lost for a brief moment in watching the sea. The Akvatari watched her for a moment and then put down her bag to take out her drawing board and paper. For a moment, she hesitated about which pencil to use, and then pulled one out of the case. When she looked up again, Nai'shee had turned back to her. "Why don't you..." Avaltri began, and looked around. Behind herself, she could see a large rock outside the harbor that was populated by seagulls. "... just look out on the sea as you just did. Or, if that is too uncomfortable", she added with a friendly smile, "watch the seagulls overthere." It suddenly occurred to Avaltri that it might be instrumental to offer some kind of reward to ease the girl's impatience. "Or better yet, do both, and I'll yet you keep one of the pictures", she said, looking up to Nai'shee expectantly.

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee was thankful that she will be able to entertain somehow while she is drawn. It would be so much easier than really positioning for something special. She quickly looked at seagulls and then back at Akvatari, as if she was checking if she would be able to stay still like that. It can't be that hard, right? "Oh", she cried happily when she heard she is getting one of the pictures. "Thank you!" She wasn't sure how will she be able to keep it safe, but she will do her best, that is. After saying that she lost her eyes again for endless ocean and cheerful seagulls while thoughts about drawing crossed her mind from time to time, as she was dying of curiosity. Still, she was surprised that she was able not to move. Except little things, like itch and similar feelings our body tends to make when we try not to move, she didn't feel any other reason to do so. She never really meditated, but she now concluded that she can babble in her head as well.

[Avaltri]

Avaltri's eyes moved between the girl, who was looking out on the sea as she had been told to do, and the paper, where a picture was coming into being. The Akvatari was pleased to see that Nai'shee's expression was not tense or otherwise unnatural. She didn't seem to be bored or impatient; in fact, she looked genuinely absent-minded, as if she were occupied with something internal to her mind. Avaltri smiled inwardly and worked in silence to exploit the opportunity as far as possible. The artist began with a single, continuous line that reflected the contour of Nai'shee's face. Then, two eyes appeared inside it, looking upwards and to the right, and between them, Nai'shees nose with its distinct, slightly flat shape and wide nostrils took shape. Again, with clear lines, only perhaps slightly more diffuse than the first. Avaltri wasn't aiming at a perfect rendition of every aspect of the face; there would be no texture, no shades. Just a single, quick impression of the shapes; it would give the picture a lightness that she felt was particularly appropriate to the subject. Avaltri continued with the slim lips. Then she turned to the mess of hair that surrounded the face, and only afterwards did she add the neck and shoulders and the beginning or arms. When all the lines were drawn, Avaltri produced a different, thinner pencil from her case. She began to trace the lines that delimited the face with it, so that they would appear just a tiny bit less clean. And as she did this, an idea occurred to her: so far, she had eschewed colors altogether. But what would happen if she were to use a colored pencil to trace some of the lines - say, orange for the face, and blue for the shirt? Avaltri's hand stopped. Somehow, it seemed that would be the logical way to treat color in her pictures. The Akvatari felt even a bit excited as she imagined it, but her situation made it necessary to contain this excitement: she didn't have a colored pencil, and only later would she have the chance to procure one. So she tried to push the feeling aside and took up the pencil again to finish the drawing. It wasn't important that Nai'shee stood still anymore. "It's almost finished", Avaltri said without looking up, "So if you feel the urge to move, now would be a good time." Then she did lift her gaze to Nai'shee and smiled. "Who are you, anyway? I know your name, but why don't you tell me something about yourself? What do you do?", she asked, hoping that it would entertain the girl, so that she would be willing to go through the second picture.

[Nai'shee]

Suprisingly, Nai'shee wasn't bored while waiting for Avaltri to finish her drawing, but she needed too move in too many ways. At first she felt itch on her nose, then she felt uncomfortable on wooden floor, even nor it never bothered her before, and then she started to feel stiffened. She was so relived when she was approved to move that she almost jumped up. "Really?", she asked. "How is it, can I see it?", she asked, still not moving from a spot she have been drawn at, just in case. When a women asked about her she concluded two things: she could move and she must lie. Okay, she already knew she will have to lie, but only now it hit her to think of whole new story instead of just changing thing or two. "Well, where should I begin? I guess there isn't much to tell. I'm a daughter of one famous Svefra sailor and I often travel around Mizahar with him, but I spend most time here, in Zeltiva, with my mom. I want to be a sailor someday!" She was proud of how well she acted while talking, but some things still gave her away, she was a bit nervous. But at least she didn't made up story which involved Gods or something. She is progressing. "What about the drawing?", she repeated, trying to get rid of the topic before she is questioned more. She will eventually tell her the truth anyways, bad habit she held for past few years. Since she got into her teens she wanted to be friends and trust much greater circle of people and just waited for it to result very badly for her and her current job. OOCSorry I made you waiting this much!