[Tain's Studio] Muses and Nefarious Tricks

[Savis Maren]

53rd of Winter, 518

"Hey, Savis, we have something for you," Tain called out in the distance as the Nuit set up her easel. Outside of Tain's Studio, the foggy peaks of the Kalean mountains were truly a breathtaking sight. Inside the store, there were only faint signs of activity. The place was dead, and the artists took to the outside, drawing their inspiration from the clear skies that showed the unparalleled beauty of the Kalean landscape.

Beautiful, but treacherous. I wonder how many Zith are down there, lurking in wait for their next meal, she mused. The Nuit, even with the barest thought of the Zith, felt her memory flare to the attack she'd experienced. She recalled the treachery of the Unforgiving, and deigned herself fortunate for never having to experience it again. She shook her head, returning her features to neutrality as she turned around and approached Tain.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Someone's asking you to paint something about the Tower issue."

Well then. I guess this is owed to my friendly altercation with Madeira? she mused, nodding her head as Tain extended a letter for the Nuit to process.

"Give it a read. The client said they'd be back in five days for the finished product," he added, a crispness to his voice. But before he turned around, the Nuit called out.

"Uh, actually, before you go..."

"Yes?"

I have a rather odd request."

At this, the sculptor raised an eyebrow. Curiosity was clearly melding into his features and he took a full stop. He crossed his arms before he asked, "What is it?"

"An ally of mine has recently requested I undergo a project... I've told you about my forays into magic? I need someone with artistic talent to act as an inspiration of sorts. Is there someone you know who could help?"

"Err... what do you mean?"

"I need someone to sit down with me for several bells while I imbue a mechanism with life," she answered honestly, fully aware of how odd it all sounded. But, she was going to be candid with the man.

"I don't understand this at all. So they'd just need to hang out with you for a little while?"

"Sort of."

"Magic's kind of weird. Whatever. I don't have anyone I can suggest to go through that, but I'll volunteer. I'm curious to know what you're doing on your off-time," he added.

Savis was astounded. She'd expect him to suggest another worker, but instead, he offered himself? The Nuit could hardly contain her excitement, to use such a Source with such talent in various fields. She disguised her eagerness and nodded in understanding,

"Very well. When would you be available?" she asked.

"When you turn in your project, I'll let you know. Now, please get started," he told her, and the Nuit left his presence at once. She stood near her easel as her silver eyes poured over the request given.

To Savis Maren,

I saw you fight for the independent mage the other day in the Basilika, and I just had to show my support for what you're trying to stand for. Please, won't you paint something for me that illustrates your perspective?

An Anomynous Supporter

WC: 534

[Savis Maren]

Savis Maren felt her lips curve into a grin, the idea of her point of view being appreciated resonating within her. The Nuit was right, and she'd happily create a work with the full depth of her opinion on the matter. Whether or not it was good was up to a bit of luck.

"Where do we begin?" she asked herself. The Nuit looked to the blank canvas and sought out a thin pen. The undead looked to her compatriots, her fellow artists, and saw them all sketching the basis of their intentions first. And so, Savis Maren did what she did best: she made lines. First, the Nuit marked the canvas with parallel lines curving over a determined point near the base. Then, she created conal shapes, six in number that encompassed the bottom fifth of the canvas.

Three hands blocking the light from the peaks, she ruminated, the satire of the situation meant to exaggerate what was going on. The idea of parody and satire was heavy within the sarcastic Nuit, and at last, she found a way to reasonably express it. A grin caught on the Nuit's features as she stepped into the Studio to retrieve some additional supplies. The Nuit crossed a variety of paints, jars of it meant to be drained from and used in a palette. However, the Nuit was unfamiliar with the means of doing so. Far too proud to go and ask one of the artists' advice, the Nuit instead allowed djed to suffuse into her gaze. The Nuit breached into the power of the soul, and allowed her awareness to fling forth. Details became far more vivid, and the Nuit could feel the slick texture of the paints as they settled on the thin wooden palettes. Savis watched as reds and blues melded and turned into violet. She noticed a working painter mix blue and yellow to form green, as well. It seemed that rather than relying on pre-created paints, these artists created the colors relative to what their own needs for. Savis Maren took a break from her sketching and decided to settle on a different part of her project, next.

I could try to paint the peaks as plants, with dark hands above them blocking the light from nourishing them. Wilting, even... But how do I portray that? the Nuit thought to herself as she allowed the Sight to dissipate. Instead, allowed the djed to roll from her eyes and down along her spine before her focus shifted. She lifted the astral from the physical, reaching out. Savis Maren took deep red, blue, yellow and white dyes, bringing them and placing them on her stool before willing the astral limb back to its home. She used her brush to 'scoop' a healthy dose of red paint onto her palette, then took the blue and began to inject it into the color. Little by little, the red turned to a brown, until she quickly brought a significantly greater amount into it and a splotchy purple began to surface at the center of the paint blob. She coaxed the paint around, intent on mixing the colors. She ended up with a hideous, brownish purple hue and scoffed aloud. Then, the Nuit looked jealously to the other palette, the one she'd been reading earlier.

Djed suffused into the Nuit's right arm, pulling the astral from the physical again when she saw that no one was looking. Carefully, she picked up the palette, bringing it to her side and whistling softly as she switched her poorly created colors with the lovely hues she saw her compatriot using. He'd made a healthy sum of paint, and the Nuit went straight away into her project before he turned around. Savis made sure to knock the palette to the ground, and the artist screamed out in frustration, stamping his feet when he saw that the identical palette's colors were ruined.

WC: 654

[Savis Maren]

"Damn it!" the other painter shouted out, and Savis Maren added a victory to her non-existent books. I'll figure that out later, she said, scoffing at her inability to handle even the simplest of practices. She didn't have the background some of these children had, with formal instruction or any kind of instruction for that matter. The Nuit had needed a job, and Tain was happy to oblige the given examples of her brushwork. The Nuit tried to forget the debacle, utilizing the palette she'd oh-so-fairly acquired. The Nuit began with the base, her brush working over the cones she'd drawn. The peaks were exaggerated, thin, sweeping strokes towards the base of the canvas used before she dispersed the paint and filled up space with the color. At the top of each peak, she mottled white, capping the peaks with snow before using the mottled tones to create a poor impression of fog. Savis Maren could just make out the visage of six mountains. The swirling fog came out one-dimensional at best, with her brush not cleaned properly in the midst of it all, muddling the brown with the white at the edges to poor effect.

I mean... he commissioned it from me in particular. I'm sure Tain let him know that I'm mediocre at best, she thought, a wistful musing as she continued on. The Nuit helped herself to a great deal of black paint. She painted the sky, giving the fog its counter with swirling effects. She sought to emulate a texture, giving the impression of movement in the painting without really knowing how to do it. Savis tried her utmost, using her wrist to emulate the effect she desired. Satisfied with the peaks and the sky, Savis Maren stepped away from her project in order to allow the paint to dry. It'd take several moments, and so the Nuit decided on which colors she needed next. Quite pleased with her progress, and noticing that the painter from earlier was still seething at his mishap and was at the table mixing paints once again.

This is my chance, she realized, knowing she'd take the reality of the incident to her grave as the two artists sat at the same table.

"I've never worked with other colors before... Could you help me?"

"Of course!" the painter, a young man hardly out of childhood, answered. Thick brown locks covered over one of the young man's eyes, and the entire look had Savis wondering if all artists were sycophants who put all manner of stock into their appearance.

Don't you do that? the voice of reason chimed, and Savis Maren brushed the thought aside as she watched the artist assemble the red and blue she'd seen before. However, he added a thin layer of white in the middle, the thick paint he used all gathered and cut into a rectangle with what looked like a spatula meant to carry slices of cake or pie.

"So, when you do this, you've got to work quickly. There's always more paint if you get it wrong, right? So assemble the ratios of paint colors you want, then use your brush and start mixing the three hues into one another. From the outside, then pull the paint in, and start creating circles and repeat the process until the hues are to your liking, perfectly mixed. Have you ever whisked something?" he asked, making a comparison to food for the brief moment before he realized what he was speaking to. He demonstrated the motions she needed to take, hurriedly doing so in an effort to get back to his own stuff.

WC: 605

[Savis Maren]

"I mean... nevermind. Just try to do it as steadily as possible. If you go too hard, it'll get gross and dull. If you go too slow, it'll dry on you. So... find the median," he added, then he clasped Savis on the shoulder and moved back towards his own work. The Nuit was alone and had a brief demonstration to use as a reference. The Nuit took paint, cleaning the tool he'd used with water before shaping the paint into a prism that she fitted with two others. She took the blue, melding it with yellow and a dash of black paint. She whisked the paints together, forming a mixture of green that was dark and rich to the eyes. She arched her eyebrows, the technique she was given worked quite well! Pleased with her efforts, the Nuit sought to recollect the mixture she'd made before returning to the task ahead. The sky was well and dry, the canvas ready for the second layer of paint. The Nuit used the green, adding brush to the mountain, trees going up and up the mountain until they surrendered to the 'green line' where the misty white of the peaks was left. Then, Savis took another dab of her paint and began to follow along with each of the peaks until she was satisfied.

Savis Maren looked to her mountains and felt far better about them now that the splotchy brown was covered for the most part.

With this medium, you can fix your mistakes relatively easily. I can calm down and slow my pacing on it, she thought to herself. Bells upon bells had passed since the Nuit started, and she took a recess, cleaning out her paints and clearing her mind with a brief walk to ease her mind.

When Savis returned from her little journey, the Nuit was ready. The other artists were long gone, and Tain looked to her with a slow nod of acknowledgment before closing the doors for the day. The light was low into the sky, and the nuit would continue her work alone.

"You'll be done with this today, won't you?" he said, with a chuckle escaping his lips. A chuckle that - she hoped - was laden with a dose of respect.

"I don't think so. But I'm not quite ready to call it quits yet. Color me inspired," she answered, waving the studio owner off with a hearty smile.

"Alright, you can leave your easal and whatever tools outside, if you'd like. Or take them home if you think something will happen to them. Just make sure to bring them back," he told her, and the Nuit nodded.

Savis Maren was eager to continue, but knew her time was limited. She used a similar mix of red and blue, using the slice of black in the middle to darken the paints. She whisked them together, creating a ghostly violet hue. She then moved to the canvas, creating three large, five-fingered hands that threw themselves over the peaks. The hands were open, the fingers bent in an aggressive posturing.

The Three Hands, their hands encompassing and blocking the light of the sky from the six mountains underneath. Obstructing the countless stars that could contribute, she mused, glad to have found some sort of inspiration in the job she'd awkwardly beseeched Tain to give her.

Savis moved next towards the sky, mixing yellow and white together, while keeping the ends of the paint 'blocks' separate in order to utilize those unique colors. Savis used the three varying colors to illustrate stars, the fusion in the middle with the layer of white followed by a layer of yellow to illustrate the numerous stars that were being blocked by the aggressive, intrusive 'protection' of the Hands. Savis Maren was pleased with her satire, and left the project propped up against the building. She covered it with a tarp before leaving the Studio, her eyes strained from the effort of painting in the waning sunlight.

~~~~

The very next morning, Savis was the second to arrive at Tain's. The nuit touched up on the colors, replenishing the greens of the brush and the starry white of the stars, then suffusing a black veil to each of the hands before turning the project over to Tain. She offered the man a grin, shrugging her shoulders,

"Five days seemed like such a long time. A day and a few bells? Much more reasonable," she quipped, winking at the man before she asked,

"What else have you got for me?"

"Don't worry too much just yet. Take some time, refuel your muse. There's plenty of work to be done without rushing things, Savis," he said.

Tain's a pretty cool guy.

WC: 787