Completed [Martini's Home] A Favor in Ink

[Martini Elwood]

"Others." - "Common." - "Tukant."

2nd of Summer, 517
12th bell, 22nd chime

Martini awoke with a start, the knocking at her door becoming louder. She really didn't want to get up though... Maybe if she ignored them they'd go away unless --

Click!

Shyke, why of all times. For once she was actually sleeping alright, so why did she choose now? The door opened and closed and once again the locked clicked back into place. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten her a key to her place. She wished to sleep and not be disturbed, but Kayli had other plans.

"Martini? Whoa, are you really sleeping in bed? Not on your desk?" The short blonde mused with a smile. Her vibrant green eyes and fair skin alight with amazement. Of course she would say that after walking into the Kuahala apartment when Martini had been knocked out on her desk. It happened a lot.

The only reason Kayli had a key was to check up on her, make sure she was eating and such. She was like her caretaker. No matter how daft she acted, she was pretty smart.

"Yes, yes. Why are you here Kayli?" Martini rasped through into her pillow, her voice slurred with sleep. She was tired from pulling a three night job, so she wasn't in the mood for Kayli's boyfriend talk or her new make up.

"Oh, right! I've always wanted a tattoo! But I need a really pretty design... I was wondering if you could draw me one!" Martini perked up when she heard 'draw', turning slowly to Kayli. The girl was smiling, her eyes filled with expectation. She really wanted Martini to do it? Couldn't she just have the Tattoo Artist design something?

"Why not let your Tattoo Artist do it?" Martini raised herself to swing her leg over the bed. She needed to get up anyway. Kayli lifted herself and Martini made the bed as she explained.

"Well, I know I can count on you to make something epic! I don't really know the Tattoo artist at Riverfall ink other than the fact he makes Kuvan marks."

Martini considered this as she washed. It was true, she herself not been there to many times. Walking over to her dresser, she began put on her clothes before heading back over to her wash basin.

"It's probably better if you let him do it though. He's way more experienced in tattoos and drawing." Martini responded as she brushed her teeth. She wasn't a expert on Tattoos, no quite the opposite. She knew nothing. It was an art form she'd never tired sure, but it wasn't something she had particularly been in to.

"But Martini..." Kayli whined, exaggerating her name. The brunette groaned, but hesitantly agreed. Kayli had jumped up to hug her before she finished the sentence.

[Martini Elwood]

"Don't get too excited, you know I'm still an art student." Martini pulled the chair from her desk and gestured for Kayli to sit at the table. She then took out a piece of parchment from the her sketchbook, the ink and quill coming next. The brunette yawned before speaking again.

"I'm going to need as much detail as possible. We'll decide on a price afterwards once we both are clear on the design and the work has been done. Do I have a deadline?"

"Nope! Anytime you roll out of bed would be fine!"

It's not like she slept twenty four bells all day every day. It just happened to be a rough day before, what with the three showcases, Chase calling off sick, five lost children, and two rowdy patrons that had to be escorted out... It was chaos. Martini made a small note at the top of the paper with a frown.

* Client: Kayli Evers Deadline: None Purpose: Tattoo Project Taken on: 2nd of Summer Approximate Time Elapsed:

"Alright. What did you want?" She asked, scribbling down the information. That's when Kayli lit up and started talking a mile a minute. That's when she knew she was in for annoying conversation. She cleared her throat loud enough to break Kayli's speech. Don't misunderstand, she loved her friend to death and she loved doing designs for others, but Kayli persisted to annoy her by choosing this color and that. They didn't even match!

"Oh, besides the colors I want a serpent! It has t --"

"Wait, you want a snake? Even though you're terrified of them?" Martini interrupted as she caught up. Kayli smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She looked like she wanted to say something, she even opened her mouth, but closed it twice before speaking.

"Yes, but they look badass on skin!"

"Is that the only reason?" Martini was doubtful but if Kayli wanted to mar her skin for something so simple, so be it. It wasn't her place as an artist to question her clients tastes. When Kayli was about to reply, Martini shook her head.

"Whatever, it's your skin. Though the colors you've chosen wouldn't make a snake look 'badass' as you put it." Martini gestured at badass, the array of colors swirling in her mind making her nauseous. Assuming the girl was going for a tough look, maybe some black with shades of red?

"Then you tell me what colors would work!"

"Where are you putting the tattoo?"

"My Arm, why?"

"I think I might have a design in mind. The colors might work good too..." The brunette muttered the last part to herself and took out an extra sheet of parchment. Kayli watched for silently as Martini began to do a rough design sketch. She used hurried strokes and some where out of place. She had never drawn a snake before, but inspiration pushed her forward.

She started to slow, changing to shaky and uneven lines. Some didn't even connect and others were out of place in some way or another. She continued though. She needed to get the basic line of action. The line of action, as her art instructor had told her, was the general motion and flow of the pose.

Se used quill in her left and gently pressed against the paper as not to dull the nib. She used a black ink, and made sure to dip the quill into the ink vial at certain points. She wouldn't wait for it to run out before she dipped.

The line of action would help her with dynamism, foreshortening, and proportions. She used another sheet of paper before she was satisfied with the small sketches. In a span of one bell, she had the them ready. Within this time, Kayli stayed quiet. The last time she had pulled Martini out of the zone she got a thorough earful and lesson about creativity and inspiration. Once Martini lifted from her work, Kayli spoke.

"What are these lines?" Martini explained how it was the line of action of the sketch before pushing forward both pieces of work. Martini hadn't put much effort in to the lines and they probably wouldn't look better even if she had.

"You need to choose one, it'll be the basis for design. Or I could draw up some more sketches and bring them to you later?" Martini huffed out a smile when Kayli shook her head and pointed to one of the sketches.

"Alright, I'm kicking you out so I can get to work. Come back in three days and I should have some rough outline sketches for you to choose from. Then I'll start on the rough draft and line art."

[Martini Elwood]

"You really get into your zone, huh? I remember when we were children... I'd come over to play and you'd be sketching this and that, and unless your mom told you to go play you wouldn't stop. Even that didn't work sometimes." She reminisced with a chuckle. Martini frowned and apologized. No one came to visit her except for Kayli and all she had ever done was ignore or put the woman off. She was a horrible friend to Kayli, but for some reason the woman stuck by her side. She didn't deserve such a good friend.

"I do and don't regret that for a multitude of reasons. I regret neglecting and putting you off as a child and even now. You've been nothing but kind to me since we were children. The only good thing was that I moved from hobby artist to art student."

Martini exhaled and messaged her temples. It wasn't that the brunette was jus now noticing this, no not at all. She had known for a long time, when she'd first met Kayli perhaps, that she didn't really appreciate the other woman. She was still so much of that younger self, it was almost as if she'd aged only in body. She had always thought Kayli would get bored of her like the other Syliran children did and grow apart from her.

She never did and went as far as to follow her to Riverfall.

No matter how much Martini refused to admit it, Kayli was her only friend and the only one who made sure she was healthy. Her mother and father gone, she had no one to tell her to eat or to go outside. Or to care for her. The blonde filled that role with glee. She never asked for anything in return.

"I told you already we're friends - best friends - and friends, no matter how close or far apart, support each other." Kayli responded with a snort, which was followed by a sun that could rival Syna's light. She truly was blessed. She would work extra hard on the tattoo concept to make up for her lack of presence and once done she would take Kayli for a girls night out.

"Now, how's about that sketch?" Kayli reminded, an unidentified emotion dancing through her eyes. Martini hoped is was intrigue or curiosity, but she wasn't good at reading facial expressions. With that Kayli stood, hugged her, and left the estate after reminding Martini to eat.

****

3rd of Summer, 517 AV
15th Bell, 52nd Chime

Martini was awake all night last night, working on the sketches. As of now, she needed to get serious as all the previous sketches were trash. This line was too thin, this one too thick... She couldn't help but heavily criticise herself, hoping that it would help improve her artistic skills. As of the fifteenth bell, Martini was still awake. Her eye were bloodshot and once again she had bags under her eyes.

But she powered on. She took a sip from her glass of water and set it back on the floor. She never put food on her desk, ever. She knew one wrong move could ruin her hard work, so she made it her primary goal to keep all risks to a minimum. She yawned before picking up her quill once more.

Short and abrupt strokes of her quill, the lines too thick and light so she went back over the lines. She set up her desk perfectly. Her sketchbook sprawled in the center, ink vial to the left and quill in hand. She also kept a nearly folded piece of parchment to put under her palm as it rested on her canvas as not to smudge the ink out of place.

That said, sometimes the parchment smeared ink anyway, but it was way less damage than her palms did. Looking down at her floor, she huffed before turning away. Littered around the desk was a buck of crumbled pieces of parchment, each with a different design based on the line of action Kayli had chosen. They were all horrible and wastes of time, but she could swear each attempt looked a smidge better than the last.

Martini took out the base design sheet and then placed another sheet of paper over it. She slowly outlined the snakes body, trying her best to visualize it threading through the skin in coils. She just couldn't get the body right... Maybe she should take a break, no she would take a break.

Removing herself from her desk chair, she moved to her wash basin. She splashed water onto her face and dried it before moving to pick up the mistakes she had strewn over the floor. She put them in a pile next to the hearth to be burned.

While cleaning, Martini decided to try meditating. Maybe if she could picture it in her mind, she could put it on paper. She seated herself at the table and tried to think of snakes

One wrapped around an older Akalak perhaps. Some snakes had venom, some did not. She knew not of different breeds, and the Akalak wouldn't tell her his snakes breed so she would call it it's species or nickname and nothing more. She imagined the snake striking out with its powerful jaw as she exhaled.

And just like that, she was at her desk. The way the snake moved was fascinating, it slithered along in an 's' pattern and often it's tongue poked through its lips. Perhaps she could do something with that?

She added a very rough drawing of a 'Y', and scribbled over it to darken the shade of black. Five bells in and she had two sketches ready. They weren't the best, no, far from it. The lines were wobbly, and bended places they shouldn't because of how her hands were shaking. She never could stop them when she was excited. Sometimes they shook when she was on the verge of a big breakthrough.

Either way, she tried her best to replicate them in at least three different drafts before settling on the best one of each. What did she do? She looked at the rough draft, and drew what she saw. This curve goes here, a long hurried stoke followed the thought.

[Martini Elwood]

Martini realized a bit late that she didn't have the colors she needed to finish once Kayli chose a template. The shaping on each draft was different and in Martini's opinion one looked better than the other. However, as an artist, if her best friend chose the lower quality, she couldn't really deny her of it.

If she did pick the lower quality design, she hoped to the gods that the Akalak who ran Riverfall Ink would better the quality before inking Kayli's skin.

She was done with the work, so she had a whole day to herself. When Kayli came tomorrow they would go shopping for ink, or maybe even paint. Though only if Kayli was willing to risk her skin on her poor quality painting. For now though it was time to rest.

****

5th of Summer, 517 AV
17th Bell, 23rd Chime

Martini was grateful that Kayli came later in the day. She had much need of the sleep she had gotten, and the bags under her eyes had lightened up. She opened the door when a knock sounded and exited and locked the door after grabbing her key.

She explained that she needed colored ink before they set off toward the Courier Express. The place had good deals on extra supplies for writing and the like. The express service was a nice place, but too much hustle and bustle for the calm that is Riverfall. Once at the shop, she smile at the clerk.

"Can you show me some red ink samples?" The clerk nodded and gestured for them to follow her. She led to a shelf dedicated to ink vials, possibly with all the shades of any color you could think of.

Martini picked out a blood red, a ruby red, and a pale red ink vial. She already had enough black at her home. She handed a vial to Kayli as the clerk checked the price tags.

"That'll be nine gold mizas. Is there anything else I can help you with?" The clerk asked politely. Martini shook her head and pulled out the coins. Once the exchange was done they headed back to her home.

****

Martini exhaled and carried the rough sketches over to the table. She laid them out so Kayli could see them and watched her face carefully. Now, Martini was no observational expert, but she could tell Kayli was in love with the second one. The woman picked up the piece of paper and examined it closely. She stole glances at the lower quality design, but eventually decided.

"This one! I love how it threads underneath the skin, it's so badass!" Martini laughed softly and shook her head. She was worried for no reason. Kayli was now rambling about the many ways Martini could color it, but then she remembered their shopping trip and frowned.

"How are you going to complete this badassery with just four colors?" Martini couldn't help it, she snorted and then laughed. Leave it to Kayli to ask the silly questions. She could just look at her and then kick her out, but instead she chose to answer.

"Kayli, you don't need fifty different colors on an artwork for it to come out beautiful. As long as their complimentary colors." Martini was genuinely amused by the confused look on the blondes face. Now then she had work to do. These outlines wouldn't paint themselves after all.

Ledger/Loot :

-9GM [ Logged ]
+Blood Red Ink (1 oz)
+Ruby Red Ink (1 oz)
+Pale Red Ink (1 oz)

[Martini Elwood]

Kayli didn't look convinced, in fact she looked a little concerned with the way her brows furrowed. The frown didn't help much either. She observed Martini's face before exhaling in exaggeration. The blond pulled herself to the other side of the table and stood in front of the woman. She narrowed her eyes, making her concern fade in to disappointment - maybe even disapproval.

Martini realized she was staring directly into her face, her gaze hardening. Wait, she wasn't -- But the blond derailed her train of thought by flicking her forehead. Hard. Martini winced and sighed. Supposedly she deserved it for not buying anything to conceal it.

"You've been pulling all-nighters again, haven't you?" She already knew there were dark circles under her eyes and possibly bags as well since she had stayed up two day's straight working on the sketches. She had started to stock up on concealer when she first gave Kayli a key to her home. The girl visited at least once a week to make her stop working - the only one who could without being ignored - and make sure she was eating and sleeping properly.

When Martini thought about it, she realized Kayli kept her from getting sick from lack of food, drink, and sleep... She even bought her food when she visited sometimes. The brunette knew she wasn't a person with healthy habits but she did go to work and get things done while she was awake.

When Martini didn't respond, she took it as being ignored and flicked her forehead once more. Martini put a hand to the abused area and began to message it.

"I'm seriously concerned Martini! You could get sick again, or- or, worse so please, take better care of yourself!" Kayli scolded her as if she were a child. Martini hated to admit it, but Kayli was correct. She had gotten sick after her body crashed from lack of sleep. She was assigned a medical aid for a whole seven days, it was hell.

"I understand, but you know how I get..."

"Yeah you enter a trance that's almost impossible to pull you out of. It's terrible. Maybe you should try meditation before you draw, you know, right after your prayers?" Kayli suggested, a hand on her chin. Martini didn't even bother to tell her that she wasn't sure how. She just nodded and cleared her throat before speaking to get back on task.

"So we have the outline you want right? So now I just need to make some copies so if I mess up on one I have another chance or two. I'm afraid this is where I ask you to depart." Martini noted, giving the woman a warm smile. She told her to come back in two days time, and she jotted down more notes on the entry she had written the basics on.

Client: Kayli Evers Deadline: None Purpose: Tattoo Approximate Time Elapsed: 4 days, 5 bells Colors: Ruby Red, Blood Red, Pale Red, Black

Martini then put the paper back in her desk and tidied up the room to refresh her mind before starting the coloring process. Once done, she sat at the desk and arranged the vials form the darkest shade of ink to the lightest. She grabbed her quill and began to ink the details in black. She started by placing the eyes, and shading them accordingly. The shading was off by a quite a bit and one eye was noticeably bigger than the other.

Next she detailed the scales but because she didn't actually have any references, they weren't exactly accurate. Next she took the pale red and added some to the scales as soft shading. The black naturally overpowered it, so she traded off for the ruby red instead. She was still so inexperienced, she went through three copies before she was satisfied with the soft shading.

Next she carefully worked on a 3D effect with the blood red, so It looked as if the snake was threading through the skin. She used curved strokes, rounding the features a bit, which only succeeded in making the drawing look flat. Maybe now wasn't the best time to be experimenting.

[Martini Elwood]

6th of Summer, 517
18th Bell, 45th Chime

Martini had worked on another copy to satisfy her need for perfection and spent the day on it. She started slow, outlining the snake with thick lines that drew more attention than she liked. The whole point was to have all eyes on the finer details, but the way she had inked the second one drew more attention to the snakes outline.

She had one copy from the previous day that was fully colored, but she needed more practice so she started on this one. She decided to practice coloring, though it wasn't easy. While drawing with a quill, the tip was pointed and couldn't make wide strokes. It took time to fill in colors... and patience.

Martini switched to pale red and then ruby before she smudged the colors together in an effort to blend them. She then applied the blood red and did the same. It would hopefully look like the snakes coloring faded as one went form head to tail.

She would then use the black to apply uneven scales. She tried to keep the dip of the scales limited to the tip of her pinkie finger, but some of them were a bit larger or smaller even. She inked in the details of the eyes with pure black, trying her best to keep them even.

The eyes turned out okay, the scales looked off but we're manageable, and the coloring looked okay. Maybe she could add some pale red to the eyes..? She looked over the drawing, the ink set and dried before shaking her head lightly. It was best if she didn't toy around with it now that the ink had set.

For now she would sleep.

****

7th of Summer, 517
18th Bell, 45th Chime

The next day Martini spent her time with the unfinished drafts, seeing if she could recreate or repurpose them. She fiddled with colors on them, trying her hand at blending again. She started sifting through the sketchbook, trying to find the best outlines out of the few copies she had left.

She had taken up the two days and now Kayli would have to pick one of the finished designs, maybe both if she paid a little extra. They weren't professional by Martini's standards, but they were the best she could offer with limited knowledge beforehand.

She was still curious why the girl had chosen a serpent, a creature the other woman herself feared. It was almost laughable if not for how serious Kayli looked when she asked. She had no desire to question her about now, only if Kayli brought it up would she mention it.

A knock and twist of the lock later, Kayli was as her dinning table positively glowing with excitement. This made the brunette nervous. Kayli could easily turn down both designs and refuse to pay. She knew the blonde wasn't that type of person, but the thought itself spun her mind into a hurricane of thoughts, all worse than the last.

Martini moved slowly, hesitantly. She eased the drawings out of her desk before seating herself across from the blonde woman. Green eyes peered at her, silently, heavy with what Martini could only assume judgement.

"I'm going to say this now; these are not my idea of good, but I had limited resources to pull from save my mind." The brunette was sure she had stumbled somewhere, but was to focused on regulating herself to be concerned. She supposed it was now or never, she she pushed the three two drawings toward Kayli's end.

Kayli looked over each drawing, the colors, the details, the lines...
It was like she was awaiting judgement from a God. Martini could feel the stare boring in to her work, slowly deconstructing it and putting it back together the way it was desired.

Then Kayli smiled her smile an Martini's body slumped.

"They're beautiful! I especially like this one with the fading red!" Kayli squealed in delight. She then went on to gush about the colors and how Martini had been right. The brunette exhaled her exhaustion an thanked her friend before speaking.

"You're just being nice. Either way, thank you. Now we just need to agree on a price." Martini had worked hard for five days, sometimes on lack of sleep. The only thing that rang true in her mind was how happy her friend looked as she offered the miza.

Graders Note :

I'd like for Martini to earn some pocket change for selling the design to Kayli. If this isn't okay, just ignore it.

[Shaqira]

G R A D E

xp

Observation +4
Negotiation +1
Organization +3
Writing +2
Rhetoric +3
Socialization +2
Interrogation +1
Drawing +5
Cleaning +2
Meditation +1
Endurance +1
Intelligence +1
Leadership +1

lores

Kuvan Tattoo: Mark of Riverfall citizenship
Negotiation: Setting the terms of a commission
Organization: Keeping a record of clients & commissions
Interrogation: Challenging conflicting information
Color matching
Drawing: The line of action is the motion & flow of the pose
Drawing: The line of action aids dynamism, foreshortening & proportions
Kayli: A true & faithful friend
Kayli: Terrified of snakes
Drawing: Set folded paper under the hand to stop smudging
Meditation: Letting your imagination inspire you
Riverfall location: The Courier Express
Endurance: Working through the night
Intelligence: Reading facial expressions
Leadership: Setting deadlines with clients
Organization: By color darkest to lightest
Drawing: Shading in color
Quills are inefficient tools for shading
Drawing: Blending colors together


penalties
— ⅕ oz blood red ink
— ⅕ oz ruby red ink
— ⅕ oz pale red ink
— ⅕ oz black ink


rewards
+ 11 Gold Mizas

If you feel I missed anything shoot me a PM.
Don't forget to edit your grade request here -