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Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
With the beautiful landscape around, a picture of nature would be the first thing most artists should think to draw.
The painting before her looked nothing like it.
The only similarities between the canvas and the scenery were in the colors. The rest was a swirling, abstract mess of merging lines and diverging paths. It all appeared to blend together in some secretive flow the only the painter was aware of. If the artist was even aware of one.
Deb seemed quite content to swirl the colors on her canvas with little to no care. Not a dab of paint or even a brush was in sight. Instead, her fingers drew paths across the once-white map. Behind them came trails of different pigments and tones. She'd gotten some inspiration from the lovely scene before her. How the golden tint of the sun managed to break through the surrounding green to light up spots on the ground. Honestly, it would have made for a pretty photograph.
But the inspiration had ended past the palette. Now the image had been reduced to an abstract thought- used as practice for her power rather than any sort of academic significance. This would be a great time for her to work on art that actually needed to be done, but the wild haired girl pushed that off. She was more than content literally finger-painting and eating the small bundle of snacks she'd managed to snag before she got out there.
Although the noise of an approach managed to still her fingers for a few moments. Blue-grey eyes turned with her head as she assessed just who- or what -was coming her way. When she did see who it was, an open smile crept onto her features. "Is that another native artist? Coming out to your natural habitat?"
The caress of crisp air along her face, sharp when the breeze picked up, sent her body into overdrive. Her fingers itched for stimulation, the water in the air screamed to be used. Days like these were some of her favorites, with the threat of rain looming in the distance and thunder so close to crashing. Though the sun finally emerged for the first time in days, she could tell a storm would come. It always did.
She held nothing of immediate value in her hands, but a bag scarcely packed hid her sketchbook and pencils from the elements. Headphones completed the ensemble and her lips moved to the song that played on a low volume. She rarely left on these walks with a solidified purpose, but instead spent her time watching the trees sway, the animals move through the forest, and the air to offer a moment of inspiration. Today, however, proved to be slightly different as she searched for a wild haired artist.
The vague instructions led her to Deb who, Rya noted with a small tilt of her lips, had a canvas and snacks scattered around. With her headphones in, she couldn't hear just how loud her footsteps were, and stopped when the girl spotted her. "Looks like I've been outed. Damn," Rya shrugged, and made the last few steps to settle down in the grass. "You've been busy," Her brow raised, nodding her chin towards the abstract piece on canvas, though she saw no paint in sight. It wasn't like she never made a similar piece, but with the lack of a medium, her curiosity piqued.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
The smile morphed into a grin before she looked back at her canvas. Her fingers were still against it, but unmoving. The trails she'd been pretty carelessly making led right to her fingertips. Busy? "That's a polite way of putting 'wasting time while eating snacks.' But I'll take it."
Speaking of- her free hand reached out to grab something. What ended up between her fingers was a Twix bar. One she offered to the girl now settling in near her. "Want one? I probably shouldn't eat all of these by myself..." But that didn't mean she wouldn't. Knowing was different from doing.
Either way- accepted or not -she would get back to "painting." Only now she started adding in a few more colors. A new element had been added, after all. Although it still looked like some abstract mess. After continuing for a little while longer, Deb figured she ought to say something. She was curious. "So what does bring you out here? Just looking for something pretty to draw from?"
As Rya sat, she had to be especially careful not to crush the delicate cookies and candy bars that took up nearly as much space as the two of them combined. Initially, to avoid sealing the fate for an unsuspecting sweet, she crossed her legs at the ankles and kept her knees pressed up against her chest. Still, she felt the crunch of bag of opened chips or something that she hoped looked nothing like chocolate. "Hey, fake it till you make it, right?"
Certainly, it amused her to see Deb as wild and scattered as her hair suggested. They didn't know each other too terribly well, but the brunette did know enough to find the irony in her personality to her physical appearance. Rya shook her head, " Not really too into chocolate right now." She wasn't particularly hungry, and the fear of getting chocolate on her pants still lingered in her mind. Deb would have to, and ultimately would, Rya assumed, eat the snacks on her own.
With the moment cleared up, and the space around her equally so, the Brit reached around to grasp at the bag. She pulled out the pad and pencils, letting the latter fall to her bag to take from when she needed. The silence, though sudden, didn't come with any discomfort. Nature filled in the blanks and, if she were honest, the sound of snack wrappers, crunching, and the slide of Deb's hand to the canvas. She couldn't help but watch when she really got started again, watching the colors appear as clear as if she had pastels in her hand. Rya chuckled, putting the suspended pencil back down, "Just here to fuck around."
"Or, you know, we were supposed to start working together for this project today." It must've completely slipped the mind of her counterpart, but could she blame her? Had she been here for much longer, Rya would've done the exact same.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
With a shrug the little treat was popped back into Deb's mouth. Oh well: waste not. Looks like she'd be finishing everything on her own after all. Fine by her. She was quite content munching away until-
We were supposed to start working together for this project today.
Everything about her ground to a harsh halt. It was like a record scratch. That was today? She thought she had a bit more time before she'd have to actually sit down and get started on that project. it wasn't like it was going to be hard or anything, but she was going to be paired up with someone else.
That someone else who had, apparently, hunted her down.
Deb swallowed whatever remainder of the treat had been in her mouth. "Shit." left her mouth in a soft curse. Lifting her hand away from the canvas, she instead ran it through her hair. Which in turn caused her hair to go through another wild shift of color. Blue-grey eyes looked over towards Rya. "I had completely forgotten we were paired up." She admitted bluntly. Lying about it wouldn't serve a purpose. The shock in her freeze had probably already spelled it out for the other girl anyways.
Deb turned back to her canvas with a small sigh. "Well, we could. Have any ideas for what magical mayhem we should put to canvas for the project then?" Because hearing the other girl's ideas might actually remind Deb what they were supposed to be doing.
Rya grinned, rested her head on her knees and watched for a reaction. Deb didn't disappoint, and the hydrokinetic laughed in response. The professor hadn't assigned the project that long ago but Rya, for once in her academic career, wanted to begin working as early as possible. Prior to this semester, things were done near minutes before the deadline and she'd come to class with works that still needed fine details worked out but never were. She often wondered if school was for her, but if she weren't at Bellfonte, the Brit would be back in England doing God knew what. "For fucks sake, Deb, am I really that forgettable?"
She really didn't want the other girl to answer that.
Rya appreciated the honesty, and shrugged when the question returned back to her. Her sketchbook was already filled with enough unfinished pieces, she almost wanted to work on some of them to avoid having to come up with absolutely everything. The hydrokinetic adjusted her legs and placed the book on her lap and began flipping. "There are these rough sketches I have from the shit I've fucked around with, but you pick."
(most are images of the historic district of the town or natural scenes)
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
She at least had the grace to grimace a little when she realized how that might sound. And answering her little question would only make it worse. For once Deb wisely kept her mouth shut and moved on.
Luckily that seemed easy enough. While Deb continued with her absent-minded swirling on the canvas, blue-grey eyes glanced over towards the sketchbook. What scenes were within were actually fairly pretty. Nice sketches of the older parts of town. That or images of the natural wildlife that Deb herself was drawing -albeit a lot less abstract.
She took her time to look. Again, they really were pretty. ”Well I’m always a sucker for nature, so I’d have to say those are probably my favorite. Though the other ones are really good too.” She admitted with a shrug. ”Tell you what: how’s about you tell me what your favorites are and we go from there? Especially since you were the one that remembered we had to work together on this.” It was as much of a repayment as Deb felt she could give at a moment like this. That, and working well on the project so they both would get good grades from this.