[OTA] in the land of chalk drawings

[st_ackeddeck]

One day was as boring as the next once you'd been at the inn for awhile. And yet, there was something about Sunday afternoons in particular that seemed to drag. But there'd been new buckets of sidewalk chalk in the gift shop when Emma stopped in to get more toothpaste. Grasping at the sudden inspiration, she'd grabbed a couple.

A quick stop by the supply shed and about an hour later, several parking spaces in the lot by the main building had been embellished with spray painted picture frame shapes, some smallish, maybe a foot by a foot and a half, the largest almost the size of the parking space with just room to walk around the outside edge of the frame, most somewhere in between.

Emma was standing from her crouch, wanting to step back and get a better view when she realized she wasn't alone. "Grab some chalk and pick a frame," she suggested, following it with a shrug. "I thought it could be something different to do."

Comments

Emma & Caden

[st_ripandslither]

"In a minute, perhaps," Caden answered smoothly, walking on from one drawing to the next. He looked over at the redhead and gave her a smile, eyes shining warm with it. "I mean to enjoy those, first."

He was dressed in the grey foldover skirt he had arrived in and a yellow sweater he'd found in the boutique, light enough for the warmth of the day. His hair was loose, and there was a hint of kohl around his eyes. As usual, rings shone on his fingers, and a few bangles on one wrist, the other occupied by a brown leather bracelet.

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ackeddeck]

"It's mostly just frames so far. I think it's easier for most people, if there's a defined canvas to work in. Even if the canvas is a section of asphalt." In addition to the different sizes, the frames were in a variety of styles, from simple rectangles of slashes overlapping at the ends to ones with sharp corners and even lines, to more baroque outlines, whatever had come to Emma at the time.

One, though, she'd already filled with a drawing, vines and rough flowers seeming to grow out from and around a scrolling art nouveau style arch. She hadn't been able to resist, seeing the colors in her mind as she was painting the frame and not wanting to lose them. Yet. Chalk wasn't meant to be permanent.

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ripandslither]

"Your mostly just frames are beautiful," Caden replied gently, although his gaze had landed on the frame she had already filled. The art seemed so Aurellian that his feet took him closer before he made a conscious choice to draw close, heart tightening with how much he missed his home. "And this..."

There was reverence in his quiet voice, just then. He had never been much of one for prayer, not the way the church taught it. For Caden, lips and hands were far better ways to pray than knees and strict rituals. Pinyon, he understood, and he'd danced it a little, as a child. And while he had prayed with Cal a few times, the Church way, Caden still much preferred to pray on his knees in a wholly different manner.

So when he sank gracefully to his knees in front of the art, it wasn't in order to pray. While some of his thoughts soared towards the gods, no ritual words passed his lips. He had moved to his knees to touch a couple of fingertips to the edge of the frame. Home.

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ackeddeck]

Emma was going to tell him the frames weren't anything all that special – to her they weren't, she'd done similar on tent canvas and plywood when with the carnival – but then he was drawn to the one she'd colored in, and she held back. The reaction wasn't one she expected, especially not from someone who didn't know her. It was almost... reverence.

"I would ask if you're all right," she said softly after a long moment, "but that's a horrible question, especially for a new arrival."

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ripandslither]

Her quiet voice drew Caden out of his thoughts, but not fully out of his emotions. He forced his gaze away from the drawing to look up at her. "Your art looks... Where are you from?"

He shouldn't hope too much. No one so far had ever heard of Aurelle, so there was probably no one else from home here. The art was probably a coincidence. Other worlds had jazz, after all.

But he couldn't stop himself from hoping.

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ackeddeck]

Curiosity wanted to ask what it was he thought her art looked, but he had probably changed approaches for a reason, and where Emma was from might have had something to do with what he was feeling anyway. Not that her answer was likely to be much help.

"Lots of places?" She gave a half shrug, knowing it wasn't supposed to be a difficult question. "Most recently, before here, i was in Scotland, but for me home's always been people, not a place."

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ripandslither]

Scotland. It didn't sound like anywhere he knew, and Caden let the disappointment wash through him, offering it as little to hold on to as he could. He had expected it, after all.

He nodded slowly to acknowledge her last words, for all that his attachment to Castyll was also about the place itself. Even his attachment to Glynn. His gaze went back to the drawing. "This looks like something from home."

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ackeddeck]

Oh. Emma understood the bittersweet pang of finding the familiar in such an unfamiliar place, and she was both happy and sad her art had given that to... And then she realized she didn't even know his name, and hadn't offered hers.

But first... "Is it... Would you like to talk about it? It's okay if you don't," she was quick to add, not knowing enough about him yet to judge. "I'm a better listener than a talker sometimes, if it would help."

Re: Emma & Caden

[st_ripandslither]

Caden considered her words, even as he studied her face. Her open expression, and the self-consciousness that crept back in in the face of his blatant observation. He wanted to talk to her, ease her out of that self-consciousness. But right now, his heart ached, and for once, he wanted to tend to it.

"I think... I'd like to draw, right now," he admitted, after a long beat. "But if you'd still like to hear about Aurelle afterwards..." He smiled at her, a hint of bittersweet lost in radiant warmth. "I've a lot of free time on my hands."