Punished GN
Enzayne
Alby47
DX3214
King of Rats
DracoLunaris
Dezuel
Vec
Fetzen
TimemasterLasis didn’t sleep like the Tedar. She didn’t need it, and she wouldn’t pretend she did. After all, if you don’t need sleep, that’s all the more time to make art. She worked all night as the Tedar slept, their herd in the back of the cave. She completely covered the cave wall in various paintings, made crudely out of crushed flowers and plants, as well as a few sparkly minerals here and there.
She didn’t expect the minerals would last long, but preserved, the rest of the paint would. The paint stuck to the cavern walls much better than the minerals. She hummed peacefully as she continued to draw. There were paintings of the Tedar, their herds, both of them at the same time, herself, the landscape outside, the moon, the sun, and anything else she could think of. It created a wonderful visual story.
It came naturally to her. She just kept painting and painting, letting time flow away from her. After all, who needed time when you were busy creating art? She worked on and on, until the Tedar eventually woke again. Luk and Giik looked upon her art approvingly. They conferred a breakfast of various rocks, Luk even producing some wood. Lasis did not have any, for she did not have a mouth.
She continued to paint as they watched on, amused. They ate their rocks and wood slowly, to give themselves time to appreciate the vast canvas Lasis had painted. Eventually they did finish, however, and Giik began to speak, “Are you a prophet of Ilunabar?”
Lasis shook her head.
Giik looked at Luk, and shrugged. “Why not?” Luk asked. Lasis responded with a simple, “I don’t know who Ilunabar is.” The two Tedar fell silent for a little bit, clearly thinking that over. When they finished, they responded again. “I think Luk should take you to towns while I tend the herd. I think they would like your pictures,” Giik said. Luk nodded in response.
“I’d love to,” Lasis responded. She just wanted to create art. It sounded like an excellent idea to her. Luk held out his hand, beckoning for her to climb up. She climbed up his arm, sitting down on his shoulder. He was hunched over due to the size of the cave, which made it a bit harder, but she did it nonetheless. It’d be easier to sit on Luk’s shoulder when they were out of the cave, surely.
Several hours later, with a lot of farewells from Giik, they were well on their way. They were moving north, towards the nearest settlement the two Tedar knew of. There would be friends there, the Tedar knew, as they stopped there every once and awhile to gift the settlement some of their herd; to make sure it didn’t get too large to handle.
Eventually, they reached the small village. It had a little herd of its own, tended to by the goblins. They looked up from their daily duties to see Luk, and a universal smile spread across the whole village. There were maybe about twenty people in all living in the village, sustained by the herd of sheep that the two Tedar had given them over the years. Luk and Giik were very much welcome, and a friend of them ended up being a friend of the village. This included Lasis.
They greeted the village, making Lasis dizzy with the amount of names she was bombarded with. She wasn’t particularly social. She just wanted to create art. Once the greetings were over -- not that Lasis would be inclined to remember so many names -- Luk told them she was an excellent picturemaker. That she made magnificent colors out of plants, and arranged them beautifully. They all looked upon her curiously, offering to help where they could.
So she got her hands on some bowls, a pestle, and various plants. She selected several plants, grinding them up in bowls. She cleaned off the pestle with water from a nearby stream, and then mixed up paste in the bowls, the crushed plants giving the paste vibrant colors. She took it to one of the hut walls, and, after instructing them on making simplistic brushes, took some brushes and began to paint. She painted a beautiful mural of a sunset in the mountains, then moved on to the next hut.
She painted Luk, Giik, and their herd on another. And yet another picture on another hut. For the next few hours, she worked on various paintings on the huts, moving back and forth between them and improving them where she could. She painted brilliantly, much to the awe and entertainment of the goblins. They’d never seen such vibrant paintings before.
Once she had finished, it was just about night. She was given a bed to sleep in, but she didn’t sleep. So instead, she continued her painting through the night, improving on the now colorful huts where she could. She would leave them with the best paintings she could make. After all, they treated her well and were friends of Luk.
Just like in the cave, throughout the night she continued to paint, covering every hut in the substance. Once every hut was covered, she made adjustments to her paintings, perfecting them as best she could. When she was finally satisfied, it was early in the morning. She took her paints into the hut room they gave her, placing them on the ground. She waited.
When they woke up a few hours later, she moved on with Luk. Onto the next settlement. The ones in the village directed them towards the next grouping of goblins, and bid them farewell. Instead of drab and brown, their huts were brightly colored and they had been inspired. When Lasis was gone, they experimented with paints on their own. They drew their own paintings on bark and stone. She had successfully spread her art.
A day later, the Tedar and the false demigod came up to another town, just as small as the first. They didn’t know the two, but nevertheless they welcomed in the travellers. Their huts were just as bland, and so Lasis got to work. They gave her the simple tools she needed -- but they did not collect the plants. She got to work, picking various flowers and flora.
Then she mashed them together, making more paste to supplement her existing stocks of paint. She then went to a flat rock just outside the village, and began to paint. She did not lack in inspiration, something coming to her. She began to paint from one of her dreams from before the first time she woke up, near Giik and Luk. She painted a boat on a body of water. A sea? She didn't know what a sea was, but it came to her.
She painted this boat, it was a simple design. It used oars for moving, much like a galley. It also had simplistic sails. It floated on a serene sea, with light clouds in the background. It was an overall peaceful scene. She finished it, and then she moved on to a hut. They didn't stop her, after seeing the rock.
She began to paint various scenes on their huts as well. She continued this throughout the day, watched by the various villagefolk. They came and went with their various duties, but Lasis just continued to paint various scenes. She worked hard on the art, occasionally stopping to restock her paints with more paste. She kept her brushes from the previous village.
Eventually, after Luk had rested, it was time to move on. She had not covered the entire village, but she had inspired the people in the village to do it themselves. She knew that much. Eventually, several hours after they departed, Luk spoke to her, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
Lasis responded quickly, looking up at the bright blue sky. “I am. I enjoy this kind of work. I’m glad to have done it.”
Luk nodded. “You make beautiful pictures.”
“Thank you,” Lasis said back. She rested against his head, perched on his shoulder still. Tracing lazy circles in the air, she awaited the next town. On her back was a small satchel, holding her paints and brushes. It was a peaceful day, and in the mountains there were no people to be found. It was just them, a serene quiet over the landscape. Every once and awhile the quiet was broken by birdsong or an animal in the undergrowth. Everything seemed rather perfect.
And it was, for a while.
Luk looked up, then to the sky, though the last thing to move had been a tenrec in the shrubbery. There wasn't much sign that something could be amiss, but he knew when the animals were uncomfortable.
"They say there's a monster near Willowbrook," he said to Lasis. "That's the town we're going to."
"I'm sure we won't run into a monster," responded Lasis.
"Me too," said a voice from nowhere in particular.
Luk jolted, just a little, and calmed himself with a firmer grip on his crook. "Is somebody there?" he said into the quiet. There was a slight echo from the mountains. "Hello?"
"Why yes, up here," said the voice from the dirt, cryptically. "No, not down there. Not there, either," said a shrub. "Goodness, aren't you dense?"
Luk stopped glancing around and breathed deeply. "...If you don't have any business with us, we'll just be on our way, thank you."
"Oh pooh," said a rock, and from then on nothing more.
It was a few minutes before the birds went back to chirping, and they continued on their way after that. Luk kept an eye on the horizon. "They call him Longfellow," he explained. "He plays tricks, but sometimes he steals children. Naughty children, but no child should have to spend a week in the woods for stealing fruit."
"I'm sure it's just a myth," responded Lazarus, continuing to look out ahead. "Whatever that was, it was probably just somebody playing a trick on us."
A wholesome laugh. "That's the spirit, Lasis!"
In the next few hours they found Willowbrook's eponymous stream, and the road that followed its banks. There wasn't enough traffic to make for a distinct path, but the kindly townsfolk had made a habit of leaving markers painted on the trees. Lasis, along the way, beautified these markings, leaving artistic renditions in their place rather than the plain marks that used to adorn the willows. Still, there was plenty of ground to cover.
Luk remembered the rush of introductions they'd had in the last village, and made the decision to sleep on the road rather than arrive late in the night. Lasis didn't sleep, but he certainly did, and he was still very much in the habit of resting those in his care. It's no good to meet fresh faces with a dour one, thought the Tedar.
"I'm going to rest now," he explained. "We'll leave before sunrise, so you won't have to wait long. Try not to wander." He looked thoughtful. "Or try not to wander too far. The brook is a safe place to walk, as far as I know."
Lasis simply nodded, sitting down by Luk and waiting for him to go to sleep. When he finally did, she got up, looking through her satchel of art supplies. Her eyes glowed in the darkness, providing a source of light. She, eventually, however, got bored and began to walk away. She followed his instructions and stayed by the brook, however.
Longfellow, it seemed, had not been around to hear Luk's modest warning.
"My, my, little girl," said the voice from the murmuring waters, darkened now but for the scattering reflection of Lasis's gaze. "I would think it's past bedtime by now."
A new sound, like sticks rattling softly over a dry ribcage. It came from everywhere.
"Who's there?" Lasis asked, looking around rapidly. Her eyes cast a pale blue light wherever she looked, and she used this to its full effect as she examined the area around her. It didn't take long for the sounds to turn visible. Longfellow was closing in.
There was an unfriendly smile on his face, and his hands were folded under his chin. He'd be almost normal if his skeleton hadn't been turned inside out.
"A stranger, Lasis," said Longfellow, clicking his tongue against layers of teeth caging in his skinless face.
The bogeyman trailed belly-first over pebbles and branches, toothy bones clicking on them as he moved. He circled Lasis, dragging along a torso that never seemed to end, even when it looped and closed circle around her. Ribs chattered and gnashed.
"You shouldn't talk to strangers."
"Then tell me who you are!" she cried out, entering a defensive stance due to having nowhere to run.
Longfellow grinned all over and the world exploded into "BAH-HAHAHAHAH!"
Sweeping down, the toothy fingers grabbed Lasis and tossed her somewhere deeper into the willows, and the rattling resumed with the laughter, chasing now. "Guess my name, little girl!"
Lasis began to run, yelling back at Longfellow, "No! You won't get away with this!"
"You won't get away from me!" returned the cry. Branches broke somewhere beside and just behind her, racing. Longfellow was heavy for something so fast.
Lasis continued to sprint, at a respectable speed despite her stature. She eventually, however, began to slow down when the sound of chase began to end, leaving her running in relative silence. She slowed to a stop, looking back.
Mumbles, distant. The voice was Longfellow's. For a little while there was the occasional crack of wood, but wherever he was, the forest monster wasn't moving.
Finally there came a grumbled "You owe me one," and then silence.
"...Lasis?" said a new voice, close again."Are you there?"
"Hello?" Lasis asked, looking around herself, her bright gemlike eyes still glowing in the darkness. She continued to track any sources of noise, the feathers on her head gently swaying in the ambient breeze.
"Hello," returned the voice. "Stay where you are for a moment." There was a distant sound, then Longfellow's body came crashing down from the canopy head first. About fifty metres worth of torso shortly followed, looping up into a pile as it fell, finally putting voice and ventriloquist back together again.
A light laugh from under the mountain of ribs.
"I see you've met my student," said the newcomer.
Lasis flinched as the body fell from the canopy, as she looked on in morbid curiousity at the sight. "I guess I have. Whom do I have the honor to speak to?"
More chuckles. Longfellow's head untied itself from himself, and clapped his hands together. "No one in particular. A dead girl. Call me Jvan; The honour is mine." Jvan stretched her arms as she unravelled, the body rapidly acclimatising to her.
"I owe you an explanation, no? Longfellow here is a folklorist. He travels the world, starting legends. Guardians, tricksters, ghosts... Fae things. You happened to wander into a story with a bad ending. Exciting, is it not?" Another laugh. "We're all artists! Me, Longfellow, and... You." There was an implicit question there somewhere.
Lasis continued to stare at Jvan, in Longfellow's body, falling silent for a little bit as she parsed the information given to her. "I'm.. Lasis. I'd prefer not to be the victim in a story, thank you. I just want to make beautiful things."
Jvan cocked her head, resting a finger on her smile. "Oh?"
The loan-body arched back, suddenly corkscrewed, ribbonlike. Jvan delicately reached into some bony part of Longfellow and pulled out a leather satchel, popped its clasp and showed her charcoal and a sheet of paperbark.
"And what kind of beautiful things?" asked she, already knowing the answer.
Lasis took the sheet of paper and the charcoal, not responding verbally but instead working quickly on the paper. She was very much a natural at it; she knew just the right places to mark and she rapidly began building up an image. When she was done, she held it out. A stylized rendition of Longfellow, drawn in the black of charcoal.
The Sculptor body put its hands together and gasped. "Excellent! I love it." Jvan looked off into the trees, then the stars. "And you've been doing this... Everywhere? We found some trail markers earlier. Say..." The faintly purple Lexlight glinted in her eyes. "That satchel full of pigments. You made them yourself, mm? I know you did. It's a time-consuming business; I think we'd both rather you'd be out there practicing."
"I try to make a habit out of charity. How about I save you some time, and some paints? It wouldn't be difficult, not for one such as I."
Lasis looked at the Sculptor, saying, "I don't know. I feel like experimentation with paints is one of the pleasures of being an artist. You get to experiment, find what suits you. At least, that's been my experience with making paint."
Chuckle. "Duly noted," said Jvan, smug this time. "Very well, your gift is pending. Check the side of the road when you leave in the morning. And did I mention how cute I find that answer? You're a sweet little thing, Lasis." She stretched.
"Alas, I cannot stay. Do you know the way back from here?"
Lasis responded simply, "Follow the trail markers, I suppose. It depends on where you're going," she paused, thinking, "unless you don't have a destination in mind. Then I suppose any direction will take you where you're going."
Jvan smiled, and looked deep into the stars. "That's true, Lasis. Thank you." Then she stopped being cryptic and gestured into the trees. "Keep Auricolor to your left until you find the brook, then head upstream. You're not that far from the wagon. Farewell!"
Lasis nodded, giving Jvan a 'thank you' before departing. She did as instructed, until she once again came across Luk once again. She decided against telling him about her little escapade, and eventually morning came, and he woke up.
Just as promised, on the side of the trail, she found a gift. Some kind of brush, which seemed to have a slot for paint. In its side was a tiny eye that winked at her when she picked it up, and the handle seemed to be a kind of shell. She figured she would try it out in the next village.
She didn’t expect the minerals would last long, but preserved, the rest of the paint would. The paint stuck to the cavern walls much better than the minerals. She hummed peacefully as she continued to draw. There were paintings of the Tedar, their herds, both of them at the same time, herself, the landscape outside, the moon, the sun, and anything else she could think of. It created a wonderful visual story.
It came naturally to her. She just kept painting and painting, letting time flow away from her. After all, who needed time when you were busy creating art? She worked on and on, until the Tedar eventually woke again. Luk and Giik looked upon her art approvingly. They conferred a breakfast of various rocks, Luk even producing some wood. Lasis did not have any, for she did not have a mouth.
She continued to paint as they watched on, amused. They ate their rocks and wood slowly, to give themselves time to appreciate the vast canvas Lasis had painted. Eventually they did finish, however, and Giik began to speak, “Are you a prophet of Ilunabar?”
Lasis shook her head.
Giik looked at Luk, and shrugged. “Why not?” Luk asked. Lasis responded with a simple, “I don’t know who Ilunabar is.” The two Tedar fell silent for a little bit, clearly thinking that over. When they finished, they responded again. “I think Luk should take you to towns while I tend the herd. I think they would like your pictures,” Giik said. Luk nodded in response.
“I’d love to,” Lasis responded. She just wanted to create art. It sounded like an excellent idea to her. Luk held out his hand, beckoning for her to climb up. She climbed up his arm, sitting down on his shoulder. He was hunched over due to the size of the cave, which made it a bit harder, but she did it nonetheless. It’d be easier to sit on Luk’s shoulder when they were out of the cave, surely.
Several hours later, with a lot of farewells from Giik, they were well on their way. They were moving north, towards the nearest settlement the two Tedar knew of. There would be friends there, the Tedar knew, as they stopped there every once and awhile to gift the settlement some of their herd; to make sure it didn’t get too large to handle.
Eventually, they reached the small village. It had a little herd of its own, tended to by the goblins. They looked up from their daily duties to see Luk, and a universal smile spread across the whole village. There were maybe about twenty people in all living in the village, sustained by the herd of sheep that the two Tedar had given them over the years. Luk and Giik were very much welcome, and a friend of them ended up being a friend of the village. This included Lasis.
They greeted the village, making Lasis dizzy with the amount of names she was bombarded with. She wasn’t particularly social. She just wanted to create art. Once the greetings were over -- not that Lasis would be inclined to remember so many names -- Luk told them she was an excellent picturemaker. That she made magnificent colors out of plants, and arranged them beautifully. They all looked upon her curiously, offering to help where they could.
So she got her hands on some bowls, a pestle, and various plants. She selected several plants, grinding them up in bowls. She cleaned off the pestle with water from a nearby stream, and then mixed up paste in the bowls, the crushed plants giving the paste vibrant colors. She took it to one of the hut walls, and, after instructing them on making simplistic brushes, took some brushes and began to paint. She painted a beautiful mural of a sunset in the mountains, then moved on to the next hut.
She painted Luk, Giik, and their herd on another. And yet another picture on another hut. For the next few hours, she worked on various paintings on the huts, moving back and forth between them and improving them where she could. She painted brilliantly, much to the awe and entertainment of the goblins. They’d never seen such vibrant paintings before.
Once she had finished, it was just about night. She was given a bed to sleep in, but she didn’t sleep. So instead, she continued her painting through the night, improving on the now colorful huts where she could. She would leave them with the best paintings she could make. After all, they treated her well and were friends of Luk.
Just like in the cave, throughout the night she continued to paint, covering every hut in the substance. Once every hut was covered, she made adjustments to her paintings, perfecting them as best she could. When she was finally satisfied, it was early in the morning. She took her paints into the hut room they gave her, placing them on the ground. She waited.
When they woke up a few hours later, she moved on with Luk. Onto the next settlement. The ones in the village directed them towards the next grouping of goblins, and bid them farewell. Instead of drab and brown, their huts were brightly colored and they had been inspired. When Lasis was gone, they experimented with paints on their own. They drew their own paintings on bark and stone. She had successfully spread her art.
A day later, the Tedar and the false demigod came up to another town, just as small as the first. They didn’t know the two, but nevertheless they welcomed in the travellers. Their huts were just as bland, and so Lasis got to work. They gave her the simple tools she needed -- but they did not collect the plants. She got to work, picking various flowers and flora.
Then she mashed them together, making more paste to supplement her existing stocks of paint. She then went to a flat rock just outside the village, and began to paint. She did not lack in inspiration, something coming to her. She began to paint from one of her dreams from before the first time she woke up, near Giik and Luk. She painted a boat on a body of water. A sea? She didn't know what a sea was, but it came to her.
She painted this boat, it was a simple design. It used oars for moving, much like a galley. It also had simplistic sails. It floated on a serene sea, with light clouds in the background. It was an overall peaceful scene. She finished it, and then she moved on to a hut. They didn't stop her, after seeing the rock.
She began to paint various scenes on their huts as well. She continued this throughout the day, watched by the various villagefolk. They came and went with their various duties, but Lasis just continued to paint various scenes. She worked hard on the art, occasionally stopping to restock her paints with more paste. She kept her brushes from the previous village.
Eventually, after Luk had rested, it was time to move on. She had not covered the entire village, but she had inspired the people in the village to do it themselves. She knew that much. Eventually, several hours after they departed, Luk spoke to her, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
Lasis responded quickly, looking up at the bright blue sky. “I am. I enjoy this kind of work. I’m glad to have done it.”
Luk nodded. “You make beautiful pictures.”
“Thank you,” Lasis said back. She rested against his head, perched on his shoulder still. Tracing lazy circles in the air, she awaited the next town. On her back was a small satchel, holding her paints and brushes. It was a peaceful day, and in the mountains there were no people to be found. It was just them, a serene quiet over the landscape. Every once and awhile the quiet was broken by birdsong or an animal in the undergrowth. Everything seemed rather perfect.
And it was, for a while.
Luk looked up, then to the sky, though the last thing to move had been a tenrec in the shrubbery. There wasn't much sign that something could be amiss, but he knew when the animals were uncomfortable.
"They say there's a monster near Willowbrook," he said to Lasis. "That's the town we're going to."
"I'm sure we won't run into a monster," responded Lasis.
"Me too," said a voice from nowhere in particular.
Luk jolted, just a little, and calmed himself with a firmer grip on his crook. "Is somebody there?" he said into the quiet. There was a slight echo from the mountains. "Hello?"
"Why yes, up here," said the voice from the dirt, cryptically. "No, not down there. Not there, either," said a shrub. "Goodness, aren't you dense?"
Luk stopped glancing around and breathed deeply. "...If you don't have any business with us, we'll just be on our way, thank you."
"Oh pooh," said a rock, and from then on nothing more.
It was a few minutes before the birds went back to chirping, and they continued on their way after that. Luk kept an eye on the horizon. "They call him Longfellow," he explained. "He plays tricks, but sometimes he steals children. Naughty children, but no child should have to spend a week in the woods for stealing fruit."
"I'm sure it's just a myth," responded Lazarus, continuing to look out ahead. "Whatever that was, it was probably just somebody playing a trick on us."
A wholesome laugh. "That's the spirit, Lasis!"
In the next few hours they found Willowbrook's eponymous stream, and the road that followed its banks. There wasn't enough traffic to make for a distinct path, but the kindly townsfolk had made a habit of leaving markers painted on the trees. Lasis, along the way, beautified these markings, leaving artistic renditions in their place rather than the plain marks that used to adorn the willows. Still, there was plenty of ground to cover.
Luk remembered the rush of introductions they'd had in the last village, and made the decision to sleep on the road rather than arrive late in the night. Lasis didn't sleep, but he certainly did, and he was still very much in the habit of resting those in his care. It's no good to meet fresh faces with a dour one, thought the Tedar.
"I'm going to rest now," he explained. "We'll leave before sunrise, so you won't have to wait long. Try not to wander." He looked thoughtful. "Or try not to wander too far. The brook is a safe place to walk, as far as I know."
Lasis simply nodded, sitting down by Luk and waiting for him to go to sleep. When he finally did, she got up, looking through her satchel of art supplies. Her eyes glowed in the darkness, providing a source of light. She, eventually, however, got bored and began to walk away. She followed his instructions and stayed by the brook, however.
Longfellow, it seemed, had not been around to hear Luk's modest warning.
"My, my, little girl," said the voice from the murmuring waters, darkened now but for the scattering reflection of Lasis's gaze. "I would think it's past bedtime by now."
A new sound, like sticks rattling softly over a dry ribcage. It came from everywhere.
"Who's there?" Lasis asked, looking around rapidly. Her eyes cast a pale blue light wherever she looked, and she used this to its full effect as she examined the area around her. It didn't take long for the sounds to turn visible. Longfellow was closing in.
There was an unfriendly smile on his face, and his hands were folded under his chin. He'd be almost normal if his skeleton hadn't been turned inside out.
"A stranger, Lasis," said Longfellow, clicking his tongue against layers of teeth caging in his skinless face.
The bogeyman trailed belly-first over pebbles and branches, toothy bones clicking on them as he moved. He circled Lasis, dragging along a torso that never seemed to end, even when it looped and closed circle around her. Ribs chattered and gnashed.
"You shouldn't talk to strangers."
"Then tell me who you are!" she cried out, entering a defensive stance due to having nowhere to run.
Longfellow grinned all over and the world exploded into "BAH-HAHAHAHAH!"
Sweeping down, the toothy fingers grabbed Lasis and tossed her somewhere deeper into the willows, and the rattling resumed with the laughter, chasing now. "Guess my name, little girl!"
Lasis began to run, yelling back at Longfellow, "No! You won't get away with this!"
"You won't get away from me!" returned the cry. Branches broke somewhere beside and just behind her, racing. Longfellow was heavy for something so fast.
Lasis continued to sprint, at a respectable speed despite her stature. She eventually, however, began to slow down when the sound of chase began to end, leaving her running in relative silence. She slowed to a stop, looking back.
Mumbles, distant. The voice was Longfellow's. For a little while there was the occasional crack of wood, but wherever he was, the forest monster wasn't moving.
Finally there came a grumbled "You owe me one," and then silence.
"...Lasis?" said a new voice, close again."Are you there?"
"Hello?" Lasis asked, looking around herself, her bright gemlike eyes still glowing in the darkness. She continued to track any sources of noise, the feathers on her head gently swaying in the ambient breeze.
"Hello," returned the voice. "Stay where you are for a moment." There was a distant sound, then Longfellow's body came crashing down from the canopy head first. About fifty metres worth of torso shortly followed, looping up into a pile as it fell, finally putting voice and ventriloquist back together again.
A light laugh from under the mountain of ribs.
"I see you've met my student," said the newcomer.
Lasis flinched as the body fell from the canopy, as she looked on in morbid curiousity at the sight. "I guess I have. Whom do I have the honor to speak to?"
More chuckles. Longfellow's head untied itself from himself, and clapped his hands together. "No one in particular. A dead girl. Call me Jvan; The honour is mine." Jvan stretched her arms as she unravelled, the body rapidly acclimatising to her.
"I owe you an explanation, no? Longfellow here is a folklorist. He travels the world, starting legends. Guardians, tricksters, ghosts... Fae things. You happened to wander into a story with a bad ending. Exciting, is it not?" Another laugh. "We're all artists! Me, Longfellow, and... You." There was an implicit question there somewhere.
Lasis continued to stare at Jvan, in Longfellow's body, falling silent for a little bit as she parsed the information given to her. "I'm.. Lasis. I'd prefer not to be the victim in a story, thank you. I just want to make beautiful things."
Jvan cocked her head, resting a finger on her smile. "Oh?"
The loan-body arched back, suddenly corkscrewed, ribbonlike. Jvan delicately reached into some bony part of Longfellow and pulled out a leather satchel, popped its clasp and showed her charcoal and a sheet of paperbark.
"And what kind of beautiful things?" asked she, already knowing the answer.
Lasis took the sheet of paper and the charcoal, not responding verbally but instead working quickly on the paper. She was very much a natural at it; she knew just the right places to mark and she rapidly began building up an image. When she was done, she held it out. A stylized rendition of Longfellow, drawn in the black of charcoal.
The Sculptor body put its hands together and gasped. "Excellent! I love it." Jvan looked off into the trees, then the stars. "And you've been doing this... Everywhere? We found some trail markers earlier. Say..." The faintly purple Lexlight glinted in her eyes. "That satchel full of pigments. You made them yourself, mm? I know you did. It's a time-consuming business; I think we'd both rather you'd be out there practicing."
"I try to make a habit out of charity. How about I save you some time, and some paints? It wouldn't be difficult, not for one such as I."
Lasis looked at the Sculptor, saying, "I don't know. I feel like experimentation with paints is one of the pleasures of being an artist. You get to experiment, find what suits you. At least, that's been my experience with making paint."
Chuckle. "Duly noted," said Jvan, smug this time. "Very well, your gift is pending. Check the side of the road when you leave in the morning. And did I mention how cute I find that answer? You're a sweet little thing, Lasis." She stretched.
"Alas, I cannot stay. Do you know the way back from here?"
Lasis responded simply, "Follow the trail markers, I suppose. It depends on where you're going," she paused, thinking, "unless you don't have a destination in mind. Then I suppose any direction will take you where you're going."
Jvan smiled, and looked deep into the stars. "That's true, Lasis. Thank you." Then she stopped being cryptic and gestured into the trees. "Keep Auricolor to your left until you find the brook, then head upstream. You're not that far from the wagon. Farewell!"
Lasis nodded, giving Jvan a 'thank you' before departing. She did as instructed, until she once again came across Luk once again. She decided against telling him about her little escapade, and eventually morning came, and he woke up.
Just as promised, on the side of the trail, she found a gift. Some kind of brush, which seemed to have a slot for paint. In its side was a tiny eye that winked at her when she picked it up, and the handle seemed to be a kind of shell. She figured she would try it out in the next village.