Darkened Art
#1
[html]

Out of character


The bond between Ovi and Dalgina had been repaired. Technically, it had never been broken. Dalgina had missed the tiger when he'd retreated to give her time to herself though, and had soon sought him out. Making sure she knew how much she loved being around him and spending time together had them back together, as strong a match as any could come up with. Happily she'd headed out of the park, easel and paints carried with her.


Ovi lounged a short distance off, looking fairly lazy as she set up. Tehu fluttered off to a nearby bush. He'd never gotten entirely used to Ovi, but he tolerated the tiger's presence as he made Dalgina happy. The young artist herself stood before her campus, tail slowly swaying as she began to create what was in her mind. It wasn't the landscape before her, or a portrait of the striking colors of her close friends. What came out was purely from her mind. Dark colors slashed across the easel, a nightmarish portrait slowly beginning to unfold.


<style>
.sdalbird {background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/e4iVN.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:top left; background-color:#010000; width:450px; margin:0px auto; text-align: justify; padding:230px 0px 5px 0px; color:#908687; font-family:trebuchet ms, sans-serif; font-size:12px; line-height:17px; border:1px solid #000;}
.sdalbird b {color:#a653be; letter-spacing:1px;}
.sdalbird b:before { content: open-quote;}
.sdalbird b:after { content: close-quote;}
.sdalbird p { text-indent:0px; padding:5px 15px; margin:0px; }
.sdalbird p.ooc {font-style:italic; text-align:center; font-size:11px; border-bottom:1px dotted #a653be; margin:15px 15px 0px;}</style>
[/html]
#2
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



A pleasant day found Aoves out, enjoying her own company as she continued her travels. The tranquil tune of a hummed lullaby thrummed in the depths of her throat, the muffled sound accompanied by a tap or two against her thigh. Luckily she wasn't too engrossed in her song, or she may have completely missed the artist in the distance. The melody still floated from her vocal chords, but she changed her direction, angling over to say hello.

As she drew nearer she quieted, the forms became clearer, an observing glance flitted over to a massice feline, more interested in its colorful beauty - not so much perturbed by its presence. Her tail waved amicably behind her as she approached, the silken cascade of hair billowing with each subtle flick of the dark plume. The quieted poise of her steps hadn't been meant to startle the girl, and were kept soft so that they would not to disturb her. Though distance kept her eyes from gleaning the details of the piece, she could still catch clear sight of the colors and strokes of angst, and knew that it would be even more intriguing up close.

The mutt kept a respectful distance of a few feet away, her right arm descending to fold at her side, the limb coiling casually around the sleek curvature of her waist. The other arm was then propped atop the resting one, and the spindles of ebony fingers rose to rest gently at her chin, her jaw thoughtfully tapped by a single claw. "Your brush is very well used, dear artist, but what dark thoughts make your stokes so raw, hm?" The woman's exotic purr was kept low, her question quiet enough to simply be a rhetorical musing. She would then return to silence immediately after speaking - talent required concentration after all, a methodology she could respect. She was still quite curious regarding the heart of such a piece, and her eyes would flick occasionally from artist to canvas, pondering both.



">ooc(hover)

[/html]
#3
The sharp cries of the kestrel alerted Dalgina to the presence of another. Ovi straightened up a little, wide eyes looking over the female that approached the dark artist. Dalgina herself almost didn't react. It wasn't that she wasn't aware of the female. She trusted her friends too much to ignore their movements. The art before her was simply more intriguing than that of a stranger that she did not trust, and did not wish to engage in. Still her ears flicked back, listening to the steps as she continued.

The black wolf did falter at the spoken words. Dalgina turned, her brown eyes sharper than they would have been before, studying the female. She had beautiful colored fur, one that Dalgina longed to run her hands through, and weave into her art. The question still stood, Dalgina's closed off nature considering it with care before choosing her words. There is nothing dark to examine here. It's just a picture, nothing more. Tehu shifted uneasily, hearing the lies in her voice.
#4
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



The other turned her face, utilized her voice. So young to be so offish she thought as she listened to her reply. Her own pale eyes merely studied with something akin to concern, eyelids lowering slightly as though to mask the thoughts behind her silver lenses - it was so much safer to view the world behind a curtain of lashes regardless. "No such thing." She gently dismissed the girls statement with chuckle; it was the truth, if the dame didn't know that then Aoves had entirely misjudged her.

"Or assuming for a moment that there is, it must be very sorry looking indeed, but I suppose that applies to all things that lack a 'eart behind them." The soft alto was teasing as it slipped past her faint smile; she responding to her coldness only with her natural warmth, never having been one easily deterred before.

As she continued to speak, all semblances of her words being a game had departed from her tone; her words were honest, and her voice was for once plain. "Keep it to yourself if that's what you desire, but please don't discredit yourself by denying it." Her pose hadn't changed throughout her dialogue, head still resting casually, thoughtfully, on the tips of her fingers.



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#5
The stranger seemed to turn into herself, thick lashes veiling her thoughts from the young wolf. Dalgina could still see much, taking in the strength of her stance, the thoughtful twitch in her ears. It was just an act to keep what she was thinking away from the observant female. She called for Tehu with a whistle, the kestrel flying to her immediately. He groomed at her fur, trying to sooth the tension in her frame. It wasn't like other encounters where Dalgina was shy and withdrawn. This was just cold.

The female's words dove straight at Dalgina, trying to penetrate through the wall she'd built around her heart. Her ears flattened a little, keeping quiet. Now she was more uncomfortable. At least the hybrid didn't push. Nodding her head Dalgina turned, picking up her brush and returning. The wisps of smoke trailed through the picture, distant forms of what might have been wolves, each one isolated from the rest, waiting for the viewer to walk up the dark path. She didn't want to tell what was in the picture. It was simply what she saw, and it had to come out.
#6
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



It seemed the artist wanted to finish, a wish she would respect. Though she was fully capably in finding solace in solitude, she wasn't really in the mood to be alone just yet. She would wait regardless of whether or not she was addressed again, simply for the pleasure of having another creature their to recognize her existence, and to hopefully see the end product.

A swift pirouette turned her around; her hindquarters lowering to the ground in the process of the nimble pivot, tucking her legs beneath her once she had fully descended. It was rude to stare over a working persons shoulder, after all. Instead of sitting idly though, she went to work on the tiny flowers that lay all throughout the grass. The woman picked them one by one; claws methodically poking and threading the stems till her fingers were saturated in the clear blood.

She ignored the acrid smell of the sap, merely wiping her hands along the grass as it leaked from the punctured stems periodically, always returning to her knitting.

Her focus was quite productive, and soon the thread of flowering weeds vaguely resembled a daisy chain. However engrossed she may have seemed however, her awareness of the other creatures did not waver. As a lioness would masquerade predatory composure under the pretense of laziness, so too did her senses remain sharp; muscles that were relaxed for the moment were on call to tense and bunch in defense, should her turned back be taken advantage of.



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#7
Ovi stood, moving closer to Dalgina's side. Tehu kept his eyes on the stranger while the tiger settled down again, only a couple feet between him and the young artist. Their presence wrapped around her as a warm blanket, letting her ignore the stranger that tugged at Dalgina's fear and resentment. Perhaps it would be best if she chose to talk to her about the art, but the thought of talking at all about what she felt chilled her. It was better to just leave it as it was, inside her and kept where no one else could learn about it and harm her.

The painting took time, coming out from vague shapes into specific forms. The trees in the picture were full of life, a dark almost black green. The path wasn't on an edge, though smoke trailed through the picture threatening to close everything away. At each juncture there was a different wolf, not even their ages the same. There were a couple wolves that were old, covered in scars, and even a pair of pups in the background that might have been playing, were it not for where they were. They were the only ones without a scar in the picture. All the wolves had their heads turned, looking down the path, with blood running from their eyes.

Finished Dalgina stepped back, a soft smile on her face. It was a wonderful piece of art. Terribly dark, but perhaps the best one that she'd done in some time. The figures were almost ready to step out. There were flecks of paint on her body, but she didn't care. Turning Dalgina realized that the stranger was still there. It must have been a long time like that. The art is finished. Why did she stay?
#8
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



As the artist stated her work was finished, Aoves finished her own idle task, knotting together both ends of the massive chain, then leaving it in a haphazard circle on the earth. She assumed that she would not have been told the work was done if she hadn't been meant to see it; so the woman turned and sidled as near as she dare to the other and her companions. Hand crossed thoughtfully behind her back as she walked forward, her gaze focused slowly on the details of the piece, observing in blank faced silence for less than a moment before speaking.

"And the children weep as well?" The thoughtful murmur was an equal amount statement as question. The sight of cardinal red beneath the adults eyes was morose, but bearable, almost calling for a twisted nostalgia as she remembered her own sorrows and uncertainties of adulthood. Who among them had not felt fate wrench at their heartstrings, making them all the harder, stronger. Pain and maturity she could easily associate, it was simply the way life was. The sight of innocent youth in such an image however, was perplexing. The pale gaze flickered questioningly from canvas to painter - what thoughts in her mind would have the children weeping blood as well?



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#9
[html]

000

OOC what's wrong with the length?


The female stepped forwards, looking over Dalgina's art. The young wolf stood quietly, letting the stranger examine it. There would be few she could show it to. Her family was too shattered, she didn't think they would be able to bear seeing the art work. Taru was blind, and could never see it. For the rest? Dalgina wasn't sure if she wanted them to glimpse inside her soul. Ovi was already staring at her, his blue eyes wide and sympathetic. Tehu and him both knew exactly what the art represented.

Shaking her head softly Dalgina forced a smile. Children weep. She had cried as a pup. As cheerful as she had been she'd had plenty of opportunities to cry. There was no reason for her to exempt the pups from the painful art. Dalgina wouldn't say why she had included them, knowing that the art told too much about herself. It was still satisfying to have it finished and resting there. What she was going to do with it Dalgina really wasn't too sure. She hadn't thought about that while making it.


<style type="text/css">
.dalptbrsh b {font-weight:bold; color:#df96b2; letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia;}
.dalptbrsh .ooc {font-style:italic; text-align:center;}
.dalptbrsh .wc {font-weight:bold; color:#df96b2; letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia;}
.dalptbrsh p {text-indent:0px; padding:2px 10px}
.dalptbrsh {margin:0px auto; width:450px; background-color:#eaf1fa; background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/uSjyK.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #898d92; padding:245px 0px 3px 0px; font-family:verdana; font-size:11px; color:#898d92; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.6px; word-spacing:.9x; text-align:justify; border-radius:7px; border-top-left-radius:50px; border-top-right-radius:50px;}
.dalptbrsh p b:before { content: open-quote; }
.dalptbrsh p b:after {content: close-quote; }
</style>
[/html]
#10
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



"I've seen many children cry before, but never weep." The woman commented with a only shrug. She knew that to be her truth at least, but perhaps the other had some truths of her own that differed. Since that seemed to be the case, she would listen, and see. Her eyes roved over the painting again, looking for some detail that she may have missed, or a subtle suggestion that hinted at the meaning of the painting. The searching sweep enlightened her to nothing though, besides the clear statement of sorrow throughout the piece. It was clear that only the artist held the answer.

"What is their reason then? Do they mourn for themselves or those around them?" A faint tilt of her skull indicated the painting once again. Despite the demanding nature of her wording, her tones were just as gently spoken as before; not pressured by inflections that demanded an answer. Aoves would have come closer, possibly risked caressing the canvas with a gentle brush of her hand - she would then maybe sense the intimacy of the picture by the damp paint on her fingers. It seemed wrong in the moment though, and she did not want to risk offending the artist out of an explanation. For now she would keep her distance, instead choosing to shift her position; a hand uncrossing from her back, and running slowly, thoughtfully through the curly length of her dark hair.



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#11
OOC: a very bad version of what dalgina drew. http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc382/...zps7640c4b1.png

She was very observant. Dalgina didn't know who this wolf was, but she knew that she knew far too much about the world to just be some passing stranger. Most wouldn't have bothered making that distinction. Shaking her head she looked back at the picture, not quite touching it. I've seen pups weep. She'd been one of them. The path was painful, but that didn't make it any less truthful. Ovi's ears flattened, a soft rumbling of discomfort coming from him. He didn't seem entirely comfortable with the conversation. Well, no one really enjoyed exploring their darker nature. Dalgina just hadn't been able to stop herself.

A slight smile appeared on Dalgina's face. It was a good question. They weep for what was lost. So many things had disappeared from her life. It was a pretty painful reminder to look at. Abruptly she turned her back to the art, no longer satisfied with looking at it, or being near it. It's not very good, but you can have it if you wish. It wasn't art she could bring back. She didn't have anyone to show it to without the fear of how it would effect them. This part of her had to be kept hidden.
#12
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



The words of the other were met with a knitting of her brow; her words returning to the unadorned gravity of before. "Then you have witnessed a true tragedy." Innocence was one of the few things she felt were worthy of preservation, and it seemed to be the one of the easiest things to destroy. She felt genuinely sorry for the luperci, whatever part she had played. Aoves was glad to be pulled from her growing pessimism, ears perking up as the noire clad woman made her offer. "That would be wonderful." Her sable head dipped in thanks, a slight smile flashing across her lips. Though her gestures of thanks were subdued, internally she could not have been happier. She could not deny her love for art, and having lost all of her possession, it only seemed fitting that the first she gained from this new land was a painting.

The offer made her think though, perhaps it was time she scrounged about the area more, and found a short-term residency, or at least a stash for the items her travels were bound to deliver. She took a few steps closer to the piece, quite willing to accept the gift before seeming to suddenly stop herself; raising a hand as though to halt her own advance. Aoves mentally chided herself for letting delight make her ignore her manners.
"But before I get too far ahead of myself, may I know a name? Yours or perhaps the pieces, I won't pry for both. It's just a shame to own a piece of such artistry with no name to recognize it by."



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#13
Dalgina stayed quiet in the dark lady's words. She hadn't just seen one tragedy, she'd seen several. The loss of the pups had been quite painful. Both of them cheered up as they turned their talk away from the art, Dalgina more focused on getting rid of it now and the hybrid happy to be the receiver of some art, as gruesome as this particular piece was. She smiled a little at the display, backing up into Ovi's warm touch. Tehu chirped out about the art being off as good riddance, fluttering over to another branch to settle down.

Artistry? Dalgina looked at the art again. It was her best piece to date, but she didn't want anything to do with it now that it was done. She'd never named anything she'd made before either, so the idea was a little strange. My name is Dalgina. The ebony wolf could offer that at least without feeling strange. Hesitating she looked at the piece again, all of the shattered canines that were scattered through it. None of them were particularly happy in that picture. You could call it The Path of Loss. I'm not really sure what it's name would be. Pausing Dalgina looked over to her new companion. What's your name? Perhaps it didn't matter, as it was unlikely they'd meet up again, but Dalgina still asked.
#14
[html]
http://i.imgur.com/9vVfx.png); background-repeat:no-repeat;">
http://i40.tinypic.com/jrqkvp.png); background-repeat:repeat; padding:15px">



As the other began to speak again, Aoves walked forward again closed the final distance between her and the gift. Her gaze remained directed upon the other all the while though, listening even as she walked towards the painting. She gathered the object with tender care, careful to keep the cradled piece away from the long hairs of her chest, lest she ruin it. With the painting in her clutches, she calmly turned to leave, smiling slightly and nodding in approval as her ears were met with the name.

"Chemin de perte. Hm, I think that name fits quite well - I will forget neither yours nor its." Her steps carried her past the other, the womans sable head dipping in thanks as her stride brought their bodies parallel, but still the woman's steps continued to carry her away. She had not gone far when catching the last bit of Dalgina's question, merely turning back to speak over her shoulder. "Oh, and my own is Aoves." And with that she was walking away, piece cradled carefully in her arms.
((Exit Aoves, unless she's stopped.))



ooc(hover)

[/html]
#15
The traveler treated the painting with much greater care than Dalgina would have. She was glad that the piece would be carried off. Now that that part of her had been finished she wanted it gone from her sight. It held a lot of pain in it. Alas, it didn't seem likely that it would be the last painting of that style that Dalgina would do. She could still feel more pictures of dark things inside her. At least this nightmare was no longer part of her. Ovi stood at her side, watching the hybrid pick it up to carry it off.

Dalgina didn't smile at the words, though her lips did lift ever so slightly. Dipping her head in respect she stepped back, letting her pass through. Aoves. It was a rather pretty name. Dalgina didn't move to stop her, just letting her go on. Sighing she glanced back at the easel, and gathered it up. She could go home now, and never tell anyone what she had made. Ovi glanced over at Tehu, and silently both animals agreed to let Taru know of the darkness harboring inside the yearling's heart.


Forum Jump: