<s>Stalking</s> Sketching Again on Crotalus Commons

Nic Sawyer

February 04, 2012 3:25 PM

<s>Stalking</s> Sketching Again by Nic Sawyer

Nic sat in his usual chair in the Crotalus Common room. He held a dull pencil in his right hand. He was naturally a left-handed person but he'd practiced both writing and spellcasting with his right hand enough that he was essentially ambidexterous. As he was currently working on the shaping of Rachel Bauer's right ear, his right hand stood less chance of smearing what he'd already drawn of her face than his left did. He had his Charms book laid out in front of him for reference. He had spent most of the class praticing until he thought he had her ear just right.

This had not been an easy part of the drawing. Rachel had long hair and her ear was not always visible. He planned to cover some of the ear with hair himself, but it should be still recognizably Rachel's ear beneath the hair. Rachel, after all, had quite lovely ears and it would be a disservice to them to simply draw generic ears. He had taken to going to the library, not to read or study (or, at least, not to study anything found in books), but because Rachel Bauer was a monitor there and she sometimes pushed her hair behind her ears while putting away books.

Also, he liked seeing her bend over for the lower shelves and reach up for the higher ones. But that was just bonus. The point had been the ears.

Now, it was time for that research to pay off as he added her right ear to his sketch. He did so with light lines that drew out the shape without pressing permanently into the paper. Most of these early lines would be erased later and served mostly as guides for perspective and scale. Even if he drew the ear perfectly, it would still be wrong if it was too large or too small for the rest of the face.

He was attempting a scale that was a little larger than actual size, so that her head and shoulders fit on the 11x17 sheet of sketch paper without having a lot of extra room left over. He had decided to leave the background empty, so as not to draw attention away from Rachel herself. He was still deciding whether to keep it black and white (greyscale, actually) or if he should add color to it. The starkness of just using pencil appealled to him, but he didn't want his drawing to get lost among the other submissions because it lacked vibrancy, either.

Rachel Bauer, after all, ought to stand out in artwork as well as she did real life.

He had begun drawing the ear in earnest when he noticed a shadow fall over his paper as somebody moved between him and the natural light coming in through one of the common room windows. He initially ignored it, assuming it was just somebody passing through the common room's main thoroughfare, but the shadow stopped partway across and didn't move. Nic looked up and realized he had company.

For a moment, he tried to cover the picture, unworthy as it was in its current unfinished state, but he realized belatedly that it was too late for that, and he let his hands and his pencil fall into his lap. He tried very hard not to let his cheeks warm in guilty embarrassment and was only partially successful. "It's not done," he stated defensively, as if expecting criticism.

While that was true, he had completed enough that the image was recognizably Rachel Bauer. Most of her main features - her nose, her eyes, her mouth, her eyebrows - were all in much further stages of development than her ear was. Each had been completed with the same level of detailed research and practice that had gone into reproducing her ear, and while none of the features were exactly true to life in the strictest sense, the only things missing were the flaws Nic didn't see when he looked at her.

1 Nic Sawyer <s>Stalking</s> Sketching Again 165 Nic Sawyer 1 5

Eliza Bennett

February 27, 2012 9:57 PM

One of those is more likely to pay off than the other by Eliza Bennett

Eliza was thinking vaguely of going through the exercise in self-torture which was writing to her mother as she entered the Crotalus common room and looked around automatically, scanning the room for people she knew and did or did not want to see. It was just habit at this point, part of the ritual of entering the common room; half the time, at least this year, she didn’t even really see what was going on as she looked at it unless it was something startlingly unusual, and startling wasn’t something that Crotali usually set out to be.

Today, though, perhaps because her thoughts were both unpleasant and mundane and so not anything she took much of an interest in, she did note the common room enough to be aware of who was there and who was not, and she saw that Nic Sawyer was among those who were there. He seemed to be busily at work on something, though, so she thought she would just say hello as she passed by if he looked up and just keep going if he didn’t.

As she started to pass by, though, she glanced down by sheer force of instinct to see what it was he was working on and realizing she’d stopped short in surprise only a moment after she’d done it. The figure on the page was recognizable, but the last time she’d checked in passing, Rachel Bauer had not looked quite like that.

Eliza blinked when Nic spoke, apparently noticing that she was standing there, then she shook her head, taking this as confirmation that he had a thing for Rachel. Whether or not his date with her last year had been a pity date born of them both knowing Sam Bauer and her being desperate because she was a prefect was still up for debate, but that was another question, and she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to ask Rachel. Not without a very good reason, like being severely annoyed with her, anyway.

“It’s nice,” she said, sitting down. “What’s the occasion?” She couldn’t imagine he’d be submitting a portrait of someone at the school to the school fair unless the Nic-Rachel romance was much more important than Eliza had ever dreamed, and if it was, then she needed to get caught up quickly. If it wasn’t, well, gossip made any day better. Either way, she thought she got to win.

0 Eliza Bennett One of those is more likely to pay off than the other 174 Eliza Bennett 0 5

Nic

March 01, 2012 9:05 PM

That depends on your goal by Nic

In truth, Nic was glad it was Eliza rather than anyone else. He wasn't sure how Rachel Bauer would react to him drawing her, or even how Sam would, since Sam was her cousin of some form. And since Eliza was not only not the drawing's subject or a relative, as well as being one of the people Nic considered an ally of sorts, he felt she might even be able to offer an unbiased opinion of whether or not his sketch was any good.

Obviously, it wasn't done yet, so it still had a long way to go before it was as pretty as Rachel herself, but if he was going about it all wrong, Eliza could suggest he start over while he still had time before the fair submissions were due.

He didn't even have to ask. She said it was nice without prompting. He was honestly hoping for approval stronger than 'nice' but at least it wasn't 'Oh, is that your mother?' or something equally horrendous.

He shrugged a little at her question, and answered as nonchalantly as he could (and he was usually very good at nonchalant as long as Rachel Bauer herself was not in the immediate vicinity), "No occasion." He wasn't exactly sure how well anonymity would work in the fair contest, but it stood to reason that it would not work well at all if he started telling everybody he was submitting a drawing of Rachel to it.

Eliza, surely, would probably figure it out now, if she visited the display of submissions, but he didn't really mind her knowing. He wouldn't want her to think he'd lied to her though, if she did, so he added casually, "If it comes out well, I might submit it for the fair. I'm decent at drawing so I signed up."

He didn't think he was a great artist or anything, but he knew he could sketch better than most people did, and this one of Rachel was definitely shaping up to be one of his better ones. "This one's coming out okay, I guess," he added, subtly fishing for a more detailed opinion than 'nice'. If Eliza didn't think he was doing Rachel justice, he might have to submit a drawing of the school instead. Buildings were a lot easier to draw than people.

1 Nic That depends on your goal 165 Nic 0 5

Eliza

March 11, 2012 6:06 PM

And what is your goal? by Eliza

Eliza made note of Nic remarking that he might add this drawing of what looked like Rachel Bauer to the Fair. That was pretty public, at least compared to whatever Nic and Rachel’s relationship had been up to this point. Last year’s Ball had been public, since she was a prefect and led the dancing, but if there was something going on, they had kept it quiet this year, and she knew as well as anyone that a date wasn’t always a date. She liked Marcus as well as she did anyone at this school, but not like that at all.

Really, the very idea that anyone could think she would like any of the boys like that was strange to her. She knew some better than others, liked some of them, could see that some of them were more aesthetically pleasing than others, but that was where it ended. She had no desire to kiss them, or hold hands with them, or even sit too close to them. It was nothing against them, and she didn’t think of it as anything against her; it just didn’t feel right with anyone she knew. She wasn’t above using having good hair and a pretty face and nice legs to her advantage, since she knew these things could possibly get her what she wanted, but she didn’t get anything else out of being admired for her looks. None of the boys she knew at Sonora, or had met at parties, did that for her.

Someday, she knew, someone would come along and it would be different – or else her parents would decide they were now important enough to arrange marriages and find her someone and she’d have to get used to it. Or both, for all she knew; stranger things had happened. The most likely thing was that she would marry some other up-and-coming pureblood and then they would both find people they liked and have lots and lots of affairs, like the most recognizable of her area’s collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raineses. Right now, she had her…sort-of friend’s love life to consider.

“It looks very good to me,” she said, tilting her head to examine the image more thoroughly. “You’re better at that than I am.” One of the things she liked about Nic was that she didn’t ever have to bother trying to flirt with or impress him, and she had never really felt like she had to, either. If she said something about her abilities, any kind of abilities, she didn’t have to think too much about trying to sound either brighter or stupider than she was, depending on the subject and the audience she was presenting her alleged talents to. “Are you planning to color it at all? And did Rachel pose for it, or is it a surprise?”

0 Eliza And what is your goal? 0 Eliza 0 5

Nic

March 12, 2012 9:09 PM

To watch and draw Rachel Bauer by Nic

Nic was pleased that Eliza seemed to think it was better than her initial 'nice' had implied. He would continue under the assumption that he would be submitting this piece. He nodded absently in response to her assertion that he was better at drawing than she was. He had never seen Eliza draw so he took her at her word, having never had a reason to doubt Eliza's assessment of herself or her skills before. He knew drawing was not a talent everyone could claim.

At her question, he shrugged and frowned down at the drawing a little. "I don't know yet about other colors. I don't usually use colors but I thought it might be too drab without them. I could maybe use some chalk or colored pencils just so it's not completely in black and white, but sometimes chalk smudges the lines and colored pencils don't always show up well."

He paused again, trying to picture how it would look if he added colored highlights. Undecided still, he concluded he would probably shelve the idea until later and make the choice then.

"I haven't told her I'm doing this," he added, "and I'm hoping the people running it let me submit anonymously." He frowned a little more, then realized she might interpret it as embarrassment over his submission - which wasn't the case at all, he was actually pretty proud of his drawing - so he added, "You know, 'Craft Show' just sounds so dorky."

1 Nic To watch and draw Rachel Bauer 165 Nic 0 5

Eliza

March 13, 2012 8:38 PM

If you could only pick one...? by Eliza

Eliza had not used chalk or colored pencils since she was little, not really, but she nodded as Nic began to describe the pros and cons of including them in his picture of Rachel. “You might have trouble matching her hair and eyes, too, to what they look like,” she said, but then added, with a slightly teasing smile, “Or it might just be more of a challenge for you.”

How well he would like a challenge was something Eliza wasn’t sure if she knew about Nic, but she was pretty confident that it could be taken as a light comment the way she’d said it if he didn’t, even though she had to suspect he liked either a challenge or the romance of hopeless causes. After all, Nic didn’t really – in all honesty, not anything against him – have the kind of background to date a prospective Head Girl from Crotalus who was, Eliza was pretty sure, of something like the same social-climbing sort Eliza herself was, only not quite as well off, despite the fact that something was obviously going on with Nic and Rachel now. Maybe not a very big something, but something. Just because wanting it meant he’d either liked a challenge or a lost cause didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, after all.

“Still,” she said, shifting into a more practical, businesslike mode for a moment, “is there a charm you could use to help with the colors, or smudging, or something?” she asked. “Are there any art books in the library? I’ve never looked for any, but that might help.”

One of her eyebrows threatened to lift slightly when he explained why he was thinking of submitting it anonymously. “Of course,” she said, though she was sure there was more to the story. Trouble in paradise, maybe? Was one of them ashamed of the relationship, so he wouldn’t publicly broadcast it by letting him put his name on the picture? But then, the dance had been more public, and they hadn’t seemed to mind being seen together for that…Ugh, she could go crazy trying to figure out other people’s networks. “Do you think she’ll guess that it’s you? I mean, that you drew it?” Maybe it was a sort of game, like those stories about picking out one of an identical group of sisters. Sonora could have its very own updated version of a story romance. How sweet. She adored the whole idea of it, even if Rachel and Nic were only a good match on his side and not a fantastic one even there because she'd come down the ladder some if she stayed with him. Rachel wasn't someone she knew as well, so she was okay at mainly looking at things from Nic's side.

0 Eliza If you could only pick one...? 0 Eliza 0 5

Nic Sawyer

March 19, 2012 11:04 PM

It's inefficient to only seek a single motive by Nic Sawyer

Nic frowned doubtfully when Eliza almost (but didn't quite) challenge him to find the perfect shades of Rachel's eyes and hair to add color to the sketch. She did have a point there, though. Using the wrong blue in her eyes would be every bit as bad as getting the shape of her ear wrong, and possibly even worse. It would be a challenge and he wasn't sure he had the right supplies here at the school to pull it off. He supposed he could try the art room in MARS, but that was probably swamped with other people working on their own crafts and Eliza was about as far as he wanted to share his own work while it was still in development.

As for her suggestion of using magic, he hadn't even thought of that. Drawing had always been just a hobby and he'd never looked for any method beyond the muggle pencils that came easily and cheaply. It might work, but he was less sure that was an acceptably good use of study and library time for a guy who was supposed to be studying for his CATS. Besides which, charming coloring books into technicolor wasn't exactly the sort of impressive magic he'd come to Sonora to learn. He'd learned to color with crayons when he was three and thought that still worked just fine under most circumstances.

He decided then that adding color was more trouble than it was worth. He liked black and white drawings and he'd stick to that. "I have CATS this year," he told Eliza by way of excuse, "I don't have time to figure out magical color charms."

To answer her question about whether Rachel might guess he was drawing her, he shrugged. "I didn't tell her I was drawing it, but she might have seen me." He was, after all, ten feet tall and kind of hard to miss. "I only blend into the background when it's dark and it's hard to draw in the dark."

1 Nic Sawyer It's inefficient to only seek a single motive 165 Nic Sawyer 0 5