Chapter 914 Beauty In Sketch
When Adalia woke up again, the world was laminated and drenched in a gentle light of orange. Beams of sunlight, pillars of heavenly rays cascading from up high, strewn amidst a forecast of broken, scattered clouds.
The view from Amanda's window was really nice, better even than what home provided: a meadow at one side, and a driveway on the other. Still nice, still quite a pleasant sight. But rarely could anything compare to the liberating freedom that the vast, infinite horizon offered.
She remembered Kronocia used to have a familiar view. Sunsets and sunrises from so long ago now in a time far gone, buried within memories almost forgotten.
It was almost… reassuring to know she could still… somewhat remember.
As she slowly lifted her head from the sunken armrest of her makeshift bed, her head began to throb once more with a numbing pain that was ever so slight, ever so gradual.
Her fingers twitched, and Adalia heard a soft groan rasp out of her parched throat.
Hunger was beginning to gnaw away at her.
Her gaze hovered across the room and found empty, vacant seats surrounding her. It was quiet, but not too quiet, the silence ever so lightly nudged and pestered by a faint pattering noise that resembled almost the sound of raindrops hitting the roof.
She spotted Amanda a little further ahead, her back turned and her hair bundled in a single flowing wave of yellow, sat afar and hunched over at a desk in a position of great concentration.
Her arm was in constant motion, her wrist swerving, flicking, as the tapping sound parroted along. She was holding something thin, black, and faced before an almost blinding white glow of a screen of some sort.
Adalia crept closer, one lumbering step after the next, and stopped in place just over Amanda's shoulder.
A closer, clearer view, Adalia's eyes narrowed, noticing the lines and strokes of something within the harsh, vibrant light. More tapping, more swishing, more lines forming, more strokes curving.
Amanda was drawing.
"You draw… very well…" she whispered, inching her gaze closer in admiration.
Immediately, Amanda's shoulders gave a jerk, a large, grating black slash ripped across the drawing, and with a fast gasp of air, she froze.
"Oh, for the love of God. Adalia…" Slowly, Amanda whirled her seat, turning toward her, a small, slightly quivering smile on her lips. "Is this… do you do this at home often? Our poor, poor darling always on the verge of a heart attack whenever you drop in?"
Adalia leaned away, slowly, remorsefully. "I do not… mean to…"
"No, it's okay. Vampire nature and all that, right?" Amanda said. "And plus, I jump and scream at lesser than you anyway, so don't worry. Issue here is much more me than you."
"I… see…"
"Ash already went back a while ago," Amanda swerved back around to the humming glow of her large display, returning to her busy work. "Oh, and our boyfriend called too, asked about you. Told him you're still resting. When you're ready, you should get going too… otherwise, he might start thinking I'm scheming something again that's got you as my pawn, and I rather not have my name tarnished any further, so…"
Adalia heard her words, but found her focus straying somewhere else. Her eyes hovering still over Amanda's shoulder, intrigue fluttering them just a little wider.
"Why are you… drawing… Ash…?"
"Hm? Ah, yeah, I have a deadline to meet," Amanda said. "I'm doing a commission for someone."
"Com…mission…?"
"Like a request, you know? Basically, someone pays me to draw something for them, anything they want, however way they want, and I do just that. Following along so far?"
Adalia blinked. "Someone… paid you… to draw… Ash…?"
"Most popular request if you can believe it. Some requests more, uh… descriptive than others… but, whatever the case, everyone likes a good Eshwlyn."
"Do these… people… pay you… often…?
"Just a side thing I like to do. Not too often, but, yeah, often enough," Amanda pushed at her feet, wheeling herself aside, allowing Adalia a better, grander view of her work-in-progress. "Well, what do you think so far? Good?"
With eyes like hers, rarely would Adalia need to peruse any scene, any view for a second time. A brief second, and easily she'd spot the smallest, subtlest details even in the most cluttered of sceneries. But something about Amanda's illustration had her gaze lingering for a little while longer than that.
A pure white canvas, with curves, and angles spread about in an anarchic yet orderly fashion.
The likeness of Ash sat enveloped by the gentle sway of flowers, a wreath of petals and leaves perched atop her head, and in the distance, in a space still yet to be completely sketched, pranced a small, unfamiliar figure, holding what it seemed to be another wreath in their hands.
Ash had the most effort spent on her and it showed. Though uncolored, slight aspects incomplete, there was a certain liveness present, in the blissful shape of her smile, the sparkle still showed in her colorless eyes.
Sunsets and sunrises. Horizons beyond comparison.
"She is… beautiful…" Adalia finally muttered.
Amanda smiled at the compliment, and yet Adalia could sense something peculiar about her expression,
"Yeah," she said, the glow and beauty of her artwork reflecting back in hollow, hazel eyes. "She really is, isn't she?"
For a moment, Amanda just sat in place, motionless, silent. Then she stirred, and began to tinker around her desk, fiddling with her hands as if just realizing her own stillness.
"Client said she wanted something idyllic to frame on her wall, something to do with Eshwlyn and her sister. Trusted me with the details, and so I did the best I could. Get a lot of comments too saying I've been drawing better than the official illustrator lately but I don't think that's fair. After all, not as if they have any real-life samples to draw from, do they?"
"You don't… like that…"
"Huh?" Amanda swiveled around again, yet only partly, wearing a frown unsure of how to even react. "I don't… I don't think I follow, what?"
"You sounded… like… you don't like that…"
More confusion riddled and furrowed the expression on Amanda's face, gradually, however, a sort of unease, a subtle discomfort began taking the look in her eyes the more their stare lingered before each other.
Alas… a plate of a half-eaten sandwich sat on one side of the desk, right next to a pair of empty, dented soda cans and the muted scent of coffee wafted from a nearby cup that was no longer warm. Amanda blinked, breathed, both of which she did quite wearily.
As always, Adalia only needed one look, one second… before ultimately deciding not to push.
She didn't want to intrude.
"Thirsty…" she said instead, the coarseness in her throat growing more prominent.. "…May I have…"
"Something else to drink before you go?" Amanda finished, rising from her seat with a peculiar spring to her movement. "On it. I got you. Chocolate, right? Extra sweet."
"Yes…" she nodded.
"Vampire with a sweet tooth," she chuckled, stretching her arms up high, and walking to the kitchen with long, heavy strides. "It's no wonder you're hopelessly addicted to him. He's as sweet as it gets, isn't he?"
Yes…" Adalia answered again.
"Succulent, even?"
"No..." she whispered. "Even... more..."
"Mmhmm, I get you," Amanda said, drawing out two large cups from the cupboards, and planting them both onto the counter. "Got quite the sweet tooth as well, you see."
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