Saun 1st, 718
The half-breed could feel the winds messing with her hair as she looked towards the sky, her expression vexed. With a heavy sigh, she shook her head. Saun was never one of her favorite seasons. In fact, she very well despised the way the sun constantly bore down on her and the way she was reminded by one of her least favorite Immortals. The only good thing about Saun was the fact that it provided an interesting work schedule. The sun never failed to shine with a wrath that seemed to be almost constant. And while this was by no means even slightly pleasant, it did mean that work was available at any time of the day. For the insomniac half-breed, this made life far easier.
The lack of any kind of darkness meant that the half-breed could work as much as she pleased. And by extension practice whenever she pleased. Which was something she most certainly needed to do, all things considered. The woman had been working the same job for two arcs, possibly a little more. In that amount of time her skill level had in fact risen when it came to work-related topics. However, that amount of skill had mostly risen under the topic of cartography. Her skills with a quill, drawing, had expanded too significantly in spite of the fact she was quickly learning how to masterfull read a map... kind of. She still could use more practice, but that wasn't the point. Knowing how to read maps wasn't the thing she needed to expand on most. No, what she really needed to expand on was the fact that she was a horrible artist.
Maps were fine and dandy as long as they were legible, but you can't sell a map that looks absolutely horrendous. Even if the map itself has all the information needed, no one wants to buy a map that looks ugly because an ugly map doesn't look like a trustworthy map. The same psychology in a way applied to people. No one wanted to trust a person who was ugly because they looked like a mercenary or someone else equally scummy. The half-breed, who wasn't even ugly in the traditional sense, had faced this kind of treatment for her wings alone which most people found to be offputting. Her maps, which weren't the best quality artistically, had faced a similar kind of skepticism throughout her time in Etzos. And while her employer had been nothing but patient considering the fact her actual job title was scout and drawing had nothing to do with that, it made the half-breed feel bad. Especially when she was still allowed to work during things like Cylus when she wasn't particularly needed and couldn't do anything exceptionally useful.
So the half-breed had gotten it into her mind that if she hadn't gotten better yet, she just needed to practice more. And what better thing to do than to practice while she was working. Saun in all of its beauty and constant daylight left those willing to forgo sleep the opportunity to keep working insane hours. And the half-breed was nothing less than an insomniac by nature. She didn't even really have a choice in that one. She wasn't entirely certain what had brought about her insomnia, but it was something she'd had for as long as she could remember.
So what was the half-breed going to do with all this extra time and daylight other than practicing her drawing skills? Which ultimately was easier said than done while she was still trying to do her work as a scout. Now that she almost always went out on her own when it came to scouting dangerous areas she didn't land very often. She didn't want to work slower than usual if it could be avoided even if she did have the extra time to do so. So the only real logical answer was to attempt to draw while she was airborne. So she found herself high up in the sky doing the only logical thing her mind had apparently been able to come up with. Draw while flying. Her wings beat furiously to keep herself in the air, but it didn't require much of her attention at this point. Her wings almost seemed to beat of their own accord, or the movement was so muscle memory as to how much force it exactly took to keep her aloft that she didn't need to dedicate much of her mind to it. That, however, didn't make for easy drawing even if it did make for easy flying. Her hands were working overtime to keep the paper in one spot as well as draw on it, while the half-breed herself was trying to pin the piece of paper to her leg. It wasn't working, as she sat half cross-legged in the middle of the sky.
The half-breed for all it was worth was putting up a good fight as she continued to try and draw like this. She honestly would have been better off if she'd remembered to bring something solid with her, but she hadn't thought about it. A messenger bag was loosely hung over her side, full of work materials. It was of course provided by her boss, none of the items actually belonging to her. She could take and use whatever useful items she found back at the Smarter Charts. Usually, she just brought the typical stuff with her like compasses and extra paper in case she messed up. In the case of today a lot of extra paper. She was glad that she'd had the forethought to pack so much extra paper as she seemed like she was going to end up using a good chunk of it in her pursuit of learning how to draw better. To draw better one must first draw. Even if those drawing were terrible... A piece of s*** more like. She was quickly learning however that a hard surface was, in fact, a requirement to making good drawings.
Eventually, the half-breed relented, putting the piece of paper back into the messenger bag and swinging her body into a slow descent. As she got closer to the ground she extended her legs, carefully bringing herself to a halt as her talons dug their way into the soft earth that relented easily. The area she was in wasn't the safest in all the territory she'd had the pleasure of memorizing, but she'd been in far more dangerous areas so she didn't really bat an eye at the idea of landing and stopping. It was unlikely that something would attack her, and even more so it was unlikely that it would get to her before she noticed. The half-breed was a rather observant person, or so she liked to think.
After landing Night looked for a suitable spot, her eyes glancing over the terrain as she found a rock she could sit on. It was easier to cross her legs on the ground rather than in the sky and even though it wasn't ideal it was still easier. She was certain that she'd be able to manage the next time as long as she brought something hard to write and draw on! But that was neither here nor there, and neither was it important to what she was about to do. Pulling out the piece of paper she was priorly working on she glanced it over before crumpling and discarding it. The rough sketch of the forest she'd been looking at was roughly abandoned as she realized just how terrible a drawing it really was.
Starting over wasn't exactly the most pleasant task but it was the only thing she could really do for the time being. So swallowing the pride that had been damaged at the sigh of the terrible drawing she began to start over, the paper lightly resting against her leg as she did her best not to rip it with her quill. She started with the basic shapes of the forest, something that one of the other scribes had taught her the other day. There still weren't meant that acted amicably towards her, and she was fairly certain there would be those who always lorded themselves above her, but at the very least she did manage to get a couple of allies if not friends within the Smarter Charts. One such person had told her that while she was practicing it was a good thing to pay attention to the basic shapes of whatever she was trying to draw. For example. Those cartoony trees that kids often drew while starting out were just big circles attached to rectangles. And even if she couldn't do trees, circles and rectangles were something that the half-breed was certain she could do!
And so she did, carefully using that advice to draw a couple of trees. She was getting close to being finished when a large wind picked up and began to pull at her paper and her quill. And just like that, a line had found its way onto her paper, a line that really didn't belong. The half-breed growled quietly, a disgruntled noise that left her throat as something almost feral. There went all her work. Again. Wind, her closest and dearest friend, was apparently her worst enemy when it came to drawing. It ripped at her quills and messed with her paper, threatening to destroy her work if she wasn't careful. And now it had finally acted on its promise as the half-breed displayed a moment's distraction.
Looking at the piece of paper, it at least wasn't that much of a loss. The lines had already been squiggly and the paper wasn't all that good. She'd been using practice paper, after all, scrap that the Smarter Charts ordered for newer scribes to practice on or to dab their quills on instead of ruining the nicer paper. Their supplier had no trouble parting from the terrible quality as a much lower price than the nicer paper, so that was also the paper that scribes with no sense of artistic ability, like herself, used when they were out on patrol. At least it made the half-breed feel far less guilty to know she was using the terrible paper. But on top of that, art was something better done from observation than memory. Especially at the earlier levels. She wasn't good enough to try and go off of memory. In the next trials she would make sure to bring something hard to draw upon and hopefully the product would come out a touch or two better.
"Common"
"Ith'ession"
The lack of any kind of darkness meant that the half-breed could work as much as she pleased. And by extension practice whenever she pleased. Which was something she most certainly needed to do, all things considered. The woman had been working the same job for two arcs, possibly a little more. In that amount of time her skill level had in fact risen when it came to work-related topics. However, that amount of skill had mostly risen under the topic of cartography. Her skills with a quill, drawing, had expanded too significantly in spite of the fact she was quickly learning how to masterfull read a map... kind of. She still could use more practice, but that wasn't the point. Knowing how to read maps wasn't the thing she needed to expand on most. No, what she really needed to expand on was the fact that she was a horrible artist.
Maps were fine and dandy as long as they were legible, but you can't sell a map that looks absolutely horrendous. Even if the map itself has all the information needed, no one wants to buy a map that looks ugly because an ugly map doesn't look like a trustworthy map. The same psychology in a way applied to people. No one wanted to trust a person who was ugly because they looked like a mercenary or someone else equally scummy. The half-breed, who wasn't even ugly in the traditional sense, had faced this kind of treatment for her wings alone which most people found to be offputting. Her maps, which weren't the best quality artistically, had faced a similar kind of skepticism throughout her time in Etzos. And while her employer had been nothing but patient considering the fact her actual job title was scout and drawing had nothing to do with that, it made the half-breed feel bad. Especially when she was still allowed to work during things like Cylus when she wasn't particularly needed and couldn't do anything exceptionally useful.
So the half-breed had gotten it into her mind that if she hadn't gotten better yet, she just needed to practice more. And what better thing to do than to practice while she was working. Saun in all of its beauty and constant daylight left those willing to forgo sleep the opportunity to keep working insane hours. And the half-breed was nothing less than an insomniac by nature. She didn't even really have a choice in that one. She wasn't entirely certain what had brought about her insomnia, but it was something she'd had for as long as she could remember.
So what was the half-breed going to do with all this extra time and daylight other than practicing her drawing skills? Which ultimately was easier said than done while she was still trying to do her work as a scout. Now that she almost always went out on her own when it came to scouting dangerous areas she didn't land very often. She didn't want to work slower than usual if it could be avoided even if she did have the extra time to do so. So the only real logical answer was to attempt to draw while she was airborne. So she found herself high up in the sky doing the only logical thing her mind had apparently been able to come up with. Draw while flying. Her wings beat furiously to keep herself in the air, but it didn't require much of her attention at this point. Her wings almost seemed to beat of their own accord, or the movement was so muscle memory as to how much force it exactly took to keep her aloft that she didn't need to dedicate much of her mind to it. That, however, didn't make for easy drawing even if it did make for easy flying. Her hands were working overtime to keep the paper in one spot as well as draw on it, while the half-breed herself was trying to pin the piece of paper to her leg. It wasn't working, as she sat half cross-legged in the middle of the sky.
The half-breed for all it was worth was putting up a good fight as she continued to try and draw like this. She honestly would have been better off if she'd remembered to bring something solid with her, but she hadn't thought about it. A messenger bag was loosely hung over her side, full of work materials. It was of course provided by her boss, none of the items actually belonging to her. She could take and use whatever useful items she found back at the Smarter Charts. Usually, she just brought the typical stuff with her like compasses and extra paper in case she messed up. In the case of today a lot of extra paper. She was glad that she'd had the forethought to pack so much extra paper as she seemed like she was going to end up using a good chunk of it in her pursuit of learning how to draw better. To draw better one must first draw. Even if those drawing were terrible... A piece of s*** more like. She was quickly learning however that a hard surface was, in fact, a requirement to making good drawings.
Eventually, the half-breed relented, putting the piece of paper back into the messenger bag and swinging her body into a slow descent. As she got closer to the ground she extended her legs, carefully bringing herself to a halt as her talons dug their way into the soft earth that relented easily. The area she was in wasn't the safest in all the territory she'd had the pleasure of memorizing, but she'd been in far more dangerous areas so she didn't really bat an eye at the idea of landing and stopping. It was unlikely that something would attack her, and even more so it was unlikely that it would get to her before she noticed. The half-breed was a rather observant person, or so she liked to think.
After landing Night looked for a suitable spot, her eyes glancing over the terrain as she found a rock she could sit on. It was easier to cross her legs on the ground rather than in the sky and even though it wasn't ideal it was still easier. She was certain that she'd be able to manage the next time as long as she brought something hard to write and draw on! But that was neither here nor there, and neither was it important to what she was about to do. Pulling out the piece of paper she was priorly working on she glanced it over before crumpling and discarding it. The rough sketch of the forest she'd been looking at was roughly abandoned as she realized just how terrible a drawing it really was.
Starting over wasn't exactly the most pleasant task but it was the only thing she could really do for the time being. So swallowing the pride that had been damaged at the sigh of the terrible drawing she began to start over, the paper lightly resting against her leg as she did her best not to rip it with her quill. She started with the basic shapes of the forest, something that one of the other scribes had taught her the other day. There still weren't meant that acted amicably towards her, and she was fairly certain there would be those who always lorded themselves above her, but at the very least she did manage to get a couple of allies if not friends within the Smarter Charts. One such person had told her that while she was practicing it was a good thing to pay attention to the basic shapes of whatever she was trying to draw. For example. Those cartoony trees that kids often drew while starting out were just big circles attached to rectangles. And even if she couldn't do trees, circles and rectangles were something that the half-breed was certain she could do!
And so she did, carefully using that advice to draw a couple of trees. She was getting close to being finished when a large wind picked up and began to pull at her paper and her quill. And just like that, a line had found its way onto her paper, a line that really didn't belong. The half-breed growled quietly, a disgruntled noise that left her throat as something almost feral. There went all her work. Again. Wind, her closest and dearest friend, was apparently her worst enemy when it came to drawing. It ripped at her quills and messed with her paper, threatening to destroy her work if she wasn't careful. And now it had finally acted on its promise as the half-breed displayed a moment's distraction.
Looking at the piece of paper, it at least wasn't that much of a loss. The lines had already been squiggly and the paper wasn't all that good. She'd been using practice paper, after all, scrap that the Smarter Charts ordered for newer scribes to practice on or to dab their quills on instead of ruining the nicer paper. Their supplier had no trouble parting from the terrible quality as a much lower price than the nicer paper, so that was also the paper that scribes with no sense of artistic ability, like herself, used when they were out on patrol. At least it made the half-breed feel far less guilty to know she was using the terrible paper. But on top of that, art was something better done from observation than memory. Especially at the earlier levels. She wasn't good enough to try and go off of memory. In the next trials she would make sure to bring something hard to draw upon and hopefully the product would come out a touch or two better.
"Common"
"Ith'ession"
