Cylus 11th, 717
Night practically had to drag herself down the street. She was shivering violently as her feet crunched against a thick layer of snow. Even with all the lights in the city burning she couldn't really see all that well. The darkness was nearly as thick as the blanket of snow which covered the world around her. She breathed out and took in a deep gulp of air. Her throat felt dry and scratchy, almost like it was on fire. "I really hope I'm not starting to catch a cold," she whispered to herself placing her hands against her arms and rubbing furiously. Her attempts to banish the cold from her bones were for the most part completely fruitless. Her skin was numb from the sheer cold, but at the same time there was a subtle painful burn that came with the temperature of her skin dropping far below normal. She glanced around ducking into the nearest building be it a shop or a bar. She had no desire to catch frost bite.
It just so happened to be a tavern. The place was warm and smelled of alcohol and people. A group of girls in the corner sat together laughing and winking at the men all around them. Judging by their dress they were some form of entertainment that could be paid for. The details were uncertain but Night could care less. She walked towards a corner and sat down. It was the closest seat she could get to the fire without actually sitting in the fire. That wouldn't be very pleasant for anyone that wasn't an Aukari. People glanced at her for a moment before turning away. Some began to whisper to each other continuing to look between their little groups and her. Others just turned away and complete ignored Night from that moment forward. Either way no one walked up to her and tried to speak to her. Her attention was drawn instead to something else entirely. She pulled out a couple piece of paper snagged from work as well as a small piece of charcoal curtsy of her own fire. She placed the large black chunk of burnt wood between two talons and started to sketch out something.
It wasn't a very good drawing but a couple moments later it started to look more and more like a person. Night was slowly becoming a better worker for the Smarter Charts because she was dedicated. She continued to improve her skills as best she could. But it didn't change the fact that she failed when it came to the actual drawing of the map. So one of the many people above her had shoved a couple rolls of paper into her arms and told her to go somewhere and practice. With her she had a list of various components to writing, things to practice and help her get better. The first thing on there was simple enough. "Drawing is half of what you see," she muttered to herself. Now she was stuck between looking down at the paper and looking back up at one of the bar maids. Her figure rushed back and fourth causing Night all the extra trouble. She quickly learned that it was hard to draw a moving target. She tried to start with some basic shapes. Of course most of the body like the head and hands and torso all could be summed up to a couple of large circles. That was easy enough. The basic figure sat proudly on her page, if she was just trying to draw the basic shape of a model then it wouldn't look that bad. The trill she tried to move on to the more complex details everything went wrong.
The eyes ended up to big, she made the hips far too small for a woman, the nose was completely wrong on so many levels. She ended up with a witch, not a beautiful bar maid. The frown she had walked into the building with got deeper as concentration creased her features. She crumpled up the piece of paper tossing it into the fire and starting over. This time she chose an easier target. Someone that was sitting and wasn't moving much. The man happily chatted with his companions not paying any attention to the half breed as her eyes seemed to burn holes into him. She tried to memorize the features, his body shape, how his nose curved. Her eyes almost crossed as she leaned so far close to the paper just trying to get the tiny details right. In the end it wasn't any better than the last drawing and now she was starting to get a head ache from staring at her sheet perhaps a little too hard.
She leaned back with a hearty sigh resting her head against the back of the chair. "I don't get it," she whimpered to herself. How did everyone at work make it look so easy. Most of them at least had the basics down if not higher level art skills. But Night? she could barely get a single portrait right no matter how hard she worked. Her attention turned to the last piece of information on her little list. "Drawing is a practiced skill, not magic. Only practice will make you better. I call bull! I can't ever be good at this," she said turning her attention away from the bitter situation at hand.
