all your colors

Jakoby looked over at the sound of someone next to him in surprise. The other person was sitting nearby, he hadn’t even noticed them there. He felt the heat of embarrassment rise up on his face and felt immediately grateful that, with his skin tone, it was very difficult to notice any kind of blush. He laughed softly and nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty crazy right now…” he commented. From under the table, he felt Rae nuzzle her head against his hand, fingers still intertwined in her fur. She could sense his unease and anxiety and he felt her purring quietly, trying to do what she could to reassure him. It brought a small smile to his face. “I came to town to try and help with everything going on,” Jakoby told the other person who had spoken up. “What about you? Do you live here or are you from out of town?”

Lore did their best to listen to the words that the guy was saying, instead of the thoughts, even going so far as to press their hand to their temple, like that was going to stop anything. It never had, especially when their powers spiked like this. They still picked up something, though, a name. Rae. Must be...well, that wasn’t the man. “Crazy like a man with a panther named Rae coming into a tavern? I feel like I should come up with some kind of joke about that,” Lore replied, grinning. “I’m from out of town. I thought....well, I like being around strong magic every once in a while.”

“Lore…” She let herself taste the name, repeating it once out loud and several times in her mind. It wasn’t often she met people whose names could be easily mistaken or used for words. Says the one who named their child after a common flower. “That’s a cool name.”

She looked them over for a moment before asking, “So what brought you out to this part of town? I mean, it’s pretty and all, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone doing much cloudgazing.” Not that she had really had the chance to ask every person she met in the vicinity of clear skies and grass.

“Thank you! I got very lucky with it,” they said happily. The lucky thing about being a Kalashtar was the names. Practically all of the names sounded easy on the ears. Part of their charm. “I think we both suit our names pretty well.” Even though Lore wasn’t sure what Thea meant. It sounded good, though.

The question was a little bit of a surprise, since most people didn’t bother asking what they were up to unless it was fairly strange, but Lore found their answer easily enough. “Oh, I like to wander. Find inspiration, look for things. And even if I go to the same place twice, it’s always a little different.” And you never knew when or where you could run into someone powerful enough to get your sister out of a painting.

It was amazing and yet Ventis was entirely unprepared for the feeling of being buried. “Stop this.” Ventis’ breath became labored, frantic at the illusion being painted before them. “Stop, stop.” They fell down and clawed for the edges of the vision as if their life depended on it. 

Buried beneath the seas, looking up to the sky too far out of reach. Might as well have dragged her to the bottom of the earth. Suffocating breaths came in panicked waves. Ventis shut their eyes and began to fixate on the reality. They weren’t trapped beneath the sea. No, they were fine. 

Lore blinked, a bit curious as to what exactly was wrong with breathing at the bottom of the sea, but shrugged and dropped the illusion anyway. They weren’t one to make people uncomfortable, by any means. “All gone,” they said innocently. “So...you have to be able to see the sky, then?”

It was a random guess, but they supposed it would make sense, considering the other could turn into a bird and all that. But it was a little sad that they couldn’t enjoy the other bizarre places that might be somewhere out there in the world.

Thea giggled at their words, taking them in good stride. This was a pleasant enough conversation, considering they were absolute strangers who knew next to nothing about one another.

“Patience is a learned virtue, I’d say,” she responded with a smile. “Friends are really nice to have, be it to talk to or learn things from. Such a foundation of information!” She looked them over, taking them in, before adding, “Speaking of friends and being nice… I seem to be lacking a name to put to the face before me. Considering I’m not thinking of leaving in the next six seconds or so, names are probably good to have. I’m Thea, and what’s yours?”

She reached a hand towards the stranger with gusto.

The giggle Lore got was more than enough to get them pleased with themself, really. Getting along with anyone, especially strangers, was always just such a fun thing for them. They liked the positive.

“Oh, for sure. And it comes and goes, I don’t have patience for....a lot of stuff,” they admitted. All of their patience was for artistic things, and not for anything else. But if you couldn’t sit still, sometimes you got skilled at whatever you were doing to keep yourself from just sitting there. “Ah, right! Thea...I like that one. I’m Lore.” They shook hands with a big smile, happy that everything was feeling so nice.

Rex nodded he also often had problems with living things. Mostly people his cat was pretty sound. “Yeah I wish I could have gotten in to stage acting but alas it wasn’t meant to be.” Rexly took another glance over to the pantings. He’d glanced at this one of a sunset more than once perhaps that was going to be the winner. 

“You have a favorite place to paint?” Rexly ask curiously. He’d met a few artists in his life though they were mostly nobles who had time to paint extravagant things (and who had their extravagant things stolen).  “I used to know a woman Lady Bardryn, I think her name was…might have been Lady  Mardred. Anyway whoever it was she had the most amazing water garden but she always complained that she could never capture it on a canvas. She had a room full to the brim with the paintings she felt didn’t capture the beauty of her garden.”

“Well, it’s never too late! Especially for someone who’s probably got more than a hundred years to try stuff!” Lore said, unable to help their generally encouraging nature. And besides, Lore wasn’t entirely convinced that time was real, so there wasn’t any point to not keeping after fun things to do.

“Uh, not really. I just go wherever I can, and there’s always something beautiful to paint,” they answered truthfully. No place was more beautiful than the next, but only because everything was unique by itself. At least, that’s how Lore saw it. “Oh, I understand that! Water is...hard, and beauty is harder. And getting paint to behave is even worse. But I always say it’s always good to at least get close to it.”

“You like to have fun. I like that.” Ventis chuckled at them. “I like to have fun. Live dangerously.” They winked and grinned. “Show me the fun. I want you to impress me.” 

They laughed and sighed from the position on the grass. It was a nice day and Ventis had nowhere to be. There was nothing holding them down to the earth in the ways others might be restrained. “I have all day. Show me what you got.”

Lore peeked around, making sure that there wasn’t anyone else just around, or else this would probably be terrifying. For a moment, Lore closed their eyes, imagining a landscape, fantastic and bizarre. When they opened their eyes, they could see the magic at work, turning a regular city garden into something very different. It looked very much like they were in a garden at the bottom of the sea. No sign of where they were was left. It was an illusion that would hold up to touch, but if the other left, they would be able to see their 150 feet of regular garden again.

“See? Fun,” they announced proudly, stretching out their arms and laying back in the illusion of sand. “Octopus garden, or something. Bet you’ve never been here.”

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Oh the forces of nature. Ventis was aware of the inner druid showing. “Look, you can jump off of a cliff, but should you do it? No.” It was funny to think of it in those terms. Ventis hadn’t really been into the lecturing mood.

“If you want to use magic do it.” They placed their hands behind their head to lay back and stare into the clouds. It was a beautiful day. “I often wonder if my father even knows I exists here. “ They realized too late that they had said that out loud. 

“That cloud looks like a butterfly.”

“Maybe not. But if I knew that I could do something that would keep me alive once I’ve jumped off a cliff, why shouldn’t I? It’s fun to fall.” Of course, Lore had always taken that sort of approach to life. Enjoyment was a priority, even in serious times. If you let yourself be too serious, you lost yourself.

“Use magic? Well, I know something fun, where would you like to see?” They shot a grin at the other, a touch of sneakiness in it. It was a powerful bit of magic, but they couldn’t see theirself getting into a fight today, so why not use it? “Aw, who needs people to know they exist? Be unknown.” It was a funny concept, they thought, as they looked up. “It does.”

When they mentioned her hair as a storm cloud, Thea couldn’t resist the temptation to look up at her curls to compare it to the real thing. If there was a cloud quite like her hair, it would spell some real bad weather ahead as she had never seen clouds beyond the dark grey common to this land. She wondered if they had seen different elsewhere, or if they were just making a teasing comparison for the sake of it.

“My hair would be real mighty if that was the case!” she said, allowing herself a good laugh in the process. “Oh, you’re a painter? That’s really cool. I’ve always been fond of the activity, but I have a problem with patience. I just can’t seem to be able to sit down long enough to learn. Maybe I should my friend for lessons. He’s real good at it.”

She could imagine Efrain trying to teach her how to paint. She wondered if it would drive him insane in the process or if he possessed the patience to sit down with her for long enough. Ewin had the patience to deal with her most days, but even her twin had his limits.

“A sinker of ships,” Lore confirmed, though they had never actually seen a storm that had ever been bad enough to sink anything. They just thought that it sounded like something impressive, and they always wanted people to think of themselves as impressive. Even in a non-conventional sense. “Yeah, I do a bit of painting! Not as much as I used to, but. Enough!”

There were other talents that Lore used more these days, but painting had always been the first real talent. “Oh, patience does take a while. But if you get used to how a brush works, you can get a lot faster.” Lore could manage a decent-sized painting in about thirty minutes, but that was probably due to practice. “Friends do help, though! And if they won’t, I will. Because I’m nice like that.”

Too red. Too blue. Mint green contrasted too much with his living room. One of these was bound to call out Rexly sooner or later. Sticking around might help him decide which one he wanted. He felt obliged to buy one now since he’d stood around talking to Lore for so long.  “Oh that sounds nice. I can’t draw, well I can everyone can draw I guess, my style is very primitive. If I was the artistic sort I’d be more of a stage actor type.” Rexly said turing his head to half look at Lore. “You got some kind of muse you like to paint or something?”

Lore had heard the whole ‘primitive’ art thing before, and was quick to ignore it, since they knew that people were generally better than they gave themselves credit for. That was just how artistry worked. Anyone who said they were fantastic were just...the worst people.

“Stage acting is a very fun art! I can’t act like anything but me.” Well, maybe they could. They’d never actually bothered, but that was just because they liked being theirself. “Oh, I mostly just...do landscapes? Living things give me problems.” Problems they were still...trying to fix. No drawing living things until sister was out of a painting, after all.

Idril was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm the stranger carried, and their quick, creative posing. The playfulness, and the hint of performance, reminded her of Xyan. The older elf had put on the most wondrous plays, for her eyes only, in a clearing of the woods he had deemed his stage. Those moments made her miss her clan, if only for a moment or two, before she was reminded why she left in the first place. She wondered if her father still forced Xyan to wait for her, if he still held claim to betrothal or if her friend’s family did, or if they had asked him to marry her sister. She often wondered a lot of things, all at once. 

“I’d love to have a breakfast partner.” Idril reiterated, forcing herself to stop thinking so wildly far away. The present needed her, not the past. “We can go to a nearby inn, if you’d like? But on the way I insist you teach me how to pose so fluidly. It was beautiful, a real showstopper.” She knew her quick, tumbling words were coming on strongly, but she was enamored by the stranger in front of her. Whoever had walked into her life, she was thankful for. “I’m Idril.” 

Lore was sure that there was a glint in their eye at the answer they got, and they immediately straightened their body into something that made them look like less of a show-off. Apparently all they needed was positive attention. Some things might never change.

“I’ll do my very best to make a good one,” they replied with a smile, letting theirself draw a little closer with maybe a bit of a swagger. They couldn’t keep it all inside, after all, or there might be some sort of explosion of personality later. Best to let it out in bits, so this very nice lady could get used to them. “Oh, anywhere is fine with me, and I will absolutely teach you,” they laughed. If they could teach anything, it was a pose. “I’m called Lore. Nice to meet you.”

“Isn’t magic a lot like physical strength and stamina?” Ventis tilted their head to look toward the other, “How many push ups can you do without growing tired? How far can a stallion run before it has to stop and rest? Does the wind constantly and relentlessly blow, or does it need a chance to catch its breath?” Ventis had been practicing endurance for a long while. They found it worth while to build up the stamina should it ever be needed.

“You can’t just always snap your fingers to magically….do whatever you want…” Ventis was a druid and to think of it like that didn’t set well with them. “Well, your enthusiasm is charming. “ The Genasi chuckled and lay back to gaze up at the clouds. “Flying feels so free. You should try it sometime.”

“Not for me. It’s second nature.” The only problem with second nature was that...well, they didn’t know how to focus on a second nature. Either things happened or they didn’t. Like how sometimes they could hear what people thought without wanting to. Lore’s magic was there, but not reliable...which...was probably a reflection of Lore that they didn’t want to think about.

“Why not? That’s how I always do it. If it is something I can do.” Lore knew they couldn’t do everything, but their magic was a surprising force. It showed up when it wanted, and left as soon as it wanted, as well. They had a few tricks they could use, no matter what, but... “I’m going to. As soon as I think hard enough about being a bird or something. However you do it.”

Thea stood over the face of this stranger for a solid five seconds before they noticed her presence. She couldn’t help the grin that crossed her face at their look of surprise to see her.

Runswick was a nice place of cloudgazing. She had done it plenty during her younger days, both back home and here in Hegaehend. Whatever country she might find herself in, she knew that she could look up at the sky and know that those she loved saw the same thing. It was a cheesy thought, but it was a nice one when she felt lonely and missed people.

“Sorry to disappoint you, friend, no cloud to see with me,” she said, keeping her grin. “Well, unless you count the hair, but I don’t think the color’s quite right.” She straightened herself, creating a bit of distance between her and this strange person. “I got curious by this person in the middle of the Garden of Roses. For a moment, I thought you were dead, but I’m always glad to be wrong on that front.”

Lore smiled up at the stranger, glad for a conversation since they’d nearly led with ‘ew’. Sometimes things did not go very well for them at all, but this must be one of the good times! “Oh, you never know, your hair could be a storm cloud, if it was higher up.” Was that a compliment? They’d meant it as one, so hopefully it was taken as one.

At the dead comment, Lore laughed. “No, not dead yet! Lucky me.” And besides, they moved far too much to be dead, unless someone nearby was a very good necromancer or...something. Lore didn’t know much about that sort of thing, either. “Just...looking at things! Might paint a bit later.” If everything was out of the way, that was.

Rexly took a quick glance at Lore’s other paintings. They were nice and Rexly sat down trying to decide if he wanted to purchase one or not. He made a mental list of what would match the interior of his home the best. 

“You out here often?” Rexly asked. He hadn’t seen Lore in this part of the city before, Rexly figured he would have remembered someone who’d be lying down on the ground painting. Wasn’t something he saw much of in this part of town.  “I mean like out here selling your stuff I haven’t seen you around this part of town before.” 

Lore nodded, maybe a little too eagerly. “Yeah, I’m out here when I can be. I travel a lot,” they said, honestly. Lore didn’t like to stay in one place for too long, but that was only because there was always somewhere to go. They’d never liked to just hang around one spot. It got boring. “Sometimes I sell stuff, sometimes I don’t. Just depends on if I have anything for sale.” After all, they didn’t always have the supplies. Sometimes they just performed or...whatever they could do.

“Yes you are.” Ventis eased to sit next to them with their arms resting on their knees. There was a matter-of-fact air in the way Ventis nodded her head with a smirk, “I can fly.” They turned to the person who had quickly become playful company. “I can fly rather well.”

Ventis shifted in their seat before completely becoming the form of an eagle. They flew up above their head, circling until they were out of sight. Then, as soon as it happended, Ventis came floating back down in their feminine form.

“What do you think?” Ventis smiled from ear to ear. Showing off was always fun. Especially to someone who seemed to be so awestruck with a little wind stirring. 

“You have a certain charm I admire. Tell me, do I charm you?”

Lore sat up straighter when this person said they can fly, and as soon as they turned into an eagle, Lore was standing, mouth open, fully in awe. They’d heard of people being able to do that, but they’d never actually seen it, and it was crazy. Lore was no stranger to magic, far from it, but that? That was great.

“I think I need to learn faster,” they breathed, delighted by the show. “Can you do that whenever you want?” That was the problem with Lore’s own magic. Unpredictable. “Well, I think if I charm you, you can charm me.” But Lore knew both of those happened easily.