In the Painter's Eye | OPEN

[Austin Jennings]

’This should do nicely.’ Austin thought as he found a large rock on the bank of the Little Tiber that offered the perfect spot to set up his things. The rock was flat on top and from it he would be able to get a pretty good view of his surroundings. That it was in this place where the waters from the river flowed a little slower and smoother and the sounds of the barracks and the city were almost nonexistent was an added benefit. In short, the spot was the perfect place for the aspiring young artist to get some inspiration and as he walked over to it and began unpacking the supplies he had carried with him that was precisely what he intended to do.

It wouldn’t be hard here. Looking around as he set up his easel Austin thought that he had finally found it. That secret place that most towns like New Rome had. That place where the landscape invites you to blend in for a while. Where time seems to slow and for a moment or two you can forget about your responsibilities to the Legion, even forget about where you are and just enjoy. A place of innocence that was untouched by the hands of man. This was that place and the young painter could see himself coming back here time and again whenever he needed a nice spot to think.

Austin took a moment to enjoy these things after he had set up his canvas and was ready to being. Inspiration didn’t always come immediately and he had found that it was never good to force things. Eventually something would come. How could it not in a place like this? Looking over his surroundings the boy took it all in. He lost track of how long he was standing there but it didn’t feel like such a wait to him. Eventually he picked up his color palette, dipped his brush in some of the collected paint and set to work completely losing track of what was going on around him.

[Luke Yūji]

Luke did what the son of Trivia did best and that was explore the outskirts out New Rome, it was what he usually did, randomly too.. The boy would just be off on some adventure of his own to see the seemly endless borders of camp, today's voyage  lead him to the river, he'd hope it was in someway connected to Styx but was rather disappointing when it didn't. Though, his escapade wasn't all in vain as he spotted one of his cohorts off, closer to the seemingly calm river. "Hmm..." Luke thought with a grin as he pulled out a few tarot cards from his deck."Which one?" He muttered as he attempted to use one of his mist-forms for a good gag but the boy thought it'd be too easy, maybe he'd expect it? Luke wasn't one to use the same trick and thus he shuffled the deck again. "Maybe... I could transport to him?" Luke said with a smile. "Brilliant!" He agreed with himself as he pulled loose from a hostler a note cluttered spell book, soon saying a small enchantment as he appeared behind the unsuspecting other, and with a mad little grin, Luke tilted over the shoulder and asked. "Whatcha doin'?"

[Austin Jennings]

Austin wasn’t one to be easily distracted. He had gotten used to the people who stopped to look at his artwork whether it was charcoal sketches, color pencil drawings or his paintings like the one he was working on right now. He hardly even noticed when a group of people gathered around or started making comments. In moments like that you learned to block out distractions and jsut get in the zone. What he wasn’t used to however, was when someone suddenly appeared beside him and spoke up right next to him where moments before there had been no one at all.

The painter jumped. It was a natural response and his normally steady hand with its carefully held brush was sent skimming across the surface of the canvas leaving a long smudge of grey where none should have been. The painter spun leveling the brush at the person creeping on his personal space and had just enough time to notice it was his Centurion before he gave the boy a nice grey mustache across his upper lip. “L..luke…uh…hey man. You always creep up on people like that while they’re working? It’s a good way to get punched you know…or painted I guess. umm…What’s up?”

[Luke Yūji]

"Punched? Nawh... They usually can't catch me.." He said with with his usual glee as he made his way to the others canvas. "Ooh~ Ya drawin? Or paining? Or... I dunno.. Art isn't something I do well.." Luke made a little white lie as he made a slight square. "Indeed... The line... Such a bold statement, it speaks wonders.. Profound." He noted with a light smile. "And as for what I'm up to? I was on a stroll near the river, hoped it'd lead me down Styx, sadly it didn't and that is how I came into contact with ya." Luke noted as he made his way flipping the canvas a few ways till placing it upside down. "Beautiful." 

[Austin Jennings]

Austin listened as Luke talked. The guy certainly was energetic and Austin was, as a rule, not but that was okay as the boy was generally nice even if the young painter had trouble understanding what he was saying half the time. "Well, the line..." He started after he thought the boy was finished but away Luke went cutting in to tell him about hoping to find the river Styx. Austin supposed it was possible but he really doubted it. If it was really connected to the little Tiber he thought they would have heard about it. In any case it didn't look like the centurion was having any luck.

Austin waited a little longer this time after the boy had finished talking just to make sure there was nothing else and watched as Luke began to turn his canvas this way and that. As always the painter appreciated when people examined his work but he thought Luke would have had an easier job of it if the painting was finished. "Pretty cool huh?" He said after Luke seemed to be done. "The line wasn't really what I was going for but it shouldn't be too hard to fix. I had barely gotten started after all." He walked over beside the boy and corrected the canvas before turning back to him. "Since you're here do you want to chill for a while. As far as I know there's no river Styx around but it is a pretty sweet spot to relax."

[Luke Yūji]

"Hm... Having no river is a bit of a bust... But hey, I don't mind..." Luke puffed up one cheek, his eyes soon fixating on the seeming calm river. "Huh.. This place is actually kinda calm.. I might have to bring my guitar... Or a least something to distract my my ever wondering mind.. Jeez... Dad would kill me if he knew I wasn't doing something productive.. But look at me now~ Just sittin' near what appears to be a quiet stream.. Heheh.. Perfect.." His hand fiddled with one of his ear piercings, as he hummed and soon made his way to the waters front. "Hm... I wonder..." With his smirk he soon slid loose his spell book. "Oh~ Artttttstin~ Check this out!" With a light casting of a spell, within a matter of seconds, the water began to form a massive beast and with it a massive roar. "Whatcha think? I think I'll call'em Flopsy."

[Austin Jennings]

Austin had mostly tuned Luke out as he focused his efforts on fixing the errant line. He didn't mind Luke being here but it was kind of harshing his mellow. Granted Austin was an artist and the best artist could work through distractions so that's precisely what he started doing now as he reached into his supplies for some paint to correct the mistake.

What he didn't expect was for Luke to cast a spell and make a big giant water beast out of the river. Austin might not have even noticed for a while but all of a sudden a roar broke his concentration causing him to drop his palette, his brushes and the paint he was about to squeeze out. It fell to the rock they were standing on with a splat and made a nice paint puddle on the stone. Austin watched with quivering eyebrow at the spilled paint and dropped supplies hardly even noticing the monster. "That's...uh...nice Luke...It's uh...a bit loud though…not very peaceful. Like this place uh…was.”

[Luke Yūji]

Luke's cheek puffed out with a light sigh. "Fiiiiiiinnnnnneeeeee....." He said as he snapped his palms, and almost instantly the beast was no more. "Hm... But what is peace without chaos? Or chaos without peace? That should be the real question." He droned on and on, feeling a bit outta place. "Anyways... Whatcha doodling? Besides that masterpiece of a line? Such a statement." He agreed with, yet again. "Is it the river? A pretty girl? A magical flying rainbow pony?" As the questions poured out of his head, he suddenly stopped. "Oh... Um...I'm bugging you aren't I? Sorry... I guess I should get outta your hair.. Then... huh?"

[Austin Jennings]

With an exasperated groan Luke snapped his palms and almost instantly the surroundings were peaceful again as the water monster fell apart. Luke certainly knew how to get people’s attention, Austin would give him that but that big of a show was a little much for his tastes. Luke did bring up an interesting point though and that got Austin thinking. In the meantime he decided he would answer Luke’s question…or questions as best he could.

“Oh this? I just came out here to paint the scenery and relax. We don’t get a lot of time away from training and when we do I usually like to come to a place that's nice and quiet so I can chill.” Austin smiled at the boy. He didn’t really mind him being here. People were fine in general he just didn’t like big groups. Still, it might be a good idea to put up his paints for now. “Nah, it’s cool man. Were you out taking a walk or something? I don’t usually see people out this far from New Rome and the camp.”