Sylvia's Valentine's Day Card

[Ever 2648]

It was, by all accounts, an average day in Solace. It was still rather early in the morning; the sun had just made its presence known as Sylvia awoke. As usual, her mother, Annabelle, was no more than a hair’s width away. Generally, Sylvia would cheerfully greet her momma and sit patiently by her side, but this morning she felt something different, something odd. It was as if an outside source was influencing her thoughts and actions. She ran a hand through her chestnut locks, rose, straightened her cloak, and then laid her head against her mother’s side. After a few seconds she tugged gently on Annabelle’s sleeve. Sylvia stared into her mother’s eyes for a long while then tilted her head playfully. “Momma, can I go look around the town a bit?” Sylvia inwardly pondered exactly why she had requested such permission, but the thought soon drifted away.

At the first nod approval, Sylvia was off, rushing away as fast as her petite legs could carry her. Again, she wondered exactly why she was leaving her mother’s side to explore Solace. Her legs seemed to betray her; she could neither slow nor impede their progress, regardless of how hard she tried. So, surrendering herself fully to the mercy of the compelling force, she trudged on. At last her journey around the town came to an end, right in front of a peddler trying to hawk stacks and stacks of parchment. Sylvia stared at the parchment for a long while, much to the dismay of the merchant who was a little annoyed by the wandering child. Finally she smiled and nodded. She dug around her robe and withdrew a shiny, moderately sized coin and held it up towards the merchant whose demeanor had immediately changed. “You…want to buy some parchment? I dunno what ya plan to do with it kid, but it ain’t any of my business.” The merchant shrugged then traded the coin in Sylvia’s dainty palm for a scrap of parchment. “Pleasure,” he said between grinning teeth as Sylvia skipped off, back towards her mother.

The whole event was beyond her understanding at this point. She liked to draw, yes, but she didn’t want to draw at that exact moment…or did she? Sylvia was lost in a cloud of thoughts, merely allowing events to unfold at that point. She gently laid out the scrap of parchment behind her mother then skipped off again, this time towards a merchant hawking a large harvest of flowers. Sylvia spent a long while inspecting the different flowers, again, to the dismay of the merchant. “Missy, I know the flowers are very pretty, and that they smell wondrous, but I can’t have you holding up potential customers.” The merchant’s voice trailed off then ended in a nod when Sylvia held up three moderately sized coins. “Well, go on then, take as many as you can hold.” The florist pocketed the coins then turned to greet another customer. Sylvia carefully gathered a bushel of roses, trying her best to avoid pricking her fingers on the thorns, then collected a lot of dandelions. Again she raced back to her mother, greeting her with a warm smile, and then dropped the flowers on the parchment, shooting off into the crowds once more.

Sylvia made many more trips round Solace, visiting each vendor at least once. In the end, her collection had grown to: 7 roses, 9 dandelions, 12 small sticks with pointed ends, a vial of ink, a bowl of crushed lapis lazuli dust and a bowl of crushed cactus green, a handful of cocoa beans, a bag of ground up bone dust, a set of eight wooden bowls, a mortar and pestle, and a quill. She also had managed to cut off a strand of her chestnut hair, which she laid neatly on the parchment, along with all the other supplies. She was happy; she wasn’t sure why, but she was. She grinned widely at the collection then set to work, first rushing off to fill one of the empty bowls with water. With the pestle and mortar she crushed the dandelions and roses in separate bowls then added a slight amount of water to create a yellow dye and red dye. Her expression was akin to one who was confused by a perplexing problem; her hands moved expertly through each task yet she wasn’t sure why or how, or even what she was doing.

Sylvia wrapped a bit of hair around each end of the sharpened sticks, creating makeshift paintbrushes. She shot a glance up towards her mother then smiled warmly as she prepared the parchment. She poured half of the red dye mixture into a fresh bowl then added a bit of white. With the newly formed pink dye she coated the strip of parchment, smoothing it out with her hands. She made sure that the entire parchment scrap had been dyed perfectly before moving on to the next step.

Using the quill and ink, Sylvia sketched the rough outlines of a myriad of figures onto the red paper. She made sure that each of them was equally spaced throughout the paper then divided them by thin lines. Sylvia picked up a brush, eyed it cautiously then traded it for a thinner one. She dipped it lightly into the squid ink then allowed her hands to work, guided by unknown and unseen instructions. Each outline began to take shape; Very soon bodies and clothes appeared. In a fresh bowl she mixed a dash of bone meal and a droplet of ink, trying best to come close to the pigment of her mother’s ashen skin. Expertly she painted her mother’s likeness, from the black-with-gold-trim robe, to her emerald eyes. She admired the painting only for a moment before her hands resumed control, moving onto a new shape.

Keya was next, then Ambrose. She was less pleased with these but still happy. Then Sylvia painted Guraim and Will, along with Gwonam and Lorethos. As she finished the last detail on Lorethos’ portion, her hands fell limp to her side. No longer were they guided by a near-forgotten command. Slowly, she curled and uncurled each of the digits then returned her attention to the strip of parchment in front of her. With her thoughts cleared, she found herself unable to remember exactly how or why she had painted such a thing. She liked it, yes, but it puzzled her. Unsure of what to do next, she took up the quill and sprawled a heartwarming note under each of the figures on the roll. Slowly she stood and stretched then carefully, and proudly, raised the parchment above her head, her smile beaming at her mother.

[Swgrclan 2682]

((No card for THRAL? BBWWWRRRRAAAARRGGGG))

((Edit: Good post. <3))

[Ever 2648]

(( I would've, but it would've been the wrong skin <3 ))

[Secret Lizard President 313]

(( Forever alone ))

[Ever 2648]

(( Forever alone ))

((I totally thought about having my two Mori fwends on there, but I figured it best to keep that whole adventure mentally repressed n_n ))

[kurk brak 70]

(( "I liked you when you watched me fish"?! WHAT THE FUDGEDOODLES (watch the language around children, ya'know) IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? WHAT'S WITH THE PAST TENSE? I 'LIKED' YOU WHEN YOU WATCHED ME FISH? OH, I SEE, SO APPARENTLY YOU HATE ME WHEN I'M NOT WATCHIN' YA FISH, HUH. HUH. THAT'S JUST GRREEAEAAAT!

This will conclude today's Willrage.))

[xmrsmoothx 317]

(( I D'AWWWWWWWWWWED

[Lawrence Berell 226]

((What? Nothing for your daddy?))

[Gwonam_Blaze 385]

(( "Your hair is pretty" .w. You think there's something funneh about mah hair?!!? ... I keed is vereh nice Sylvie o3o ))

[Sand Viper 10]

*single manly tear*

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.