Work Text:
“Paint me.”
Luz blinked at the bard witch's request. ‘She wants me to paint her?’
“You want me to paint you?”
Skara raised her brow and rolled her eyes, “Yeah, what are you deaf?”
Luz scoffed. “I just might be deaf if you keep being a bitch about it.” Luz returned to her current work and practice of blood magic: painting King. He wanted something in his likeness, and Luz wanted it to be beautiful because he was beautiful.
“Wait-” Luz turned around to see Skara take a calming breath, “-I'm sorry, hu-” a clearing of her throat, “-Luz.”
Luz was taken aback. Not really by the apology, Skara was the weakest willed of Boscha's trio.
“So…” Luz rocked back and forth on her feet as she glanced around the night market. It was a good haul the past few trash slugs, so with enough rare commodities Eda decided it'd be a good idea to try to sell some of her actually functional human junk at the night market for once.
“What?”
Luz shrugged, “I don't know, just figured you'd hang out with your posse. What was it, Boscha Grant and Amity Blight?”
“Amelia and Cat as well,” Skara mumbled.
Luz rolled her eyes, “Whatever. Why do you want me to paint you for, anyways?”
Skara hesitated. “You should be honored to even have the offer.”
Luz glanced around the area, but eventually sighed seeing that there were no customers around to distract her nor was her mentor around to help her. If only she could body swap King into her again. Maybe have him draw Skara? Then she could send her on her way and wouldn't be bothered much? Nah, Eda wouldn't- wait what was she talking about, Eda would body swap at the drop of a hat! That settled it, Liz only had to stall until-
“C'mon, kid, get to paintin’ her,” Eda popped out of the tent of wares, causing both girls to jump.
“Damn, Eda!” Luz clutched at her chest, “Almost gave me a heart attack!”
Eda raised a skeptical brow. “Aren't you immune to that with your-” she wagged a vague finger at Luz, “-blood magic?” Luz opened her mouth to retort but Eda continued, “Besides, she looks rich, and we can get good money for art. So hop to it!”
The Owl Lady disappeared into the tent again. Luz grumbled as she set down King's painting to finish later. “Alright, you'll pay after I finish the painting. You don't pay and I'll boil your blood, understand?”
“Pfft, you can't do that!” Skara scoffed. “...right?”
“Do you wanna test that theory? Maybe you wanna pay me in advance?”
Skara shook her head, “No, I'll happily pay what you deem worthwhile at the end, you clearly need the money with those clothes.”
Luz scowled before moving to pull out a spare blank canvas. She gestured at the bard, “Alright, pose. Make it comfortable, you may be here for a while.”
“Okay.” Skara drew a spell circle that moved a stool over to the counter. She took her seat and planted her elbows onto the surface with a palm supporting her head. “There.”
Luz simply nodded. She brought up her red stained bowl. It was due for a refill anyways. Luz pulled out her pocket knife and made a cut in her left wrist above the bowl.
“Shit!”
Luz glanced over to where Skara had shot from her seat. “What?”
“Why did you do that?” Skara looked… distraught. Why’d she care?
“What? Did you think I was gonna waste paint on you? That stuff is expensive. Besides,” Luz willed the bleeding to cease, “it’s good practice for me.” She dipped her brush into the bowl before focusing on the canvas, “Get back to posing.”
“But your wrist!” Skara reached for her purse, “We need to get it healed-”
Luz rolled her eyes, “It already is, now can we get this over with? I still have a piece I need to finish for King.”
Skara nodded, deciding that fighting this was a lost cause and got back into her pose. “So, who's King?”
“Why-” Luz shook her head. “He's… a demon, about eight.”
“Sounds cute.”
Luz smiled genuinely, “Very.”
Silence, for a time. Lines placed upon the page, and if they were incorrect the blood magic wielder could fix it. After a bit it had quite a bit of progress. As long as Skara didn't talk-
“So, can we talk about what happened last week?”
Luz quirked up an eyebrow. “...what do you mean?”
Skara's expression became troubled. The hand that wasn't holding her head laid against the table drumming a beat with her fingers. “Just, the way you acted that day was… odd.”
“I'm a human, what do you expect?” Luz sighed bitterly.
Skara shook her head, “No, no, I didn't mean it to be a bad thing! It was just different seeing you being vulnerable.” She chuckled, “It was almost like it was a different person.”
Luz stayed silent for a time as she painted slowly. “Well, I say a lot of things. They aren't always true.”
“So you don't miss your home or the prospect of finding your true family?” Skara tilted her head slightly.
‘Damn, King, what the hell is going on with you, buddy…’ Luz shrugged in an attempt to play it off, “Yeah, I miss my home and my mom, and my dad. Normal stuff.”
“I won't gossip about it, I promise.” Skara drew a mint green spell circle and put her hand through it, “Here, let's oath on it.”
“‘Oath’?” Luz paused her painting.
Skara nodded. “Yep!” When nothing happened she smacked her forehead, “Oh, duh, you probably don't know what that is! It's an everlasting oath. A spell that binds two individuals to a deal and forces them to follow through.” She held her hand through the circle and waited for Luz to do the same.
“I'm not doing that.” Luz returned to painting.
Skara looked a little hurt. “Please? It'll just be a simple thing to keep me from spilling anything, that's all this spell will do.”
Luz rolled her eyes, “Why do you care? I'm sure you'd find a way around it if you really tried. Besides, if you need a spell to torture you or whatever to just stay silent on something then why bother? Hell, why tell you anything at all?” She paused her painting again and looked the bard in the eyes, “Maybe I should tell you to piss off before I divulge more secrets.”
Now Skara looked hurt. She recoiled like she'd just been stabbed by a close friend. “I… I'm sorry, I didn't…” Skara tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “I'm sorry, I know I've been a jerk, and so have my friends. It's just after what you said a few days ago I've wanted to be better.”
What the hell did that mean? Luz hadn't spoken to her, so that left King while he body swapped with her. He said something to her, but what? What could he have said to make her have a change of heart like this?
“Rrrriiiiiiiggghht, well, that…” Luz scratched the nape of her neck, “Sorry, old habit, I guess.” She returned to the painting.
“What do you mean?” Skara reassured her pose, thankfully, with an intrigued expression. Luz frowned, though, so the bard backpedaled. “Actually, I'm a bit more curious about how you paint.”
Luz quirked up an eyebrow, “Why? Isn't your passion music?”
“Bards are commonly musicians, yes, but that isn't all they are. I want to be a real Jane of all trades with my bardism!” As Skara began to rant about the issues with the current society witchdom lived under, Luz realized that she had been too quick to judge this girl.
She was smart. Really smart. Luz did band for a little bit during high school, but not much came of it. Due to her clumsiness, her trumpet was unsalvageable and her mom couldn't make the payments to rent a school one (not like they'd trust her with one anyways).
Despite what her “friends” said, she had style, too. Her clothes were spiffy tonight. She had a white off the shoulder blouse with a brown leather half corset featuring red and gold string. She had sleek black leggings and nice boots, as well. Her cloud-like hair tumbled down her shoulder in a marvelous braid.
She was passionate. She was eager to learn more about the fine arts. Music was her favourite, but she wanted to learn more about painting, carving, writing stories, and even cooking. Luz found herself jumping in here and there during their conversation to add some nuggets of the wisdom she had gained over the years of adhd dabbling with many interests.
“Is there anything that you would like to learn someday?” Skara redirected the conversation to learn about Luz again, “Maybe dreams and stuff?”
Luz felt doubt seeping in. Bad habit, sure, but that didn't mean being cautious was a bad thing. She had been bullied enough in her life and didn't need the Boiling Isles ruined for her, too.
So, she gave a neutral shrug. “I don't know, never thought about it. Always thought I'd go into either being a writer or being a cashier at McDonald's.”
Skara nodded sagely, “Yeah, I get that. Bard Coven's packed with new initiates right now. Hard for many of us to find decent jobs. Most people want to embrace their creativity and individuality, though I'm sure you know that.”
Luz nodded. Of course she did. “Home has the same problem. Lots of artists have to rely on doing private commissions of art of favourite characters or pornography.”
“Well I hope you aren't on the same boat,” Skara said worriedly.
The human shrugged, “Eh, I've done a few not safe for work pieces before, mostly for some of the lonely kids at school. It isn't all bad, it at least got me some okay cash.”
Skara tilted her head, “I figured that with all of the human junk the Owl Lady sells humans would be rich.”
Luz scoffed bitterly, “Yeah, a few are. That's the problem. Some of the richest people have most of the wealth in the world and they hoard it.” She shook her head, “But enough ranting about the human realm. Got anything else you wanna talk about?”
Skara thought it over a minute. “How about… your magic?”
The human paused. “My… magic?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, “your blood stuff. It's magic isn't it?”
Luz gave a shrug, “I don't really know. I've never heard it referred to as ‘magic, just sorcery and a couple of times necromancy.”
“Well I think it's magical,” Skara stated matter-of-factly.
Luz blinked. It was touching, to say the least. She gave a genuine smile, surprised at how effortless it came, “Thank you, Skara.”
Skara nodded, “Yeah, no problem. Now tell me more about your magic! Like, why do you need your blood to paint?”
“Oh, it's nothing too fantastic. I just do it to have a unique style and I can erase the mistakes before it dries.” Luz leaned forward and stroked her brush on Skara's top. Skara almost chewed Luz out, at least until the trail of blood coalesced into a single drop and flew back to the brush. “See? Nothing special.”
Oh, but how Skara's eyes sparkled . “...woah…” she exhaled barely audibly. “That’s… awesome.”
Luz snorted, “What, are words failing you? Not a good look for you, bard.”
Skara rolled her eyes, “Well, hard to help it when you see something that amazing, you know. Why don't you show off more? You could gain a ton of respect! Heck, maybe even gain influence and support from some powerful people like Amity's mom.”
Luz frowned, “And do what, work for someone that may be as bad as Amity Blight? Doing shady things for several times what I'm making now?” She shivered, “I know what experts that sell out get. I don't want to be a sell out. I want to help people.”
Skara smiled, “You can still be famous by helping people. You know, I could get you into contact with some-”
Luz waved off the suggestion, “No. I don't want to be famous. I don't even really have anything to be famous for yet, just some party tricks.”
She pulled the brush back and glanced between Skara and the artistic representation of the witch before smiling and handing over the canvas, “Here ya go, that'll be… twenty snails.”
Skara did a double take upon receiving the portrait of her leaning against a counter, “TWENTY SNAILS!? That's way too low, this is worthy of two hundred if at the bare minimum!”
“Eh, I'd rather not try to drain your wallet, I have other ways of making money, anyways.”
“No, no,” Skara dug in her pouch, procuring the necessary coins, “Take five hundred, that's far more fair.”
“I'll just leave the three hundred on the counter,” Luz argued with crossed arms.
Skara pouted as she stuffed a few coins into her purse before slamming two hundred snails onto the counter. Luz moved to collect them, but paused when Skara didn't move her hand. “Fine, I won't pay you five hundred. Instead, I'll pay you back another way. Do you know the Covention?”
Luz nodded dumbly. Willow had mentioned wanting to go see it with her and Gus to try to gain admission to their respective covens.
“Good, because I'm gonna help you find your future coven at it to pay you back.”
Luz began, “You don't have-”
“Up, up, up!” Skara silenced, “I won't be dissuaded from this, Luz the human. I will see you there on Friday, got it?”
“Can some of my friends tag along?” Luz asked, “I won't come without them.”
Skara smiled brightly, “Of course! Just make sure they get there on time. Eight in the morning should give us plenty of time to look and figure you out before the Emperor’s Coven showcase!”
“Sure, sounds good,” Luz shrugged. Skara seemed adamant about paying more for the painting, so this was a fair trade to keep her from paying so much.
“Great! Can't wait to see you there!” Skara winked before she carefully took the painting with her and disappeared into the night.
Luz watched her leave. That was… interesting. Good interesting, though. Really good. As she pocketed the coins she realized she was smiling.
It was nice to be able to make friends, finally.
~~~
Skara slid down her bedroom door with the painting in hand.
It was gorgeous. It was better than any professional painter had done before. It felt like the true vision of how Luz saw her while other painters had done a copy of who she was. A mirror.
But Luz did what she expected her to: surprise her. Her heart raced at the thoughts of the girl. Shit.
She had crushes on boys before. They were all meh, but that allowed her to identify her feelings. What she had with Luz? What she just realized she had on the walk back as she cringed at the wink she gave the girl? It wasn't a crush, is was a pulverization and digging a grave in one smooth move. The smooth move may have been the small genuine smile that was burned into the insides of her eyelids.
She groaned, “Dammit…” Her fingers caressed the canvas and the dried blood. She hoped that her teacher was right about art being what the artist saw in the world, because if it wasn't then she was sure Friday would be awkward.
‘Oh Titan, please don't have her reject me.’