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Nyxis gaped as Denara whipped up her brush, finishing a painting in a matter of minutes.
To pass the time, Denara had suggested that they do a portrait battle. It would be rude to refuse. Especially when he was set on making up for his behavior to the girl.
He wasn't a novice to painting but he wasn't good, either. At least, from what his mind was able to remember, he wasn'. Didn't he use to have tutors for this? What was the master's name? Master Avorne?
Before starting, Denara had led him to a cave connected to the kitchen and started with gathering the materials. From there, Nyxis had marveled at the diversity present in this cave system and at Denara's ingenuity, too. Who knew bupwings could produce various hues of paint-like substance from their bodies? He should take note of this and probably start an art shop. Someday.
Once they got the pigments right through mixing bupwing extracts together or diluting it with ocean water, the painting session ensued. Nyxis had gotten close to finishing a backdrop of blue and white when Denara gave a loud whoop and turned her canvas to him.
It was of his face. "That is not fair," Nyxis frowned as he waved a hand towards Denara's painting. "You already did my face at the mural."
"I did that four hundred years ago," Denara pouted as she sat back down and propped her canvas back on the makeshift easel. "I do not have everything memorized."
"But you—"
"Look," Denara stood back up and shoved the drying painting to his face. "You and Ceris do not really have the same features so I have to adjust a few things. For instance, his eyes were...not green. Plus, he has no, um...scar."
Nyxis pursed his lips at the reminder. Yes, he had a scar. He's still trying to come to terms with that. He sighed and pushed it all at the back of his head. He couldn't lose it again. Not when Denara was with him. "But it is still unfair," he concluded once he found his voice. "Paint something different. This one is null."
Denara crossed her arms and harrumphed but she picked up her brush again as she stalked back to her seat. As Nyxis drove his brush in quick strokes, he found himself asking, "How long have you been here?"
She didn't answer. Okay, that's a question ignored. After a few minutes of silence, her voice rang from behind the new canvas, "I witnessed how the barriers came to be."
Nyxis paused. "Seriously?" He looked over his easel to find Denara doing the same. "How have you managed to stay alive?"
"Because I was cursed to do so," Denara went back to her painting.
Nyxis went back to his, now cross-hatching some vague shade of brown with black. "Cursed?"
"Yes," Controlled annoyance colored her voice but she forged ahead. "I am what you call a fallen race."
Nyxis raised his eyebrows even when he knew she wouldn't see it. "Like Humans?" He dipped his brush back into a bowl of water to wash off some of the colors. "Humans do not live that long, though."
