Killing Game Quarter

Chapter 6: The Sleepless and The Broken Part 5

Who did I want to spend time with next?

. . .

After another quick round of thinking, my thoughts eventually landed on Urkstin, who must have been busy still painting his masterpiece. I picked myself up, grabbed another cup of coffee, and headed out of the cafeteria, heading for the art room.

Once I made it there, I opened the door and saw Urkstin, still furiously painting on his canvas. I made sure to carefully maneuver around him to try and start up a conversation.

“How’s the painting going?” I asked, taking a precautionary sip of my coffee.

“Pretty good! I’ve got the rough shape done!” Urkstin replied, stopping his rapid fire painting to show off his work to me, “Tada!”

The image on the canvas was clear to me. It was a stylized look at a metal bike, twisted and contorted to look much more appealing. The colors around the art was no laughing matter either, vibrant blended colors wrapping around the bike, giving it a more prominent and dominant feeling on the board.

“Is that C.B.T.?” I asked, smiling at the genuine quality behind it so far.

“Yep! I started thinking about them and wanted to make sure that I have a visual next time I show them off!” Urkstin answered, putting his hands on his hips and smiling proudly, “You like it?”

“It’s actually really good, yeah.” I responded, “You need any help with materials or anything?”

“Oh, actually yes! Could you get me some paint and tools?” Urkstin asked, and with a nod from me, he smiled gleefully again, “Thank you thank you!”

“What do you need specifically?” I inquired, getting myself ready to learn the layout of this room.

“Wellll, I need purple, orange, and light blue paint for C.B.T., then I need one of those plastic scraper thingies that Bob Ross uses. That’s all for now.” He explained, trying to visualize the ‘plastic scraper thingy’. I started collecting paints, and took the time to think of a question to ask Urkstin.

“So, was your family supportive for your talent choice?” I threw out, while prying open a bucket of purple paint.

“Oh yeah, my dad was super into it, and my mom was just worried about my safety!” He explained, taking multiple angled looks at his piece to think of what to do next, “My brother was also really supportive! He’s the one that bought me this little hat.”

“You’ve got a brother?” I continued, pouring a small amount of purple onto a plate.

“Yep yep! His name’s Blanchurt, but everyone just calls him Blanch.” He replied, causing me to stop what I was doing and look at him.

“Are you serious?” I asked, with a straight face.

“You’re talking to Urkstin Cawkheys Aka, my parents like different names.”

“That’s...a good point.” I admitted, before looking for orange paint.

“Anyways, Blanch was a professional painter, which is how I picked up the hobby,” Urkstin explained, taking a small bit of purple from the plate and painting the rim of C.B.T., “He didn’t have it as a talent, but he was still really good at it!”

“Well I’m glad your family was supportive, and I’m even more glad that you’re pursuing things you like.” I warmly spoke, opening a can of orange and pouring it onto the plate.

“Me too!” Urkstin replied, finishing the rim paint on the bike, before turning to me, “What about you?”

“Oh, well, my parents let me do whatever I wanted after they finished teaching me from home, and according to my motive video, I’m the ultimate literary prodigy,” I re-explained, “So I assume that I picked up literature sometime before I applied for my talent.”

“Well, do you like literature?” Urkstin asked, dabbing up some orange on a smaller paintbrush.

“Well, duh. Of course I do, it’s kind of in the title.” I answered, before Urksitn stopped and turned to me again.

“But what about before you knew your talent Aka? Did you like literature then?”

“I-” I stuttered, tripping over my own words as the realization hit me, “...Not really.”

“Well, then you must’ve picked it up in the times that you can’t remember!” Urkstin explained, getting back to painting.

“Right.” I responded, opening up a light blue bucket.

“How was your life like being homeschooled by the way? It sounds weird.” Urkstin added in, swiftly changing the topic.

“Oh, well it wasn’t much different from regular school I assume. My parents taught me every major subject I needed to learn, and taught me any electives that I felt like learning at the time if we had time.” I explained, thinking back briefly to the good times, before jumping to reality as I realized that I had poured way too much light blue.

“What kind of electives?” He continued, trying to keep the conversation as normal as possible.

“Well, it was mostly things like music and random stuff that they suggested. Although I do fondly remember taking art.” I reminisced, before I heard Urkstin rush over to me with an empty canvas in his hands.

“What kinda art are you good at?” He asked, politefully, but brimming with excitement.

“Well, I only ever learned basic drawing skills.” I explained, before Urkstin lightly shoved the canvas into my hands.

“You wanna draw something for me? I’d love to see what kind of style you have!” He spoke, bouncing in place and smiling.

“Oh, uh sure! It might be a bit bad though, since it’s been a while…” I tried to give myself a crutch for why my art was going to end up looking miles behind Urkstin’s, but Urkstin just gave me a warm smile in response.

“I won’t judge! I bet it’ll look amazing!”

With that, Urkstin went back to his painting, with his new colors. He seemed to completely forget about the plastic scraper thingy, as he was too focused on seeing what I could do with art. I sat down on one of the stools, and started to draw. My singular artistic idea was to draw Urkstin, and thankfully he had been standing mostly still enough for me to take his entire pose and figure down.

For the rest of the afternoon, Urkstin and I both worked on our art pieces, while bouncing random questions about each other’s family and past off of each other, getting a better understanding of each other’s family, their personalities, and their morals. 

It was a fun, mostly relaxing time that we had spent together, and was tail ended with Urkstin laughing politely at my drawing of him, making fun of how he looked, but complimenting the actual art itself.