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[Shippou-chan]

How in the world did I get talked into this? Leikki wondered, a colored pencil in his hand as he attempted to draw the picturesque scene of a somewhat busy lake in the gardens. 

The spot was fairly well known to most students, since it was a prime spot for picnics, swims, and various outdoor games.  In short, it was a place to relax any number of ways.  As usual, there were a number of students and even a few members of the faculty there, although it was not nearly as busy as it could get. 

Leikki could clearly see a number of trees and bushes he found aesthetically pleasing and worth drawing.  Drawing people would be a bit tough, though.  Leikki was no artist, really.  And he recalled why he had decided to try this out.  During a regular checkup, the nurse who attended him had noticed Leikki was prone to be a bit tense.  The creamy yellow wolf suggested drawing as a method of relaxing, something she liked to do on occasion.  Leikki was skeptical, of course, but promised to try it.

The results left a lot to be desired, however.  His picture looked like one an 8-year-old might draw.  Nonetheless, it did have a remedial effect, even if the mouse was loathe to admit it.  At least he was being left alone in peace for now, and the afternoon air was refreshing.  The light wind suited him well.

[KJ Fellie]

Xi Li giggled wickedly as she arrived at a trot, completely soaked and looking over her shoulder toward the lake. She shook herself off before reaching the mouse, and seemed to be paying more attention to the crowd at the lake than to the quiet mouse. She made a small circle and lay on the ground, resting her chin on her arms as her tail flicked in amusement, letting the bright light dry her striped fur. The slender Rifier smiled to herself as she watched the people at the lake, and finally seemed satisfied, closing her eyes.

[Shippou-chan]

Leikki was muttering quietly to himself.  "Well, there's the water, the hill, the trees, a couple of bushes.  I suppose I ought to put some people in it.  I don't have any clue how to draw aperson though.."

[Renessa]

((lets see if I've lost my touch...))


"Oh, you don't have to be detailed if you just want some figures.  Scribble in the general shape!" Trinam's voice came loud and clear behind and a little above Leikki.  There was a low slung dogwood tree, imported from Earth, with a nice crook where many big branches split from the main trunk.  The mounty was nestled into the woody seat, a couple of books open on the ground directly below her, and a sketchbook open in her lap as well.

[Shippou-chan]

Leikki looked up startled, letting loose a brief exclamation.  He hadn't expected anyone would be up there.

"Don't do that!" he replied, before considering her comment.  Leikki looked back at his drawing and considered.  He wasn't fond of the idea of stick figures. The outlines of the trees were imprecise enough. Stick figures would cancel out anything good about his drawing entirely.

"M-maybe I could break it into sh-shapes.  I hear that works." Leikki commented partly to himself,and partly to the mounted mounty, before taking a closer look into the distance.

[KJ Fellie]

The resting Rifier twitched her big ears, a contented smile still on her face. She could hear people talking nearby, but it didn't seem to concern her, so for now, she decided to just remain where she was, though curiosity kept her ears perked toward the nearby pair.

[Renessa]

"Yeah!" she encouraged, hopping down from her tree and plopping down next to him. "That's exactly it."  She held up her sketchbook, which was at first a cluttered mess but a little studying could let one discern Leikki himself (his back, as he was hunched over his own drawing), and then a second drawing next to it that focused exclusive on his lower half - specifically his tail.  What followed was an evolution from life drawing to anatomical study of a mouse tail ending in a meticulously copied diagram (that if one glanced back, could be seen on the page of the encyclopedia she had open at the root of the tree).  What looked like a mechanical translation of the tail had been started on the opposite page but was mostly unfinished.

"Here, look, I'll use her." Trinam pointed at the nearby rifier and then started furiously scribbling away.  At first it just looking like a mess but quickly became clear: there was a long, rounded, not quite closed triangle for an ear over top a circle for the main part of the skull which the Mounty erased a bit of as she tacked on the rounded rectangle of a muzzle and the bent cylinder for a neck then scribbled in some hair.  She was done fairly quickly, and the drawing was pretty simple with very few closed shapes and little to no detail, but it was a stunning resemblance to the creature laying in the grass. "And, you know, when they're far away you can get away with just doing hair, shirt, pants, and tail!  You don't even really have to put fingers on their hands or toes on their feet either, just make it like a mitten."

[KJ Fellie]

Xi Li twitched an ear at the word "her," but remained lying still, listening to the sounds of scribbling. She finally looked up at the sound of the word "mitten," twitching her ears and blinking. "What's that?" she asked, slowly rising and padding over, overcome by curiosity. Her fur was mostly dry where it had been exposed to the bright light and warm air, but her belly was a little damp still. The shade of the tree flowing over her stripes made it just a tad more difficult to make out her outline, but the graceful creature drew near enough that this wouldn't be a problem. She sat down in front of the pair and rubbed idly at her left front leg with her right front paw. The rifier smiled innocently and leaned toward the drawings in question, wondering what exactly they had been talking about.

[Shippou-chan]

"Y-you're quite talented."  Leikki admitted, wishing he knew how to use that method of drawing.  "So, keep it s-simple.  OK."

Leikki looked at his drawing, then out at the lake.  A couple of Wolves had taken a seat by the lake, and Leikki chose them to be his subjects.  He started with a couple of unsteady circles that were a bit too large and high up, then had a couple of lines drop from them for the body.

"Hmm.." he replied.  "It isn't quite right somehow."

[Renessa]

"Oh, just sketchin'," Trinam replied to Xi Li cheerfully and pointed to her rendition of the rifier. "I was using you as an example." She glanced back to Leikki as he sounded slightly distressed and leaned in to study the wolf attempts. "Ahh, shoulders and arms are missing.  Need a little neck too." She pointed back to the wolves with her pencil tip and sketched in the air over them. "Upper bodies are more like triangles than rectangles, and heads sit on top of short cylinders for necks.  Everyone has hips wider than their waist, so cut off the tip of the torso triangle and curve it out to make another one.  If it's a guy don't make it that wide, but if it's a girl make it almost as wide as their shoulders."

[KJ Fellie]

Xi Li nodded in response to Trinam, and gave a sharp-toothed smile. "Well, it looks pretty good. Though it does look like you have a good deal of practice," she added, gesturing at the other drawings.

[Shippou-chan]

"Shoulders, arm, neck, and... whoa, hold on a minute.."  Leikki tried to follow Trinam's advice, but it was a bit much to take in.  He gave a grimace, as he felt that he would never grasp everything he needed to.  Nonetheless, he pressed on in his project. 

"Arms..  Let's see."  and from each rectangle body, he drew a pair of not-quite-parallel lines.  The were a bit too wide and long, and Leikki sighed again.

"I suppose it takes time to get it all right." Leikki replied philosophically, trying and mostly succeeding in cheering himself up.