Chapter 63, Switcheroo

Chapter 63, Switcheroo

For a moment, he merely stared at it, the reality of the situation slipping between his paint-stained fingers. It was beautiful, and it was them, and somehow, it didnt feel as if he himself had painted it.

Sam seemed to possess the coy beauty of one of the creatures speckling the inside of Georges room, her magical beauty no longer fleeting, but eternal and dazzling on the canvas. Her eyes possessed life and intelligence that shone as radiant as any star, and somehow she was more herself than her real version could ever hope to be.

Her brother was the very same, his expressions brought into this other world with a careful hand, and he sat there, his every limb pulsating with the essence of himself. Although his eyes and body were tired by the strains of life, there remained life in him, beating through his heart and body like his lifeblood. Simply looking at him, at every aspect of his body language and face granted the viewer a striking sense of who he was and, even more so, what they should think about him.

The painting made the viewer love the two subjects. In the very same way that a brother would love his siblings.

Something in the way Kreig had let his arm fall limply to his side, something in how he suddenly held his gaze steady and wide on the canvas, must have told his siblings that it was done. He had created it. At no later hour than 3 at night, too.

Enraptured by what he couldnt believe he himself had created, he was only brought out of his stupor when he suddenly noticed that the couch was empty.

-Whoa! Is that really how I look? Sam said from his left side. Youre sure you painted me warts-and-all?

George, peeking out from Kreigs right side, let his gaze hop from the Sam on the painting and the Sam in real life. His nose crumbled up. Id say its about the same.

Her tanned face grew a shade deeper. Im not sure how to feel about that.

During the duration of a short moment, Kreig wondered if he should feel insulted at the insinuation that he would be dishonest in his depiction of them, but that moment passed with the recognition that his siblings surely meant him no harm. While these thoughts flitted through his mind unbidden, George leaned in closer to the painting, willingly letting the noxious smell assault his nostrils up close. Kreig had purposefully used as little of the chemical solution as he possibly could since the smell was absolutely abhorrent, but George didnt seem to mind it as much.

...Its really good. George glanced back up at Kreig, meeting his gaze. How would you feel about displaying one of your paintings? He must have noticed the faint shudder that trembled through Kreigs left hand, since he quickly capitulated. Not of the ones of your friends or us, but if you ever just paint like a celebrity or something, or maybe just a stilleben, it would clearly be worthy of exhibition.

Exhibition.

Kreig had seen many paintings exhibited freely in his days. You couldnt wander down the halls of the Emperors palace without subjecting yourself to the innumerable glares of the hundreds of portraits dotting the halls like fixtures of the past. Nobody in the royal guard knew exactly who the people portrayed were, but many rumours suggested it was the paintings of criminals right before execution, or of the Emperors lovers, or the members of a family line spanning a millennia. Kreig hadnt much cared one way or another; he didnt like looking into their soulless, staring eyes in the least, meaning his gaze was more than often drawn to the small collections of non-portrait paintings.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

And, as he always did when he had no idea what was going on, he defaulted to the one thing that usually worked in these situations: obey the orders given without question.

Fingers trembling, pausing only to brush over the painting and applying the drying skill to it, he placed the brush in a small vat of murky water before plodding over and taking a seat on the couch. There he sat rigid as a stone statue while his siblings gingerly moved the painting hed done of him to the side and then grabbed a new, blank canvas. They placed it on the stand, sharing speaking looks that chatted in a language Kreig didnt speak. Somehow, the two of them seemed to have a telepathic link, borne of shared mania. It scared Kreig just a little.

Georges face peeked out from the side of the canvas. Take a cool pose.

Oh. Oh lord.

Sam grumbled about the stand being too high up before also peeking her head around, her eyes hard and stern. Yeah. Take a cool pose!

Even if Kreig knew what a cool pose looked like, he wouldnt have been able to take it, what with how his limbs were all paralyzed in confusion. And now both Sam and George were looking at him in the same way. Like two hounds gazing at a piece of meat.

Come on, just lie down on your side across the couch. Like-, like one of our French girls, George said waving his hand as if to show how it would be.

Spurred by (somewhat) clear orders, Kreig laid down on his back to the couch, arms folded across his broad chest.

Sam shook her head. No, no, like, on your side, facing us.

Kreig twisted his body to face them, his long legs straight and hard.

A smile began skidding over Sams features. Yeah, yeah, and now put your arm under your head, like, hand on your cheek. Kreig tried to do what she said, watching unhappily as her smile grew into a grin. And now your left leg folded a little. Heh. Kreig couldnt tell why, but as he moved his body like a puppet to her words, he felt like a consort in the grasp of a nobleman. Despite that, he had to admit, the pose wasnt completely uncomfortable. Apart from the fact that a fair portion of his legs was dangling over the edge of the couch, marking the whole thing as just a bit too short for him to lie on comfortably.

Happy with his pose, Sam gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up before ducking back behind the canvas, George following suit. Kreig couldnt say he was overly hyped about being behind the canvas again, but since it was his siblings doing it, he had no qualms.

Their portrait took less than an hour to fully create, but it contained just as much effort as what Kreig had made for them.