Charcoal Castle

[kelly]

The castle was large and looming, covered in shadows from the moonless night. People walked along it's barracks, clad in black armor with red topped spears and arrows. Starlight glinted off the black glass windows, shining into her blue eyes.
Drool dribbled down the side of her mouth as she raced to the castle on all fours. She scaled the black walls, eyes set on the guard straight above her.
Her clawed hands gripped at the black bricks, elongated fingernails digging into any cracks she could find.
She snorted as her hand slipped from her grip, small rocks tumbling to the ground below. She swung her hand up, finding a new grip she continued her rapid climb up wards.
"What the? H-!", the guards scream was cut off as she jumped over the barracks and landed on his shoulder's, knocking him out with a swift blow to the head. She continued along the barracks, silently knocking the guards out without any of the others noticing in the dark night.
She crept up behind the last guard, a red-topped spear in her hands. She snapped it down on his head, knocking him out and snapping a cut in his head.
He fell with an,"Umph". She leaned down to lick away the sweet blood...

Kelly snapped her brown eyes open and jumped out of her bed. She rushed to each of her windows, whipping up the blinds. She squinted at the bright midday sunlight and grabbed her sunnies off her dresser and put them on.
She quickly brushed her hair and got dressed, then pulled out her charcoals and a large piece of paper.
She sat down at her desk, yanking off the lid of her charcoals box and picking out the black one.
She set it down on the piece of paper. Her hand set across the paper as she looked straight ahead at the wall with her eyes closed, trying to remember every little detail about the castle.
She started with the bass, a tall, rocky cliff covered with black ferns. A lone silver wolf had been sitting on one of the outlooks. Next was the castle it's self. Three floors topped with barracks and a tower in the left corner. 18 windows and one door from this angle.
She drew in the bricks then started on the guards. their 11 in all, but only 5 could be seen from this angle. 4 spears and 1 with an arrow.
She placed her black charcoal away and pulled out her silver and white. She started on her shading, working from top to bottom, then pulled out her red and colored in the spears and arrows.
She placed away her charcoals and looked down at the finished work.
She smiled and picked it up, sticking it on her wall. She sat back in her chair, then frowned when her stomach grumbled.
She stood up and left her room to find something to eat.

[demetridelacur]

Demetri sat in her large, spacious room on her queen size, canopy bed. “What to draw, what t draw?” She tapped her pencil on her sketch book. She sighed in boredom and in tire of not having any ideas.

She closed her eyes trying to think of something beautiful and unique. She thought about Night, her beloved cousin, her beloved bird-kid cousin. “Night…” She thought about Night’s father’s home. A large Japanese traditional Kyoto home; the type with the wooden mado (window), doa (door), furoa (floor), kabe (wall), and the tosei no kawara yane (ceramic roof tiled roof). The type of house with the traditional genkan (entrance hall), getabako (shoe cabinet), roka (hallway), tatami (tatami matted floor), the whole traditional Japanese house.

She thought about how Night would look dressed in a kimono just sitting on the porch of such a beautiful home, just sitting sipping green tea in the afternoon. As she was thinking, Demetri’s hand just started to sketch the image in her head.

After about an hour of thinking and subconsciously sketching; a little while later she stopped and looked at the well drawn in full detail drawing that could definitely hold a candle to the image she pictured.

Demetri erased all the smudges and smears. She set her sketch down and walked over to her chest of drawers and picked out her oil paints. She never liked black and white pictures, always had to have color even with Night’s hair being black and white she was always surrounded by color.

[Frost-Thane102]

Kelly grabbed a sandwich out of the lounge room fridge and sat down, grabbing the newspaper.
"Let's see", she scanned the newspaper,"Boring, boring, boring, bor-hey, what's this?".
He finger had paused on an advertisement for an art contest:

New York Daily's Annual Art Contest
This year the News York Daily's Annual Art Contest's theme is "Self Portrait". This contest is open to people between the age of 16-22 and the prize is a free 1 month holiday France!
The contest closes on 16th February.

Kelly smiled and finished her sandwich.
She stood up and went back to her room, pulling out her lead pencils and another piece of paper,"Let's begin".

[demetridelacur]

"Demetri, are you coming down for dinner?" Maria Delacur, Demetri's mother, called up the stairs.

"In a minute!" Demetri yelled down in reply.

A few minutes later, Demetri heard a knock on her door so she paused from working on the oil painting of Night. "Deme! Are you coming?" Rosie asked loudly.

"Not now! I'm almost done, geez just gimme minute." She yelled through her door at her younger follow-me-like-a-love-sick-puppy-dog-eraser-puppy.

[kelly]

Kelly looked at the fully coloured portrait. She had drawn herself in eraser, a large raccoon anthro with blue eyes and coon tails framing her face.
A little inside joke. The judges would think it was interesting and a great way to represent herself. they had no idea she actually looked like that.
She rolled up the picture, stuffed it in a tube and stuck on the address and stamp.
She put it down the mail slot in the lounge and flopped down on the couch. It was midday. She'd been up for an hour and she was already bored,"Hmm, wonder where everyone is...".

[demetridelacur]

Demetri sighed in relief when she finished her picture. "Ok, i'm coming." she headed down stais into th dining room.

"Deme what were you working on?"

"A protrait in oil paints"

"Whose portrait Deme?"

"That is none of your business!"

[kelly]

Time Skip...

Kelly pulled the envelope out of her rented mail box and started back to the lab. She huddled in her coat and tore open the letter, a smile playing on her lips.
"Hmm, let's see: Congratulations! You have won NYD's Portraiture Art Contest! Your portrait showed-yadda yadda yadda-oh, here we are. You have won one two way flight to France for a month. The plane leaves on the 28th of February. Please show this to the person at the register to get your tickets".
She rolled her head back in thought, then pulled out her phone. She was leaving tomorrow,"Should probably get packed.

[demetridelacur]

"Mom, are you seriously going to host someone from the US for winning that art contest for a month?"

"Demetri, yes, it is the same every year! so please don't start a fig when the winner gets her!"

[kelly]

Kelly stepped out into the bright sunlight, blinking rapidly. She didn't expect it to be so early in France when she got there.
She stifled and yawn and walked over to where the taxis were. Someone was holding up a sign saying "Art Contest Winner". She walked over to them and showed them her letter.
She climbed into the taxi as the driver put her stuff in the boot and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"Ma'am", someone was shaking her.
I should get up.
"Ma'am. Ma'am!".
Ugh, she blinked her eyes open to the she the taxi driver shaking her,"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep".
She stepped out and took her bags,"Thank you".
She walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, then stepped back so she could survey the house.

[demetridelacur]

(the Delacur manor is a mansion since they are diplomats)

Demetri looked out the window and saw the winner. "Mom the contest loser is here!"

[kelly]

Kelly looked up and narrowed her eyes. Great, they had a kid. And a stuck up one at that.
She looked at the door as it was opened and wondered what effect she had on the woman standing before her.
She wasn't very tall, but was wearing high heels. She had slightly tanned skinned and large, bug-eyed sun glasses. Her hair was black and fluffed up at the back with three coon tails on each side of her face, framing it.
She was wearing a basic Hello Kitty top and a bat necklace with ripped jeans and a brown belt.
Below her sunnies her eyes were bright brown with heavy eye liner, blue eye shadow and some white under her eyes. Her lips were purple and her nails had been painted a dark red.

[demetridelacur]

Maria walked out of the large double doors. "Welcome you must be Kelly, the contest winner, right?" She lead the way into the house.

[kelly]

Kelly nodded and stepped inside,"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you".
She did a quite surveillance of the room. Large and spacious with a staircase and some doors leading elsewhere.
She sniffed the air. There were some people in the house....including another eraser.

[demetridelacur]

"Demetri, Rosie, can you two come down and me Kelly?" Maria called.

"Yay another friend! I'm Rosetta! But Deme and mommy call me Rosie and Night-Night calls me Etta!" Rosetta (6-8 year old doesn't really understand the difference between bird and eraser)

"Why do you host this contest?" Demetri asked leaning on the rail at the top of the stairs. "For all we know she could be a homicidal maniac or wort a guy..." (demetri is a one girl only type cousin complex over night she doesn't like guys get the picture?)

[kelly]

Kelly smiled at Rosie,"Ok, nice to meet you. You can just call me Kell".
She turned to Demetri and looked her over. Pink hair? She considered how to answer this. It wouldn't be right to rude, as these people were giving her a place to stay and the opportunity to go to France.
She decided to keep her mouth shut and just looked at her, sunnies hiding the anger in her eyes.

[Night and Akito]

Demetri eyed the girl. "So what's your story? Like what did you enter to win this?"

[kelly]

Kelly shrugged,"I just drew a picture of what I imagined myself to be".
Well, it was half imagined. She hadn't really seen herself in eraser form. After all, it wasn't like she looked in a mirror every time she transformed. She was far to crazy for that.

[Night and Akito]

"Never heard of a mirror? imagined" the 'imagined' part was scuffed followed by rolled eyes.

[kelly]

Kelly rolled her eyes behind her glasses and smiled lopsidedly,"But where's the fun in that. Art shouldn't be copied from what people see with the eye. It should be made from what they see with the mind".
God. I sound like a Guru, she thought to herself, scoffing at what she had just,It should be made with the mind not the eye blah blah blah.

[Night and Akito]

"not if it's a self-portrait..."

"Demetri! Enough!"