Yessss.

"You're really wonderful, have I told you that recently?" Kiss.

"Awww, thanks. You're pretty great yourself." Kiss.

"... Okay, I need to give you something beautiful in exchange for that. Want to do some work on that custom art?"

"Sure."

"Any themes you'd like?"

Doodle doodle doodle. Rose? Braid? Cat? Brick? Crystal? 

"...I dunno."

"Hmmm, how about..." 

Crescent moon... Half-submerged beneath waves... No, not right. Beautiful, but Ruava isn't exactly a moonlight person. 

Sunlight, then? No, the classic straight lines of sunbeams don't suit her either. Something... Fluid and beautiful and dazzling, like quicksilver, but gold. The lake seems fitting, but it has too many associations with painful things. A snake? No, for the same reasons as the moon. Flexible, filled with life, beautiful, strong... Vines? Vines seem better than anything else she's come up with so far. With dew on the leaves...? No, that seems off somehow. Sketch sketch sketch?

"It's all so pretty," says Ruava, snuggling her.

Jinx smiles. "Aw, thanks. It's beautiful because it's you." 

Sketch sketch. Vines are close, maybe another plant? A willow tree, something that bends in the wind but doesn't break...? No, no, willow trees can have switches cut from them... Oak seems sort of right, Ruava does seem to have a sense of... not solidity, but unconquerability about her somehow, but too stiff and has the same problems as willow. Stone is right out. ...sand? She's not very good at dunes, but sand flows, sand seems eternal, but again it's not right, too harsh. Ruava is green and growing and full of life. A flower would be too delicate, a bush too undignified. Maybe an animal? Sketch sketch sketch sketch...

Snuggle snuggle. Admiring the lovely sketches.

Mmmmm. Maybe a hart or a stag? That feels even closer than the vines, harts are graceful and nimble and deeply interlinked with nature... But on the other hand it just feels utterly wrong to cast Ruava in the role of prey. Stags are more regal, lords of the forest, less associated with being hunted... Yeah, no, way too stiff and masculine. A hart is really close though. Hart, hart. Heart? She doodles a little heart-shape and grins at Ruava. Alright, okay, swift, graceful, beautiful, but not something you hunt. A feline...? Lioness? No, again too stiff. A bobcat is closer but not close enough. Oh! She should try a bird. Swan? Nah, swans are too vicious and also cliche. A raven would be too dark. ...a magpie? Yes, a magpie. Iridescent feathers, cunning, insightful, free to flit from place to place... But not quite enduring enough, there's some superstition there but that sense of inconquerability doesn't quite come through. Magpie on a vine? No, they don't quite go together do they. It feels right to have the magpie perched on... Something to represent the troubles Ruava's had. Not a skull, skulls are cliche. A willow branch. Yes. 

Sketch sketch sketch. If she can't capture Ruava's smile on paper, she can at least think of the way Ruava's smile makes her feel, and put that into the way the magpie's feathers shine...

"Wow," she says, watching the magpie take shape.

Jinx doesn't hear her: she's too focussed on getting the iridescence exactly right. Ruava deserves all the talent she can bring to bear, here.

So pretty!!

Jinx is going to make this the best magpie she's ever drawn.

Eeeeeeee.

... This could take a while.

Ruava is content to snuggle quietly and watch Jinx draw for at least a few hours!

Then after about an hour and a half, Jinx will finally be finished with her piece for Ruava. Or at least making changes so small that Ruava can't really see any difference. 

"It's amazing," she says.

Jinx looks up from the detail of the beak that she's been trying to get just perfect for the last minute.

"...sorry?"

She laughs. "I said, that's amazing."

"Aww. You're too kind." 

Kiss! 

Kiss.

Yes, kiss! And art. There is also art.

"... Now that I look at this again, it's probably too big to fit on a gun."

Jinx sighs.