'Ice Plains Sunset' On Canvas

Posted on Tue Mar 14th, 2023 @ 11:24am by 2nd Lieutenant Orjheza zh’Kaakret & Lieutenant JG Charlotte Dawes & Ensign Diana Ravenbroke & Ensign Vasha

1,678 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 115 - Planting for the Future
Location: Section D1 - Level 310 - Observation Longue JA-743
Timeline: MD 0 - 1900 hours - Prior to All Ep 115 posts

"Oou yes.. Come in.. Come in." A tall Andorian woman in traditional clothing repeated similar phrases each time the doors slid open. An olive tunic highlighted by gold thread wrapped around her to met richly patterned and textured black pants. Her trusty commbadge was still worn over her chest.

"Please make your way to the replicator", she said.. "Make yourself a synthehol beverage of your choice and please be seated." There was an airy, bubbly quality to the Andorian woman's voice. Those who knew her would be surprised.

2LT Orjheza zh'Kaakret usually kept her mannerisms uptight and closely guarded. Military bearing had always been her soup of the day. Orjheza appeared surprisingly comfortable here, the usual tension lifted from her face.

"Find your seats and welcome... I am Second Lieutenant zh'Kaakret... Or Orjheza." She giggled at the rhyme. "Take a look at your supplies..." Her painting was covered up by a crisp silver sheet. People continued to arrive as she spoke.

"You'll find four brushes", Orjheza continued. "Four sizes... One big, broad brush.. Two intermediate.. And one itsy, bitty brush for fine details." She couldn't help but be happy. This was her escape.

The group met at a private observation lounge facing the planet Kaleb IV and its surrounding space-scape. The vibrant orb sat large just outside of the room's massive bay windows.

Diana walked in wearing a paint splattered black long-sleeve and similarly splattered pants with frayed sneakers. "Thank you! Wow, this looks like FUN!" Diana chirped as she grabbed a none alcoholic peppermint hot cocoa and found a seat as close to the window as she could get and stared out in total rapture.

The tall, muscular hybrid Klingon woman next to her snorted and shook her head. The Orion girl's childlike curiosity at being introduced to painting of all things amused her. Had she never painted or even drawn before, she wondered. Surely she had to have. Hell, K'Lara herself had had very little in the way of a childhood and still gotten to paint. Mother had made sure of it, against her father's protests that she didn't need it.

"What is it that you are drinking?" She indicated the cup the green-skinned woman had sitting in front of her on the desk. "It smells... good. Sharp yet refreshing and sweet."

"It's a peppermint hot cocoa. I don't drink alcohol, so I've written down a list of the best drink combos I've come across in the last six years," Diana pulled a blue and gold swirled from her home made pants pocket and held it up. "I've got some problems with my memory sometimes, so I keep notebooks on drinks, foods, music, and pretty much anything and everything that's fun and makes me happy," Diana blushed a little at how silly it felt to actually TELL someone that.

Charlotte Dawes tried to slip in quietly, noticing everyone was finding their spots and making small talk already. She was running late, having been caught up in a conversation in Sickbay, so she was wearing her uniforom still. She looked around, and found an open seat on the end, and planted herself there. She took her jacket and uniform shirt off quickly, and without ceremony, and was wearing a plain white crew neck tank top underneath. She smiled sheepishly at the Andorian painting teacher, as if too quietly apologize for crashing into the party late.

Orjheza approached the newcomers with her hands clasped. “Hello! I’d like to think this’ll be fun.” She stood alongside Diana and looked out of the large windows. “I didn’t realize what a beautiful space this lounge was…”

A polymer beaker was provided with water to wash brushes. Small canvas wrapped boards on frames stood blank and ready to paint.

“Tell me a little about yourselves”, the Andorian marine asked Diane. “What do you normally do for fun here on the Starbase? I’m Second Lieutenant zh’Kaaret by the way. Pleasure to meet you both. Especially here.” The woman spoke quickly, her tone pitched fairly high.

"Nice to meet you, Ma'am. My name's Ensign Diana Ravenbroke. Well, I do parkour, swim, hike, train, and learn," Diana was almost overwhelmed, but she was enjoying herself, so it was kept at bay.

"Very active I see", Orjheza replied. The Andorian woman was so excited to see the diverse women at her class. She was happy to have the chance to relax with them and hopefully brighten their day. Orjheza smiled and looked to both while speaking. "You'll see painting is not as active of a hobby. It is still quite rewarding.. And so fun!" A long brush twirled about in her right hand.

She moved down the row of seating until she stood closer to K'Lara. "And you? Have you painted often? Or even much at all?" She posed the question to the half-klingon woman.

"Not often." K'Lara admitted plainly. "My duties usually require me to work till quite late - I admittedly rarely ever get much time to relax." The hybrid picked up a paintbrush and looked round the table at the small assemblage of tools present. "My name is K'Lara, by the way. K'Lara Fulvinia."

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Fulvinia”, she replied quietly. “You know… I haven’t painted for long myself either… Yes, over the past three years I’ve gotten more into this.” Her eyes darted back and forth between K’Lara’s. “We’ll break the painting down in a way that makes this fun.. And simple enough.”

The Andorian made her way through the row and continued her path back to the front of the classroom. Next to her covered, finished painting was a blank canvas on easel.

She slid off the metallic sheet which had covered the painting to reveal the finished work. “We start up her with the sky as step one… From top to bottom, dark to light… We can paint royal blue to bright cobalt to violet to hot pink… down at the horizon.”

Her blue hand moved to where the sky met a glacier. It was a bright teal blue which looked like a frozen lake. A horned, cloven hoofed animal covered in long cerulean shaded fur trampled across it, leaving a trail of footprints. It was clad in a red harness, complete with large, round bells.

“Step two will be to paint this section of the horizon, down to this glacier and across to this patch of brush.” The low, thick set of snow covered bushes formed along the far edge of the glacier. Red and green ornaments were painted on the tree-like set of bushy plants.

“Steps three and four will be to finish the icelands.. First here in the distance… Mirror the colors of the sky like this… Then move down to this section closest here… the bottom left corner.” With the perspective, it would appear the view was looking from this corner of the plains, out across a glacier and up at an alien sunset.

Orjheza’s drink sat alongside her painting. “And now we can all see why this cocktail’s called an Andorian sunset”. The drink seemed mixed from a similar blend of blues and pinks.

“Feel free to deviate from this plan. The goal will be to start from this base. Add whatever you’d like to express what the holidays mean to you. For example, you can substitute the gh’rask”, she said as she pointed to the creature. “Or you could change the colors of the sky.. Add a home.. Paint figures.. Or you could follow me step by step to recreate the original.”

She looked around the room. “Any questions?”

Charlotte scanned the painting, taking note of the colors and hues. She hadn't painted with acrylics in a while, and was looking forward to the fast and free way you could paint in classes like these. It was also always fun to see what others came up with.

"We want with the darkest part of the sky", she cordoned off the top quadrant of the space she'd designated for the sky and painted a line. Her strokes began to fill the space above it. "We'll build the sky out of four parts.. Go from dark to light, top to bottom into the pinks... And enjoy.. Take a break to sip your drink and enjoy the planet."

The song changed in the background to one which was more upbeat. It was a pensive, searching tune from a Bolian group Orjheza found inspiring.

"This painting is how I visualize winter and the festive spirit... If portrayed on Andor." She looked from Charlotte to Diana and out to K'Lara. "When you all think of Christmas, what do you each visualize?" Orjheza painted a few sideways strokes while facing the class. The fighter pilot picked up her cocktail with her left hand, balancing by squeezing her brush.

Diana watched in fascination, then quickly began her piece, finishing the entire background in short order before adding Christmasy elements: Reindeer, Polar Bears, Wolves, and Snowy Owls, roamed the forest in unusual harmony while tinsel, lights, Holly, and multicolored ornaments, as well as bird seed, pinecones, carrots, and other animal munchies, hung in the trees. Then Diana added a log cabin, with smoke curling out of the brick chimney, covered in snowfall, lights, and Holly. A few children where sledding in brightly colored snow bunny suits, others were riding dog sleds pulled by Huskies, and still others had made a village's worth of snowmen. At least...that was Diana's plan was GOING to look like anyway...she was just starting on the cabin after finishing the background.

OOC: I want to pause this from an IC perspective. With all of the temporal distortion and out of place ships, now wouldn't be a good time to post this. But we can keep it on the back burner. I don't want people's characters to be tied up over this. But it's a nice post we'll release at the right time. Thanks everybody for your patience.

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