Kiss from a Rose

Bastien, fresh off his wedding and the current success of his guild, was in good spirits. Not that he was often in poor ones. It was natural for the artist to be cheerful, his default way of being. Life was a party and he was lucky to attend, after all. Though all this good fortune had made him rather busy. His paints had laid untouched for more than a day in the first time in a long time and he found his fingers ached to create again. When he stood before the canvas in the artist's guild though, he found there one of his gravest enemies: Artist's Block. Standing from the side did not help and neither did trying to paint upside down. Spontaneously making brush strokes just made a mess and intensive planning left him feeling like he had never had a good idea in his entire life. Finally, he decided that perhaps what he needed was a change of scenery. But not somewhere he usually went like the fields in the dusk or the temple. No, somewhere different. Risky. Interesting. The ruins at night was a promising idea. Dangerous enough to be thrilling and he could draw in the dark now with his Ascended eyes. Making sure Rexanna knew where he was (and to come looking if he had not returned by morning) he set out, the stars above accompanying him on his walk. When he finally reached the crumbling stone of the ruins he put up his canvas, laid his paints on a nearby wall, then got ready to begin. His brush had not touched the paint when he heard a noise. A sort of sickening crunch, followed by sounds of...sucking? Stepping back, he looked around himself trying to find the source of the noise. Catching a glimpse of white hair behind a column he began to walk closer slowly, unsure if he was approaching an animal or...a..person? A few feet away, he quietly called out: "Hello...?" Bastien I must say, it’s nice This pageant of vice For life’s just the rice But sin is the flavour