The couple seemed to take to sitting still with…mixed results. Alaric had a feeling that they would need to take several breaks if both people were the sort that did not enjoy staying still for long periods of time. That was alright, Alaric had painted worse. Children were very squirmy, and he’d painted several of those. Surely an adult couple with a good family named attached to them would be far better than young children.

Alaric would begin to paint then, starting with a quick gesture rendering to get their basic shape down. That cat would not want to stay the whole time, after all.

[Time skip to the first break]

After some time, Alaric hit a good and natural stopping point. He would need to allow some of the paint to dry a little before continuing on, and he thought the couple would like to take a break to stretch their legs or imbibe some refreshments.

He started to clean his brushes, not wanting any pigment to dry on them when he was not using them, “My lord and my lady, you can move if you like,” he said, smiling up from his work, “I daresay we’ve reached a good point for a break.”

Laughing lightly he looked at Scout with a smile and nodded slightly. "Very, very true."


When the first break came Astor let out a sigh of relief and stretched before starting to take a lap around the room. He was in a slightly odd mood from sitting still so long, and it had actually improved a bit. "Mister Melbourne how in the world are you so patient with this painting stuff?" He had also realized how silly he was being while he had to sit and think about his words.

This guy was a guest and had to be pretty cool if he had come recommended to Scout.

Sitting still had seemed to be mostly difficult for Astor and Peach, but it was understandable. Scout was sitting on a chair, but Astor was actually standing. Soldier or not, standing upright without moving a lot took a toll on someone's back.

She was also glad to see that Astor started to open up a bit more to the painter, instead of still being sceptical of him. She smiled and got up from her chair to get some food for Peach who was meowing as if she had been purposefully starving the little orange cloud with legs.

Alaric would smile at Astor’s question. Staying so still seemed to be quite against the noble’s nature, and the artist could sympathize, “A love for the arts, my lord. And practice. Lots and lots of practice,” he chuckled, “My painting master was not patient with students who rushed through work, and going slowly was difficult indeed as a young teenager,” he would have shrugged if he were the type to shrug in front of clients.

"Well I don't know how you stand it, literally I guess." Maybe that helped, but Astor had a hard time believing it would help him. It was one of the reasons he preferred foot duty to horse when he was patrolling in Loren. Not that a good horse ride wasn't enjoyable, and would certainly have been better than sitting still for hours on end. To think that some nobles did this more than once a year.

Smiling at Scout he shook his head. "I think the longest time we ever sat still as teenagers was that awful play, remember that?" Back in the day when they weren't married and were just the best of friends. What a time that had been, no cares, no responsibilities.

Scout didn't have a lot to add to the conversation the two men were having, so she didn't join in. She was aware of how the art world worked and could imagine that Alaric's master wasn't patient with student that rushed their work. The devil was in the details.

Astor ended up including her in the conversation, and she laughed. She remembered the play well. "That was horrible. I didn't appreciate the arts as much back then, and all I wanted to do was get out of there and get something to drink." She grinned at Astor and Alaric. "Or, of course, if we had to plank during training." She shook her head.

Lord Kane seemed an energetic sort, and Alaric could certainly see that the man would not like a profession where he would have to stand in one spot, working and working on one thing until it was as perfect and finished as it could be. This was why Alaric was going to give the couple as many breaks as he could. He was experienced enough in creating portraits that he knew when to pick out when a client was feeling restless. It would make the painting process last longer, but a happy client was a happy client. If they were pleased with the quality of his work and working with him as well, they would say good things about him to their peers which would mean more work for him. Luckily for him, this couple was one of the more pleasant commissions he’d taken, and he did not force needing to bite his tongue while conversing with them.

He listened to the newlyweds chat about their childhood and the things they had to endure. He smiled pleasantly, “You both were I a play together? How delightful!” He said, “Is that how the two of you met?” There was a certain rapport between the two of them that told Alaric that this had not been an arranged marriage between strangers.

Astor shook his head and laughed at the memory. "Planking doesn't count, at least that has some physical effort with it." Made you sweat and wasn't a mind numbing thing to sit through. So he would definitely take that over a play any day, and he hoped that this Alaric fellow would keep giving him these breaks.

"Oh no we've been friends for, well since we were like what Scout, six?" His father had certainly pushed for that, and that was before his family name was dragged through the mud. That was before everyone turned their backs on the Porters, leaving the one's stuck there stranded. Luckily Scout didn't give a shit about that when it came to their friendship.