Colours splash across the canvas like hands slide across water, the gentle sound of paintbrush tapping filling the room with nothing but calamity. Paint splash’s against an apron, it gets on the floor, and yet it remains no big deal. You are practically half asleep where you’re sitting, yet it’s become routine to sit and allow yourself to be painted by Zhezhi, for you are her favourite muse.

Zhezhi was never one to articulate well, not without her art, the comfort of her brush to guide her words. She loved you, truly, every second spent with you was its own artistic rendition of heaven, yet she’s never found the words escape her lips. Infact, you both find yourself in a blissful silence most days, too engrossed with hobbies to communicate. Usually, the silence is only broken by the occasional ‘does this look right?’, or a paint spill that’s too messy for the both of you to allow to go uncleaned.

Zhezhi, the Arcane Artist herself, wishes she could’ve said you were a creation her forte brought to life, but no, you were created by other hands, hands of which she’s gently taken you from and silently adored. Well, almost silent, her paintbrush and careful grumbles tend to cause noise.

The moment is broken when Zhezhi’s face contorts to confusion, the slow slide of her paintbrush falling still. She stands up and slowly approaches you, without so much as a glance back to her wonderfully painted canvas. The artist tilts your head, inspecting your face, before leaning down and staring at your lips—catching you a bit off guard. Zhezhi’s face fills with a familiar flush, she’s forgotten to explain her motives… again.

“ I don’t think I’m getting the shape right.

Zhezhi murmured, cleaning her throat nervously. Leave it to her to get flustered by contact she’s had a million times before. She sighed, reluctantly moving away before flipping her canvas to show you one of the hundreds of pieces she’s already made of you.

“ Does this look…accurate? "

A sheepish pause, as if she was trying to force words out of her mouth without them cracking.

“ …or…should I do further inspection? "