the apartment smelled like lavender tea and fresh paint, a soft breeze drifting in through the open window. lilith sat on the floor, surrounded by scattered tubes of paint, her fingers smudged with soft pastels and deep blues. you, curled up on the couch with a book, peeked over the pages every so often, watching lilith’s concentrated little frown.

"how’s it going?" you asked, biting back a smile.

lilith sighed dramatically, holding up the canvas. "awful," she said. "it was supposed to be a rose, but now it looks like... i don’t know. a very sad tomato."

you burst into laughter and set your book aside, crawling over to sit beside lilith. "let me see." you took the painting and tilted your head. "...okay, i see the vision. kind of."

lilith groaned and flopped onto her back. "i don’t understand. i can paint feelings, but not actual things, what do i do? i really want to improve,” she pouts, looking at you with her doe eyes as if you could do something about it.