Fe Aspec Week Day 7: Free Day -- Legacy
This one took me forever to settle on something I liked -- I was toying around with some ideas about Lukas's epilogue text and the idea of legacy, as well as a bit of meta impact. A few scrapped drawings and 1k words later, I've got this 😂
As always, thank you so much for running this week!! 💜💚 I always have so much fun with the pieces, (it's been the only event week that I can regularly commit to because I always have a blast haha!) and seeing others' amazing work! It's been such a great time :D
Forsyth stepped back from his canvas. He wiped hair from his forehead, hoping he wasn’t smearing any paint there. He studied his work, then his model, then his work once more. He gave a decisive nod.
“Well. I tried.”
Python choked back a laugh. “That’s not quite the confidence you want to hear from your portrait painter, you know.” He walked up to the canvas, but Forsyth was quick to angle it away from him.
“Oh, hush, I wasn’t even painting you! I’ll have you know, it was rather difficult trying to paint something without having it in front of me.”
“What are you talkin’ about, Luke was sitting right there for hours!”
At his mention, Lukas perked up. He’d been lounging in front of Forsyth, his eyes lowered to sift through a pile of student writings. He’d been scribbling notes in the margins, absentmindedly angling his face this way and that when Forsyth requested.
“And I am incredibly grateful for his presence. However, I did not want to capture him looking like a sleep-deprived schoolteacher –”
“– but that’s exactly what he is –”
“– so I attempted to recreate my personal favorite expression of his.”
Lukas smiled. “Oh? And what would that be?” He placed the papers aside, giving Forsyth his full attention. Lukas nodded to the canvas, encouraging him to reveal it.
“Well… you see… the point of this whole project…”
Forsyth searched for the right words. The point of the whole project actually struck him months ago, back at Rigel Castle.
He and Python had sat for their own portraits, which would later be hung in the great hall to commemorate members of the Brotherhood. Forsyth could have cried seeing he and Python’s likenesses full of dignity and chivalry. The whole time, though, he couldn’t shake the feeling of injustice that boiled in his stomach: Lukas would get nothing.
Sure, his name would appear in the records as the royal family’s right-hand advisor during and after war, but his image would disappear entirely. He left the Brotherhood to fulfill his dreams long before the kingdom was stable enough to commission a professional painter. With his brother furthering the bloodline and becoming the major focus of the household, Lukas was relieved of all marriage obligations – and opportunities for a couple’s portrait. Paintings alongside any future children were out of the question, as well.
“It’s terribly unfair!” Forsyth had cried. “Are war and romance the only means to remember a man? Is he any less worthy because he will never marry?”
“You’re overthinking things, Fors.” Python had hardly spared him a glance. “Plenty of good people don’t get their paintings done.”
“And that is just as much an outrage!”
He brought his concerns to Lukas, who seemed at peace with the situation, as Python was. The pair’s disinterest only caused Forsyth more urgency. After a bit of deliberation, he knew there was only one path forward.
“I shall take this into my own hands.”
They would find out he meant this very literally. He showed up at Lukas’ schoolhouse with various brushes clutched in his hands, an apron thrown over his chest. He pulled up a nearby seat, propped up an easel, and got right to it. It became their routine: once classes dismissed for the day, Lukas would busy himself with reading through his school materials, and Forsyth would busy himself with work of his own.
He’d done his research beforehand, but had never actually painted anyone’s portrait. He looked again at the finished product.
“I was hoping to capture… er… the point of this work is to commemorate your independent situation… and thus… I remembered the days after you first told me, you were the happiest I’d ever seen you. The face is still a rare one, but after that night, I’ve seen that side of you more and more. I just thought…”
He gave an audible huff. Screw it.
He turned the canvas around.
“I am sorry. Perhaps I should have gone with a more dignified look, like the other knights’ portraits. I am aware that I have yet to accomplish a professional’s level of –”
“It’s perfect.”
Forsyth blinked.
Lukas stared at the canvas. He appeared to be working out his next words. Meanwhile, Python let out a long whistle. “Lookin’ good! Not too shabby, for your first masterpiece.”
“‘Not too shabby’ is an understatement.” Lukas stepped closer to the piece, his voice full of warmth. “Thank you, friend.”
In the painting, Lukas wasn’t sitting straight-backed and stiff; it was focused on his bust, leaning a bit in relaxed movement. He wore casual clothes, none of his usual professional garments. He smiled. His mouth was a little lopsided, a little odd, pinching his eyes a bit, showing some teeth, but not all – and it was a perfect replication. This was Lukas’s true smile, not the one he put up for others to view.
Python gave him a poke. “So, now what? Where are we gonna do with it? We can’t just smuggle it into the royal gallery. And I don’t think Lukas is the kind of guy who wants to stare at it here in the school all the time.”
“Well, I… er….”
“I mean, we can certainly just go and hang it up somewhere around town, but I don’t think he’s looking for that, either.”
“I just thought he’d want it! For his legacy!” Forsyth huffed. His eyes shone with The kind of determination that the others knew not to overstep on. There was no stopping him now. “It’s important that he’s remembered through the ages! I think of all the heroes that inspired me – the way I gazed at their images in my fathers’ textbooks, gaining hope from their stories…”
“You’re hoping that Lukas ends up in some dusty textbook someday?”
“Indeed!” He beamed, not realizing that Python didn’t see it as a grand victory. “Just imagine: centuries from now, some harrowed scholar, crushed under familiar struggles. They get a hold of a secondhand book, and suddenly, bam!” He gestured to the painting. “They look upon his face and see that everything will be alright. They’ll think, ‘if Sir Lukas of Valentia can do it, and smile so purely at the end of it all, surely I can too!’”
He clenched his fists, caught up in his own excitement. His gaze was somewhere faraway, imagining this incredible future.
Python scoffed.
“It sounds like they’re just as much of a hopelessly sentimental dreamer as you are. They’ll probably think, ‘gods, now I need to study up on this guy too?”
“Python…”
“Or, if they’re like me, maybe they’ll think, ‘mmm, that is one fiiine –”
“Python!”
“Alright, alright. I think it’s a real nice gesture, Fors.”
Lukas had been quietly taking everything in for a while. Now he spoke. “I truly believe this is perfect. As you said – this is an expression only saved for rare occasions. It’s difficult for me to smile so genuinely. I… I never really see it myself.”
He placed a hand on Forsyth’s shoulder. “We can hope it reaches others someday, but regardless, I am grateful to have seen it right now. It inspires me about the future. I… I cannot thank you enough.”
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You killed me on a Wednesday
But I got reborn on a Sunday! 💋
Basically; I won't let this bitch ruin what I have worked so long to create. Yes I had a meltdown but that doesn't mean she is worth it to be ruined. Yes. I dedicated it to her. As I gave her a universe.
A universe with so much backstory and so much emotion, so much fantasy...so much of everything.
I wasted money. I wasted time. I made her a Norwegian dictionary written by hand. I showed my country. Where I grew up. I shared her secrets. I have wasted my creativity. My devotion. Wasted so many whole 24 hours and nights just to write for HER. And this bitch even gave the main character of my story, a perfect name. It fit with the story. Of what this character would become. Of what the purpose of the charcter was going to be. I even found the perfect backstory to why she got the name. It fit with where the main character was from. From Argentina. It was perfect. But she now needs a new name. As that french bitch screwed me over. I now have to rename the main character of Liebeslied. It will be similar to the old. Because I am lazy. And she is mentioned in several hundred pages already. Don't care to edit away all the first name and replaxe it with a brand name. You can't complain on me for that!
But it's scary isn't it? How you can dedicate your entire self to someone. And then with a single "yeah sorry..." they can brush you off. As if you never happened. Like 3 weeks ago I was happy. I was actually editing the chapters I already had, instead of making new ones. I was going to give my universe. My work for 4 whole years. 24/7 for 4 whole years. If I didn't wrote. Then I thought about it. If I didn't thought about it. I acted it out (but alone because I am not the kind to be talking to myself in front of others). My whole life for 4 years (almost 5) and this bitch would get it all for x-mas. For FREE. But no. That's not what happened.
I had to ask her. It had to be done;
hey? Are we still friends?
And she had to shoot me down.
"Yeah Sorry...should have told you long time ago.."
"Yeah sorry..." as in "yeah btw..." our friendship to her was just that..."yeah sorry." " Yeah btw..."
Because she "grew up". She got a bf. A career. "I'm not the same".
No. She weren't. But that doesn't change the fact that
I wasted 4 years for something that died about 2 years prior to this. And she knew it was dying. And I was naive.
I dedicated A UNIVERSE for her. I don't think she will ever realize this!!
A whole UNIVERSE. It had people in it. People that to her was pure fiction but I myself saw them as my children.
And she doesn't want me to give it to her. She never replied to my "could I still post you Liebeslied once its all done. As a form of closure. You don't have to contact me beyond that. Just for closure. Beyond that I wish the best for you aswell".
She never bothered to reply.
Well you know what?
I have had 3 weeks. To think this over. My conclution?
She doesn't deserve what I gave her. She never did. I was just a way to "pass time". So she could get a bf and a career.
The time. The effort. The money. My creativity. My writing. My enthusiasm. My PASSION! My dedication and lastly even my tears and sanity. She didn't deserve ANY of this. She made her choice! She gave me up. Just like that. I wasn't even worthy of a
"hah no thanks I don't want Liebeslied anymore."
She gave this up. But I won't. I won't give up.
She will never know how Liebeslied ends. And that'd ok. She doesn't deserve to know how it ends! It's not for her anymore!
And so I wipe away my tears before they fall. Always before they fall. Because that french bitch doesn't deserve them.
Her friendship to me was simply to her a way to "pass time" until she got a bf and a career.
I am worth more than that!
And so is the Universe that I have created. That I have breathed, every day for so long! Which is why the first fic of the Liebeslied series will be published in 2023 as then everything about this bitch will be in the past.
Tania as the main character is dead.
And Thalia has risen from her ashes.
And with that minor change. Liebeslied will live without that bitch. That french whore that left me for a man and a career. Nope! Screw that!
I will have the first story done in 2023. That is a promise! And it will be good. It is (if I'm gonna say so myself and I will!) way too good to be given up because of something as lousy as her! And I know. Deep inside my still somehow shattered heart. I do know. That some of you yes you; you lovely, amazing, kind, wonderful, beautiful beings...SOME will love it. Some of you will love that universe that I have spent so long making! I am sure.
And unlike that bitch, you all actually deserve this universe!
I have risen. For you! Because of you! My wonderful followers and mutuals, I have kept the little drop of my sanity left. It is the thought of you all that have kept me going for these 3 weeks and more!
I know now that I am better than that bitch. Why? Because I know the meaning of friendships. And that lying bitch obviously doesn't!
So hail to me. For I have risen!
Hail to Liebeslied. For this universe and it's children will go on!
And I promise I will impress and scare some of you. I will make some of you angry. I will make some of you you smile. And some of you will cry and wish that my children would exist and I will have to remind you that they DO! THEY WILL BE BACK! You just as much I breathes life into them! All my followers and mutuals and especially those of you that have wanted and longed for this Universe ...for MY universe to carry on, I am doing this for YOU! And it WILL carry on! Next year. It will all break loose! And I hope you are ready!
Because guess what mothafxahs?
I am back bitches! The gothic viking is stubborn. It's in my name. Viking. And so it's in my blood to be stubborn and keep it going.
I am back! And I oh my have I missed you all! You lovely fxers, you!
🖤⚔🖤
As my fic Richard would say:
Let's go, Honey! We got this! 💋
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