A/N: I hate exams so much. Thank you guys so much for waiting, I really appreciate it 3
Oh, by the way, I am not an artist myself so if I became a little inaccurate towards the end, I am so sorry.
"You have a good aim," Erwin commented.
"Uh, thanks, I guess," I replied.
Erwin, Lola and I were in the Archery reception. After being yelled at by Lola, she began aiding Commander Erwin whom I shot in the knee. Please, no Skyrim jokes.
"Lola?" Jean stepped in through the door.
"What is it, Jean?" Lola snapped.
Jean rubbed the back of his neck, blushing, "P-please don't punish Angela for anything... it was my fault I scared her. I'm very sorry, Commander."
Lola sighed, "All right. You may leave."
Jean nodded sheepishly and began to walk towards the door.
"Wait," Erwin said, "Kirchstein, is it?"
Jean stopped dead in his tracks and turned. "Ah-yes, sir."
"It was an accident, I forgive you both," Erwin gave both of us a smile that I have never seen before. I always thought Erwin would be the serious type. I could have never imagined him smiling like this.
Jean smiled and walked out.
"Angela, what exactly did Jean do to freak you out?" Lola asked.
"He just... scared me," I say, not wanting to admit that I was scared by a simple, "Boo!". Dammit, Jean.
"Listen, Lola," Erwin spoke, "I think it's best if you let Angela get back to training. The doctor you have called for should arrive quite soon."
Lola nodded and dismissed me. Once I reached the field, I found almost everyone was crowding around Lola's reception. Everyone spoke almost all at once.
"Angela! Are you okay?"
"Is the Commander okay?"
"Did you get yelled at?"
"Angela, what happened?"
I only shook my head and said, "Everything's okay, I just... accidentally shot Commander Erwin in the knee."
What the- that's not okay!
There was a chorus of gasps and mumbling. I made my way back to the targets and Connie followed.
"How was the Commander?" he asked, "Was he mean?"
"No, actually," I replied, "he was actually pretty nice."
"No way," Connie said, "I thought he would give you shit!"
"I thought so, too," I agreed.
After fifteen minutes of more shooting (and making sure Jean wouldn't sneak up behind me once again) Lola blew her whistle, telling us to gather around her.
"I'm sorry for the interruption in the middle of the session, guys, but today was actually an assessment."
Well, fuck.
"Now, don't worry, I'm not kicking anybody out," a sigh of relief came from at least five people, including me, "I just wanted to see who'd be suited for different titles and such. I have your numbers written down here and based on your score and performance I have observed, you may be put in either of the three titles, Rookie, Hunter and Eagle Eyes. Now, for the ones who are not new here, it's most likely that you'll be in the same title as before, unless I've seen a drastic change in your performance. Results for the newcomers will be put in the canteen tomorrow. Thanks for coming and I'll see you guys next week!"
We made our way out of the field and Ymir caught up with me.
"Have a club going on at the moment?" she asked.
"Art," I replied.
"Oh, same," she remarked.
"Cool. Who else is going, do you know?" I asked.
"I think Jean and Marco are in it. Christa, Connie and Sasha would be on their way to cookery at the moment," she replied.
Jean and Marco go to Art Club together, I mused, guess I already have my fanart reference.
The art teacher was witty and friendly, compared to my art teacher when I was still in the real world. Her name was Alli. She seemed to be around her late forties and it was quite obvious she was wise. It even showed on her face; fine lines setting in her forehead, smile lines and wrinkles around her eyes. Her brown hair was short and swept back and her eyes were a lovely gunmetal blue.
"For our first session, I'd like everybody to do what they feel shows their skills best. Use anything and do anything - within reason, of course. And make sure you'd be able to make it in time, you literally only have one hour, fifteen minutes for presentation. Less than that, by now. Yes, that's not a lot of time, I know, personally, I think it should be like, two hours, instead. But, what can you do if you're just an art teacher, you know?"
I smiled. Do what you want? I love hearing that. Free to do what you want, free to do what you like, freestyle!
I stared at the art supplies and watched as people began to take what they needed.
What shows your skills best... I wonder what I could do to satisfy that request... sketch? No, too plain. Paint? No, too messy... Jean's here, I don't want to show my sloppiness. Sculpt? Fuck no, I'll mess up for sure.
My heart began to race. I didn't know what to do. Too many choices with catches to go with them.
What if I did a collage? Oh, but I hate using glue.
Ten minutes passed and I still haven't done anything. I continue to stare at the bottles of paint, carving knives, brushes, pencils, canvases... pressure was building up. I really did not know what to do.
"Angela? What are you-"
"I don't know!" I snapped, not realizing Marco was speaking to me, or how I spoke to him.
Was that even necessary?!
"Oh... sorry I didn't mean to..." Marco looked away and blushed.
"N-no no I-I, uh" I stuttered as I saw some people looking at me. Why does art make me so fucking angry?!
"It wasn't your fault, I'm sorry," I continued, "I'm just really confused. I don't know what to do and I'm wasting time just contemplating it."
"Oh, well, just do what's natural," Marco suggested.
I hesitated.
"Your skills are basically your instincts, you know. Whatever you're best at, you tend to do first unless told otherwise. Right?" Marco continued.
I blinked at him. He was right. I should do whatever my hands feel like doing!
"Yeah, you're right," I said to Marco, "I'll do whatever. Thanks, Marco!"
He smiled and continued with his sketch.
I proceeded to grab a few pencils, brushes, watercolors, an A3 sized canvas and one of those fancy wooden palettes where you put your thumb through it and wow why aren't these in my school?!
I began sketching, letting my hand flow freely. I imagined being at home, in front of my tablet and just drawing freely. I blocked everyone else from my sight, smell, hearing... I literally replaced the scenery with my room. I put myself in a trance once again, which always happened to me when I made art freely. It felt good.
Alli's announcement snapped me out of my trance, however, "All right, everybody, you have fifteen minutes left!"
I looked up from my canvas and glanced at everyone else who were just finishing their works. I saw that Ymir was carving a ship in a bottle, her forehead creased in concentration. Jean was painting a pot he made and Marco was painting what seemed to be a forest. I sighed, admiring everyone else's work. I then looked down at mine and blinked. I put my brushes and palette down to rub my eyes.
No.
Well, it was quite a masterpiece, to be honest. It was nice detail, shading, lighting, anatomy.
I realize I had been carried away with imagining I was just at home. I had managed to draw hardcore yaoi between Eren and Levi-heichou. I didn't even ship them.
"Ten minutes until presentation, everybody. I hope no one is nervous because you'll be presenting it to the club as well as myself."
Oh, fuck me.
